Stanza, the iPhone e-book reader, has been updated. We first took a look at Stanza when it was still new-born, and loved it. The new features in the 1.5 version make it an even more compelling e-book reader.

The headline feature is cover flow, although it's not cover flow as you know it. Instead of Apple's slick, core-animation enabled browser, Lexcycle (Stanza's developer), has implemented a much clunkier version with rather jerky scrolling, as you can see in the picture. If you have the cover art embedded in the book, though, it's a nice way to browse.

But the janky cover flow is the least interesting from a reader's point of view. While the app has received some polish here and there (a progress bar when loading a book, much smoother page turning and a new icon), the best part is the ability to add your own on-line directories. Stanza already allows you to browse for books hosted at several public domain repositories, and it was always possible to replace the default Feedbooks catalog with your own. Now, though, you can add any amount of extra libraries without losing the original, and it is much easier to do.

Why is this important? Well, Stanza is a pretty popular reader, and there are people putting out lists of not-so free books (ie. pirated). Until somebody comes up with a decent online store for e-books along the lines of the iTunes Store, then the only easy way to get new titles is by stealing them. We've been here before, with music and movies. Let's just hope that the book industry wakes up before it's too late.

Product page [iTunes]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 21 Oct 2008 | 11:25 am

Rive Technology to Open Catalyst R&D Facility in New Jersey

Rive Technology, a developer of catalyst technology for the petroleum refining industry, has announced that it will commence operations of a 10,000-square-foot R&D facility in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey in November 2008.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am

PSE Receives New 50-Year License for Baker Hydropower Facility

Puget Sound Energy has received a new, 50-year federal operating license for the 190MW Baker River hydroelectric project in Skagit and Whatcom counties in northwest Washington state.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am

Climate Change Factors into Land Buys

By Haya El Nasser Climate change is prompting some conservation groups to broaden strategies in buying pristine lands, recognizing that some may be under water in 50 years or undergo other drastic changes.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am

DeviceAnywhere & O2 UK Create Virtual Developer Lab to Drive Growth in New Wave of Mobile Content and Applications

DeviceAnywhere(TM) (www.deviceanywhere.com), the award-winning mobile application development solution provider, today announced the upcoming launch of the O2 Virtual Developer Lab (VDL), a new online mobile application development facility.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am

SectorWatch.Biz Issues MarketStats on NWCI, ERES, STJ, MDT, BSX, and CSCX

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- SectorWatch.biz announces the availability of MarketStats for health care technology equities in the news and driving markets today.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am

Audible Announces 'METAtropolis,' an Innovative Collaboration By Award-Winning Sci-Fi Authors

The leading provider of premium digital spoken-audio information and entertainment, Audible Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (Nasdaq: AMZN), today announced the publication of "METAtropolis," an original science-fiction collaboration written exclusively for downloadable audio.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am

Amid Ticket Price Wars FreeTicketExchange.Com Celebrates One Year Online

Online ticket price wars are heating up. In light of the economy, prices are dropping - even selling below face value - as consumers tighten their belts and reign in spending.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am

eBay Announces Ivory Ban in Wake of IFAW Report

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW - http://www.ifaw.org/) applauds eBay's decision to institute a global ban on the sale of elephant ivory products by 1 January 2009 and calls on all other internet traders to follow their example.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am

SuperPoints Network Lets You Search, Shop and Share for Great Prizes

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am

'Backscatter Spam' Gums Up E-Mail Inboxes

By Jon Swartz SAN FRANCISCO -- E-mail users worldwide are being buried in a blizzard of bounced messages caused by spammers. Dubbed "backscatter spam," this latest fad is clogging e-mail accounts and slowing victims' inboxes to a crawl.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am

MessageLabs Offers Online Security Tips for Surviving the Credit Crisis

MessageLabs, the leading provider of messaging and web security services to businesses worldwide, today announced that as the credit crisis worsens, there has been an increase in phishing attacks largely spoofing banks in September and October.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am

CyberDefender Expands Business With Affinity Associations

LOS ANGELES, Oct.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 21 Oct 2008 | 11:00 am

LittleBigPlanet recalled over Quran quotes in music

Sony's upcoming world creation puzzler LittleBigPlanet was supposed to be released today. In fact, it's already getting rave reviews and blast-off penis rocketship videos. Yet bizarrely, Sony has made a costly last minute decision to delay the game by a week, recalling all existing copies and replacing them with freshly minted discs.

What predicated the recall? Apparently, a single Muslim gamer's forum post, in which he claims the game is offensive to Muslims because it contains a song with lyrics taken from the Quran.

From a business perspective, better safe than sorry, of course. Making a stand against the unreasonable expectations of religious extremists in the name of free speech is all well and good, but not worth the rumpus if the fix is simply replacing a song with lyrics with the same song's instrumental version.

But as Salon's Machinist blog takes note, what's truly absurd about this Little Big Planet recall is that the song in question was written and performed by devoted Muslim Toumani Diabaté, and can be easily purchased over iTunes. Moreover, Diabaté has a prayer room right next to his office and studio, and describes the Quran as a "deep and spiritual instrument." It's not just some lame doofus' pretension at multi-cultural profundity by cramming unrelated Quran quotes into a death metal song otherwise called "Jesus Christ Goat Fuck." It's a Muslim song, written and performed by a believer with the utmost respect for the faith.

What a stupidly drastic action for Sony to take for a non-issue, and a fantastic tale of knee-jerk sensitivity to one isolated voice's unthinking demand. The Machinist has a great write-up, including reactions from the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Sony recalls LittleBigPlanet over Quran quote in music [The Machinist]

NEC today announced it has developed a completely sealed LCD screen [JP] for use as digital information boards located in train stations and other semi-exposed areas. The prototype is protected against rain, dust, dirt and other dangers.

NEC says instead of relying on external air supply, it used a new cooling technology within the LCD screens to prevent the screens from heating up. Filters aren’t needed anymore, which means the LCDs can be used in dirty and dusty areas.

NEC used its MultiSync(R)LCD5220 52-inch LCD display as a basis for the prototype and used a train station in Tokyo to gather data in a field test.

NEC plans to commercialize the technology as early as next year. The company wants to expand shipments of information displays (sealed and not sealed models) by 50% to 30,000 units per months.

Source: CrunchGear | 21 Oct 2008 | 10:48 am

IMOVIO's iKit: Teeny, Tiny Handheld Computer

Despite its name, the iKit (sadly) has nothing to do with Michael Knight or his coche fantástico. Instead, it is the kind of tiny handheld computer we longed for in the 1980s -- a folding, QWERTY-equipped pocket computer with Wi-Fi, webcam, movie and music playback and Bluetooth. The iKit is designed to be an always-on internet device.

The trouble starts immediately. The iKit has just 192MB inside, split between ROM and RAM. The SD card slot means you can boost that to 8GB. Battery life is listed at a decent 250 hours for standby, but in use you get a feeble three hours.

Worse, the iKit doesn't come with any 3G connectivity. The internal USB connection needs to be modified to accommodate an HSDPA dongle. If we assume that the cell carriers will take care of that, then the iKit's next USP goes out the window: The press release claims that the iKit is cheaper than competitors, at £100 ($172). How much cheaper than, say, an iPhone? £500 ($860), apparently.

This figure is achieved by adding in the price of an 18 month iPhone contract. Of course, you'll need some kind of data plan to make the iKit work, too, so it seems like a rather unfair, if not desperate, comparison. Indeed, the flailing continues. Before reading the next sentence, take another look at the picture, specifically the picture on the left, and consider the aesthetics.

the elegant design mean that iKIT is the ultimate, portable multimedia device

iKIT runs the multi-media and communication tools required by the teen and youth audience

a very attractive device for a youth audience

Really, IMOVIO? Do you really think that this will pull the kids away from their iPhones? It's not even a phone.

There's only one place this device will end up, and it might a big enough market to save it: In the hands of geeks. Because it is Linux based, it could prove to be a very useful hacking platform, and that SD card slot means dropping in custom firmware should be a breeze.

We don't like to be too down on companies trying to do things a little differently, but trying to push this little handheld through the usual subsidized telco markets looks like it will lead to a big failure. Get this thing on Amazon or in Best Buy, though, and you've got a possible nerd-phenomenon on your hands. Look how crazy-popular the WRT54G router became when Linksys was forced to open-source its firmware. And that was just a router.

Press release [Realwire via Computer World]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 21 Oct 2008 | 10:44 am

Pomera Digital Memo portable writing device does only that

Rob and I are both obsessed with the chimeric ultimate portable writing device. The idea is simple: essentially, it is a tiny, lightweight word processor with a low price, quick startup and incredible battery life that does nothing short of allow you to jot off a few pages of an article or short story no matter where you are. A sort of small, hardware-based Writeroom platform, really.

It seems like it should exist, but it doesn't: laptops are more fully featured but too expensive and netbooks fail on battery life. The idea, really, is far too specific to ever get any traction: like the Peek email client, it's the sort of gadget that would only be reviewed based upon the criterion of what it was never meant to do.

So I'm sort of captivated by this Pomera Digital Memo. It's exactly the device we are talking about: pocketable, with a full-sized folding keyboard, 2 second startup and 20 hours battery life. All you can do on it is type.

Unfortunately, it's still far too expensive at $269, so the search continues.

Pomera Digital Memo [King Jim via Engadget]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 21 Oct 2008 | 10:26 am

Review: 3 Digital Picture Frames from Digital Foci

This review might be cheating the CrunchGear 300 a little bit, since it’s covering three products in one post, but they’re all from the same manufacturer and all do pretty much the same thing, so it makes sense to review them together.  Read on for information about an LCD and two OLED digital picture frames from Digital Foci.

The Digital Foci Pocket Album OLED 1.5 is something you’re expected to take with you, whether on trips or always attached to your backpack, purse, or European manbag.  In the box you get the picture frame, USB cable, USB-to-AC adapter, software CD and manual.  The storage capacity of this model is only 32 megabytes, so rather than waste space with their software it is included on CD.  The frame itself has only a mini USB port and a navigation rocker switch, with no extra buttons.  The rocker switch is like a jogdial, but only moves one position to the left or right, instead of continuously around.  It works, but I worry that it’ll be an easy piece to break.

The menu is extremely simplified.  Setting an option takes you out of the menu and back to the photo display, so if you want to tweak several settings expect to spend some time doing it.  You must use the Digital Foci software to transfer images to the frame, as it’s not detected as a removable drive when you connect it to your PC.  The software, which has Mac and Windows flavors, is easy to use, though the chrome is a little garrish.  You select photos from your PC and place them in a staging area within the software, and then you transfer all the staged photos to the frame.  You can also perform some basic editing of your photos before transferring them: crop, twiddle the contrast, etc.  You will probably want to either resize your photos manually before loading them into the software, or use the software to crop them before transferring to the frame: the default operation for photos too large to display is to show only the center portion, cropping out all the rest.

Battery life is about 5 hours, but it takes just as long to charge.  The instruction sheet recommends turning the unit off during charge, in order to speed up the process.  The included USB-to-AC adapter is a real convenience.

One unexpectedly nice feature of the 1.8″ frame is that you can delete images from the menu, so if you don’t like the crop that gets automatically applied you can remove that photo from the internal memory.

The Digital Foci Pocket Album Deluxe OLED 2.8 can be used as a desktop picture display, or carried around on a wrist strap.  In the box you get the picture frame, USB cable, wrist strap, storage pouch, USB-to-AC adatper, manual and an acrylic stand.  The software necessary to load photos onto the frame is stored in the memory on the frame (and it’s different than the software on the CD bundled with the 1.8″ frame, for what that’s worth).  The frame itself has a mini USB socket, 4 buttons and a navigation rocker switch.  The controls on the frame are fairly easy to figure out: just keep pressing buttons until you get what you want.

The 2.8″ frame has 128MB of internal storage, and is seen as a removable drive to your PC.  You still need to use the included software to shrink the photos and transfer them to the frame.  The software is easy to use, and it doesn’t take too long to shrink the photos and transfer them across.  As with the 1.5″ frame, you may want to resize and/or crop your photos ahead of time, as oversized photos will be cropped to display only the center portion of the image.

The on-screen menu is easy to use, but setting the time sucks: it uses a 12 hour clock with no way to set AM or PM other than to cycle through the hours.  Additionally, there’s no fast-forward on minute selection, which means you may need to click the navigation rocker switch several dozen times to set the minutes.

There are 5 transition effects from which to select, along with some limited photo organization in the way of folders.  You can select to display only photos from a particular folder, or cycle through all photos in all folders.  You can display multiple images on screen in 3×3 or 2×2 mode, as well as a calendar overlay mode.

The calendar display is neat, and apparently tries to select text color that is appropriate against the image being shown.  It doesn’t always work so well, as I’ve only seen white and yellow text, but at least it tries.  The calendar display is really a convenience when this thing is sitting on your cubical desk, and not a primary feature for which you’d buy the device.

Battery life is also about 5 hours, and also takes as long to charge.  As with the 1.8″ frame, you can delete images from the frame by selecting “Delete” from the menu.

The Digital Foci Image Moments 8 is the showcase LCD digital picture frame from from Digital Foci, featuring interchangeable bezels, an 8″ screen with LED backlighting, a remote control, and multiple media inputs.  In addition to 450 megs of internal storage, it has slots for Compact Flash, HC/SD and MMC, and Memory Stick (Pro, Duo and Pro Duo).  As soon as you turn the frame on it begins a slideshow of the photos sotred in its interal media.

Although the Image Moments 8 has a joystick control and a few buttons on frame itself, you’ll be much happier if you use the supplied remote control.  I found it hard to press the joystick down to select a menu option, and instead usually ended up pushing the joystick into one of the cardinal directions.

In addition to photos (JPEG, BMP, TIFF, GIF, and RAW!), you can play back a limited set of videos: MJPEG, MPEG-1 and MPEG-4SP.  This makes it great for playing back quick videos taken with point-and-shoot cameras: just put the memory card from the camera into the frame, and select the video to play.  The memory cards are hot-swappable, so you don’t need to turn off the frame.

The location of some of the media slots is pretty close to the product casing, though.  If you have fat fingers like me, you might find it a little awkward to remove a CF card.

The menu system is pretty simplified, and relatively easy to navigate.  One thing I discovered is that it’s overly easy to select multiple videos for playback, when you only want one.

You can create and edit playlists right on the frame itself, which is handy.  You can playback photos only, videos only, or both.  The frame has a built-in orientation sensor, so rotating the frame from landscape to portrait will automatically rotate the currently displayed photo — I thought that was a nice touch.  Likewise, the frame reads EXIF data from the photos to display correctly given the current orientation of the frame.

Included on the frame is a small collection of digital music files you can play during your slideshow.  You can upload your own MP3, AAC and WMA files if you want a better selection of background music.

All three Digital Foci picture frames had absolutely gorgeous screens: the OLED technology on the smaller two makes a crisp, vibrant display, and the large LCD on the Image Moments 8 is extremely easy on the eyes.  Of the three frames, I think the Image Moments 8 is the real keeper, with the 2.8″ model coming in second.  I don’t really see the 1.5″ frame being very popular, but I may be wrong.

Source: CrunchGear | 21 Oct 2008 | 10:18 am

The Calamente fork for spaghetti twirling

The Calamente fork features a sharp metallic thumb at its base, imitating the human hand for better spaghetti twirling. A canny evolution: why has it taken cutlery engineers so long to realize that I can twirl spaghetti far more gracefully by simply picking it up off my plate and whirling it rotor-like around my head for a few seconds than I can with that useless and pretentious gastronomic affectation, the fork?

I kid. I actually think this is pretty neat. I also like how it looks like some sort of Klington urethra gutting device.

Calamente [Official Site via Trends in Japan]

Well, not really, but pretty close. DODAQ has launched a demo version of what appears to be the first ever online diamond exchange, enabling professional traders to buy, sell and hold certified polished diamonds like stocks. The company offers a two-way auction for traders and facilitates electronic transactions with real-time tradable pricing.

Now, it’s been a while since I’ve traded any diamonds, but according to company management the mechanism is bound to make waves in the industry. The way it works now, is that there’s no real fixed price for polished diamonds. The few inventory lists that give an idea of which stones are out there, are often inaccurate or incomplete. Buyers and sellers pretty much agree on pricing based on a scheme that’s distributed on a weekly basis, but without any real, dynamic transaction data that can be used for benchmarking.

DODAQ aims to provide a centralized, global meeting place that enables basically anyone to trade or invest in diamonds, with transparency on rates. The platform also allows outsiders to start investing in diamonds and set up a virtual holding. Obviously, the biggest challenge for the company is building a market place so secure that it’s able to convince industry professionals diamonds can effectively be traded online ‘like any other commodity nowadays’ (not my words). In order to brush off skepticism, the authenticity and actual existence of every stone is graded and guaranteed (including insurance), and the polished diamonds are locked in a vault facility together with their certification documents.

DODAQ acts as a custodian, so it charges a fee for the vault service and takes a commission of maximum 1,5% on any transaction. You can sign up for a demo account and play around with $500,000 on a dummy balance. I embedded a video below that outlines what DODAQ does in a nutshell.

 

 

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

Source: TechCrunch | 21 Oct 2008 | 9:59 am

Brightstorm Raises $6 Million For Online Video Tutorials

If high-school education is failing in the U.S., maybe Web video can help. Founded last April, Brightstorm is a Web video site that brings bright, talented teachers together with students who need some extra help. Backed by Korea’s KTB Ventures, which invested the entire $6 million in the startup’s A round, Brightstorm is launching today to the public.

There are about 20 teachers on the site offering video courses in subjects such as Geometry, the SAT, and A.P. U.S. History. Each course is broken up into episodes that are about 10 to 20 minutes each. Each course is $50, which is split between Brightstorm and the teachers. Students can watch a free promotional video to decide if they like the teacher and want to purchase the course. These tend to be overproduced with cheesy video graphics (stop with the jump cuts already), but they do the job of getting across each teacher’s personality and teaching style.

The videos are supplemented with interactive challenges, pop-up quizzes, and other bonus material. You can certainly see the appeal. If you were a high school student who needed a tutor, wouldn’t you rather watch videos on your computer for ten minutes a day than endure a live tutorial for an hour or more? Now, whether you are actually going to learn more is still debatable.

But there are plenty of startups trying. Here in the U.S., there is PrepMe, ePrep, Teach The People, and Grockit. In Asia, there is iKnow in Japan and perhaps the biggest success to date is Korea’s Megastudy. No wonder KTB took the whole round.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 21 Oct 2008 | 9:58 am

Microsoft, Google Battle Over Energy Efficiency

1sockchuck writes "Microsoft and Google have opened a new front in their battle for global domination: data center energy efficiency. Just weeks after Google published data on the extreme efficiency of its previously secret data centers, Microsoft says it has achieved similar results with shipping containers (despite Google's patent) packed with up to 2,500 servers. The geeky benchmark for the battle is Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), a green data-center metric advanced by The Green Grid. Microsoft says its containers tested at a PUE of 1.22, while Google reported an average PUE of 1.21 for its data centers, which apparently are also now using containers."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 21 Oct 2008 | 9:45 am

Oh, Sun’s “Preconfigured for the Downturn,” All Right … [Digital Daily]

We are preconfigured for the downturn.”

– Sun CEO Jon Schwartz, Oct. 13, 2008

The econaclypse is weighing heavy on Sun Microsystems. Its business sullied by the financial crisis, the company warned of a much larger-than-expected quarterly loss on lower revenue after market close Monday afternoon. Sun (JAVA) said it expects to post revenues of $2.95 billion to $3.05 billion when it reports full financials on Oct. 30. Analysts had been looking for $3.14 billion and a loss of $0.01.

Sun’s ugly news just seems to be getting uglier. “The company continues to miss its targets,” said Edward Jones analyst Bill Kreher. “There’s a lack of confidence in management, given continued shortfalls. … They are just not well-positioned … [Sun] has an uncertain future.”

Source: All Things Digital | 21 Oct 2008 | 9:32 am

Taliban orders mobile shutdown in Afghan province

Now, the Democratic side–which has been overwhelmingly more active in creating funny online videos–is back with yet another political spoof.

This time, it is via pranking on boy bands like ‘N Sync and New Kids on the Block with a new one. Of course, the group is called Boybama.

Singing to white independent women, Boybama’s song “Battleground for Your Heart” is oddly catchy.

Here’s the video:

Source: All Things Digital | 21 Oct 2008 | 7:12 am

Doing the Math On the New MacBook

Technologizer writes "Apple's new MacBook is a significantly different machine than its predecessor — a slicker laptop at a higher price point. But does it carry a large price premium over similar Windows PCs? I did a painstaking spec-by-spec comparison versus three roughly comparably-configured Windows machines, and came to the conclusion that the value it offers for price paid is not out of whack with the Windows world." The article uses the phrase "Mac tax," which one commenter points out is a recent Microsoft marketing canard.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 21 Oct 2008 | 7:08 am

Nvidia announces desktop MacBook GPU

Section: Video, Computers, Desktops, Hardware

On Tuesday, October 14th, Steve Jobs announced a chipset that Apple worked on with Nvidia.  It resulted in a 16-core integrated GPU that’s in both the MacBook and MacBook Pro.  On Monday, Nvidia announced the desktop version of the GPU.  Nvidia is calling the chips the 9300 and 9400 mGPUs as they are half the size of standard integrated graphics, but can accomplish a lot more. 

While the specs aren’t included in the press release, the chips are pretty impressive.  They can transfer the entirety of video decoding from the CPU to the GPU, making it work much faster.  They also support Blu-Ray playback and Direct X10.

Of course, GPUs are nice and and all, but it wasn’t until recently that they became much more important.  The new Creative Suite 4 from Adobe now actually takes advantage of GPU processing, something that has been missing from Photoshop and other apps for a long time.  Playing HD videos or Blu-Ray discs require decent GPUs.  Games are also requiring even more graphics power, especially to reach high Direct X10 levels.  Come to think of it, I wonder how well these new mGPUs run Crysis.

Read [Information Week]
Press Release [Nvidia]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 21 Oct 2008 | 7:05 am

The Short List for U.S. Chief Technology Officer [Voices]

By Tom Lowry, Senior Writer, BusinessWeek

Barack Obama says that the U.S. is not doing nearly enough to create jobs through technology. Shortly after he launched his campaign, the Illinois senator promised that if elected, he would create the first-ever Cabinet-level post of chief technology officer. The economic crisis has since made it certain that a White House CTO would become one of Obama’s most important advisers, should he triumph in November.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 21 Oct 2008 | 7:01 am

Spending on Gadgets Is Projected to Grow at a Slower Rate [Voices]

By Matt Richtel, Reporter, Bits, New York Times

In a mixed holiday sales forecast, an electronics industry trade group is projecting that consumer spending on such gadgets will grow 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter, half the growth rate in the same quarter a year earlier.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 21 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am

Peak Power Developing a Second Hump Because of Computers [Voices]

By Michael Kanellos, Senior Analyst, Greentech Media

Because of big screen TVs and home computers, utilities are seeing another peak power problem evolve. Traditional peak power hours–the time during the day when power demand shoots up–run from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., according to Andrew Tang, senior director, smart energy web, at Pacific Gas & Electric. But utilities are now seeing a second surge after the 7:00 p.m. drop in demand; it runs from about 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., he said. That’s when people head toward the electronic entertainment devices.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 21 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am

Bringing Search Ads to File Sharers [Voices]

By Jon Healey, Editorial Writer, Los Angeles Times

What would happen if you introduced one of the most lucrative business models on the Internet–search-related advertising–to the file-sharing networks that power much of the Net’s underground economy? We’re about to find out. Monday, Brand Asset Digital launches a public version of P2Pwords, a service that lets advertisers deliver keyword-triggered pitches through peer-to-peer networks.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 21 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am

CBS Tries to Make Online Viewing Social [Voices]

By Chris Albrecht, Blogger, New TeeVee

Mel Brooks said the hardest thing to do was to make a person sitting alone in a room laugh out loud. Laughter is social, and that’s important to consider as watching online video on your laptop or handheld device with headphones can be a pretty isolating experience. CBS is looking to transform this experience with its new Social Viewing Rooms that let users separated by geography watch and interact with TV shows together online. But can it truly be social?

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 21 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am

Zeemote to release controller SDK for BlackBerry

Lets face it: By and large, gaming on mobile handsets sucks. Sure, no one’s expecting (or even desiring, perhaps) an experience along the lines of a couch-camping session - but even the simplest of games are hindered by, amongst other things, the lack of intuitive input methods. While we’re able to quickly rewire our noggins to play Tetris on a number pad, it just never feels right. Why? Because a number pad (or a touchscreen, mind you) wasn’t meant for gaming.

Whether or not a separate Bluetooth controller is the best solution is arguable, but the guys at Zeemote think so. With Sony Ericsson, Nokia, and countless mobile game development companies already on board as partners (with the first two going as far as to bundle the controller with a few of their handsets), they’re looking to expand the family a bit: just about an hour ago, they announced that they will be releasing a software development kit for the BlackBerry platform. They’re not saying when, just yet - just that it’s on the way. Interested? Hit up Zeemote’s booth at the BlackBerry Developer Conference (Oct. 21-22), or pitch your pre-registration inquiries to bizdev@zeemote.com.

At the moment, they’re not selling the Zeemote JS1 as a standalone unit, nor are they partnered with RIM. With this announcement, we’ll go ahead and assume that one of these matters (probably the former) is set to change sometime soon. It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to add JS1 compatibility to your game be it that no one will be able to make use of it in the foreseeable future.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 21 Oct 2008 | 5:40 am

San Francisco to get G1 tomorrow

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile, Web, Google

Everyone knows that the G1 is coming out this Wednesday.  That is, unless you live in San Francisco.  You can get the G1 in San Francisco tomorrow, October 21st, at 6PM (Pacific Time) at the 3rd and Market store. 

If you’re not heading to SF for the phone early, just head off the rest of T-Mobile’s stores on Wednesday at 8AM (local time) and pick one up. 

Don’t know anything about the G1 or just want to know more about Android?  Gadgetell’s got you covered.

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 21 Oct 2008 | 5:24 am

Got an HTC that needs a Windows Mobile 6.0 upgrade? Better do it quick!

Been putting off that Windows Mobile 6.0 upgrade for your HTC 8525? You’ve only got about 9 days left.

HTC has announced that they will be removing all Windows Mobile 6.0 upgrades from their site. For our US readers, the only devices you need to worry about are the AT&T 8525 (HTC Hermes) and the T-Mobile Dash (S621). As PhoneNews points out, neither of these handsets have been given the 6.1 treatment yet (at least, not officially) - if you don’t get to upgrading, it’ll be a bit tougher to get’em up and running on WinMo 6 before you know it.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 21 Oct 2008 | 5:01 am

Pumpkin-ganda: YES WE CARVE

This video is simultaneously the most retarded and most awesome thing I have ever seen. "Yes We Carve: Pumpkins for Barack Obama", on YouTube, and here is the project website. (Thanks, Dana!)

Source: Boing Boing | 21 Oct 2008 | 4:39 am

To do in LA: Go see Dave Hill Tuesday night.

If you're in Los Angeles, you may want to head over to alt-comic Dave Hill's live show tomorrow night, Tuesday, October 21, where at 10:30pm local time, he says...

I will be exploding like a motherf#@ker all over again over there at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Hollywood. If you see just one thing that is explosive in nature tomorrow night, you should totally see my show because it is going to be incredible to the point where it makes all other things previously thought to be incredible to suddenly seem, like, not really all that incredible if you think about it (with the exception of Olympic figure skating great Oksana Baiul's gold medal-winning performance at the 1994 Winter Olympics, something we still talk about to this day). My guests on the show tomorrow night will be actress/singer Lucy Lawless, whom you no doubt remember from such programs as "Xena: Warrior Princess," "Battlestar Galactica," and a ton of other programs besides those ones I just mentioned; and also singer/songwriter/actor/man-about-town Loudon Wainwright III, whom you no doubt remember from the radio and also the popular films "The Aviator," "40 Year-Old Virgin," and "Knocked Up." There will also be snacks, fire, small animals, knives, smoke, and dancing. I really hope you can make it. You can get tickets right here.

Previously on BB:
* Dave Hill, Jedi Master in training.
* Dave Hill returns to Fashion Week '09
* Dave Hill is a very funny guy (videos)

Source: Boing Boing | 21 Oct 2008 | 4:34 am

The State of Piracy and DRM In PC Gaming

VideoGamer sat down with Randy Stude, president of the PC Gaming Alliance, to talk about the state of piracy and DRM in today's gaming industry. He suggests that many game studios have themselves to blame for leaks and pre-launch piracy by not integrating their protection measures earlier in the development process. He mentions that some companies, such as Blizzard and Valve, have worked out anti-piracy schemes that generate much less of a backlash than occurred for Spore . Stude also has harsh words for companies who decline to create PC versions of their games, LucasArts in particular, saying, "LucasArts hasn't made a good PC game in a long time. That's my opinion. ... It's ridiculous to say that there's not enough audience for that game ... and that it falls into this enthusiast extreme category when ported over to the PC. That's an uneducated response." Finally, Stude discusses what the PCGA would like to see out of Vista and the next version of Windows.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 21 Oct 2008 | 4:28 am

Sun Preps RIA Resurgence With New Java Release

Sun is releasing a new version of client-side Java insipidly called SE 6 Update 10 that sets the groundwork for JavaFX, a major overhaul of the runtime environment that’s set to debut before the year’s end and will challenge other RIA platforms such as AIR, Silverlight, and Google Gears.

Update 10 comes with two major consumer-facing improvements: a smaller footprint and enhanced speed. Whereas the current version of Java is a 14.5mb download, the newest has been slimmed down to 4.5mb. This will matter most for Windows users who don’t have high-speed internet access (since Java comes prepackaged on Macs and the difference of 10mb is inconsequential over broadband). Nevertheless, the move reflects Sun’s commitment to trimming down a technology that has been criticized for its bloat (many optional components no longer come preinstalled but must be added to the kernel after-the-fact).

Java apps will now enjoy shorter load times with a new quick starter tool as well. We’ll have to see just how instantaneous load times have become, but this is certainly an area where Java should improve since Java apps are noticeably slower to boot up than their Flash counterparts.

For Java to really take off on the web (as it was originally intended), it will have to become more developer-friendly. Update 10 doesn’t change a lot for developers, although Sun has reintroduced the idea of “applets” that make it possible to easily port in-browser Java apps onto the desktop. When consumers install the new version, they will immediately have the ability to drag and drop apps out of the browser. Developers that want to customize the way their apps look and function in the desktop environment will now have the tools do that as well.

These are just incremental improvements for developers compared to the ones that will accompany the release of JavaFX, which will support a simple scripting language called JavaFX Script. The idea is to make coding for Java just as easy as coding in Flash or JavaScript/HTML so developers don’t have to relearn too much when jumping platforms. JavaFX will also support high quality graphics (both 2D and 3D) and audio, taking particular advantage of Direct 3D on Windows.

Sun claims that Java is installed on 91% of PCs, or over 800 million desktops around the world. The company touts Java as an attractive RIA platform in particular because it already enjoys a substantial developer community and runs on a range of devices from mobile phones to TVs.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 21 Oct 2008 | 4:03 am

GreenFuel Tech opens algae-growing greenhouse (CNET)

CNET - GreenFuel Technologies on Tuesday is expected to announce what few in the algae fuel business can claim--a paying customer.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Oct 2008 | 4:01 am

Rubik meets rainbows with Magic LED Cube

I thought I'd gone to the limits. I hadn't. The Cenobites gave me an experience beyond limits... pain and pleasure, indivisible. And rainbows. Happy happy rainbows.

Source [Random Good Stuff]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 21 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

Imeem For Android Takes The Jukebox In The Sky And Puts It In Your Pocket

What good is an endless jukebox in the sky if you can only listen to it while you are sitting in front of your computer? Imeem answers that with what is certainly the best Android app I’ve seen (or heard) so far. It’s called imeem Mobile, and it is the musically-oriented social network’s first foray into the mobile arena.

Caveat: I’ve had a review phone for about a week, and only now are a bunch of new apps flooding onto the Android market in anticipation of T-Mobile’s G1 going on sale on Wednesday. So this is an early favorite that could be eclipsed by better apps down the road. But, just to compare, MySpace is also launching a mobile app for Android tonight, and that doesn’t even include any streaming music.

Imeem is one of the few music Websites with streaming licenses from all four major music labels, plus most of the independents. (MySpace Music is another). Imeem offers its music streams for free, supported by advertising and affiliate fees from music downloads. With imeem Mobile, the most popular songs from its catalog are available for streaming on the Android phone. Says CEO Dalton Caldwell:

We look at what the most popular songs are across imeem, and in real time populate them to be available on mobile. The catalog is a literal representation of what the community finds most interesting at different times. So the songs available change daily as tastes change.

You can search for specific artists (I had no trouble finding songs from a wide spectrum of artists including David Bowie, the Beastie Boys, Vampire Weekend, and Serge Gainsbourg, for instance). Or you can just pick one artist and let imeem create a playlist of related songs that it streams radio-style.

Each song can be favorited, blocked, paused, or bought on Amazon’s MP3 store (which downloads the MP3 straight to the phone’s music library). You can also skip to the next song. The recommendation engine works without a hitch if you start out with the right artist. I’m listening to it right now, and it is just as good as Pandora, which is saying a lot. The streaming quality over Wifi sounds just as good as my iPod (the 3G in my apartment is more spotty).

The app creates a station around each of your favorite artists, keeps a history of recent artists you’ve listened to, and lets you create a station based on your favorites and related artists. It also offers a Top 100 station base don the most popular songs on imeem, a Spotlight station where imeem promotes new acts, and a Discover station based purely on imeem’s personalized recommendations.

Every song you listen to or add as a favorite on imeem Mobile is reflected in your media tracker on the Website proper, and vice versa. So as you listen to songs while at your desktop, every artist you mark as a favorite will be available to you when you walk out the door with your Android phone.

The most glaring omission from the mobile app is that you cannot access your playlists from the site. Caldwell tells me:

We didn’t get the feature that enables access to your playlists on the phone into the final shipping build for this launch, but it is obviously something the imeem mobile app should do.

It should also give you access to your friend’s playlists and the option of building stations around their favorites. And the search feature could be improved. All in good time. But imeem Mobile is a clear example of how software that taps into the vast resources of the Web (in this case, a virtually limitless music database and the smarts that come from watching social interactions on a grand scale) can turn an Android phone into a real game-changer. Instead of 10,000 songs in your pocket, now you can have one million.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 21 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

Android G1 Rap Song: "Ladies and gentlemen, you are now entering a mobile revolution."

Here is a fan-made rap video about T-Mobile's G1, and the Android operating system that runs on it.

A milli-yun here, A milli-yun there/Android phones for every continent, manufacturer n carrier/That day will come eventually… but til it does/I gotta go back to showin G1 Love

Android Rap Song: G1 Love [VIDEO] [Phandroid]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 21 Oct 2008 | 3:28 am

Eye-Fi gets a Compact Flash adapter

Eye-Fi is an SD card with WiFi built-in, enabling it to upload photos to a computer or website whenever it can grab itself some bandwidth. Owners of older cameras will be pleased to see this $28 CF-to-SD adapter, claimed to be the only such device that actually works.

There are some warnings. First, it reduces the Eye-Fi's range to about 15 feet. Second, the read/write performance of the adapted card is diminished. Finally, they don't guarantee it will work for all CF-based cameras, offering only a short list of "proven" models, including Canon's EOS series, the Rebel XTi, and Nikon's D100.

CompactFlash Type II to Eye-Fi™ + Multi-Card Adapter [SynchroTech via CrunchGear]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 21 Oct 2008 | 3:17 am

Microsoft Arc Mouse gleans good write-up

CrunchGear's Devin Coleway reviewed the strange, sexy Arc mouse. He liked it.

I think this is a great little mouse. It has an eye-catching look that doubles as a practical design for travel, and it feels good to use. The only problem is that it costs about $50, a good deal more than what most mini mice run for.

It uses its own RF dongle, relies on Microsoft's surprisingly unpleasant mouse manager software, and could be cross-promoted with a certain brand of unreliable German automobile. If nothing else, it's more interesting than the $12 travel mice at Walgreens.

Review: Microsoft Arc Mouse [CrunchGear]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 21 Oct 2008 | 3:03 am

Lala May Have Just Built The Next Revolution In Digital Music

Call me a skeptic. When Lala came to our offices last week trying to convince me that music was heading to the cloud, and that they were going to help lead the transition, I wasn’t convinced at first. The company has floundered for years, moving from a CD swapping service to a failed music hub that shut down last summer. But now they’ve completely redesigned and are coming back with an advertising-free music site that makes me think that they might be onto something big here.

At first glance, Lala resembles most other music stores. You use a search box to find your favorite artists, and can buy DRM-free music for around 90 cents (there is some slight variation depending on the song). Each page features an artist profile, their albums, and playlists that other users have included them on. It’s standard fare, and while the DRM-free music is nice, it would have a tough time competing with Amazon on its own.

Fortunately Lala’s real potential stems from its integrated media player and your web library (which looks a lot like iTunes, but in the cloud). At the top of the screen is a music player that will continue playing whatever song you listen to, no matter where you navigate on the site. And you’ll have lots of content to play: users will be able to play any song on the site’s massive catalog in its entirety exactly one time free of charge. The limitation sounds restrictive at first, but it costs only 10 cents to buy a “web song” - giving you the ability to stream that song as many times as you’d like in the future. And if you decide to buy the normal MP3 later, that 10 cents will go towards your purchase.

This 10 cent price point is incredibly addictive, and is essential to Lala’s monetization strategy (users are given 50 free web songs to get them used to the idea). CEO Geoff Ralston explains that other sites like imeem or MySpace Music need to inundate users with advertising in order to make money - something that isn’t conducive to a good music listening experience. Conversely, Lala wants you to listen to as much music as possible in the hopes that you’ll keep clicking that addictive 10 cent “web song” button, and is forgoing advertising entirely. The result is very refreshing.

Lala has also done some serious legal wrangling to help you populate your online library. Using the site’s helper application (available on Windows and Mac), Lala can scan your iTunes music library and add every song you already own to your Lala web library, essentially giving you online streaming access to any song you already have on your computer. And best of all: Lala will give you free, unlimited streaming access to every song in your library, even the ones you’ve acquired in ways that weren’t quite legal. Ralston says that the record labels resisted this at first (”why should we give them access to something they stole”), but eventually came to the conclusion that users weren’t going to buy something they’d already downloaded.

Lala has signed all four major labels and 175,000 independent artists to its extensive library. There are still occasional songs that aren’t totally licensed (you can’t buy the 10 cent versions of any Led Zeppelin songs, for example), but this will likely change in the future.

The real question is whether or not music really is ready to make its way to the cloud. It seems that everything else has been - be it Email and desktop applications like Word and even rich media like photographs. With the increasingly wide spread of high speed mobile devices like the iPhone it seems only a matter of time before users stop worrying about syncing and transferring music and simply stream it from a central server. I’m not sure users will be comfortable about not owning full copies of any of their websongs (what happens when Lala goes down?), but for 10 cents, it’s worth a shot.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 21 Oct 2008 | 2:55 am

Is The Economic Crisis Affecting European Startups At All?

A lot has already been said and written about the current economic crisis, and how the financial meltdown is and will keep on affecting startups in the US. VC’s and angel investors are telling their portfolio companies to say goodbye to the good times and batten down the hatches, and at the same time raising the bar for new financing rounds, while startup CEO’s are executing substantial lay-offs and some company founders are even jumping ship altogether.

Little noise seems to be coming from Europe though, as if the downturn isn’t having an impact on the industry here at all (or at least not yet). Not that we’re rooting for that to happen, of course, but it’s a trend worth noticing. It’s hard to say if it’s merely a matter of perception, considering there’s not really a culture about being open and transparant on dealing with internal challenges here. Or could it be that European startups simply haven’t been hit by the tidal wave yet, while previously considered rock-solid banks and insurance companies all over the continent are fighting for their lives, governments are nationalizing like crazy, and even entire nations are facing bankrupcy? I think it’s safe to say they will feel the sting of the recession soon enough.

But unless I missed them, I haven’t noticed any public (or should I say “leaked”) statements from European VC’s advising their investments to prepare for tough times, nor have I seen many announcements from European startups doing lay-offs or shutting down altogether. The exception proving the rule in this case: Fleck, whose founders put the service up for sale last week, although this decision wasn’t driven solely by the economic crisis as far as I can tell.

I also took note of Martin Varsarvsky subtly criticizing Sequoia, which owns 1% of his company Fon, for not raising any caution flags a year ago when the first signs of a pending recession were already quite visible. He’s also one of the few who publicly states that there have been “painful cost reductions” at Fon, even if they have apparently been dealt with six months ago.

Other than that? Nothing but deafening silence about the challenges ahead and how startups in Europe plan to meet them.

And yet, Max Niederhofer from Atlas Venture recently wrote that he’s seeing “first, quiet shutdowns” - quiet seems to be the keyword here - and that “companies looking for follow-on financing likely won’t get it in the current environment.” Inevitably, the number of first rounds of VC funding and the valuations that come with them will go down in Europe, too. My guess is that the effects for fledgling startups will be less visible in Europe and remain under the radar for some part, but I’m quite sure they will cut just as deep as in the rest of the world.

I’m very curious what the vibe at the upcoming industry conferences like Web 2.0 Expo Berlin and Le Web will be like. Loïc Le Meur said that he’s not witnessing any decline in interest from sponsors or attendees for the latter.

Editor’s Note: This post was written by our newest contributor, Robin Wauters, an entrepreneur living and working in Brussels, Belgium. He’s the organizer of Plugg, the European Web 2.0 Conference, and has followed the European startup scene closely.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 21 Oct 2008 | 2:46 am

Simulation of the Mars Science Laboratory Sky Crane

An anonymous reader points us to Gizmodo for a fascinating video of NASA's Sky Crane. "When I read that the UFO-looking Mars Science Laboratory's aeroshell would use a floating crane — called Sky Crane by NASA — to softly land the rover on Mars, I couldn't believe it. Now, watching this hyper-realistic NASA simulation, I still can't believe how the whole thing works. I don't know about you, but the whole operation mesmerizes me to no end."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 21 Oct 2008 | 2:24 am

Android-Powered G1 to Premiere in San Francisco

On Tuesday evening, a San Francisco store will be the first to sell the hotly anticipated Google Android-powered phone -- getting an 11-hour head start on the rest of the country.

The T-Mobile store located at 699 Market St. will begin selling the HTC T-Mobile G1 on Tuesday at 6 p.m. PDT. A T-Mobile spokeswoman is advising interested buyers to line up early, as supply is limited. She did not specify how many units the store will be carrying.

All other T-Mobile locations will open doors early at 8 a.m. PDT Wednesday (yes, 5 a.m. on the east coast) to begin selling the phone.

The G1 will be the first handset running Google's Android operating system. Though some early reviews express concerns about the handset's bulky, "fugly" aesthetic, consumers and developers are generally more excited about the implications of Google Android's open-platform market, which, in theory, will allow programmers to code any applications for the OS without restrictions.

See also:

• Motorola Springs For Android
• Review: Google G1 Slam Dunks Software, Airballs Hardware
• Android Welcomes App Store's Rejects With Arms Wide Open
• Android: No VOIP For You (And Other Oddities With the New Google Phone)
• Android Today, Total Upheaval in Cell Phones Tomorrow
• Analysts: T-Mobile's G1 Android Phone Lacks Sizzle
• Annoying: Google Android-Powered G1 Leaves Out Standard Headphone Jack
• Photo Gallery: G1 Android Phone Up Close and Personal
• Google Dream Phone Makes Its Debut

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 21 Oct 2008 | 2:00 am

Lawsuit Threatens Exxon Valdez Payouts

Legal wrangling could hold up payments of about $383 million in damages from Alaska's Exxon Valdez oil spill, lawyers say. In June, the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 21 Oct 2008 | 2:00 am

A few lucky customers get their hands on the G1

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Web, Google

As with many gadgets that are supposed to be released on a specific release date, it is possible to get them ahead of time.  Such is the case with T-Mobile’s highly anticipated G1.  We’ve known for about a month now that T-Mobile would make their G1 phone available on October 22.  Also, they said they would be taking pre-orders, but those who pre-order would also receive their phone on the 22nd of October. 

However, a few customers who pre-ordered their G1’s have been lucky enough to receive their unit ahead of time.

For the rest of you who plan to wait until it’s released to buy one, or have pre-ordered one but were not fortunate enough to receive it ahead of time, you can expect to get it by Wednesday.  Although, T-Mobile did say that any pre-orders after October 6 would receive their phone by November 10 at the earliest.  Let us know in the comments if you managed to get your G1 ahead of time and what you think of it.

Via [Engadget]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 21 Oct 2008 | 1:31 am

Pano Turns iPhone Into a Panorama Shooter

Webmonkey's Mike Calore just published some pretty impressive panoramic photos he shot of the Wired office with the new iPhone application Pano. He's quite pleased with the $3 app. The best part, he says, is the application's user-friendly interface. You start out by snapping the left-most photo in your panorama, and as you move toward the right, a transparency of your preceding image appears superimposed on the left, helping you line up each photo in the frame. After you take four shots, the app even performs some automatic color correction before stitching the images together.

Pretty neat -- and a creative way to pass time with your iPhone. The panoramas look quite good considering the iPhone's meager 2-megapixel camera, wouldn't ya say? Hey look -- you can see Danny doing the wave by himself!

Check out Calore's full review -- and more panorama images -- at Webmonkey.

Photo: Mike Calore/Wired.com

Download Link [iTunes]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 21 Oct 2008 | 1:09 am

Netflix 3Q profit rises 30 pct as economy darkens (AP)

AP - Netflix Inc.'s third-quarter profit surged 30 percent despite slowing subscriber growth, which is turning into a bigger problem for the online DVD rental leader as the rapidly unraveling economy prods more consumers to clamp down on entertainment expenses.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 21 Oct 2008 | 12:49 am

Bike Geek: Bay Area Super Prestige Race #1

The first race of the biggest Bay Area cyclocross series was this weekend in San Francisco's McLaren Park.

I started about the middle of the pack in the Men's C race. With 78 competitors, that was way, way too far back. I failed to get to the line early enough to insure I was closer to the front, and that was a big mistake. The course only ran about 300 yards to a huge dirt run-up, and I was probably 35th when we hit it. And by that point, the race is gone from you, especially when all the singletrack on the backside of the course made it so hard to pass people. On the first lap, I actually came to a complete stop, as the rider in front of me took his time rolling onto the decent.

The long paved climb on the back was the focus of much complaint, but given my climbing chops, it was the best place on the course for me to pass people. I'd pick off five or six riders a lap on the climb, and then we'd all stay in basically the same order until the climb the next lap.

Over the course of the race, a guy from Peninsula Velo and I had a good little battle. He'd pass me, get a little gap. I'd chase him down, put a gap on him. It was really fun to be out competing in that way. On the final lap, I had a little lead, but he did a better remount after the last barriers, got the inside line on me. We hammered down the finishing straight, and he pipped me right on the line, by about 2 inches.

I finished 21st. Or as I'm choosing to think of it, in the top third of my race.

After the race I shook hands with my adversary, and we talked about how much fun the battle had been. And it was fun, even though I felt like I had been pounded by a hammer all over my body.

You can read the whole post on my personal blog.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 21 Oct 2008 | 12:30 am

Online Display Ads Headed for the Basement [BoomTown]

Silicon Alley Insider’s Henry Blodget sounds an important horn again, namely, outlining in graphically ugly detail why graphical advertising-based online businesses are in big trouble.

In his post, Blodget shows some convincing graphs about past performance trends, including the years after the first bubble burst, from 2000 to 2002, which could augur what is to come for the display business.

That means uh-oh for companies like Yahoo (YHOO), CNET (CNET) and all the many start-ups like Facebook that are focused on display ads as their main revenue source.

Search advertising, he notes, seems to be in better shape to face off the stiff winds to come, although most of that money goes to the dominant Google (GOOG) in this arena.

Money quote:

How do we know online display ad spending will fall? Because by Q2 of this year it had already slowed sharply–to mid-single-digit growth–and that was before things even began to get bad.

According to IAB, the growth of nonsearch online ad spending (display, classifieds, lead-gen) was 14 percent in Q1 and 5 percent in Q2. Five percent! That’s before the horrific fall-off in consumer spending in September. We’ll be lucky if nonsearch spending is up year-over-year in Q3. By Q4, it will almost certainly be negative.

Blodget is predicting a 10 percent decline next year and more in 2010, which is–considering that the entire economy is in trouble this time–probably conservative to me.

As to all those start-ups who have been telling me Advertising, of course as their business plan, it might be time to get another plan for what is to come.

Source: All Things Digital | 21 Oct 2008 | 12:25 am

Recovering Moldy Electronics?

cookiej writes "We just completed having our basement gutted and our house decontaminated from mold. The finished basement is gone, my office floor has been removed as well as 24' of drywall around the base of the room. So, we had a full home theater downstairs along with a couple of computers in the electronics closet that were completely immersed (rainwater, not sewage). We moved them to a sheltered area outside and covered them with a plastic tarp. Since the electronics were off when the water hit them, 1) do I have a chance of recovering them? 2) If so, is there a way to clean them with some sort of liquid bath that would not damage the electronics? and 3) I don't want to bring moldy pieces back in the clean house. How could I decontaminate the electronics themselves, pre-bath? Not looking to save the speakers, just the amp, DirecTV box, video switch, etc. Thanks for any help, here, Slashdot." Read on for more details of this reader's plight.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 21 Oct 2008 | 12:17 am

iPhone Critics Vote on Handset's Most Annoying Flaws

It's too bad Steve Jobs isn't a political candidate. It would certainly help voter turnout, as made evident by a new web site where people are voting on issues that they'd like fixed in the popular iPhone.

PleaseFixTheiPhone.com launched today and has already amassed 24,000 votes as of this writing. The number is growing about 100 votes each minute, and there are currently 300 collected complaints. Topping the list are often heard complaints: The inability to copy and paste, the lack of landscape mode for applications other than Safari, and incompatibility with Flash media files.

This isn't the first web site dedicated to the iPhone's inadequacies, either. In August, an angry iPhone customer started a blog collecting information about the handset's spotty performance on the 3G network. That same month, frustrated iPhone application developers launched a profane web site to complain about the iPhone non-disclosure agreement, which prohibited them from exchanging coding tips, before Apple lifted it.

Photo: Florent Brunel/Flickr 

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 20 Oct 2008 | 11:52 pm

Spam Flood Unabated After Bust

AcidAUS writes "Last week's bust of the largest spam operation in the world has had no measurable impact on global spam volumes. The spam gang, known by authorities and security experts as HerbalKing, was responsible for one-third of all spam, the non-profit antispam research group Spamhaus said." The article speculates that the operators of HerbalKing simply passed on to associates the keys to the automated, 35,000-strong botnet, and the spam flow didn't miss a beat.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 20 Oct 2008 | 11:30 pm

Samsung will support DivX in its TVs

Section: Video, Content, HDTV, Peripherals, Displays

Samsung and DivX have a deal in place to bring DivX support to Samsung televisions.  Soon, you’ll be able to take a USB drive to your television and watch DivX movies all day.  You could also hook up the TV via Ethernet to a DLNA device to watch DivX content. 

Is anyone else wondering why?  If you’re one of the folks who manages to obtain a lot of DivX content, odds are you have the ability to watch that video on your TV.  Then again, if you’re that person, you might want to get a Samsung TV because it already supports your vids without the need for a computer. 

The convergence of televisions and computers keeps going forward.  Televisions have gone a long way from being just dumb little monitors with speakers to smart displays with some computing power.

Read: [Electronista]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 20 Oct 2008 | 11:29 pm

TI profit down in 3Q, warns of slowing business (AP)

AP - Texas Instruments Inc., which makes chips for cell phones and other gadgets, warned Monday that orders are slowing down rapidly, and said it will cut jobs to save money.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 20 Oct 2008 | 11:15 pm

Do not discard brain -- war on terror poster

Today's Wellington Grey comic says it all: "Warning: In Case of Terrorist attack, do not discard brain." He's selling posters. We need to put these up everywhere. I've just had a British Airways purser threaten to arrest me, my wife and baby because my wife endangered the plane by saying "bullshit" when confronted with a "safety measure," while complying with the measure. Warning: In Case of Terrorist attack, do not discard brain. (via Schneier)

Source: Boing Boing | 20 Oct 2008 | 10:53 pm

Scientists To Post Individuals' DNA Sequences To Web

isBandGeek() writes "With shocking disregard to their personal privacy, at least 10 people volunteered to release their entire medical records and DNA sequences in order to get their DNA decoded and analyzed. 'They include Steven Pinker, the prominent Harvard University psychologist and author, Esther Dyson, a trainee astronaut and Misha Angrist, an assistant professor at Duke University. They have each donated a piece of skin to the project at Harvard University and agreed to have the results posted on the internet. The three are among the first 10 volunteers in the Personal Genome Project, a study at Harvard University Medical School aimed at challenging the conventional wisdom that the secrets of our genes are best kept to ourselves. The goal of the project is to speed medical research by dispensing with the elaborate precautions traditionally taken to protect the privacy of human subjects."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 20 Oct 2008 | 10:43 pm

Sun Microsystems swings to big quarterly loss (AP)

AP - Battered by competition and slowing demand, Sun Microsystems Inc. swung to a big loss in its fiscal first quarter, dragging the server and software maker's results below Wall Street's forecast.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 20 Oct 2008 | 10:28 pm

SLIDE SHOW: A Dinosaur Dance Floor

Around 190 million years ago, a wilderness area along the Arizona-Utah border was a dino oasis.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 20 Oct 2008 | 10:00 pm

UK police bust website dealing in stolen credit cards

Section: Computers, Security, Web, Websites

Law enforcement officials in the UK have shut down an underground website that specialized in helping cybercriminals commit their crimes.  The site, called DarkMarket, was kept secret and access was granted by invitation only.  Its forum allowed cyberthieves to buy and sell stolen banking details and credit card numbers obtained via phishing scams and website hacks.  It also served as a learning tool, providing information on how to commit various online crimes.

The bust is the result of an undercover operation by the FBI. 60 arrests have been made (11 of them in the UK) as a result.  Authorities said the site had over 2,000 members.  These criminals made huge profits from the stolen credit and banking info.  Authorities said one man could have made over 10 million pounds (roughly $17 million US) with the info he bought.

“The people involved in this kind of activity have a certain arrogance—they think they are untouchable,” said Sharon Lemon, SOCA(the UK’s Serious Organized Crime Agency)’s Deputy Director of E-Crime. “The message today is that no one should feel confident that these forums are a secure place to operate.”

It’s very likely that after a period of lying low, the site will rise again in another form.  However thanks to operations like this one, the criminals that use it will be constantly looking over their shoulders, knowing that it may only be a matter of time before the authorities come knocking again.

Read[Reuters]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 20 Oct 2008 | 9:00 pm

OpenAjax moves on interoperability, security (InfoWorld)

InfoWorld - The OpenAjax Alliance plans in 2009 to finish off two interoperability technologies for AJAX developers, IBM officials said at the AJAXWorld RIA Conference & Expo on Monday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 20 Oct 2008 | 9:00 pm

GOOD EVENING.

IT IS VERY GOOD AND FRIGHTENING to be here on BOING BOING. As readers of my own, small, imitation of a blog already know, I am a longtime reader, and now, very humbly...

A FIRST TIME CALLER.

I AM ESPECIALLY GRATEFUL to be here, for indeed it was a BOING BOING post which first convinced me to descend from the airy heights of minor television renown and return to my ink-stained former life of writing big books of fake trivia.

FOR IT WAS CORY, via Ape-Lad, who first brought to my attention the COMPLETELY IMPLAUSIBLE, BUT DISTRESSINGLY REAL product known as DICK VAN PATTEN'S HOBO CHILI FOR DOGS.

TRUTH MAY BE STRANGER THAN FICTION, I wrote in my first book, but never as strange as lies. But now it seemed, truth was catching up.

AND SO it was Van Patten's sublimely unexpected, non-fictional food for hobo dogs (hobo dogs!) that convinced me the time had come for me to return and restock the pond of fact with falsehood, and produce MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE.

(AND DUE TO THE INCREDIBLE GRACIOUSNESS of Mr. Van Patten and his business partners, I am able to reproduce in my book not only the label for HOBO CHILI FOR DOGS, but also the label for CHINESE TAKE-OUT FOR DOGS. It is obvious that they take great care in making their pet food, so please reward their good humor and esprit de creative commons by visiting their website.)

AS I BLOG here from day to day, I will not always be as baldfaced as I am today about mentioning my book. But I will be touring around the country reading from it, often accompanied by JONATHAN COULTON, so I cannot promise that it will never come up.

BUT BEFORE I PART, I did want to share with you one image of me, accompanied by my book, and a bottle of Dan Aykroyd's Crystal Head Vodka.

FOR INDEED, here is another product that DOES IN FACT EXIST, though there is no rational explanation for it.

IT IS STRANGENESS INCARNATE, and like my book, it is filtered through diamonds.

THAT IS ALL.

PHOTO courtesy: Seth Olenick

(John Hodgman is guest blogger.)

Source: Boing Boing | 20 Oct 2008 | 8:51 pm

Clive Barker's Midnight Meat Train art

Next Sunday, splatterpunk pioneer Clive Barker will show his original concept paintings for the film Midnight Meat Train and other work at Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago. Barker will be at the gallery from 2 to 5pm. Fortunately, the delightful work is also available for viewing online. Seen here, "Kiss Curl Carlotti" (24" x 24", oil on canvas).
Clive Barker's Midnight Meat Train art (Thanks, Dominic Paul Moore!)

Source: Boing Boing | 20 Oct 2008 | 8:47 pm

Mislabeled "Bush Jr" mask

Our Teresa spotted this mask for sale via Amazon that seems to have been, er, mislabeled. Click the image to see it larger.
Bush Jr Mask

UPDATE: They did it with the "Bush Celebrity Mask" too!

Source: Boing Boing | 20 Oct 2008 | 8:35 pm

Space Tourist Gets His Money's Worth

A computer game wizard pays $30 million and has the flight of his life.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 20 Oct 2008 | 8:24 pm

Halo 3: Recon expansion may be Bungie’s last major Halo project

FROM GAMERTELL - Bungie plans to offer support for Halo 3 along with a few map packs, but will not work on any new Halo games after the Recon expansion pack.  Bungie, natually, has other plans…
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 20 Oct 2008 | 8:21 pm

Adina Launches "Natural Highs(TM)" New Pure Coffee Energy Drink

Adina for Life, Inc., www.AdinaWorld.com, launches Natural Highs(TM), the first TransFair USA certified, all natural coffee energy drink, now available nationwide at Whole Foods Market(R) stores.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 20 Oct 2008 | 8:00 pm

Metropolitan to Hold Last Public Forum on Southern California's Water Future, in Face of Supply Challenges

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California: WHAT: The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California will hold the last in a series of four public forums as the district begins updating its region-wide water resources plan.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 20 Oct 2008 | 8:00 pm

Signature Homes to Build New Mixed-Used Development in Hoover

Signature Homes has unveiled plans to build a new mixed-use development named Chace Lake on the site of the former Chace Lake Country Club overlooking the Cahaba River. Plans for Chace Lake consist of 215 home sites, 34 of which were reserved on the opening night.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 20 Oct 2008 | 8:00 pm

Project Nur Announces 'A Native American History Symposium, Erasing Indians: Investigating Accounts and Denials of Genocide in Native New England'

BOSTON, Oct.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 20 Oct 2008 | 8:00 pm

Campaign Targets Unfair Political Assault on Bottled Water

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new petition drive demands that politicians not continue plans to ban the product for safety workers and consumers.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 20 Oct 2008 | 8:00 pm

Forty-foot long ancient snake

Researchers in Colombia have found fossils of a snake that was more than 40 feet long and weighed over a ton. The paleontologists from the Florida Museum of Natural History say that the snake was a relative of the boa constrictor and slithered around 60 million years ago. From Science News:

At a site in northern Colombia, (paleontologist Jonathan) Bloch and his colleagues unearthed the partial remains of an ancient snake. Each of the dozen or so vertebrae in that body segment measured about 10 centimeters across. That’s about twice the width of the largest vertebra taken from a 6-meter–long, modern-day anaconda, another modern relative, Bloch notes.

None of the ribs included in the fossil are complete, but the size and curvature of the fragments that remain indicate that the snake “would have had trouble fitting though the door into your office,” he adds. The gargantuan fossils represent an as yet unnamed species.

Fossil Find May Document Largest Snake

Source: Boing Boing | 20 Oct 2008 | 7:49 pm

Whoa!  This SMS smells fishy

Section: Communications, Mobile, Gadgets / Other, Green, Lifestyle

Last week, I was standing in Dusseldorf, Germany in a giant market staring at the myriad of fish laying out on the ice.  I stood there watching folks purchase the fish without giving it a second thought; obviously, they know their fish.  But what about us that don’t know fish?  Surely technology can help us make a good decision standing at the counter?

Enter FishPhone.  That is right, FishPhone.  Say it again if you like.  This creative SMS based service allows folks like me who are not sure about what chemicals get stored up in which fish get answers fast.  But it is more than just a chemical containing update, FishPhone goes beyond that and lets you know about catch methods and if those methods are harmful to the environment.

For example, checking out a favorite of mine, Chilean Sea Bass brings up:

Chilean Sea Bass
Really named Patagonian Toothfish, high market demand for this naturally long lived fish drives depletion and creates an incentive for continued illegal fishing.  One very small Patagonian Toothfish fishery in the South Atlantic is being sustainably managed according the Marine Stewardship Council.

I guess it was an old favorite of mine now. 

To access the service, just text 30644 with the message “FISH” followed by the name of the fish you with to inquire about.  Lucky iPhone users can also access the site fishphone.org to find a specially formatted database just for them.

via [CoolHunting]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 20 Oct 2008 | 7:42 pm

Qik for the iPhone coming soon, says Rose

Yes, we know you can get Qik for your jailbroken iPhones now, but this is the App Store version and Mr. Rose, personal hero of mine, gets a look at it before all of us. Jealous? Didn’t think so. Anyway, Rose pontificates that the version he has is near final and that it should be coming soon for free. Would you want your Qik followers to know exactly where you’re streaming from?

Also, you better order that Mophie Juice Pack now because this is going to suck the life out of your iPhone 3G faster than a paparrazo’s shutter when Lohan slips a nip.

Update: Bhaskar Roy, Co-founder of Qik, has commented on the matter:

Hi all - wanted to clarify that we are looking into having Qik be available on App Store, but at present are not sure when and how this will happen.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 20 Oct 2008 | 7:40 pm

For Sale: WWII-Era Bombproof Tunnels

A labyrinth of bombproof tunnels hidden 100 feet beneath London is up for auction.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 20 Oct 2008 | 7:24 pm

RIM Could Rot With the Economy

Despite a slate of fancy new BlackBerry phones, Research In Motion could find itself in a pretty ugly situation, as corporate and consumer spending dry up in the slowing economy.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Oct 2008 | 7:21 pm

T-Mobile finally releases OS v4.5 for the BlackBerry Curve

Get it here, folks.

This Handheld software includes:

1. Video recording capability.
2. HTML email for internet email accounts.
3. Music and Video Streaming video capabilities.
4. New browser home page design.
5. Improved downloading experience.
6. Improved UMA and data performance.
7. Attachment downloading and document editing.
8. Free/Busy calendar look-up and remote email search for BES users (Requires BES SW 4.1.5 or higher).

It’s an 88MB file and be sure to back up your crackberry. Stupid PocketMac won’t let me update software, so I’ll have to wait until I’m at a Windows machine. Figure it out, RIM!

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 20 Oct 2008 | 7:14 pm

Real-Life Pac-Man Plays Out in the Streets of Portland

Attendees of this weekend's WhereCamp PDX took part in a real-life game of Pac-Man on the city grid of downtown Portland, Oregon, on Sunday. In this version of the classic video game, dubbed PacManhattan, four players in ghost suits chase a pellet-collecting, Bluetooth-headset-wearing Pac-Man. The game served as a demonstration of location-based gaming's potential.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Oct 2008 | 7:00 pm

Headaches Continue at Gmail, New Outages Reported

Some users are continuing to have problems with Google's free e-mail service Monday. It marks the latest bump in the road for Google's web services as the company tries to put a particularly bad week behind it.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Oct 2008 | 7:00 pm

Tropical Cyclones May Help Against Global Warming

Tropical cyclones could offer some help in the fight against global warming by washing large amounts of vegetation and soil containing greenhouse gases into the sea, scientists said on Sunday.“Tropical cyclones could have a significant role in the transfer of atmospheric carbon dioxide to long-term deposits in the deep ocean," according to the findings in the journal Nature Geoscience.Conducted on the LiWu river in Taiwan, the study suggested that floods caused by typhoon Mindulle in 2004 carried about 0.05 percent of carbon stored in leaves, branches, roots and soil into the Pacific Ocean.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 20 Oct 2008 | 6:40 pm

LG KC910 Renoir and Samsung Pixon M8800 8-megapixel photo faceoff

With everyone on the planet pushing out an 8-megapixel handset of their own, it’s a bit surprising that we haven’t seen more photo samples. Sure, the basic idea of an 8-megapixel camera is great - but if the photos are the blurry blue messes we’ve come to expect from camera phones, what’s the point?

Where the handset manufacturers have failed to deliver, the international blogosphere fills the gaps. Now that the LG Renoir and Samsung Pixon have debuted in various parts of Europe, mobile@mail.ru has managed to track down these two 8-megapixel wonders. They run it through the paces, covering day shots, macro shots, indoor shots, and shots with flash.

Check out the full side-by-side gallery here. While the Pixon throws a few good punches, I’d have to say the Renoir takes the cake. [Via BGR]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 20 Oct 2008 | 6:28 pm

Learn to Profit From Piracy at PopTech

A former radio DJ, Matt Mason argues that piracy can be beneficial to businesses if they learn to use it as a marketing tool in a presentation at the annual PopTech conference this week in Camden, Maine.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Oct 2008 | 6:02 pm

Pop!Tech: Machine Therapist Bonds With Her Blender

Machine therapist Kelly Dobson shows off her ideas for humans to interact with their machines, including a blender that responds to voice commands mimicking blender sounds, at Pop!Tech 2008 in Camden, Maine, this week.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Oct 2008 | 5:33 pm

Pop!Tech: Machine Therapist Bonds With Her Blender

Machine therapist Kelly Dobson shows off her ideas for humans to interact with their machines, including a blender that responds to voice commands mimicking blender sounds, at Pop!Tech 2008 in Camden, Maine, this week.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 20 Oct 2008 | 5:33 pm

BBtv: Nostalgia 77 Octet's beatnik "jazz jihad," interview with Russell Porter (music)

Boing Boing tv's UK-based music correspondent Russell Porter speaks with Ben Lamdin, founder of the nine-piece, alt-jazz ensemble Nostalgia 77 Octet (MySpace). Here's how one reviewer described their music:

Imagine Breakstra hanging with Cinematic Orchestra, or DJ Shadow teaming up with Elvin Jones and you're close to the sound of Nostalgia 77. A dark and stormy clash of breaks n' beats, moody bass lines, and cosmic jazz. Also includes the heavyweight cover of The White Stripes' "7 Nation Army". Hard to resist whether you're a hip-hop head, music lover, or jazz freak. For fans of Bonobo, Quantic, Cinematic Orchestra, Radio Citizen, Portishead, Polar Bear, Poets Of Rhythm, and Sleepwalker.

Link to Boing Boing tv blog post with instructions on how to subscribe to our daily video podcast. Direct MP4 Link here.

Source: Boing Boing | 20 Oct 2008 | 5:27 pm

Opera Mobile 9.5 beta 2 released, supports widgets and UIQ

If you’re willing to tough your way through Beta browser territory, Opera’s got some goods for you to check out. This morning, they released Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta 2. Sure, it’s faster, and it’s more stable - but it’s also got some tricks up its sleeve.

This is the first mobile release to support Opera’s Widget platform, which allows users to install cross-platform, user-made add-ons to the browser. Right out of the box, 9.5b2 offers up widgets for AccuWeather, a clock, Twitter, a shopping list, and “Bubbles”, a funky little Tetris clone. To help get some Devs onto the Widget-making party bus, Opera has launched a $10,000 dollar challenge for the best cross-platform widget. First place gets five grand - so if you’ve got a bit of a dev background and an idea to roll with, best get to crackin’.

As an added bonus, this is the first Opera Mobile 9.5 release to support the Symbian UIQ platform. According to Download, they’ve also got a release for S60 hiding behind the scenes - but that one’s in probably-don’t-want-to-touch-it alpha form for the time being.

Check it out for Windows Mobile or UIQ here.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 20 Oct 2008 | 5:18 pm

Magnetic beauty on the sun

Seen above are magnetic structures on the surface of the sun, imaged by the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope, operated by the Institute for Solar Physics. This photo is one of a series of, er, hot photos of the sun recently posted to the always amazing Big Picture blog. The Sun at The Big Picture (Thanks, Mark Dery!)

Source: Boing Boing | 20 Oct 2008 | 5:05 pm

U.S. Forest Service Turns to Cow Power

The U.S. Forest Service, seeking to reduce its environmental impact, has enrolled its Rutland headquarters in CVPS Cow Power(TM) (NYSE: CV), the nation's first manure-based farm-to-consumer energy program.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 20 Oct 2008 | 5:00 pm

Video: Chris Berens interviewed by Kirsten Anderson

BB pals Kirsten Anderson and Kenny Montana visited the Amsterdam studio of incredible painter Chris Berens. They made a short video of the visit as a teaser for Anderson's profile of Berens in the next issue of Hi-Fructose magazine. This was Anderson and Montana's first ever experiment with video. In fact, they didn't even own a camcorder until a week before they left for the Netherlands. I'm mightily impressed. Hi-Fructose Video: Studio visit with Chris Berens Pt. 1

Source: Boing Boing | 20 Oct 2008 | 4:47 pm

Rock Shows Earth Got Off to Hot Start

With a 2,700-million-year-old rock, scientists gain insight into Earth's beginnings.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 20 Oct 2008 | 4:24 pm

Motorola releases the ultra ugly i776 on Sprint and Boost

I’ve been trying to be a bit easier on Motorola lately, as I feel some of my comments toward their devices have been a bit crass. Sorry Motorola - I can’t cut you any slack for this one. When it first leaked back in August, I declared it the ugliest handset ever created. I’ve since searched high and low for a handset to take that title, and nothing challenges it. Nothing can top a brown/purple color scheme capped with a humongous iDEN antenna.

That aside, the i776 is now available through Sprint ($79.99 on a 2 year agreement) and Boost Mobile ($99.99 on a pay as you go plan). Its got Push-to-talk, a VGA camera (fancy way of saying 0.3 megapixels), and Bluetooth. Better get to the store early - you might not beat the lines someone might see you.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 20 Oct 2008 | 4:00 pm

India Begins Countdown For Moon Mission

India's lunar-orbiting spacecraft is scheduled to blast off on Wednesday.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 20 Oct 2008 | 3:22 pm

U.S.-Iraq Deal Could Mean Jail Time for Contractors

Not too long ago, private security contractors in Iraq had a get-out-of-jail-free card; they could run around the country without a chance in the world that they could be prosecuted for anything they did. A draft of the U.S.-Iraq security deal, now making the rounds in Washington and Baghdad, could change all that. Guns-for-hire in Iraq could suddenly find themselves facing time in an Iraqi prison, if they broke the local laws.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Oct 2008 | 2:41 pm

Six Apart CEO: Down Economy Boosts Blogging

If you're looking for something -- anything! -- that might actually benefit from the present stinking rotting corpse of an economy, try blogging companies. We caught up with Six Apart CEO Chris Alden over a Belgian beer in downtown Washington, DC. As you might imagine, talk turned to the economy. And Alden offered a surprising note of optimism for his company.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 20 Oct 2008 | 2:28 pm

Team Claims to Find Abomidable Snowman Prints

A Japanese team claims to find the oversized footprints of the legendary yeti.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 20 Oct 2008 | 2:15 pm

Britain Releases UFO Files, Dispelling Rumors

Newly public files on UFO sightings in Britain help debunk some reports.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 20 Oct 2008 | 1:36 pm

Worm Grunting Mystery Solved

Scientists prove moles are the reason why the technique of worm grunting works.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 20 Oct 2008 | 1:19 pm