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Kodak Reputation RedeemedSection: Peripherals, Printers / Scanners Pricing and Fade-Resistance Figured Out
As a draw-in, Kodak claims these printers give us the lowest ink prices in the industry. This is just like every printer they have ever put out, even going back to the first ones in 2004. Even in 2007, when Kodak put out its first inkjet, they were singing the same song. Ink: Cheap prices or cheap quality?Last year, David Pogue wrote an article for The New York Times revealing calculations that HP black prints cost a tenth of a cent less. I guess that was before these new and improved machines and ink were introduced. We should question the quality to the ink. In 2004, Wilhelm Imaging Research (WIR), print performance tester, proved Kodak’s fade resistance to 11 years. At the same time, Kodak, having performed their own tests (accused of being much less realistic), was claiming a 162 year life on images. Do we chalk this up to Kodak being a baby in the market at the time and now they have more experience under their belt? Still, if Kodak does not watch it, with such a history, they might find themselves right up there with the boy in the kids’ story about the boy who cried wolf. I hesitate to believe their claim for the lowest ink prices - maybe if they would say among the lowest or in competition with the lowest. But then they might lose business from the naive few who buy into the sales pitch. A promise is a promise. What happens when promises are broken? Making changesIt seems Kodak has made some changes and redeemed themselves. At the beginning of 2008, WIR tested Kodak’s AiO products then and stated, “the Kodak’s Easyshare AiO printers and ink achieved the highest level of overall print permanence of any current consumer desktop printer system.” WIR says Kodak prints should now last over 125 years. QualityLogic also tests for Kodak, focusing on making good on the Kodak promise of having the best, most inexpensive ink. QualityLogic affirms the claim that “consumers can save up to 50% on everything they print compared with similar consumer inkjet printers.” How Kodak’s technology worksThe secret to it all is Kodak’s own Kodacolor Technology. The Kodak claimed results are supposed to happen with the combination of Kodak ink cartridges, Kodak paper, Kodak’s color and image science, and a print head technology vastly different than the competition. From my understanding, the basic gist of it is that the ink is made with pigment instead of dyes like the competitions. The pigment broken down in a milling process which then is able to pass through the very small hole of the ink cartridge. The five color contains black, cyan, magenta, yellow and a clear coat. The ink soaks into the paper while the clear coat remains on top as a protectant, aiding in the longevity of the print. That handles the fade-resistant issue and may give us a slightly cheaper cartridge cost, but the real cost savings for the cartridge comes from the print head being moved out of the cartridge and into the printer itself. Unlike competitors who include that bit of technology in every cartridge, Kodak saw it unnecessary for us to continue paying for something that we could only pay for once. Kodak noticed a place in the market that needed improvement and stood claim to being the one to overcome. Their proclamations were probably years too early, but they may have finally gotten it. I might be sold enough on it to give Kodak AiO a chance. Full Story » | Written by Heidi Crossman for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 19 Oct 2008 | 7:12 pm Domestic Divas Exposed - Martha Stewart's Cluttered Office in Vanity Fair (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Martha Stewart is a gutsy woman. She revealed her home computer space for the entire world via a spread in Vanity Fair. She then took it one step further and added her own little side...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2008 | 5:59 pm Cheeky Bathroom Scales - 8 Fun Ways to Weigh In (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) San Franciscan Wendy Gold is the creative genius behind Art de Toilette. Her line of bathroom scales sure makes getting on those scales a lot more fun. Youve got to love the bathroom...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2008 | 5:39 pm Hot gaming news for the week of 10-12-2008Section:  No need to scour the Internet for hot gaming news, Gamertell‘s already done that for you! Here’s a look at this week’s top stories…
Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 19 Oct 2008 | 5:35 pm Partisan Pumpkins - Political Jack o Lanterns from Both Parties (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) As if the presidential candidates werent getting enough face time these days, now were seeing their carved mugs on pumpkins. Were not only seeing Barack Obama and John McCain on these...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2008 | 5:19 pm Food-Inspired Accessories - BabyLovesPink Jewelry (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) The jewelry BabyLovesPink makes is inedible, but they all really look good enough to eat. Her hamburger and waffles with berries rings really resemble the real thing. And her lollipop...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2008 | 4:59 pm Futuristic Auto Fails - 10 Cringe-Worthy Concept Cars (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) Car lovers drool over the latest concept models that show up on Trend Hunter. The designs are ultra cool and the technology is always cutting edge. Indeed, concept lovers always wish...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2008 | 4:39 pm Miniature Public Art - 'Little People' in London (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) This is an awesome street art project called Little People by artist Slinkachu. On any old street corner in London these tiny people do day-to-day business like post a letter in a...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2008 | 4:19 pm Big Body Painting - Celebrating Plus-Sized Shapes (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Fat body painting does not make me happy as much as it should, which is a shame as these images are amazing. The leopard skin design came from a pack of charity cards from Mac...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2008 | 3:59 pm PREVIEW-Oil majors to post bumper quarter amid crude crash* Top oil companies report with oil prices half their peakSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2008 | 3:18 pm Passport Required To Buy Mobile Phones In the UKDavid Gerard points out a Times Online story that says: "Everyone [in the UK] who buys a mobile telephone will be forced to register their identity on a national database under government plans to extend massively the powers of state surveillance. Phone buyers would have to present a passport or other official form of identification at the point of purchase. Privacy campaigners fear it marks the latest government move to create a surveillance society. A compulsory national register for the owners of all 72m mobile phones in Britain would be part of a much bigger database to combat terrorism and crime. Whitehall officials have raised the idea of a register containing the names and addresses of everyone who buys a phone in recent talks with Vodafone and other telephone companies, insiders say." We've recently discussed other methods the UK government is using to keep track of people within its borders, such as ID cards for foreigners and comprehensive email surveillance.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 19 Oct 2008 | 1:08 pm BMW To Ship 500 MINI E Electric Cars By The End Of 2008 - eFluxMedia
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 19 Oct 2008 | 12:41 pm Sunny skies, low humidity and northerly breeze - WBBH
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 19 Oct 2008 | 12:06 pm eBay Makes Huge Gains In Parallel EfficiencyCurtMonash writes "Parallel Efficiency is a simple metric that divides the actual work your parallel CPUs do by the sum of their total capacity. If you can get your parallel efficiency up, it's like getting free servers, free floor space, and some free power as well. eBay reports that it amazed even itself by increasing overall PE from 50% to 80% in about 6 months — across tens of thousands of servers. The secret sauce was data warehouse-based analytics. I.e., eBay instrumented its own network to do minute-by-minute status checks, then crunched the resulting data to find bottlenecks that needed removing. Obviously, savings are in the many millions of dollars. eBay has been offering some glimpses into its analytic efforts this year, and the PE savings are one of the most concrete examples they're offering to validate all this analytic cleverness."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 19 Oct 2008 | 12:06 pm Kentucky Judge Gives Online Casinos 1 Month to Block Users - eFluxMedia
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 19 Oct 2008 | 11:34 am Create No Download Screencasts In Seconds With ScreenToaster
The demo video below, which was created with the software, shows how easy it is to use. Click start, bring up a different website, and click a Option-S to record. Hit Option-S again to stop recording, and it is instantly uploaded to the site in Flash for review and, if you like it, publishing. You can also set the screen recording size manually with a different key combination. And you aren’t limited to recording web pages, you can move the recording area off browser. The service is written as a Java web applet and works on any OS that has the Java runtime. Vides can be embedded and viewed with the Flash plugin, like any online video service. Recorded with screentoaster.com
There are some other services like ScreenToaster. Screencast-O-Matic, for example, has similar functionality and also allows the export of videos and audio recording - a glaring omission for ScreenToaster. The ScreenToaster guys are working to add audio, subtitles and other features before launch, though. And the ease of use is just awesome. It takes literally seconds to create and publish a screencast. I’ve done a lot of these, and I know what a pain they are with client software, editing and uploading. If you want to be added to the beta, leave your email here. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. Source: TechCrunch | 19 Oct 2008 | 10:49 am Create No Download Screencasts In Seconds With ScreenToasterNew Paris based startup Iteria, Sarl has released ScreenToaster into private beta. The service is to screen capture software what Tokbox is to Skype - most of the functionality you need, without any downloads...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2008 | 10:49 am E-readers wow at fair, but face tough competitionFRANKFURT (Reuters) - Electronic reading devices are gaining converts but are unlikely to replace the printed book and will have to compete hard with other ways of consuming digital media,...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2008 | 9:50 am Saudi university supercomputer lures researchersJEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - A new science and technology university in Saudi Arabia will house one of the world's largest supercomputers and it is helping lure top researchers to the...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2008 | 8:47 am OMG Britney! On Twitter!
Her new song Womanizer also jumped from no. 96 to no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s not for me, I’m more of a Disturbia fan myself. The blog doesn’t appear to have any original content from Britney, other than the teleprompted videos like the one below. It’s also music free, which sort of seems to remove the point of visiting. She should embed some music from Imeem or iLike and get paid for all those streams. And link to Amazon or iTunes for downloads. Maybe a few less of the site visitors would use BitTorrent for all their music needs. I’ll say this, though. This is solid gold for Twitter. A few more of these and it will be hard to argue that it isn’t going mainstream. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. Source: TechCrunch | 19 Oct 2008 | 8:41 am Bringing OSS Into a Closed Source Organization?Piranhaa writes "At the major corporation I work for, there is currently a single person who decides what software to approve and disapprove within the organization. I've noticed that requests from users for open source Windows programs get denied, nearly instantaneously, on a regular basis. Anything from Gimp, to Firefox, even to Vim don't make the cut due to the simple fact that they are open source. Closed source programs from unknown vendors have a much better chance at approval than Firefox does. The whole mentality here is that anybody can change the source of a project, submit it, and you never know what kind of compiled binary you're going to get. I'm a firm believer in open source code, but I also know closed source has it's place. So what would be the best way for me to argue, with all the facts, to allow these people to come to their own conclusion that open source is actually good? Would presenting examples of other big companies moving to open source work, and if so what are some good examples? Or can you suggest any other good approaches?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 19 Oct 2008 | 7:55 am Sarah Palin Plays Sarah Palin on SNL Nails It [BoomTown]
Republican Vice Presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin did a very smooth–if a tiny bit sweetly awkward–job in her appearance on “Saturday Night Live” last night. It was a good decision to go low-key and also do a bit of stunt casting by bringing in Mark Wahlberg, who was mocked in an impersonation last week by SNL, and also Alec Baldwin. The well-known liberal actor did a nice turn pretending to insult Palin, while thinking she was his “30 Rock” co-star Tina Fey, whose many turns at impersonating Palin have become a huge Internet hit. Palin came on again later in the NBC television comedy show on its “Weekend Update,” rocking out to a perfect rap by a very pregnant Amy Poehler. These two from SNL will surely be the biggest Web video hits this week. And, goodness gracious, do Palin and Fey really look alike, passing by each other at the end of the opening skit without speaking. Sometimes politics can be really ugly and sometimes silly–and this time Palin managed to poke fun at herself without being either. You betcha’ she did. Here’s the two videos from last night and also the other three that already aired on SNL: Opening: Weekend Update Palin Rap: VP Debate: Interview with NBC’s Katie Couric: With Sen. Hillary Clinton: Source: All Things Digital | 19 Oct 2008 | 7:37 am RPT-Brave faces, deep fears at Asia oil trader soireesSINGAPORE, Oct 19 (Reuters) - For the past five years, the annual get-together of Asia's oil trading professionals has been a celebratory affair, marked by steadily rising oil prices, expanding trading...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2008 | 6:43 am Video: 'Creepy gnome' back on prowl
The "creepy gnome" is back. A NEW sighting of South America’s ‘creepy gnome’ has caused panic among locals after a group of youngsters claimed a ‘midget monster’ ran towards them at night.Video: 'Creepy gnome' back on prowl Source: Boing Boing | 19 Oct 2008 | 5:46 am Physical Graffiti -- return to the scene
From World of Wonder's WOW Report: Artist Lou Cannizzaro went back to 96 St Marks Place in Manhattan 33 years after that location starred on the cover of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti album.Physical Graffiti -- return to the scene Source: Boing Boing | 19 Oct 2008 | 5:19 am Yahoo Changes User Profiles, To Massive OutrageWiseleo writes "Yahoo decided to massively screw up their entire userbase by changing all user profiles to blank. No warning, no automated way to get data back, and other unwanted changes. The blog has such choice quotes as 'We know this has been a rough transition for some of you and, and are committed to helping you use, understand, and (hopefully) enjoy your new profile,' and, 'We also know lots of you worked hard on your old profiles and want your data. If you feel like you're missing data, we've saved a copy of your old profile (and alias) and our Customer Care team can retrieve this information. You won't, however, be able to revert back to your old profile format, but you will be able to get any data that you think is missing. To do this, please go here to contact Customer Care.' There were 850 comments posted, all negative, on the first day. There are hundreds more today. There is even more outrage on the Yahoo Messenger blog."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 19 Oct 2008 | 4:20 am Kuwait KNPC oil workers postpone strikeKUWAIT, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Oil workers at state refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC) temporarily postponed a strike on Sunday after KNPC said it would meet their demands for better pay and staff...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2008 | 4:03 am A mouse to match the dashboard of your grandfather's 1978 Lincoln
Here is a $12 plastic mouse with a woodgrain texture. Isn't it lovely? USB Wood Grain Optical Mouse [GizFever via GadgetHeat] Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 19 Oct 2008 | 3:11 am China urged to extend media freedoms domesticallyBEIJING (Reuters) - China should extend media freedoms it now offers foreign reporters to domestic journalists too, rights groups said, but added that the signs were not encouraging this...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2008 | 3:04 am Rumor: Snow Leopard to have rewritten FinderAppleInsider reports on what it thinks is coming in Snow Leopard: a new finder rewritten in Cocoa (the current one being the last remaining Carbon component of OSX), as well as rewrites of the Apple-authored apps that come with the system; Microsoft Exchange support; and multiple boot partitions. In other words, nothing sexy: Snow Leopard is mostly about the technical elegance that leads to stable and reliable computing, which is exactly what we wanted. For great justice!, etc. Apple's Snow Leopard to sport Cocoa Finder and ImageBoot [Apple Insider] Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 19 Oct 2008 | 3:02 am Star Trek vs. Star WarsOld, but nerds love old. I’d estimate that the integrated NVIDIA chipset and ever more behind-the-scenes power-saving techniques are why Apple is claiming such solid life despite killing a fifth of the machine’s energy supply — but a 20% reduction is still no small number My last-gen MacBook Pro actually reports 6040mAh on a full charge, perhaps because it's the 17" model. Oh, for the day where we stop having to worry about whether a laptop can even get as far as lunchtime. New MacBook Pro: now with 20% less battery power [Ryan Block] Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 19 Oct 2008 | 2:07 am Why the Kill Switch Makes Sense For AndroidTechnologizer writes "It came out this week that Google's Android phone OS, like the iPhone, has a kill switch that lets Android Market applications be disabled remotely. But it's a mistake to lump Google's implementation and Apple's together — the Google version is a smart, pro-consumer move that avoids all the things that make Apple's version a bad idea."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Blast has a story about the cars of the future, a collection of kickass concept vehicles from all over the world - well, mostly Europe and Japan but there is one Buick. American makers are busy figuring out how to get a cup holder next to the gas pedal. One interesting little car is the Mini SUV with Center Globe. The Globe is a glowing orb that shows most of your GPS and read-out functions and you can also use to surf the web. Instead of a key, you put a little ball next to the globe which rolls down into place and triggers the engine. The Buick Invicta has 250-horsepower engine and, ummm, not much else. Power is king, people.
Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 19 Oct 2008 | 12:14 am Review: Heineken Draught Keg
Think back on the last party you attended. Perhaps you enjoy sitting around an impeccably decorated living room and sipping glasses of cold, frosty beer poured by a nattily attired waitress named Nicole hired for the night so the hostess could mingle with the glitterati in attendance. Or perhaps it was at your friend Terry’s house where you ended up puking all over his couch after trying, and failing, to put firecrackers on his cat. If you read CrunchGear, I’m suspecting it was the latter. That is why the Heineken Draught Keg is not for you. Conceptually, this bucket of beer is solid. Who wouldn’t want a big keg of Heinie on the counter, ready for all comers? It’s like a party ball without the ball you can cut in half and put on your head later. That’s what I thought when I bought this keg of fail. The keg is supposed to contain five liters of sweet beer along with a CO2 delivery system. What it actually contains is 10 liters of foam, some beer, and lots of beer on the top of the keg that runs down the sides into the fridge and makes a huge holy mess. To connect the beer to the outside, you have to insert a little tapping mechanism. This tapping mechanism, no matter how much you try, does not form a proper seal and allows beer to flow up and out of the keg guts. If you carry the keg at all or, perhaps, drive with it, it also begins to foam and most of your pours consist of head and faint sliver of nectar. Not a fun time. This is basically going to be the most petulant and difficult-to-manage guest at your party - be warned. I’m sure others have had excellent experiences with the Draught Keg but anecdotally I’ve confirmed that most folks have had big problems getting this thing to work properly. I’d recommend getting a case of Amsterdam’s best and leaving it at that. This is a party foul. Source: CrunchGear | 19 Oct 2008 | 12:12 am Contest: Beg and plead, ladies
Source: CrunchGear | 19 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am Oz High Court Hears Landmark TV Guide Copyright Casehighways writes "It's rare that that a copyright case is heard in the Australian High Court, let alone a case heard by all seven sitting judges. At stake is a small company IceTV (which we discussed when it launched four years back) taking on Australia's largest television station, the Nine Network, over the copyright status of the weekly broadcast schedule. That is, the schedule itself, not any synopsis or description of the individual programs. Users of PVRs such as MythTV will be well aware of the hassle it is the get a reliable program schedule stream to use for recordings. The saga has gone on for more than two years with Nine unsuccessfully suing IceTV, but later winning on appeal. At issue is whether a list of facts like an electronic program guide is a 'compilation' protected under Australian copyright law. This has implications for the copyright status of many publicly available databases and the limits to which the information can be distributed."Read more of this story at Slashdot. This old girl has been stripped of all over component parts, hollowed out and filled with a CPU and lots of cool audio circuitry. The result? The Fender Bender, more machine than guitar, more monster than musical instrument. The creator, Dan, even made a pickguard out of an old motherboard, soldering out each resistor with a burning cigarette that he held in his mouth threateningly. It appears he’s using sound gear from here but I’m not quite sure which model. Source: CrunchGear | 18 Oct 2008 | 11:35 pm House Republican Resurrects 'Joe McCarthy's Ghost'Listening Post never passes up a chance to plug The Minutemen. Not the backwards border-watchers, but the San Pedro punk icons.
BGR seems confident that the highly anticipated and delayed BlackBerry Bold will be available exclusively from AT&T on October 27. They say that they have this rumor confirmed by many high ranking people from both AT&T and RIM. Yesterday, we reported AT&T’s leaked holiday sales, and the BlackBerry Bold was listed on that as well. I was thinking to myself that the BlackBerry Bold would probably be released sometime in December, because of all the delays. However, it looks like we can mark the date on our calendars and expect the Bold to be released. No wording on price as of yet. Stay tuned for continuing coverage on the BlackBerry Bold. Via [BGR] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Yahoo launched their new profile product last week as part of their big plan to social networkize the entire Yahoo world. Every Yahoo profile was reset, and users were asked to go through a process of recreating it. The comments from users were unambiguous - they were pissed off. Common complaints include the fact that the new profile must include your full name, which your connections (friends) can see, as well as the removal of a few features that I’ve never heard of (like Cool Links) that apparently some percentage of users really, really liked. But by far the biggest complaint was the fact that all of the information in the old profiles was wiped clean, and users were presented with a blank slate like the one above (which is mine). Some users also noted that there was no message on that blank profile letting users know what just happened to their data. You had to go to the blog posts to understand what happened. Meanwhile, Yahoo scurried to respond. In one of the blog posts, Melissa Daniels, Yahoo’s Community Manager, said “We know this has been a rough transition for some of you and, and are committed to helping you use, understand, and (hopefully) enjoy your new profile.” That just seemed to enrage users more. An example comment: “I agree Making a second rate copy of facebook while breaking everything else people come to yahoo for is a good way to go out of business.” As critical as I’ve been of Yahoo recently, I’m mostly supporting them in the profile transition. Communication with users was definitely poorly executed, and users should have had a message on their profile page telling them what was going on. But the team is clearly trying to fix that. VP Communities Jim Stoneham, who just joined Yahoo six weeks ago to lead the project (Welcome to Yahoo, Jim!), has a single message on his profile: “listening.” And Yahoo has at least kept a copy of the old profile information for users who want it back:
A lot of profile data is still there, anyway. I went through the new profile setup and it retained my name, age and interests, and displayed it after I was done. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors Source: Slashdot | 18 Oct 2008 | 9:52 pm Future planes, cars may be made of `buckypaper' (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Oct 2008 | 9:39 pm Photos of the 2010 Toyota Prius 'Leaked' Online - FOXNews
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 18 Oct 2008 | 9:13 pm B&W TV Generation Has Monochrome DreamsAnt writes "The Telegraph reports that people over 55 who were brought up watching a monochrome TV set are more likely to dream in black and white, even years later. New research suggests that the type of television you watched as a child has a profound effect on the color of your dreams. While almost all under-25s dream in color, many over-55s, all of whom were brought up with B&W sets, often still dream in monochrome. The study, out ot Dundee University, used a small number of subjects under 25 or over 55 and the results suggest that '... there could be a critical period in our childhood when watching films has a big impact on the way dreams are formed... [B]efore the advent of black and white television all the evidence suggests we were dreaming in color.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 18 Oct 2008 | 8:48 pm The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg tests airport securityMirthful story in the November 2008 issue of The Atlantic.
Airport security in America is a sham—“security theater” designed to make travelers feel better and catch stupid terrorists. Smart ones can get through security with fake boarding passes and all manner of prohibited items —- as our correspondent did with ease.The Things He Carried -- The Atlantic (November 2008) Source: Boing Boing | 18 Oct 2008 | 8:40 pm Digital Domain Why This Storm May Stay Away From Apple - New York Times
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 18 Oct 2008 | 8:19 pm Majority of Al-Qaida Web Sites DisabledAl-Qaida's Web presence has been greatly diminished as unidentified hackers have shut down four of its five main sites, analysts said in Dubai.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Oct 2008 | 8:00 pm Italy will sign EU climate plan with revision clause: reportItaly will sign the EU's climate plan in December but only on condition the deal is revisited at the end of 2009 once real costs have been analysed, ANSA news agency reported Saturday.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Oct 2008 | 7:57 pm Whale Protection Is Bolstered as Palin Objects - New York Times
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 18 Oct 2008 | 7:55 pm Song prompts 'LittleBigPlanet' hold - United Press International
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 18 Oct 2008 | 7:44 pm RPT-Russia's Gazprom sees 2008 net profit at $30 blnMOSCOW, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Russia's gas export monopoly Gazprom expects net profit of $30 billion this year, its chief executive said on Saturday, roughly level in dollar terms with the $29.70 billion...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 18 Oct 2008 | 7:22 pm The best of all electronics – really?Section: Video, Accessories, HDTV, Gadgets / Other, Household, Miscellaneous
Of the 3,162 exhibitors at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair and all their acres of eye-popping electronics, how does a China Blue High-Definition (CBHD) player win the Grand Award and the Gold Award for Consumer Electronics in a competition as highly touted as the HKEIA Award for Outstanding Innovation and Technology? Seriously? The most amazing, can’t live without, new electronic of highest innovation in all the world is a CBHD player? Half of you reading this are saying, what in the world is a CBHD player? And I hope the rest of you are shaking your heads with me. See? I’m not the only one confused now. CBHD vs. Blu-ray
Digital video downloading will probably surpass them both, but I guess it is in a class of its own. In cahoots?
The China High Definition DVD Industry Association could be in cahoots with HKEIA. The head judge made a comment about the competition that really makes me wonder.
Seriously, unless it has voice recognition control or runs without batteries and electricity, how sophisticated can a disk player be?
CBHD and the rest of the worldAnd marketable? To where? China? Because I thought he meant internationally. CBHD is going to have a rough go of it with Hollywood already jumping on the Blu-ray bandwagon and no studios hopping at the chance to put out in CBHD. My argument is this – what does CBHD have to do with me? Right now, and probably forever, it is only in Asia. Will I ever even see one of these machines that are apparently so impressive they receive the such honors among a world of electronics? A basically locally marketable product wins an award for the international market. I guess if you are in China and you want to watch Chinese movies, the Shinco CBHD-9100 China Blue High-Definition Player might be your thing. But for the rest of the world already addicted to Hollywood, we’ve got Blu-ray. My realization: That’s what I should have expected from a Hong Kong association giving out awards at a Hong Kong-based trade show.
Read Gadgetell’s posting for the other winners.
Full Story » | Written by Heidi Crossman for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 18 Oct 2008 | 7:14 pm Blu-ray Indiana Jones collection coming soon?
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skill just dropped on Blu-ray and the special features showed clips of the first three films in HD. Could this mean that we will soon see the entire four film set on Blu-ray shortly? For the love of Pete, I sure hope so! The older flicks should feature quality pictures thanks to the era’s use of film that just so happens to transfer beautifully onto a high-def medium. Talk about epics meant to be seen in all the glory Lucas originally intended - kind of like Star Wars… Source: CrunchGear | 18 Oct 2008 | 7:05 pm 23 years later, the “Take On Me” video finally relates to the songWhat does this have to do with gadgets, you ask? Pipe wrenches were all the rage in the gadget world when they were invented in 1869. Fine. It has nothing to do with gadgets. But it’s awesome. Source: CrunchGear | 18 Oct 2008 | 6:41 pm Battery-powered Mini E revealed
BMW is jumping into the niche market of battery-powered automobiles with the Mini E. The car is set to be unveiled next month at the LA Auto Show, but all the details have been just been released. A 204 hp electric motor paired to a single speed tranny will allow the two-seater - batteries take the place of the rear bench - to zip up to 62 mph in 8.5 seconds. A Mini-supplied charging station allows owners to fully charge the 48-module lithium-ion battery pack in under 2.5 hours which reportable provides 150 miles on that charge. These cars are going to be offered up for California, New York, and New Jersey residents through a one-year lease. Only 500 of these electric cars are going to be made so you rush out to your local Mini dealership and plop down your down payment ASAP. Source: CrunchGear | 18 Oct 2008 | 5:58 pm BOOM! Top Apple news for the week of 10-12-2008Section:  We may not cover Apple 24x7… but we know someone who does! Here’s a few of this week’s hottest from Appletell to get you started…
Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 18 Oct 2008 | 5:24 pm Venture investing tops $7 billion in third quarter (CNET)CNET - The final days of the third quarter may have marked the start of the freefalling economy, but the third quarter as a whole was a healthy one for venture capital investments.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Oct 2008 | 4:47 pm Axel Springer hit by new German data leak scandal (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Oct 2008 | 4:43 pm VMWare Update: Two Rough Quarters
VMWare has had a string of bad luck during the Summer and Fall. Their CEO was fired, the share price for VMWare stock has gone down by 75% this year, they have lost significant market share, Microsoft has launched an competitor priced intentionally low in order to gain market share, and three different investment banks have downgraded them. All this while the market for their product has gotten more interesting, as it helps companies save on IT costs.
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Oct 2008 | 4:06 pm China Extends Media Freedoms Enacted for OlympicsChina added a last minute extension of media freedoms granted to foreign reporters on Friday, protecting the temporary rights initially given just for the Olympics.Foreign journalists will be permitted to travel without restraint across the country for reporting, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 18 Oct 2008 | 3:45 pm VC Financings For Internet Startups Down 16 Percent in Third Quarter
The MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association came out this morning. It shows that total VC financings in the third quarter were down 7 percent compared to the same period last year, to $7.1 billion. That is also down about the same amount from the second quarter. In the chart above, I’ve plotted the dollar value of VC investments for each third quarter going back to 2001, coming off the last boom, when $8.3 billion was invested in VC-backed startups. While $7.1 billion is still a healthy amount, you can see that this may be the first quarter of a significant decline in funding activity. Update: Here is an interactive iChart with the same data as above (mouse over each bar for more info, and use the slider at bottom to change the time range):
If you zero in on Internet deals, VC funding declined 16 percent to $1 billion. Below is a chart plotting the sequential dollar amount going into Internet deals going back to the first quarter of 2002, when $1.3 billion was invested. (Sorry for the apples to oranges comparisons between this and the first chart, which just shows numbers from the third quarter of each year. The entire spreadsheet with all of this data and more going back to 1995 is embedded below).
Update: Here is an iChart showing the VC dollars going into Internet deals every third quarterm along with how much went into early-stage (”first sequence”) deals:
There were a total of 907 VC-backed deals in the third quarter, compared to 983 a year ago and 1,033 in teh second quarter (see first chart below, which is for the same time period as the first chart above). And the number of Internet deals was 194 in the third quarter, compared to 221 a year ago, and 251 last quarter (see second chart below, which is or the same time period as the second chart above):
Update: Here is another iChart comparing the number of all VC deals versus the number of Internet deals:
And just for some perspective, here are two charts showing Internet deals going back to the first quarter of 2000, when $12.4 billion (first chart) was invested in 900 deals (second chart).
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. Source: TechCrunch | 18 Oct 2008 | 3:24 pm Free Bluetooth headset if you get a ticket for not using a one
Well, this is awful nice of Headsets.com. If you happen to earn a ticket for talking on your cell phone while driving, the site will give you a free Plantronics Discovery 925 Bluetooth headset. All you have to do is fill out a form and in the name of safety, they you the headset. The small print reads as the offer is only valid for the first 734 claims so get out there and starting breaking the law! via GadgetReview Source: CrunchGear | 18 Oct 2008 | 3:05 pm New iMacs in November
Source: CrunchGear | 18 Oct 2008 | 2:55 pm Afghanistan Diary: Unleash the Puppies of War!During their deployment to Helmand Province, Marines of B Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment enjoyed few social diversions. They worked out on a ramshackle bench press; jumped rope in the dust; or played spades. But mostly, a small pack of stray dogs (and a kitten or two) is what made life bearable.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 18 Oct 2008 | 1:50 pm
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Kodak recently introduced two inkjet printers to their All-in-One lineup: ESP7 and ESP9. The announcement came nearly six months after they released the ESP5.
New Paris based startup 
This is perhaps the most exciting news since the May 
100 entries. 20 finalists. 3 winners. 1 grand award. And a confused girl. You might be having a little chuckle over the confused girl part. But I really am.
CBHD emerged about a year ago in China as their presence in the world of HD media. Players are just recently becoming available. With HD DVD landing in the cemetery in February 2008, CBHD stands as Blu-ray’s only physical competitor and currently the only HD disk technology available in China as Blu-ray is only recently making attempts to enter that market.
