Acacia Research Ranked Number 4 in Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 for Orange County

Marchex Adhere Adds 23 New Premium Web Sites

FairPoint Selects Nortel WiMAX for Northern New England

Volantis Systems Connects Web 2.0 Applications To Mobile

Audible.Co.UK Goes "Direct to Download" With 5-Million Selling Bluffer's Guides(R)

Acunetix Launches New Revolutionary Web Application Scanning Technology

Yahoo to Open Data Center in Nebraska

One Million .Mobi Registered Names Help Drive Evolution of Mobile Web

Russia Blocks Google Online Ad Acquisition

Social networking sites "good for businesses"

Source: Gizmodo | 29 Oct 2008 | 10:27 am

Mobile gaming market troubles to continue: Nokia

Source: Gizmodo | 29 Oct 2008 | 10:12 am

White dogs and American models: This is how Apple sells the iPhone in Japan (TV commercial)

OK, the company behind the TV commercial shown above is not really Apple but SoftBank, one of Asia’s biggest telecommunications companies and the carrier for the iPhone in this country.

The SoftBank family seen in the video consists of a father (the white dog), a mother (the woman seen at the end of the clip), a brother (the guy with the glasses who is an American model based in Tokyo) and his sister (Japanese super star Aya Ueto).

The clip is currently on heavy rotation in Japan (where I live) and part of SoftBank’s overall TV marketing strategy (meaning the strange family promotes other SoftBank products as well). The white dog represents SoftBank’s “White Plan”, which makes it possible to get a cell phone contract for just $10 a month.

And you know my standard addendum to this kind of postings: Yes, the Japanese themselves also think this is weird.

Source: CrunchGear | 29 Oct 2008 | 10:02 am

Who needs an enterprise AJAX solution? (InfoWorld)

InfoWorld - One thing that the AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) development community has aplenty is choice. Want a free, open source AJAX framework? We have (alphabetically) Dojo, Ext, Google Web Toolkit, jQuery, MooTools, OpenRico, Prototype, Scriptaculous, and the Yahoo User Interface Library, and frankly they're all pretty good. There are hundreds more, but unfortunately I can't keep up with them all.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Oct 2008 | 10:00 am

Project Playlist May Boast A New CEO, An Ex-Facebooker

Rumor alert: Employees of Project Playlist, a very popular music search engine and embeddable playlist tool, have been telling people that the company has hired a new CEO to lead it to the next stage of development. And the new CEO, they’re saying, is an ex-Facebook employee.

We haven’t been able to confirm this with the company, and we don’t know which ex-Facebook employee it might be. But it’s interesting that they’ve been in the news recently, tangled up with former Facebook Chief Revenue Officer (and Project Playlist investor) Owen Van Natta.

Is Van Natta the new Project Playlist CEO? Is there a new Project Playlist CEO? We don’t know yet, but we’re digging. But its worth pointing out that Van Natta wanted his next job to be a CEO gig, and there aren’t all that many ex-Facebookers who are qualified to lead a funded startup and who aren’t accounted for.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Oct 2008 | 9:13 am

Former AOL Exec Raises Funding For Sports Blogs Network

Former AOL executive vice president of consumer and publisher services Jim Bankoff has secured a “mid-seven-figure sum” of venture capital for SB Nation, a startup network of sports blogs. We already mentioned this briefly in an earlier post on competitor Bleacher Report raising $3.5 million, but it’s worth taking a closer look.

The round of funding was led by Accel Partners, the Silicon Valley private equity firm best known for its backing of Facebook, and joined by Allen & Co as well as a number of digital media executives and angel investors. SportsBusinessJournal got the scoop and features the complete list of investors.

SB Nation (short for SportsBlogs Nation) operates with a network model, in which more than 150 local, team-based sites are linked together with a common visual template but remain written and programmed by local writers. Rather than strike affiliate relationships or simply represent sites for national ad sales, Bankoff has structured equity swaps for each of the sites in SB Nation in which the company acquires all the content, URLs and related assets, and the bloggers then share the ad revenue.

The SB Nation sites are said to be generating more than 2 million unique visitors a month combined, according to internal metrics. Looking at the Quantcast and Compete stats, the actual figures seem to be lower but definitely growing.

Bankoff will serve as chairman for the company. Tyler Bleszinski, whose five-year-old Athletics Nation blog in Oakland was a building block for SB Nation, will remain president of the company. He has this to say about the news:

Yes, the humble company that I started back in November of 2003 (AN will be five years old in just nine days) has blossomed into a thriving new media company with funding. I’m very thankful and lucky to be associated with the quality of people and blogs that we have here.

We’re still trying to find out the actual amount of funding that was raised.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Oct 2008 | 9:12 am

Logitech Coughs Up $30 Million To Acquire SightSpeed

Switzerland-based Logitech, maker of personal computer peripherals, is entering the software market by acquiring internet video communications services provider SightSpeed for $30 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in early November.

The acquisition of the 25-person company, born out of a Cornell University lab, is a result of Logitech looking to complement their hardware solutions with solid video communication technology in combination with a R&D knowledge buy.

SightSpeed’s services, which are SIP-based and standards-compliant, comes with a free version and a premium version called SightSpeed Plus (for consumers) which costs $9.95 per month or $99.95 per year. The professional version costs $19.95 a month/$240 per person a year, and runs on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.

This marks a third successful hand-off for SightSpeed CEO Peter Csathy, a digital media veteran who was previously involved with Musicmatch (acquired by Yahoo in 2004) and eNow/Relegence (acquired by AOL in 2006).

SightSpeed raised $1+ million from Roda Group of Berkeley and BR Ventures back in February 2003 and had reportedly been in talks with venture capitalists to raise a additional Series B round last summer. The privately-held company struck a major deal in June 2008 when it announced it would be integrating a video chat application into Dell laptops.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Oct 2008 | 9:12 am

Mars Lander Faces Slow Death

Riding with Robots writes "It's the beginning of the end for the Phoenix Mars Lander. As winter approaches in the Martian arctic, NASA says it's in a 'race against time and the elements' in its efforts to prolong the robotic spacecraft's life. Starting today, mission managers will begin to gradually shut the lander's systems down, hoping to conserve dwindling solar power and thereby extend the remaining systems' useful life. 'Originally scheduled to last 90 days, Phoenix has completed a fifth month of exploration in the Martian arctic. As expected, with the Martian northern hemisphere shifting from summer to fall, the lander is generating less power due to shorter days and fewer hours of sunlight reaching its solar panels. At the same time, the spacecraft requires more power to run several survival heaters that allow it to operate even as temperatures decline.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 29 Oct 2008 | 9:12 am

“Flapping Display”: Samsung develops ultra-thin OLED display, hangs it up in the air

Sony unveiled a spectacular OLED display (curved, 0.3mm thin) at the CEATEC 2008 exhibition earlier this month, only to be followed by a product from Samsung, which the company calls “flapping display”.

The Samsung display is just 0.05mm thin (yes, that’s millimeters) and currently being showcased at the FPD International 2008 in Tokyo. According to the company, the 4-inch panel could even be made thinner (even though its thickness already comes close to that of paper). The display features a contrast ratio of 100,000:1, a luminance of 200cd/m² and 480 × 272 resolution.

Via Tech-On

Source: CrunchGear | 29 Oct 2008 | 9:00 am

TVeez Renamed To Odysii, Sets Sights On U.S. Market

TVeez, a company that specializes in marketing and onsite digital advertising, has rebranded itself and will now be known as Odysii. In conjunction with the name change, the company has also confirmed reports that it has received significant funding in a round led by Benchmark Capital and Giza Ventures, as was reported back in April.

Odysii says that the funding will be used to help expand into the U.S. market. The company has established a headquarters in New York, and brought on Jeff Gattis (formerly Director of Project Management for Microsoft Surface) to head U.S. Operations. Odysii already has a global reach, with projects in a reported 25 countries and customers including McDonald’s, Blockbuster, and HSBC.

Odysii specializes in onsite digital signage - the display screens you often see in malls, retail stores, hotels, and banks that offer promotions and other information. While many retailers simply rely on a video loop or static image for these signs, Odysii’s systems will dynamically update the displays according to real time data taken from within the store. For example, a sign in a supermarket could promote food items that the store had an excess of - all the while monitoring the store’s Point of Sales system to see how inventory was being affected and if a new product should be displayed.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Oct 2008 | 9:00 am

Happy BirthDay Hulu. I’m Glad You Guys Didn’t Suck.

Online tv/film site Hulu launched a year ago today, and boy did we have to eat crow.

We provided nearly constant criticism of the site since it was announced in March 2007 (no name, billion dollar valuation, name translation issues, trademark absurdity, etc.). But despite a slightly bumpy launch, we had to admit that they did an outstanding job. And today I can safely say I spend more time watching Hulu than I do my standard home cable connection.

The site continues to grow rapidly. In August they had over 100 million video streams. Last month, according to Nielsen, they streamed 142 million videos, a 42% month over month increase. 72,000 reviews and 14,000 forum posts have been left of the site, and the company says they’ve received 50,000 feedback emails.

The site now has 110 content providers (including NBC Universal, FOX, Sony Pictures Television, MGM Studios, Comedy Central, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, PBS, FX, Sundance Channel and the Sci Fi Channel), up from 40 at launch. TV titles have increased from 90 to more than 1,000. And there are now 400 movies on Hulu - there were just 10 a year ago.

Hulu also has 30 distribution partners taking their video content, including MSN, Yahoo, AOL, MySpace, Facebook, Slide, MyYearbook, IMDb, TV.com and TVGuide.

Hulu also says they’ve been mentioned in 25,000 blog posts and 4,000 other articles, and have been tweeted 40,000 times since April.

In other words, I was wrong. Hulu rocks. Despite ridiculous odds, the company was able to pull off a joint venture between two humongous parent media companies and provide users with a compelling, sexy product. The only thing I can really criticize is the continued lack of international availability, which is a licensing issue beyond their control.

Happy birthday, Hulu. Please add HBO soon.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Oct 2008 | 8:30 am

Shobo Resuce: Mini CO2 fire extinguisher, glass breaker and belt cutter in one

Tokyo-based YP Systems [JP] has developed the world’s first CO2 fire extinguisher that triples as a glass breaker and a belt cutter. The device is just 19.5cm long and weighs 370g.

Made specifically for use during emergency situations in vehicles, the so-called Shobo Rescue’s fire extinguishing function is kept very simple (pulling a security pin is enough). YP Systems used food additive grade CO2 as the fire extinguishing agent to avoid dangers to people and electric systems.

The Shobo Resuce is already available in Japan (price: $52) and might find its way outside Nippon as well, considering YP Systems is collaborating with Honda (the fire extinguisher is used in the new Odyssey that will also be soon sold in the US and Europe).

Source: Gizmodo | 29 Oct 2008 | 8:00 am

SplashID password safe for iPhone improves search (Macworld.com)

Macworld.com - SplashData on Tuesday announced the release of SplashID 4.5, an update to its secure information manager for the iPhone. A free update for registered users, SplashID costs $9.99 and is available for download from the App Store.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Oct 2008 | 8:00 am

Thanko strikes again, now sells USB cooler and heater keyboard

We haven’t heard from crap gadget vendor Thanko in a while, but they are back: This time, the Tokyo-based company presents a keyboard with a built-in heater and cooler [JP]. That means the keyboard will not only keep your hands warm during those cold days in winter but it’s also useful during the summer.

Amazing stuff. Obviously Thanko used all their engineering power to create an upgrade of this USB cooler keyboard.

Buyers will need 2 USB ports (one for the cooling fan/heater and one for the keyboard itself). Expect the keyboard to be listed in Thanko’s English online shop soon (price in Japan: $50).

Source: CrunchGear | 29 Oct 2008 | 7:49 am

Blu-Ray is Dead–Heckuva Job, Sony! [Voices]

By Robin Harris, Blogger, Storage Bits, ZDNet

Blu-ray is in a death spiral. 12 months from now Blu-ray will be a videophile niche, not a mass market product.

With only a 4 percent share of US movie disc sales and HD download capability arriving, the Blu-ray disc Association (BDA) is still smoking dope. Even $150 Blu-ray players won’t save it.

16 months ago I called the HD war for Blu-ray. My bad. Who dreamed they could both lose?

Delusional Sony (SNE) exec Rick Clancy needs to put the crack pipe down and really look at the market dynamics.

In a nutshell: consumers drive the market and they don’t care about Blu-ray’s theoretical advantages. Especially during a world-wide recession.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 29 Oct 2008 | 7:04 am

Google’s Green Agenda Could Pay Off [Voices]

By Miguel Helft, Internet Reporter, Business Desk, The New York Times

Google (GOOG), the Internet search and advertising giant, is increasingly looking to the energy sector as a potential business opportunity.

From its beginning, the company has invested millions of dollars in making its own power-hungry data centers more efficient. Its philanthropic arm has made small investments in clean energy technologies.

But in recent weeks, Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, has hinted at the company’s broad interest in the energy business. He also joined Jeffrey R. Immelt, General Electric’s chief executive, to announce that they would collaborate on policies and technologies aimed at improving the electricity grid. The effort could include offering tools for consumers.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 29 Oct 2008 | 7:03 am

Google (With a YouTube and Donald Trump Assist) Campaigns for “The Vote Hour” [BoomTown]

Here’s an interesting video from The Vote Hour, which is trying to get CEOs to let employees take off an hour from work to vote in the upcoming elections.

But while the group is independent and bipartisan, it is also an effort that started at Google (GOOG).

From the About Us section of the Vote Hour site:

The Vote Hour sprung (as many things do at Google) from some very interesting research. After reading a report from the U.S. Census Bureau, a Googler noticed that in the 2004 Presidential election, the NUMBER ONE reason that registered voters didn’t make it out to the polls to vote was because they were ‘too busy’ or had conflicting work schedules.

So this person asked himself, ‘What if bosses around the country encouraged their employees to take an hour off to go vote? Would employees feel relaxed enough, even in this down economy, to leave work behind and go vote?’

It seemed logical that if nothing else, getting ‘permission’ from your boss to take an hour off would take one more excuse off the table. So this Googler sent an email to Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google Inc., who volunteered to record a message of support and encouraged some fellow CEOs to join him…and The Vote Hour was born.”

Schmidt, who recently went on the trail for Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, is the first CEO featured in the video, along with a panoply of well-known execs, including a lot from tech (including eBay, Cisco, Symantec and Intel).

Also roped in, apparently for comic relief, is real estate mogul Donald Trump.

He is, as usual, quite funny in ordering his employees to take off “only one hour.”

Here’s the video:

(And here is a post about the effort on Google’s blog, posted by Andy Berndt, Managing Director of Google Creative Lab, and Katie Jacobs Stanton of its Elections team.)

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

Source: All Things Digital | 29 Oct 2008 | 7:02 am

Short Term Profits Over Long Term Principles; Google’s Caving On Book Scanning Is Bad News [Voices]

By Mike Masnick, Blogger, Techdirt

Today the tech/business press was filled with stories about how Google (GOOG) has settled the lawsuits from authors and publishers over its book scanning project. Google is paying $125 million, and will be changing some of how its book search system works. Authors and publishers will allow books to go online, but it locks Google in to a specific business model that might not be the most reasonable and, most importantly, it does not answer the legal question concerning the overall legality of book scanning. Pretty much any way you look at it, Google caved here–and this is unfortunate for a variety of reasons.

Two years ago, there was a story in the NY Times about how Google’s legal department saw all of these lawsuits against the company as a way to stand up on principle and make better law. Specifically, the company positioned itself as being willing to fight certain lawsuits on principle in order to get precedent-setting rulings on the books in support of openness, fair use, safe harbors and many other important issues. The company suggested that, rather than settle, it would fight these lawsuits knowing that it alone, with its big war chest of money, could fight some of these battles that tiny startups could never afford.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 29 Oct 2008 | 7:02 am

iPhones Not on House ‘Must-Have’ List [Voices]

By Tom Krazit, Staff Writer, CNET News

Reports of the iPhone’s imminent arrival in Washington appear to have been greatly exaggerated.

Jordan Golson of the Industry Standard has debunked a report last week by TheHill.com suggesting that the U.S. House of Representatives was seriously considering switching its mobile computer of choice from the BlackBerry to the iPhone based on strong demand. Golson followed up with Jeff Ventura, director of communications for the Chief Administrative Officer of the House, and Ventura said that the CAO is merely testing a small number of iPhones to see how they might fit into the organization.

That’s not exactly how the story unfolded last week, as dozens of news sources–including yours truly, unfortunately–ran with TheHill.com’s report that the iPhone was under serious consideration by the House. As often happens in these situations, the report quickly turned into a game of blogger telephone–with further amplification as it was passed around the Internet until much of the Apple community believed that Congress was set to become an iPhone shop at the start of the next congressional term in January.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 29 Oct 2008 | 7:01 am

Daily Crunch: No Rider Edition

The Myvu Crystal now works with your iPhone 3G
Review: Good Nite Lite
Reduce intra-brain pressure with amazing little nubbin
Yamaha Japan presents new electric-hybrid bicycle (limited edition)
Sony’s music robot Rolly can now be controlled via Bluetooth

Source: CrunchGear | 29 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am

Office Goes to the Web [Voices]

By Joe Wilcox, Blogger, eWeek, Microsoft Watch

Microsoft (MSFT) made a stunning announcement during today’s Professional Developers Conference: A lightweight Web-based version of Office.

Earlier in the day, Microsoft debuted Windows 7. Windows 7’s core feature focus is making content more easily accessible across devices, PCs or services.

Takeshi Numoto, general manager of Office Client, demoed Office Web early this afternoon, during today’s PDC keynote.

Office Web is a stunning concession to Google and other Web 2.0 platform developers offering Web-based productivity applications. Office Web will come with lightweight versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. But the announcement is about what Microsoft has today. A technology preview will be available later this year. Microsoft plans to offer Office Web with release of the next desktop version, code-named Office 14.

The timing clearly is deliberate. Google has picked up some recent, high-profile converts to Apps from Office, such as Washington, D.C. By announcing Office Web now, Microsoft gives some organizations considering Google Apps reasons to delay and wait. This is a longstanding Microsoft tactic: announcing early as means of creating uncertainty and doubt about whether an enterprise should wait or switch to a competing product.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 29 Oct 2008 | 7:00 am

MSI GX730 gaming notebook features a turbo button to increase CPU speed at will

Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Laptops

“The time to experience the most shocking realism in gaming is NOW!” Yes, that’s how MSI wants us to experience with their new gaming notebook dubbed the GX730. 

Its display alone via a 17-inch LCD monitor coupled with an ATi Mobility Radeon HD 3650 graphic card already sends a signal that the GX730 is out to conquer the gaming notebook market.  The GX730 also features multimedia functionality with a Dolby Theater Class 5 speaker system.

But what makes this gaming notebook special is its one touch CPU speed boosting functionality via a “turbo button.” This was made possible by a “Turbo Drive Engine Technology” that MSI embedded on the GX730 and its AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processor. 

On the aesthetic side, the MSI GX730 sports your typical flame design common among MSI G-series gaming notebooks.  In addition to this design, the GX730 features an aluminum base for its exterior which gives it a sense of fashion and makes the notebook a delight to carry around where ever you go.

Other notable features of the MSI GX730 include a HDMI out, E-SATA support, a built-in 2.0 megapixel web camera, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, and a touch sensor that lets you change power settings to preserve battery.

From its specs alone, the MSI GX730 will probably makes a lot of gamers excited.  Sadly, though there is no word on its release date or pricing. 

Read [MSI News]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Oct 2008 | 6:51 am

Finnish E-Voting System Loses 2% of Votes

kaip writes "Finland piloted a fully electronic voting system in municipal elections last weekend. Due to a usability glitch, 232 votes, or about 2% of all electronic votes were lost. The results of the election may have been affected, because the seats in municipal assemblies are often decided by margins of a few votes. Unfortunately, nobody knows for sure, because the Ministry of Justice didn't see any need to implement a voter-verified paper record. The ministry was, of course, duly warned about a fully electronic voting system, but the critique was debunked as 'science fiction.' There is now discussion about re-arranging the affected elections. Thanks go to the voting system providers, Scytl and TietoEnator, for the experience."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 29 Oct 2008 | 6:11 am

BlackBerry Developers Get Cash to Compete

In the world of mobile applications, Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android operating system dominate the discussion.

But the BlackBerry has nearly 20 million users -- and a big pile of cash with which to entice application developers.

The $150 million BlackBerry Partners Fund, which is supported by BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, has made its first investments. Three mobile application developers - location sensitive city guide app Buzzd, travel related app WorldMate and mobile commerce provider Digby – are the lucky recipients of capital from the fund.

The investments come more than five months after the fund was first announced in May.

“We are looking for companies with the broadest appeal in the market,” says Kevin Talbot, RBC vice president and co-manager of the BlackBerry Partners Fund. “What you will hear from [these] three companies is that they are all leaders in their field, and have strategies in place to serve multiple markets and multiple platforms.”

Despite its name and despite the fact that Research In Motion is a limited partner, the fund will not just be for BlackBerry-exclusive applications.

“We have a close relationship with the BlackBerry, but we are VCs looking for the best opportunity to generate return on investments,” says Talbot.

That’s why Buzzd, a location sensitive city guide application, seems like the perfect fit. Buzzd already has its application available on the iPhone and Android platform and is developing a rich client for the BlackBerry platform.

“The BlackBerry has one of the largest footprints in the world so it is not to be overlooked,” says Nihal Mehta, CEO of Buzzd. Buzzd has raised $3.2 million in its first round of financing from the BlackBerry Partners Fund and other VCs.  “Android is more of a shell and does not allow developers to completely take advantage of the native functionalities of the handset.”

Mehta says Buzzd’s BlackBerry app will use the phones' GPS, calendar, camera and address book features. 

The BlackBerry Partners Fund competes with the $100 million iPhone developers fund, aka the "iFund," managed by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The iFund has announced at least four investments so far: Mobile networking company Pelago, gaming startup ng:moco, group text messaging startup Gogii and home security app iControl.

“At the moment, there is a big challenge in the wireless industry,” says Bill Hughes, an analyst with research firm In-Stat. “There are already a lot of options for developers and companies have to fight to make their ecosystems interesting, so if that means having a fund then so be it.”

That strategy seems to be working with the explosion of developer interest for mobile apps.

Talbot says the BlackBerry Partners Fund has had to wade through at least 3000 applications to pick the right ones. “This is the business of finding quality so we don’t rush out and make investments,” he says. “We are not under any pressure to put the money to work.”

Though Buzzd started off with the iPhone and then moved to Android, mobile commerce app developer Digby and WorldMate do not have a presence on those platforms.

Dave Sikora, CEO of Digby, says the company is in the process of creating a iPhone version of its application, which allows users to create rich application storefronts for smartphones. Digby has raised $5.5 million in its second round of funding from the BlackBerry Fund and existing shareholders. WorldMate has $8 million in its third round of funding from the Fund and other VCs.

For entrepreneurs such as Sikora, getting capital from the fund will mean greater awareness that could potentially translate into greater use, says Hughes.

“If you are a big company and thinking of creating an app, there’s not a lot of incentive to apply to the funds,” he says. “But if you are a bunch of creative developers working out of a garage with a new idea, this could be what it takes to make the leap.”

Photo: (LymStylez/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Oct 2008 | 6:00 am

Posted by: Olga Kharif on October 27 - BusinessWeek

ABC News

Posted by: Olga Kharif on October 27 BusinessWeek - 8 hours ago Cox Communications will enter wireless services market in the second half of 2009, according to an announcement out today. The news that the cable company will effectively start to compete with AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel is hardly new: ... Cox to offer wireless service CNET News Cox to build its own cellular network New York Times PC World - TeleGeography - Reuters - TechNewsWorld all 363 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 29 Oct 2008 | 5:29 am

Reigncom announces iriver NV, a combination of PMP and GPS

Section: Audio, Car Audio, Portable Audio, Video, Portable Video, Gadgets / Other, GPS/Navigation

Reigncom has recently introduced a new and more upgraded version of iriver’s NV PMP, with one of the main upgrades being GPS. 

It comes with normal PMP specs such as 4GB hard drive, and playing audio and video in various formats.  It also comes with many GPS characteristics such as a 3.5-inch touch screen with 320 x 240 resolution, runs Windows CE 5.0, and the maps are provided by Gini. 

One of the less attractive features in the NV is its battery life - a rather small 2.5 hours on a single charge.  A good enough battery for small navigation trips, but if you’re going on a long trip, you may want to opt in getting the car charger. 

It is currently available in the Korean market for 188,000 KRW, or about $131.

Via [Hallyutech]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Oct 2008 | 5:09 am

$150 Million BlackBerry Partners Fund Spreads The Wealth

The BlackBerry Partners Fund, a $150 million VC fund co-managed by JLA Ventures and RBC Venture Partners, has announced its first three investments:

The first is for buzzd, a geo-aware social network that also doubles as a location information guide. BlackBerry Partners Fund participated in a $3.2 million Series A Round, along with Greycroft Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, and Monitor Ventures.

The second is for Digby, a mobile ecommerce company, that closed a $5.5 million Series B round with BBPF and existing investors.

The third is for WorldMate, a company that produces software for travelers, offering tools for trip management and information lookup. The company closed an $8 million Series C round with BBPF, AMC Communications, and Motorola Ventures.

The race is on for mobile platform supremacy, and venture capitalists are eager to get in on the action. The BlackBerry Partners Fund faces off with the the Kleiner Perkins $100 million iFund, which sets aside money exclusively for iPhone developers. Google has also initiated its own funding competition with the $10 Million Android Challenge last year.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Oct 2008 | 5:07 am

Banking security on a USB stick (CNET)

CNET - IBM was set to unveil on Wednesday a prototype USB device designed to protect people doing online banking from having their data stolen or compromised.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Oct 2008 | 5:01 am

Wildlands' Laguna Terrace East Conservation Bank Open For Business

Wildlands, Inc. is pleased to announce the opening of Laguna Terrace East Conservation Bank in Sacramento County, California.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Oct 2008 | 5:00 am

Living Planet Report Details Dangers of Living Beyond the Environment's Means

As global financial markets learn difficult lessons on the consequences of unregulated spending, a new report issued by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) warns of the danger to future prosperity if the reckless over-consumption of the Earth's natural capital is left unchecked.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Oct 2008 | 5:00 am

Casio announces 8.1 megapixel … phone?

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Imaging, Digital Cameras

With the release of the iPhone 3G and the T-Mobile G1 this year, most “dumb” cell phones seem to have been lost in the crowd.  Especially those cell phones with tech that isn’t readily available to Americans.  Casio has just announced one of these cell phones.  The W63CA is part of the EXIFILM series, that’s right, a consumer grade digital camera line.

The reason for the phone being part of a camera line?  It has an 8.1 megapixel camera on board, with a 3.1” OLED screen.  Got that?  8.1 megapixels.  On a cell phone.  The main problem for us?  Its a Japanese phone. 

The W63CA can pick up wireless television signals, translate text captured by the camera from Japanese to English, and can speak translated English from Japanese text.  Some pretty nifty stuff.

Phones like this remind me that while we have some nice OSes on phones here, the technology is nowhere near that of Japanese phones.  The phone can even “be used to make mobile electronic payments,” which would be awesome, even though that technology isn’t used in the U.S. yet. 

It’s strange how these features are present in so many phones in Japan, yet all we can come with in our most advanced phones is turn them into calculators, flashlights and to-do lists.

Read [Electronista]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Oct 2008 | 4:25 am

BlackBerry Partners makes first investments (AP)

AP - Location, location, location is the theme for the first investments made by a venture capital fund set up with money from BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Oct 2008 | 4:07 am

NSA and Army On Quest For Quantum Physics Jackpot

coondoggie sends this excerpt from NetworkWorld: "The US Army Research Office and the National Security Agency (NSA) are together looking for some answers to their quantum physics questions. ... The Army said quantum algorithms that are developed should focus on constructive solutions [PDF] for specific tasks, and on general methodologies for expressing and analyzing algorithms tailored to specific problems — though they didn't say what those specific tasks were ... 'Investigators should presuppose the existence of a fully functional quantum computer and consider what algorithmic tasks are particularly well suited to such a machine. A necessary component of this research will be to compare the efficiency of the quantum algorithm to the best existing classical algorithm for the same problem.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 29 Oct 2008 | 4:07 am

Review: The New Xbox Experience for Xbox 360

A lot of things are riding on this UI redesign for Microsoft and the Xbox team, but more importantly it’s quelling the frustrations that many of us have had to deal with since the beginning of time. The blade interface was a good start, but it was frustrating at times and it certainly deterred me from perusing the Marketplace. Streaming via Netflix has been rumored for almost a year and that feature will finally be unlocked come November 19th. I still think the whole avatar feature is childish, but I was once asked whether or not I made characters in my own image (like in Madden or whatever), which promptly made me shut my mouth.

The Xbox and Microsoft teams began working on NXE this past spring and seeing what they’ve accomplished in such a short time is pretty amazing. Most will be content with the addition of Netflix, virtual parties and creating their own avatars, but I’m most excited by the fact that we no longer have to wait for the spring or fall updates to unlock new features.

Video after the jump. I’m no Doug Aamoth and I apologize in advance.

The Marketplace is no longer a never-ending maze. Everything you could ever want to purchase whether it’s a game related theme or new map pack is accessible from just about anywhere in the dashboard. You don’t have to go the Marketplace to do it. If your favorite game is Gears of War then you can see what’s available for download from your games library. It’s simple and more streamlined. Of course, you will be redirected to the Marketplace channel, but the point is that you don’t have to go there to begin with. You can also search for items in various ways, but the inclusion of an alphabetical search is key. I can finally redeem codes and/or purchase content from my computer without having to be at home. Everything begins to download once I turn on my Xbox and sign into Live.

The Party feature is also fairly neat for many reasons. The 8-way party chat is great because you don’t all have to be playing the same game in the same room at once. You can all be doing different things and still be connected. The Photo Party feature is perfect friends and family because you can all share photos at once. Photos can be uploaded to the party over your wireless network, USB drive and/or CD/DVD. I like being able to snag certains photos and bringing them back up to the forefront. Sometimes those embarrassing photos you don’t want people to see get uploaded. You can also upload screenshots or share new maps with your cronies if they’re too cheap to shell out for them. It’ll be interesting to see how this feature evolves through time.

The Netflix feature can be seen in the video demo and it’s pretty straightforward. I just hope they roll out the HD streaming soon. There was an update for Netflix that I did not download prior to this posting.

Lovers of the blade system should know that you can still access a variation of it by pressing the Guide Button. This is a quick way for gamers to jump from one area to another while they learn the new dashboard system. It also gives you vitals like controller battery life, your Gamerscore, who’s online, etc.

Ripping games to the hard drive has made a huge difference in my overall happiness because I no longer have to listen to the thunderous fans of my Xbox. The actual difference was measured at 7db (this figure came from MS). Games load a lot faster, but I wish I didn’t have to have the disc in the drive simply because I’m lazy and don’t want to swap out discs when my ADD kicks in.

The next addition may or may not have been mentioned, but you can delete zero score games that you or someone else played once on your account so that it doesn’t affect your Gamerscore.

I’m pretty stoked on the New Xbox Experience, but like some of my peers have said, “it’s just a UI.” But it’s a UI that makes the overall experience that much easier to navigate and it can be updated on the fly. And don’t worry about the servers crashing on the 19th, MS assures me that it won’t happen.

If there’s anything else that you guys want me to check out or film then leave a comment and I’ll be sure to get to it this week.

Source: CrunchGear | 29 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

Grown-Up Mini Packs More Than Your Tween's Laptop

Sure, your iPod may have more storage space, but this netbook sports a 1.6-GHz Atom processor, runs Windows XP and rocks a 10-inch wide-screen display.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 29 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

Supersized Cruise Ship Is Longer, Larger, Plusher

:

The era of the megaship didn't sink with the Titanic; in fact, it was just picking up steam. Shipbuilders have been engaged in a battle for size supremacy for more than a century. And in September, Royal Caribbean took delivery on the next biggest thing: the Oasis of the Seas, a floating city for more than 5,400. It's nearly five times the weight of the Titanic and 89 feet longer than the supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan. Judging by history, this Caribbean queen's reign won't last long.

:

Before air travel, ocean liners competed for speed. The 790-foot Mauretania was the longest, fastest thing afloat, with six steam turbines that were good for 68,000 horsepower and 28 knots (32 mph).

:

The 882-foot Titanic was a no-expense-spared folly, harboring the era's most advanced engine tech. Its propellers were spun by 59,000 horsepower from the 29 boilers and 159 furnaces, pushing the luxury barge at 21 knots toward its Oscar-winning rendezvous with an iceberg.

:

This 1,031-footer faithfully crossed the Atlantic until 1968, when declining demand and climbing pressure from the airline industry made it too expensive to operate.

:

Like the Queen Elizabeth, the 1,035-foot France couldn't outrun the jetliner. It was nearly junked until Norwegian Caribbean Lines retrofitted it as a party boat in 1980, breathing new life into the struggling cruise industry.

:

Originally slated for 80,000 gross tons, plans ballooned as rivals launched larger ships. Final stats: 151,400 gross tons and 1,132 feet. But at 30 knots, she's no sea cow.

:

Measuring in at about 400 yards long and 50 yards wide, the Oasis will be almost 50 percent larger than Royal Caribbean's current record-breaking behemoths, the Freedom class. Rising higher than 200 feet above the waterline and spanning 16 decks, the vessel will cost an estimated $1.2 billion, a price tag that will ultimately be recouped in vacation reservations and overpriced trinket sales.

:

It takes a lot of fuel to move 220,000 gross tons of cruise ship, and fuel costs money. The Oasis will rely on three Azipod propulsion units: electrically driven pods that are reportedly 10 percent more fuel-efficient that conventional propulsion systems.

:

The Oasis' numerous neighborhoods will feature distinct atmospheres and themes. The Boardwalk neighborhood is geared toward family entertainment, and is modeled after seaside piers: It will feature a number of one-of-a-kind amenities, like the world's first carousel at sea, and the largest freshwater pool found on a ship, which is converted into a fountain light show in an amphitheater at the end of the day.

:

The Central Park neighborhood features an open-air, public thoroughfare that's longer than a football field. Serving as the ship's "town hall," patrons will find all of the comforts of suburbia transplanted onto a nautical setting, with outdoor dining options, galleries featuring original artwork and tropical foliage in themed garden spaces.

:

When the ship officially enters into service in 2009, Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas will be the largest vessel of its kind. A sister ship — the Allure of the Seas — will follow soon afterward, in 2010.

:

Not content with just casinos and nightclubs, the 1,181- foot Oasis has seven themed neighborhoods. Three 27,000-hp electric propeller pods pull the boat along at 24 knots. Each pod rotates 360 degrees, letting pilots make 1-foot adjustments in port. It's also virtually unsinkable. (Sound familiar?)

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

Grown-Up Mini Packs More Than Your Tween's Laptop

Sure, your iPod may have more storage space, but this netbook sports a 1.6-GHz Atom processor, runs Windows XP and rocks a 10-inch wide-screen display.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

Gallery: Fleet-Footed Flyby Reveals Mercury’s Unseen Surface

: Photo: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The first mission sent to orbit Mercury flew by the planet closest to the sun for the second time earlier this month, capturing images of most of its previously unseen surface. On Oct. 6, NASA's MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging spacecraft, or Messenger, passed just 125 miles above Mercury and took more than 1,200 pictures of its heavily cratered surface.

During the second of three scheduled flybys, the probe used Mercury's gravity to alter its path, which will help it eventually settle into orbit around the planet in 2011. A briefing about the early scientific findings from the mission will be shown live in a NASA Television webcast Oct. 29 at 1 p.m. EDT.

Left:

During its approach to the solar system's innermost planet, NASA's Messenger probe took this image of a crescent Mercury. The spacecraft was still an hour and a half from its closest encounter when it imaged this terrain, which hadn't been seen on Messenger's first flyby or by the Mariner 10 spacecraft, which flew by Mercury in 1974 and 1975. The image is one of a set of 11 taken through different filters to study the colors of the surface.

: Photo: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

This image, taken as Messenger flew away from its closest approach to Mercury, was one of the first to be sent back to Earth. The bright spot near the center of the image is Kuiper crater. Most of the terrain to the east of Kuiper had never been seen before. A striking characteristic of this newly imaged area is the large pattern of rays that extend from a relatively young crater in the northern region of Mercury to south of Kuiper.

: Photo: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Just an hour before Messenger reached its closest approach to Mercury, the probe took this close-up picture of a heavily cratered terrain in an area that had never before been imaged. The features in the foreground, near the right side of the image, are close to the line between the sunlit day side and dark night side of the planet, so shadows are long and prominent and make the topography stand out.

: Photo: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

The sun's slanting rays illuminate Machaut crater in this image. The crater, named for the medieval French poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut, is about 60 miles across. The floor of the crater has been coated with lava, which has in turn been peppered with more small craters.

: Photo: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

This shot was taken just minutes after Messenger passed its closest point to the surface of Mercury, while the spacecraft was moving at 3.8 miles per second. It is the highest resolution color image ever taken of the planet. The largest crater, near the top of the photo, is called Polygnotus and is 83 miles in diameter.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

Oct. 29, 1675: Leibniz Sums It All Up

1675: Gottfried Leibniz writes the integral sign ∫  in an unpublished manuscript, introducing the calculus notation that's still in use today.

Leibniz was a German mathematician and philosopher who readily crossed the lines between academic disciplines. He had a doctorate in law, served as secretary of the Nuremberg alchemical society and fancied himself a poet.

He also conducted diplomatic missions in London and Paris. While visiting those cities, Leibniz acquainted himself with such scientific luminaries as Christiaan Huygens, Robert Boyle, Robert Hook, John Pell and Jacques Ozanam. He showed an unfinished calculating machine to the Royal Society, which elected him a fellow.

Leibniz discussed with his English colleagues his interest in summing series and the geometry of infinitesimals, and he corresponded with them when he was back in France. They apprised him of books in the field and also told him about Isaac Newton's yet-unpublished work on the subject.

Newton wrote to Leibniz through an intermediary, and they began an exchange of letters that often took weeks or even months to reach their recipient. The muddled back-and-forth eventually led to bad blood, with Newton claiming that Leibniz had stolen his work in founding the science of calculus.

Newton's letters, however, described results, not methods. The legal and philosophical formalism in which Leibniz had been trained allowed him to create his own symbolic system, including not just the integral sign but the same notation of differentials we still use. Newton published his system slightly before Leibniz, but the German's notation was superior.

Continental and English mathematicians would spend decades arguing over who invented the calculus, but it seems yet another example of simultaneous discovery. The two scientists were of the same era, associated in the same circles, read the work of the same precursors, and shared some of their own ideas. It should amaze no one that they came to the same results in slightly different mathematical language at nearly the same time.

Leibniz contributed mightily to our knowledge of differential equations. He discovered the method of separation of variables, first reduced homogeneous equations to separable ones, and figured out how to solve first-order linear equations. He also worked on the multinomial theorem.

The math department of St. Bonaventure University in western New York state celebrates Integral Day on Oct. 29 to honor Leibniz. The mathematics suite is decorated with integral and summation ornaments, and students and faculty eat "calculus cookies" and imbibe "summation cider," presumably with infinitesimal nibbles and sips. Students compete in a calculus contest to win a gift certificate at the college bookstore.

Does Newton deserve more credit? Maybe, but it's Leibniz's language you learned in your calculus class. And ol' Isaac gets his props for many other discoveries, so don't overestimate the gravity of the situation. Happy Integral Day, Gottfried!

Source: Eric Weisstein's World of Math, MacTutor History of Mathematics

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

Captain Calamity Crunches Data for Global Warning System

Talk about a high-pressure job: Network the world's environmental sensors, build a system to integrate the petabytes of data they produce, and, oh yeah, pull it all together to predict when disasters (like Katrina's siblings) are about to strike. French geophysicist José Achache is one lucky geek.

Earth is peppered with high tech monitoring hardware—from polar-orbiting satellites to instrument-laden buoys. Problem is, they're all operating in Babel-style disconnect. "We're spending billions a year on observation systems," Achache says. "But because of our fragmented approach, we're suboptimal." Achache—whose resume includes such nerdeaucratic posts as deputy director general of the French space agency and director of Earth observation at the European Space Agency—is leading the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, a 10-year endeavor to link the data-collection tech of 74 nations. Crunch enough data, the thinking goes, and scientists will be able to create better climate models and forecasts (theoretically giving us a head start on nature's cavalcade of calamities).

When Geoss is complete circa 2015, Achache expects that we'll be able to anticipate crop losses, water shortages, and disease outbreaks months in advance. "It's a system that's long overdue and badly needed," he says. "It's going to save money and lives." In other words, it will be the world's Emergency Alert System.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Oct 2008 | 4:00 am

Yahoo lets outside developers play with its software (AFP)

AFP - Yahoo has followed through on a promise to give outside developers access to its software in order to jazz-up the website with fun, hip or functional programmes.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Oct 2008 | 3:26 am

Android Speed Reviews: Twidroid, LOLcat Builder, SpellDial, BudgetDroid, Krystle II, CallerID, Santas War

With the doors to the Android Market open to developers as of yesterday, the applications have begun pouring in. To celebrate, we decided to take a look at some of the notable applications lurking about in this first batch. Notable, mind you, doesn’t necessarily mean the best. Sure, a few were highlighted for their greatness. And the others? Well, they were just too weird not to mention.

Title: Twidroid

Summary: One of the first, and best Twitter clients out there for Android so far. Twidroid does what you expect it to, and has some great features in the works, such as photo uploading and background updating so you can always get the latest tweets. Replying to your fellow Twitts is a breeze as well, just press the direct or public reply button.

The Good: Easy to use, clean interface.

The Bad: The photo feature isn’t quite ready for the masses, but they decided to leave it in there anyway. Sometimes gets stuck loading tweets.

Worth the download? Definitely. If you use Twitter and don’t want to do it through the web interface, this is the best alternative so far.

Title: LOLcat Builder

Summary: Exactly what it sounds like. Now you can build your own LOLcat images on the go, and it actually works surprisingly good. You snap a photo, open it in the program, and add text. It’s already formatted so no scrounging through Photoshop to find the perfect LOLcat font. It’s already done for you. You then have the option to share the images you’ve created with your unsuspecting contact list, who will soon come to hate your guts.

The Good (or the bad): This application could create a whole new method of picture messaging fun. Why just plain text when you can LOLcat text?

The Other Bad: No camera button in the app, so you’ve gotta have your photos ready when you launch the app. Also, there seems to be an alignment bug that cuts off text at random.

Worth the download? Probably. Not for everyone, but there’s an audience for it. And if you have friends that are far, far outside of said audience, it’s a great way to drive them up the wall.

Title: SpellDial

Summary: SpellDial is a simple application that allows you to search for contacts without requiring you to open the keyboard. Enter the contacts name T9 style and it will start narrowing them down.

The Good: Simple to use, and can replace the normal dialer. Not having to open the keyboard to search for the contact is fantastic. It also supports keyboard input, so it really can replace the standard dialer fairly well.

The Bad: The only way to backspace in numeric keypad mode is to swipe left, and the icon for the program is ugly.

Worth the download? Definitely. Great if you want to quickly find contacts without opening up the keyboard.

Title: BudgetDroid

Summary: With the economy the way it is right now, everyone is watching what they are spending. It’s not always easy, so that’s where BudgetDroid comes into play. This application aims at helping you budget your money better by splitting it into categories. Each category has a limit, and you are free to create as many new categories as you need, such as Entertainment, Books, Groceries, Expensive Girlfriend and whatever else your life requires. It also features a history view, so you can view recent purchases that you entered all in one fell swoop.

The Good: Helps manage your money more wisely.

The Bad: The UI is hideous. When entering in your purchases, the dollar and cents are entered separately instead of in one box.

Worth the download? If you are looking to start purchasing more wisely, then this is a great app. It requires discipline though, since they haven’t coded in the sucker punch feature when you go over your budget.

Title: Krystle II

Summary: In the developer’s words, Krystle II is a “simple pet application” meant to give “a little life” to your Android handset. In our words, it’s a close up shot of a shag carpet which giggles when you touch it.

The Good: It might make you smile the first time you play with it.

The Bad: It’ll only make you smile the first time you play with it.

Worth the download? If you’re deathly afraid of animals but want to experience the warmth of a pet’s love through the cold, hard touch screen, then yes. If you’re deathly afraid of giggling carpets, then no.

Title: CallerID by Whitepages

Summary: Are you sick of answering the phone, expecting important calls, when it’s actually a machine calling to tell you the warranty on a car you don’t even have is about to expire? CallerID is here to try and help fix that. Using the 3G/WiFi connection, it runs in the background and attempts to identify who is calling you, as long as the number is listed in the Whitepages. If it’s not, it will display the geographical location of the number instead.

The Good: Lets you answer only the calls you want to answer.

The Bad: May enrage credit collectors, scammers, and your aunts and uncles. Actually, that’s probably not a bad thing in most cases.

Title: SantasWorldWar

Summary: I think this game was supposed to be like Mario, but totally missed the mark. You play Santa who is bent on destroying the Russian leader who has overtaken the North Pole.

The Good: Uh.. Hrm. Oh! As moving in this game is quite hard (you need to roll the trackball really quick), it could be a great hand workout. That’s about it.

The Bad: The graphics are awful, the controls are awful, the coding is awful.

Worth the download? If you’re looking for something to make you really, really angry at your handset, sure. (Editor’s note: Seriously, this game made me want to punch my self in the eyes.)

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Oct 2008 | 3:15 am

LinkedIn Means Business With New Application Platform

LinkedIn has launched its new OpenSocial-based application platform called InApps - an answer to the platforms found on social networks like Facebook and MySpace, but without the clutter and “junk” apps that plague those sites. Unlike most other social networks, LinkedIn apps must go through an approval process before they will go live on the store, and all apps must be deemed “professional” in purpose to appear on the business-oriented social network. To prevent an overwhelming amount of clutter, users will be restricted to including a maximum of 15 applications on their main profile pages, though they will eventually have the option to install more apps on a separate page.

Beyond the quality assurance process, LinkedIn is also limiting the flexibility apps will have when it comes to monetization. Apps won’t be allowed to use third party ad networks - instead, they’ll have to work with LinkedIn’s ad system. For now applications will only have access to LinkedIn’s current ad inventory, which could make targeting ads less effective (though it sounds like there will be more options for targeted ads in the future). Apps will still be allowed to charge users for individual goods, and can also implement a paid subscription service (launch partner Box.net is using this model).

At launch available applications include a trip application from TripIt, presentations from SlideShare and Google Presentations, blog feeds from WordPress and Six Apart, file storage and collaboration from Box.net, online workspaces from Huddle, and a Reading List app from Amazon that will allow users to share the books they are reading. LinkedIn is also offering a few homebrewed apps, including a tracking application that monitors for a company’s mentions on Twitter and a Poll app. You can see demonstrations of each application available in the videos below:

Overview

Slideshare

Tripit

Amazon

Typepad

Box

Google

Huddle

Wordpress

Company Buzz

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Oct 2008 | 2:35 am

Microsoft Azure cloud computing creeps on stage

Section: Computers, Desktops, Mobile Computers, Hardware, Laptops, Networking, Security, Wireless, Peripherals, Storage, Web, Web 2.0, Web Apps, Websites

Everybody else is doing it.  Microsoft is going to give a shot at it too.

In an effort to keep programmers loyal and customers happy, Microsoft has recognized the need to match their competitors’ moves toward cloud computing with Azure.  Gadgetell has a more in depth look on cloud computing here.  Making operating systems and programs remotely accessible means real changes for us.

Consumers

With the brains of a computer taken from the home and placed among the masses of data centers, we will only need the meat on a plate to access all our information and programs.  Pending the success of cloud computing, our home computer systems will reduce in size as they will be run more from over the Internet.  Mobile computing accessories will not be as necessary as we gain the ability to access information from anywhere instead of having to carry it with us.  For green techies, this means a huge reduction in electricity consumption for consumers.

Companies & Developers & Programmers

Companies also save money and space with Azure by not having to keep a lot of equipment on-site.  Seamless and shared ability to access information will also save time.  Pricing will be based on actual consumption, so there will be savings over a package rate.

Azure is being tested now but when it will be offered to the public is unknown. You can sign up to try it out.

See videos of Azure in action here.

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Oct 2008 | 2:24 am

The First E-President

Szentigrade writes "Popular Science is running a letter by Daniel Engber of the online Slate Magazine in which he offers the US Presidential nominees advice on using the full potential of the Internet upon their election into office. Some examples discussed in the letter include: a project already being developed that speeds up the patent approval process, a UK site that aims to improve government-citizen interactions, and perhaps most importantly, a call for government information to be 'presented in a standardized and widely used data format, like XML, so that anyone — in or out of government — could use and reconfigure it however they pleased.' Will 2009 be the first year of the E-President?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 29 Oct 2008 | 2:01 am

Android Speed Reviews: Twidroid, LOLcat Builder, SpellDial, BudgetDroid, Krystle II, CallerID, Santas War

With the doors to the Android Market open to developers as of yesterday, the applications have begun pouring in. To celebrate, we decided to take a look at some of the notable applications lurking about in this first batch. Notable, mind you, doesn’t necessarily mean the best. A few were highlighted for their greatness. Some were noted because we just like the concept. And the others? Well, they were just too weird not to mention.

Title: Twidroid

Summary: One of the first, and best Twitter clients out there for Android so far. Twidroid does what you expect it to, and has some great features in the works, such as photo uploading and background updating so you can always get the latest tweets. Replying to your fellow Twitts is a breeze as well, just press the direct or public reply button.

The Good: Easy to use, clean interface.

The Bad: The photo feature isn’t quite ready for the masses, but they decided to leave it in there anyway. Sometimes gets stuck loading tweets.

Worth the download? Definitely. If you use Twitter and don’t want to do it through the web interface, this is the best alternative so far.

Title: LOLcat Builder

Summary: Exactly what it sounds like: you can build your own LOLcat images on the go. You snap a photo, open it in the program, and add text. It’s already formatted so no scrounging through Photoshop to find the perfect LOLcat font. It’s already done for you. You then have the option to share the images you’ve created with your unsuspecting contact list, who will soon come to hate your guts.

The Good (or the bad): This application could create a whole new method of picture messaging fun. Why just plain text when you can LOLcat text?

The Other Bad: No camera button in the app, so you’ve gotta have your photos ready when you launch the app. Also, there seems to be an alignment bug that cuts off text at random.

Worth the download? Probably. Not for everyone, but there’s an audience for it. And if you have friends that are far, far outside of said audience, it’s a great way to drive them up the wall.

Title: SpellDial

Summary: SpellDial is a simple application that allows you to search for contacts without requiring you to open the keyboard. Enter the contacts name T9 style and it will start narrowing them down.

The Good: Simple to use, and can replace the normal dialer. Not having to open the keyboard to search for the contact is fantastic. It also supports keyboard input, so it really can replace the standard dialer fairly well.

The Bad: The only way to backspace in numeric keypad mode is to swipe left, and the icon for the program is ugly.

Worth the download? Definitely. Great if you want to quickly find contacts without opening up the keyboard.

Title: BudgetDroid

Summary: With the economy the way it is right now, everyone is watching what they are spending. It’s not always easy, so that’s where BudgetDroid comes into play. This application aims at helping you budget your money better by splitting it into categories. Each category has a limit, and you are free to create as many new categories as you need, such as Entertainment, Books, Groceries, Expensive Girlfriend and whatever else your life requires. It also features a history view, so you can view recent purchases that you entered all in one fell swoop.

The Good: Helps manage your money more wisely.

The Bad: The UI is hideous. When entering in your purchases, the dollar and cents are entered separately instead of in one box.

Worth the download? If you are looking to start purchasing more wisely, then this is a great app. It requires discipline though, since they haven’t coded in the sucker punch feature when you go over your budget.

Title: Krystle II

Summary: In the developer’s words, Krystle II is a “simple pet application” meant to give “a little life” to your Android handset. In our words, it’s a close up shot of a shag carpet which giggles when you touch it.

The Good: It might make you smile the first time you play with it.

The Bad: It’ll only make you smile the first time you play with it.

Worth the download? If you’re deathly afraid of animals but want to experience the warmth of a pet’s love through the cold, hard touch screen, then yes. If you’re deathly afraid of giggling carpets, then no.

Title: CallerID by Whitepages

Summary: Are you sick of answering the phone, expecting important calls, when it’s actually a machine calling to tell you the warranty on a car you don’t even have is about to expire? CallerID is here to try and help fix that. Using the 3G/WiFi connection, it runs in the background and attempts to identify who is calling you, as long as the number is listed in the Whitepages. If it’s not, it will display the geographical location of the number instead.

The Good: Lets you answer only the calls you want to answer.

The Bad: May enrage credit collectors, scammers, and your aunts and uncles. Actually, that’s probably not a bad thing in most cases.

Title: SantasWorldWar

Summary: I think this game was supposed to be like Mario, but totally missed the mark. You play Santa who is bent on destroying the Russian leader who has overtaken the North Pole.

The Good: Uh.. Hrm. Oh! As moving in this game is quite hard (you need to roll the trackball really quick), it could be a great hand workout. That’s about it.

The Bad: The graphics are awful, the controls are awful, the coding is awful.

Worth the download? If you’re looking for something to make you really, really angry at your handset, sure. (Editor’s note: Seriously, this game made me want to punch myself in the eyes.)

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 29 Oct 2008 | 1:39 am

Psystar hopes Apple won’t notice Blu-Ray desktops

Psystar is still beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men aka Apple but now they’re shipping “OS X-compatible” machines with Blu-ray installed. Sadly, there is no built-in Blu-Ray support which means you’re stuck using Toast 9 to do anything at all.

In our experience, Psystar is basically selling bare bones PCs with a little tweaking - nothing you or I couldn’t do at home. The sheer fact that a small IT company is getting this much press out of doing something anyone with an Internet connection can do is disheartening, but it will be fascinating once these kids get hosed by Apple legal.

via Ars

Source: CrunchGear | 29 Oct 2008 | 1:13 am

Blogger And Podcaster Media Network Looks To Turn Long Tail Blogging Into A Full-Time Job

For all of the millions of blogs on the web, only an incredibly small fraction generate enough revenue to serve as full time jobs. Most people are happy enough with just sharing their thoughts with the public, even if they only see a few hundred hits a months with the very occasional comment. But what if there was a way for even these small-timers to generate enough money to put food on the table?

Larry Genkin, the founder and editor of Blogger and Podcaster Magazine, is looking to help the long tail of bloggers turn their hobby into a lucrative job. He has started the Blogger and Podcaster Media Network, a consortium of bloggers and related companies looking to help bloggers of all sizes effectively monetize their sites without having to worry about having a relatively small audience. The site is currently open for signups, but won’t go live until early next year.

At launch the BPMN is a rollup of companies including Genkin’s magazine, Fuel My Blog (A bloggers’ social network based in the UK), Podcast Pickle (a podcasters’ social network), and SocialRank, a company similar to Sphere that monitors blogs for related and popular content.

Each of these companies will help promote the new network, and will also offer technology to help bloggers build out their site (for example, they’ll be able to use SocialRank’s technology). The BPMN will also try to partner with large media companies to help give blogs more exposure. To help each blog get started, the company has partnered with PR NewsWire, which will offer each blogger a promotion package Genkin says is worth $2000.

The BPMN will also have a dedicated sales team for advertising. Genkin says that large ad networks like Federated Media cater to large blogs, leaving most of the long tail bloggers to fend for themselves. Because BPMN will be representing a large number of blogs at once, Genkin says it will be able to secure more favorable deals. The network will have a rev-share agreement with bloggers, giving 70% of ad revenues to members.

Beyond advertising, The BPMN is also employing an affiliate scheme to help bloggers generate revenue. Genkin says that for every blogger a member brings into the network, they’ll earn around $500-1000 a year. It sounds like this is the primary way the BPMN expects to help small time bloggers earn full-time salaries (just recruit 50 bloggers and you’re set!), but recruiting bloggers is more difficult than it sounds, which is where I think the BPMN might fall short. To further entice bloggers, The BPMN is offering a (presumably small) equity stake in the company to early adopters on the network who sign up by the end of the year. And the last selling point: bloggers will have healthcare coverage, though the details for this have yet to be worked out.

The Blogger and Podcast Media Network is going to have a long struggle ahead. Even if advertisers are enticed by the ability to make large ad buys across the network that are more favorable than AdSense, most individual bloggers still won’t be seeing much income from their ads. And the affiliate scheme sounds too good to be true - I doubt many people will be able to recruit enough bloggers to earn a sizable income. If Genkin can pull off some partnerships with large media corporations (his magazine already scored a deal with USA Today), these bloggers may be able to increase their traffic and generate some revenue, but I have a hard time picturing small time bloggers earning full time wages.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Oct 2008 | 1:13 am

Pumpkin Mods Combine Tech, Orange Squash

: Photo: Ladyada.net

This Halloween, don't just carve your pumpkin: Hack it.

Geeked-out pumpkins go beyond mere gourd carving to include programmable chips, circuit boards and a good bit of soldering. Some include motion sensors and solar panels. This year's hot pumpkin add-on seems to be LED lights, which are easy to stick on and give the pumpkin a cool glow.

Artistic and creative in their use of technology, the best part about these pumpkin mods are that most come with easy instructions on how to do it yourself. Look through the gallery here, then get a pumpkin and try a mod yourself.

Left: Electronic Halloween Pumpkin

With a bit of a hacking, a plastic pumpkin can be upgraded to have serious technology inside. A sensor embedded in the nose detects when people get close, and will play scary sounds and light up the LED when they do. Even the sounds can be customized by storing audio files on an SD card. The circuitry is based on the Arduino platform so it is easy to modify the behavior of the pumpkin, says Limor Fried, the hardware hacking queen who created the pumpkin.

Show us pictures of your geeky pumpkins. Submit photos to our contest and we'll publish the best mods in a future gallery.

Vote on pumpkin photos submitted by other readers.

Show entries that are: hot | new | top-rated. Submit your pumpkins photo.

Submit your pumpkin photo.

(No more than one every 30 minutes. No HTML allowed.)

Back to top

: Photo: Joseph Johnston

A quick trip to a few hardware stores led to the robo pumpkin, a huge hit among neighborhood kids this year. This one required some silver spray paint, lights and bolts, old computer parts and wires to come together.

Despite the name, the robo pumpkin doesn’t move, but its eyes blink enough to give it a creepy Halloween feel.

Next year’s pumpkin will have moving parts and a live webcam, promises Joseph Johnston, who carved it.

: Photo: Joe Rowley

It shouldn’t be surprising that Barack Obama is a favorite among pumpkin carvers this year. But what happens when you take Obama’s face and put it on a pumpkin along with a few LED lights?

Joe Rowley carved his pumpkin, then put two 6-volt batteries, two 10-mm blue LEDs, a resistor and a toggle switch inside.

The pumpkin is as far as Rowley can go in supporting his favorite candidate: At 15 years old, he's too young to vote.

: Photo: Windell H. Oskay/www.evilmadscientist.com

With all the talk of going green, a solar powered pumpkin seems just the right thing to do.

This white pumpkin has a microcontroller-driven, dark-detecting, solar-powered circuit inside it. And it comes with instructions on how to do it. It requires some advanced technical skills, but isn’t that the thrill?

: Photo: Windell H. Oskay/www.evilmadscientist.com

This tiny carved pumpkin carries the circuit diagram symbol for a light-emitting diode and is lit using LED lights. The circuit inside it is a Tirefly, a blue LED light designed for your bicycle tires. A quick mod of the Tirefly defeats the motion sensor so that the LED can blink all the time.

The LED pumpkin, like its solar powered peer, comes from the Evil Mad Scientists, who have the detailed how-to's on their website.

: Photo: zieak/Flickr

Bringing a skull and a pumpkin together is as good as it can get for Halloween. All you need is a plastic skull, two glass marbles, LED lights, a drill and some carving tools. Clear out the pumpkin’s insides, drill the glass marbles into the hollow eyes of the skull, wire up the LEDs and you will have a spooky result. Complete directions here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Pumpkin-skull/

: Photo: The Pug Father/Flickr

For Mac fans, this pumpkin is a fun way to advertise their favorite computer. For those who hate Apple's evil ways, it's scary. Win-win!

Best of all, it's not hard to make one since it doesn’t have the whiz-bang gadgetry of the rest. First, trace the Apple logo on a piece of a paper to make a stencil. Apply the stencil to the pumpkin, then carve and light it with a candle. Voila! The perfect jack-o-lantern for the Apple enthusiast.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 29 Oct 2008 | 1:00 am

Pumpkin Mods Combine Tech, Orange Squash

: Photo: Ladyada.net

This Halloween, don't just carve your pumpkin: Hack it.

Geeked-out pumpkins go beyond mere gourd carving to include programmable chips, circuit boards and a good bit of soldering. Some include motion sensors and solar panels. This year's hot pumpkin add-on seems to be LED lights, which are easy to stick on and give the pumpkin a cool glow.

Artistic and creative in their use of technology, the best part about these pumpkin mods are that most come with easy instructions on how to do it yourself. Look through the gallery here, then get a pumpkin and try a mod yourself.

Left: Electronic Halloween Pumpkin

With a bit of a hacking, a plastic pumpkin can be upgraded to have serious technology inside. A sensor embedded in the nose detects when people get close, and will play scary sounds and light up the LED when they do. Even the sounds can be customized by storing audio files on an SD card. The circuitry is based on the Arduino platform so it is easy to modify the behavior of the pumpkin, says Limor Fried, the hardware hacking queen who created the pumpkin.

Show us pictures of your geeky pumpkins. Submit photos to our contest and we'll publish the best mods in a future gallery.

Vote on pumpkin photos submitted by other readers.

Show entries that are: hot | new | top-rated. Submit your pumpkins photo.

Submit your pumpkin photo.

(No more than one every 30 minutes. No HTML allowed.)

Back to top

: Photo: Joseph Johnston

A quick trip to a few hardware stores led to the robo pumpkin, a huge hit among neighborhood kids this year. This one required some silver spray paint, lights and bolts, old computer parts and wires to come together.

Despite the name, the robo pumpkin doesn’t move, but its eyes blink enough to give it a creepy Halloween feel.

Next year’s pumpkin will have moving parts and a live webcam, promises Joseph Johnston, who carved it.

: Photo: Joe Rowley

It shouldn’t be surprising that Barack Obama is a favorite among pumpkin carvers this year. But what happens when you take Obama’s face and put it on a pumpkin along with a few LED lights?

Joe Rowley carved his pumpkin, then put two 6-volt batteries, two 10-mm blue LEDs, a resistor and a toggle switch inside.

The pumpkin is as far as Rowley can go in supporting his favorite candidate: At 15 years old, he's too young to vote.

: Photo: Windell H. Oskay/www.evilmadscientist.com

With all the talk of going green, a solar powered pumpkin seems just the right thing to do.

This white pumpkin has a microcontroller-driven, dark-detecting, solar-powered circuit inside it. And it comes with instructions on how to do it. It requires some advanced technical skills, but isn’t that the thrill?

: Photo: Windell H. Oskay/www.evilmadscientist.com

This tiny carved pumpkin carries the circuit diagram symbol for a light-emitting diode and is lit using LED lights. The circuit inside it is a Tirefly, a blue LED light designed for your bicycle tires. A quick mod of the Tirefly defeats the motion sensor so that the LED can blink all the time.

The LED pumpkin, like its solar powered peer, comes from the Evil Mad Scientists, who have the detailed how-to's on their website.

: Photo: zieak/Flickr

Bringing a skull and a pumpkin together is as good as it can get for Halloween. All you need is a plastic skull, two glass marbles, LED lights, a drill and some carving tools. Clear out the pumpkin’s insides, drill the glass marbles into the hollow eyes of the skull, wire up the LEDs and you will have a spooky result. Complete directions here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Pumpkin-skull/

: Photo: The Pug Father/Flickr

For Mac fans, this pumpkin is a fun way to advertise their favorite computer. For those who hate Apple's evil ways, it's scary. Win-win!

Best of all, it's not hard to make one since it doesn’t have the whiz-bang gadgetry of the rest. First, trace the Apple logo on a piece of a paper to make a stencil. Apply the stencil to the pumpkin, then carve and light it with a candle. Voila! The perfect jack-o-lantern for the Apple enthusiast.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Oct 2008 | 1:00 am

Holey Dells Sport a Familar Mac Look

Eh, I guess Dell's new OptiPlex 960 desktop systems are kind of ripping off the look of the Mac Pros. But you can't give Apple credit for inventing holes for better cooling, right?

Mind you, these aren't anywhere near as pricey as the Mac Pros.  Available in three different sizes -- mini tower, desktop and "small form factor" -- OptiPlex systems' starting prices range from $892 to $912. Then again, equipped with either dual- or quad-core processors, the OptiPlex systems aren't nearly as powerful, either. By way of comparison, the robust, eight-core Mac Pros start at $2,800.

Product Page [Dell via Gizmodo]

Photo: Dell/Apple

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Oct 2008 | 12:54 am

TO THE 33rd DEGREE.

NOT ONLY IS THIS MAN A BREAKDANCER, he is also a Freemason of the 33rd Degree (I don't know which Rite; it was late), and a master of both Crafts.

HIS NAME is Grand Master Priest Faustus, and I had the honor of seeing him perform at the 215 Festival on Friday at the Society of Free Letts, where he appeared as part of Patrick Borelli and Douglas Gorenstein's "Holy Headshot" project.

HE IS, frankly, the poppingest, lockingest Freemason I have ever met, and also a contemporary of many of the men who invented things like popping and locking. (He did not invent Freemasonry, however. HE IS NOT IMMORTAL. But he did have an amazing square and compass belt buckle, which started our discussion of The Craft)

IF ANYONE has any video of this event, I would be very glad to see it.

That is all.

Source: Boing Boing | 29 Oct 2008 | 12:53 am

SOME QUICK NOTES FROM THE UR-SKEKS-IVERSE

I AM IN DETROIT today, sitting in the lobby of WDET, stealing broadband from a student's room at Wayne State University. So I shall offer a few brief follow ups to your very welcome comments.

TWO COMMENTERS on my previous post on Gnomes pointed out that I might enjoy Brian Froud and Terry Jones's Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book. Indeed I might and have. But not as much as I enjoyed Brian Froud's The World of the Dark Crystal.

IT IS, OF COURSE, beautiful. But what I found inspiring, even as a child, is that someone would take The Dark Crystal so seriously, and draw and describe the Ur-Skeks-iverse in such sincere and deranged details. I think it is fair to say that everything I know about Skeksis culture derives from this book.

IN OTHER COMMENTS SECTIONS, Brermatt noted that the Battle of Galactia Ride also appeared in the FIRST "Get Smart" movie, "The Nude Bomb." It is so, and I know, because I saw this movie on TV in Australia some years ago, and I was so surprised that I practically went down the drain the wrong way.

NOW, however, it is on DVD, and insanely, i09 has the relevant clip in WIDESCREEN.

I MUST NOW drive to Ann Arbor.

That is all

Source: Boing Boing | 29 Oct 2008 | 12:49 am

Video for new book, Jetpack Dreams

Here's the video for Mac Montandon's new book about the history of jetpacks, Jetpack Dreams: One Man's Up and Down (But Mostly Down) Search for the Greatest Invention That Never Was. It's a delightful and engrossing story of the quest for one of humankind's greatest technological fantasies —- to strap on a device and fly like a bird.

Jetpack Dreams | Jetpack Dreams website

Source: Boing Boing | 29 Oct 2008 | 12:44 am

Finding the Right Product Review for You [The Mossberg Solution]

Many people are heading into this year’s holiday season with tighter budgets, prompting them to be even more selective with their gift buying. One way to make sure you’re getting the most for your dollar is to search the Web for product reviews. These reviews, usually consisting of ratings systems and comment sections, might give the finicky shopper a helpful glimpse into a real user’s experience with a product.

According to Buzzillions.com reviews, the Canon (CAJ) G9 Powershot camera is ranked No. 3 in its product category.

But reviews don’t always identify their authors’ true motives. One item might be reviewed by a satisfied customer who bought the product, or it could be from someone who designed the product and wants to see it succeed. A review could even be from a manufacturer’s disgruntled employee who wants to see the product fail. Blogs can perpetuate such biased behavior by inviting people to submit reviews without verifying whether or not the members ever used the product.

This week, I tested Buzzillions.com, a free Web site owned by San Francisco-based PowerReviews Inc. that mainly posts reviews from people who have verifiably purchased the product they are appraising, according to retailers’ records. It also organizes reviews in specific categories, allowing users to search according to how they categorize themselves.

For example, someone shopping for sheets can label herself a budget, midrange or high-end shopper. A guy looking for a videogame console could call himself a gaming novice, casual gamer, frequent player or hard-core gamer. And someone on the hunt for the right shampoo could call herself a minimalist, beauty conscious or a product junkie. Selecting one of these profile labels whittles reviews down to only those best suited for the personality of the person buying the product — or perhaps receiving it as a gift.

The secret sauce behind Buzzillions is generated by surveys that over 300 retailers send to consumers. A few weeks after buying a product, consumers receive an email survey with a link to a Buzzillions questionnaire. These surveys ask consumers what they consider to be a product’s pros, cons and best uses, and its ranking according to the site’s best-out-of-five star rating system. And, following the Buzzillions formula, it asks these verified buyers to categorize themselves. Both verified users and unverified users, alike, can write reviews for the site, though verified users’ reviews are more heavily considered in the “Buzzillions Rank” system.

The “Buzzillions Rank” shows a product’s standing in its particular category, based on an algorithm applied to the survey data. This formulated ranking is based on three things: a product’s star rating; the number of reviews it receives; and the reliability of its reviewers.

Though Buzzillions can’t prevent a person from posting multiple reviews on a product, it does search the site for duplicate content and users can notify the site if they doubt a review’s authenticity. This could trigger an investigation by the site that may involve tracking the Internet address of a reviewer, the times and frequency that a person posted reviews or even calling the person in question.

Buzzillions is particularly helpful when it comes to certain categories of reviews. The Electronics category, for example, is so populous that it must be divided into 17 subcategories with numerous smaller groups in each subcategory. This category can also be searched by brand.

But Buzzillions has its flaws. Not all products can be sorted with personality labels. And I found that some items were miscategorized. A “GPS” category included receivers, car navigation systems and wristwatches, but when I tried to narrow these products by selecting the “Automotive GPS” category, individual GPS data loggers and receivers still appeared instead of car-only devices like those from Garmin (GRMN) and TomTom. Buzzillions said it would correct this error, but products placed in the wrong categories could be highly confusing for someone unfamiliar with a product. Other categories, such as Shoes and Clothing, left me disappointed by the low number of represented brands and subcategories (i.e. shoes didn’t separate heels or flats from the pack).

Nothing is sold on Buzzillions.com itself, though the site does link to partner stores. But some product pages listed only one online store where the item could be bought. Buzzillions plans to fix this problem by listing about five to 10 online retailers per product.

People can use the site in two ways: as members, by signing up with an email and password and entering descriptions to create profiles of themselves and what types of products they like; or as unregistered visitors to the site. I tried both methods and found the member recommendations practical because they pointed out products I may not have found as quickly using searches. As a member, you instantly see a list of suggested products according to your profile as well as receive gift suggestions via email. And even using the site without becoming a member worked well, never making me feel like the best bits were only offered to registered members.

I really liked Buzzillions’ ”Review Snapshot,” a small at-a-glance box that lists pros, cons and best uses for a product. This snapshot also shows a product’s Buzzillions Rank, as well as its star ranking compared with the category’s star-ranking average. I saved a lot of time by skimming these concise snapshots rather than opening every review.

Buzzillions recently created a mobile version of its site, mobile.buzzillions.com, which runs on the iPhone’s Web browser and can be used for quick looks at reviews and top-10 lists. The company has plans to release an actual iPhone app that should be available soon via Apple’s (AAPL) App Store.

The more I used Buzzillions, the more I grew to depend on the site’s signature Buzzillions Rank, which is clearly listed on a big, bright-green badge. The top 10 products in each category are distinctly labeled, with the No. 1 item in a category getting a special ribbon. And this ranking held true to its formula and showed a product’s real standing: I often saw an item with a higher star-rating average receive a lower Buzzillions Rank because they had far fewer reviews compared with products with a higher Buzzillions Rank.

Another helpful stat that Buzzillions displays prominently with each review is the date that it was reviewed. I looked at a pair of tennis sneakers with a top-10 Buzzillions Rank, but some of that pair’s reviews were labeled with dates that were too old to be relevant for me. Electronics fans, of course, would care even more about these dates.

All told, Buzzillions does a good job of balancing reviews and culling the most-appropriate reviews for certain people based on personality traits. It currently has more than 3.6 million reviews, but will most likely continue to grow as more people use and rely on it, making it an even more valuable tool for shoppers.

– Edited by Walter S. Mossberg

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

Source: All Things Digital | 29 Oct 2008 | 12:38 am

Wal-Mart to retail T-Mobile G1’s starting tomorrow, October 29

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones

If you haven’t already bought a T-Mobile G1 and still would like to, then you would be happy to know that you don’t have to buy a G1 from T-Mobile and pay the full price.  Announced just yesterday (October 28), Wal-Mart stated that they would carry T-Mobile’s hyped G1 within a few days.  This was confirmed by an official spokesperson for Wal-Mart.

Melissa O’Brien, the spokesperson, also said that the G1 would sell for $148.88 with a two year contract.  This is exactly $31.11 cheaper than what T-Mobile sells it for - $179.99.  Roughly 550 Wal-Mart stores across America will be carrying the G1 starting tomorrow (October 29).  So, if you are looking to get a good deal on a G1, then you may want to consider purchasing one from a Wal-Mart near you.  Since 550 stores are set to carry the phone, I’m sure you will be able to find one near you. 

It will be interesting to see if people decide to buy the G1 now that they have the opportunity to buy it for $31 cheaper.  Let us know if you plan on getting one at Wal-Mart. 

Via [CNN Money]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Oct 2008 | 12:30 am

The Entire Time Inc. Layoff and Reorg Memo From Ann Moore [BoomTown]

Time Inc., the largest magazine company in the world is laying off hundreds and reorganizing itself drastically, due to tough economic conditions, especially in advertising, as well as the more inexorable diminishing of its business as readers move to the Web.

Time Inc. is a unit of Time Warner (TWX), as is the AOL online unit.

Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore, penned the email memo to employees tonight. She tried to tout gains in its digital business–part of the reason for the reorg is to move to more of its content to Web platforms–noting 26 million people visit its Time Inc. sites monthly.

Which is, well, still not as big as it should be.

Moore, as well as Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, was interviewed by me onstage at two different D: All Things Digital conferences, where the challenges facing the magazine business were discussed by both.

Those challenges, obviously, continue.

Both videos are below.

Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore at D5, May 2007:

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes at D6, May 2008 (Part 4 of 4):

And here’s the entire Moore memo on the layoffs and reorg:

From: Moore, Ann - Executive Administration
Sent: Tue Oct 28 18:00:37 2008
Subject: Staff Announcement

October 28, 2008

To: Time Inc. Employees
From: Ann Moore
Re: Staff Announcement

As all of you are aware, industry conditions have been challenging due to the financial crisis, which has produced sharp decreases in advertising spending. This is expected to continue through most of 2009.

It’s important that we at Time Inc. react quickly to this new reality in order to maintain our financial strength, build our market position, and sharpen our ability to bounce back at the first signs of economic recovery. All the while we must continue to give our readers and audience the high quality editorial products they have come to expect from our publications and websites.

This is a challenge, unlike any we’ve seen before. And after much careful study and consultation with many of you who run our businesses, I have concluded that it is no longer possible to operate our company with the same decentralized management structure that served us so well during our many years of sustained growth.

So, effective tomorrow, we are going to implement a much more centralized management structure, organized into three business units that will group together titles that share similar audiences, advertisers, and the talents and skills of their staffs. The goal is to enable our company to move faster, go to market smarter, save significant costs, and employ our editorial resources more efficiently.

In broad strokes, here is how it will work:

Business Units. Time Inc.’s 24 U.S. magazines and companion web sites will be grouped into three business units, each reporting to a senior corporate executive. Each unit will have a similar structure that will include four key executives to direct the ad sales, digital business, financial and editorial efforts across that group. One of the most significant centralizing features of this new structure is that each of the three units will have one General Manager, responsible for all budgeting in the unit, who will report directly to Time Inc. EVP and CFO Howard Averill, with a dotted line to their respective senior operating executive.

The three Business Units will consist of:

* News: the existing print and digital properties in the TIME group, the Fortune|Money group, and the Sports Illustrated group, as well as Life.com and GEE. John Squires, EVP Time Inc. will manage the News Business Unit.
* Style and Entertainment: the existing print and digital properties in the PEOPLE group, InStyle, Entertainment Weekly, and Essence. I will act as the EVP for this group so the Style and Entertainment Business Unit will report to me.
* Lifestyle: the existing print and digital properties of Real Simple, This Old House, All You, Southern Living, Cooking Light, Sunset, Health, Cottage Living, Coastal Living, and Southern Accents, along with MyRecipes.com and MyHomeIdeas.com. Sylvia Auton, EVP Time Inc. will manage the Lifestyle Business Unit, while also retaining responsibility for IPC Media.

Editorial. John Huey continues as Time Inc.’s Editor-in-Chief, overseeing the News Business Unit Managing Editors and Martha Nelson, the Managing Editor of the Style and Entertainment Business Unit. In editorial alone we have seen three recent examples of how this sharing across titles can work to our benefit. During the summer Olympics, Sports Illustrated set up a system to supply Time.com with a fantastic array of photos from the games; in Europe and Asia, FORTUNE and TIME already are sharing correspondents; and, of course, the most visible example was the recent TIME cover story on the economy written by FORTUNE managing editor Andy Serwer and Allan Sloan. In the new structure we will see much more of this kind of cooperation.

Time Inc. Advertising Sales and Marketing. Given the difficult ad sales environment, it is critical that all of our brands work together to efficiently and effectively offer advertisers the solutions they need. For this reason, we are creating Time Inc. Advertising Sales and Marketing, a group that will be charged with setting and executing corporate ad sales strategy along with the ad sales head for each business unit. Stephanie George will become President of Time Inc. Advertising Sales and Marketing and will remain a Time Inc. EVP. She will also remain on the Board of American Express Publishing.

Time Inc. Consumer Marketing and Sales. Consumer Marketing and Sales will be run by Brian Wolfe, who has been promoted to EVP and will report directly to me. All Consumer Marketing and Sales activities will be centralized under Brian. This department will be responsible for circulation net income across all U.S. Magazines, as well as Synapse, QSP, Time Warner Retail, Time Customer Service, and TW4, Time Inc.’s international fulfillment operation.

Everyone in the Consumer Marketing organization should be proud of their accomplishments in this difficult environment–some of our largest newsstand titles are having record years and we are seeing strong circulation net income results across the company. These organizational changes, along with the recent acquisition of QSP and the incorporation of Synapse into Time Inc. Consumer Marketing and Sales, will give Brian and his team the ability to continue this momentum by making the best decisions for the company as a whole, and making them quickly and definitively.

Finally, I’m pleased to announce the promotions of Kerry Bessey and Maurice Edelson to EVP, Time Inc.

Time Inc. Senior Management along with the Business Unit leaders are working on restructuring within each group, and will announce further changes in the coming weeks. While the broader economy and the advertising industry both continue to present challenges, I know we can weather this storm and emerge as an even stronger company when the economy begins to recover. We are still a very profitable company. Our cash flow is strong. We have made tremendous progress with our digital business. Each month, more than 26 million people visit Time Inc. websites. We know our consumers continue to value our magazines and websites. We have the top brands in all the categories where we publish and we’re finding exciting new ways to expand our titles beyond the printed page and the web. The importance of fact-based journalism has never been clearer given the many serious issues facing the world and our core competency, trusted editing skills, has never been more needed than in this time of too much information.

I’d like to thank you all for your continued hard work.

A.M.

Source: All Things Digital | 29 Oct 2008 | 12:25 am

I'm in Yur Physical Book, Augmenting Your Reality

When some kids attended the recent Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, they didn't expect to face 3D UFOs popping up from their favorite books and nearly scaring them to death.

If German-based Metaio has its way, this is only the first of many augmented reality scenarios that could change the way we interact with our favorite games and books. Like the kids apparently found out on their first try, combining the real world with three-dimensional figures is an immersive experience with potential.

ArsEdition's upcoming interactive 3D book Aliens & UFOs, provides a good example of Metaio's Augmented Reality (AR) technology. It superimposes 3D objects (like the UFOs) onto the real world through camera recognition software, which is downloaded by a user after the book is bought. The only thing needed is a modern web cam on a Windows-based PC.

The key to the AR trick lies in the image-processing software that recognizes the book using the camera and the 'markerless' tracking system that creates a combo image in real time. According to Metaio representative Noora Guldemond, the fact that the camera frame is used for tracking means that it also has to be used as background image for visualization; when the 3D figures appear in a video, "the overlay is exact and synchronized."

If you move the book in place, the images will move accordingly in 3D dimensions, as seen in the video below.

Don't expect this technology to be trapped in the happy land of kid's books. The company expects to drive its modular AR 3D Unifeye Platform, in development for more than five years, into the design world (as a professional presentation and building tool), and into the top industrial planning firms. According to Metaio, several companies are also exploring building AR into their advertising.

But like other AR or simulated technology that is highly engaging, it does have its limitations.

Using a camera as a tracking system for the books means that it's limited to renderings in view of the camera. Also, every digital image of a page has to be supplied in order for the software to work, including its specific size (down to millimeters).

In addition, previous AR studies have shown that children who have behavioral and academic problems don't respond as well to AR modules. And in the long term, advertisers could creepily project themselves within a person's real world sphere (think of an AR version of the Gap store in Minority Report).

Or it could go the other way. Popular Mechanics recently speculated that Augmented Reality could also be used to affect our reality from the back end -- a person wearing AR-laced glasses could detect inappropriate sights and annoyingly prevalent billboards and make them all disappear. No more unnecessary brain imprints for me, global advertisers!

But that's for later. In the immediate future, expect other types of books (like encyclopedias, travel guides, and cookbooks) to come with Metaio's augmented reality functions because its generic 3D application can be customized for every publisher.

Currently, there is no listed price or availability for the Aliens & UFOs book, but the AR-enabled Atlantica 3D Interactive book will be available in mid-November.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Oct 2008 | 12:23 am

Netviewer Scores $9 Million From T-Online Venture And The Samwer Brothers

T-Online Venture and the European Founders Fund (the investment vehicle of the infamous Samwer brothers who recently invested in Facebook) have invested a total of €7 million or nearly $9 million in Netviewer, a provider of web-based collaboration and communication software.

Netviewer has been developing solutions for internet-based collaboration since 2001. The company already has subsidiaries in Switzerland, France, Great Britain, the US, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Italy, and Sweden, but the press release cites further international expansion as the main driver for the additional fundraising. Netviewer is also moving into the area of interactive Web TV, combining real-time desktop sharing with video.

Netviewer has raised €9 million (which equals about $11.5 million based on current exchange rates) in September 2007 from Invision Private Equity and TVM Capital. Invision’s director Marco Martelli is quoted for having invested in the company in 2005 and 2006, but we’ve been unable to find detailed information about the amount of funding the company has raised in total.

There’s a slew of companies in this space, including Cisco-owned WebEx, Huddle.net, Central Desktop and Ximdesk.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Oct 2008 | 12:19 am

Intel Tries Out Full-Body Tetris

Intel is thinking beyond touchscreens: Its Pittsburgh research lab is working on a version of Tetris that would require moving your entire body to position the pieces.

In a blog, Intel's Esther Andrews says the lab's concept game doesn't require props or wearing any special clothing or motion-capture markers. Rather, the novelty application works on a natural gesture interface to demonstrate the lab's SLIPstream project -- which aims to make more interactive applications driven by real-time processing of high-rate streaming data.

Full-body Tetris, huh? Sounds fun. And it looks like you'd be able to do more with this than you would standing on that Wii Fit "balance board." What do you think, Gadget Lab readers? What other games would be fun with a full-body, interactive interface?

Bookmark on Delicious"Gestris" - Gaming with Gestures [Intel]

Photo: Intel

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Oct 2008 | 12:17 am

Synchronized Presidential Debating

If you thought the three presidential debates were similar, here's proof you were right. This video show how eerily similar the candidates' canned arguments were. Synchronized Presidential Debating (Thanks, Joe Dolce!)

Source: Boing Boing | 29 Oct 2008 | 12:11 am

Andrew Keen predicts the end of "free labor" online

Andrew Keen wrote an unintentionally funny essay about how the bad economy is going to make people stop contributing content online unless they get paid for it.

So how will today's brutal economic climate change the Web 2.0 "free" economy? It will result in the rise of online media businesses that reward their contributors with cash; it will mean the success of Knol over Wikipedia, Mahalo over Google, TheAtlantic.com over the HuffingtonPost.com, iTunes over MySpace, Hulu over YouTube Inc. , Playboy.com over Voyeurweb.com, TechCrunch over the blogosphere, CNN’s professional journalism over CNN’s iReporter citizen-journalism... The hungry and cold unemployed masses aren’t going to continue giving away their intellectual labor on the Internet in the speculative hope that they might get some "back end" revenue. "Free" doesn’t fill anyone’s belly; it doesn’t warm anyone up.

(As Jesse Walker at Reason says, "Because that's why most people contribute to YouTube and Wikipedia. It's the reason why people post comments here at Hit & Run. 'Back end' revenue! It's the American dream!")

Keen doesn't realize the power of egoboo. Richard Eney wrote in his 1959 Fancyclopedia II that science fiction fandom "may be defined as an infinitely complex system for the production of pure egoboo." The same can be said for the Web, too.

Economy to Give Open-Source a Good Thumping

Source: Boing Boing | 29 Oct 2008 | 12:01 am

Multiple Asteroid Belts Found Orbiting Nearby Star

Kligat writes "Scientists have found two asteroid belts around the star Epsilon Eridani, the ninth closest star to our solar system. Epsilon Eridani also possesses an icy outer ring similar in composition to our Kuiper Belt, but with 100 times more material, and a Jovian mass planet near the edge of the innermost belt. Researchers believe that two other planets must orbit the 850 million year old star near the other two belts. Terrestrial planets are possible, but not yet indicated."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 28 Oct 2008 | 11:59 pm

DTV Transition Will 'Puke' on Environment, Says Recycling Group

The United States has a problem with e-waste, say some environmental groups, and it's only going to get worse when the country fully transitions to digital TV broadcasting.

The Electronics TakeBack Coalition believes tens of millions of Americans will throw away their old televisions when TV broadcasters eliminate analog programming and go fully digital. What's more, the coalition says many of those TVs will end up in landfills, posing health risks if their toxics contaminate groundwater and surface streams.

To shed light on the issue, the coalition started a campaign called Take Back My TV, urging manufacturers to offer safe take-back programs to properly recycle old TVs. The campaign on Tuesday began circulating a video (above), which shows old toxic TVs "puking" on people, to encourage consumers to participate in manufacturers' recycling programs rather than throw away their TVs.

Coming Feb. 17, 2009, the termination of analog cable, called the DTV Transition, is a government-mandated action intended to free up parts of the valuable broadcast spectrum for communication between police, fire departments and rescue squads. In order to receive digital programming, homes must purchase digital TVs and subscribe to a digital-cable service or satellite. An alternative is purchasing a converter box.

Other than potentially harming the United States' environment, improperly disposed electronics, including televisions, often make their way into Asian countries, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), who in September issued a 67-page report documenting the problem. The report says some electronics companies are dumping their e-waste in China and India, whose disposal practices are deemed unsafe and unregulated, as the people dealing with the waste are often poor junk dealers.

The GAO points fingers at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for allowing waste to be improperly disposed. However, the EPA told Wired.com that its regulation regarding potentially hazardous waste is only about a year and a half old, and the agency is continuing to investigate potential violations of this rule.

That doesn't go to say, however, that some tech companies aren't trying to be more "green." Apple recently received kudos from Greenpeace, an environmental organization, for reducing the use of harmful toxins in its manufacturing processes of new MacBooks. Steve Jobs said in his "Greener Apple" statement that Apple will continue working toward greener hardware.

Undead Toxic Televisions [Take Back My TV] (Thanks, Allison!)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 28 Oct 2008 | 11:46 pm

Tapping the Vortex for Green Energy Source

A new form of renewable energy aims to take advantage of the vibrations created when slow-moving water encounters a cylinder. The same vibrations help fish propel themselves faster than their muscles alone can manage, but they also damage oil rigs over time.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 28 Oct 2008 | 11:35 pm

U.S. Army fears terrorists will use twitter to plan attacks

Section: News, Web, Web 2.0, Web Apps, Websites

The U.S. Army has released a report containing concerns that Twitter could be used by terrorists as a way of planning attacks and keeping tabs on each other. It also contained several scenarios of such a use such as a terrorist using the microblogging site to send a tweet to remotely set off an explosive device. A second terrorist with the detonator would receive the tweet.

“Twitter is already used by some members to post and/or support extremist ideologies and perspectives,” the report said. “For example, there are multiple pro- and anti-Hezbollah Tweets. In addition, extremist and terrorist use of Twitter could evolve over time to reflect tactics that are already evolving in use by ‘hacktivists’ and activists for surveillance. This could theoretically be combined with targeting.”

Twitter has become an increasingly popular tool for all sorts of organizations. During the RNC protesters used it to organize and also to warn each other of places to avoid and police activity, and last month House Republicans used to protest a piece of legislation.

It’s not yet clear if terrorists overseas would be able to use the service as effectively as it is used here in the U.S. Such use would depend on the availability and quality of mobile service. However it’s clear that this is something to watch very carefully. Should such activity be detected it is sure to raise privacy issues since the government would no doubt insist on some sort of monitoring.

Read[ComputerWorld]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 28 Oct 2008 | 11:29 pm

Sarah Palin, proud socialist

The best part of Hendrik Hertzberg's excellent New Yorker commentary about McCain and Palin's failed attempt to convince people that Obama is a socialist is the final paragraph containing this boast from Gov. Sarah Palin:

The state that she governs has no income or sales tax. Instead, it imposes huge levies on the oil companies that lease its oil fields. The proceeds finance the government’s activities and enable it to issue a four-figure annual check to every man, woman, and child in the state. One of the reasons Palin has been a popular governor is that she added an extra twelve hundred dollars to this year’s check, bringing the per-person total to $3,269. A few weeks before she was nominated for Vice-President, she told a visiting journalist—Philip Gourevitch, of this magazine—that “we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.” Perhaps there is some meaningful distinction between spreading the wealth and sharing it (“collectively,” no less), but finding it would require the analytic skills of Karl the Marxist.

Like, Socialism

Source: Boing Boing | 28 Oct 2008 | 11:23 pm

Researcher Warns of "Digital Dark Age"

alphadogg writes "A assistant professor from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is sounding a warning that companies, the government and researchers need to come up with a plan for preserving our increasingly digitized data in light of shifting document management and other software platforms (think WordPerfect and floppy disks). Jerome P. McDonough, who teaches at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, says there exists about 369 exabytes worth of data, and that includes some pretty hard to replace stuff, including tax files, email and photos. Open standards could play a key role in any preservation effort, he says. 'If we can't keep today's information alive for future generations, we will lose a lot of our culture,' McDonough said. Even over the course of 10 years, you can have a rapid enough evolution in the ways people store digital information and the programs they use to access it that file formats can fall out of date.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 28 Oct 2008 | 11:10 pm

H.I.G. Capital Acquires Specialty Chemicals Company Petroferm, Inc.

H.I.G. Capital, LLC ("H.I.G."), a leading global private equity firm based in Miami, Florida, announced today that it acquired Petroferm, Inc. ("Petroferm"), a specialty chemicals company, through one of its portfolio companies, H.I.G. Chemicals Holdings Corp.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Oct 2008 | 11:00 pm

Palin hears rally attendee call Obama "n-word" during speech, keeps on truckin'.

Transcript snip:

Palin: Obama...Barack Obama has an ideological commitment to higher taxes. The lessons I believe we have taught our kids would start to erode. Those lessons about work ethic, hard work being rewarded and productivity being rewarded...

Female yelling off-camera, in audience:
And he's a ni***r!

Palin: And...and......lessons about, um, the virtues of freedom and independence while being generous and compassionate with others.

From Wonkette, via Daily Kos. (Thanks, Richard Metzger).

Source: Boing Boing | 28 Oct 2008 | 10:25 pm

Attack Code Found For Recent Windows Bug

CWmike writes "Just a day after downplaying the vulnerability that caused it to issue an out-of-cycle patch last week, Microsoft warned customers late yesterday that exploit code had gone public and was being used in additional attacks. 'We've identified the public availability of exploit code that now shows code execution for the vulnerability addressed by MS08-067,' said Mike Reavey, operations manager of Microsoft's Security Response Center, in a post to the MSRC blog. 'This exploit code has been shown to result in remote code execution on Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 28 Oct 2008 | 10:23 pm

Battle of the Winds: Gadget Lab's Netbook Hacking Contest, Round One

Wired.com's Charlie Sorrel and I are happily hacking and modding away our new netbooks, but we'd be selfish to keep all the fun to ourselves. That's why we're holding a contest to see who can pull off the coolest netbook mod by Dec. 5, 2008.

Who will determine the winners? You -- by a majority vote with a Reddit widget. Who will determine the mods? Us and you: You can submit and vote on suggestions in the widget below, and each of us will decide which mods we'd like to pursue.

We'll post tutorials and pictures on our modding adventures. We'll also include the costs of whatever parts we purchase -- but that's just to give you an idea of how much you'd have to spend if you choose to mod your netbooks, too, so don't factor that into your vote on whose Wind is coolest.

As for what the loser has to do, we'll let you submit ideas and vote on that, too -- after the contest ends.

With that said, start humming the Street Fighter II theme in your head. Ready?

Round One, Fight!

Software:

- Running a hacked version of Mac OS X Leopard
- Two-finger scrolling enabled
- Installed Function Flip to use the volume and display-brightness keys without having to hold down Fn

Hardware:
- Installed a Dell Wireless-N DW 1500 mini PCI for Airport connection ($50 from UK seller)
- 3-cell battery (about two hours of battery life)
- 1GB RAM (standard)
- 160GB hard-disk drive (standard)

Net Cost: Computer ($500) + Parts ($50) = $550

Software:
- Running a hacked version of Mac OS X Leopard

Hardware:
- 6-cell battery (about four hours of battery life)
- Installed a Dell DW 1390 Wireless mini PCI card for Airport connection ($12 on eBay)
- Upgraded to 2GB RAM (1GB RAM = $16 on eBay)
- 160 GB hard disk drive (standard)

Net Cost: Computer ($480) + Parts ($28) = $508

Submit your suggestions for netbook mods/hacks you'd like to see in the widget below.

 

Submit a Suggestion

While you can submit as many suggestions as you want, you can only submit one every 30 minutes. No HTML allowed.

Back to top

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 28 Oct 2008 | 10:20 pm

Windows 7 will work just fine on netbooks (but so could Vista, says Microsoft)

Ars' Kurt Mackey interviewed Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky about Windows 7 on netbooks and uncovered quite a bit of interesting chatter. I especially enjoyed this discussion of netbook resolution:

This is more general, and I can guess, but given the small screens, are you doing anything special for the user interface on those?

That's, it turns out to me, the main characteristic of netbooks are not screen inches, but screen pixels. Big difference. And, um, boy, you know, the HP one ships at 1280x768 which is perfectly good. The MSI, Lenovo, a few others are all shipping with the 10.3" panels that are 1024x600...

...such odd resolutions.

Well, they're just 16x9 versions of 600x800 and that's a glass thing, it's cheaper to cut the glass in those dimensions. You know, 600 is very tight and I suspect that in the very near term, those are going to get a higher DPI. They'll stay at 10.3, and in fact many of the higher end machines... it's the most expensive part, so the only way to keep the whole thing cheap is to put that screen in. So screens are the most expensive and consume the most power. But if you look at something like the Fujitsu p1610, p1620 series, those are netbook sized, but they have 1280x1024 10" screens, which is also a 4x3 aspect ratio, and that used to be my primary machine, and those are just 1GHz Celerons with 1GB RAM as well.

Ars@PDC: Steven Sinofsky on Windows 7 and netbooks [ArsTechnica.com]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 28 Oct 2008 | 10:04 pm

The Personal Genome Project Hits the Web

Ian Lamont writes "The Personal Genome Project has released the data sets and descriptions of traits, ethnic background and other information of the first ten volunteers, which include the project director and nine other people with backgrounds in genetics, medicine, and biotechnology. While the human genome was first sequenced at the beginning of this decade, what's special about this project is these 10 participants are having their names, genome, and other personal data gleaned from questionnaires shared openly on the Web, where interested researchers can freely access them. One of the ultimate aims of the project is to create a public database of 100,000 volunteers that researchers and other parties can use to determine what traits, diseases or other characteristics are associated with specific genetic markers. When asked why volunteers are requested to attach their names to the Web records, the project director said the data could be used by researchers in other fields outside of genetics, including forensic science and historical research. While this project opens the door for some interesting and potentially life-saving research, there may also be difficulties or problems for people whose records are posted on the Web. Would you participate? Would you share your name, along with your genome, disease history, and traits? Why or why not?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 28 Oct 2008 | 9:37 pm

Today at Boing Boing Gadgets

Today at Boing Boing Gadgets, we worshipped the Pantone Rubik's cube and welcomed guest reviewer Alan Graham of Treehugger, who took a look at a new home music system from Sonos.

John found a rainbow keyboard, a review of Guitar Hero: World Tour, and the rumored motherboard for the rumored Mac Mini II. He thought the Gameboy theme for iPhone was fantastic, and 3-inch figurine speakers, too.

He liked liquid bookmarks, saw an icky transparent mouse with an insect in it, depressurized his head with the Ear Pressure Equalizer, and pronounced the final death for VCR.

Rob offered more on Lutec's inelegant perpetual motion machine, listened to unpleasant feedback music, and liked the look of UltraPin virtual pinball. He didn't think much of Blu-ray firmware upgrade nonsense or the stylings of Dell's new Optiplexes. Nor did he drop his cellphone down the toilet and get his arm stuck trying to fish it out.

Joel had an exclusive on Windows 7 screenshots that lasted about 40 seconds. Finally, there was a sinister science poster and the footage rotoscoped for Jordan Mechner's original Prince of Persia.

Boing Boing Gadgets

Source: Boing Boing | 28 Oct 2008 | 9:26 pm

FCC chairman faces growing pressure to delay votes (AP)

AP - Nearly 75 members of Congress are urging the head of the Federal Communications Commission to delay next week's vote on a proposal to overhaul key pieces of telecommunications regulation, arguing that the matter should get public review.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 28 Oct 2008 | 9:03 pm

The Godfather of Bangalore

It's a little past midnight, and a lonely parcel of farmland not far from the new international airport in Bangalore, India, is soaking up a gentle rain. At the center of the lot is a house surrounded by a low stone wall. There's a hole in the roof and a bushel of ginger drying under an awning. Large block letters painted on the wall read: this property belongs to chhabria janwani. Inside, eight men—two armed with shotguns—confer in hushed voices as they peer out the windows. Is it safe for them to go to sleep, or should they stand watch another few hours? A guard wearing a dirty work shirt is the first to notice signs of trouble. In the distance, flashlight beams sweep the roadway. The lights advance, accompanied by a chorus of voices. Then the sound of people scrambling over the wall. One of the guards makes a break for the gate, sprinting toward a police station a mile away. Before the others can do much more than scramble to their feet, 20 attackers brandishing swords and knives emerge from the shadows. Some carry buckets of blue paint. It takes them only a minute to overrun the building. Three guards who stood their ground lie bleeding on the floor. The others surrender.

Firmly in control, the marauders shift gears. They pull out rollers and slather paint over Chhabria Janwani's claim to the land. By the time a police jeep pulls up, the sign is only a memory. The attackers have achieved their goal. Thanks to the convoluted rules surrounding land ownership, the removal of Janwani's lettering throws his claim into question. The dispute is no longer just a criminal matter of a gang of outlaws taking over a piece of ground; now it's a civil issue that will have to be mediated in the courts. This kind of legal battle, with its near-endless appeal process, could easily last 15 years. If Janwani hopes to develop or sell the parcel during that time, he'd be better off just letting his assailants have the property in exchange for a fraction of its value.

Bangalore’s Mobster Turned Mogul: Muthappa Rai is an Indian real estate power broker. He used to be a mafia don, wanted for murder by the Indian police. Wired's Scott Carney talks to the Bangalore land baron.

For more, visit video.wired.com.

Bangalore, the fifth-most populous city in India, is the tech outsourcing capital of the world. In the past decade, more than 500 multinational corporations have established office parks, call centers, and luxury hotels here. The arrival of US companies like Adobe, Dell, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Yahoo, along with the emergence of homegrown outfits like Infosys and Wipro, has transformed this sleepy outpost into a premier showcase of globalism. Bangalore accounted for more than a third of India's $34 billion IT export market in 2007. Upscale commercial spaces like UB Tower, modeled after the Empire State Building, and first-rate educational institutions like the Indian Institute of Science set the standard for what India could become.

But there's a dark side to Bangalore's rocket ride. City officials—at least those who aren't taking bribes—struggle to reconcile the gleaming promise of the information economy with the gritty reality of systemic corruption, a Byzantine justice system, and a criminal underworld more than willing to maim and murder its way into control of the city's real estate market. As tech companies gobble up acreage, demand has pushed prices into the stratosphere. In 2001, office space near the center of town sold for $1 a square foot. Now it can go for $400 a square foot. Janwani bought his 6-acre plot in 1992 for $13,000. Today, even undeveloped, it's worth $3 million.

A guard carrying a short-barrel shotgun patrols the area around Muthappa Rai's home.
Photograph: Scott Carney

But high prices are only part of the problem for businesses looking for space in the city. It's nearly impossible to determine who actually owns any given piece of Bangalorean real estate. Some 85 percent of citizens occupy land illegally, according to Solomon Benjamin, a University of Toronto urban studies professor who specializes in Bangalore's real estate market. Most land in the city, as in the rest of India, is bound by ancestral ties that go back hundreds of years. Little undisputed documentation exists. Moreover, as families mingle and fracture over generations, ownership becomes diluted along with the bloodline. A buyer who wants to acquire a large parcel may have to negotiate with dozens of owners. Disputes are inevitable.

That's where Bangalore's land mafia comes in. With the courts tied up in knots, gangsters offer to secure deeds in days rather than years. "Businesspeople like to do their business, but many times the system does not permit them to do it," says Gopal Hosur, the city's joint police commissioner. "Because of escalating land values, unscrupulous elements get involved. They use muscle power to take control of the land." Some 40 percent of land transactions occur on the black market, according to Arun Kumar, an economist at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Often the local authorities facilitate these deals. A World Bank report rated the Bangalore Development Authority, which oversees urban planning, as one of the most corrupt and inefficient institutions in India.

Lokesh's nickname, "Malama", means "medicine". As in if you have a problem, Lokesh is the medicine. He is a well-known rowdie who settles real estate deals with force.
Photos: Scott Carney

On the ground, violence is meted out by local toughs like "Mulama" Lokesh, whose first name means "medicine"—as in, if you have a problem, Lokesh has the cure. He's an old-school gangster who happily shows off a bag full of curved swords called longs and cruel Chinese-made knives that he keeps in the trunk of his car. Despite a record of charges that include murder and extortion, even he is wistful for the old days. "The money is so big now that the value of human life has gone down," he says. "Now people fight with guns."

Foreign Investment in Bangalore (in millions).

Inspector S. K. Umesh holds a cell phone a few inches from his ear, eavesdropping on a conversation. Since he became a police inspector four and a half years ago, his district's crime rate has plummeted by 75 percent. He's killed five of the city's most wanted criminals and caught more supari killers—contract hit men—than any other officer in Karnataka, the state in which Bangalore is located. Every few seconds, the wiretap emits a soft beep. Wrapping his hand over the receiver, he says, "Without surveillance, we wouldn't be anywhere."

Umesh estimates that Bangalore is home to nearly 2,000 gangsters, 90 percent of them vying for a stake in the real estate market. Calling up a file on his computer, Umesh scrolls through hundreds of mug shots, offering a running commentary on which subjects have committed murder.

Umesh points to a face on his screen: Muthappa Rai. Owing to a successful career as a mob don, Rai has a net worth measured in billions of dollars. Once he was among the most wanted men in India. Today he professes to have reformed, renouncing violence and founding a charitable organization. But he's also in real estate.

"In a way, Rai is just like any other goonda in Bangalore," Umesh says. Still, the mobster has made his mark on the city's underworld. In the 1980s, land disputes were settled with fists, knives, swords, and bamboo canes. But after Rai's arrival in the mid-'80s, guns became the weapon of preference. He often outsourced the violence to pros who learned their trade on the streets of Mumbai and dispatched their victims with firearms.

These curved swords known as "longs" and chinese knives came from the back of Lokesh's trunk. He keeps them on hand just in case he, or his men, have to use them.
Photograph: Scott Carney

"He started out with a few card parlors and cut his teeth killing the leaders of rival gangs" Umesh says. Rai murdered a rival in an early '90s drive-by shooting, the inspector explains. Then he fled to Dubai, where he continued his operations. As the price of real estate back home began to take off, he paid $75,000 for the murder of a developer named Subbaraju who refused to sell a plot of land that Rai wanted. The lot would have become an upscale mall had not the hired assassin dropped his cell phone at the scene with Rai's Dubai number on redial. Later, the killer fingered Rai as his employer. Rai admitted ordering the hit to a Bangalore news reporter.

In 2001, Interpol issued a Red Notice—essentially an international arrest warrant—for Rai's extradition. Umesh flew to Dubai to help. The Dubai police nabbed Rai at his home, which had two Mercedes-Benzes parked outside, one red and one purple.

"But none of this matters," Umesh says. "The court acquitted him, and in India there is no such thing as double jeopardy." How could such a tightly wrapped case unravel? "It is very difficult to move things in our judicial system," Umesh says. Moreover, testimony can be hard to come by. "There were lots of things going on: intimidation, tampering with witnesses." Few victims of mob violence will speak out, for fear of further harm. Witnesses are threatened; judges are afraid to try powerful mobsters.

I meet with Subbaraju's son, Jagdish Raju, a few blocks from where his father was killed, at an office building he leases to the government. His eyes fill with tears. "How can we fight the Muthappa Rais of the world?" he asks. "There was no use. What's done is done."

Umesh takes such hopelessness in stride. "Police work is like a sport," he observes. His job is to bring criminals to court, but he holds little hope of seeing them convicted.

Two burly men carrying shotguns smile grimly as I drive past the first checkpoint to Muthappa Rai's fortified compound. I'm an hour south of Bangalore in a patchwork of fallow fields and construction sites. Rai's mansion comes into view at the top of a hill, a giant white building surrounded by a 20-foot-high concrete wall.

At the gate, armed security guards frisk me. They inspect my digital recorder to be sure it's not a bomb. A golf cart carries me over an intricate driveway of cut brick. Hopping out at the front door, I step onto a floor of polished Italian marble.

Rai's home is immense and gaudy, replete with gold ornaments and crystal chandeliers. Though he spends almost all his time here, the house feels eerily unlived-in, like a hotel lobby, as a platoon of servants keeps every surface shining. In the garage sits a bulletproof Land Cruiser. An attendant tells me Rai outbid Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister of Pakistan, for it. The vehicle is built to withstand AK-47 bullets and rocket-propelled grenades.

Muthappa Rai says that he has reformed from a life of organized crime and is now a social worker and real estate developer.
Photograph: Scott Carney

Rai greets me with a charismatic grin. I ask about the need for such high security. "I am suffering for all of the things I did in my past," he says. "I can't trust anyone, not the government and certainly not my old enemies." In 1994, in court on extortion charges, Rai was shot five times by a gunman dressed as a lawyer. Although he managed to beat the rap, he languished in bed for two years. The man who hired Rai's assailant wasn't so lucky; he was gunned down while the don lay in his sickbed. Did Rai order retaliation? He lets out a hearty laugh. "Five bullets," he says cryptically.

But those days are behind him, he says. He has reinvented himself as a champion of Karnataka's downtrodden. The primary layer in Rai's veneer of respectability is Jaya Karnataka, a nonprofit social services organization with political overtones that, according to its Web site, appeals to a "universal order based on principles of human dignity, solidarity of people, and freedom of communication." Jaya Karnataka runs free health camps around the state, digs wells in drought-stricken areas, and funds cataract and open-heart surgeries for the poor. Since Rai founded the group 18 months ago, membership has swelled to 700,000 in more than 300 branches across the state. Many people assume the group is Rai's first sally in an upcoming bid for public office.

The organization also serves as a storefront for Rai's main line of work: real estate. "When a foreign company wants to set up a business, they don't know who to trust," he says. "They need clear titles, and if they go to a local person, they're going to get screwed with legal cases. But if Rai gives you a title, it comes with a 100 percent guarantee of no litigation. No cheating. It's perfectly straightforward." On any given day, he says, 150 people make their way to his opulent mansion to seek his help. He declines to name clients—association with his name might be bad for their business—but he lets slip that he recently acquired 200 acres of land for the titanic Indian conglomerate Reliance. A US firm looking to rent or buy might also go through Rai, but not directly. A facilities administrator in Bangalore—probably Indian—would work with a developer who, in turn, would contact Rai to secure a plot. "There's no question of American companies coming to buy land," he says.

Two guards armed with shotguns protect the front gate to Rai's mansion.
Photograph: Scott Carney

According to a lawyer who deals with land issues, the system works like this: Asked to intercede by a prospective buyer, Rai checks out the parcel for competing owners. If two parties assert ownership, he hears both sides plead their case and decides which has the more legitimate claim (what he calls "80 percent legal"). He offers that person 50 percent of the land's current value in cash. To the other, he offers 25 percent to abandon their claim—still a fortune to most Indians, given the inflated price of Bangalorean real estate. Then he sells the land to his client for the market price and pockets the remaining 25 percent. Anyone who wants to dispute the judgment can take it up with him directly.

Rai's lieutenant, Sangeeth—who prefers to be identified as the boss's "blue-eyed boy"—says that violence is almost never an issue. "All anyone needs to hear is his name," he says. "If a rowdy won't back down, then we go to the person who is behind him and cut it off at the spine," Sangeeth explains. "In the hypothetical instance where it does need to come to violence, someone might need to be beaten up. The next day we would leave a message that we were behind it and that this was just a warning. The name alone has power."

Paradoxically, Rai's strong-arming may be helping to curb violence in Bangalore. With a system in place—even a corrupt system—everyone knows how the game is played. As a result, fewer people get hurt. Or, as Rai would have it, "ultimately, everyone wants to settle. No one wants to go to the courts."

Traffic and land mafia are some of hottest political issues in Bangalore. Anti-corruption candidates routinely target both for votes.
Photograph: Scott Carney

India's judicial system may be convoluted, but it's not as corrupt as its law enforcement agencies. In August 2008, Bangalore's new police commissioner issued a memo to police stations trying to rein in widespread corruption. The circular begins: "It is alleged repeatedly in the press, as well as by the members of the public, and the floor of the legislature, that police officers have converted their police stations in Bangalore city as offices to settle land disputes and are taking huge amounts of illegal gratification. This does not augur well for our department." The next 16 pages are filled with instructions for handling suspected mob activity and land disputes. Officers are threatened with strict censure if they fail to comply. Unfortunately, the guidelines are toothless because the department has yet to find an effective way to police the police.

Collusion between enforcers and mobsters raises troubling questions about the future of this city. "Since Bangalore went global, things have gotten worse," says Santosh Hegde, his graying hair dyed jet-black and a chain of prayer beads around his neck. He's the state official responsible for prosecuting corruption cases. "Businesspeople want to get things done quickly, and they have no option but to bribe officials to shortcut the bureaucracy," he says.

Hegde, 68, served six years on India's Supreme Court before taking the anticorruption beat. He oversees a team of accountants who burrow through documents and field operatives trained in covert recordings and sting operations. Since assuming office, Hegde has charged more than 300 officials with receiving cash bribes totaling over $250,000 and illegal assets and land holdings worth $40 million. That's just 5 percent of total bribery in Karnataka, he says, which he estimates at more than $800 million. When we meet, local newscasters are reporting his latest triumph: the arrest of five civil servants who had allegedly collected $1.5 million in illegal assets and cash.

A painted over sign to Chhabria Jarwani's land. Three days before this picture was taken, a gang of almost 40 men stormed this plot of land and took it over. Their first action was to paint over the owner's name in order to orchestrate a false legal claim against him.
Photograph: Scott Carney

Hegde blames the avalanche of corruption on the outsourcing boom. "Certainly IT companies contribute to the problem," he says. "They work with people who have only a shady title to the land. Then they occupy buildings that are constructed illegally, without permission from the authorities. I don't want to name specific firms, but huge companies build illegally here."

Hegde lodges a new case almost every day, but the power of his office is limited. To bring a case to court, he needs permission from what regulations call "the competent authority." This usually means the malefactor's superior officer, who has little motivation to expose corruption within his own department.

Hegde has reviewed two complaints that mention Muthappa Rai. In one case, a landowner alleged that Rai's men tried to intimidate him into selling a lot in Electronics City, a Bangalore suburb packed with IT companies. He asked the police for protection. "The officer told him that it was best to settle—an obvious case of corruption," Hegde says. "We began an investigation, and suddenly the man who filed the complaint disappeared. We had to close the case."

Still, Hegde remains hopeful—and defiant. "I have lived a full life already," he says. "If they kill me, I will die happy. And if Muthappa Rai gets public office, he'll be under my jurisdiction," he adds with a wry smile.

Back in his mansion on the outskirts of Bangalore, Rai stretches out on a leather sofa and smiles. "Foreign companies come in and everything improves," he says. "I have seen this happen the whole world over. Now I'm helping make it happen here."

Scott Carney (www.scottcarneyonline.com) covered the Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car, in issue 16.07.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 28 Oct 2008 | 9:00 pm

Ray-Gun Maestro Zaps Steampunk Convention

Weta Workshop's Greg Broadmore will wax eloquent on the nature of his Infallible Aether Ocillator and other faux Victorian weaponry at California's steampunk gathering, Steam Powered.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 28 Oct 2008 | 8:49 pm

Google Settles Book-Scan Lawsuit, Everybody Wins

Google settles a three-year old lawsuit challenging its Book Search program, but the financial benefits are dwarfed by the clear field the company now has to complete a global digital library.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 28 Oct 2008 | 8:45 pm

Man sucked into toilet after reaching for dropped phone

A mercifully unnamed Frenchman got his arm sucked down a fancy train toilet after trying to fish out a cellphone he dropped in it. The BBC:

The high-speed TGV train had to stop for two hours while firemen cut through the train's pipework. The man was carried away by emergency services, with the toilet still attached to his arm.

Is it odd to wonder exactly what sort of phone he had? This reminds me of the graffiti that used to be in practically every public lavatory in England, before they turned England into the set of a Paul Verhoeven movie: "Please do not throw cigarettes in the pissoir. It makes them soggy and difficult to light."

Man's arm trapped in train toilet [BBC]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 28 Oct 2008 | 8:31 pm

New Optiplex towers go for Mac Pro look

Frankly, Dell's design strategy is just full of holes.

new Dell Optiplex systems... [Gizmodo]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 28 Oct 2008 | 8:25 pm

Archaeologists Uncover King Solomon Mine

Deep Dig Finds Confluence of Science and the BibleDid the Bible’s King David and his son Solomon control the copper industry in present-day southern Jordan? Though that remains an open question, the possibility is raised once again by research reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Led by Thomas Levy of UC San Diego and Mohammad Najjar of Jordan’s Friends of Archaeology, an international team of archaeologists has excavated an ancient copper-production center at Khirbat en-Nahas down to virgin soil, through more than 20 feet of industrial smelting debris, or slag. The 2006 dig has brought up new artifacts and with them a new suite of radiocarbon dates placing the bulk of industrial-scale production at Khirbat en-Nahas in the 10th century BCE – in line with biblical narrative on the legendary rule of David and Solomon. The new data pushes back the archaeological chronology some three centuries earlier than the current scholarly consensus.The research also documents a spike in metallurgic activity at the site during the 9th century BCE, which may also support the history of the Edomites as related by the Bible.Khirbat en-Nahas, which means “ruins of copper” in Arabic, is in the lowlands of a desolate, arid region south of the Dead Sea in what was once Edom and is today Jordan’s Faynan district. The Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) identifies the area with the Kingdom of Edom, foe of ancient Israel.For years, scholars have argued whether the Edomites were sufficiently organized by the 10th to 9th centuries BCE to seriously threaten the neighboring Israelites as a true “kingdom.” Between the World Wars, during the “Golden Age” of biblical archaeology, scholars explored, as Levy describes it, with a trowel in one hand and Bible in the other, seeking to fit their Holy Land findings into the sacred story. Based on his 1930s surveys, American archaeologist Nelson Glueck even asserted that he had found King Solomon’s mines in Faynan/Edom. By the 1980s, however, Glueck’s claim had been largely dismissed. A consensus had emerged that the Bible was heavily edited in the 5th century BCE, long after the supposed events, while British excavations of the Edomite highlands in the 1970s-80s suggested the Iron Age had not even come to Edom until the 7th century BCE.“Now,” said Levy, director of the Levantine Archaeology Lab at UCSD and associate director of the new Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3), “with data from the first large-scale stratified and systematic excavation of a site in the southern Levant to focus specifically on the role of metallurgy in Edom, we have evidence that complex societies were indeed active in 10th and 9th centuries BCE and that brings us back to the debate about the historicity of the Hebrew Bible narratives related to this period.”Khirbat en-Nahas, comprising some 100 ancient buildings including a fortress, is situated in the midst of a large area covered by black slag – more than 24 acres that you can clearly see on Google Earth’s satellite imagery. Mining trails and mines abound. The size argues for industrial-scale production at Khirbat en-Nahas, Levy explained. And the depth of the waste at the site, more than 20 feet, he said, provides a “measuring stick” to monitor social and technological change during the Iron Age, which spans around 1200 to 500 BCE, a key period in the histories of ancient Israel and Edom.The archaeological team, Levy said, used high-precision radiocarbon dating on date seeds, sticks of tamarisk and other woods used for charcoal in smelting (along with Bayesian analysis) to obtain the 10th- and 9th-century BCE dates.  The analyses were carried out by Thomas Higham of the University of Oxford.Additional evidence comes from ancient Egyptian artifacts found at the site. The artifacts, a scarab and an amulet, were in a layer of the excavation associated with a serious disruption in production at the end of the 10th century BCE – possibly tying Khirbat en-Nahas to the well-documented military campaign of Pharaoh Sheshonq I (aka “Shishak” in the Bible) who, following Solomon’s death, sought to crush economic activity in the area.For a comprehensive picture, the researchers marshaled the “the newest and most accurate digital archaeology tools,” Levy said: electronic surveying linked to GIS that all but eliminates human error, as well as digital reconstruction of the site in the “StarCAVE,” a 3-D virtual environment at UC San Diego’s California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology.The present findings, Levy noted, support early results he and his colleagues obtained from digs at Khirbat en-Nahas in 2002 and 2004.“We can’t believe everything ancient writings tell us,” Levy said. “But this research represents a confluence between the archaeological and scientific data and the Bible.“Our work also demonstrates methods that are objective and enable researchers to evaluate the data in a dispassionate way. This is especially important for ‘historical archaeologies’ around the world where sacred texts – whether the Mahabharata in India or the Sagas of Iceland – and the archaeological record are arenas for fierce ideological and cultural debates.”Future research at Khirbat en-Nahas, Levy said, will focus on who actually controlled the copper industry there – Kings David and Solomon or perhaps regional Edomite leaders (who had not been written about in the biblical texts) – and also on the environmental impacts of all this ancient smelting.Meanwhile, Levy is working with the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature in Jordan and other organizations to have Khirbat en-Nahas and the more than 450-square mile ancient mining and metallurgy district declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, to protect it from possible mining in the future and preserve “its spectacular desert landscape and rare, ancient character.”The study was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society.---Image 1: Industrial copper slag mound excavated at Khirbat en-Nahas. The building and layers above it date to the mid-9th century BCE; slag deposits below the building date to the 10th century BCE. Photo by Thomas Levy, UC San Diego.Image 2: Thomas Levy in the Levantine Archaeology Lab, UC San Diego.Image 3: Digital reconstruction of the Khirbat en-Nahas site in the “StarCAVE,” a 3-D virtual environment at UC San Diego’s California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology. As the associate director of the new Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3), Thomas Levy is directing a number of digital archaeology projects, including the PNAS study reported here. Photo by Pinak Istek, UC San Diego-Calit2
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Oct 2008 | 8:25 pm

Got Germs? Sorry, You Probably Do

Cold victims leave germs on door knobs and remotes, where they can live for days.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 28 Oct 2008 | 8:14 pm

Baker Selected to Replace Three Bridges in Southeastern Pennsylvania

Michael Baker Jr., Inc., an engineering unit of Michael Baker Corporation (NYSE Alternext US:BKR), has been selected by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to provide a broad range of engineering services for the replacement of three structurally deficient bridges in Bucks and Montgomery Counties in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Oct 2008 | 8:00 pm

Migratory Birds May Carry Bird Flu Virus

U.S. and Japanese scientists say they've found genetic evidence that wild migratory birds may carry the avian influenza virus between Asia and North America. Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Oct 2008 | 8:00 pm

Suicide Victims Found to Have Altered DNA

Canadian and Hungarian scientists say they've discovered DNA from suicide victims who suffered major depression shows an important chemical modification. Dr.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Oct 2008 | 8:00 pm

The HTC Opal cruises its way through FCC testing

Finally! The day no one has been waiting for has come. It’s being reported the HTC Opal is currently being reviewed by the FCC. While some are speculating that this means it will be released in the US, don’t get your hopes up - HTC told us back in September that it’s only intended for emerging markets. As far as we know, the only reason the FCC’s taking a glance at it is for the sake of folks internationally roaming in the US.

Just look at the stats of this device; it has emerging markets written all over it. With its plastic screen and EDGE-only connection, it’s a little underpowered for the big markets unless it’s brought in as an ultra economy phone - but with other companies setting that bar fairly high at a pretty low price, even that could be tough.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 28 Oct 2008 | 7:57 pm

Researchers Say ‘Brain Bias’ Causes Most Bad Tennis Calls

Researchers say tennis line judges are more likely to make mistakes when calling balls "out" rather than "in."Of 83 incorrect calls, 70 of the errors were wrong "out" calls, said Californian scientists.The team said it came down to a time lag of a few hundred milliseconds between an image hitting the retina and the viewer processing it.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Oct 2008 | 7:35 pm

Amphibian Decline Found In Yellowstone Linked To Climate Change

A new study found that amphibian populations at Yellowstone National Park are in steep decline.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Oct 2008 | 7:29 pm

Hitachi tones down the Casio W63CA, announces it as W63H

Just yesterday I was babbling about how impressed I was that they’d managed to squeeze WVGA (480×800) into a 3.1″ screen on the 8.1 megapixel Casio W63CA. Apparently, its got a (somewhat less sightly) twin.

This morning, Hitachi announced the W63H which, as you could probably guess from the model number, is pretty dang similar. Well, as long as you ignore that the Hitachi handset is missing the 8.1 megapixel camera, instead touting a 5 megapixel shooter with face recognition. While the shots it takes might not be as mammoth, its got the same Samsung 3.1″ WVGA OLED screen, and the keypads are similar enough that it would take a few extra takes to spot the differences.

From the outside, however, the differences seem obvious, with the Casio looking. to be a whole lot easier on the eyes. Either the Hitachi model is being placed in the market as more wallet-friendly, or they need to get better product photographers. Though we’ll never see this one outside of Japan, look for it on the shelves at Yodobashi in orange, white, or black.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 28 Oct 2008 | 6:37 pm

Gadget Lab Catches a Second MSI Wind

Call me a hypocrite: I bought a netbook. In the recent past I said I'd wait a bit longer for the young, diminutive chaps to "mature" (i.e. get lighter and more powerful), but I tend to change my mind as easily as I make snap decisions. (This is probably why my relationships fail.) So I couldn't help but give in to the same mini notebook that won over the likes of Wired.com's Charlie Sorrel: The MSI Wind.

What's silly is that I have absolutely no need for one: My first-generation, 15-inch MacBook Pro and I are running two years strong. So why did I cave? First and foremost, I kept writing articles about the puny scoundrels -- from how they're revolutionizing computers to how easy they are to hack. The more I interviewed netbook owners, the more excited I got about the idea of purchasing one of these inexpensive, pared-down devices that I could modify into the computer of my dreams.

Second, I don't buy stuff very often; I'd like to think I live a pretty minimalistic life. So on the rare occasion that marketing and the media (in this case, myself) succeed in mesmerizing me into believing there's a void in my life that can be filled with a material, the desire to make a purchase is beyond my control. 

Third, I'm a cafe rat, and lugging around my MacBook Pro avec its bulky power brick began to tire me. And I thought, why not leave my MacBook Pro in the office and reserve a small, lightweight netbook at home for casual use and cafe squatting? Deviates from my philosophy of minimalism, I know -- but the idea was appealing to me. And for $300 to $600 (about as much as people shovel up for smartphones nowadays), if this turned out to be a mistake, it wouldn't be a very expensive one.

And then there was a sale on Amazon for the six-cell MSI Wind -- $20 off the original price, bringing it down to $480 with free shipping and no tax. Next thing you know I was eating up my words about "waiting to buy one" as frantically as a mouse gnawing off his own foot to free himself from a glue trap. Downed a cocktail, uttered a Hail Mary to Tupac's ghost, and punched in my credit card number. End of story.

My Wind arrived last week, and of course I started upgrading and hacking it over the weekend. The little champ is running a hacked version of Mac OS X Leopard with 2 gigs of RAM, as well as a third-party Wi-Fi card for Apple's Airport connection.

But wait -- two netbooks in Gadget Lab? You guessed it: Why not spice this up with some competitive fun? Sorrel and I are starting a netbook modding contest, where we're allowing you, Gadget Lab readers, to vote on mods you'd like to see either one of us pull off. Details of the contest to come in my next post. May the best man win!

See also:

• Cheap, Easy-to-Mod NetBooks Are a Hacker's Paradise
• Run Mac OS X on an Eee PC
• OS X Running on Lenovo Netbook
• Tiny Notes Net Big Gains: The Netbook Revolution
• It Lives! Gadget Lab's Netbook Running OS X Leopard

Photo: Brian X. Chen/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 28 Oct 2008 | 6:12 pm

Horrified B-movie victim action figures

Baron Bob sells this set of Horrified B-Movie Victims. The set features nine victims ( 2.5" - 3" tall) in "an array of horrified poses.. shock, awe, fear, and of course the female slipping in high heels." The set sells for $14.95 but the green bear doesn't seem to be included. Horrified B-Movie Victims

Source: Boing Boing | 28 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Polar, Brown Bear Ancestor ID'd From Cave Bones

Analysis of bear bones found in France reveal an ancestor dating back 1.6 million years.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 28 Oct 2008 | 5:42 pm

Tech Fight: Dolly Parton, Joel Osteen vs. Google, Dell and Motorola

The unused portions of the television broadcast spectrum known as white spaces has become the new battleground pitting celebrity performers against big name technology companies.

Country singer Dolly Parton is the latest among celebrities to urge the Federal Communications Commission to put off a vote scheduled for Nov. 4 on the issue. Parton has mega pastor Joel Osteen on her side.

They, other broadcasters and live stage performers, fear that opening up white spaces to new devices will interfere with their ability to use wireless microphones.

But Parton and Osteen are up against a powerful coalition of tech companies. Google, Dell and Microsoft wrote their letters separately to the FCC urging for a vote.

Two weeks ago, an FCC report said the testing of new devices showed no interference with TV broadcast or wireless microphone signals.

"Unfortunately, groups that have long opposed opening up the white spaces are now employing stalling tactics to derail the technology, before the FCC can write the rules for this spectrum," wrote Google CEO Eric Schmidt in his letter.

Dell CEO Michael Dell joined in with his own plea. "Your approval of the white spaces order will trigger a boom in investment, job creation and consumer demand in the high-tech sector, which has been the engine of our information economy," said Dell in his statement. "We fully anticipate seeing billions of dollars of much needed new investment support, R&D and deployment for this exciting new technology."

Companies such as Google, Dell and Motorola are part of the Wireless Innovation Alliance, which is asking for the white spaces to be unlicensed and open to all. Those areas of the spectrum could then be used to deliver inexpensive broadband connectivity to rural areas at a tenth of the cost of today's municipal WiFi projects, they say.

[via GigaOm]

Also see:
Google Founder Lobbies FCC to Free Spectrum
Google Wireless Plan Angers Audio-Equipment Makers
Google Sets Sight on WhiteSpaces Spectrum
FCC To Test WhiteSpace Devices

Photo: (prawnpie/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 28 Oct 2008 | 5:28 pm

Wal-Mart shopping list: Steak seasoning, crappy garden hose, T-Mobile G1

Got a grudge against your local T-Mobile spot keeping you from picking up your new G1? Come Wednesday, you’ll be able to get your Android fix at 550 Wal-Mart locations around the country.

Not surprisingly, the company known for pulling discounts out of thin air has managed to lop some change off of the G1. While getting the handset direct from Big Magenta would cost you $179.99, Wal-Mart is kickin’em out the door at $148.88 on a 2-year contract (or for those eligible for an upgrade) - that’s almost 18% cheaper.

It’s not yet clear who’s shaving pennies here: Is T-Mobile eating a few bucks to get contracts they otherwise never would? Or is Wal-Mart taking the brunt to get geeks into the store? We’re guessing it’s the first one. One of the biggest obstacles in front of the G1 (and the Android platform as a whole, really) will be making it popular outside of the geek crowd. Until your Grandma is telling you about how much she loves her new “robot phone”, Android isn’t a success. Getting handsets into the general retail space is a huge step in that direction.

[Via CNN]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 28 Oct 2008 | 5:10 pm

Cool Weather Twisters Strike in the Dark

Spates of cold-weather tornadoes account for more damage than summer storms.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 28 Oct 2008 | 5:08 pm

SLIDE SHOW: Thoreau's Retreat, Re-Visited

The flowering displays at Walden Pond are fading as the climate warms.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 28 Oct 2008 | 5:08 pm

Rogers sells 255,000 iPhones in the land of poutine

This morning, Canadian carrier giant Rogers announced that they’d managed to sell roughly 255,000 iPhones between its launch in July and the end of September.

While 255,000 is a drop in the bucket compared to the 6.9 iPhones pushed worldwide in the same window, it’s pretty significant in the battle for carrier supreme going on north of the border. With the two other big players of Canada (Telus and Bell) unable to offer Apple’s finest being as their network is CDMA, Rogers is quick to tout the fact that 33% of its new members are either from a competitor or new to cellphones altogether.

It may be a different story next year, however. As Electronista points out, both Telus and Bell are making the switch to HSPA in 2009, removing the only obstacle keeping the iPhone from jumping on their network.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 28 Oct 2008 | 4:05 pm

Just My Type: Hands-On With a $170 Keyboard

Keyboard aficionados rave about older IBM and Apple keyboards, but the new $170 Das Keyboard might give those legendary classics a run for their money.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 28 Oct 2008 | 2:53 pm

King Solomon-Era Mine Found

Mines uncovered near the Dead Sea may once have supplied an ancient king with copper.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 28 Oct 2008 | 2:50 pm

Caribbean Sands Dwindling to Theft

Thieves are stealing the perfect white sands of the Caribbean's beaches.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 28 Oct 2008 | 2:50 pm

Climate Changing Thoreau's Woods

Twenty-seven percent of species recorded by Thoreau have disappeared from Walden Pond.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 28 Oct 2008 | 12:58 pm

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