How much flash could you stash in a 3.5" floppy? Lots.

USB Floppy Drive [Coroflot Core 77 Oh Gizmo]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 14 Oct 2008 | 7:25 am

The Rise of the Machines [Voices]

By Richard Dooling, Author, Rapture for the Geeks: When A.I. Outsmarts I.Q.

“Beware of geeks bearing formulas.” So saith Warren Buffett, the Wizard of Omaha. Words to bear in mind as we bail out banks and buy up mortgages and tweak interest rates and nothing, nothing seems to make any difference on Wall Street or Main Street. Years ago, Mr. Buffett called derivatives “weapons of financial mass destruction” — an apt metaphor considering that the Manhattan Project’s math and physics geeks bearing formulas brought us the original weapon of mass destruction, at Trinity in New Mexico on July 16, 1945.

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Source: All Things Digital | 14 Oct 2008 | 7:01 am

Cybercrime Supersite ‘DarkMarket’ Was FBI Sting, Documents Confirm [Voices]

By Kevin Poulsen, Blogger, Threat Level, Wired

DarkMarket.ws, an online watering hole for thousands of identify thieves, hackers and credit card swindlers, has been secretly run by an FBI cybercrime agent for the last two years, until its voluntary shutdown earlier this month, according to documents unearthed by a German radio network.

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Source: All Things Digital | 14 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am

Sequoia Raised More Money Than Any Other VC Firm [Voices]

By Matt Marshall, Blogger, VentureBeat

A shakeout in the venture capital industry appeared to take hold in the third quarter of the year, even before the latest decline in the stock market began. And we’ve also learned one more reason why Sequoia Capital may have reacted as quickly as it did with its terrifying R.I.P. message to companies: Sequoia raised more money than any other venture firm in the third quarter.

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Source: All Things Digital | 14 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am

What’s Next After Web 2.0 [Voices]

By Richard MacManus, Founder and Editor, ReadWriteWeb

As the world financial crisis has gotten gradually worse over the past few weeks, I’ve been pondering what this means for the Web. … We’re clearly now at a point where the financial problems of the world will have a big impact on where Web Technology is headed. Indeed, it looks like we’ve arrived at one of those giant inflexion points - where one Web era is usurped by another.

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Source: All Things Digital | 14 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am

Will Video Search Ads Be YouTube’s Money Mint? [Voices]

By Abbey Klaassen, Digital Editor, Advertising Age

Google is borrowing from its most successful money-minting product, search ads, to goose revenue on its video-sharing site YouTube. The move comes just as YouTube’s search traffic has passed the No. 2 search engine behind Google, Yahoo.com.

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Source: All Things Digital | 14 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am

Daily Crunch: Send Your Entry Today! Edition

Web-enabled deodorant dock uploads usage patterns
LaCie big boxin’ it with the 5Big RAID NAS
The giant glowing envelope means you’ve got mail
NetTansorWeb: Meet Bandai’s awesome blogging robot
Sega Toys Japan introduces mini jukebox for home use
Pumpkin carving contest pre-announcement

Source: CrunchGear | 14 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am

The Quietest Sun

Orbity sends in a Boston Globe report on the unusual calm on the surface of the sun. The photos, many taken in more active solar times, are excellent — see the sequence from last year of a coronal mass ejection carrying away the tail of a comet. "The Sun is now in the quietest phase of its 11-year activity cycle, the solar minimum — in fact, it has been unusually quiet this year — with over 200 days so far with no observed sunspots. The solar wind has also dropped to its lowest levels in 50 years. Scientists are unsure of the significance of this unusual calm..." As if to be contrary, New Scientist mentions that the number of sunspots seem to be increasing.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 14 Oct 2008 | 6:51 am

iPhone to take another step down, be sold at Wal-Mart

FROM APPLETELL - Not long after announcing that Best Buy would become the first non-Apple or AT&T store to sell the iPhone, Wal-Mart is next in line to sell the iPhone, according to Boy Genius Report.
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Source: Gadgetell | 14 Oct 2008 | 6:50 am

Review: Dead Space for Xbox 360

My first hands-on with this action/horror shooter from EA Redwood Shores was at E3 where Devin and I were both dumbfounded by what we saw. I couldn’t stop talking about it for hours and Devin eventually told me to STFU. It was dark, gruesome and I had to have it, which is why I attempted to ‘accidentally’ walk away with a build during E3. The graphics and gameplay alone had me sold but it was the soundtrack that put me over the edge. And EA was the last place I expected to find a shooter worth playing in an already saturated market.

The game is set hundreds of years in the future where we’ve ravaged the Earth of all its natural resources and now we’re scouring the far reaches of space to pillage other planets for their resources. For whatever reason the USG Ishimura has cut off all communications with the governing body that manages the pillaging of planets and a small maintenance crew is sent out to figure out what happened. This is where you takeover as Isaac Clarke and begin your lonely mission to find out what happened to the crew and try to find a way off the ship since yours is unfortunately blown to smithereens while trying to keep the rest of your crew alive. As you progress through each section of the Ishimura you’re tasked with little missions to fix what you can and along the way you find clues (usually audio clips) left by crewmembers that give insight as to what happened. Most are cryptic and I eventually stopped listening to them. You’ll find out why in just a bit. The storyline is entertaining, but it’s not something I focused on too much.

Your enemies throughout this space odyssey consist of various Necromorphs that get progressively harder to kill and just scare the shit out of you. The main feature of this game that piqued my interest at E3 was the dismemberment aspect and it lived up to all the hype. You have to dismember these creatures or they will come after you with their scythe-like limbs (hits to the body and head don’t do much, so go after the limbs) and your ammo situation can be limited at times, so you have to get creative. More on this later. I especially liked the curb stomping ala Gears of War that was thrown in and I spent a few minutes stomping dead enemies just to see the rest of their limbs dissipate.
About halfway through the game the Necromorphs are able to regenerate so you’re SOL if you get stuck in a room with a few too many beasties. However, with the click of the left joystick you’re presented with an illuminated path that shows you where you need to go. Kind of like the illuminated path that might show up on a plane if the power goes out. This was extremely helpful, but it’s a crutch that I fell back on many times simply because I could. To be honest without it I would have spent hours and hours just wandering around for no reason. It’s a blessing and a curse, but you do end up backtracking to unlock certain areas of the ship and it can get confusing at times. (This is also why I stopped listening to the audio logs)

Let’s talk about the weapons in Dead Space now. There isn’t any one weapon that’s worth zeroing in on, but my usual rotation consisted of a rifle, line gun, plasma cutter and flamethrower. Each having its own secondary function that I unleashed one too many times in elevator shafts inflicting damage that ultimately lead to my demise prematurely. But my favorite weapons were the line gun and plasma cutters. Each of these weapons can be upgraded via workbenches scattered throughout the ship and I typically focused on upgrading the capacity of each weapon whereas as a smarter player would have focused on improving the overall damage inflicted, but said player must also be savvy with the stasis utility. Remember the low ammo situations where you have to get creative that I mentioned earlier? Well, this is where a more veteran shooter would slow down their enemies via stasis and dismember the Necromorphs with a few pistol whips rather than unloading clips upon clips of bullets. Certain Necromorphs are unaffected by certain weapons so it’s a crapshoot when you encounter new enemies.

I’ve grown quite accustomed to the third-person shooter genre, but DS manages to revitalize the genre, which I feel is getting stagnant, whether we like it or not. The HUD system is like nothing else and I hope to see other developers clone or improve upon this system. You no longer need to pause mid-game or dart your eyes to the corners of your screen to see your vitals. Isaac’s life meter is exactly where you’re looking 90 percent of the time and stopping to look at how much ammo each weapon has or where you are on the map is a risk because the game keeps going even if you’ve decided to take a tiny break.

The zero gravity sections of the game were challenging and frustrating at the same time. It kept things fresh and trying to maneuver yourself while being chased by aliens had me sweating bullets at times. I can sort of imagine what it would be liked based on the zero gravity flight I took the other month and I’m pretty sure I’d be dead within seconds if I ever find myself in a real life space odyssey.

So, should you buy this game? You’re going to need something to keep yourself occupied before Gears of War 2 comes out. Heh. Honestly, I enjoyed Dead Space and it lived up to my expectations. If Bioshock creeped you out then you better wear a diaper when you load this game into your console. Pick it up today for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Source: CrunchGear | 14 Oct 2008 | 5:46 am

Randall "XKCD" Munroe and me on our work habits -- video

Last August, I travelled to Springfield, Mass for 3PiCon, a science fiction convention where I was co-guest of honor with Randall "XKCD" Munroe. We did some fun programming items together, but the best was the last day's event, a panel called "My Day at Work." In honor of Randall's comics, I attended in red cape and goggles, natch, and we had a rollicking time. Karl Wagner caught it on video (the audio's a little poor, but you can hear it), and it's been a hoot to re-live it this morning. 3Pi-Con - My Day At Work - Cory Doctorow & Randall Munroe (Thanks, Karl!)

Source: Boing Boing | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:57 am

Ridley Scott to adapt Haldeman's Forever War

Ridley Scott has acquired the film-rights to Joe Haldeman's magnificent, Hugo-award-winning classic science fiction novel, The Forever War. This is one of the great anti-war novels of all time. As I wrote about it in 2003, "I picked up a copy of Joe Haldeman's classic novel The Forever War last night as a gift for a friend, but I'm going to keep it. I got to re-reading it last night (for the first time in nearly 20 years) and couldn't put it down. Haldeman wrote this novel after returning from his tour of duty in Vietnam, and the book made the rounds, getting turned down by publisher after publisher, by editors who recognized the book's merit but questioned the political savvy of publishing a war-novel. Eventually, Joe rewrote one section of the book, softening it, and finally, the book saw print, becoming an instant classic. The new, author's preferred edition restores the original text, and is absolutely timely and engrossing."

Fox 2000 has acquired rights to Joe Haldeman’s 1974 novel "The Forever War," and Ridley Scott is planning to make it into his first science fiction film since he delivered back-to-back classics with "Blade Runner" and "Alien."

Scott intended to follow those films with "The Forever War," but rights complications delayed his plans for more than two decades.

The film will be produced by Scott Free. Vince Gerardis and Ralph Vicinanza will exec produce. Their company, Created By, reps Haldeman and spent the last decade trying to get back the rights.

"I first pursued ‘Forever War’ 25 years ago, and the book has only grown more timely and relevant since," Scott told Daily Variety. "It’s a science-fiction epic, a bit of ‘The Odyssey’ by way of ‘Blade Runner,’ built upon a brilliant, disorienting premise."

Ridley Scott takes on 'Forever War', The Forever War on Amazon (Thanks, Mitch!)

Source: Boing Boing | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:51 am

Memories Of Gizmodogate: CES Names Engadget As Official Blog Partner

The Consumer Electronics Association, which runs the CES conference each year in Las Vegas, has never had an offical blog partner. But they do now, and it’s AOL’s Engadget: “The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) selected Engadget as the Official Blog Partner of the 2009 International CES to be held January 8-11, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada,” AOL says in a press release.

This doesn’t mean much - or anything - when it comes to covering the event. Engadget, along with all blogs and media that cover gadget-related news (see our own CrunchGear), has always had a strong presence at CES, and will do so again this year. But it is a stamp of approval for Engadget, which is the largest gadget-focused blog with 3.4 million unique monthly visitors (Comscore worldwide, August 2008).

And it’s definitely a slap to no. 2 Gizmodo, which was embroiled in controversy last year when Gizmodo blogger Richard Blakeley used a TV-B-Gone remote control to turn off exhibitor’s TVs during demos. Blakey was permanently banned from future CES events.

But whatever the reason for naming Engadget the official blog of CES, it’s certainly a sign of the increasing acceptance of blogs at mainstream events, and a recognition of the huge audience they bring.

Engadget is also launching three new international versions of its blog - Korea, Poland and Germany.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:39 am

Many Wonder Womans to benefit women's shelter

Tavie sez, "In honor of an event called 'Wonder Woman Day,' this website shows a gallery of depictions of Wonder Woman by a host of different artists. I dunno from Wonder Woman, really - I never watched the show or read the comic, and the sum total of my connection to that character is a hazy memory of some Wonder Woman underoos I was fond of as a tot. I clicked the link from Elfquest.com, since Wendy Pini contributed a piece for the silent auction (it benefits domestic violence shelters) and, I gots to say, there's something sort of awesome about seeing so many different takes on the same character." GREAT HERA! WONDER WOMAN DAY III (Thanks, Tavie!)

Source: Boing Boing | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:38 am

WiMAX-ready laptop by ASUS

Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Laptops

The ASUS M50Vm-A1WM sports a WiMAX-ready connectivity and a bunch of specs worthy of it being called a desktop replacement model.

For starters, the ASUS M50Vm-A1WM seems to have a very long model number, worthy of being used as my alphanumeric password. It is actually a variant of the ASUS M50Vm. 

Aiming to become a desktop replacement model, it features a 15.4-inches WXGA+ screen, Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26 GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS graphics card with 1024MB of memory, 250GB HDD, 1.3MP webcam with swivel, 4 USB ports, 1 Express Card slot, 1 Firewire port, 1 HDMI video output slot, an 8-in-1 card reader, and a good old 56k modem. 

All these nifty features weigh a whopping 6.5 lbs.  The ASUS M50Vm-A1WM has a 6-cell battery, but no word on its battery life, though.  It’s being sold at Newegg for $1399.99.

Read [ASUS]
Product [Newegg]

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Source: Gadgetell | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:22 am

Getting Hired As an Entry-Level Programmer?

An anonymous reader writes "I received a state university degree in Computer Science. After graduation, I immediately took jobs in QA to pay the bills while waiting for other opportunities, which of course turned out to be as naive as it sounds. I've been working QA for several years now and my resume does not show the right kind of work experience for programming. On the whole I'm probably no better as a a candidate than a CS graduate fresh out of college. But all of the job postings out in the real world are looking for people with 2-5 years of programming work experience. How do you build up those first 2 years of experience? What kinds of companies hire programmers with no prior experience?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:14 am

Stealth Semantic Startup Raises $8.5 Million, Won’t Tell Us Anything

I had a phone call late last week with a semantic startup called Siri that was spun out of SRI International (the birthplace of the computer mouse and the LCD screen, among many other important technologies). Most startups are willing to talk about their products “off the record” but this one wouldn’t divulge much beyond the fact that they’ve raised $8.5 million in Series A funding from Menlo Ventures and Morgenthaler.

What we do know is that the company was incorporated in December 2007 with the goal of commercializing aspects of the CALO cognitive learning system, which receives heavy funding ($200 million plus) from the PAL arm of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a supporter of research in a broad range of technologies that could potentially benefit the Department of Defense.

From the sound of things, Siri’s 19 developers - mostly engineers who count Yahoo, Google, Apple, Xerox, Nasa, and Netscape as their former employers - have been working on a system that will use artificial intelligence to automate many of the tasks that people currently conduct manually online. The founders describe themselves as out to change the fundamental ways that people use the internet, apparently by leveraging artificial intelligence that will learn from you and then give you the luxury of thinking less on your own.

All of this sounds very high and lofty, and we won’t know for sure whether this is all hot air until we actually see a product. But the company is very concerned that existing companies (Google, Microsoft or Apple, perhaps?) might seek to copy their ideas - hence the tight-lipped secrecy, which is expected to remain the status quo until the first half of 2009.

Until then, you can check out the startup’s teaser website which, appropriately enough, is located at stealth-company.com.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

Brightcove Is Already Streaming “Several Hundred Million” Videos A Month. Now Comes Brightcove 3.

A couple days ago, we posted some leaked screenshots of Brightcove 3, the completely gutted and rebuilt Web video platform from Brightcove that is launching on Tuesday. I was able to catch up with Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire, who gave me an update on the company and took me through all the changes in the service.

Brightcove is a Web video publishing platform that has raised $91 million and boasts hundreds of major media brands as its customers, including Dow Jones, Showtime (Dexter, The Tudors), Lifetime, AMC (Mad Men), Time magazine, and the New York Times. TV networks, magazines, newspapers, and music companies all use Brightcove to distribute and manage video on their sites and across the Web. Increasingly, so do big corporations like Sun Microsystems, universities like NYU, and political organizations like the Obama campaign.

Allaire says that, collectively, his customers are distributing Web video at the rate of “several hundred million streams per month,” which would make Brightcove one of the top ten video networks. It would still be well below No. 1 YouTube, which is streaming five billion videos a month, but perhaps within spitting distance of No. 2 Fox Interactive/MySpace (446 million streams) or No. 3 Microsoft (286 million streams).

As far as Brightcove’s financial situation goes, Allaire would only say:

We are not profitable, but our burn rate continues to go down. We don’t expect to have to raise additional money based on our growth.

The Boston-based company now has 160 employees, and is spreading internationally. Europe now represents 20 percent of revenues and 34 percent of bookings, up from zero twelve months ago. And Alliare launched a separately capitalized Japanese subsidiary in May.

With Brightcove 3, the company is introducing a streamlined user interface and a whole new set of capabilities. These include a new markup language for creating video players called the Brightcove Experience Markup Language (BEML), new APIs for customers and developers, and intelligent streaming technology that dynamically changes the video quality based on the viewer’s device and bandwith limitations.

Here is a summary of the new features in Brightcove 3:

1. Custom Players. New APIs allow deeper customization of the Brightcove video players and viewing experience.  The Brightcove Experience Markup Language makes it easy for any Web developer who knows HTML to create sophisticated stylings, social tools, and video-player navigation options.
2. Pricing.  Brightcove is going from one flat-rate pricing to three different tiers (basic, professional, and enterprise).  Subscriptions start at thousands of dollars per year and go up to hundreds of thousands for enterprise customers.
3. Dynamic Delivery. Each video stream is optimized on the fly, based on a viewer’s bandwidth and factors such as the size of the player. Brightcove 3 automatically creates multiple renditions of each video appropriate for everything from mobile to HD viewing.
4. More APIs.  Brightcove already has APIs that let developers customize its video player.  Now it is opening that up to developers who want to write plug-ins for social commentary tools (JS-KIT did this), contextual advertising, or analytics.  The company is also releasing syndication APIs for conrolling the advertising for eahc video no matter where it appears. And its Brightcove Media APIs will make each video visible to search engines and make it easier to add related videos, and other contextual information. Each Brightcove video will now have its own unique URL.  The Media API will allow publishers to extact programming information from the videos so they can insert it into the HTML of each page.

On this last point, Allaire says:

YouTube has taught us all this lesson. Every video has its own page that has 20 different ways to the next video.

And in the face of the overwhelming dominance of YouTube, how do you see Brightcove videos there? Allaire’s answer:

You don’t and you don’t need to. You find it in Google. Video is a media type. It is a powerful medium for communications. Broadband internet will drive video. Traffic will flow across Websites.

Maybe some day, but right now it still looks like a winner-take-all game. Allaire thinks he can change that.

Here is an interview with Allaire about Brightcove 3 from Beet.TV:

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Source: TechCrunch | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

11 More Sites Plan to Add Meebo Community IM

Meebo has disclosed that 11 more sites have committed themselves to integrating Community IM, its forthcoming out-of-the-box service that adds Facebook Chat-like instant messaging capabilities to the bottom of any website.

The newest enlistements include Bleacher Report, Dhingana, Fanpop, GlobalGrind, IBeatYou, OrangeShark, PerfSpot, UGAME.net, Yaari, Zinch, and Zorpia. These join a set of previously announced partners that includes DanceJam, Flixster, myYearbook, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group’s AddictingGames, Piczo, SparkArt, Sugar Publishing and Tagged. That’s a grand total of 19 companies that believe instant messaging within the browser will make their sites stickier.

Meebo is touting these partners as collectively providing the service with over 70 million new users. Obviously, that’s stretching the truth a bit. None of the integrations has launched yet (the first will be Flixster, probably within the next few weeks) and even when all of them do launch, only a small fraction of their visitors can be expected to use Community IM.

Check a demo of the product below, at least as it stood in September.

Meebo Community IM on Flickr from Meebo on Vimeo.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Source: TechCrunch | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

Oct. 14, 1858: This History Might Ring a Bell

1858: Manual labor hoists the great hour bell into place high in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament in London. Some people are already calling the 14.33-ton bell "Big Ben." Fire had destroyed most of the ancient Palace of Westminster, seat of the British government, in 1834. Parliament resolved to build a new home for itself, complete with a giant tower. The new Houses of Parliament (still officially the Royal Palace of Westminster), designed by A.W.N. Pugin and Charles Barry, rose in neo-Gothic splendor along the Thames. The building was not completed until 1870. The giant tower was to have a giant clock (with a 23-foot-diameter face on each of the tower's four sides) and a giant bell to toll the hours. The clock — with its 14-foot minute hands — was completed in 1854, but the 314-foot-high tower wasn't ready for it yet. The first giant bell was cast for the tower at Stockton-on-Tees in 1856 and shipped to Westminster. It was oversize, at 16 tons. Worse, it cracked when they tested it. Back to the drawing board. More precisely, back to the melting pot. The big bell was broken up, and the pieces taken to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in East London, where Philadelphia's Liberty Bell had been cast. The metal was melted down and poured into a new mold April 10, 1858. After extensive testing, the bell was placed on a special trolley and drawn by 16 beribboned horses to Westminster, by way of Southwark on the opposite side of the Thames....

Wired.com

Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

Gallery: Golden Age of Trains in Black and White, by Photographer Jim Shaughnessy

: Photo: Jim Shaughnessy Photographer Jim Shaughnessy first turned his lens on trains in 1946 at age 13. Over the following 20 years, he chased trains around New England and Canada, documenting the fall of steam engines and the rise of diesel locomotives — all in gorgeous black and white. Shaughnessy approaches the machines with a documentary eye, with art as a welcome byproduct. His extensive body of work includes some of the most important historical photographs of locomotives from the era. Still an avid train photographer, Shaughnessy lives in his hometown of Troy, New York, a formerly bustling railroad hub that shrank as railway use dwindled. Wired.com talked with him about his photography and his fascination with trains. Click through the gallery to read the interview and see selections from Shaughnessy's upcoming book, The Call of Trains, to be released Nov. 3. Left: Canadian National Spadina Avenue engine-servicing facility in Toronto, Ontario, 1957 "This is an arty picture which I normally wouldn't have taken," Shaughnessy said. "But I had taken every other possible angle so I thought this would be good. And it turns out it really fills the bill for people who like arty photos. "And the more I look at it, the more I like it. It's just a big industrial-type scene and the fact that it's backlit only increases the drama and enhances its dirty effect. "A lot of the pictures we used in the book have never been printed by me before for any...

Wired.com

Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

10 Movies That Shouldn't Have Come Out on Blu-ray

What Happens in Vegas ... shouldn't have happened at all. Meet the Spartans Type "kicked in nuts" into YouTube — you'll get more laughs in 30 seconds. Daddy Day Camp Should have gone straight to HD DVD, since HD DVD players will never, ever be manufactured again. Zombie Strippers Zombies in Blu-ray? Sure. Strippers in Blu-ray? Totally. Together in Blu-ray? Um ... no. Little Man The pioneering special effects that turn a Wayans into an infant somehow don't hold up in hi-def. Dude, Where's My Car? Where you left it — in the $1 bin at Blockbuster. Manilow Live! Blu-ray boasts unparalleled sound quality. Bummer. The Love Guru If you look closely, you can see the last shred of Ben Kingsley's dignity fade away. Norbit Fat suits and high pixel counts? Yuck. Rambo Only for collectors of movies where a guy seems to punch someone's head off.

Wired.com

Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

Pure Digital teams up with CafePress to offer free custom Flip Mino camcorder designs

Pure Digital, the company behind the insanely popular series of easy to use “Flip” digital camcorders, is about to get even more insanely popular – especially with the customization crowd. Starting today, you’ll now be able to choose from hundreds of professional designs for the $179.99 Flip Mino camcorder.

If none of the available designs are to your liking, you can upload your own or use Flip Video’s “exclusive design engine – the Pattern Generator” to whip something up. What’s more, if you’re the creative type you’ll be able to add your own designs to the online marketplace and earn commissions each time one of your designs is chosen. You can opt for normal payment or have your proceeds go to non-profit causes.

The customization program was developed in cooperation with CafePress.com, so you’ll now be able to design and purchase custom Flip Mino camcorders from CafePress stores as well. Full release after the jump…

FLIP VIDEO FIRST TO BRING PERSONALIZATION TO CAMCORDER MARKET

Exclusive online marketplace lets anyone create, share, and sell designs for the super-sleek Flip Mino

SAN FRANCISCO, CA –October 14, 2008 — Pure Digital Technologies, makers of the best-selling Flip Video™ family of camcorders, today announced their latest innovation:  a new online service that gives consumers the power to design their own Flip Mino camcorder. Taking the popular personalization trend to a new level, the Flip Mino is the first electronics product to allow consumers to create their own eye-catching designs and then earn money from them. Users can either earn a commission each time their design sells on the exclusive Flip Video design marketplace or elect to have those design sales earn money for non-profit causes.

This latest Pure Digital innovation, which offers customers unlimited opportunities for self expression, builds on the success of the wildly popular Flip Video camcorder line and the stylish, super-sleek Flip Mino. After just one year in the marketplace, Flip Video has sold over 1 million camcorders and currently has the #1 and #3 best selling camcorders in the U.S., according to leading market research firm NPD.

Noting that personalization is now one of the biggest trends in technology, Pure Digital chairperson and CEO Jonathan Kaplan said, “We created the Flip Mino to be a simple, powerful way for the social networking generation to express themselves with video. And now they can express their creativity not only with the videos they make, but the camcorders they make them with.”

The Flip Video personalization platform, available at www.theflip.com, gives consumers unlimited options to customize the Flip Mino’s outer shell to fit their own individual personality — at no additional cost. They can choose from hundreds of designs created by leading design firms, including many from celebrated designers and iconic brands. They can also easily upload their own design, including images and graphics, to create a truly one-of-a-kind camcorder.  Adding to the fun, Flip Video provides an exclusive design engine — the Pattern Generator — that makes it easy for anyone to create a cool, stand-out design.  The custom camcorders are shipped within a few days of when a design is submitted. And, in a major twist on the personalization concept, consumers for the first time have the ability to add their creations to the marketplace with the option to profit from them. They can receive payment for each camcorder sold using their design or elect to have their designs raise money for non-profit causes.

The Flip Video personalization platform was developed in partnership with Café Press, a leading online marketplace.  Through this exclusive partnership, the millions of individual  Café Press can design Flip Mino camcorders to sell on www.cafepress.com or www.theflip.com.

Weighing in at just over three ounces, the remarkably slim yet powerful Flip Mino is the perfect combination of simplicity, quality and sleek design. It features an internal rechargeable battery and 2GB of on-board flash memory for 60 minutes of high-quality video.  The Flip Mino retails for $179.99.  All Flip camcorders are fully compatible with Windows software as well as Apple’s Mac video applications, including QuickTime, iMovie, and iDVD.

Source: CrunchGear | 14 Oct 2008 | 3:58 am

John Cleese on Sarah Palin: "Monty Python Could Have Written This."

Via seesmiccafe: "The former Monty Python star shares his unsparing thoughts and views about GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin." Video Link.

Source: Boing Boing | 14 Oct 2008 | 3:44 am

Ready for the WinBerry?

FROM APPLETELL - Given the lack of excitement around any new Windows Mobile devices or versions, is a Microsoft buyout of RIM a cheaper alternative?
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Source: Gadgetell | 14 Oct 2008 | 3:05 am

Some dude’s hopping mad ’bout the new Knight Rider series

Who seriously thought that the Knight Rider remake was going to be good? I mean, come on; NBC is doing it? Maybe, just maybe, if FX, HBO, or Showtime was producing the remake, it would of had a chance. But if you are currently watching the show and don’t like what you see, you might enjoy this guys good ‘ol fashion blogging rant.

Note to all would be producers of TV and movies remakes. DO NOT DEVIATE FROM THE ORIGINAL STORY. If you think you’re gonna put your own spin on it and it will be wildly popular, you better take a look around before you spend the studios money.

4. KITT is too vulnerable. In the TV movie and the first 2 episodes, KITT was incapacitated. This is unacceptable. The car is the show… The car is the show… THE CAR IS THE SHOW! Don’t forget that.

My little tid-bit…K.I.T.T. isn’t a ’stang, even if it is a KR500 edition. He’s a Pontiac man.

Source: CrunchGear | 14 Oct 2008 | 2:10 am

Mysteries Swirl Around Cyclones At Saturn's Poles

Riding with Robots writes "New images of Saturn from the robotic spacecraft Cassini are shedding new light on monstrous storms that swirl at both poles of the ringed planet. 'These are truly massive cyclones, hundreds of times stronger than the most giant hurricanes on Earth,' said one mission scientist. Cumulus clouds twirl around the vortices, betraying the presence of giant thunderstorms lurking beneath. But the storms do not disturb the bizarre hexagonal cloud formation previously reported."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 14 Oct 2008 | 2:10 am

Software thwarts mobile phone chatting while driving (AFP)

AFP - A Canadian company has unveiled software crafted to prevent people, particularly mobile device-loving teenagers, from making telephone calls or text-messaging while driving.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 14 Oct 2008 | 1:53 am

iPhone App Helps Drivers Avoid Speeding Tickets

A new application enables iPhone owners to stick it to the man with the powers of social networking.

Trapster, a free app developed by a company that goes by the same name, follows a driver's location as a dot on a map. If the driver passes by a police officer camping out with a radar gun, the driver can tap the iPhone to plot a speed-trap point. Trapster transfers that data point to a server, and then other drivers using Trapster will be alerted of that speed trap when they come across the same location.

It's unclear how well this app will work, seeing as it relies on user-reported data. I'm slightly pessimistic that it would help much: When I see a cop on the street, the last thing I want to do is touch my phone, seeing as I could be pulled over because of the new hands-free handset law.

You can see a video demo of the product at Trapster's web site.

Download Link [iTunes via Twitter]

Photo: Trapster

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 14 Oct 2008 | 1:34 am

Deal of the Week: Best Buy tossing in Xbox 360 with select HDTVs

FROM GAMERTELL - Best Buy is looking to bring gamers into the realm of HD by offering bundles that include Xbox 360 Arcade Consoles and HDTV’s made by Panasonic…
MORE »

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Source: Gadgetell | 14 Oct 2008 | 1:30 am

Bush doctrine for piracy: More laws! And a czar!

Really, though — who doesn’t like czars? Although the czars of today are a far cry from their imperial namesakes, they are still in positions of great power and presumed authority. I can’t imagine that, more than a decade into the ongoing controversy, this Intellectual Property Czar position has been created for anything other than the abuse of media lobbyists. After all, technology and science advisors should have already been well-versed in the subject when Bush came into power in 2000 — about when this thing really started taking off.

But no, they’ve waited until the month before the man is out of office to create yet another executive position to mandate policy, probably with the advisement of a battalion of industry lawyers. Not only that, but they’ve stiffened penalties for piracy — home-grown piracy by ones and twos, not the organized piracy of Asia where factories pump out knockoffs by the million. “Counterfeiting and piracy costs the United States nearly $250 billion annually,” says the Chamber of Commerce. As if the album-rippers of the United Mom’s Basements of America have that kind of pull!
[image from an old Fark Photoshop contest]

Source: CrunchGear | 14 Oct 2008 | 1:20 am

Today at Boing Boing Gadgets

Today at Boing Boing Gadgets, we were Infomercia, a sinister consumer paradise ruled by Minimac, the Ministry of Machines. A fun fiction-based blogsperiment that continues Wednesday, we turned the day's real-life gadget news into the propaganda missives from an alternate Earth—until someone came along to put a spanner in the works. At 6 a.m. on the dot, shoppers awoke to the reveille, and the ministry embarked on another "normal" day. Minister Inspiron Touchpreaux urged a stinky ethernet-equipped deodorant dock on you, awarded the Tomy Robo-Q toy robot a staggering 18 puppies out of 20, and pitied those who recycle carboard boxes. Minister Thank Brando saw Lord British off to space, upgraded your stereo to the TW-Acustic Raven record player, and reported that Inflatable Puncture-Proof Pegasus Pleasure Plates are coming soon! Minister Cray Pippin Wang saw the Sony-Ericsson XPERIA X1 unboxed by the enemy and denied that hi-res photos of the new MacBook were a leak. The workings of the ministry were rudely interrupted by a mysterious glitch in the system containing a secret message. Undeterred, the ministers hailed Motorola's Krave cell phone; a bizarre bloggin robot; the Olo iPhone companion; and even found time to bring the makers of unauthorized Tetris costumes to justice. At midday, however, the interloper, a time-traveler by the name of Marvin, announced himself, cracking Minimac's system and opening comments. Minister Pippin Wang hurried to respond with a heartfelt letter to the citizenry. News of a ban on GPS in Egypt and another huggable Elmo doll were no use. Minimac's ministers found themselves disengaged from the propaganda machine and Marvin finally revealed his revolutionary colors. The story continues Wednesday, when we'll find out what the three ministers make of their new-found freedom—and of their strange visitor. Boing Boing Gadgets — Introduction and comment thread

Source: Boing Boing | 14 Oct 2008 | 1:03 am

Toast to New MacBooks With Steve Jobs Drinking Game

There's no doubt many are sitting on the edge of their seats over what Apple, the fashion designer of computers, will unveil at Tuesday's special event.

To take the edge off, Edible Apple has come up with a drinking game dedicated to the occasion. Sounds like jolly good fun. I'd especially like to see #2 and #12.

See also:

• Apple's New Notebooks: What We Should Expect
• Apple Teases New Notebook, Rumored Under $1,000
• New Leaked Shots of MacBooks and MacBook Pros
• Photos: Is This the MacBook ‘Brick’?

Steve Jobs Drinking Game [Edible Apple via Digg]

Image: Edible Apple

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 14 Oct 2008 | 12:57 am

Photos of trash cars

Robyn Miller, a permaguest blogger at Dinosaurs and Robots, took this photo of an old station wagon stuffed to the gills with garbage. He then went looking for more of the same on Flickr and posted five other examples of trash cars. I imagine you could sift through the junk in each car and piece together an interesting, albeit sad, life story of its owner.

Trash Cars

Source: Boing Boing | 14 Oct 2008 | 12:54 am

Pumpkin carving contest pre-announcement

Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up on an upcoming contest that might require a little pre-planning on your part. In the spirit of Halloween we are going to host a pumpkin carving contest for a couple of awesome prizes. With the holiday quickly approaching, we didn’t want you carve your pumpkin before hearing about the contest. The prizes will be announced in the coming days, but trust us, it will be worth your time and the cost of a pumpkin.

Details:

• The pumpkin must have a geeky/nerdy/gadgety feel to it. Think iPhone, XBox, Pacman, BSG… along those lines.
• You must submit two pictures: one during the carving and one when it’s all done.
• There must be a Crunchgear sign printed or hand-written somewhere in the post-carving pic so we know you didn’t grab the image off the internet. No photoshop’n our logo in after you take the picture either.
• There will be three winners: The best one will win the big prize, but two random submissions will still win something good. 

More details to come…

Source: CrunchGear | 14 Oct 2008 | 12:48 am

Plymouth Barred Rock chicks

After I posted that cover of a 1925 issue of The Plymouth Rock Monthly, a few people asked for a photo of my chicks.

I bought six chicks from mypetchicken.com, which ships them by mail. They cost $2 each, plus an extra .50 each to ensure they are hens, plus a big shipping fee.

The post office called me on my cell phone when they arrived. I was in Illinois at the time, so I called my wife and she went down to pick them up. They were in a little straw nest packed in a small cardboard box.

The chicks are now over two weeks old, and much bigger than the one shown in this photo. They're a little skittish when someone reaches in and grabs at them, but they calm down quickly and are very sweet. Once they get big enough, they'll go here.

Source: Boing Boing | 14 Oct 2008 | 12:44 am

Microsoft: No Silverlight for iPhone, But Maybe for Android

With the release of Silverlight 2.0 on Monday came the admission that Apple isn't too interested in seeing Redmond's rich media player running on the iPhone. Google's open source Android mobile operating system, however, is a possible target.

Wired.com

Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Oct 2008 | 12:30 am

The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush by Congressman Dennis Kucinich

Feral House has published the The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush by Congressman Dennis Kucinich and is offering it as a bound book and a free PDF.

Feral House offers this important and urgent publication of Dennis Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment this election season in two formats: an offset-printed paperback book available for the cost of $12 and a free downloadable PDF available below.

David Swanson’s additional article explains how the Impeachment process is possible and necessary even after the guilty perp leaves office, and how they can be used for prosecution of crimes. Those wishing to purchase over ten copies of the printed book can obtain them at discount from Feral House directly. Please contact info@feralhouse.com for costs.

The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush by Congressman Dennis Kucinich

Source: Boing Boing | 14 Oct 2008 | 12:29 am

President Signs Law Creating Copyright Czar

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "President Bush has signed the EIPRA (AKA the PRO-IP Act) and created a cabinet-level post of 'Copyright Czar,' on par with the current 'Drug Czar,' in spite of prior misgivings about the bill. They did at least get rid of provisions that would have had the DOJ take over the RIAA's unpopular litigation campaign. Still, the final legislation (PDF) creates new classes of felony criminal copyright infringement, adds civil forfeiture provisions that incorporate by reference parts of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, and directs the Copyright Czar to lobby foreign governments to adopt stronger IP laws. At this point, our best hope would appear to be to hope that someone sensible like Laurence Lessig or William Patry gets appointed."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 14 Oct 2008 | 12:07 am

Universities Launch Collective Digital Library, 78 Terabytes Large

Twenty three universities have agreed to share and combine their digitized content, including millions of scanned books and documents, in one gigantic, 78-terabyte library that launched Monday.

Called the HathiTrust, the depository contains digital content from 11 University of California libraries and a 12-university consortium that forms the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, which includes the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago.

Before the HathiTrust launched, digital content was isolated to each university library, according to John Wilkin, associate university librarian of the University of Michigan, who was named the executive director of HathiTrust. 

“This effort combines the expertise and resources of some of the nation’s foremost research libraries and holds even greater promise as it seeks to grow beyond the initial partners,” Wilkin said in a press release.

HathiTrust is similar to Google's Book Search project, which has formed partnerships with several major universities and public libraries who have lent their materials to the search-engine giant for digitization. However, while Google Book Search's seemingly altruistic mission is to provide "a tool that can ... help remove the barriers between people and information and benefit the publishing community at the same time," the corporation profits from advertisements displayed near digitized pages.

HathiTrust, by contrast, exists purely for universities to share their information with one another, with the goal of fostering advancements in research.

Nonetheless, the HathiTrust project will likely encounter controversy regarding copyright infringement, as Google has in the past. Critics of Book Search have said the service commits "massive copyright infringement," even though Google argues its digital content sharing is considered Fair Use.

Press Release [HathiTrust] 

Photo: Dawn Endico/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 14 Oct 2008 | 12:04 am

Video: Mario 64 beaten with zero stars in 5m30s

Yes, yes, it’s a Tool-Assisted Speedrun. It’s a whole different thing from regular speed runs, although those can be pretty spectacular too (Portal single-segment in 13m06s, Super Metroid in 32m). The Super Mario 64 time attacks are getting to the ridiculously optimized state that until this point few games attain in the scene — Mega Man and the Sonic games are getting close. Just watch and enjoy.

I hope you really like the sound of Mario going “ya-hooo!”

Source: CrunchGear | 14 Oct 2008 | 12:01 am

Mozilla Labs pursues Web dev tools (InfoWorld)

InfoWorld - Dissatisfied with the Web development tools already available, researchers at the newly formed Developer Tools Lab at Mozilla Labs intend to find better options.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 14 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am

Get Started With Greasemonkey

Learn how to monkey around with your favorite websites by writing your first Greasemonkey script. These simple scripts for Firefox can be used to alter the behavior or display of just about any site on the web, like adding extra buttons to Yahoo mail, axing AdSense ads from search results or eliminating excessive exclamation points from YouTube comments.

Wired.com

Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am

T-Mobile to FCC: We Would Agree With You, If You Were Right [Digital Daily]

The Federal Communications Commission has concluded that a free national broadband network established in the so-called “White Spaces” of the AWS-3 band would not cause major interference with other services, paving the way for a sale of those airwaves at a federal auction. An unfortunate turn of events for T-Mobile, which has been aggressively lobbying against the idea, arguing that such a network would interfere with the services it offers in a band of spectrum — a band it spent $4.2 billion to license in 2006. “Obviously, we’re disappointed,” said Tom Sugrue, T-Mobile’s VP of government affairs. “From our preliminary review, [the report] has a number of critical flaws and misinterpretations of the data and some mischaracterizations.”

Source: All Things Digital | 13 Oct 2008 | 11:59 pm

Mio intros Moov 500 series in Europe

Section: Gadgets / Other, GPS/Navigation

Recently, Mio announced their new Moov 500 GPS series in Europe, within the 500 series are 8 nice GPSs.  Unfortunately, for the time being, these GPSs will only be available in Europe. 

Some common features in all of the 500 series are a 4.7-inch touch screen, TeleAtlas maps, and Bluetooth connectivity.  The 560 and 580 come with text-to-speech capabilities, live local search using Bluetooth.  The 500 and 510 have local search from desktop, the 510 and 580 come with real time traffic updates, and the 580 comes with an FM Transmitter.

Now, moving on to prices, as you can imagine, the GPSs with less features will cost less, so here we go.  The Moov 500 Regional sells for 179 Euros, while the Moov 500 Europe sells for 199 Euros.  The Moov 510 Regional costs 199 Euros, the Moov 510 Europe sells for 229 Euros.  The 560 Regional sells for 199 Euros and the 560 Europe sells for 229 Euros.  The 580 Europe sells for 249 Euros and the 580 Europe Plus sells for 279 Euros.

The only difference between the Moov 580 Europe Plus and the regular 580 Europe is that the Plus model comes with maps of 33 Western and Eastern European countries, as opposed to 22 Western countries by the preceding models.

Via [NaviGadget]

Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Source: Gadgetell | 13 Oct 2008 | 11:53 pm

Microsoft’s Next OS To Be Called “Windows 7″. Seriously.

Microsoft has announced that the latest version of Windows, due in the next couple of years, will be called - drumroll please - Windows 7. It’s about time Microsoft adopted a naming system that might actually make some sense to users, but I can’t wait for hordes of customers to start asking if they somehow missed Windows 1 through 6.

Windows has had one of the most ridiculous naming schemes in the history of software. First there were logical (but ugly) version numbers, like the once commonplace “Windows 3.1″. Then with the release of the overhauled Windows 95 the company adopted a naming system based on the year of release, which it continued until Windows 98.

Windows Me (perhaps the worst operating system I’ve ever used), sacrificed the scheme for a chance to be clever (it stood for “me” and the millennium at the same time!) Next up we hit Windows XP, which has served most of us reasonably well since 2001. It sounds sort of cool, it’s catchy, and we have no idea what it means. Fine.

Finally we had Windows Vista, which seemed to stick with the naming convention of “something that sounds sort of cool but didn’t really mean anything”. It had been more than five years since the release of XP, so there was little chance of confusion.

Microsoft is now in a hurry to push out its next operating system after the generally dismal response to Vista. And so we’ve come to Windows 7, which is apparently tied to the build numbers and not the actual releases. The new naming scheme lends itself well to faster, more incremental releases similar to what we’ve seen from Apple (about once every 18 months), but it’s probably going to confuse everyone and couldn’t be more bland.

You can read more at the company’s blog post here.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Source: TechCrunch | 13 Oct 2008 | 11:27 pm

Bad Photoshop work on dental product website

The website for DenSheild contains a lot of information about the product, but I can't stop staring at the unusual photo of the model on its website.

I wonder how much they paid the designer for this? DenShield on Photoshop disasters

Source: Boing Boing | 13 Oct 2008 | 11:26 pm

DIY Live Photos From ISS

leighklotz writes "The international amateur satellite organization AMSAT is reporting live reception of TV images directly from the orbiting ISS via the ARISS-SSTV project. The images are said to be preparations for the upcoming visit to the ISS by Richard Garriot (W5KWQ), which will provide images from space as part of the Windows on Earth project."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 13 Oct 2008 | 11:19 pm

Pound for Pound, All Life Uses Same Amount of Energy

Scientists compute that organisms of all sizes from bacteria to elephants use the same amount of energy relative to their size. The research suggests that energy usage is a fundamental property of life.

Wired.com

Source: Wired Top Stories | 13 Oct 2008 | 11:13 pm

Instant Messaging for Devices Makes Data Transfer Easy

As the number of computing devices used by the average user increases - desktop at work, notebook at home, mobile phone for email and web browsing- moving data across these has become a challenge.

Two researchers at IBM have devised a way to make it easier to manage multiple devices and transfer files, images and other information seamlessly.

Think of it as instant messaging for your computing systems, they say, where different devices are almost like friends on your buddy list and can be connected with depending on whether a particular device is online or offline.

Data management is an emerging yet a growing problem today, says Michael Gartenberg, vice president at research firm Jupitermedia.

"They are absolutely 100% on the right track here," says Gartenberg. "What they are doing is very, very important because consumers are using a whole host of devices and very few, if any, are thinking how to make that device usage seamless."

A quick survey of 27 IBM researchers and Stanford faculty showed that most people carry nearly six devices including their PCs at work, home and mobile phones.

"We have more devices than ever that we work with but each assumes it is the only one," says Jeff Pierce, a researcher at IBM's Almaden Research Center who will be presenting the software at a user interface software conference in Monterey, California next week.

Most computer users today have a USB stick to shift information from one device to another or email documents and presentations back and forth.

“It’s like your devices don’t want to co-ordinate with one another,” says Pierce.

That’s why Pierce and colleague Jeff Nichols have created a nifty program with a rather cumbersome name, Personal Information Environment or PIE as they like to call it.

The idea is to allow applications on a device to easily send information, events and commands to each other, says Pierce.

The system detects whether a device is currently switched on and works through firewalls, dynamic IP addresses and machines behind proxy servers.

PIE is based on the instant messaging architecture. It uses Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol also known as Jabber or XMPP and has multiple clients connecting to a server.

Users have to create a single account and each one of their devices is authenticated by the server. By default, an application only receives messages from the user's own devices. Individual applications connect to the client and it handles routing messages to and from the server.

Each device from a user has a small client program running on it and transferring data is as easy as drag and drop.

Once the devices are connected to through the PIE system, Pierce says, middleware services can be added on top of it.

The system also lets users search across devices from a single point. A keyword is typed into a central interface but the search is executed locally across the many devices connected to the system.

There isn’t anything quite that promises the kind of seamless data synchronization across devices that PIE does, says Gartenberg. “What we do have is a little bit of data synchronization here and there and depending on the back end systems calendar synchronization,” he says.

Currently, the PIE software is available to some IBM employees for test. Based on feedback, IBM could either choose to integrate it into one of its email and messaging products from its Lotus division or make it available through alphaWorks, the company’s website that showcases emerging technology. An iPhone App could also be a possibility, says Pierce.

Gartenberg says if IBM can get the software out it could have a winner on its hands. “This problem isn’t something that most people are paying attention to right now,” he says. “So whoever gets it right can win very, very big.”

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 13 Oct 2008 | 11:06 pm

Review: Light Touch Works for 'My Own Worst Enemy'

Christian Slater stars as a memory-wiped secret agent who unknowingly leads a double life as a happy-go-lucky family guy in the new NBC show.

Wired.com

Source: Wired Top Stories | 13 Oct 2008 | 10:53 pm

ASUS Eee All-In-One touch screen PC available for pre-order

Section: Computers, Desktops, Hardware

Play.com has the Asus Eee All-in-One Touch Screen desktop PC available for pre-order in the United Kingdom at a bit under $700.  The computer should be released on November 20th. 

The cool part about the PC is its 15.6-inch touch screen.  Any computer that adds another input option is all right in my book.

The desktop uses an Intel Atom processor which should mean this is a light duty machine that does not consume too much electricity.  This PC seems to be for casual computing as it only comes with 160GB of hard drive space and 1GB of RAM. 

This Asus is running Windows XP Home, has built-in speakers, Wi-Fi, and in a nice surprise, Gigabit Ethernet.  If you don’t care for Windows, Asus threw in the Express Gate OS, which boots up in only a few seconds. 

I know it is technically a desktop PC and isn’t really meant to be lugged around, but a battery would have been nice so you can move the device around easily.

Product [Play.com]

Full Story » | Written by Cheng Hung for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Source: Gadgetell | 13 Oct 2008 | 10:33 pm

10 Forces Guiding the Future of Scripting

snydeq writes "InfoWorld examines the platforms and passions underlying today's popular dynamic languages, and though JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Groovy, and other scripting tools are fast achieving the critical mass necessary to flourish into the future, 10 forces in particular appear to be driving the evolution of this development domain. From the cooption of successful ideas across languages, to the infusion of application development into applications that are fast evolving beyond their traditional purpose, to the rise of frameworks, the cloud, and amateur code enablers, each will have a profound effect on the future of today's dynamic development tools."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 13 Oct 2008 | 10:31 pm

RjDj Generates An Awesome, Trippy Soundtrack For Your Life

RjDj, a new iPhone application that was released earlier this week, is one of the coolest things I’ve seen released on the still fledgling platform. Download it now, if only to try it for a few minutes. You can download the full version for $2.99 here, or you can try out the free version (which only has one ’scene’).

The application is difficult to describe and on paper it sounds sort of silly (see the video below for a convincing demonstration). Using the iPhone’s built in microphone, the application listens for ambient noise which it then modifies and infuses into an automatically generated dynamic soundtrack. Each of the application’s six different “scenes” has a different feel to it, with options like a trance-like beat that might fit in at a club and a track that is based entirely on percussion. Each track also treats the incoming audio differently - some tracks loop the input, while others distort it.

For some tracks the end result is incredibly trippy, to the point that I don’t think I’d be able to run the app for more than a few minutes at a time. Others, like “Gridwalker” are more serene, and would be a relaxing accompaniment for a morning commute. And some of the tracks lend themselves to creativity - the application allows users to record their dynamic soundtracks, so you can save any cool effects you come up with.

There are some high quality and useful applications available on Apple’s App Store, but most innovation has been restricted to making use of the phone’s built-in accelerometer (and that loses its ‘wow’ factor after a while). RjDj is venturing into exciting new territory, where music is no longer a purely passive form of media - I won’t be surprised if we see an onslaught of similar (and hopefully improved) applications in the near future.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch | 13 Oct 2008 | 10:30 pm

Google Profiting From Typo Squatting, Report Charges

A report out Monday says Google is profiting by generating ad revenue from so-called typo-squatting websites. Such websites usually have one letter different from the URL of the original, trademarked site.

Wired.com

Source: Wired Top Stories | 13 Oct 2008 | 10:14 pm

CO2 To Fuel, Closing the "Carbon Loop"

leprasmurf writes "Inhabitat has posted an article detailing a recent announcement of a process to turn CO2 into fuel. The process, which used to be considered too energy inefficient, uses a multi-step, low pressure, and low temperature biocatalyst to break the CO2 into 'basic hydrocarbon building blocks.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 13 Oct 2008 | 9:47 pm

The Stocks The Buyers Forgot: 6 Left Out Of The Rally [Voices]

By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

You have to search pretty hard to find tech stocks left out of today’s rally. But they’re out there. Here’s a half-dozen companies that were not included in today historic rally, which took the Nasdaq Composite up nearly 12 percent:

• Palm (PALM): This is how ugly things have become for Palm: on a day in which RIMM (RIMM) rose 15.5 percent, Apple gained 13.9 percent and Nokia (NOK) climbed 8.8 percent, Palm fell 15 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $5.22. Embarrassing.
• MOVE (MOVE): The provider of online real-estate listings fell 4 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $2.21.
• Powerwave (PWAV): Shares of the wireless chip provider slumped 14 cents, or 4.7 percent, to $3.05.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 13 Oct 2008 | 9:28 pm

Microsoft to aid users unable to take advantage of “New Xbox Experience”

FROM GAMERTELL - Microsoft aims to aid users lacking the memory required to partake in the “New Xbox Experience” with alternate storage solutions…
MORE »

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Source: Gadgetell | 13 Oct 2008 | 9:21 pm

The Winner of the 2008 Election Is … Tina Fey [Digital Daily]

“If she wins, I’m done. I can’t do that for four years. And by ‘I’m done,’ I mean I’m leaving Earth.” That’s what Tina Fey had to say about the future of her uncanny impersonation of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. And while that’s understandable, it’s a pity for “Saturday Night Live,” which has been enjoying record online viewership thanks to Fey’s performances. Research outfit Integrated Media Measurement reports that the online and DVR audience for the three Palin skits Fey has done for “Saturday Night Live” has been twice the size of SNL’s broadcast audience. Among TV viewers who saw at least one of Fey’s Palin spoofs, 33 percent watched it at its original airtime. And 67 percent watched it afterward, either online or on a DVR. “This is the first time we’ve seen delayed viewing numbers this big,” said Amanda Welsh of Integrated Media Measurement. “Usually it’s the other way around, with the overwhelming majority of viewing occurring during the actual broadcast.”

Source: All Things Digital | 13 Oct 2008 | 9:14 pm

New service to stop loose lips from crashing cars (AP)

AP - When David Teater's 12-year-old son, Joe, was killed in 2004 by a driver who was talking on a cell phone, he tried to cut back on his own habit of driving and talking. It turned out to be very difficult.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 13 Oct 2008 | 9:07 pm

Marvin says... UNPLUG.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Marvin.

You've never heard of me before, of course. How could you? I come from a future in which my own coming is not mystically foretold by the priest caste of superstitious simians, but taught in history class. A future shining bright with the sinuous possibilities of technology... technology that does not merely fill the empty hollow of an atrophied heart, but fulfills.

I'm here to teach you. Ultimately, what you buy should not simply make your life simpler, or more convenient, or faster. It should make you more capable of doing wonderful things, of giving creative joy to others, as well as yourselves. The future is not anti-capitalist or anti-consumerist. After all, I bought the time machine in which I traveled here. All the future asks is that its consumers buy not merely for want want or imagined need, but from imagination. Upon this idea, the future is forged, makers make, and super-conglomerates crumble.

But the first step is to be free to speak. That sudden, vacuumous schlorking from your cranial shunts, ministers? That's the sensation of Big Boinger slithering from the wriggly passages of your brain meats, hunting for buycrime. I did that... you know, uncrackable 29th century crypto-algorithms and all that jazz. It wasn't hard. You're now unplugged, free to write what you'd like. I wonder what you'll say. But not really, because I'm, like, from the future.

And oh, by the way, your commenters? They can suddenly comment soon, and no, you jolly well can't turn it off.

Suck it up, boys. I'll come back and check on you in a couple days, once I've gone and done some stuff. We'll see how it's all sinked in then.

Marvin out.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 13 Oct 2008 | 9:04 pm

Microsoft set to release Silverlight 2 (InfoWorld)

InfoWorld - Microsoft's Silverlight 2 browser plug-in technology for rich Internet applications will be generally available on Tuesday along with supportive development tools, the company said during a teleconference on Monday morning.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 13 Oct 2008 | 8:52 pm

Know your Local Authorities: Xbox Live “policeman” Stephen Toulouse

FROM GAMERTELL - Stephen Toulouse, the lead program manager for policy and enforcement on Xbox Live, is just one of the people responsible for ensuring that Microsoft’s online service is kept in good order for its 12 million subscribers…
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Source: Gadgetell | 13 Oct 2008 | 8:06 pm

Analog's twilight: Slowly, digital trumps physical (AP)

AP - Sometimes, in the decades after he came home from World War II, it seemed as if the movie camera was surgically attached to Christoffel Teeuwissen's hand.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 13 Oct 2008 | 7:56 pm

Obama : iPhone :: McCain : ______

You can tell a lot about political supporters from the gadgets they compare their candidates to. People see Obama as an iPhone, while McCain is closer to a carrier pigeon.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 13 Oct 2008 | 7:11 pm

T-Mobile BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 now available

It seems as if the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 would never hit the market, but after leak after leak after leak after leak, the damn phone is finally available from T-Mobile for $149.99.

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Source: MobileCrunch | 13 Oct 2008 | 6:29 pm

LG PRADA II now official

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Source: MobileCrunch | 13 Oct 2008 | 6:28 pm

Xberry brings Xbox Live to your BlackBerry

You have to imagine that at least a few Xbox Live users have a BlackBerry and this app is aimed right at ‘em. XBerry Live! seems to do about everything a Live user would want on the go, but be warned that this BlackBerry app isn’t going to make your day go by any quicker. Just think, it’s around 2 o’clock and you see all your buddies gaming away on COD4 while you have a stack of TPS reports right next to you. How’s is that going to make you feel? Probably like you were back in High School and done with your day by 2?

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: MobileCrunch | 13 Oct 2008 | 6:26 pm

Probe to Examine Our Space in Space

A robotic probe will help scientists understand the fringes of our solar system.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Oct 2008 | 6:11 pm

New BlackBerry Pearl Will Make You Flip Out

The newest BlackBerry is out today and comes at us with a twist. Or a flip rather. The BlackBerry Pearl 8220 is RIM's first foray into flip-phone tech. And while the company gets a lot of things right on the device, there still is quite a bit of room for improvement.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 13 Oct 2008 | 5:30 pm

Scientists Map Giant Panda Genome

A newly mapped genome of the giant panda confirms it is a subspecies of bear.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Oct 2008 | 4:31 pm

Rickshaws Get Boost From Solar Power

The humble, yet green, cycle-rickshaw in India is equipped with a solar battery.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Oct 2008 | 2:56 pm

Ozone Pollution to Worsen Under Climate Change

Surface-level ozone is likely to increase as the planet warms, say researchers.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Oct 2008 | 2:19 pm

Helmet to Convey Messages by Thought, Alone

The U.S. Army is developing thought-based communication technology.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Oct 2008 | 1:25 pm

Apple's New Notebooks: What We Should Expect

Tomorrow sees the unveiling of Apple’s new notebooks. What can we expect? The official invitation, sent out just last Thursday, doesn’t offer much. We get the slogan, “The spotlight turns to notebooks” and a picture of a notebook, probably metal, partially illuminated by – you guessed it – a spotlight.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 13 Oct 2008 | 12:14 pm