Source: Gizmodo | 4 Nov 2008 | 3:50 am

Awesome HDTV fake skylights are wasteful, awesome

TV on the ceiling! I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with Treehugger, who suggest you “say no to faux.” I humbly counter-suggest you say “yes” to Sky Factory’s SkyV, if only for the sake of all the tricks you could play on people who came to your place. You could anything on those screens. Space, an ant farm, or perhaps something more provocative…

And after all, not everyone has the luxury of having real skylights for an option, or indeed, having anything worth looking at through one. Here in Seattle we hug trees perhaps more than anyone south of the Canadian border, but our sky is often featureless and empty, like your mom’s face. Plus, and I just thought of this right now — oh my god, I’m such a genius — are you ready for this? Full-spectrum TVs. Get your daily dose of sunlight from the tube! I can’t believe no one’s invented this yet.

Source: CrunchGear | 4 Nov 2008 | 3:45 am

AT&T Begins a Trial To Cap, Meter Internet Usage

An anonymous reader writes "On the heels of Comcast's decision to implement a 250-GB monthly cap, and Time Warner Cable's exploration of caps and overage fees, DSL Reports notes that AT&T is launching a metered billing trial of their own in Reno, Nevada. According to a filing with the FCC (PDF), AT&T's existing tiers, which range from 768 kbps to 6 Mbps, would see caps ranging from 20 GB to 150 GB per month. Users who exceed those caps would pay an additional $1 per gigabyte, per month."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 4 Nov 2008 | 3:15 am

Help the environment, buy an energy efficient TV

Section: Video, HDTV, Gadgets / Other, Green, Household, Lifestyle

It is important that we all do our part to help the environment.  Our normal, daily activities are soon becoming more and more energy efficient.  Recently, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has issued a new guideline for all TV manufacturers to follow.  This new guideline is set to reduce the amount of energy each TV uses by 30% in efforts to help save the environment and will save you some money on the monthly electric bill.

With the holiday season approaching quickly, many consumers will be shopping for brand new HDTVs, whether it be for themselves or a gift for a loved one.  These TVs, as you can imagine, use up an enormous amount of electricity - some TVs can use up to 500 kWh annually. 

However, with the new EPA guideline, these TV’s will use 30% less energy than they used to.  To put this into some perspective, if everyone in the United States purchased an energy efficient TV as cited by the EPA, the amount of energy saved each year would total about $1 billion.  Moreover, detrimental greenhouse gases would be reduced by the amount of gas 1 million cars produce. 

To reduce the amount of electricity consumed and reduce the gases emitted, the EPA requires that when the TV is on or off, it is being energy efficient.  They also require that external power supplies are energy efficient as well.  The last part can’t always be met, so the TV being energy efficient is the major factor in reducing electricity and gas. 

With that being said, it is important that everyone who is thinking about purchasing a new TV take into consideration buying an EPA certified TV.  If you want to know which television models are currently energy efficient, read the EngeryStar link below and you can search for the TV model you are interested in and see if it’s available. 

Hopefully, many consumers decided to do their part in helping the environment and seriously consider purchasing an energy efficient TV.

Read [EPA] Read [EnergyStar]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 4 Nov 2008 | 3:00 am

Salem Media of Seattle Announces Programming Changes

Salem Media of Seattle has announced several programming changes at three of its five radio stations. Salem Seattle's station roster includes KGNW (820AM), KLFE (1590AM), KKOL (1300AM), KNTS (1680AM), and KKMO (1360AM).
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 4 Nov 2008 | 2:00 am

Casting the Ballot in Elections Gone By

: Photo: John Vachon

The American republic rests on the principle of one person and one vote. The voting booth is one of the most inviolable patches of American soil. Not that this ever prevented photographers from sticking their lenses inside polling places across the breadth of this great land, from seething city to bucolic township.

As you cast your ballot today, consider those who have voted before you and contemplate the amazing continuum that has led us to this time and place.

Left: Farmers of German and Russian stock, all Americans now, wait to vote in the 1940 presidential election at the Beaver Creek precinct in North Dakota's McIntosh County. North Dakota was one of 10 states to vote for Republican Wendell Willkie. The other 38 went for Franklin D. Roosevelt, carrying him in a landslide to his third term.

:

Vote early, vote often: Balloting Chicago style, circa 1904, with the man on the right casting his vote on a mechanical voting machine, despite an open curtain.

Photo courtesy Chicago Daily News

:

This voting-machine "apparatus," in a Chicago voting booth, dates from 1904, Teddy Roosevelt's big year.

Photo courtesy Chicago Daily News

: Photo: John Vachon

On Election Day 1940, in North Dakota's McIntosh County, farmers cast their ballots at this little schoolhouse on the prairie.

: Photo: Marion Post

In 1940, a Woodstock, Vermont, selectman casts his ballot on "the liquor question." ("Yes, I'll have another one.")

: Photo: Lewis Walker

FDR was elected to an unprecedented fourth term as president in 1944. Whether this fellow leaving a voting booth in Barnesville, Maryland, was a New Dealer or cast his ballot for the GOP's Thomas Dewey is impossible to say. Which is kind of the point, right?

: Photo: Arthur Rothstein

A black voter hands in his ballot in Dunklin County, Missouri, during a 1942 primary election.

: Photo: Russell Lee

Mormon farmers, part of a Farm Security Administration cooperative stallion group, meet in 1940 to elect a caretaker for their group. The FSA was formed as a part of FDR's New Deal to alleviate the effects of rural poverty.

: Photo: Maria Ealand

This firehouse in Arlington, Virginia, served as a polling place during the 1944 presidential election.

: Photo: Arthur Rothstein

A voter casts his ballot during a 1937 community election in Greenbelt, Maryland.

: Photo: Courtesy Franklin D. Roosevelt Library

First lady Eleanor Roosevelt votes in Hyde Park, New York. Who did she vote for? She's not saying.

: Photo: Benjamin Brown French

All that voting leads to inauguration day, in this case Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural in 1861. Note that the U.S. Capitol is still under construction. You can't see the war clouds gathering but they're very present, and getting darker by the minute.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 4 Nov 2008 | 2:00 am

Gadget Lab Hackintosh Contest: Installing OS X 10.5.5

Editor's note: This is the latest installment in Gadget Lab's continuing netbook hacking contest, which pits Mac-loving, cafe-dwelling, penny-pinching nerds Charlie Sorrel and Brian Chen against each other to see who can come up with the geekiest netbook mods.

Charlie Sorrel should add his Hackintosh netbook (*cough* Crapintosh) to his list of useless gadgets to toss in the trash! I'm slightly behind in our netbook modding contest in terms of software hacking, but I managed to get my MSI Wind running the latest version of Mac OS X (10.5.5) -- something Sorrel didn't even know was possible!

Many thought when they hacked their netbooks to run OS X that they'd be stuck on an older version of the operating system (10.5.4) for eternity, but a quick workaround on the MSI Wind forums helped me evade obsolescence. Here are the steps I followed:

Step 1
I downloaded and unzipped the Wind Kext files (necessary to fix OS X after inevitably ruining it with a software update).

Step 2
Then, I ran OS X's Software Update utility to download all the latest Apple software.

Step 3
After finishing the download, I rebooted my netbook.

Step 4
OS X was pretty messed up after starting back up -- looked squashed, Airport stopped functioning, etc. Scary, yes, but no worries: I opened the Windkexts folder and ran the Kext Helper application.

Step 5

I dragged the three kext files (AppleIntelGMA950, LaptopDisplay and AppleIntegratedFramebuffer) into Kext Helper. Then I punched in my administrative password and clicked Easy Install.

Step 6

The app installed the kexts and a window told me to reboot. But do NOT reboot yet! Go to your Utilities folder and run the Disk Utility app. Then click Repair Disk Permissions. Once that's done, reboot.

OS X will load again and work fine -- just as it did before. Hurrah.

Buh buh bam! What now, Sorrel? Minor "mod" to my netbook, I know: But I'm saving up big plans for when I have more free time over the weekend. (Hint: A soldering iron is involved. Gasp.) Meanwhile, dear Gadget Lab readers, feel free to vote for me and my almighty, exponentially superior MSI Wind in Gadget Lab's netbook hacking contest.

See also:

• Gadget Lab Hackintosh: Now With Added Sound Output
• Battle of the Winds: Gadget Lab's Netbook Hacking Contest, Round One
• Gadget Lab Catches a Second MSI Wind
• 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

Screenshots: Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 4 Nov 2008 | 1:56 am

Review: IM+ for Android

IM+ is an application created by ShapeServices, which aims to replace the instant messaging application that comes out of the box with Android. Hoping that there were some differences between the 7-day trial and the paid version, we bit the bullet and plopped down the 20 dollars (well, $19.95) on this app to see how it really is, so you wouldn’t have to. The verdict? Save your cash.

Let’s start off with what IM protocols IM+ supports: AOL, MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk, Jabber, ICQ, and Myspace IM. While that’s not too shabby, we were disappointed to find out you can only have one account per protocol. The IM client provided by Google already supports AIM, Google Talk, MSN, and Yahoo, so you’re really only getting Jabber, ICQ, and Myspace. Is that worth twenty-dollars? Meh.

Sending and receiving messages is easy enough. It’s just how you would expect it, although I strongly dislike how it throws all of your contact lists on one screen. I’d prefer to see them separated by service rather than one hefty list of buddy groups, or at least, let me make it that way through an option. Oh well - Some folks love the big collective list. That’s kinda worth twenty-dollars, right? No? Anyone?

With any new application, you’re likely to come across a bug or two. IM+ is no exception. The most notable issue we noticed is that if you switch screens or change the device orientation then go back to a conversation window, it occasionally doubles the text as seen in the picture above.

Are you one of those people who prefers to sign in and out of their IM client rather than just going away for a few minutes? Then you’re in luck. Otherwise, not so much. After many, many days of testing and trying, it just wouldn’t maintain the connection if the application wasn’t in the foreground. We were hoping that perhaps this was a limitation of the trial, with background connectivity saved for the full application. Again, nope. That’s totally not worth twenty-dollars. Once a nice background service has been developed for this app, then maybe, just maybe it will be worth it.

Unless Jabber, ICQ, or Myspace IM are crucial for your communication needs, skip out on IM+ - it just doesn’t bring anything to the table to make it worth the entry fee. Hopefully it won’t be too long before someone from the Pidgin or Adium camps grabs an Android handset and pushes out something worthwhile.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 4 Nov 2008 | 1:44 am

Video: How Consumer Reports reviews gadgets

Consumer Reports is renowned for the rigor and comprehensiveness of its tests, as well as its independence from advertising money. Last week, it hosted a lab tour covering the work that it does, from the everyday testing of cameras gadgets to the unintuitive complexities that affect the display quality of a TV signal.

Without further ado, here's video from the event, each covering one variety of blinkenthing that the mag looked at while putting together its forthcoming electronics issue.

Camcorders: "I'm going to do a little show and tell ... with the image shaker."

Digital Cameras: "We look at over 120 a year."

Loudspeakers: "Being in a soundproof room is what this is about."

Laptops: "We had to build a printer lab."

Lawnmowers: "... Our quest to look at the various aspects of lawnmowing"

Televisions: "What happens when you get a crappy signal?"

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 4 Nov 2008 | 1:41 am

Did Obama Win Yet?

The U.S. Election isn’t until tomorrow, but doesn’t it already seem like Obama has won? That is certainly the impression you get if you look at any of the polls, state-by-state electoral maps, or prediction markets out there. Even the latest Fox News poll has Obama leading McCain by 50 percent to 43 percent.

My favorite prediction tool, and the one with the best record of getting elections right, is the Iowa Electronic Markets. In its winner-take-all market for the U.S. Presidential election, it is predicting that Obama has an 89 percent chance of winning the majority of votes (see graph above). NewsFutures, similarly puts Obama’s chances of winning at 90 percent, and Intrade has his stock trading at 90.6.

All the traditional telephone polls similarly show Obama in the lead, especially those that bother to call people on their cell phones. But you cannot really trust those polls. They are notoriously wrong. It is better to look at state-by-state breakdowns projected onto an electoral map. The New York Times, for instance, has Obama clearing at least 291 electoral votes to McCain’s 163 (he needs 270 to win):

The NYT also has a nice interactive graph that shows all the major poll results and how they’ve changed over time. Again, I trust markets over polls any day, and it is interesting to note that in another Iowa Electronic market predicting the share of the vote each candidate will get, it is predicting a closer race than even Fox. Right now, it has Obama winning 53 percent of the vote compared to 47 percent for McCain.

Remember, those numbers can literally change overnight. And the only poll that counts is the one taken in the election booth.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 4 Nov 2008 | 1:39 am

Voter Superstitions, or Why You're Wearing Blue or Red

In times of stress and uncertainty, like the presidential election, the human brain tends to resort to superstitious behavior. Even having a rational understanding that their actions won't really impact the outcome of the election or a football game, people do things like wear a lucky t-shirt, knock on wood or avoid certain foods.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 4 Nov 2008 | 1:37 am

Report: Google, Yahoo make concessions on ad deal (AP)

AP - Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. have reportedly submitted a list of concessions that would deflate their proposed Internet advertising partnership to appease antitrust regulators threatening to block the alliance.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 4 Nov 2008 | 1:26 am

Digital Cube announces new 5th Gen T5 PMP

Section: Audio, Portable Audio, Video, Portable Video, Communications, Mobile

Digital Cube recently upgraded it’s line of PMP’s by introducing their new iStation T5 to the mix.  Unfortunately, not much in terms of product availability is known about the T5 at this time. 

What we do know is that it comes with a 4.8-inch screen with 800 x 480 resolution.  Also, it has a 3D interface and runs on a Nvidia Tegra graphic chip.  In addition, it comes with an FM tuner, e-dictionary, SDHC memory expansion, and HSDPA cell phone connection.  Furthermore, it comes in two models, an 8GB one or a 16GB.  Let’s hope that the pricing is fair and this PMP might have a chance to be successful.

Via [PMP Today]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 4 Nov 2008 | 1:13 am

Amazon Launches "Frustration-Free Packaging"

mallumax notes Amazon's new Frustration-Free Packaging initiative. Over several years the retailer hopes to convince many of its suppliers to offer consumer-friendlier packaging. It's starting with just 19 products from Mattel, Fisher-Price, Microsoft, and Transcend. Until this program spreads to more products, better get one of these (ThinkGeek and Slashdot share a corporate overlord). From Amazon's announcement: "The Frustration-Free Package is recyclable and comes without excess packaging materials such as hard plastic clamshell casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. It's designed to be opened without the use of a box cutter or knife and will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging. Products with Frustration-Free Packaging can frequently be shipped in their own boxes, without an additional shipping box. Amazon works directly with manufacturers to box products in Frustration-Free Packages right off the assembly lines, which reduces the overall amount of packing materials used."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 4 Nov 2008 | 1:11 am

Gmail’s New Gadget Support Lets You Remember The Milk

Last week Google announced a new set of gadgets for Gmail Labs that offer integration with Docs and Google Calendar. But perhaps most exciting (and under-emphasized at the time) was the introduction of support for third party gadgets, giving users the chance to add features to Gmail beyond what Google offers.

One of the first developers to take advantage of the new feature is Remember The Milk (RTM), a popular To-Do list application that we reviewed back in 2005. The service allows users to access and input to-do items from a variety of locations, and offers its core service for free (you can pay $25 a year for support on extra mobile devices). While RTM offered support for Gmail before now, it was reliant on a Firefox extension, raising the barrier to entry and cutting out a large portion of the browser market.

The new Gmail gadget works across on all popular browsers and isn’t dependent on any plugins. Unfortunately adding the gadget isn’t exactly intuitive - you’ll first have to enable the “Add any gadget by URL” feature in Gmail Labs, and then manually enter the RTM gadget location (http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/modules/gmail/rtm.xml). You can find the full instructions at the RTM blog here.

The Gmail blog post notes that this process isn’t very user-friendly yet, explaining that it is mostly for developer experimentation rather than widespread use. But it’s an exciting taste of things to come, and it looks like Google is going to be expanding developer access even further, allowing them to integrate their gadgets beyond the left nav-bar. Look for more Gmail addons to make the jump from plugin to native gadget in the near future.

Thanks to Orli Yakuel for the tip.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 4 Nov 2008 | 12:39 am

NBC Digital Boss George Kliavkoff Leaving [MediaMemo]

George Kliavkoff, NBC’s first chief digital officer and one of the brighter tech stars in Big Media, is leaving his job at the end of the year. CNET has the details:

After a little more than two years as NBC’s chief digital officer, Kliavkoff says he has accomplished the goals he set for himself and the company’s digital unit when he joined in August 2006. He is taking time off before jumping into his next project.

Kliavkoff, 41, has chosen to exercise an option in his contract and leave NBC at the end of the year but will remain available to CEO Jeff Zucker “during and after the transition,” he said in an internal e-mail.

“I believe in my heart that this is a best time to start, run, or invest in digital companies and I am very excited about moving on to my next challenge,” Kliavkoff wrote.

No idea if there’s a different back story, but it’s easy enough to accept this one at face value — this is an excellent time for Kliavkoff to leave. He’ll be going out on top, after having proved his ability to get a major media company to do good, smart stuff on the Web. How many other folks can say that?

Kliavkoff will primarily be remembered for launching the Hulu video site amid snickers from… just about everybody, and proving them wrong. At the very least, the JV between GE Universal’s (GE) NBC and News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox has been an operational success, which has given the two companies leverage when they negotiate with the likes of Google’s (GOOG) YouTube and Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes.

Source: All Things Digital | 4 Nov 2008 | 12:26 am

Rainforest Fungus Naturally Synthesizes Diesel

A fungus discovered in Patagonia produces a mix of hydrocarbons that closely resembles diesel fuel. It's possible that some of the world's fossil fuels were actually produced this way instead of from decaying organic matter.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 4 Nov 2008 | 12:15 am

New Yahoo Audience Head Jeff Dossett Speaks! [BoomTown]

Here’s my favorite quote from former Microsoft exec Jeff Dossett from a phone interview he gave to BoomTown this afternoon, after his appointment as Yahoo’s new U.S. Audience head:

“Where others see risk, I see opportunity,” said the man who has climbed Mount Everest twice. “We have this great Web asset…and, from here on out, it is all about execution.”

(Speaking of which, the photo above of Dossett is on the summit of Everest, taken by one of his TEAM INSPIRED climbing partners, David Morton, on May 22nd, 2008.)

You can tell from the gumption in this ain’t-no-mountain-high-enough sentiment that Dossett just got to Yahoo (YHOO) and sees a challenge at the troubled Internet giant where others see, well, a long-running quagmire.

I like him already!

“If you take a look at it, Yahoo has so many incredible assets,” said Dossett, who is replacing Yahoo Media Group SVP Scott Moore, whose departure from Yahoo was reported here first today. “There is an unparalleled level of audience to build on.”

You won’t get an argument from me on that obvious fact, because amazing content and communications assets have always been Yahoo’s crown jewels.

It’s the management–or lack thereof–of these its products and staff by Yahoo’s leadership and board that’s been the problem.

So it is probably a good idea that Yahoo has brought in new blood to shake things up more. Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang has been looking outside the company of late to recruit outside talent.

Dossett was one of these execs, as I had written a month ago in a post titled “The Secret Microsoft Invasion of Yahoo Continues: MSN GM Headed There Soon?”

With its stock in the perpetual doldrums, the graphical advertising business outlook glum and a lucrative search ad deal with Google (GOOG) trapped in a Justice Department lockbox, the company could use someone to rattle its cages.

In the interview, Dossett (pictured here) acknowledged that he had been speaking to Yahoo U.S. head Hilary Schneider about a range of jobs related to business development. But when Moore told Schneider he was leaving, “We both thought I might be able to play a larger role.”

Dosett said that he hoped to be able to continue to keep Yahoo the No.1 or No. 2 content destination over a range of categories and also push forward more integration with Yahoo technology offerings such as email, calendar and others popular consumer tools the company has.

“There is a tremendous need to integrate…to create the largest and most engaged online audience,” he said. “It all still needs to be stitched together.”

Well, it has not exactly been a very successful quilting bee as yet. Yahoo has continued to struggle to make a more seamless offering to meet the changing needs of consumers, many of whom have been moving more toward more integrated social networking experiences like those offered by Facebook.

“There is so much more we can do,” said Dossett. “We have only really scratched the surface to combine what we have.”

Dossett, who said his departure from Microsoft (MSFT) was cordial, would not comment on what a combination of Yahoo with the assets of Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL would look like though.

Yahoo and AOL have been engaged in long-running talks about a merger, a new company in which Dossett would now play a large role, if a deal was ever to be struck.

It will be a big challenge that will surely test Dossett, a longtime and experienced mountain climber, who has spent much of his career at Microsoft.

That includes during the period over the last year in which the software giant was trying to take over Yahoo without being too polite about it.

In his job at MSN, Dossett was the lead for audience, content and programming strategy and execution in the U.S.

He had worked at Microsoft since 1991, in a variety of sales and marketing jobs in Canada, and later worked on strategy and business development for MSN.

Dossett was also CEO of Carpoint, now MSN Autos, and was GM of its real estate arm.

At Yahoo, he joins another former Microsoft big shot and close colleague, Joanne Bradford, who started her job as Yahoo’s top U.S. ad sales exec last month.

Dossett also took two years off from Microsoft in 2002 to climb the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, finally reaching the summit of Everest in May of 2004.

Dossett reached the summit again for a second time this past May.

Somehow, I think he will find the air at Yahoo just as thin.

Source: All Things Digital | 4 Nov 2008 | 12:06 am

3D webcam becomes a cute reality

Section: Communications, Email / IM, Peripherals, Webcam/VoIP

I don’t know if any of you can remember the old 3D films where the glasses were given out at the start, but just the memory recalls feelings of nausea.  In fact it is these films that automatically put me off anything with ‘3D’ as a prefix.  However the “Novo Minoru 3D Webcam” (Minoru meaning “reality” in Japanese) is different and not just because it is cute.

The webcam is really two cameras that are positioned roughly the same distance apart which is important as it means the images can be correctly interpreted by the brain that sees them.  Conveniently, this also means that when coupled with a study and well designed plastic case, it can create a particularly cute creature that appears to gaze at you.  This is enhanced by the multi-position stand which, when upright, look suspiciously like two arms.

Obviously there are a few drawbacks with it being 3D, the most crucial being that anyone wanting to watch you in 3D will have to don some retro green and red glasses, but until technology develops that will always be a problem.  Usable on MSN messenger, Skype (along with many others) and recordable for YouTube it is multi-functional and the 3D photos that it can take would be pretty cool.

So could this alien robot be your next webcam friend?  It is scheduled to go on sale in December, in time for the Christmas rush, at around $100 which although it may seem steep for a webcam considering the technology it is quite reasonable.  In fact, just for pure geek value this may be worth the investment, although whether it will function as a normal webcam is unclear.  Of course, you could get two webcams, a bit of wood, some gaffer tape and hours worth of programming and you could have the same output, but who wouldn’t want this little alien on their monitor?

Product [minoru 3D webcam]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 4 Nov 2008 | 12:02 am

Apple: We're Done With Product Launches for 2008

Mac fans, analysts and bloggers can take a short break from guessing about what's coming next from Apple. The corporation said it has no plans for new product releases for the remainder of 2008.

“Our holiday line-up is set,” Apple spokesman Bill Evans told Macworld.

The report dispels rumors floating around that Apple would release an upgrade to its Mac mini and iMac desktop systems in a special event Nov. 10.

No Apple news isn't necessarily bad news, right? Besides, 2008 was packed with plenty of exciting product releases, including the iPhone 3G, the aluminum MacBooks and the MacBook Air.

Also, Macworld Expo 2009, where Apple tends to make more significant launches, is coming January. The guessing game may be delayed, but not for long.

Apple: No new products before the holidays [Macworld]

Photo: ping ping/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Nov 2008 | 11:57 pm

2012 Palin and McCain presidential debate

Funny debate between Palin and McCain.

Source: Boing Boing | 3 Nov 2008 | 11:50 pm

Berger Zing: Home of the Whopper [Digital Daily]

Perhaps the iPhone is not as recession-proof a device as one might think. Perhaps Apple didn’t purposely low-ball its first-quarter outlook so it could wow investors when it next reports earnings. Perhaps lower-income households are not all turning to Apple’s iPhone 3G as a means of saving money.

Perhaps, as Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst Craig Berger claims, Apple’s fiscal first-quarter iPhone production will be more than 40 percent lower than production in its third. “We believe Apple is a good proxy for broader consumer demand given that it has the hottest, sleekest, most desirable products available today,” Berger wrote in a note to clients Monday. “That the firm’s iPhone production plans are being revised lower suggests that the global macroecomomic weakness is impacting even high-end consumers, those that are more likely to buy Apple’s expensive gadgets, and that no market segment will be spared in this global downturn.”

Perhaps the weakening economy will prevent Apple from producing another big quarter.

Or, perhaps, Craig Berger is full of it. Certainly, his track record on Apple production forecasts suggests that might be the case. As Andy Zaky ably points out over at Bullish Cross that Berger isn’t always on-point in these situations (click on chart below).

Earlier this year, for example, Berger claimed Apple had cut its second-quarter iPhone build plans by 60 percent. He also said the company had cut its build forecast for MacBooks by 50 percent. But when Apple reported Q2 earnings, iPhone sales were off by just 26 percent. And MacBook sales hadn’t fallen at all. In fact, they’d risen 6.8 percent.

So what are we to make of Berger’s prediction of a 40 percent production rate cut for the iPhone? Well, if anything it should be taken with a grain of salt, if not an entire salt flat. … As Zaky acerbically notes, “Craig Berger’s rantings on production rates have an almost zero correlation when it comes to actual sales.”

Source: All Things Digital | 3 Nov 2008 | 11:48 pm

Machines Set to Count Votes Nationwide Flunk Last-Minute Accuracy Tests

Vote tabulators that will be used in tomorrow's presidential election come up with different numbers for the same ballots every time.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Nov 2008 | 11:47 pm

New Type of Particle May Have Been Found

An anonymous reader writes "The LHC is out of commission, but the Tevatron collider at Fermilab is still chugging along, and may have just discovered a new type of particle that would signal new physics. New Scientist reports that the Tevatron's CDF detector has found muons that seem to have been created outside of the beam pipe that confines the protons and anti-protons being smashed together. The standard model can't explain the muons, and some speculate that 'an unknown particle with a lifetime of about 20 picoseconds was produced in the collision, traveled about 1 centimeter, through the side of the beam pipe, and then decayed into muons.' The hypothetical particle even seems to have the right mass to account for one theory of dark matter."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 3 Nov 2008 | 11:33 pm

Google And Yahoo Revise Deal To Get Government Approval

Trying to push through their search advertising deal, Google and Yahoo have revised the terms of the deal to satisfy antitrust objections by the Department of Justice, reports the WSJ (article behind the pay wall). The main concessions are putting 25 percent cap on the search-related revenues that Yahoo can generate from the partnership and making it a two-year deal instead of a ten-year deal.

Putting a revenue cap on the deal goes a long way towards limiting the monopoly factor because Google will only be able to take a quarter of Yahoo’s search-advertising business instead of all of it. As Michael has wrote a couple weeks ago:

A cap means Yahoo can only rely on Google to a point, and if the cap is small enough then Yahoo will be forced to continue to invest in their own search business, so it removes a lot of the meat behind our objections.

The original deal was non-exclusive and was expected to bring in $800 million in additional revenues to Yahoo. There was also an escape clause in case of an antitrust lawsuit or if a minimum revenue threshold is not met. A 25 percent cap on search revenues would cut that $800 million in half.

But maybe this is just a stalling tactic until a new Presidential administration and new Justice Department officials come into office. Would the Google-Yahoo deal do better under an Obama or a McCain administration? Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s endorsement of Obama will not be forgotten—by either side.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 3 Nov 2008 | 11:28 pm

Leapfrog FY Q3 Tops Estimates; But Lowers ‘08 Outlook [Voices]

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

Leapfrog Enterprises (LF) posted better-than-expected third-quarter results, but reduced its full-year outlook to reflect “softness in retail trends.”

For Q3, the provider of electronic toys and learning tools posted revenue of $194.6 million and profits of 38 cents a share, ahead of the Street at $178.4 million and 34 cents. But for the full year, the company now only sees revenue up 10-15 percent, which implies $486.5 million to $508.6 million, below the Street at $524.8 million.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 3 Nov 2008 | 11:15 pm

The Laptop Celebrates 40 Years

Laptops today vary greatly in size, weight and purpose, but they all have one common origin: Alan Kay's Dynabook.

Kay, a former Xerox PARC computer scientist, drew up the idea of a portable computer in 1968, when computers still weighed over 100 pounds and ate punch cards. His definition of the perfect, portable computer was a very thin, highly dynamic device that weighed no more than two pounds.

Kay's original vision, which he called the "Dynabook," was never built. But it largely inspired the devices we now call laptops, although it's taken four decades to slim the tech down to the point where usable computers actually weigh as little as two pounds.

To honor his achievements, Mountain View's Computer History Museum on Wednesday will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the legendary Dynabook.

Joining Kay in a panel discussion will be Mary Lou Jepsen, the designer of One Laptop Per Child's XO notebook, as well as Chuck Thacker, a former PARC researcher who co-invented Ethernet LAN.

In an interview with Wired.com, Kay shared the story behind how he hatched the Dynabook concept, and what challenges personal computers face as they continue to evolve.

Wired.com: So how did this all start?

Alan Kay: When I first had a full-fledged version of the Dynabook idea in 1968, I started to think about what portability really meant. I made cardboard models that I could fill with lead pellets to simulate sizes and weights. I defined "portability" as "being able to carry something else too" and "hand portability" as "being able to grab something else, too."

I calculated that you needed about 1 million pixels to be really universal, and all of these combined to make a form factor that was very thin in one dimension, large enough for a real page display, and weighed about 2 pounds. There was some prejudging here because I had already made a drawing of two children learning science with these machines, so the final cardboard model wound up looking like the drawing, but with things sized and weighed out.

Later, at Xerox, one of the papers I wrote made the specs a little larger and heavier, when I was trying to convince Xerox execs to really take a shot at such a machine. But I think the original analysis still holds up pretty well.

However, my thoughts about an intimate personal computer were mostly of a service nature — that is, how could and should it act as an amplifier for human, especially child, endeavors? This is what led to quite a bit of UI, language and media design, some of which made it out to the commercial worlds in the 1980s. As a follow-up to the PARC designs, the best thing I've seen in the right direction was Bill Atkinson's Hypercard, which was not as general as our ideas but brilliantly filled in a number of very important properties that we were still vague about.

Wired.com: What do you think of netbooks? They're lightweight and small — pretty close to two pounds. Do they still need work before they can meet your definition of a Dynabook?

Kay: I'd like to think that they are finding a form factor and weight that fits human beings better, but I'm presuming that it is because many people use only a small part of what they could do on their larger machines, and much of what they do use computers for can be done through a browser or a few simple apps. So this would be somewhat similar to the limited uses of computing that fit into other even smaller devices such as phones and PDAs. If so, then this is more disappointing than something to be cheered about.

I cringe every time I use a browser for many reasons. The browser people had a chance to make a more integrated UI and functionality, but really did pretty much the opposite in almost all respects. But, because of the attraction, and even some real value of stuff on the internet, there is more pressure to do better. I would expect to see some real alternatives to the typical "bad defacto standard" browsers we've had to put up with.

For example, suppose you actually have "real objects" as they were originally thought about. [These data objects] will have "ideas" about how they can display themselves and be edited, and [their appearances] can be moderated by various kinds of styles. The PARC UI took this approach and displayed the views from different objects in a 2.5-dimensional media layout space. Boundaries could be put around these views or not [to contain them within "windows" or not]. There were no applications, instead there were a highly integrated form of what today are called mashups. This was in the original PARC GUI!

There is much to be done here, and to even get back to a number of important integration and workflow ideas that were part of the PARC UI.

Wired.com: Are there any particular manufacturers that you think are heading in the right direction in terms of mobile devices?

Kay: All the ones I've seen have been spotty one way or another. The only one that has paid real attention to the screen is the OLPC XO, done by Mary Lou Jepson. It is otherwise a little too big, thick, etc. The service idea on it could be better, but it at least represents an attempt to rethink service, and has a few improvements on the standards.

The Amazon Kindle is kind of a subset of a Dynabook — too much of a subset. The screen is too small, it is not very capable of dynamics, the keyboard is poor, etc. But it does have several limited service ideas that are good. The next version of a Kindle could be really exciting. The next versions of the e-Ink display are a much better size, they can be much more dynamic, the media range could be extended to what I called "Active Essays" years ago, etc.

Wired.com: What do you think will become of laptops in the not-too-distant future?

Kay: Does anything ever go away? In the early thinking about this whole space, one of the dominant factors is pixels and what to do with them. My thought back then was that we would move from a notebook device to head-mounted displays to get more effective pixels.

Another was the idea that it should be easier to make head-mounted displays than flatscreens (this is true, but virtually all of the engineering went into making flatscreens work). I still think that this will eventually happen.

What is really sad today is to see people sacrifice real functionality and real value for portability on tiny screens. The ominous side effect is that pretty much the only thing that can work on a tiny screen are the various things that work on television, and this is not a good thing for people.

Wired.com: What challenges do you think notebooks face as they continue to get more powerful and faster?

Kay: The biggest challenges are: A.) to really think up service ideas that actually help people; B.) how to get people to learn them, if they are actually new; and C.) how not to be pulled along by bad de facto standards.

The basic process is just the same as it was 40 years ago: define a viewing mechanism that presents above-threshold viewing angles, capacities, pixels, and define a service concept that can A.) range over the enormous space of good things, and B.) that is integrated in concept so that "Simple things are simple, complex things are possible."

Photo and image courtesy of Viewpoints Research Institute

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Nov 2008 | 11:14 pm

The Laptop Celebrates Its 40th Year

Wednesday marks the 40th anniversary of a significant event in tech history — Alan Kay's conception of the laptop, dubbed "Dynabook."

Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Nov 2008 | 11:14 pm

Vitesse Announces Plans to File Audited FY2008 Results With SEC

Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation (Pink Sheets:VTSS) today said it expects that on November 30, 2008, it will complete its review of financial results for the first, second, and third quarters of fiscal year 2008, and intends to file this information on Form 10-Q with the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Nov 2008 | 11:00 pm

General Dynamics Completes Initial Delivery of Warfighter Information Network-Tactical Equipment

TAUNTON, Mass., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- General Dynamics C4 Systems recently completed delivery of the first WIN-T Increment 1 equipment to the U.S. Army.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Nov 2008 | 11:00 pm

ON Semiconductor to Showcase Energy-Efficient Solutions for Automotive, Industrial and Portable Designs With Live Stand Demonstrations

ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ONNN), a leading global supplier of high-performance, energy-efficient, silicon solutions, will be using electronica 2008 to run a number of live demonstrations based on the company's efficient control, signal path and power management technologies for automotive, industrial and portable applications.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Nov 2008 | 11:00 pm

FEI's Titan Krios TEM Selected By Leading Life Science Research Centers in Asia

FEI Company (Nasdaq: FEIC), a leading provider of high-resolution imaging and analysis systems, announced today that three of the top life sciences research centers in Asia--National University of Singapore, Tsinghua University (Beijing), and the Institute of Biophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing)--have selected the Titan Krios(TM) transmission electron microscope (TEM) to support their research programs in structural molecular biology.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Nov 2008 | 11:00 pm

Is The New York Times Selling About.com? No. [MediaMemo]

The New York Times (NYT) is in lousy shape, so it needs to sell off About.com, the kind-of-portal, kind-of-blog-aggregator it bought from Primedia in 2005. So says Jason Calacanis, whose Mahalo.com is a kind-of-portal, kind-of-blog-aggregator.

Not true, say two people familiar with the Times and About; they say the paper isn’t shopping the property.

They’re going to have sell About. They’ve been trying to sell About.com, from what I understand.”

NYT spokeswoman Catherine Mathis offered up the standard we-don’t-comment-rumors-and-speculation line.

That said, it doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen at some point in the future. The Times really does need money, and since About.com is both growing and profitable, it may be the most valuable asset the Times now owns.

But that’s exactly why the New York Times would be reluctant to part with it. Like it or not, About.com may well represent the Times’ future.

This isn’t the first time a Web reporter has suggested that About.com is on the block, by the way. I wrote the same thing earlier this year, and I was wrong then.

Source: All Things Digital | 3 Nov 2008 | 10:52 pm

A TechCrunch Party at LeWeb: are you coming?

We are pleased to announce that we will hold a TechCrunch party that will close LeWeb conference next month in Paris. LeWeb is probably one of the most important web event in the industry and certainly the most important in Europe with more than 1500 participants coming from all over the world. TechCrunch has a been a media partner for a couple of years but this year we will do a little more and we’ll hold a special event december 10th at night.

We are expecting about 600 to 1000 participants (yes, even after 2 days of conference and a Myspace party..) and the party will be open to partcipants and non participants of the conference (all details will be announced soon). Music, open bar, quality mingling in an international crowd will be the agenda.

The party was announced a few days ago on Twitter and TechCrunch France and we have already 2 key partners for the event: SFR development and HotelaParis.com.

We have a few more sponsorship opportunities. If you are interested contact us at dan [at] techcrunch.com

Still need a ticket to LeWeb? TechCrunch readers get a 20% discount.

See you in Paris!

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

Source: TechCrunch | 3 Nov 2008 | 10:51 pm

Yahoo Live Fades Out

Live video streaming seemed to be all the rage for a while, popularized by startups like Justin.tv, Ustream, Qik, Mogulus and Flixwagon.

Yahoo jumped on the hype wagon back in February 2008 by launching Y!Live, an ambitious effort put forward by internal incubator Yahoo! Brickhouse. Yahoo Live was supposed to tap into the troubled internet juggernaut’s vast online video audience by getting them to broadcast their lives in real-time.

Now Yahoo software engineer Keith Thornill has published a blog post announcing that Y!Live, which never really passed the idea stage, will effectively stop broadcasting December 3. Yahoo is hosting a townhall on Wednesday to wish the service farewell.

Live video streaming still presents an enormous opportunity considering the way people’s behavior on the web is changing, but it is of course extremely expensive and hard to scale. Serving the same video to thousands, let alone tens of thousands of people simultaneously generates higher bandwidth bills than serving them asynchronously like most video sharing sites do. YouTube, by far the most popular online video property on the web, is rumored to want to start experimenting with live video streaming some day, but so far we haven’t seen anything surface.

Perhaps the Yahoo from a year ago would have no problem continuing to test the waters and keeping the service alive a bit longer, but the way things are looking now they’ll be looking to cut costs in every possible way for a while.

It’s also quite telling for the service’s popularity that no one has cared to comment on the blog post yet (they were probably in moderation when I wrote this). Also, at the time of this writing there are exactly 1,379 people watching 48 live channels.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 3 Nov 2008 | 10:50 pm

Wayland, a New X Server For Linux

An anonymous reader writes "Phoronix has a new article out on Wayland: A New X Server For Linux. One of Red Hat's engineers has started writing a new X11 server around today's needs and to eliminate the cruft that has been in this critical piece of free software for more than a decade. This new server is called Wayland and it is designed with newer hardware features like kernel mode-setting and a kernel memory manager for graphics. Wayland is also dramatically simpler to target for in development. A compositing manager is embedded into the Wayland server and ensures 'every frame is perfect' according to the project's leader."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 3 Nov 2008 | 10:47 pm

Electric Pacer

Ever since I was little, I've always wanted an AMC Pacer. It has such a space mobile style. While trying to convince Joel that a Pacer is far cooler than a BMW 2002 he almost bought, I stumbled on this page chronicling the creation of a fleet of Electric Pacers. Called the "Change of Pacer," the EV Pacer was a 1970s oil crisis coup of maker culture. The cars were electrified by Electric Vehicle Associates (EVA), launched by a group of high school vocational education teachers as a student project in Cleveland, Ohio. From AMCPacer.com:

The Pacer was strong, large on the inside, and small on the outside (for the 1970's). The large interior volume was ideal for carrying the lead acid batteries, battery charger, and motor controller that was required for the vehicle. The Change of Pace was a stellar performer. Top speed was in excess of 55 mph, 0 to 30 mph was achieved in less than 12 seconds, and the range was 30 to 50 miles, per SAE J227A schedules...

The batteries required significant maintenance. The batteries had to be fully recharged after every use, or would be damaged. Recharging required several hours, depending upon how much the batteries were discharged. The batteries had to have water added every few weeks, depending upon use. The batteries posed the biggest problem for the Change of Pace. EVA stopped production of the Change of Pace, when the Pacer was no longer available from AMC, and EVA went out of business shortly thereafter.

The Electric Pacer

Source: Boing Boing | 3 Nov 2008 | 10:28 pm

Coop's photos of Mexico

Our pal Coop is in the La Carrera Panamericana 2008 car race, and has been taking wonderful photos along the way. He says: "Folks have to reset their safe search filters since Flickr decided to censor all my photos, even the non-naughty ones." La Carrera Panamericana 2008

Source: Boing Boing | 3 Nov 2008 | 10:23 pm

19% of Mobile Consumers in the U.S. are Using Smartphones

As the entry fee for smartphones drops lower and lower, the wallet friendly price point found with most feature phones (or, as some might say, “dumbphones”) is beginning to lose its luster. In a day when obtaining a smartphone requires little more than 50 bucks and a 2-year promise, what’s the point of going for anything less?

According to the “Mobile Market View” study released today by The Kelsey Group, 18.9% of mobile consumers in the United States are now toting smartphones, with 49.2% planning to pick one up within the next two years.

Mobile search activity is also up across the board. When they surveyed mobile consumers on how they’d been using their handsets, they found the following:

• Downloaded or looked at maps or directions: 17.6 percent, up from 10.8 percent in 2007
• Searched the Internet for products or services in their local area: 15.6 percent, up from 9.8 percent in 2007
• Searched the Internet for products or services outside their local area: 14.3 percent, up from 6.4 percent in 2007
• Obtained information about movies or other entertainment: 13.7 percent, up from 8.2 percent in 2007
• Connected with a social network, such as MySpace or Facebook: 9.6 percent, up from 3.4 percent in 2007

To state the obvious, it’s quite apparent that consumers are more ready than ever to embrace mobile devices into their daily lives. What isn’t as apparent, however, is the responsibility the mobile industry has to get their act together and make use of this. Unless they’re damn sure they can come up with something worthwhile, it’s time to adopt open and royalty-free platforms. Drop the horribly misguided efforts to create new, proprietary platforms which do nothing but increase segmentation and confuse users. With only 19% of US mobile users owning smartphones and nearly 50% looking to jump on board, we’re going to see a whole lot of new smartphone owners soon - so lets make it as easy as possible for them to enjoy it.

(Image via Jacob Bøtter)

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

Source: TechCrunch | 3 Nov 2008 | 10:19 pm

San Francisco and L.A.: Gama-Go holiday sale!

Our pals at GAMA-GO are holding their annual holiday sale this Saturday, November 8, at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco. It's a great opportunity to get GAMA-GO goods at deep discounts. (For those of you in So Cal, the sale wagon heads down to L.A.'s Bigfoot Lodge on 11/15.) Go git ya some!
GAMA-GO Holiday Sale

Source: Boing Boing | 3 Nov 2008 | 10:16 pm

19% of mobile consumers in U.S. now using smartphones, according to study

As the entry fee for smartphones drops lower and lower, the wallet friendly price point found with most feature phones (or, as some might say, “dumbphones”) is beginning to lose its luster. In a day when obtaining a smartphone requires little more than 50 bucks and a 2-year promise, what’s the point of going for anything less?

According to the “Mobile Market View” study released today by The Kelsey Group, 18.9% of mobile consumers in the United States are now toting smartphones, with 49.2% planning to pick one up within the next two years.

Mobile search activity is also up across the board. When they surveyed mobile consumers on how they’d been using their handsets, they found the following:

• Downloaded or looked at maps or directions: 17.6 percent, up from 10.8 percent in 2007
• Searched the Internet for products or services in their local area: 15.6 percent, up from 9.8 percent in 2007
• Searched the Internet for products or services outside their local area: 14.3 percent, up from 6.4 percent in 2007
• Obtained information about movies or other entertainment: 13.7 percent, up from 8.2 percent in 2007
• Connected with a social network, such as MySpace or Facebook: 9.6 percent, up from 3.4 percent in 2007

To state the obvious, it’s quite apparent that consumers are more ready than ever to embrace mobile devices into their daily lives. What isn’t as apparent, however, is the responsibility the mobile industry has to get their act together and make use of this. Unless they’re damn sure they can come up with something worthwhile, it’s time to adopt open and royalty-free platforms. Drop the horribly misguided efforts to create new, proprietary platforms which do nothing but increase segmentation and confuse users. With only 19% of US mobile users owning smartphones and nearly 50% looking to jump on board, we’re going to see a whole lot of new smartphone owners soon - so lets make it as easy as possible for them to enjoy it.

(Image via Jacob Bøtter)

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Nov 2008 | 10:00 pm

Cassini Could Find Signs of Life on Enceladus

New Scientist reviews the possibility that the Cassini probe might be repurposed to look for signs of life on Saturn's enigmatic moon Enceladus. "[Enceladus' water vapor] plume's origin is still being debated, but some models suggest the moon holds an ocean of liquid water beneath its surface. This ocean could be a potential habitat for extraterrestrial life. ... Though the probe was never designed to look for life, it could do so by studying organic chemicals such as methane in the plume, the team says."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 3 Nov 2008 | 9:56 pm

"Bubblegum Music A- Z" DVD

Spike Priggen has compiled a DVD of '60s and '70s bands playing bubblegum music.

WFMU's 2008 Record Fair is happening October 24, 25 and 26th at Manhattan's Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18th Street!

Bedazzled! will be presenting our annual "Bedazzled Video Hour and a Half" Saturday, October 25 from 11:00am-12:30pm.

This years theme is "Bubblegum Music A-Z".
"ABC" - Jackson 5
"1-2-3 Red Light" - 1910 Fruitgum Company
"Bend Me, Shape Me" - The American Breed
"Come On Down To My Boat" - Every Mother's Son
"Come On, Get Happy" - The Partridge Family
"Dizzy" - Tommy Roe
"Goody Goody Gumdrops" - 1910 Fruitgum Company
"Green Tambourine" - The Lemon Pipers
"Hey Hey We're The Monkees" - The Monkees
"Hip Hip Hooray" - The Troggs
"Indian Giver" - 1910 Fruitgum Company
"I Think I Love You" - David Cassidy
"I Woke Up in Love This Morning" - The Partridge Family
"I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight" - Boyce & Hart
"I'm A Believer" - The Monkees
"Little Bit of Soul" - The Music Explosion
"Mercy" - The Ohio Express
'Midnight Confession" - The Grass Roots
"Mony Mony" - Tommy James & The Shondells
"One Bad Apple" - The Osmonds
"Rice Is Nice" - The Lemon Pipers
"Rain, The Park & Other Things" - The Cowsills
"Shake" - Shadows of Knight
"Silver Threads & Golden Needles" - The Cowsills
"Simple Simon Says" - 1910 Fruitgum Company
"Snoopy vs. The Red Baron" - The Royal Guardsmen
"Stepping Stone" - The Monkees
"Sugar, Sugar' - The Archies
"The Train" - 1910 Fruitgum Company
"We Can Fly" - The Cowsills
"Wombles" - "The Wombles"
"Yummy, Yummy, Yummy" - The Ohio Express

Bonus Selections:
"Dizzy" - Tommy Roe ("Upbeat!") "Green Tambourine" - The Lemon Pipers ("Upbeat!") "Sugar, Sugar' - The Archies (Andy Kim video) "Sugar, Sugar' - The "Music Scene" Singers

If you can't make it to the show you can own your own copy of this program including groovy cover and disc art.

Bubblegum Music A-Z DVD

Source: Boing Boing | 3 Nov 2008 | 9:44 pm

Scientists Discuss Greenland Icecap At Workshop

The Greenland ice cap has been a focal point of recent climate change research because it is much more exposed to immediate global warming than the larger Antarctic ice sheet.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Nov 2008 | 9:40 pm

FCC chairman cancels vote on telecom overhaul (AP)

AP - The head of the Federal Communications Commission has canceled a controversial Election Day vote on a proposed overhaul of telecommunications regulations that many consumer advocates feared would lead to higher phone bills.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 3 Nov 2008 | 9:36 pm

VOTE NERD

I WAS GLAD to provide a short quote for Joel Stein's recent piece on the "Urkel Effect," wherein he confesses his fear that, no matter what anyone tells the polls, a great number of Americans simply will not be able to bring themselves to vote for the nerd.

I FELT HE COULD NOT BE MORE WRONG, and said so in my typically longwinded (and atypically UNCAPPED) fashion.

My rant was far more than he could use, and I trust many will disagree with it passionately, for we are on the Internet, and that is our job. BUT HERE IT IS, all the same, for what else is there to say today?

Dear Joel:

I am not a nerd. I am a geek. The former is a subset of the latter, but don't be concerned if you don't know the difference. You will learn it all when the reeducation begins.

Far more than red vs. blue, or "real America" vs. Massachusetts, geeks vs. jocks is the culture war that defines our times.

Palin's winking attacks on intellect, science, and fruit flies represent pure jockdom: a suspicion of complexity and egg-headedness, a rejection of credentials and education in favor one's own personal gut instinct, and the conviction that, in the last quarter, hard realities may be denied, and a come-from-behind victory may be magically conjured through inspiring cliches.

There is lots to be admired about jockdom: often the best decisions come from the gut; and some of history's worst crimes have been founded on the impersonality of science and pseudoscience.

But I do not believe that people will reject Obama due to his geek signifiers: his gangly frame, goofball ears, and har-dee-har-har insistence that we must live in the world that EXISTS, not in the world we WISH existed (on the left or the right.)

Rather, I think after 8 years of jock-like bluster and "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" reality-denial, Obama's pragmatism and technician's calm seems extra attractive.

But even if Obama loses, and this may well happen, I believe jockdom, which was rightly the dominant mode of being American back when we used our hands and brawn to fight and farm and build things, is necessarily on the wane.

The world is now driven by knowledge economies. Certainly China and India and Dubai do not make "BIG BANG THEORY" sitcoms marginalizing THEIR geeks and engineers.

(Unless they actually do, in which case: awesome).

Whatever you may think of the above, PREPARE TO VOTE.

And also, if China really does make a version of BIG BANG THEORY, I need to see video ASAP.

That is all.

Source: Boing Boing | 3 Nov 2008 | 9:28 pm

Canada Fails To Measure Up On Environmental Practices

Canada’s environmental report card was released on Monday, revealing that the country holds one of the worst environmental records of all developed countries.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Nov 2008 | 9:21 pm

ES&S electronic voting machines can favor specific candidates

Threat Level reports on problems with electronic voting machines made by ES&S that can register votes for candidates other than the one selected by the voter. While the machines can be deliberately miscalibrated, it's also possible that bad user interface choices can confuse the voters:

Juan Gilbert, who directs the Human Centered Computing Lab at Auburn University in Alabama, said he believes the problem is a usability issue coupled with bad ballot design. He said that on ballots that use a windowbox design with the candidate's name inside a windowbox on the screen, voters tend to touch on the candidate's name, rather than the center of the windowbox. If the windowboxes for two candidates are placed too closely together on top of each other, a voter who casts a ballot for the candidate in the lower box is likely to press on the area between the two boxes, causing the machine to register a vote for the candidate in the upper box. See the video below for a demonstration of his theory.

Report: ES&S Voting Machines Can Be Maliciously Calibrated to Favor Specific Candidates [Threat Level]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 3 Nov 2008 | 9:21 pm

U.S. Department of the Interior Donates Advanced Binoculars for Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature

Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett today presented His Royal Highness Jordanian Ambassador to the United States Prince Zeid Raad Zeid Al-Hussein with 15 advanced binoculars and spotting scopes for the Jordanian Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Nov 2008 | 9:00 pm

Power On Self Test (afternoon edition): The Sun Also Rises

Think you're into computers? This is Dean of Pittsburgh. Do you have a 12GB Solaris 10 "Beastserver" rack the size of a refrigerator in the middle of your living room?

Well, do you?

Mustard Hamsters

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 3 Nov 2008 | 8:53 pm

Dash Express Kills Its GPS Devices

Personal navigation devices maker, Dash, is killing its GPS devices.

It will shift its focus from selling hardware-based GPS systems to just licensing its applications and services to run on other products.

Dash, which competes with Garmin and TomTom among others, launched its GPS device just earlier this year.

Dash started selling its products through its website for $400 in April. But its end seems to have come even before it could make it to its first holiday season. 

The company says it will now focus on licensing to onboard navigation system makers, smartphones, PDAs, mobile internet devices and other consumer electronics.

"From a navigation perspective, adding a GPS chip or connectivity is only a small part of the equation," said Rob Currie, CEO of Dash Navigation in a statement. "Delivering a connected service that provides daily consumer value and ensuring that the back-end infrastructure is in place to support it is very complicated." And that's where Dash says it will like to play in the future.

Unlike many of its competitors Dash offered two-way traffic information through a connected system of other Dash devices on the road. The device also allowed users to search for restaurants and other services through a partnership with Yahoo!

But in a competitive market facing larger rivals and strong price pressures, Dash never really found its footing, despite its innovative technology.

With its new strategy, the company may have found the only way to stay alive.

There have also been layoffs. Dash "eliminated" positions non-essential to supporting existing subscribers or driving new licensing partnerships," it said.

"Given the current economic environment, we believe that the greatest opportunities lie in integrating our service into the broad array of connected devices on the market," said Currie.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Nov 2008 | 8:24 pm

At 40, Brain and Body Slow

The part of the brain in charge of motion starts a gradual slide in middle age.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Nov 2008 | 8:04 pm

Amazon Launches 'Frustration-Free Packaging' Initiative

Buying new gadgets is a joyful occasion, but opening them can be another story when an impenetrable piece of plastic stands in your way. Amazon announced Monday its Frustration-Free Packaging initiative, which will address the issue, dubbed "wrap rage."

Under the initiative, Amazon will be shipping some products to consumers in easy-to-open, recyclable boxes, ditching those pesky packages tightly enclosed in a plastic clamshell or fastened with plastic-coated wires. Microsoft, Fisher-Price, Mattel and Transcend are the first companies to join the initiative; Amazon hopes many more manufacturers will participate in the effort as well.

"It's a universal sentiment shared especially by parents," said Patty Smith, director of corporate communications at Amazon. "It makes Christmas mornings a bit more stressful when you've got a little kid breathing down your neck when you're trying to get something out of a package."

Plastic packaging has been a consumer headache for years, and in worst cases it's landed people in the hospital. In 2004, about 6,500 Americans were rushed to emergency rooms when they sustained injuries from trying to free their gadgets from stubborn plastic enclosures. As cumbersome as plastic clamshells may be, stores say the packaging method helps deter thieves. However, Amazon noted that online shopping has no need for such a security measure.

In addition to improving shopping experience, the initiative is aiming to benefit the environment. Streamlined packaging equates to fewer non-recyclable materials used, smaller boxes, less space taken up in a delivery truck and less gas consumed. Best of all, that means shorter waiting time between ordering and receiving items, Smith said.

Daniel Kessler, a member of the environmental organization Greenpeace, said he views the initiative as a positive effort to reduce waste and conserve energy. However, he said he'd like Amazon to be more aggressive with manufacturers and draw out firm guidelines as to which packaging materials they can use for products sold on the site. Specifically, Greenpeace is concerned with the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in plastic packaging — a chemical that produces a dangerous carcinogen called dioxin during manufacturing, Kessler said.

"They do have enough power in the industry to lay down ultimatums," Kessler said. "When I think of online shopping I think of Amazon, and I think they have the cachet to tell vendors to clean up their act."

Purchasing an item shipped with Frustration-Free Packaging comes at no additional cost for consumers. Amazon is hoping that the packaging reduction will eventually result in lowered product prices.

Press Release [Amazon]

See also:

• Why Things Suck: Plastic Packaging

Photo: penmachine/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Nov 2008 | 8:02 pm

Amazon Launches 'Frustration-Free Packaging' Initiative

Amazon is aiming to improve its shopping experience by ditching plastic enclosures in favor of easy-to-open, recyclable boxes.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 3 Nov 2008 | 8:02 pm

ReCORK America Teams With Whole Foods Market(R) in Northern California to Recycle Wine Corks

ReCORK America announced today the start of a recycling program to reclaim a small portion of the estimated 13 billion natural cork wine stoppers sold into the world market each year. The six-month trial will involve 25 Northern California Whole Foods Market stores, including Reno.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Nov 2008 | 8:00 pm

Enzo Biochem Details Advances in Understanding the Role Of NKT Killer Cells in Autoimmunity and Cancer at Liver Conference

Enzo Biochem, Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Nov 2008 | 8:00 pm

Sexy Lingerie With Embedded GPS Draws Protests

Wearable computing is here and it is not exactly what many technology enthusiasts may have had in mind.

Brazilian designer Lucia Loria has designed lingerie that comes with a GPS tracking system. The designs aimed at "modern, techno-savvy women" are drawing strong protests from feminists, says The Daily Mail.

The lingerie line called 'find me if you can' features a set consisting of a lacy bodice and a bikini bottom with a GPS device embedded near the waist.

It's not a modern chastity belt, says the designer, but instead could become a lifesaver, as a safety device on a night out.

We aren't buying that argument. There are better ways to stay safe. Get a pepper spray or maybe a Taser gun?

The tacky lingerie, with its clunky GPS system, comes with a hefty price tag. The set costs between $800 to $1000.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Nov 2008 | 7:58 pm

Japan, Norway better than U.S. For New Product Launches

That oft-repeated comment about how Japan always gets the gadgets first? A study confirms the country is among the most innovative when it comes to new products taking off.

Japan ranked first in a study that says new products there take an average of 5.4 years to gain critical mass, faster than any other nation.

The Nordic countries, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark came next.

The United States finished sixth with an average time of 6.2 years for a product to take off.

India, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and China ranked lowest.

The study published in the latest issue of Marketing Science evaluated 31 countries and analyzed 16 product categories over 50 years split into two broad areas: fun, used for information or entertainment and those used only for work

"The changing dynamics of the global marketplace are redefining the concept of innovativeness," said Deepa Chandrasekaran, assistant professor of marketing at Lehigh University and one of the co-authors of the report in a statement.

"More products are being introduced at a quick rate, and the ability of a nation to embrace those changes is a true indicator of how innovative it has become," she said.

The study also revealed that newly developed or developing countries like South Korea and Venezuela saw faster product takeoff times than more established Mediterranean nations with longer histories of industrialization, said the authors.

"What we're learning is that culture plays a significant role in influencing how quickly a country is willing to embrace new products and technology but it's not an exclusive indicator," said Gerard Tellis, director of the Center for Global Innovation at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business. "Differences in wealth are also contributing factors."

Photo: Neon Osaka (timlam18/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Nov 2008 | 7:35 pm

Netflix Roku Player to Have HD Streaming by Year End

The $100 Netflix player from Roku has been closely watched because of the convenience it offers users in hooking up their TV sets to Netflix streaming video.

A big hole in its feature list though has been its inability to handle high-definition content.

That is set to change. Roku says it will be delivering Netflix in HD by the end of the year but it comes with a catch. "Roku will be using advanced profile encodes which will deliver HD at substantially lower bit-rates than what Xbox is offering," said a company representive in an online forum.

The number of titles will be the same as or larger than the Xbox library, said the company representative.

Roku will update the user interface to run in 720p and more movie covers will be visible on the screen at a time.

"The release will include another major new feature that you’ll have to wait a bit longer to learn about," said the company representative.

Any guesses on that?

[via Gizmodo]

Photo: (graysky/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Nov 2008 | 7:05 pm

Drum Makers Risk Possible Anthrax Infection

Two drum makers in two years have died after apparently inhaling anthrax spores from animal skins.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Nov 2008 | 7:05 pm

The Samsung T*Omnia: It’s the Omnia, but with more T!

When Korean telecoms giant SK Telecom calls saying they want your handset, what do you do? If you’re Samsung, you take said handset and give it the upgrade treatment. Such is the case with the T*Omnia, a bigger, better version of the Omnia headed for Korea sometime in the coming weeks.

The most obvious change is in its display - they’ve taken the 400×240 screen and replaced it with the 800×480 (WVGA) Samsung-made screen we’ve seen hit a few other handsets as of late. A bit less obvious, albeit still a nice touch, is the addition of a DMB TV tuner for satellite-based channel surfing. Of course, it hasn’t lost the WiFi, GPS, 7.2 mbps HSDPA, or any of the other stuff which made the original Omnia such a nice piece.

Oh, and no - we have no idea what the “T*” bit in T*Omnia represents, either. We’re guessing T stands for something special (Tasty? Tubular? Ooh! Ooh! Tyrannosaurus!), and they just put the * there to keep it from being the “Tomnia”.

[Via MobileBurn]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Nov 2008 | 6:53 pm

MySpace ad deal lets members use copyright video (AP)

AP - Instead of trying to take down all copyright-protected videos that its members post, MySpace will let certain clips stay — and give the creators of the original content a cut of the revenue from advertising that will be attached to the snippets.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 3 Nov 2008 | 6:19 pm

Report Details Rising Demand For Asian Shark Fin

Image Caption: Only 6 of the top 20 shark catching countries / territories have implemented plans to manage shark populations. Credit: Simon Buxton / WWF-Canon
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Nov 2008 | 6:00 pm

Air Force To Rewrite the Rules of the Internet

meridiangod writes "The Air Force is fed up with a seemingly endless barrage of attacks on its computer networks from stealthy adversaries whose motives and even locations are unclear. So now the service is looking to restore its advantage on the virtual battlefield by doing nothing less than the rewriting the 'laws of cyberspace.'" I'm sure that'll work out really well for them.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 3 Nov 2008 | 5:59 pm

Study links teen pregnancy to sexy TV shows (Reuters)

Reuters - Exposure to some forms of entertainment is a corrupting influence on children, leading teens who watch sexy programs into early pregnancies and children who play violent video games to adopt aggressive behavior, researchers said on Monday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 3 Nov 2008 | 5:51 pm

Sony Ericsson shoots an ad for the C905 using a C905

According to the text running down this C905 ad from December’s issue of FHM, the photo that serves as the background was captured using none other than the 8 megapixel shooter of a C905. Of course, they don’t mention how many photoshop filters it passed through before it was prepped for print, nor do they let on the fact that everything in the scene was likely set up to work around any limitations of the camera’s color profiles - never the less, it’s an effective ad.

Oddly enough, I think this is the first time any of the contenders in the slow-brewing 8-megapixel handset battle have come out and said “Hey! Look! Photo sample!” Isn’t that what you’d expect all of them to be doing?

[Via Eng]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Nov 2008 | 5:42 pm

Reminder - Metabolix to Conduct a Webcast of Its Third Quarter 2008 Earnings Call

Metabolix, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBLX), a bioscience company focused on developing clean, sustainable solutions for plastics, chemicals and energy, announced today that it will be releasing its third quarter 2008 financial results after the market close on Wednesday, November 5, 2008.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Nov 2008 | 5:00 pm

Programming .NET 3.5

lamaditx writes "The world of the .NET framework is taken to the next level by the release of .NET 3.5. The intended audience of this book are experienced .NET programmers. There are no sections that tell you details about C#, SQL servers or anything like that. I don't recommend this book if you never worked on a .NET project and don't know how to set up a SQL database. You should be aware that the code is written in C#. You might use one of the software code converters if you prefer Visual Basic instead. I think the code is still readable even if you do not know C#. I appreciate the fact that the authors decided to use one language only because it keeps the book smaller. The authors assume you are using Visual Studio 2008. You don't necessarily need to update to 2008 if you are working with an older edition because you can use the free Express Edition to get started." Keep reading for the rest of Adrian's review.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 3 Nov 2008 | 5:00 pm

My Take: E-Voting Not User Friendly

Opinion: Electronic voting machines don't always capture the intent of voters.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Nov 2008 | 4:52 pm

Motorola Launches New Phone For Penny-Pinching Shutterbugs

Motorola's latest phone puts a 5 megapixel cameraphone within reach of almost anyone. The company has collaborated with Kodak to create the Motozine ZN5 for T-Mobile.

The phone will cost just $100 and is available starting today. Other than its 5-megapixel camera, it's a typical "feature phone" -- in other words, cheap and nothing special. Motorola says it has tried to replicate the feel of a digital camera interface within the phone. That means it has a shutter button, auto focus, a flash and a viewer. The device also comes with 1 GB memory card. 

Among the photo sharing options is a one-click access to the online Kodak gallery where users can upload the photos they've just snapped. The phone also allows for web surfing, email and instant messaging.

An early review of the prototype version by Wired.com showed the phone is unlikely to give competitors a run for their money.

What's your favorite cameraphone?

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Nov 2008 | 4:47 pm

Google's growth makes privacy advocates wary (AP)

AP - Perhaps the biggest threat to Google Inc.'s increasing dominance of Internet search and advertising is the rising fear, justified or not, that Google's broadening reach is giving it unchecked power.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 3 Nov 2008 | 3:59 pm

Can Foods Prevent Disease? Debate Continues

The theory that eating well can stave off disease remains to be proven.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Nov 2008 | 3:52 pm

Five Useless Gadgets You Should Throw in the Trash Right Now

Photo: analog_chainsaw/Flickr

Your house is full of crap, and you know it. Along with that old suit you'll "fit into again one day" and the cupboard full of juicers and lemon squeezers, it's likely you have a lot of computer hardware you'll never use again. That's normal though, right? Everyone has a collection of USB card readers, cables and battery chargers in the bottom drawer, after all.

But I'm talking about big, modern gadgets you may even have just bought. Things that you think you need, but were clearly a waste of your money. Here's a list of five things that are useless, and which you should send to the thrift store right now.

First, an anti hate-mail caveat: Some of this kit is still useful in a professional context. If you use this stuff every day, you know who you are -- please don't write in. But for the rest of us, these hunks of plastic are just taking up space and electricity.

Printers

Buying a printer is like buying a timeshare in a vacation home. It looks cheap until you figure out all the extra costs, and that you don't ever use it after the first year. Outside of an office or a photographer's studio, they're obsolete -- myriad online printing sites will take care of your photos, at a better quality and lower price than you'll get at home.

Still printing articles to "read later"? Get over it. Almost any cellphone has a good enough screen to read text. If you have an iPhone, you can even use the "Instapaper" application to automate the process -- hit the Read Later bookmarklet and enjoy the article later, away from your desk. The forests will thank you for it.

Scanners

Related to printers, only even less useful. Slow, clunky and noisy, scanners used to be good for digitizing photos and text. Now, your camera or even your phone will do the same. Almost nobody uses film anymore, and for those who do, the lab will pop a CD of your photos, already digitized and dust-free, into the envelope along with the prints.

If you regularly scan text documents and use OCR (optical character recognition) to make them into something other than dead trees, you can forget that, too. The average cameraphone can take a clear enough picture to read the text, and from there you can either email it to a service like ScanR (which converts your pictures to editable PDFs) or just drop it into EverNote, a cross platform application which does the same. Your filing cabinet has never been so empty.

Built-In Optical Drives

This one is a qualified entry on the list -- you sometimes still need a DVD or CD drive to actually get information onto your computer. Once it's on there, however – in the form of an OS installation or a ripped CD – you don't need it anymore. Putting an optical drive in a notebook seems, well, old fashioned.

In fact, a modern optical drive just isn't that useful anymore: Hard drives are so cheap that backing up to multiple DVDs is pointlessly slow and painful. CDs don't need to be burned when you can just email a MP3 file, and actually taking a DVD on a trip to watch on, say, the plane, is an extravagance your laptop's battery won't appreciate in this day of fast DVD rips and movie downloads. Buy a MacBook Air or a netbook and keep a $20 burner around for emergencies.

Fax Machines

Still sending faxes? Hi grandad! The fax was useful when it was the only way to move documents around faster than mailing them. Now it's pointless. Most documents never exist in paper form anyway, so you'll need a printer just to get started with the sending. And if you fax directly from your computer, that's no excuse, either -- why not just email the PDF?

An email is as trackable as a fax, and harder to fake (I may or may not have altered faxed documents for previous employers). It's also a lot harder to lose, and a lot easier to find if you do. Granted, a trip to the fax machine buys you a few minutes away from the desk, but then, why not just quit the office altogether and work, like I do, from the comfort of your bed?

Landline Phones

There's one big reason that people keep a landline at home: 911 calls. The landline runs off power from the telephone line itself (a neat precursor to power over ethernet) so if there's a blackout, the calls still go through (unless you have a cordless handset, of course). And because a landline is tied directly to a single address, the emergency services know where you are.

But a cellphone is always with you, even when you're hiding under the bed from burglars or murderers. What if your battery dies? Borrow another phone -- there's always somebody around. And if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere and things get ugly, a landline won't help you anyway. What about coverage? It's true that cellphone coverage in the US is not exactly ubiquitous, but again, if you're out in the sticks with no signal, you're unlikely to find a landline anyway.

The emergency services still know where you are, too. Your rough location is tracked by the cell tower routing your call, so you'll be directed to a local call center. With GPS enabled phones, things will only get better.

Burglar alarms? File under the caveat above. If you have a dedicated line, fine. Just don't rent a second one just to hook up a handset you don't need.

There's one other problem with a landline, or rather, with your brain: You don't remember anyone's number anymore. Stick with the mobile, and learn to be less paranoid.

Anything else? What junk do you have at home that does nothing but collect dust? Tell us in the comments!

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Nov 2008 | 3:38 pm

Five Useless Gadgets You Should Toss Right Now

Your house is full of crap, and you know it. Along with that old suit you'll "fit into again one day" and the cupboard full of juicers and lemon squeezers, it's likely you have a lot of computer hardware and electronics you'll never use again. Here are five things we think you need to get over already.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 3 Nov 2008 | 3:38 pm

Acropolis Gets Quake Monitoring System

A network of instruments will monitor the 2,500-year-old Acropolis for weaknesses.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Nov 2008 | 1:42 pm

Ancient 'Water Monster' Facing Extinction

A foot-long salamander that was a key part of Aztec legend is threatened by extinction.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Nov 2008 | 1:35 pm

Grand Canyon's Youth Confirmed

The Grand Canyon is millions of years younger than previously thought, argue geologists.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Nov 2008 | 1:16 pm