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Data Robotics releases second gen DroboYesterday, we would have said that Drobo is the best external storage solution out there, but today’s news cements that statement. The folks at Data Robotics have just announced the second generation...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 9:34 pm Facebook could see a standoff over Scrabble (AP)AP - Developers of a highly popular but unauthorized version of Scrabble for the online hangout Facebook vowed Tuesday to do just that, now that a video game maker has weighed in with an official version of the word game.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:44 pm Internet service to give magazine subscribers freedom (USATODAY.com)USATODAY.com - NEW YORK - Magazine buying may get an Internet-era makeover in September when Time Inc. launches Maghound, a service that promises to blend the convenience of subscriptions with the flexibility of newsstand sales.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:42 pm New Yahoo board might lure Microsoft back into talks (USATODAY.com)USATODAY.com - Microsoft threw its weight behind investor Carl Icahn's effort to oust Yahoo's board next month, saying Monday that a successful rebellion would encourage the software maker to renew its takeover bid for Yahoo or negotiate another deal.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:42 pm Sony Fixes Firmware Fiasco: We Test the Fix - PC World
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:29 pm ICANN says registrar was hacked - ZDNet
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:29 pm Mars Lander Works on New Dirt Sample - Space Com
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:28 pm Intel and DreamWorks go to the movies - CNET News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:22 pm Segway Executive Makes the Leap to Apple - New York Times
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:19 pm MobileMe set to launch Wednesday night as .Mac goes offline - Ars Technica
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:16 pm Intel and DreamWorks go to the movies (CNET)CNET - Intel and DreamWorks Animation SKG announced Tuesday a strategic alliance, designed to power-up the movie studio's 3-D authoring tools.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:15 pm Simple Mod Turns Diodes Into Photon CountersKentuckyFC writes "The standard way to detect single photons is to use an avalanche photodiode in which a single photon can trigger an avalanche of current. These devices have an important drawback, however. They cannot distinguish the arrival of a single photon from the simultaneous arrival of two or more. But a team of physicists in the UK has found a simple mod that turns avalanche photodiodes into photon counters. They say that in the first instants after the avalanche forms, its current is proportional to the number of photons that have struck. All you have to do is measure it at this early stage. That's like turning a Fiat 500 into a Ferrari. Photon counting is one of the enabling technologies behind optical quantum computing. A number of schemes are known in which it is necessary to count the arrival of 0, 1 or 2 photons at specific detectors (abstract). With such a cheap detector now available (as well as decent photon guns), we could see dramatic progress in this field in the coming months."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:11 pm Solar-Powered Toyota Prius Coming? - InformationWeek
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:02 pm Inbox Victory: photos of people who've emptied their inboxesThe Inbox Victory page collects photos of people pointing at their empty email inboxes, grinning madly before the next flood of emails pours in. I try very hard to be an inbox zero guy, but in practice I always end up with a couple hangovers in there -- usually related to scheduling meetings or calls with people, which is probably the most logistically difficult thing to do in my life.Link (via Kottke) Source: Boing Boing | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:56 pm Lawn zombie sculpture Over on Boing Boing Gadgets, our John's dug up this magnificent zombie lawn-sculpture by Alan Dickenson, available for a mere $90 -- think of the savings you'll realize by no longer having to pay someone to keep the kids off your lawn! Link, Discuss on Boing Boing Gadgets Source: Boing Boing | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:52 pm Cory at Seattle's University bookstore tonightReminder: I'm speaking tonight at the University Bookstore in Seattle as part of the Clarion West reading series -- hope to see you there!Where: University Book Store, 4326 University Way NE in Seattle.Link, Link to Clarion West events calendar Source: Boing Boing | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:51 pm Chinglish as full-fledged English dialectMichael Erard's Wired story on the ways that Chinglish is mutating into a full-fludged (and widespread) dialect poses some interesting possibilities for the language's future, in which tonal suffices, borrowed vocabulary words, and streamlined grammar open up rich new expressive possibilities. I've always loved English's baking-soda-like capacity to absorb other languages' best features -- the Yiddish terminal "already" at sentences' end, the fantastic Gaelic-salted Irvine Welsh Scots dialect, the many glorious island formations from the Caribbean and South Seas. All my attempts to learn even a few words of comprehensible Chinese have been a disaster, so it's heartening to hear that Chinese may be coming to me, bridging the distance.It's not merely that English will be salted with Chinese vocabulary for local cuisine, bon mots, and curses or that speakers will peel off words from local dialects. The Chinese and other Asians already pronounce English differently — in both subtle and not-so-subtle ways. For example, in various parts of the region they tend not to turn vowels in unstressed syllables into neutral vowels. Instead of "har-muh-nee," it's "har-moh-nee." And the sounds that begin words like this and thing are often enunciated as the letters f, v, t, or d. In Singaporean English (known as Singlish), think is pronounced "tink," and theories is "tee-oh-rees."..Link (via Futurismic) Source: Boing Boing | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:46 pm Chinglish as full-fledged English dialectMichael Erard's Wired story on the ways that Chinglish is mutating into a full-fludged (and widespread) dialect poses some interesting possibilities for the language's future, in which tonal suffices,...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:46 pm Microsoft expands its response to hosted software (AP)AP - Microsoft Corp. is strengthening its early-stage push to fend off competition by offering more Internet-based software, a change from its traditional method of selling programs that run on individual desktops or corporate servers.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:40 pm Media moguls gather for summer camp (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:40 pm Microsoft expands its response to hosted softwareMicrosoft Corp. is strengthening its early-stage push to fend off competition by offering more Internet-based software, a change from its traditional method of selling programs that run on...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:40 pm Steampunk Soviet gas-mask This brass and leather Soviet gas-mask is the genuine article, not a steampunk fetish-fashion prop (though, of course, it could be both). Link (via Wired Gadget Lab) Source: Boing Boing | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:38 pm Steampunk Soviet gas-maskThis brass and leather Soviet gas-mask is the genuine article, not a steampunk fetish-fashion prop (though, of course, it could be both). Link (via Wired Gadget Lab) ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:38 pm Rock And Royal Custom Chandeliers Will Really Class Up Your CribBy Andrew Liszewski Is there really a better way to say “I have millions of dollars and I know how to tastefully spend it” than with a chandelier in your home shaped like a handgun, AK-47,...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:33 pm Terrifying medical training modelsOobject's collection of incredibly scary medical manikins (sic) from around the Web suggests that medical training is probably lot more like an HR Giger painting than I'd previously suspected. These...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:31 pm WhiteHat Security and F5 Roll Out Integrated Solution to Secure Corporate Web ApplicationsSolution Released Today Offers Immediate, Targeted Mitigation of the Most Pervasive and Dangerous Flaws that Expose Websites to Attack SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 8...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:26 pm Inbox Victory: photos of people who've emptied their inboxesThe Inbox Victory page collects photos of people pointing at their empty email inboxes, grinning madly before the next flood of emails pours in. I try very hard to be an inbox zero guy, but in practice...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:25 pm Zix Corporation's CEO Provides Corporate UpdateCompany Continues Positive Cash Flow DALLAS, July 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Zix Corporation (ZixCorp(R)), (Nasdaq: ZIXI), the leader in hosted services for email...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:25 pm Knight Rider(TM) GPS by Mio Brings K.I.T.T. to Every Car~Mio Technology turns 80's dream into reality with Knight Rider-themed GPS~ FREMONT, Calif., July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Are you a lone crusader in the shadowy world of...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:22 pm Your Mashup Is Probably LegalTV Barn writes "We've been conditioned to think that if you pull something off the web and use it, you're committing some sort of copyright infringement. But increasingly, the law is moving in the opposite direction. Provided you are making a truly new use of the content, you are free to make money off those copyrighted images and video and sound. On Monday the Center for Social Media released 'Code of Best Practices for Fair Use in Online Video,' which reflects the latest changes in copyright law that has expanded the understanding of fair use to include 'transformational effect.' Already Miro has endorsed the guidelines, as have several public broadcasters. The Center has a good track record, having issued guidelines for documentary filmmakers that have greatly reduced copyright claims in that area. The website has plenty of resources for mashers and mixers; I interviewed the Center's director in this podcast that summarizes the most important findings of the report." On the other hand, says reader kaliphonia, your guitar tablature sites may not fare so well.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:22 pm Lawn zombie sculptureOver on Boing Boing Gadgets, our John's dug up this magnificent zombie lawn-sculpture by Alan Dickenson, available for a mere $90 -- think of the savings you'll realize by no longer having to pay someone...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:21 pm Infinity Ward Renegotiates Contract, Hints At New IP - Gamasutra
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:20 pm Geeky sysadmin portraitShardcore sez, "I think I've just painted the geekiest picture ever. It's a portrait of my friend Richard, he's a sysadmin. I've painted him in a server room, with Marvin the Paranoid Android. Holding...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:19 pm Geeky sysadmin portrait Shardcore sez, "I think I've just painted the geekiest picture ever. It's a portrait of my friend Richard, he's a sysadmin. I've painted him in a server room, with Marvin the Paranoid Android. Holding a ZX Spectrum. I think you'll agree it ticks all the boxes of English geeks of a certain age..." Link (Thanks, Shardcore!) Source: Boing Boing | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:19 pm Game maker to remove 'beer' from pong game - Meriden Record-Journal
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:19 pm DataPipe Secures $75 Million in FundingJERSEY CITY, N.J., July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- DataPipe, a global provider of managed IT services, announced today that it has secured $75 million dollars in combined credit...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:17 pm SECNAP Network Security Named to Emerging Technology Vendor List by CRN MagazineInnovative Email Security Solution Delivered Through Channel BOCA RATON, Fla., July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- SECNAP(R) Network Security Corporation has been named to the...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:17 pm Aria Systems Appoints James D'Arcangelo Vice President of MarketingPHILADELPHIA, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Aria Systems, the leading provider of on-demand billing and customer lifecycle management solutions, announced today the appointment...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:12 pm Halo 6-In-1 Projection Alarm Clock & Flashlight & Calendar & CompassBy Andrew Liszewski Given its functionality, I can only assume this Halo 6-in-1 device is designed for something like camping trips where you might need a flashlight and compass at the same time. But if...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:09 pm Mobopia and ACCESS Announce Partnership to Power Long Tail Mobile ContentCompanies combine market-leading technologies to deliver rich content to mobile phones SAN FRANCISCO, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobopia Corporation, the creators of ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:05 pm Open Forum: What'd You Think Of Mitch Kapor's Talk?In my opinion, the three key points from the leading Linden Board member's in-world, fifth anniversary talk yesterday, as I interpret them: 1 - More community-disturbing regulations and implementations...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:04 pm REALbasic 2008 Release 3 Ships From REAL SoftwareProfessional version includes profiler to highlight performance issues AUSTIN, Texas, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- REAL Software, maker of REALbasic, a cross-platform...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:04 pm Photos: All Star Karaoke(TM) Introduces: Karaoke Edge(TM)First Ever Computer Game on a Karaoke Disc COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- AUDIOstream(TM), the producer of All Star Karaoke(TM) (Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:02 pm Microsoft Willing To Restart Talks With New Yahoo BoardMicrosoft Corp. said on Monday that its ready to reconsider multi-billion dollar buyout negotiations with Yahoo, on the condition that a new Yahoo board is selected. The announcement backs investor Carl Icahn’s plan to take control of the board and make several promised changes.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jul 2008 | 12:53 pm Countdown to the iPhone 3G launch - CNNMoney.com
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 Jul 2008 | 12:41 pm Telecom Amnesty Opponents Back New AmendmentI Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "With the telecoms all but assured of amnesty for their participation in illegal spying, there's now one last amendment in their way — the Bingaman amendment. Because President Bush is unwilling to sign FISA reform without immunity, and because Blue Dog Democrats fear for their reelection unless FISA reform as a whole passes, most compromise positions are already off the table. So the new amendment seeks to sidestep part of the problem by moving it to a later date. It would put the court cases and amnesty provision on hold until a report is completed detailing exactly what happened, allowing Congress to consider denying amnesty at that time. There's an EFF campaign to support both this and the Dodd-Feingold amendment, which would strip immunity altogether."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 8 Jul 2008 | 12:31 pm Japan to Get 3G IPhone From 7 A.m. on Friday (PC World)PC World - Japanese consumers will be among the first in the world to get their hands on the new 3G version of the iPhone when it goes on...Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jul 2008 | 12:10 pm IBM Software Enhances Web Accessibility for the Blind (PC World)PC World - IBM launched on Tuesday an application that seeks to harness the time of Internet users to make the Web more accessible to the...Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jul 2008 | 12:00 pm How To Check Yourself For Abnormal GenesAnneWoahHickey writes "While the State of California was harassing personalized genomics companies, and hindering the development of personalized medicine, Wired was preparing a guide to genetic testing. It explains how to make sense of the massive sets of raw data offered by 23andMe or deCODEme, and a way to check yourself for genetic abnormalities that are not covered by microarray tests. Facing a medical community that is fiercely resistant to change, the fate of personalized medicine is truly in the hands of consumers."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:40 am Uncertainty Aplenty as Web, Media Leaders ConveneMedia and online moguls are descending on Allen & Co. investment bank's annual retreat in Sun Valley in search of new acquisitions and alliances and perhaps the opportunity to retool their businesses. High on this year's agenda: the internet's increasing fragmentation and the old media / new media fight for online advertising revenue.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:14 am Yesterday at Boing Boing Gadgets
The problems with ebook readers were discussed, while Brownlee proved completely incompetent at using a hot rod style espresso maker, ultimately perambulating off to Dunkin' Donuts while muttering "Go to hell, Europe" under his breath. Joel was impressed by the symbolic gesture of putting even inefficient and expensive solar panels on a Toyota Prius; Rob discovered an eBay slot machine. Beschizza dismissed a dreadful MacBook Pro rumor with a single, well chosen word, then used a grocery store advertisement to prove why Apple wouldn't redesign the MBP radically. Meanwhile, the Wall-E GameCube mod was utterly gorgeous, and XBMC for the Mac is coming along swimmingly, even under its new name, Plex. Finally, we marveled over Darth Vader bobbleheads, NES cartridges that can play themselves and Hello Kitty virus protectors. Source: Boing Boing | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:08 am SUSS MicroTec Delivers Coat/Develop Cluster to Replisaurus TechnologiesSUSS MicroTec (FWB:SMH)(GER:SMH), supplier of innovative solutions for the 3D, MEMS, Advanced Packaging and Nanotechnology markets, announced today that it has shipped and successfully installed a Gamma coating cluster at Replisaurus Technologies, a provider of a revolutionary metallization technology called "ElectroChemical Pattern Replication" (ECPR(TM)), which offers a simple and cost effective integrated solution eliminating several traditional process steps thereby reducing complexity.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Permabit Expands Executive Management TeamCAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Permabit Technology Corporation, the provider of scalable, data reduced storage for enterprise archiving, today announced the appointment of Ed Reilly as vice president of worldwide sales and the promotion of Katherine Edwards to vice president of human resources.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am NIH Selects BlueInGreen to Test New Technology for Efficient Removal of Pharmaceuticals From WastewaterBlueInGreen, an Arkansas-based company that provides systems for dissolved gas treatment of water systems, today announced a two-year, $750,000 grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to study the cost-effective removal of pharmaceutical residuals from wastewater using a new hyper ozonation technology.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Renewable Feedstocks in the Indian Chemical Industry - Out NowResearch and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/46514b/renewable_feedstoc) has announced the addition of the "Renewable Feedstocks in the Indian Chemical Industry" report to their offering.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Foss Maritime Receives Highest Honor for Environmental StewardshipThe U.S. Coast Guard has awarded the Foss Maritime Company its most prestigious environmental honor: the 2008 William M. Benkert 'gold' award for marine environmental protection. It is Foss' second major 'green' award in less than a month.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Restoring the Wetlands One Block at a TimeBy Sonya Padgett By SONYA PADGETT REVIEW-JOURNAL Though the Stardust was demolished last year, it still does its part to support the Las Vegas community. Literally.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am T.O. Plan to Save Mobile Home Parks Questioned: Legal Challenges Possible, Commission Analysis SaysBy Teresa Rochester, Ventura County Star, Calif. Jul. 8--A proposed ballot initiative designed to preserve mobile home parks in Thousand Oaks raises legal questions that could expose the city to lawsuits, according to an analysis commissioned by the City Council.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Jail Sentence for Amish Too Harsh, Unconstitutional, Attorney SaysBy Sandra K. Reabuck, Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa. Jul. 8--EBENSBURG -- Two Amish men sentenced to 90 days in jail for sewage violations have appealed to Cambria County Court, saying the punishment is excessive.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Blue Ridge Railway Trail Gets Boost in Amherst, NelsonBy Justin Faulconer, The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va. Jul. 8--PINEY RIVER -- Surrounded by tranquil waters of the Piney and Tye rivers, an outdoor trail straddling Amherst and Nelson counties could be a walk to remember when complete.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am On This Day1822: Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet, was drowned in Italy while sailing his small schooner to his home on the Gulf of Spezia. 1965: Ronald Biggs, one of the Great Train Robbers, scaled the wall of Wands worth Prison with a rope ladder and escaped.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Buchanan Hit With Brush FireBy Neil Harvey neil.harvey@roanoke.com 981-3340 Botetourt County fire crews and the Department of Forestry worked late Thursday night to control a brush fire. The fire is on a mountain in Buchanan, according to a dispatcher with the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am $5M Bixby Land Sale Moves AheadBy Karen Robes Meeks, Press-Telegram, Long Beach, Calif. Jul. 8--LONG BEACH -- Redevelopment leaders moved forward Monday on a $5 million land acquisition and a $51,000 beautification and promotion agreement -- both aimed at benefitting Bixby Knolls.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am IBM Acquisition Sparks Antitrust FearsIBM's acquisition of mainframe clone manufacturer Platform Solutions has attracted antitrust fears from European watchdog The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which said the purchase is dangerous for the mainframe industry as it further extends IBM's dominance in the market.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am A Suspect 'Goddess' in Search of Rebirth: Farrah Ashline Launches Four Web Ventures in the Capital RegionBy Robert Gavin, Albany Times Union, N.Y. Jul. 8--ALBANY -- Four years after her social Web site for women collapsed in controversy, Farrah Ashline still owes thousands of dollars in court judgments against her in the Washington, D.C., area.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Brief: WmdBy Nick Chordas, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio Jul. 8--Web sites of Mass Distraction are entertainment-oriented sites (humor, jokes, office time-killers). www.manbabies.com We resisted this site for as long as we possibly could.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am D-Link Now Shipping 4-Bay Network Storage Enclosure With Tool-Less Drive Installation and On-Board OLED DisplayD-Link, the end-to-end networking solutions provider for consumers and business, is now shipping the 4-Bay Network Storage Enclosure, a secure and powerful solution for storing and accessing documents across the network and over the Internet, offering tool-less drive installation, OLED display and Gigabit connectivity along with scalable features for easy expansion.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am On the Web, Now You See It, Now You Don'tBy Noam Cohen For generations, people and institutions have had second thoughts about decisions: Stock exchanges delist companies, higher courts overrule lower ones, tennis players replay a disputed point, celebrities reinvent their personalities.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Quanta Sees Quarter Gains HOT STOCKSQuanta Computer of Taiwan, the world's largest contract laptop PC maker, said it expected its third-quarter laptop shipments to rise at least 20 percent from the second quarter, amid strong demand.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am JoikuSpot Premium Edition, Secure WLAN (Wi-Fi) HotSpot for Mobile Phones, Unveiled TodayGARDEN CITY, Finland, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Joikusoft Oy Ltd. today announces JoikuSpot Premium Edition, an operator grade secure mobile software solution that turns S60 mobile phones instantly to mobile WLAN (Wi-Fi) HotSpots.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Jul 2008 | 11:00 am Ahead of the Bell: Macrovision started at 'Buy'Macrovision Solutions Corp.'s combination with Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. creates a "powerhouse" in digital media technology, according to one analyst, who started coverage of the media technology...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 10:23 am TrueCrypt 6.0 Releasedruphus13 writes "While most of the US was celebrating Independence Day, the true fellow geeks over at TrueCrypt released version 6.0 of TrueCrypt over the long weekend. The new version touts two major upgrades. 'First, TrueCrypt now performs parallel encryption and decryption operations on multi-core systems, giving you a phenomenal speedup if you have more than one processor available. Second, it now has the ability to hide an entire operating system, so even if you're forced to reveal your pre-boot password to an adversary, you can give them one that boots into a plausible decoy operating system, with your hidden operating system remaining completely undetectable.' The software has been released under the 'TrueCrypt License,' which is not OSI approved."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 8 Jul 2008 | 9:36 am Activision's merger with Vivendi will shake gaming biz (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jul 2008 | 9:30 am BBtv: Russell Porter with Alice Russell, pt. 2 (music)UK-based Russell Porter chronicles alt music culture in the Porter Report with aggressive wit and offbeat charm. Today, part two of his exclusive two-part interview for Boing Boing tv with the soulful Brit singer-songwriter Alice Russell, whose musical influences include Chaka Khan, Jill Scott, Aretha Franklin, and Minnie Riperton. Here's the Brighton beauty's Wikipedia entry (with a decent discography); here's her MySpace page with tons of music clips, and gig dates. Link to Boing Boing tv episode with discussion, downloadable video, and instructions for subscribing to the BBtv video podcast. Previous PORTER REPORT episodes on BBtv: Source: Boing Boing | 8 Jul 2008 | 7:32 am Google and YouTube play name-that-room gameSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 7:00 am Silicon Valley's biggest social networkerSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 7:00 am Quite a resumeSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 7:00 am The namesSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 7:00 am Icahn's Yahoo bid gets a pushSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 7:00 am Handling Flash Crowds From Your Garageslashdotmsiriv writes "This paper from Microsoft Research describes the issues and tradeoffs a typical garage innovator encounters when building low-cost, scalable Internet services. The paper is a more formal analysis of the problems encountered and solutions employed a few months back when Animoto, with its new Facebook app, had to scale by a factor of 10 in 3 days. In addition, the article offers an overview of the current state of utility computing (S3, EC2, etc.) and of the most common strategies for building scalable Internet services."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 8 Jul 2008 | 6:50 am Bebo hires ex-Google exec for EuropeBebo has hired Kate Burns to spearhead its European operation and to deliver on new parent-company AOL's ambitious plans to catch rivals Facebook and MySpace. Burns, who was Google's first employee outside...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 6:26 am Giga-byte, Chunghwa to Launch Linux M528 MID in August (PC World)PC World - Giga-byte and Chunghwa will launch the M528 MID in Taiwan this August.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jul 2008 | 6:10 am Pioneer to sell Blu-ray disc recordersPioneer Corp. will start selling Blu-ray disc recorders in Japan sometime before March 2009, the company said Tuesday, the latest in a string of Japanese electronics makers entering the increasingly competitive...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 5:38 am video: Doug Rushkoff at the Personal Democracy Forum
Old-school Boing Boing pal Douglas Rushkoff is an incredibly provocative, engaging, and entertaining speaker. Last week, he did the opening "invocation" for the Personal Democracy Forum where he riffed semi-freeform on a slew of topics, from branding to participatory media to the theme of his next book, Corporatized. The video is now online.Douglas Rushkoff at the Personal Democracy Forum (Blip.tv) Source: Boing Boing | 8 Jul 2008 | 5:37 am Same Dev Tools/Language/Framework For Everyone?AC writes "Upper management of the company I work at recently declared that all new development should be done with a single combination of development tools, language, and framework. The main rationale is that people can be relocated from one group / project to another faster, because they don't need to learn a new environment when they switch. Of course the chosen language / framework used by everybody does not need to be the best tool for the job, but it should be good enough to allow every project to get done. What does Slashdot think about this? Is it OK to use the same development tools and language for every project, instead of choosing what fits best? Will the time saved be sufficient to offset the time lost to the 'not the best tool for the job' environment developers will be forced to use?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 8 Jul 2008 | 4:06 am Quiz: What Should You Really Fear?In The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki told us to go with the flow. In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell advised that we trust our gut. In The Science of Fear, Canadian journalist Dan Gardner warns us to start second-guessing both the media-driven popular consensus and our instincts. Fatally bad decision-making occurs when the gut — the subconscious mechanism of self-preservation that got us through the pre-CNN epochs — identifies a media-amplified image, story, or statistic as a clear and present danger. The resulting inchoate sense of foreboding causes us to grossly overestimate the danger of highly unlikely threats (West Nile virus, terrorist attacks, abduction, plane crashes, shark attacks) and underestimate far more serious, if mundane, threats (car accidents). Our best defense against the media's (mostly) well-intentioned Chicken Littles? Do the math, Gardner tells us, and turn off the television.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Jul 2008 | 4:00 am 100th Anniversary of Kinemacolor1908: Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion-picture process is demonstrated at a scientific meeting in Paris. 1908? Really? It seems as if most of the '30s movies were produced in black-and-white, with the occasional color blockbuster like Gone With the Wind. Even the 1940s seemed to reserve color for big-budget productions. Were color movies really around 100 years ago? Yes. But no. British inventor Edward Turner actually received a patent on a three-color motion picture process in 1899. The problem is, his system didn't work all that well. He teamed up with Charles Urban, an American expatriate who was already a force in the fledgling British film industry, in 1901. Turner died soon thereafter, and Urban put Albert Smith on the project. Smith couldn't make Turner's process function and decided in 1906 to try a simpler two-color system using standard black-and-white film. But, instead of exposing the then-standard 16 frames a second, the new process exposed 32 frames. A spinning wheel of transparent filters exposed alternate frames in red and green. A similar wheel was used to project the film, and just as persistence of image makes movie frames merge into seemingly continuous motion, so the viewer's brain merged the two partial-color images into full color. Sort of. The system was notoriously deficient in presenting blues and getting a true white. And because the red frame and the green frame were shot 1/32 of a second apart, rapid motion caused color fringing where the red and green images didn't exactly overlap. (Not that we've ever seen a digital entertainment technology that blurs with rapid motion. Oh, no.) Urban previewed the system for the press in London before giving it a scientific debut in Paris, where film pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumière attended. Kinemacolor got its name in 1909 and was used to film George V's coronation as emperor of India at the Delhi Durbar in 1912. The process was more economical than the frame-by-frame hand tinting employed by some producers at the time, which sometimes used stencils to create several hundred color prints for commercial distribution. Kinemacolor also spawned some offshoots, including color-wheel systems that exposed side-by-side, rather than alternating, red and green images. Kinemacolor had plenty of drawbacks. It was one thing for a top-notch cinematographer to synchronize the spinning color wheel with the camera shutter, but quite another to expect projectionists all over the world to master the complicated system, even if their employers were willing to pay for the expensive equipment. Urban also had to fight patent battles. Then came World War I, which -- besides its tremendous toll in blood -- devastated European economies. Kinemacolor never caught on in the United States, some say because of opposition from the Motion Picture Patents Co., a trust of producers and film-stock suppliers (namely Eastman) that had huge power in the film industry. Starting in the late teens, it also had to face a superior technology, one that used stationary prisms instead of moving wheels to film and project color separations. Devised by MIT-trained engineers in Boston, it was called: Technicolor. Source: Various
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Jul 2008 | 4:00 am Gallery: Top 10 Worst Aircraft Ever : In the 105 years since the Wright Brothers took to the air, dreamers, engineers and aviation buffs have designed every kind of airplane imaginable in a never-ending quest to fly higher, faster or further. Some were innovative, some were beautiful and some even made history. Others, well, let's just say they must have looked good on paper. Here's a tribute to some of those that surely looked better on paper. Tupolev TU- 144The Concorde gets all the love, but Russia's Tupolev TU-144 was the first supersonic transport and the only commercial plane to exceed Mach 2. The "Concordski" was fast but plagued by bad luck. Three crashes -- including a dramatic mid-air breakup during the 1973 Paris Air Show -- relegated it largely to a lifetime delivering mail. It was mothballed in 1985 but briefly brought back a few years later as a research plane.  : The Comet was the premiere commercial jet airliner and a landmark in British aeronautics when it first flew in 1949. Today it's better known for its atrocious safety record. Of the 114 Comets built, 13 were involved in fatal accidents, most of them attributed to design flaws and metal fatigue.
The “Spruce Goose” was either a brilliant aircraft years ahead of its time or the biggest government boondoggle ever. By far the largest aircraft ever conceived -- its wingspan was 319 feet -- the Spruce Goose was intended to be a military transport plane. But it wasn't finished until well after World War II ended, rendering it both obsolete and irrelevant. It only flew once.  : The Zubr was as useless as it was ugly. Not only was it incapable of flying with the landing gear retracted, the airframe was so highly stressed the plane could disintegrate without warning. If that wasn't enough, it couldn't take off with a payload much heavier than a few cartons of cigarettes. The Polish Air Force had a few in its fleet during World War II, but none of them saw combat.  : Cool name, lousy plane. Dr. William Christmas didn't know the first thing about planes when he designed one for the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and it showed. He didn't think the plane needed wing struts, so of course they fell off during the plane's maiden flight in 1918.  : With its carbon-composite construction, unique design and rearward-facing turboprop engines, the Starship was a groundbreaking aircraft. But it was slow, difficult to fly and a bear to maintain. It took to the air in 1989, but Beechcraft only sold a few of the 53 it built.  : The Hiller VZ-1 hovercraft must have looked good on paper, because it sure didn't look good in the air. The idea was simple -- a fan provides lift and the pilot steers by shifting his weight. The Defense Department loved it until it saw the Pawnee in flight. It was good for just 16 mph and it tended to be uncontrollable. The project was killed in the late 1950s.  : Defense Department projects are famous for cost overruns, and General Dynamic’s flying wing bomber was a doozy. The Flying Dorito was the most troubled of the stealth aircraft projects the Pentagon embraced during the 1980s, experiencing problems with its radar systems and use of composite materials. When the projected cost of each plane ballooned to $165 million, a Secretary of Defense named Dick Cheney killed it in 1991.  : With its anemic engine, poor maneuverability and gunner blocking the pilot's view, the B.E. 2 was doomed from the start. German aces had no problem shooting them down during World War II, making it just about as useless as a fighter. It had no problems against German Zeppelins, though, so the plane lived out its days attacking them instead.  : The XB 15 was the largest plane ever built in the United States until the Spruce Goose came along. The heavy bomber was so massive it had passageways in the wings and bunks for the crew. But big planes need big engines and no one made one big enough to give the XB any kind of speed for its maiden flight in 1937. The plane maxed out at 200 mph, and the U.S. Army Air Corps killed the project. The only XB ever built saw duty as a cargo plane in the Caribbean during World War II.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Jul 2008 | 4:00 am Hans Reiser Leads Police to Nina's BodyPolice recover the body of Hans Reiser's murdered wife at a construction site in the Oakland Hills.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:45 am Programmer and murderer Hans Reiser leads police to wife's remains
Authorities in Oakland, CA are recovering Nina Reiser's remains after the Linux programmer-turned murderer Hans Reiser led police to the burial site just hours ago. Snip from ABC News: We spoke with the office of Reiser's attorney, William Dubois. They confirmed to us that Dubois and Reiser accompanied police into the park Monday afternoon. ABC News reports Reiser led them to his wife's remains. The body was found in a bag, buried deep in a ravine. The bag was well concealed and could have been easily overlooked. The remains have not yet been exhumed. Present at the scene were Judge Goodman, members of the district attorney's office, Oakland police and Alameda sheriffs.
Hans Reiser leads police to wife's remains
Wired's Threat Level blog has probably been doing the best coverage of this case all along: Hans Reiser Trial Archives [ WIRED Threat Level ] Source: Boing Boing | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:39 am Autonomy eyes benefits from data regulationAutonomy Corporation, the software company whose products helped uncover the actions of Jrome Kerviel, the rogue trader at Socit Gnrale, has been buoyed by growing demand for software that archives sensitive...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:13 am Hans Reiser Leads Police To Nina's Bodyjlmcgraw was the first to alert us that Hans Reiser has lead police to the location in the Oakland Hills where he buried the body of his wife Nina. (We discussed the rumor that he would do so last month.) SFGate.com reports that remains were recovered but have not yet been identified. Reiser is to be sentenced on Wednesday. CBS5 claims that Reiser made a deal for a reduced sentence, to 15 years, in exchange for revealing the body.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 8 Jul 2008 | 2:05 am Researchers Track Disease With Google News, Google.org MoneyEpidemiologists are tracking global disease by parsing Google News sources and public health list-serves into data that could provide an early warning about the next big disease outbreak.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Jul 2008 | 1:00 am Get Started With Movable TypeThe Movable Type blogging engine is easy to set up and customize. This Webmonkey tutorial covers the basics of templates, plug-ins and everything you'll need to inject some personality into a vanilla MT installation.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Jul 2008 | 12:30 am Telecoms Suing Municipalities That Plan Broadband AccessLaw.com has up a review of ongoing and historical cases of telecoms suing municipalities that plan broadband networks. In many cases those same telecoms have spent years ignoring as potential customers the cities and towns now undertaking Net infrastructure projects, only to turn around and sue them. One lawyer who has defended many municipalities in this position says, "This is similar to electrification a century ago when small towns and rural areas were left behind, so they formed their own authorities." Bob Frankston has been writing for years about the financial model of artificial scarcity that underlies the telecoms businss plans. This post gives some of the background to the telecoms' fear of abundance.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 8 Jul 2008 | 12:04 am How to Check Yourself for Genetic AbnormalitiesCurious about that wheat-gluten allergy that runs in the family? Wondering if you're more likely to develop cancer than your mate? There are several options for testing the stuff your genes are made of, ranging from online DNA-sequencing shops to home-brew basement kits. Grab your cotton swabs and confront your future.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Jul 2008 | 12:00 am Obituary: Harry LangeObituary: Nasa designer, he was recruited by Kubrick to create the look of 2001: A Space OdysseySource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Jul 2008 | 11:47 pm The Future of Mind Control of Physical Objectsmattnyc99 writes A month ago we discussed the accomplishment when researchers got monkeys to feed themselves with a robotic arm controlled by their brains. But after all the recent successful experiments with brain-computer interfaces, will the technology ever make it out of the lab and into hospitals — or even into our hands, for the closest thing imaginable to The Force? Popular Mechanics takes a look at the future of mind-machine control, speculating on several theoretical applications once brains can adapt to devices via direct communication between, say, synapse and prosthetic. Quoting the field's leading neuroscientist: 'For the foreseeable future, the main benefit is for rehabilitation. But the research is showing that the brain can act independently of the body. One day, you could be sitting in an office and controlling a device from across the room — or in another building. And it's not just flicking a switch. It could be a nanotool that's moving through a tiny environment, and you can control it and see what it's seeing.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 7 Jul 2008 | 11:09 pm Amendment Would Put Spy Lawsuits, Amnesty On Hold Pending InvestigationAs the Senate takes up the FISA bill on Tuesday, an odd amendment from New Mexico Democrat Sen. Jeff Bingaman appears to be the last real hope for those who want a court to rule on the legality of Bush's spying program.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 Jul 2008 | 11:00 pm Netroots Activists Mad at Obama for Spy Bill Flip-FlopNetroots activists are using a wiki and Barack Obama's social networking tool to try and change the senator's mind on an upcoming vote on overhauling warrantless wiretapping legislation.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 Jul 2008 | 8:42 pm
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