Eric Jackson is the Founder and Managing Member of Ironfire Capital LLC, an activist hedge fund. In 2007, he founded the “Yahoo! Plan B” group, a Web-based group of 150 Yahoo shareholders who own more than 3.2 million shares, in a campaign to change the company’s direction.

Mophie

Snake-proof baby crib from early 1900s

Phil Torrone at Make Blog posted these photos of the Betterbaby snake-proof baby crib from the early 20th century. Betterbaby snake proof crib

Blog of funny newspaper clippings

Criggo is a delightful blog that posts scans of funny things from newspapers. Criggo
(AFP)

AFP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has opened up a new front in his battle with Republican John McCain for the White House: videogames.

Intel expects profits to hold up in 4Q (AP)

AP - Intel Corp. has provided some insight into the state of global PC demand, telling Wall Street that while technology spending may be slumping, the chip maker fully expects its profits to hold steady.

McCain-Palin campaign calls for respect for fair use

The obvious problem with this solution? It assumes that YouTube should prioritize the campaigns' fair use rights, rather than those of the rest of us. That seems precisely backwards, since the most exciting new possibilities on YouTube are for amateur political expression by the voters themselves. After all, the campaigns have no trouble getting the same ads out on television and radio, options not available to most YouTubers.

Let's start by identifying the real villains here: the major news media outlets. They are the ones censoring these political ads, based on the use of a few seconds of their footage. The networks need to back off and give fair use a wide berth. So let's start by shaming the bad guys here. In addition, lawsuits might help. Under the DMCA, both the campaigns themselves and YouTube have standing to sue those who send clearly bogus takedown notices. (EFF has represented video creators in a number of these cases, including against Viacom.)

Fafblog brings us the real Obama facts

FACT! Barack Obama has been friends with Rashid Khalidi, an openly Arab Arab who is so Arab he writes about other Arabs. Is Barack Obama part of the international Arab conspiracy to trick white people into thinking about Arabs? Answer: also maybe.

FACT! Barack Obama talks about his white mother and his white grandparents and the white half of his family that is white, but did you know that half of his family is also black? In fact, half his family is so black that Obama keeps them hidden away on a whole other continent where they speak in a strange, otherworldly code which is not even English. What is Obama trying to hide? Possibly something black. BONUS FACT! Barack Obama may be half-white and half-black, but he married a woman who is completely black. In a way, doesn't that make him three-quarters black? Math doesn't lie, people!

FACT! "Obama" is an ancient Muslim name meaning "He Who Deceives the White Man with his Telegenic Charisma, Angular Good Looks, and Deceptively Conservative Policy Proposals." Coincidence? Or co-bama?

Sharp introduces the world’s first AQUOS with built-in Blu-ray recorder

Today in Japan, Sharp announced the AQUOS DX series of LCD TVs with built-in Blu-ray recorders across the 16-set line. The DX series also features a 1-bit digital amp, digital W tuner to enable users to record video while watching TV. Content is recorded in H.264/AVC, which records at 5x extended HD video or roughly 22 hours of video on a 50GB disc. The sets range from 26- to 52-inches (26- and 32-inch models are only 720p) and will be available in Japan starting November 20. Pricing is not yet available.

PR

SanDisk announces the Sansa slotMusic players, we wonder why

Today, SanDisk announced the Sansa slotMusic player, which it claims is the easiest MP3 player for “loading and listening to music on the go.” The slotMusic microSD cards were announced in September and today we see a $20 music player to play said microSD cards.

Most of us are carrying cell phones with microSD slots with some archaic MP3 player built-in, so the cards themselves seem to make sense, but who wants to spend another $20 on a player that comes with craptacular headphones? Maybe the artist-branded ABBA or Robin Thicke slotMusic players will be enticing enough to spend $35 on. Yeah, I didn’t think so. No wonder Samsung wants to purchase SanDisk.

Researchers expect hackers to prey on cell phones (AP)

PS3 Firmware update is now live [Update: So is v5.0 for the PSP]

So says the official PlayStation Twitter thing. Firmware v2.5 brings Bluetooth support, auto shutoff after downloads have completed, Flash 9 support and other goodies that we reported on yesterday. Fire up those BBQ grills! No word on firmware v5.0 for the PSP though. Just got the message on my PSP to update the firmware. Sweet.

Who’s Afraid of Chrome? Flock 2 Released With Even More Bells And Whistles

Design philosophies could hardly be further apart. Google’s ironically named Chrome browser, which launched last month, advanced the notion that browsers ought to be neither seen nor heard. Like operating systems, they should sit obediently in the background and make sure that the applications on top of them run quickly, reliably and safely.

Flock has always taken the opposite approach, insisting that the browser should provide a lot of upfront functionality on its own, not fade out of sight. Tonight’s release of Flock 2.0 - which brings the Mozilla-based browser up-to-speed with Firefox 3 technology and adds new support for MySpace and media RSS - reasserts this notion by giving the browser an even higher level of visibility than before.

Flock 2.0 is the first browser to take advantage of media RSS, a standard developed by Yahoo that syndicates rich content like photos and videos much like regular RSS syndicates blog posts. Now Flock users can add media RSS feeds to their My World start pages from any website that provides them, such as 12seconds.tv and Qik. VP of Marketing and Business Development Dan Burkhart describes media RSS as the quickest way for small to medium sized startups to integrate with Flock.

MySpace has also been finally integrated into Flock, allowing users to see their MySpace contacts in a sidebar where they can easily message them and share the content they find while surfing the web. Perhaps most usefully, Flock users can now comment on friends’ profiles using videos and photos without needing to know any HTML code. The developers at Flock have been working closely with MySpace to get all of this set up, and they’ve leveraged the Data Availability platform to do so.

Lastly, and most importantly, the Flock’s underlying code has been upgraded to match that of Firefox 3. While most of the improvements are under the hood and include things such as better memory management, you’ll notice certain distinguishing Firefox 3 features such as the Awesome Bar. Burkhart says that the upgrade to Firefox 3 code was non-trivial and took about 3 months of focused attention.

What’s not in this release? Instant messaging is notably absent, although Burkhart says it’s definitely in the works and will support the most commonly used IM protocols. No word yet on when it will launch but it sounds like Flock’s most important feature at this time, especially now that MySpace support has been released.

Flock has been download over six million times since the company’s founding 3 years ago and the first version’s launch last Fall. The browser is marketed primarily toward those in the 18-34 year old demographic that use social websites heavily.

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

What's a Supercar? It Does 200 MPH, Corners Like Cling Wrap, Attracts the Law.

Burning Question: How Much Computer Security Is Enough?

What's a Supercar? It Does 200 MPH, Corners Like Cling Wrap, Attracts the Law.

Wild Horses The definition of supercar varies widely, but three elements remain constant: speed in the neighborhood of 200 mph, cornering like the light cycles in Tron, and the ability to attract a parade of local law enforcement. You should buy a couple.

1 // Ferrari F430
$186,925, ferrariusa.com
While there really is no such thing as an entry-level car from the famed scuderia, Ferrari's bottom-of-the-line F430 is a great choice for hedge-fund jockeys itching to blow their first bonus. Its remarkable balance makes even nervous novices feel like experienced racers, but if you should accelerate beyond your pay grade and find yourself sideways, the F430 snaps back into line when you blip the throttle.
Wired: One of the best-handling cars ever made. Slick-shifting clutchless automated manual transmission (optional) saves you from stalling out in front of your date. Sweet exhaust note will quickly become your favorite song but isn't loud enough to necessitate cockpit yelling.
Tired: A measly 4 mph shy of joining the 200 club.

2 // Dodge Viper SRT10
$88,875, dodge.com
The engineering brief for the Viper must have gone something like this: "Affix enormous engine to wheels." The car didn't even have ABS brakes until 2001, and it still lacks traction control. Speaking of which, with 600 horsepower and no electronic nannies, it's not a car for the uninitiated. But at least you'll die smiling.
Wired: If you know how to steer with the throttle, you can accomplish wondrous things, from hairpins to straight-line bursts of speed up to 202 mph. We got 20 mpg hauling ass on the highway—pretty decent for a 10-cylinder, 8.4-liter (!) engine. Supercar bargain of the century.
Tired: More rattles than a maternity ward. Exhaust note is disappointingly meek. Egress requires finesse—and possibly a spotter

3 // Bentley Continental GT Speed
$203,600, bentleymotors.com
If you delight in comfort as well as velocity, might we suggest the GT Speed? By supercar standards, its looks are modest, but its performance is not: 202 mph in what feels like a rolling day spa. The machine is a civilized dream to drive—until you mash the Mr. Hyde pedal, and the Speed's monstrous W-12 engine terrifies with feats of frightening velocity.
Wired: Britishly composed, even while performing Americanly dumb maneuvers. The deepest, richest, most gorgeous paint job you've ever seen. Enough trunk space to stow all your cricket kit.
Tired: At 6,000 pounds, the car is not exactly nimble. No sunroof available.

4 // Lamborghini Murciélago LP640
$339,400, lamborghini.com
The Murciélago was designed to let you go very fast (211 mph) without getting killed, and the intention comes through. Its all-wheel drive and massive ceramic brakes (optional) are as adept at getting you out of trouble as the 640-hp V-12 is at causing it.
Wired: Scissor doors like the Countach poster in your childhood bedroom. Incredible engine roar makes you look forward to overpasses. Attracts exactly the kind of girl (or guy) you'd expect.
Tired: Yes, we are. The ever-present engine howl, granite-like seats, and Jameson-stiff suspension made us feel beat up after a couple of hours. Couldn't even fit a helmet in the front compartment, so we wore it instead. Seemed like a good idea.

Burning Question: How Much Computer Security Is Enough?

Put down that money order and step away from the Internet, sir. You could blow your kid's college fund on computer security doodads: biometric password protectors, remotely erasable hard drives, GPS tracking — every day, there's some new and irresistible offering for the paranoid. But what do you really need to protect your computer? Less than you think.

The gospel is familiar: An antivirus program paired with anti-spyware/malware measures will shield your PC from just about anything. In fact, the marketing of those products is so good that security apps are about the only software people still expect to pay for. But the best stuff doesn't cost a dime. Programs like AVG and Ad-Aware are free, and they won't hit you up for upgrades like the big security suites.

Those guardians are fine for Grandma's Gateway, but the truly savvy eschew them altogether. Even the most well-meaning program bogs down your box. And it's not hard to dodge infection; just abide by the basic tenets of Internet common sense: Don't click on mysterious email attachments, don't bother with the free pr0n, Ch3@p Vi@gr@, and Nigerian millions, and never open .exe files. Email is still one of the biggest infection vectors, so be cautious and use a good webmail service like Gmail, which automatically scans your messages. Don't leave your computer online when you're not on it. Beware of anything that immediately asks for personal information. Don't reuse passwords.

On the meatspace side, secure your Wi-Fi network and, most important, get a backup drive. Backup may not be the first item on your Web-safety list, but it should be; infection is no big deal if you can just wipe your machine clean. As PC-security demigod Bruce Schneier says, "Any countermeasures are almost optional once you have good backups."

Hardware geeks will notice a glaring omission from this list: encrypted hard drives. That's because only a few really add security, and only a few people really need them. "There's a lot of snake oil," says Lance James, who designs anti-phishing software. "Some of it works, but at that level, you're mostly addressing pedophiles." The most secure drives have onboard microprocessors that scramble data before writing it, but if you forget your password, you're screwed — there's absolutely no way to access your information. However, you're probably more than fine using encryption software like Private Disk.

But before you even go that far, take a step back. If you're really convinced you need ironclad PC security — and you don't work for a credit card company — you may have bigger issues than some puny computer virus. Freak.

MacBook Event keynote video now available

FROM APPLETELL - The keynote address video from today’s MacBook Event is now available from Apple’s website.
MORE »

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(BBtv) John Hodgman: More Information Than You Require. This is not a book trailer.

John Hodgman's new book MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE hits the streets on October 21, but by no means is today's episode of Boing Boing tv any sort of, oh, how do the marketing people say it -- it's not a book trailer, and it is by no means a promotional vehicle for said book.

No, we just noticed the star of Apple ads and Daily Show hijinks wandering aimlessly in the streets outside the BBtv studio this week. We invited him in for scotch and cocoa, and shared questions posed to him by BBtv viewers through the popular internet messaging website known as "The Twitter."

We don't know how all those books managed to stack themselves from studio floor to ceiling. We are not holding those books in front of our faces in the first 10 seconds of this episode so that you might see the cover -- we're doing low-impact pilates.

HEY LOOK, IT'S A CONTEST: If you would like to receive a Hodgmanically autographed copy of the book for which this episode is not a promotional trailer, reply to @xenijardin on The Twitter with the answer to this question:

What area of expertise does Hodgman credit Boing Boing tv for on page 592 of this excellent book?"

Link to Boing Boing tv blog post with instructions on how to subscribe to our daily video podcast. Here's the direct MP4 link to this episode.

Previously on Boing Boing tv:

* John Hodgman in BBtv's SPAMasterpiece Theater, Vol II: "Wuthering Wire Transfers."
* John Hodgman in BBtv's SPAMasterpiece Theater.
* John Hodgman: More Information Than You Require.

Fake Microsoft e-mail contains Trojan virus (CNET)

Software Holds Cell Phone Calls While Driving

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Tech Heaven is in Hong Kong

Section: Communications, Gadgets / Other, GPS/Navigation, Green, Household

The Hong Kong Trade Development Council is hosting their 28th Autumn Edition Hong Kong Electronics Fair this week, Sunday through Thursday.  With over 2,600 exhibitors, there is guaranteed to be some of the best new electronics and ideas on the planet at the event.  How can it not draw the best products?  It is the second largest electronics show in the world.

An exciting array of tech categories will be showcased including:

• Audio Visual
• Home Appliances
• In-Vehicle Electronics & GPS
• Office Automation & Equipment
• Personal Electronics

Browsing the exhibitor list makes me feel like I am in heaven.  The list seems never-ending and every item I see I want to pick up and play with! 

The Hong Kong Electronics Industry Association Award for Outstanding Innovation and Technology Products, an award meant to elevate creativity and innovation in the industry, will be awarded Tuesday. HKEIA is dedicated to driving and promoting the electronics industry.  The winners of the awards will be a great indication as to where the future of consumer electronics is heading.

There are three award categories:

• Consumer Electronics
• Portable Electronics
• Industrial Electronics



The fair showcases top brand names and their choice products in all their glory in an upscale Hall of Fame area.  Most attendees made this area a priority to visit.  A new In-Vehicle Electronics & GPS section features all things automobile related: entertainment, security, communication, and GPS products.  Digital World & Home Tech zones is huge with over 320 exhibitors showing new digital and household electronic products.  Here you will find “smart” appliances, security and personal care electronics.

Attendees will also have access to the Technology Exchange Zone where they can view and discuss new product ideas for future inventions.  Seminars will be presented all week by experts from HKTDC, Hong Kong Ltd., and China National Institute of Standardization.  Topics will include market trends, business opportunities and industry challenges. We will also hear the latest on green tech.

It would be great to be one of the lucky buyers to be in Hong Kong this week.  Being half a world away makes this event only news for most of us.  Return to Gadgetell for updates on the highlights! 

But, exhibitors, their contact information and some of their products can be seen at the Council’s Sourcing Service.


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

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Source: Gadgetell | 15 Oct 2008 | 2:31 am

Video: Dark Knight and Toy Story 2 mashup

Some people have way too much time on their hands.

via The Matt Hickey





Source: CrunchGear | 15 Oct 2008 | 2:30 am

Apple beefs up MacBook laptops, trims prices (AFP)

AFP - Apple has unveiled a revamped line of Macintosh laptop computers made leaner, slicker, faster and a bit more affordable.



Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 15 Oct 2008 | 2:15 am

Timothy F. Brick Re-Elected Chairman of Metropolitan Water Board of Directors

Timothy F. Brick, whose leadership has helped guide one of the nation's largest regional water agency's response to unprecedented supply and financial challenges, was unanimously re-elected today as chairman of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 15 Oct 2008 | 2:00 am

Vermont Sued Over Military Ballots

The U.S. Justice Department is suing the state of Vermont, claiming it violated the Uniformed Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, officials said Tuesday.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 15 Oct 2008 | 2:00 am

Rock Band accessories have gone too far



Am I right?

I’m okay with Rock Band and Guitar Hero as games, but this is too much. I’ve seen so many stories about how supposed “rock bands” are now making a living by touring and playing shows. It’s a f*cking game, people. Have some respect for the folks that really make music and take it seriously. You do not need smoke and lighting effects for your stupid little game.

Available next month from PDP because one of you will surely want this.





Source: CrunchGear | 15 Oct 2008 | 1:45 am

Ultizen Games launches Crazy Mouse for XBLA becoming the first Chinese-based studio to do so



Being the “Year of the Mouse”, China-based Ultizen Games announced today that Crazy Mouse will be available for download from XBLA starting tomorrow. The game features a crazy mouse that fancies himself a gastronomist like Remy from “Ratatouille” where you will attempt to make your way through 32 levels of maze-y fun. It’ll set you back 400 MS points or whatever they’re called, but you can earn up to 200 gamer points. Oh, and you can play with up to three friends in multi-player.





Source: CrunchGear | 15 Oct 2008 | 1:28 am

Gigabyte’s Open Overclocking Championship 2008 report


This is pretty cool. I’m all for tweaking your setup a little bit, but the guys at this Gigabyte-sponsored Championship in Taipei take it more seriously than I ever could. Maybe that’s because there was a $5000 prize at stake. Hmm…

The pictures are great if you’re a system builder: all cables and pipes and thermoses (thermi?) filled with liquid nitrogen. They had 11 full canisters for the participants to work their way through; now that’s a sign that this is a serious competition. There’s a lot to the story and if you’re an overclocker yourself, it’s definitely worth a look. For the record, a Finnish team called Sweden-2 took top honors but the Americans took home the “freestyle” prize. We tied with the Russkies for 2nd place overall, but they had a higher 3DMark score so they took the silver. Next time, Boris. Next time.







Source: CrunchGear | 15 Oct 2008 | 1:15 am

Macbook Air gets updated, shouts, “Don’t forget about me!”

FROM APPLETELL - With all the news about the major revamp of the Macbook family, it’s easy to forget that Apple also made a few revisions to the former favorite child, the Macbook Air. The Air now features the same NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics card as both the Macbook and Macbook Pro (though… MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 15 Oct 2008 | 1:03 am

MacBook price drops take AAPL stock price down with them

FROM APPLETELL - And so it goes with Wall Street. Half an hour before Apple’s MacBook event today, Apple was trading at $109.80 (down 0.46). We’re now half an hour after the event, and AAPL is down -5.39 to 104.87. This tends to be the trend with Wall Street, though where Apple almost… MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 15 Oct 2008 | 1:01 am

Video: PSP accessing PlayStation store demo

Here’s a demo of the PSP accessing the PlayStation store in case you guys haven’t hacked your PSP and want to legally download games. On a side note, I’m thoroughly enjoying EA’s NCAA Football 09. My Beavs are kicking ass!





Source: CrunchGear | 15 Oct 2008 | 1:00 am

Oct. 15, 1900: Boston Embraces the Sound of Music

1900: Boston's Symphony Hall, an acoustical marvel in its day and still regarded as one of the world's great concert halls, opens with an inaugural concert by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Unlike most American concert halls, which tend to favor a wider, fan-shaped configuration, Symphony Hall was built along European lines — deep, narrow and high. The architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White modeled the Boston hall after Leipzig's Gewandhaus (which was destroyed during World War II). But the architects also did something unprecedented: They hired Wallace Clement Sabine, a young assistant physics professor from nearby Harvard, to act as acoustical consultant. For the first time ever, scientifically proven acoustical principles were applied to concert-hall design. On the basis of Sabine's work, the hall was built using brick, steel and plaster, with wooden flooring the only soft material used. The side balconies are narrow to avoid trapping sound, and — to help focus it — the stage walls are banked inward. The architects also carved niches into the walls and topped the hall with a coffered ceiling, which, in acoustical terms, guarantees nearly every seat the optimum aural experience. One interesting quirk: While the proscenium arch is ringed with a number of plaques, only one is inscribed. The intention was to inscribe each plaque with the name of a great composer, but in the end only Beethoven was deemed worthy enough by the directors to be so...

Wired.com




Source: Wired Top Stories | 15 Oct 2008 | 1:00 am

Apple announces the new MacBook

FROM APPLETELL - Today’s Apple MacBook event saw the introduction of the new MacBook along side the new MacBook Pro. They share almost the same feature set, and as rumored, are made with the brick process out of a block of aluminum. Apple has two models for the new MacBook. Here’s the feature… MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 15 Oct 2008 | 12:59 am

Report Indicates Widespread H-1B Visa Fraud

Vrst1013 notes a Business Week account of a government report examining fraud in the H-1B program. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services just released a report to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee examining issues with fraud and technical violations within this program. Based on a sample size of 246 H-1B petitions, 13.4 percent showed fraud and 7.3 percent showed technical violations, for an overall violation rate of 20.7 percent. There was slso evidence of payment below the prevailing wage, offers of non-existent jobs, and fraudulent documentation. "'The report makes it clear that the H-1B program is rife with abuse and misuse,' says Ron Hira, [a professor] at the Rochester Institute of Technology... However, both Presidential candidates, Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain, have said they support expanding the program."



Read more of this story at Slashdot.




Source: Slashdot | 15 Oct 2008 | 12:59 am

Video of a guy implanting an RFID chip into his hand




On his YouTube page, Quethe writes about getting an RFID chip injected into his hand:

I implanted a RFID chip in my hand. I injected the chip myself from supplies bought on the internet. This tag is readable from up to 2 inches from my hand.

I am currently using it to open my handgun safe for instant access. I can have a gun in hand in one second in blackness without fumbling with buttons or codes.

If you are convinced that this is the "Mark of the Beast", then from one Christian to another I hope you read the Book of Revelation and apply more understanding to it that what you hear from those who only offer fear.

The right hand is the action hand (our works) and the forehead is our mind (our faith and thoughts). If the whole book of Revelation is to be understood carnally then I'd suggest we start exploring the ocean for a giant monster.

If you fear government ID tags etc, take a look at Biometrics. Why try to chip people when a machine can identify persons from a distance and without control. These are currently in place in US cities.

RFID is old hat. Just something some Evangelists have used to justify their lack of scriptural knowledge because they are whited seplecures that deny the existence of modern day revelation and prophecy. Learn for yourself.

So if you are telling me I am going to Hell for this, at least read the Revelation of John and pray for understanding.

I will appreciate comments that are sincere or are not knee jerk comments like "Oh my G**! You are going to Hell". The profanity is also not appreciated.

I am not offering advice or giving instruction. I do not recommend this and am not liable. This video is for information only.

RFID Implant in Hand Do It Yourself





Source: Boing Boing | 15 Oct 2008 | 12:50 am

Today's LA Times cover: inspired juxtaposition?




Richard Metzger sent this around today, saying: "Is this what the bailout really looks like???"





Source: Boing Boing | 15 Oct 2008 | 12:46 am

Of Two Minds: An Interview with Charles Hugh Smith




Oh you lucky, lucky Boing Boing readers... I have a gift and I think it's pretty special: For those of you unaware of the work of Charles Hugh Smith you are about to meet one of the finest thinkers and writers in America today.

It often seems like there are certain people who come along, at precisely the right time, to fulfill necessary and needed roles in society. I'm not sure why, but I'm glad it happens. Maybe it's a function of DNA, who knows? Right now, with the problems the world and this nation face, there need to be more voices that we can TRUST in the media sphere. Especially when it comes to understanding the economy, because that's where what matters most in our society occurs. It's THE big story of our time. Perhaps part of the problem is that reporters and journalists writing on the economy aren't economists. Fine, fair enough, but what do you actually receive when the issues being discussed on the evening news and in the newspapers are so complex as not to be understood adequately either by the journalists themselves or by the man in the street? Not a lot of value there I'm afraid.

And here's the genius of Charles Hugh Smith: He takes some of the most difficult to understand problems vexing the world today and make sense of these issues -- heavy things like what are we going to do about universal health care, why Social Security will probably never get fixed (or be around much longer), ending oil dependency, what sorts of jobs will matter most during a depression and so forth. He writes with a calm and steady voice that takes readers by the hand and carefully explains the most pressing issues of our time. We, all of us, need to comprehend our problems, that's the first step, before we can change anything and master our fates.

Each morning I check email, glance at Drudge, the NY Times -- Boing Boing, of course! -- and then when the coffee is brewed, I sit down with that morning's essay from Charles' weblog, Of Two Minds. His writing is my daily oasis of sanity in an otherwise insane world. It never fails to impress me - -each morning I think this same thought -- that every day he's able to come up with something so utterly brilliant, deep and wise, no matter what the topic, although the main subject Smith tends to write about is examining how we got to where we are today and how we will live tomorrow in a tragically diminished America.

Recently, one of Charles' readers wrote in to say that he considered Smith the "new" David Henry Thoreau. What a nice compliment, I thought, and then it struck me how true that comparison is. Charles Hugh Smith is indeed the Henry David Thoreau of our era. Thank the gods he showed up, and right on time!

And like I said, I have a gift for you people... Read on for an interview with philosopher Charles Hugh Smith after the jump.Richard Metzger: When it was announced that there would be a meeting over the past weekend of the West's big financial players and then with the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's irresponsible lip flap about the possibility of shutting the markets down until they figured what they were going to do -- this is almost an outright admission that nothing they've done so far is working, isn't it? I expected that the financial markets would just utterly tank on Monday, but for some reason they didn't. Is it possible that Wall Street knows something that the man on the street doesn't or is this just another irrational rally based on fumes and Pollyanna-ish "hope" -- and little else -- like all the other recent rallies have been?

Charles Hugh Smith: We’re always told that the stock market reflects the “real economy” but the connection is mostly illusory. The markets reflect human emotion and our tendency to “herd” with the consensus, a consensus that has been based on “good news” data that is highly suspect. In Exploiting the Market and The Real Revolution I posted two charts of the last great Bear markets: 1929 – 1946 and 1966 – 1981. You can see that as the real economy foundered in both decades, the stock market rallied again and again, reaping huge gains for those who ignored the real economy and focused only on charts, which reflect the human emotions behind the trading. Note how a "buy and hold" strategy resulted in big losses—so the standard “buy and hold” advice is an OK strategy in a 15-year Bull market but a horrible strategy in a 15-year Bear market like the one we’re in.

So while this rally is irrational in terms of the real economy, which is deteriorating rapidly, it makes perfect sense to traders because they reckoned that such apocalyptic expectations were overdone. The sharp declines look a lot like panic selling in 2002 and after 9/11, and so history suggests a strong rebound would occur,

The other thing Wall Street knows that the man on the street might not is that all this government intervention would eventually have an effect. I like to think of it as feedback. When the financial sector was collapsing, it seemed like bad news fed on itself. But the massive intervention created positive feedback loops that acted to counter the prevailing panic.

In other words, The Powers That Be were actively throwing everything including the kitchen sink at the panic. Experienced traders, both small-fry and big-money managers, didn’t need any inside information to expect the feedback to start mitigating the crisis.

Did the intervention fix what’s ailing the real economy? No; but it did change the psychology of the herd and hence of the market. Bear markets are characterized by these wild, even irrational swings of consensus from hope/renewed greed to gloom/panic. We should expect these to continue for at least 4-5 years and perhaps even longer. 



Richard Metzger: Isn't the moment that the government tells you that "everything is under control" the moment to hit the panic button and BAIL OUT of the markets?

Charles Hugh Smith: I would say the time to bail out of the markets or go short is when the consensus as reflected in the mainstream media and the markets is that everything will be fine. The intervention repaired some immediate financial-sector problems but didn’t fix the economy.



Richard Metzger: What about the price of gold? The age-old truism about gold is that it is supposed to move in the opposite direction from the market and that it provides a "safe haven" hedge against both inflation and deflation. The Market goes south, gold increases in value. At least that's the way it's supposed to happen, but this year gold is making some unexpected moves... why?

Charles Hugh Smith: There are lots of theories and I really don’t know which ones have traction. My best guess is that as the global credit bubble popped and all the extreme leverage began shrinking, all assets which had large amounts of speculative money in them fell as players sold whatever still had value to raise cash and pay down debt. Even real stores of value like gold and oil got sold off hard.



Richard Metzger: Do you see Inflation or Deflation? Deflation is supposed to be the thing that "can't happen here" or so conventional wisdom says... but some iconoclast financial analysts (like Mike Shedlock and others) think Deflation is exactly what we’re dealing with. What do you think?

Charles Hugh Smith: Back in June 2006 I asked Could We Have Deflation and Inflation At the Same Time? and my answer was yes. The reason is the global credit bubble created huge asset bubbles in real estate and construction-related commodities like copper and steel. But it also created new wealth in the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and that wealth enabled hundreds of millions of consumers to buy more and better food and to begin consuming petroleum in vast quantities. I call this the 500 million motorscooter economy. If Mr. American cuts his gasoline consumption a bit -- currently U.S. oil consumption is down about 500,000 barrels a day, or about 2.5% of our total daily consumption -- then the slack is more than picked up by 500 million motorscooters, not to mention millions of new autos and trucks. So as global demand outstrips supply of limited resources —- what I call the FEW resources in my new book Weblogs & New Media: Marketing in Crisis (food, energy and water) -- then prices for these essentials rise even as deflation ravages assets like real estate, stocks and eventually even bonds.

It turns out this is exactly what has happened in past economic cycles, as historian David Hackett Fischer described in his book The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History which I often recommended. I have also covered other aspects of this cycle, for example:


Are We Entering the Next Age of Turmoil? (June 2005)
A Rickety Global House of Cards (Oct. 2005)

As the Real Estate Bubble Pops, so Does the Economy (March 2006)
Housing Bubble Bust Will Take Down the Global Economy (May 2006)

Richard Metzger: What do you think things are going to look like in a year's time? In five years?

Charles Hugh Smith: These long historical cycles take a long time to play out. I expect assets to continue to deflate in terms of purchasing power while the FEW resources (food, energy, water) will continue rising in price. Gold and oil will continue rising as stores of real value. Political “solutions” will basically be half-baked attempts to muddle through without addressing the core problem that ultimately the entitlements we have promised our citizens will bankrupt the nation. Eventually the U.S. will be unable to pay its bills as the interest on our rapidly rising debt squeezes out all other spending. This will probably take 8 or 9 years to play out, maybe even longer.

Richard Metzger: History probably will not repeat itself in the sense that there is a much different world today with different possibilities and choices, than there was during The Great Depression. Not only are we more interconnected now (trade, air travel, Internet, various forms of cultural exchange, etc) but there are many categories of job descriptions, businesses and marketplaces that didn't exist then. Having said that, it's pretty easy to envision the more frivolous professions and businesses being vaporized first. I wouldn't want to be an investor in, nor employee of, something like (not to pick on them, but here goes) "Second Life"! What are the core safe/essential jobs you see for Americans in the next decade?

Charles Hugh Smith: Certainly everything connected to the FEW resources (food, energy, water) and anything which enables “faster, better, cheaper” goods and services and living healthier without costly interventions. In my book Weblogs & New Media: Marketing in Crisis I propose that the Web and New Media are key enabling technologies for just these kinds of improvements in efficiencies, for virtually all enterprises from one-person businesses to global companies. I have long suggested ( Will the Housing Bust Take Down China? June 2006) that China may be more vulnerable to the global depression than is commonly recognized. Couple this with rising sea transport costs and it is easy to see a resurgence of distributed manufacturing in the U.S.



Richard Metzger: When I was reading The Fourth Turning -- a book I know that you are a fan of, too -- I felt like the authors were building up to a moment in history that is pretty much nigh upon us, a period of intense change and perhaps chaotic transformation, but one they seemed determined not to describe or speculate about in their book with any detail. When the tectonic plates move between generations, much changes. Putting on your long-range prophecy goggles, and assuming that we're coming out the other side of this mess ten years from now, what kind of a world will we have in 2018? (I cling to the hope that things will be as different in 2018 from today as the change was from 1960 to 1970).

Charles Hugh Smith: While many predict doomsday scenarios, and those are certainly possible if we go into complete denial for another decade, I suspect painful adaptations will have been made by 2018. We will have learned to get by with much less energy consumption per person and how to create distributed networks of alternative energies. The Federal government and all state governments will be essentially bankrupt and the entire culture of entitlement will have been upended by this inability to pay everyone’s medical care and pension. Self-reliance and community will replace dependence on central government. The dollar may well be replaced with a “new dollar” or superceded by a global currency based on gold or a basket of commodities of enduring value. Hopefully we will have avoided “resource wars” but if we haven’t weaned ourselves from petroleum then we may well still be engaged in a “long war” over oil resources, perhaps even involving China or Russia. If we refuse to become energy-self-sufficient then a major global conflict is not impossible in the 2017-2021 timeframe.



Richard Metzger: How will you personally live and protect yourself during the hard times?


Charles Hugh Smith: In June 2008 I wrote an essay called Art of Survival, Taoism and the Warring States which a lot of people seemed to like. Basically I plan to rely on living simply and reciprocity/generosity with my circle of friends, family and neighbors. My beliefs are counter to killing and I will depend on community for defense rather than stockpile weaponry and ammo. Many survivalists wrote me positive comments about this essay so that gives me hope that we will collectively recognize that pulling together is the best way to “take care of Number One.” 


(Richard Metzger is guest blogger.)







Source: Boing Boing | 15 Oct 2008 | 12:40 am

Jive Software Lays Off 1/3 Of Staff

When it comes to layoffs, 1/3 of total staff seems to be a magic number. Portland based Jive Software, which is backed by Sequoia, laid off around 40 people today, a third of their total staff. This follows massive employee growth over the last year. Twelve months ago the company had around 60 employees.

Two Vice Presidents are among those that left - Marty Kagan, VP Engineering and Scott Campbell, VP Sales.

One employee, Chris Kalani, had resigned and his last day was this Friday. But according to his blog he was walked out today along with the others. And as usual, standard human resources procedure meant he and the others couldn’t use their computers again. In a new twist, they weren’t even allowed back to their desks to collect their personal items.

We’re tracking layoffs under the DeadPool tag.

Update: I spoke with Jive CMO Sam Lawrence, who confirms the company had a Reduction in Force today. He won’t confirm how many people (or who) was laid off, but did say that Kalani’s blog post was inaccurate and overstated. He also confirms the company is financially healthy and remains profitable, but that they felt this was necessary given changing market conditions to “stay ahead of the curve.” Lawrence also said that employees who were let go were absolutely allowed to take their personal items with them.

Those of us who went through the last downturn will remember this: the first companies to let people go are often the ones who survive.

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





Source: TechCrunch | 15 Oct 2008 | 12:27 am

Do you Hulu yet?  Here are ten shows that make it worth it.

Section: Video, Content, Video Providers, Gadgets / Other, Household, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Originals, Web, Web 2.0, Web Apps, Web Browsers, Websites, Online Music/Video


You must have heard all the hype about Hulu by now.  How it gives you the ability to watch your favorite shows online, any time you want.  How it’s easy to use, and so convenient.  How it is—(drum roll here)—FREE.

Granted, there are several different places you can go to watch different television shows, but, I’ve found that for reliability, Hulu is really way up there.  Now, I know my title said TEN reasons, but, I couldn’t knock it down to just ten.  So I’m going with eleven reasons to Hulu.  I know, what a rebel.

Sorry, all you folks outside the US, Hulu only works in the United States right now.  It offers selections from over 50 networks with very limited commercials, although it is ad-based.  It works in a flash video format.  Although it has a lower resolution than standard-definition TV, it is higher in resolution and bit-rate than YouTube or some other online show sites.  Along with the broadcasting networks, Hulu also offers over 100 motion pictures for viewers to watch, ranging from classics to modern.

For the Hulu masters and the Hulu virgins, here are eleven reasons you just may want to check out the site.  Some of these are my personal favorites, some are from people I’ve polled about their favorites.  The Fox network seemed to rule in the rankings, though Hulu does cover them all.  These shows and lots more can be found on the Hulu page for your viewing pleasure any time you like.

FX
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Fox
Prison Break
Fringe
American Dad
The Simpsons
Terminator:The Sarah Connor Chronicles

ABC
Grey’s Anatomy (Hulu flips you over to ABC)
Lost (Hulu again flips you to ABC)

NBC
Heroes
The Office

CBS
CSI (I like most of the CSI’s and since Hulu just tosses you to CBS, I figured I’d just link the original)

What shows would you add to the list of your top ten reasons to Hulu?

Link [Hulu.com]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 15 Oct 2008 | 12:25 am

ComScore: Google’s Search Volume Accelerates In September, But Market Share Dips



Ahead of tomorrow’s earnings announcement from Google, comScore just released its search market share figures for September. Google’s overall share of search queries in the U.S. dipped from 63% in August to 62.2%. Yahoo and Ask (whose search is powered by Google) saw the biggest gains.

U.S. Search Market Share (September, 2008)

Google	62.2% (down 0.8% from August)
Yahoo	20.0% (up 0.4%)
AOL	4.0% (down 0.3%)
Microsoft	8.4% (up 0.1%)
Ask	5.4% (up 0.6%)

On the bright side for Google, both its annual and quarterly search query volume growth rates are accelerating. Year-over-year, Google’s query growth was 38.6 percent, up from around 33 percent each of the past three months. (On a quarter-over-quarter basis, the growth rate was 35 percent). Wall Street will likely focus on this acceleration as a slight positive for the stock.

Google as helped by overall search queries growing 26.9 percent across all search engines. Only Ask’s search volume grew faster, at 45.5 percent year-over-year. And that helps Google as well, since Ask is a partner. AOL, another partner, saw 18.9 percent growth in search queries. Yahoo saw only 7.1 percent growth, and Microsoft saw a measly 3.0 percent growth (but at least its growth rate did not decline as it had each of the previous three months).

U.S. Y/Y Search Query Growth Rates (September, 2008)

Total	26.9% (versus 19.6% in August))
Google	38.6% (versus 33.4%)
Yahoo	7.1% (versus 0.4%)
AOL	18.9% (versus 14.3%)
Microsoft	3.0% (versus -11.6%)
Ask	45.5% (versus 29.8%)

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





Source: TechCrunch | 15 Oct 2008 | 12:20 am

New BlackBerry Offers Versatility in Flip Form [The Mossberg Solution]



Smartphones are masters of multitasking. They email, browse the Web, instant message, take pictures, run applications or play videos and music. So it’s easy to forget how uncomfortable they are to use as phones. Most are rectangular slabs that are awkward to hold against the ear, causing many smartphone users to also carry a basic cellphone just for calls.

At least one smartphone manufacturer is doing something about this. This week, Research In Motion (RIMM) introduced the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220, available for $150 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile (DT). This device is the first BlackBerry in a flip phone, or clamshell, form. Like RIM’s mainstream, candy-bar-shaped BlackBerry Pearl, the Flip uses a SureType keyboard, which has condensed keys and relies on predictive text software.


The Pearl Flip uses a SureType keyboard, which takes up less space.

After using the Pearl Flip for a week, I’ve found it to be a stylish messaging device that works well as a comfortable phone. I really liked its exterior screen, which is designed to show previews of incoming messages, saving people the trouble of flipping open the device. It runs on T-Mobile’s slow EDGE network, but has built-in Wi-Fi and the ability to automatically connect to saved, nearby wireless networks.

First-time smartphone buyers will likely find the Pearl Flip to be a good fit. When it flips open, a special hinge drops the top half of the device slightly behind the bottom half, and a handy trackball makes navigation easy. The Flip’s Web browser enables streaming videos that look sharp on its interior screen, and a microSD card slot supports up to 16 gigabytes of memory.

But current BlackBerry owners who want to switch to a device with a more comfortable phone may have trouble adjusting to the Pearl Flip’s SureType keyboard — especially if they’re used to a device with a full QWERTY keyboard. Though the Pearl Flip’s keyboard is a generous size and its keys are flat and easy to press, its SureType design assigns two letters to almost every key, which can be frustrating to use when predictive text guesses a different word than that which is intended.


The Pearl Flip 8220 is RIM’s first flip phone BlackBerry.

The Pearl Flip supports T-Mobile’s Unlimited HotSpot Calling, a service that doesn’t use any minutes on phone calls begun in Wi-Fi zones. Even if a user leaves the Wi-Fi zone in which he or she started a phone conversation, the call passes over to the T-Mobile cellular network without dropping out. This service costs $10 monthly in addition to regular service charges.

When I made calls on the Pearl Flip, friends on the other line noted how crisp and clear our connection sounded. And best of all, the Pearl Flip’s long, clamshell profile was easy to hold and fit snugly and comfortably between my ear and shoulder when I needed two hands to carry things.

BlackBerry’s signature red light blinks in this device’s top corner to indicate new messages. The 1.6-inch exterior screen displays about 25 words (give or take) from newly received emails, instant messages, SMS, MMS, calendar notifications and task reminders. If a message is received from a contact to whom a photo is assigned, that photo also shows up on the external screen to identify the sender. Side buttons let users scroll up or down through these previews.

This display is designed so that the same message being previewed externally will appear on the internal screen as soon as the Pearl Flip is opened. This makes sense because people will want to reply to some emails or read their entire contents after seeing a short preview. But my device didn’t do this at first; instead, the internal screen seemed completely unrelated to the external screen. I finally got this feature to work after my external screen froze and I rebooted the Pearl Flip. RIM said it hadn’t seen this behavior before, and wasn’t sure what had caused it.

The interior screen measures 2.4 inches diagonally and has a resolution of 240×320 pixels, which is a larger, higher resolution screen than most basic cellphones. While using Wi-Fi, I pulled up YouTube.com and watched a video. It played without skipping or stopping while streaming directly from the Web. A higher-resolution video, which was saved to my device, automatically played in horizontal mode so as to take up the entire screen; YouTube videos play vertically, without using the full screen.

Up to 10 email accounts can be set up on the Pearl Flip; I had no problems using Hotmail, .Mac and Gmail accounts. I also signed into AOL Instant Messenger and Google Talk on the Pearl Flip. Along with these messaging programs, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and BlackBerry Messenger also come pre-installed and ready to use.

If my Pearl Flip was closed and I remained signed into an instant-messaging client, notifications appeared on the external screen telling me who was sending an IM and what it said. When I opened the device, I was automatically directed to the screen where I could reply to the instant message.

I tested the T-Mobile Unlimited HotSpot Calling feature by starting calls using a Wi-Fi network and then leaving the network’s range. The calls remained steady without dropping or fading, and if I were a paying customer, I wouldn’t have been charged minutes for those calls. Calls that start out of Wi-Fi zones and end in Wi-Fi zones do deduct minutes. My Pearl Flip had no trouble automatically moving from the cellular network to a Wi-Fi network.

All T-Mobile Wi-Fi hotspots, such as at airports or in Starbucks (SBUX), automatically work with the Pearl Flip if you’re registered for the $10 monthly Unlimited Hotspot Calling.

If you’re considering taking the plunge into the always-connected world of smartphones, or if you want a more comfortable phone in your smartphone and don’t mind the quirks of SureType, the Pearl Flip 8220 may be the BlackBerry for you.

– Edited by Walter S. Mossberg

• Email us at mossbergsolution@wsj.com. Find this and other columns and videos online free at the All Things Digital Web site: http://walt.allthingsd.com

Source: All Things Digital | 15 Oct 2008 | 12:18 am

Cool Pop Art "Pravda" animation




In 1967 artist Guy Peellaert (later responsible for David Bowie's Diamond Dogs album cover, It's Only Rock and Roll for the Rolling Stones, and the classic coffee table book Rock Dreams, published one of the very first Pop Art comics, The Adventures of Jodelle.

It's really amazing and you can find copies on the Internet ranging from $14 to $300. I have a copy and it's one of my prized possessions. You can see what it looks like here and here. A year later Peellaert put out Pravda another sexy comic creation modeled this time after gorgeous French yé-yé singer Francoise Hardy. Copies of Pravda are hard to come by and costly. Pravda posters can sell for over $500 on Ebay. The other day I found this super cool Pravda animation that Peelaert did in 2001 featuring a soundtrack by The Rolling Stones, Missy Elliot and Joy Division.

(Richard Metzger is guest blogger.)







Source: Boing Boing | 15 Oct 2008 | 12:07 am

No “Bag of Hurt” Option on New MacBooks [Digital Daily]

Fielding questions from the audience after Tuesday’s MacBook launch event, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was asked why the company isn’t offering Blu-ray DVD drives as an option on its newer machines. A reasonable question. Apple (AAPL) was an early backer of Blu-ray, but hasn’t exactly been an early adopter of the technology. Hewlett-Packard and other PC makers are offering their systems with a Blu-ray option, why not Apple?

“Blu-ray is a bag of hurt,” Jobs replied. “Not from the consumer point of view. It’s great to watch movies, but the licensing is very complex. So we’re waiting until things settle down, and waiting until Blu-ray takes off before we burden our customers with the cost of licensing.”


Source: All Things Digital | 14 Oct 2008 | 11:59 pm

Wireless Blender Churns Up Cords



Can't live with them, can't live without them! Those black power cords are almost always annoying but there's no way around it - unless manufacturers can license Fulton Innovation's wireless power technology.

Fulton did a demo today integrating its technology into a blender to show how it can work in a "high powered device." The blender works without a power cord or cable. It is placed on what Fulton calls countertop that has 'eCoupled-enabled'

Here's how it works. Fulton, which is a subsidiary of Amway, splits a power supply coil into two parts, one of which is built into a surface (hence the eCoupled-enabled surface) and the other is incorporated into the device to power or charge.

A shared electromagnetic field is generated when the power supply and receiving coils are positioned near each other, wirelessly transferring power to or charging the device, says Fulton.

An eCoupled-enabled surface recognizes devices with similar embedded technology technology and power is transferred from the supply coil to the receiving coil in the device.

There's also an element of intelligence as the surface and the device communicate to monitor and adapt the power to meet the needs of the device, says the company.

So far Fulton has demonstrated the idea in cellphones and MP3 players that require lower power (five watts or less) but now it says it can wirelessly power kitchen devices such as blenders, grills and coffee makers that require kilowatts of power.

But here's the catch. Fulton has been promising this for at least two years now.

It showed the technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2007 and offered the same list of partners - Motorola, Leggett & Platt and Herman Miller- that it says it is working with to make power and charging cords obsolete.

Fulton says its engineers have been working on the technology for nearly 10 years now.

So while its latest blender is neat, it looks like Fulton Innovation hasn't made much progress beyond the concept stage.

The video of the wireless blender:









Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 14 Oct 2008 | 11:43 pm

Still Not Sure Who To Vote For? Take the Glassbooth Quiz.

By this point, most Americans have made up their minds about who they are going to vote for President come Election Day. But if you are still trying to decide, or just want to reassure yourself that you are indeed voting for the candidate who most closely reflects your views, take the Glassbooth Quiz. The site is run by a non-partisan, non-profit organization (or so it claims). You tell the site what your positions are on a range of issues, and it spits back compatibility scores for each of the Presidential candidates (including third-party candidates Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, and Bob Barr). You can try it just to make sure you really are on the same page with your preferred candidate.

Here’s how it works. First, you indicate which issues you care about the most by distributing 20 points among 16 different topics (Taxes and Budget, Science, Civil Liberties and Domestic Security, Iraq and Foreign Policy, Internet and Media, Trade and Economics, Environment and Energy, Gun Control, etc.)



Then you are asked a series of questions, whether you support or oppose policy proposals such as tax cuts for the middle class or enforcing net neutrality. Each question has a rating scale from “Strongly oppose” to “strongly support”:



Once you finish the quiz, it shows you how you match up overall to each candidate, and issue by issue. You can then drill down by issue and read the candidates’ statements on each one, with links to the sources. It is a good way to start evaluating the candidates across more than one or two hot-button issues. You might even be surprised to find out who you agree (or disagree) with the most.



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





Source: TechCrunch | 14 Oct 2008 | 11:37 pm

Real Geeks Wear It On their Sleeve



What better way to yell out your geek credentials than to snap on some cuff links (when you absolutely have to!) that have photographs of your favorite molecules on them?

Michael Davidson, a research scientist at Florida State University, has been taking photomicrographs or pictures through a microscope of molecules for years. Some of his work has appeared on neck ties and bed sets among other things.

The latest to carry his work are stainless steel cuff links that feature photomicrographs of the caffeine and testosterone molecule.

Davidson who works at the Optical Microscopy Division of the National High Magnetic Laboratory is open to custom photomicrographs of alloys, liquid crystals, superconductors and proteins among other things.

But those wanting to take the easier road can just get testosterone cuff links for $30 from ThinkGeek.

Photo: Molecular caffeine cufflinks/ ThinkGeek

[via Gadgettastic]









Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 14 Oct 2008 | 11:33 pm

Vote: Who Should Be the First U.S. Copyright Czar?

President Bush signs legislation Monday creating a copyright czar, a cabinet-level position on par with the U.S. drug czar. Here's your chance to nominate who you think should assume the newly created post.

Wired.com




Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Oct 2008 | 11:12 pm

Australian State May Give Students Linux Laptops

Whiteox writes "The Australian Prime Minister's plan to equip high schools with 'one laptop per child' may go open source. Kevin Rudd's $56 million digital revolution will include 'laptops [that will] run on an open source operating system with a suite of open source applications like those packaged under Edubuntu. This would include Open Office for productivity software, Gimp for picture editing and the Firefox internet browser.' So far this has been considered for New South Wales and I think other states may follow."



Read more of this story at Slashdot.




Source: Slashdot | 14 Oct 2008 | 11:02 pm

Linear Tech Sees Trouble Dead Ahead; Stock Tumbles [Voices]

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

Linear Technology (LLTC) this afternoon warned that fourth quarter revenue could be down 10-20 percent from Q3 levels due to the downturn in the global economy.

The company posted Q3 revenue of $310.4 million, with profits of 48 cents GAAP, 53 cents non-GAAP, getting a lift from a lower-than-expected tax rate. The Street had been looking for $310.4 million and 45 cents.

But Linear also warned that orders fell sharply toward the end of the quarter, and that fourth quarter revenue is likely to slide as a result.

Read the rest of this post


Source: All Things Digital | 14 Oct 2008 | 11:01 pm

Appliance Recycling Centers of America (ARCA) Opens Recycling Center in Springfield, Illinois, to Serve Two New Utility Customers

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Appliance Recycling Centers of America, Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 14 Oct 2008 | 11:00 pm

Hundreds of Billions to Save Wall Street; Local, County and State Governments Plan Massive Cuts; and The Suffolk Legislature Approves Millions to Buy Dick Cavett's Luxury Seafront Property

NEW YORK, Oct.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 14 Oct 2008 | 11:00 pm

PennFuture Elects New Board of Directors Vice Chair

Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture) today announced the election of David Lane, President of LevLane Advertising, to vice chair of its board of directors for a two-year term.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 14 Oct 2008 | 11:00 pm

The UPS Foundation Awards $1 Million to Environmental Groups

The UPS Foundation, the charitable arm of UPS (NYSE: UPS), today announced five grants totaling more than $1 million to support a variety of environmental programs and organizations worldwide.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 14 Oct 2008 | 11:00 pm

Firefox 3.1 Beta Available For Download

The first beta release of the Firefox 3.1 browser was made available to testers and early adopters on Tuesday. This release includes substantial performance improvements and better web standards support. The final browser is due early 2009.

Wired.com




Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Oct 2008 | 10:45 pm

Hands On With The New MacBooks



Mark McClusky just got to spend a bit of time playing with the new line of MacBooks. Here's what he had to say about his experinces:

On his initial impression: They're really beautiful pieces of hardware. The milling eliminates the plastic gasket around the front — this makes a huge difference. The MacBooks now feel sturdy and super-solid, much more polished than the plastic version.

On the Macbook Pro: It's thinner, yes, but in actuality, just a hair wider than my old (one year old) MacBook Pro.



On the displays: They're very bright. Colors are vibrant and pop more naturally. 

On the line-up as a whole: They've now got the same design language across their whole line...iMac, displays, and notebooks — all with that black bezel. This is a very solid update, and a lovely design tweak. But there are no huge game changers here. They've galvinized a lead, and let's face it: no one can trigger object lust like Apple. 

[Editor's note: Instead of waiting for review samples to become available from Apple we're going to just purchase a top shelf MacBook and MacBook Pro. Expect a set of reviews in a few days, Labbers.]

(Photos by Jim Merithew for Wired.com)









Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 14 Oct 2008 | 10:34 pm

International Spam Ring Shut Down

smooth wombat writes "An international spam ring with ties to Australia, New Zealand, China, India, and the US is in the process of being shut down. Finances of members in the US are being frozen using the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 while the FBI is pursuing criminal charges. The group sent spam advertising male enhancement herbs and other items using a botnet estimated at 35,000 computers, and able to send 10 billion emails per day. The Federal Trade Commission monitored the group's finances and found that they had cleared $400,000 in Visa charges in one month alone."



Read more of this story at Slashdot.




Source: Slashdot | 14 Oct 2008 | 10:19 pm

Microsoft announces 20 editions of Windows 7! (j/k)



Earlier today, Microsoft confirmed that its next operating system, codenamed Windows 7, would in fact be called just that when it hits shelves at some point in the next few years. Good on 'em, I say: a simple, no-nonsense name suggests they're approaching it with a clearer eye than they had cooking up the hypefest that was Vista.

But if there's an instinct that Microsoft will find hard to put to bed, it's the one that led to more versions of Vista than can be counted on one hand. The place is run by a sales guy, after all! Click through for our exclusive leaked ad covering the 20 separate editions of Windows 7, straight from our anonymous sauce.



Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 14 Oct 2008 | 10:15 pm

Appeals court rules against ban on Qualcomm chips (AP)

AP - A federal appeals court Tuesday ruled that the International Trade Commission's ban on imports of cell phones with chips made by Qualcomm Inc. overstepped the commission's authority.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 14 Oct 2008 | 9:48 pm

Paul Krugman Awarded Nobel Prize For Economics

zogger writes in his journal, "The guy who put together the concept of geographical location combined with cheap transportation leading to 'like trades with like' and the rise of superindustrial trading blocs has won the Nobel economics science prize. He's a bigtime critic of a lot of this administration's policies, and is unabashedly an FDR-economy styled fella. Here is his blog at the NYTimes." Reader yoyoq adds that Krugman's career choice was inspired by reading Asimov's Foundation series at a young age.



Read more of this story at Slashdot.




Source: Slashdot | 14 Oct 2008 | 9:35 pm

Liquid Comics Banks on Indian Epic With 'Ramayan 3392 AD' Film

Gotham Chopra's new imprint mines an ancient Sanskrit text, re-imagining the Ramayana for a colorful comic that could become a 21st-century movie.

Wired.com




Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Oct 2008 | 9:34 pm

How to Optimize Your Web Connection

We feel the need ... the need for speed. Your internet may be chugging along fine, but armed with a few networking shortcuts, your browser can roar. It doesn't matter what network connection you're using, there are a few tweaks you can use to streamline your uploads and downloads. Soon enough, you'll be leaving tire tracks on the information superhighway.

Wired.com




Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Oct 2008 | 9:30 pm

OpenOffice 3 Available for Mac, Windows and Linux (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - The OpenOffice business productivity suite is now available as a native Mac application for the first time.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 14 Oct 2008 | 9:13 pm

Banjo Used In Brain Surgery

Ponca City, We love you writes "Legendary Blue Grass musician Eddie Adcock has undergone brain surgery to treat a hand tremor, playing his banjo throughout to test the success of the procedure. Adcock suffers from essential tremor, a condition where there is a continuing deterioration in areas of the brain that control movement causing a tremor that usually appears when the person tries to act or move. Deep brain stimulation can be used to treat the movement difficulties of both Parkinson's and essential tremor by sinking an electrode into the thalamus, a deep brain area that is part of the motor loop — a circuit that helps coordinate movement. Surgeons placed electrodes in Adcock's brain and fitted a pacemaker in his chest, which delivers a small current that shuts down the region of his brain causing the tremors. The most sensible thing to do was to tweak the system while Adcock was playing the banjo to optimize the effect for the thing that's most important to him."



Read more of this story at Slashdot.




Source: Slashdot | 14 Oct 2008 | 8:54 pm

Analysts: New MacBooks Priced Too High to Compete



Despite a raft load of nifty new features, Apple's new Mac notebooks will have a hard time moving off store shelves during the economic crisis, industry analysts say.

"There will be a lot of people looking at a lot of stuff at the Apple Store, and they'll probably come out with [iPod] nanos or shuffles," said Roger Kay, an analyst with Endpoint Technologies. "That's what people are going to feel like they're going to afford this year."

At its special notebook event Tuesday, Apple refreshed its entire notebook line, adding faster processors, multitouch trackpads, aluminum enclosures and NVidia graphics chipsets. In addition to adding new features, Apple is also making moderate price cuts for the MacBook and MacBook Air. However, analysts say Apple's price cuts are not enough for the company to remain competitive in the face of a broad financial collapse.

"Out of all the [companies] who will be under pressure, it will be Apple because the price points are still significantly higher," ThinkPanmure analyst Vijay Rakesh said in a phone interview.

The entry-point MacBook dropped from $1,100 to $999; the high-end MacBook Air equipped with a solid state drive dropped from $2,600 to $2,500, but its standard configuration offering remained at the same $1,800 price point. The MacBook Pro prices remained static — with a $2,000 starting point.

Early in the event, Apple boasted grabbing 39 percent of the notebook market in education, surpassing Dell, one of its major competitors. Despite the significance of this figure, it's unlikely Apple's notebook refresh will enable Apple to retain its grip on this market segment, Rakesh said.

"If you look at the educational side, the question is, do public school budgets suffice for next year?" he said.

Just days before Apple's notebook event, Rakesh and other analysts — including Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster and RBC Capitalist's Michael Abramsky — said they were anticipating a sub-$1,000 notebook from Apple in order for the corporation to hit its gross margin guidance for the fourth quarter.

Rakesh said Apple's $999 MacBook was a disappointing entry into the sub-$1,000 category: Most analysts were hoping for Apple to announce an $800 or $900 notebook.

Rakesh added that Apple still has yet to set foot in the netbook market — cheap, low-powered devices designed for internet use that are soaring in popularity. However, in a Q&A session, Steve Jobs said the netbook category is too immature for Apple to enter.

"That's a nascent market that's just getting started, and we'll see how it goes," Jobs said.

Meanwhile in trading, while Apple had gained a record-breaking 13 percent in share prices Monday and Tuesday, the stock deflated 5 percent by the end of the notebook event. However, stock drops have historically been the case during Apple keynotes, and some are viewing selling stock during product announcements as a trading strategy for investors.

See also:

• Hands On With the New MacBooks
• Steve Jobs Unveils Newer, Sexier Aluminum MacBooks
• Liveblog: Apple MacBook Event 2008
• Apple Teases New Notebook, Rumored Under $1,000
• Photos: Is This the MacBook 'Brick'?
• Rumor Says That Apple Brick Will Be A Metal Brick
• Apple's Brick: A Dual-Screen, Foldable Netbook?

Photo: Apple









Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 14 Oct 2008 | 8:47 pm

Top NSA Scribe Takes Us Inside The Shadow Factory

No outsider spends more time tracking the labyrinthine ways of the National Security Agency than James Bamford. But despite three books on the U.S. government's super-secret, signals-intelligence service, even he gets lost in the maze.

Wired.com




Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Oct 2008 | 8:37 pm

Did Anti-Spam Group Create a Backstory For DarkMarket's Undercover Fed?

Until Monday, the U.K.-based spam fighters at Spamhaus had an extensive profile of "Master Splynter," the assumed identity of the FBI agent who took over the cybercrime trading post DarkMarket. Was it all part of a cunning plan to establish a back story for a crime lord who never existed?

Wired.com




Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Oct 2008 | 8:36 pm

Asus Launches Touchscreen Eee Desktop

Barence writes "Asus has launched an Eee-branded 15.6" touchscreen desktop PC as a budget rival to HP's TouchSmart. Available for pre-order now on Play.com for £399.99 ($749), it shares much of the same specification as the Eee PC, but with a larger 160-GB hard disk. Interestingly, it's listed as coming with XP installed, so we'd guess Asus will be using some sort of proprietary touchscreen interface — yet the image on the site clearly shows Linux on the screen, which may be a better bet for an easy-to-use touch system."



Read more of this story at Slashdot.




Source: Slashdot | 14 Oct 2008 | 8:08 pm

Analysts: New MacBooks Too Expensive to Compete

Despite receiving price cuts and makeovers, Apple's MacBook notebooks are still too expensive to compete in the face of a collapsing economy, analysts say.






Source: Wired: Gadgets | 14 Oct 2008 | 7:47 pm

Analysts: New MacBooks Too Expensive to Compete

Despite receiving price cuts and makeovers, Apple's MacBook notebooks are still too expensive to compete in the face of a collapsing economy, analysts say.

Wired.com




Source: Wired Top Stories | 14 Oct 2008 | 7:47 pm

NASA Plans Remote-Control Hubble Fix

The failure that stalled NASA's planned Hubble repair mission is no simple glitch.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 14 Oct 2008 | 7:40 pm

Apple MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook upgrades



Apple today announced two new laptop computers, available for sale tomorrow. The updated MacBook Pro and the updated MacBook share a new unibody aluminum "brick" manufacturing process; black, backlit keys (on the Pro and higher-end MacBook only); a new, buttonless multitouch glass keypad that supports up to four finger gestures; and a faster video chip from Nvidia.

The new MacBook Pro gets a second discrete video card from Nvidia, while losing the FireWire 400 port for a FireWire 800 port. The new MacBook eschews FireWire entirely.

Both machines have glossy screens with no matte finish and no Blu-Ray drive for watching high-definition movies. Both also use Apple's new display plug, the "Mini DisplayPort".

The new MacBook starts at $1,300; the new MacBook Pro at $2,000.

Apple also announced a price drop of its existing plastic MacBook to $1,000 (although it's reasonable to expect they are marking time until they can reduce the price of the aluminum MacBook); a new 24-inch widescreen monitor with integrated camera and speakers for $900 with a measly 1,920 by 1,200 pixel resolution; and an upgrade to the MacBook Air that incorporates the new Mini DisplayPort and faster Nvidia graphics.

MacBook Pro product page [Apple.com]
MacBook product page [Apple.com]




Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 14 Oct 2008 | 6:11 pm

Live Blog: Apple MacBook Event 2008

What will be announced at Apple MacBook Event 2008? New MacBooks? Sure. Redesign of the MacBook Air? Possibly. A new Apple Cinema Display? Not outside the realm of probability.






Source: Wired: Gadgets | 14 Oct 2008 | 5:15 pm

Huffy modified into gas-powered superbike



MAKE spotted this fantastic gas power mod of a stock Huffy cruiser picked up at a flea market for $25.00. Not only does the whitewashed frame look fantastic, but it's a respectable scooter replacement to boot: the modified Huff gets 125mpg and tops out around 40MPH.

Retro Gas-Powered Bike [British Car Forum via MAKE]



Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:37 pm

Steve Jobs Unveils Newer, Sexier Aluminum MacBooks



CUPERTINO, California — Steve Jobs announced new refreshes of the MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air that will feature faster processors, better graphics, and a uniform design language of aluminum and glass. Jobs also unveiled a new 24-inch cinema display made especially to accompany Mac laptops. Here are the most important gems we gleaned from the announcement:

1. New MacBook Pros

• Starts at $1999.
• 2.4 GHz processor
• 15-inch 1440 x 900 glossy display.
• 0.95 inches thick, weighs is 5.5-pounds.
• Nvidia GeForce 9400m graphics card.

2. Refreshed MacBooks

• Starts at $1299.
• 2.0 GHz processor.
• 13-inch LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display.
• 0.95 inches thick, weighs is 4.5-pounds.
• Nvidia GeForce 9400m graphics card.

3. MacBook Air

• Cheaper. (The SSD model is now $2500)
• Integration of Nvidia 9400m means 4x faster graphics.
• Faster front side bus.
• Mini-DisplayPort.
• Aluminum and glass design as seen in the MacBook and MacBook Pro

4. New Cinema Display

• 24-inches
• LED backlighting.
• Integrated iSigh.
• 1920 x 1200 resolution.
• 3-port USB hub.
• Stereo speakers.
• Mini display port.
• Out in November.

Wired Liveblogging Team: Words by Mark McClusky, Photos by Jim Merithew

9:46am: Alright. In the room classical guitar music playing....weird!

We're in the Town Hall meeting rooms at 4 Infinite Loop, at Apple HQ in Cupertino.

More classical music, cello concertos.

9:56am:  "Please silence all your cellphones as a courtesy to the presenters onstage and your fellow attendees."

Getting ready to rock here.

Although the music is still like the most mellow music in the history of any Apple event. More string quartet stuff.

We're going for a high end vibe today, apparently.

Lights are dimming. Here we go.

Steve Jobs takes the stage, looks teh same as he did at the last event.

"We've got some fun stuff to share with you. Today's about notebooks, we've got some new ones to show you."

"I want to zoom out and cover the state of the Mac" Tim Cook, COO at Apple to cover it.



Cook: "Last reported quarter 2.5 million Macs sold."

Been growing 2-3x the market's growth rate.

Why are we growing faster?

10:01am: 1) Better computers. iMac, Macbook Air.

2) Better software. Leopard. "Virtually everyone agrees that Leopard is far ahead of Vista."

3) Compatibility. Boot Camp. Parallels, VMWare.

It's removing the fear for switchers.

4) Vista. This is something we didn't do. You may wonder why Vista is on the list. I think it's fair to say that Vista hasn't lived up to everything MSFT hoped it would. That's opened doors to lots of people thinking of switching.

5) Marketing.

The Mac/PC ads have struck a chord with a lot of switchers.



10:04am: They tell a story.

6) Retail stores. Started this over 7 years ago. 250 stores now in 8 countries. 400,000 visitors a day.

10:05am: 50% of the Macs they sell are people who are new to the Mac.

These are the 6 reasons we'd attribute the momentum to.

As I said, this just didn't begin. If you look at the history, Mac has outgrown the market 14 of the last 15 quarters.

Retail share: 17.6% market share of unit sales.

Revenue share: 31.3% of retail sales.



10:07am: One out of every three dollars spent on a computer in US retail is spent on a Mac.

Education: We've surpassed Dell and become the top supplier of Notebooks, 39% of all notebooks.

10:09am: Many universities now require a computer. That school selects a list of computers, and the students get to pick.

Total Mac units: 4.5M in 05, 5.3M in 06, 7.1M in 07, 7.1M in three quarters so far this year.

Jobs is back: "Let's talk about notebooks."

We want to talk about some new ways of building notebooks.

Jony Ive coming up to talk about that.

(Not much Steve today so far)

Ive: I want to tell you about a real breakthrough we've had on how we can design and build our notebooks.

Currently, here's how we build our 15 inch Macbook Pro.

10:11am: When you're designing something that's thin and light, the trick is making it strong and robust and rigid.

The Aluminum enclosure makes a small contribution to the structure.

It's the internal frame that holds it together. Currently magnesium die casting.

10:12am: Series of stiffening plates and frames that are welded to the top plate. Then we add the plastic gasket between the top and bottom of the case.

The current version is best in class in size and weight, but we've been looking for a better way to build a notebook.



10:14am: We had a really significant breakthrough that culminated in the Macbook Air.
You couldn't build a product as thin, light and strong as the Air with the old way.

Rather than start with a thin piece of aluminum, and then add material, we started with thick piece of aluminum and then remove material.

That's how they do the Air's palmrest.

(Showing the milling of the Air's top plate.)

Constantly recycling the cuttings and waste.

Start with a slab that weighs 2.5 lbs. and end up with a .25 pound plate that forms the structure of the Macbook Air. That unibody construction made the Air possible.

Obviously, this has relevance beyond the Air.

We've been working hard to design new enclosures for new notebooks.

(Jobs back onstage.)

"We also have new graphics on Notebooks."

Nvidia came to us to talk about a new graphics part. It would combine a chipset and graphics processors all in one part for a desktop computer. We said we'd like to use it in a notebook.






10:18am: Nvidia GeForce 9400M

Chipset and GPU on one die. 70% is GPU. 16 parallel graphics cores. 54 Gigaflops.

5 times faster than intel integrated graphics.

Call of Duty runs 6.2 times faster, Quake 4 five times faster.

82% as fast as the nvidia chip in the MacBook Pros.

10:20am: So still not the high end option, but big upgrade.

New trackpad. Multi-touch, and glass.

39% larger area. Multi touch. Glass for smooth travel. Entire trackpad is the button. Multi button via software. new four finger gestures.

(No physical button!)

New gestures for expose and app switching.



10:22am: So let's take these technologies and make notebooks.

New MacBook Pro.

Black bezel.
LED backlight.

All connectors on one side.

Aluminum unibody.

Next gen graphics.

Glass trackpad.

Mini Display Port connector. This is going on all our products.

Black keyboard.

The unibody saves us 50% of the weight on the major structural parts.

Going to pass around one of the unibodies.

10:25am: Have people on the aisle to hand them out. Nice stagecraft.

Waiting to get it...

Teams of 100s of people have worked on this for many months.

10:26am: Just handled it. Super stiff, very light. Really is cool engineering.

(Our row is holding up the process...)

Lights back down.

You're the first to get your hands on it.

We're got the GeForce 9600M GT.



Both chips are in the computer! the 9400M, and the 9600M GT. 5 hours of battery with the 9400, 4 with the 9600. Can switch between them.

10:29am: Superdrive.

Magsafe, ethernet, FW 800, no FW400, 2 USB 2.0 connectors, Mini display, audio in and out (Optical and digital.)

Expresscard 34.

Mini Display Port: new industry standard. Going in everything we make.

First Pro that we offer SSD on. Can access battery and drive.

10:30 802.11 N BT 2.1

.95 inches thick. Thinnest pro ever.

2 models.

$1999, 15.4 LED backlit, 2.4 Core 2 Duo, 3 MB, L2 2 GB memory, both graphics chips, 250 GB HD.



Shipping today. Should hit stores starting tomorrow.

Lots of new tech, but we're just as proud of all the things we left out. We're working on leaving out toxic chemicals.

First time we've earned an EPEAT gold environmental rating.

Now, we want to talk about the Air.

10:34am: Update with some new technologies.

Putting the 9400M in the Air, get 4x faster graphics for the air.

120GB HD instead of the 80.

And have 128 SSD as option.

Mini-display port.

799: 13.3 LED display, new graphics chip, 2 GB ram, 1.6GHZ Core 2 Duo.

10:35 2499 1.86GHZ proc, SSD drive.

New Air: early November.

Also, new 24-inch LED backlight cinema display.

Corner to corner glass.



10:36am: Cable from back — power cord, USB, mini display. Just plug the three things into your computer, and you're set to go.

1920 x 1200 pixel, iSight and mic. Stereo speakers.

$899

10:37am: available in November.

A great companion to the MacBook Pro.

There's one more thing. Of course, that's the Macbook.

This is an amazing product. The best-selling Mac ever.

Entry price right now is $1099. Now, entry price is 999. We'll just keep on selling these for a long time.

We're heard from a lot of macbook customers. They want a metal enclosure, faster graphics, and they want LED backlit display.

These are the top three things we've heard, and we're bringing them to the Macbook line.

New generation on top of the white plastic notebook.

It's all new. Corner to corner glass, LED backlit display.

Unibody aluminum enclosure. Next gen graphics. Glass trackpad, Mini display port connector.



GeForce 9400M, 5x the performance of the old integrated graphics.

New trackpad with gestures.

New display connector.

5 hour battery life.

New display connector.

5 hour battery life.

10:41am: Also EPEAT Gold rated.



2 models.

$1299 entry level.

$1299: 13.3. display, 2.0GHZ core 2 duo, 3 MB cache. 2GB memory. 160GB HD. GeForece 9400M



$1599: 2.4 GHZ proc, 250GB HD, and backlit keyboard.

10:43am: Shipping today, should hit the stores tomorrow.
This is the sweet spot of our market. We're going to give it to them at $1299.

Two new notebook families.

New way to build them, new graphics, new trackpad, and LED backlit displays,

Playing video, a little documentary.

Jony Ive talking...."We just decided to start over."

10:44am: (Battery display is now on the side of the computer)

Showing the manufacturing on the unibody.

13 milling operations from solid block to the finished part.

(Video is really rehashing much of what we've already heard.)

Oh, on the video, we just found out that the trackpad *is* a button. You press down on it to click.

So there still is a physical button — the trackpad itself.

10:50am: They're really hitting the environmental message hard.

Ive: "I love how we don't reserve our best ideas for our high end products."

Mark McClusky: "I haven't said it yet, but they really are beautiful computers. Hope to get hands on with them."

But first, Q & A.

10:52am: Jobs: A few caveats: no questions about earnings, which are coming a week from today.



My blood pressure: 110/70. This is all I'm going to talk about on my health today.

Third, we're not economists. So we're not going to talk about the global financial meltdown.

Phil Schiller and Tim Cook up there with Steve.

Relationship with Nvidia: We're the first to take this new chip to market. I know we're going to be using lots of them.

10:54am: Blu-ray? Display Port?

As you know, HDMI is limited in resolution, so you can't do our big 30-inch display.

Schiller: You can get to HDMI with connectors, we think display port is the connector of the future.



Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt. It's great from consumers, but the licening of the tech is so complex, we're waiting until it takes off.

Schiller: we also think we have a great HD solution in iTunes.

17-inch pro?

It will still be available, being refreshed.

Stealing demand from high-end to mid-end with the MacBook?

10:57am:

We might, but we'll see what happens. We'll see a refresh cycle triggered in both spaces, I think.

Size and weight difference on MacBook:

1.08 to .95 inches thick.

Weight 4.5 pounds on the MacBook.

Matte screen in the future:

We're going straight glass screens. The vast majority prefer the glass screen. Image is crisper, colors are brighter.

You offset it by pushing a lot of light through it.

Netbook from Apple?

That's a nascent market that's just getting started, and we'll see how it goes.

11:02am: Did Apple design the motherboards?

We design them all in house. (Says Steve, laughing)

Touchscreens?

We've experimented with it, but it hasn't made a lot of sense to us.

Hands on area in the other room.











Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:27 pm

Audio Desk System will whittle your CDs into perfect circles



As all men know, the perfect rotundity of the compact disc is necessary to prevent warbling and jittering in the digital audio stream. Up until now, though, any music aficionado who happened to accidentally purchase elliptical or even square compact discs from disreputable music blackmarketers were forced to take compass and grinder in hand and attempt to eyeball it.

But no longer: from the land of leberkase und schweinefleisch comes the Audio Desk System, which for the mere price of $900 can grind any stuttery CD in your collection back into a mathematically perfect disc. A compulsory investment for any audiophile, worth its weight in literal gold.

Ultra System [Official Site via Gizmodo]



Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:12 pm

Here's where to follow the Apple Notebook keynote live. As in, not here.

• Engadget – Standard blog post, reverse chronological, with pictures. Does not autorefresh.

• Gizmodo – Auto-refreshing web page with pictures.

• MacRumors – A Twitter feed.

• Ars Technica – A regular blog post.

• Macworld – A regular blog post. Macworld's post-mortems tends to be very well written.

• Technologizer – A regular blog post. I've never followed one of McCracken's liveblogs, so I'm looking forward to seeing how he does.



Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:09 pm

Gadget Lab Podcast #49: Tiny Netbooks Hold The Key To Our Hearts



In this week's Wired Gadget Lab Audio Podcast, Daniel Dumas, Brian Chen, and I talk about one of the best products we've seen in awhile, the Lenovo S10 netbook, which has the biggest screen of any tiny netbook and is also the best benchmark performer netbook of them all (for now).

In addition, we will go over today's Apple event and wonder whether the company will ever release an affordable, super-small notebook, despite what the rumors say.  And we will also talk about the upcoming phone that will finally match the iPhone's touch user interface, the Blackberry Storm.

Finally, we'll go over a few gadgets that we'd like to have in case we ever lost in the jungle, like satellite phones and personal beacons.

Thanks for listening to the podcast. Please remember, if the embedded player above doesn't work, you can download the Gadget Lab podcast MP3 file.

Use iTunes? Subscribe to the Gadget Lab Audio Podcast in iTunes.

Also be sure to check out the Gadget Lab Video Podcast -- on iTunes and on the Gadget Lab blog.









Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 14 Oct 2008 | 4:00 pm

Saturn's Twin Cyclones Stuck at Poles

New Cassini images reveal giant, swirling cyclones at both of Saturn's poles.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 14 Oct 2008 | 3:45 pm

Microsoft announces memory upgrade plan for Arcade and Core owners



The folly of releasing an SKU so gimped that it can't even handle firmware updates is worth a scoff or two, especially when it was a cynical grab at undercutting the Wii's price point, but you have to give Microsoft credit: they've at least come up with a solution for Xbox 360 Arcade owners who don't have enough space to install the New Xbox Experience update.

And it's pretty generous too. Microsoft's Xbox 360 Memory Upgrade program will dole out a 20GB refurbished hard drives and three months of Xbox Live to Arcade owners willing to drop a triad of hamiltons. Got a Core system? Trade your serial number for a free 512MB memory unit, or pay $20 for a 20GB hard drive.

Of course, our nemeses over at Engasia friends at Engadget really do head butt the nail through the two-by-four: ultimately, this is more evidence of a flawed dual-SKU plan that has cost gamers and developers alike than real magnanimity. But it's comforting to see Microsoft throw a life raft to their most frugal (or clueless) customers.

Xbox Memory Update [Xbox.com via Engadget]



Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 14 Oct 2008 | 3:41 pm

Motorola Krave ZN4 now available through Verizon



The Motorola Krave ZN4 is up on Verizon’s website for $149 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year contract. Verizon and Motorola are billing the Krave as “the first interactive clear flip full-touch phone,” so keep that in mind just in case you think you can find another interactive clear flip full-touch phone somewhere else. You can’t!

The Krave is just short of a true smartphone, but it does feature a 2.4-inch 240×320 haptic touchscreen, 2-megapixel camera, 3.5mm headset jack, HTML browser, and an accelerometer. The big feature here is the clear screen cover that actually houses the phone’s earpiece and can be touched along the top to launch certain apps like messaging, music, and various VCast services.

Full release after the jump.

MOTOROLA KRAVE™ ZN4 AT VERIZON WIRELESS – THE FIRST INTERACTIVE CLEAR FLIP, FULL-TOUCH PHONE

Available Today, Exclusively Through Verizon Wireless, Motorola Krave Puts the Flip on Touch

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.  – Verizon Wireless and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) announced that Motorola Krave™ ZN4, featuring two layers of touch – on the interactive clear flip outside and the full touch-screen inside – is now available exclusively on the nation’s most reliable wireless network at www.verizonwireless.com and in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores.

Krave puts fun at your fingertips with the latest entertainment and phone features from Verizon Wireless, many of which are accessible with one touch, even when the phone is closed.  Krave supports all of the hottest multimedia services from Verizon Wireless, including V CAST Mobile TV, V CAST Video, V CAST Music with Rhapsody and VZ Navigator^SM.

Putting the Flip on Touch

Motorola Krave combines the familiarity of a flip design with the excitement of touch and haptic feedback.  Without opening the phone, the clear flip provides customers with one-touch access to popular features and services – such as watching V CAST Mobile TV, accessing photos, playing music and viewing incoming messages.  The flip design also makes it easy to place clear and reliable phone calls while preventing touch-screen wear, and a side lock key prevents accidental usage.

“Motorola Krave is uncompromising.  It delivers high-quality multimedia experiences while remaining true to the way consumers expect a phone to work and feel,” said Ken Hallman, vice president, Motorola Mobile Devices.  “The clear, touch-enabled flip over the large, high-resolution touch-screen is nothing like you’ve seen and yet it’s totally intuitive.”

With Motorola Krave, customers can satisfy all of their cravings for the best in Verizon Wireless multimedia entertainment services, including:

• V CAST Mobile TV and V CAST Video – Watch videos for both services in landscape mode on the phone’s 2.8” vibrant color display. V CAST Mobile TV offers broadcast-quality, full-length TV shows; V CAST Video offers snack-sized video clips, including sports highlights, breaking news, entertainment, weather and more.
• V CAST Music with Rhapsody – More than 5 million songs are available on V CAST Music with Rhapsody purchase full songs over-the-air; download the master copy of songs to their PCs, free of digital rights management software; and sync favorite tracks, albums and playlists from their PCs to their phones using a USB cable (sold separately).  The phone supports Bluetooth^® stereo technology for listening to music, a 3.5 mm headset jack, and up to 8 GB microSD™ optional removable memory for additional storage of music, photos, video and more.
• VZ Navigator – Provides visual and audible directions to thousands of destinations, including businesses and other points of interest, maps of locations and offers the ability to share directions with others.
• Visual Voice Mail – Delete, reply and forward voice mail messages without having to listen to prior messages or voice instructions. Visual Voice Mail is the ideal tool for the busy mobile professional who may need to prioritize which messages he or she listens to first.

The dedicated camera key on Motorola Krave provides quick access to a touch-controlled 2.0 megapixel camera.  The accelerometer detects the movement when the phone rotates and changes the display, making it easy to catch landscape and portrait shots, as well as capture and view video.

Customers can watch clips from popular video-sharing sites directly from the phone’s HTML browser; and they can enjoy videos and pictures directly from MMS messages, without downloading them first to the phone.  Texting and e-mailing is simplified with its virtual landscape QWERTY keypad with haptic feedback, conveniently-sized buttons and accelerometer.

Bluetooth Capabilities

Motorola Krave supports Bluetooth wireless pairing so customers can pair their phones with the following profiles: headsets, hands-free for car kits, dial-up networking, stereo, phonebook access, basic printing and imaging, object push for vCard, and file transfer.  For additional information on car kit and accessory compatibility, please visit www.verizonwireless.com/bluetoothchart.

Pricing

Motorola Krave ZN4 is available for $149.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a new two-year customer agreement. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.  Monthly access packages for V CAST Mobile TV, V CAST Video and V CAST Music with Rhapsody range from $13.00 to $15.00 per month; Visual Voice Mail is available for $2.99 monthly access, while VZ Navigator is available for $9.99 monthly access. Other charges may apply when downloading or using applications.

For more information on Motorola Krave, visit www.motorola.com/krave.  For more information about Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go towww.verizonwireless.com.

Crunch Network: TechCrunch obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies





Source: MobileCrunch | 14 Oct 2008 | 3:26 pm

Acer Aspire X3200 HTPC gets Blu-Ray

I continue to love my Acer Aspire X3200 as a wonderfully tiny, low power sipping, extremely affordable all-in-one HTPC solution. There's something to be said for going out and buying exactly what you need instead of hobbling together a Frankenstein solution from spare parts.

Unfortunately, one of the features missing from the last-gen of Aspire X3200s was Blu-Ray. It didn't bother me too much since I only have marginal interest in Blu-Ray, but I would have been delighted if Acer had included it.

Looks like I bought my X3200 a month too early, then. Acer has just announced that they are upgrading the X3200 with a 2.1GHz AMD Phenom X3 processor, 4GB RAM, a 640GB hard drive and a built-in Blu Ray drive for $680. That's a fantastic upgrade. If you need a home theater PC, get this one.

Acer AX3200 Desktop PC [Slashgear]



Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 14 Oct 2008 | 3:11 pm

Penguin DNA Suggests Special Climate Coping

Adelie penguins have some special evolutionary abilities, say scientists.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 14 Oct 2008 | 2:25 pm

Space Tourist Reaches Space Station

Gaming tycoon Owen Garriott arrives at the space station as his astronaut dad watches on.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 14 Oct 2008 | 1:44 pm

New Software Guesses a Person's (Apparent) Age

New computer software looks at your face and estimates your age.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 14 Oct 2008 | 1:10 pm

More MacBook Rumors: Better Battery, New Display Connector



More MacBook details are dragging themselves from the fertile pond of Apple rumors, this time flapping their wet, scaly tentacles onto the desks of MacNN.

MacNN's source confirms the dropping of FireWire in the consumer MacBooks, which makes sense. The only thing most MacBook buyers need FireWire for is to hook up an external drive, and those all come in USB flavor anyway. It will be a shame to use the rather useful FireWire Target Mode, though, and the rather less useful (and infinitely more finicky) FireWire networking.

The dual GPUs in the MacBook Pro will apparently be a mixture of a dedicated graphics processor and an integrated chip sat on the motherboard. The Pro notebook will also be getting faster RAM (DDR3/1,066GHz), a top processor speed of 2.8GHz and, best of all, a longer-life battery, perhaps a nine-cell design instead of the current six-cell (hey, if MSI's Wind is getting one, why not the Mac?)

MacNN also claims that the the Pro will see a new video-out socket which looks something like an HDMI-out port. We'd hazard a guess that Apple has somehow shoehorned both a Mini DVI and an HDMI capable output into one socket, which means that we'll have another couple of proprietary $30 adapters to buy.

Stay tuned. We'll know for sure come 10AM (5PM GMT), or five hours from now.

Specs, photos of MacBook Pro up to 2.8GHz [MacNN]


Illustration: Jesus Diaz/Gizmodo









Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 14 Oct 2008 | 12:12 pm

Retro Music: Stylophone Coming to iPhone



UK software company, the "Very Cool Software Company", sadly missed a trick when naming its forthcoming iPhone version of the Stylophone. The application is called the "Dubreq iStylophone", but it should clearly be named the Style-i-Phone.

It will, of course, be touch controlled, obviating the rather satisfying need to press a stylus onto the metal contacts. The application, to be released on December 1st, appears here on a first-gen, speaker-less iPod Touch. This is great news for anyone who remembers the original -- fun to play, but so intensely annoying to listen to that you'd begin harbouring murderous thoughts towards the musician after mere moments.

It'll be $6. You could buy a real one for $26.

Placeholder company page [Very Cool Software via Crave]









Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 14 Oct 2008 | 11:51 am
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