On-point Reuters piece this weekend talking about the above-the-ground issues curtailing oil supplies. The gist: resource nationalism -- countries nationalizing and controlling their domestic oil industries... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 8:12 pm
Here is sneak peek at some links from my weekly Weekend Reading column over at TheStreet.com: Oil-price supernova spurs search for alternatives (Reuters) Time to put investment banking back in... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 7:58 pm
AP - When he was diagnosed with kidney cancer last year, Dave deBronkart needed an easy way to keep his far-flung friends and family updated. So did the president of the American Medical Association when he fell ill months ago. And so did the mother of a soldier wounded in Iraq who later suffered brain damage. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jun 2008 | 6:27 pm
timeOday writes "The LA Times is reporting that the new Nintendo Wii Fit is hard to find on US shelves, due not only to strong demand but also the United State's declining status in the world economy: '"[Nintendo] is also is shrewdly maximizing its profit by sending four times as many units to Europe, reaping the benefits of the strong euro," says Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities. "The shortage demonstrates one consequence of the weak dollar. We're seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere."'"
Relentless evolution towards more intelligent species may have been driven not just by progressively larger brains but by the increasingly complex way in which they were wired, reports a... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 6:17 pm
Computerworld takes a look at the development and the future of e-paper. Brought into the mainstream by e-book readers such as the Kindle, e-paper is rapidly becoming its own industry. The article notes some of the current limitations of the technology and looks ahead to a few of the upcoming ideas, such as the Fujitsu Fabric PC. Quoting: "The resolution of EPD screens is improving rapidly. Active-matrix displays like those used on the current generation of e-book readers can work at relatively high resolutions (the Kindle screen displays 167 pixels per inch), and Seiko Epson recently showed off an A4-size (13.4-in.) display prototype with 3104 by 4128 resolution, about 385 ppi, that uses E Ink's electrophoretic ink on a Si-TFT glass substrate."
By Carol Hymowitz The Wall Street Journal Ann Livermore, head of Hewlett-Packard's storage and servers, software and services businesses, has faced decisions in her company that might have sent some executives heading for the door. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
By Chicago Tribune Jun. 8--A Lake County circuit judge set bail at $1.5 million Friday for a Gurnee police officer charged with sexually assaulting a minor, authorities said. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
By Jack Naudi, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Jun. 8--I'll be honest: I needed a simple column this week. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
By Sharna Johnson, Clovis News Journal, N.M. Jun. 8--"asl?""He's asking her age, sex and location," the officer explained. "13f clovis," the officer typed in response. "ur too young to be in a chat room. Do your parents know this?" the male responded. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
By Steve Johnson, Chicago Tribune Jun. 8--Fast takes on the week's five most viewed Tribune stories on the paper's Web site. Find them quickly at chicagotribune.com/most. 1. Ex-Ch. 2 newsman Larry Mendte off the air in Philadelphia after FBI search (June 2). Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
Police investigating loud partying in Haifa, Israel, said Sunday they found an anti-Semitic nest in which pages of a prayer book were used as toilet paper. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
The GAM Foundation has announced its 2008-09 JazzSLC at the Sheraton series. Since GAM Foundation founder Gordon Hanks has sold the Holladay Pharmacy, there has been a change in the ticket outlets. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
By Patrick Kampert, Chicago Tribune Jun. 8--If the message that workers sometimes receive during tough economic times is "your job is your perk," it seems unlikely that an employer would give a rip about the decor, or the break room, or the room temperature. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
By Neil Johnson, Tampa Tribune, Fla. Jun. 8--Workers this morning opened one lane of U.S. 301 in each direction at Interstate 75 where a tanker plunged off the interstate bridge and exploded on Wednesday. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
By Belleville News-Democrat, Ill. Jun. 8--BELLEVILLE -- Anyone who wants to participate in the Tour de Belleville bicycle ride July 11 now can register online at the official Web site: www.tourdebelleville.com. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jun 2008 | 5:00 pm
Matt, Michael, and Mark (the M-Team) will be reporting live from WWDC tomorrow at 10AM Pacific, 1PM Eastern. We will be posting in an embedded window using CoverItLive (we’ve been promised it won’t... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 4:23 pm
Roland Piquepaille writes "Many of today's underwater robots need to periodically come up to the surface to communicate with their human supervisors. But researchers at the University of Washington (UW) have developed a new kind of underwater vehicle. The 'Robofish' can work cooperatively with each other. 'The Robofish, which are roughly the size of a 10-pound salmon, look a bit like fish because they use fins rather than propellers.' According to the researchers, such robots 'could cooperatively track moving targets underwater, such as groups of whales or spreading plumes of pollution, or explore caves, underneath ice-covered waters, or in dangerous environments where surfacing might not be possible.' Further information and more pictures are also available for these autonomous fin-actuated underwater vehicles."
Ars Technica reports that Comcast has been hit with three new class-action lawsuits due to the company's traffic-shaping practices. "The lawsuits ... ask that Comcast be barred from continuing to violate various state laws, in addition to unspecified damages." Meanwhile, members of the US House Telecommunications Subcommittee have asked Charter Communications' president to stop testing a program which uses Deep Packet Inspection to track the habits of its customers. A number of privacy groups have voiced their support (PDF). As if that weren't enough, it seems the City of Los Angeles is suing Time Warner for fraud and deceptive business practices. The Daily News notes, "... the City Attorney is seeking $2,500 in civil penalties for each violation of the Unfair Competition law as well as an additional $2,500 civil penalty for each violation described in the complaint perpetrated against one or more senior citizens or disabled persons."
Image via Wikipedia When you type fred wilson into google, you get this blog as the first result. It's been that way for the past three or four years. You also get my bio on the Union Square Ventures... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 2:09 pm
BobB-nw brings us NetworkWorld's behind-the-scenes look at the technology supporting the NBA Finals. They primarily use Lenovo ThinkPads which run an automated statistic-gathering system. The NBA eschews Wi-Fi due to security concerns, and it abandoned attempts to use touch-screen technology because of durability and ease-of-use issues. Whether or not basketball is your sport of choice, it's an interesting view of how modern sports presentations come together. "Other courtside systems with proprietary software synch up with compact belt packs worn by the referees, who automate clock stoppages by blowing their whistles. Hellmuth noted that he oversaw an effort to ensure that clock stoppages could be seen from any angle in the arena by having lights on the backboard and elsewhere all flash at once."
By Brian Newsome, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Jun. 8--When an international group of students came to Colorado Springs this year to kick off a tour of the U.S., one of them came down with typhoid fever. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jun 2008 | 2:00 pm
By Robert Brodie, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss. Jun. 8--OK, let's face it, fishing is supposed to be a fun-filled, stress-free day on the water. However, it pays to be sharp and alert at all times, especially if you want the edge in your favor. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jun 2008 | 2:00 pm
By CONNIE SAGE By Connie Sage Correspondent For the fifth year, North Carolina's harvest of fin fish and shellfish fell, a decline that commercial fishermen blame on tightened regulations, higher fuel prices and an increase in imported seafood. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jun 2008 | 2:00 pm
Q. My kwanzan flowering cherry tree did not flower this year. It went straight to leaves. This is the third spring for the tree, including the year it was planted. It appears to be healthy. What is the problem? - Linda Crawford, Chesapeake A. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jun 2008 | 2:00 pm
By Andrew Rafferty, The Buffalo News, N.Y. Jun. 8--People were saving money, storage space and the environment Saturday, as 280 cars rolled up to Stereo Advantage in Amherst to recycle old computers, TVs, VCRs and anything else electronic. The event, which continues from 10 a. m. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jun 2008 | 2:00 pm
PICAYUNE STRAND, Fla. _ When construction workers filled a canal, tore out roads and prepared the land in this corner of the Everglades for a major restoration project, something unexpected happened: Nature rebounded, even before the real restoration begins. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jun 2008 | 2:00 pm
By CARA ANNA By Cara Anna The Associated Press MIANYANG, China Water poured from a massive lake formed by China's deadly earthquake in a carefully engineered diversion Saturday to ease the threat of flooding for a million people in the sprawling disaster zone. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jun 2008 | 2:00 pm
Powerset, which implements semantic search, recently released a public beta based on the limited data set of Wikipedia. But while there is no question that Powerset has some interesting and valuable semantic... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 1:59 pm
Jeff Bentley, a reader of our site accidentally stumbled into what seems like a hack by spammers of Third Screen Media, a mobile advertising company that was acquired by AOL in 2007 for $107 million and... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 1:55 pm
Jeff Bentley, a reader of our site accidentally stumbled into what seems like a hack by spammers of Third Screen Media, a mobile advertising company that was acquired by AOL in 2007 for $107 million and... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 1:47 pm
The Group of Eight industrial powers said Sunday they hoped to launch 20 large projects to bury greenhouse gas by 2010 and aimed to broadly deploy the technology a decade later. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 1:45 pm
It was, to say the least, an unusual brand-recognition campaign. Amid the ruins of towns and villages of Sichuan province, the big Chinese telecoms operators had set up shop alongside rice kitchens... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 1:18 pm
Glenn Fleishman writes "T-Mobile sent me the text of a lawsuit they filed yesterday against Starbucks. The telecom firm alleges that Starbucks didn't involve it in any discussions to launch their free loyalty program Wi-Fi service this week with AT&T. AT&T is gradually taking over hot-spot operation from T-Mobile, market by market over the course of 2008. T-Mobile told me Starbucks is essentially giving away something that isn't theirs. T-Mobile has sued to halt the two-hours-a-day of free service, and is asking for money to cover losses. This might sound like sour grapes, but T-Mobile still operates most of the network, and says that the terms to which they agreed with Starbucks and AT&T for the transition and with AT&T for bilateral roaming don't cover this situation at all. Maybe free access in exchange for buying a cup of joe every 30 days was too good to be true (this soon)."
The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA) is currently showing an exhibit on the Miss Rockaway Armada -- a junk-raft fleet of eco-art-maniacs who floadted up and down the Mississippi being awesomely weird.
The Miss Rockaway Armada is a collective of artists, musicians, and adventurers-of-all-stripes who spent the summers of 2006 and 2007 journeying down the Mississippi River on a fleet of “junk-rafts.” Hailing from all parts of the country and all walks of life, the Miss Rockaway Armada is united by the desire to create; to demonstrate different ways of living and moving that are friendlier to the environment and to each other; to indulge the urge to make something out of nothing. With this spirit and energy, The Miss Rockaway Armada comes to MASS MoCA for their first project in collaboration with a museum. Being Here is Better Than Wishing We’d Stayed, a site-specific, interactive installation in the Hunter Center Mezzanine, will open to the public on Saturday, April 19, 2008, and will remain on view through March 1, 2009. In addition to the exhibition on Saturday, April 12, 2008, at 2 PM the Miss Rockaway Armada will give a performance in the vein of the impromptu circus/theater performances they staged in towns along the Mississippi.
The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA) is currently showing an exhibit on the Miss Rockaway Armada -- a junk-raft fleet of eco-art-maniacs who floadted up and down the Mississippi being... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:41 pm
AP - Leaders of Hollywood's second-largest actors union approved a new contract with studios that grants actors more money for Internet work an issue that sparked a crippling writers strike this year.
Duncan sez, "A brilliantly done spoof of GoogleNews from a parallel universe where all the world's problems have been solved, from the petty:
'Apple announces unlocked iPhone, built-in VOIP'
To the more profound:
'Amnesty International reports massive drop in detainments'
and
'Darfur peace process well underway'"
Duncan sez, "A brilliantly done spoof of GoogleNews from a parallel universe where all the world's problems have been solved, from the petty: 'Apple announces unlocked iPhone, built-in VOIP' To the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:11 pm
Marilyn sez, "My kids always want commercial ice-cream cake for their birthdays, but the icing is always so tasteless. These ice-cream cupcakes look easy to make and the ganache topping looks yummy."
Remove the ice cream from the freezer to let soften before filling cupcake tins. Leave on the counter for 10minutes or defrost in the microwave. When ice cream is softened, use a quick hand to spoon and flatten ice cream on top of the cake. It’s a little messy, but don’t worry about that. When all of the cakes are topped with ice cream, return to the freezer to harden. I left my ice cream cupcakes in the freezer over night, but give them at least 4 hours.
D Ninja writes "Yesterday, Google released Gmail Labs, which allows Gmail developers to decide what to include in the next feature releases of Gmail based on user feedback. As ZDNet has pointed out, essentially users are guinea pigs for these new features. Participants will vote on their favorite new features, and the ones that are voted the highest will stick around and the ones that are least popular will disappear." Reader physman_wiu points out an article at the BBC about the experiments on offer, writing: "Some of the features are really nice — like the option to use additional star icons, mouse gestures, and custom keyboard shortcuts. Others ... well, let's just say Old Snakey made it in."
Text of report by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) [Report by reporter Zhang Xudong: "While Directing the Work of Combating the Earthquake and Providing Relief to Quake Victims in Gansu and Shaanxi, Li Keqiang Stressed That It Was Necessary To Properly Resettle the Quake Victims and To Do a Good Job in Restoration and Reconstruction"] Hanzhong, Shaanxi, 7 Jun (Xinhua) -From 5 to 7 June, Li Keqiang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee, vice premier of the State Council, and deputy commander of the State Council Anti-Quake and Disaster Relief Headquarters, came to the areas in Gansu and Shaanxi Provinces seriously affected by the earthquake to call on and extend sympathy to the people affected by the earthquake and the disaster relief personnel on behalf of the party Central Committee and the State Council, to inspect the resettlement of the people affected by the earthquake, and to direct restoration and reconstruction work. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jun 2008 | 11:00 am
By Steve Gehrke, The Salt Lake Tribune Jun. 8--PROVO -- Frank Gehry's uniquely designed mega-projects have fallen on hard times. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jun 2008 | 11:00 am
Here's a simple Instructable for recycling old floppy-disc rings into a pair of smart earrings:
Open the two round jump rings and attach one to each v-ring.
Before closing them up, attach the earring wire to each. Close both jump rings securely with pliers.
Note: when attaching the earring wires, make sure that the part that goes into your ear faces the "back" of the earring-- I consider the "front" of the floppy centers the side where the middle concaves out a bit from the edge.
DinkyDogg writes "'New research that makes creative use of sensitive location-tracking data from 100,000 cellphones in Europe suggests that most people can be found in one of just a few locations at any time, and that they do not generally go far from home.' More interesting than their conclusion, however, is how they got their data. 'The researchers said they used the potentially controversial data only after any information that could identify individuals had been scrambled. Even so, they wrote, people's wanderings are so subject to routine that by using the patterns of movement that emerged from the research, "we can obtain the likelihood of finding a user in any location." The researchers were able to obtain the data from a European provider of cellphone service that was obligated to collect the information. By agreement with the company, the researchers did not disclose the country where the provider operates.' Any guesses which European country requires cell phone providers to record where their customers make calls, and then allows them to give that data away without disclosing that they have done so?"
Final outfitting of the international space station's new lab, replacing an empty nitrogen gas tank and retrieving some debris off of a solar wing rotating joint were the tasks Sunday for Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 8:28 am
Nick sez, "Jonathan Zittrain gets so many things right in his book, The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It about what he calls 'generative technology' and why it's so important. It's chock-full of all sorts of issues that make Boingers salivate - freedom of speech, copyright, open source software, digital rights activism, privacy, censorship - put together into a very convincing argument in favor of unbridled innovation.
This is definitely a book that you don't want to pass up. It's licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike 3.0 license and freely downloadable from the book's website."
The iPhone is the opposite. It is sterile. Rather than a platform that invites innovation,
the iPhone comes preprogrammed. You are not allowed to add programs
to the all-in-one device that Steve Jobs sells you. Its functionality is locked
in, though Apple can change it through remote updates. Indeed, to those who
managed to tinker with the code to enable the iPhone to support more or different
applications,4 Apple threatened (and then delivered on the threat) to transform
the iPhone into an iBrick.5 The machine was not to be generative beyond the innovations
that Apple (and its exclusive carrier, AT&T) wanted. Whereas the world
would innovate for the Apple II, only Apple would innovate for the iPhone. (A
promised software development kit may allow others to program the iPhone with
Apple’s permission.)
Jobs was not shy about these restrictions baked into the iPhone. As he said at
its launch:
We define everything that is on the phone. . . . You don’t want your phone to be like
a PC. The last thing you want is to have loaded three apps on your phone and then
you go to make a call and it doesn’t work anymore. These are more like iPods than
they are like computers.6
Last night, I had the enormous pleasure of attending White Mischief, the semi-regular steampunk variety night at the Scala in London's King's Cross. White Mischief featured tons of bands, hilarious Victorian comedy, obscene and delightful sword-swallowing, and hundreds and hundreds of revellers in steampunk costume (some of whom were BB readers and were kind enough to introduce themselves!). I snapped a bunch of pix (pictured here, goggles from Got Steam), as did many others. Have a look at the Flickr whitemischief tag for more.
Link
Etsy seller Stripeyblue had plans for this lovely crocheted ice-cream sundae up for $4 each -- sold out now (how can you sell out of a PDF?) but presumably that's temporary.
Pictures are provided to help you create this dessert made even more special with layers of whipped cream and chocolate syrup...sprinkled with nuts & topped with cherry! :) It comes with wafer sticks & its very own cup.
Bill at Conelrad takes an in-depth look at Red Rape, a pornographic, anti-Communist 1960 pulp novel that looks at the brutal life of Americans under the thumb of the invading "Ivans."
It is ironic that a book that blames the "eggheads" for the Soviet invasion would use characters also described as "eggheads" (Dr. Mathers who taught physics at San Jose State before the invasion and Mr. Shapiro, formerly an electronics expert at Firestone) to build and execute the device that will ultimately defeat the Commies. But then the liberal arts intellectuals in Sellers' Red Rape universe talk in platitudes and favor disarmament while the "good" eggheads build an EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) weapon that blows Soviet jets out of the sky in the novel's stirring finale.
MojoKid writes "Consumer and business-class computer security has clearly become more sophisticated over the years. Recent advances in recognition technology have brought forth new capabilities, like what can be found in Toshiba A305 series notebooks. Toshiba's Face Recognition software allows you to log in to the system simply by having your face properly recognized by the integrated webcam during Windows startup. Of course, the system's TrueSuite Access Manager also allows you to do the same, only using your fingers and the integrated fingerprint reader. However, TrueSuite goes a step further with the fingerprint reader, also allowing you to log in to Web sites, applications, and networks as well by using just your fingerprints."
AFP - Residents in Taipei have been able to access wireless mobile Internet services in much of the city since a programme launched by former mayor Ma Ying-jeou was completed in 2006.
Amazon.com's Web site experienced problems in North America for more than two hours in the middle of the day Friday because of system issues, the online retailer said. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 4:02 am
AP - Amazon.com's Web site experienced problems in North America for more than two hours in the middle of the day Friday because of system issues, the online retailer said. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jun 2008 | 3:58 am
Amazon.com's Web site experienced problems in North America for more than two hours in the middle of the day Friday because of system issues, the online retailer said. Shortly after 10 Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 3:58 am
theodp writes "With its just-published patent application for Developing Software Components Based on Brain Lateralization, Microsoft provides yet another example of just how broken the patent system is. Microsoft argues that its 'invention' of having a Program Manager act as an arbitrator/communicator between a group of right-brained software users and left-brained software developers mimics 'the way that the brain communicates between its two distinct hemispheres.' One of the 'inventors' is Ray Ozzie's Technical Strategist. If granted, the patent could be used to exclude others from making, using, or selling the 'invention' for 17 years."
Astronauts debuted the international space station's newest piece of equipment Saturday during a successful but very limited test. Space shuttle Discovery crew members Akihiko Hoshide... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 2:48 am
Former president Jacques Chirac of France puts aside his legal troubles and returns to the public eye this week to launch his foundation for sustainable development and cultural diversity. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 1:49 am
Astronauts debuted the international space station's newest piece of equipment Saturday during a successful but very limited test. Space shuttle Discovery crew members Akihiko Hoshide... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jun 2008 | 12:58 am
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dirt that the Phoenix Mars Lander scooped recently from the planet's surface may be too clumpy to be analyzed by the machine's onboard system, NASA reported on... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Jun 2008 | 11:20 pm
Rising up next door to an Otis Spunkmeyer cookie bakery in a nondescript Texan business park, the hulking new factory did not look like an answer to the world's energy problems. But John Langdon, a director... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Jun 2008 | 11:04 pm
Vodaphone is close to clinching a deal to buy Tiscali, the Italian fixed-line broadband company, for £1.2bn in a move that would put it head-to-head with BT, BSkyB and Virgin Media for customers... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Jun 2008 | 11:04 pm
The news that the US has completely withdrawn from the Human Rights Council spread like wildfire Friday afternoon (June 6) through the corridors of the Palais des Nations in Geneva. There was general consternation amongst diplomats and NGOS. Reached by phone, the American mission in Geneva neither confirmed nor denied the report. Although unofficial, the news comes at a time of long opposition by the Bush administration to the reforms which created the Human Rights Council in June 2006. Washington announced from the beginning that the US would not be an active member but its observer status would mean that it could intervene during the sessions. To date even this has rarely happened.
PC World - SourceForge.net's annual Community Choice awards highlight the most promising open source projects-- and the most troubled. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Jun 2008 | 9:41 pm
Dethklok, the most brutal cartoon band ever to grace the boob tube, is on tour right now, in real form, as fronted by show co-creator and overall genius Brendan Small. Their Thursday show at San Francisco's Fillmore takes a turn for the cartoonish when a fire forces a brutal cancellation just as the band prepares to take the stage.
Astronauts debuted the international space station's newest piece of equipment Saturday during a successful but very limited test. Space shuttle Discovery crew members Akihiko Hoshide... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Jun 2008 | 7:35 pm
The use of GPS-enabled mobile phones is expected to quadruple by 2011, and if GPS is introduced on the new iPhone on Monday as expected, it could accelerate the shift away from portable navigation systems.
The use of GPS-enabled mobile phones is expected to quadruple by 2011, and if GPS is introduced on the new iPhone on Monday as expected, it could accelerate the shift away from portable navigation systems.
Japan and the United States on Saturday agreed to cooperate on research into methane hydrate, known as the "ice that burns" which is seen as a promising future energy source. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Jun 2008 | 7:01 pm
Torchwood will return for a third, but very brief, season with series star John Barrowman in command. The third season will include just five episodes that will most likely air all in one week as a mini-series.
AP - Leaders of Hollywood's second-largest actors union approved a new contract with studios that grants actors more money for Internet work an issue that sparked a crippling writers strike this year.
The iPhone is the opposite. It is sterile. Rather than a platform that invites innovation, the iPhone comes preprogrammed. You are not allowed to add programs to the all-in-one device that Steve Jobs sells you. Its functionality is locked in, though Apple can change it through remote updates. Indeed, to those who managed to tinker with the code to enable the iPhone to support more or different applications,4 Apple threatened (and then delivered on the threat) to transform the iPhone into an iBrick.5 The machine was not to be generative beyond the innovations that Apple (and its exclusive carrier, AT&T) wanted. Whereas the world would innovate for the Apple II, only Apple would innovate for the iPhone. (A promised software development kit may allow others to program the iPhone with Apple’s permission.) Jobs was not shy about these restrictions baked into the iPhone. As he said at its launch: We define everything that is on the phone. . . . You don’t want your phone to be like a PC. The last thing you want is to have loaded three apps on your phone and then you go to make a call and it doesn’t work anymore. These are more like iPods than they are like computers.6
AFP - Residents in Taipei have been able to access wireless mobile Internet services in much of the city since a programme launched by former mayor Ma Ying-jeou was completed in 2006.
