The Digital Youth Project, a MacArthur-funded three year, 22 case study, $3.3 million ethnographic study of what kids are doing online, has wound up and published its results. The project was undertaken by the eminent sociologist Mimi Ito and her talented colleagues (including the incomparable danah boyd) and is the largest and most comprehensive study of young peoples' internet use ever undertaken in the US.
The conclusions are sane, compassionate, and compelling: in a nutshell, the "serious" stuff we all hope kids will do online (researching papers and so on) are only possible within a framework of "hanging out, messing around and geeking out." That is to say, all the "time-wasting" social stuff kids do online are key to their explorations and education online.
Ito and her team establish a taxonomy of social activity, dividing it first into "peer-driven" and "interest-driven" -- the former being what kids do with their real-world friends, the latter being the niche interests that drive them to locate other people who are as fascinated as they are by whatever brand of esoterica they fancy.
Within these two categories, the researchers break things down further into "hanging out" (undirected, social activities), "messing around" (tinkering with media, networks and technologies) and "geeking out" (delving deep into subjects based on global communities of interest) and for each one, they describe the successful and unsuccessful techniques deployed by parents and educators to direct kids' activities.
All this is explained in a crisp, 55-page white paper, a snappy two-pager, and a full-length book called (appropriately), "Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media." All three are available as free downloads, naturally, and the book can also be purchased as a physical object in a year when it's published.
This project is the best set of research-driven recommendations and observations about young peoples' use of technology I've seen -- it's the perfect antidote to the scare stories of "internet addiction" and pedophiles stalking MySpace, and the endless refrain about "kids today." If you care about kids and want to understand how they use technology and why, this is a must-read.
While it's certainly of limited utility, NumberKey is just cute enough to stand out in a mountain of remote control applications for the iPhone.
It does just one thing: It's a numeric keypad for you computer. Sit it down next to the keyboard, change the color scheme to match and tap away.
Of course, it's still a touch screen keypad, so you won't go as fast as you would with a real pad, but it has some advantages. One, it's always with you. Two, it works over Wi-Fi, so no cables, and three, it's good for lefties, too. When was the last time you saw a built in numeric keypad on the left? $2.
CNET - Dell plans to preload computers with more subscription-based functions. The idea: give IT another, presumably less expensive way to access a myriad of systems management functions through the "cloud." Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 20 Nov 2008 | 11:00 am
Socle Technology Corp, One of the World's Leading-Edge Providers of SoC Design, is First Member of ARM's IP Portfolio Program Which Enables Fabless Design Houses to Exploit the Widest... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 20 Nov 2008 | 10:35 am
In its special website section devoted to 30 years since Jonestown, the San Francisco Chronicle has republished a copy of a 1977 report on Jim Jones and People's Temple by Marshall Kilduff and Phil Tracy. The investigative report marked a turning point for People's Temple, an arc towards the catastrophic end that would come one year later. Before this exposé was published in New West magazine (because back then, the Chronicle's editor refused to run it), Jim Jones enjoyed what amounted to broad support and protection from news organizations, powerful social figures, and politicians who saw the influential preacher as a "deliverer of votes."
Collectively, they turned a blind eye to mounting reports of coercion, corruption, and physical and sexual abuse within his church. And they bear some responsibility for the tragedy that followed.
I agree with what one sfgate.com commenter wrote about the two tenacious reporters who fought to produce this piece:
30 years on, this is a piece that should be required reading by all journalism students at any level. To quote the 1998 article on why this was published in New West rather than the Chronicle, "Kilduff said that when he later proposed a story on Jim Jones, (San Francisco Chronicle city editor) Gavin said 'we had done a profile and that was sufficient.' I went at him several times, and said I thought we should do more. He didn't see it that way.'" Jones had co-opted the powers that were in the City, including the Chronicle, and only the persistence of Kilduff began to reveal the horrible truth.
Three decades later, the whole article is a must-read. I'll paste the final two paragraphs here:
[S]omething must be said about the numerous public officials and political figures who openly courted and befriended Jim Jones. While it appears that none of the public officials from [California] Governor [Jerry] Brown on down knew about the inner world of Peoples Temple, they have left the impression that they used Jones to deliver votes at election time and never asked any questions. They never asked about the bodyguards. Never asked about the church's locked doors. Never asked why Jones's followers were so obsessively protective of him. And apparently, some never asked because they didn't want to know.
The story of Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple is not over. In fact, it has only begun to be told. If there is any solace to be gained from the tale of exploitation and human foible told by the former temple members in these pages, it is that even such a power as Jim Jones cannot always contain his followers. Those who left had nowhere to go and every reason to fear pursuit. Yet they persevered. If Jones is ever to be stripped of his power, it will not be because of vendetta or persecution, but rather because of the courage of these people who stepped forward and spoke out.
What lesson should we learn from this today? Why does this matter now? Snip from an extensive piece in today's Washington Post by Charles A. Krause, one of the journalists who survived the November, 1978 trip to Jonestown with Congressman Ryan:
Many Jonestown survivors and their families believe that the lessons of Jonestown are to remember and guard against demagogues who use religion as a cover for fraud, deception and imposing their own sometimes dangerous social and political beliefs on their naive and unsuspecting followers.
(...)
It was that theme that dominated Tuesday's memorial service at the mass grave in Oakland. In an emotional and highly charged address, the Rev. Amos Brown, bishop at San Francisco's Third Baptist Church and president of the San Francisco NAACP, warned the mourners to beware of religious leaders who claim to have all the answers and insinuate themselves into politics, as Jones did so effectively in San Francisco.
"Good religion elevates folk, it teaches people to think for themselves. Good religion isn't authoritarian. Good religion isn't bigoted," he said. "Open up your eyes, America. America isn't a theocracy, it's a democracy. . . . And that is the lesson we must learn from Jonestown."
Boing Boing posts on Jim Jones, Jonestown and People's Temple:
DENVER, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- This could be the loneliest Christmas in years for our troops. With an economy that's anything but merry, the number of holiday... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 20 Nov 2008 | 10:07 am
The single most comprehensive online public resource for original source material related to Jonestown is Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple, a website sponsored by San Diego State University's Department of Religious Studies. The site includes scanned documents, photographs, first-person testimonies and reflections, and a periodic email newsletter with updates on research, and the whereabouts of those who survived.
The section I've spent the most time in is the Audiotape Project Index, which includes copies of original recordings made by People's Temple members in California and Guyana.
Some of the cassette recordings at the SDSU website were retrieved from Jonestown by the FBI; others are in the possession of the FCC, which monitored radio transmissions from the compound. I'm not clear on the specifics, but it seems many of the original recordings in government possession are lost, missing, or still classified and unavailable to the public. Some ham radio operators once maintained a website documenting their battle to get the FCC to release more shortwave radio recordings from Jonestown, but the website is now offline.
Three examples of the recordings in this collection:
* FBI #Q 042, "The Death Tape", made in Jonestown on 18 November 1978, during the mass deaths. Warning: the audio is very disturbing. You can hear children dying. Here is the audio at archive.org.
* FBI #Q594: In this tape recorded 5 days before the mass deaths, Jones and followers fantasize how they will torture and kill People's Temple defectors.
* FBI #Q174: music and entertainment performed by Peoples Temple members in October, 1978. An announcer speaks: "And now, ladies and gentlemen. We’re glad to have you here in Jonestown, Guyana. Sit back and enjoy yourself. We have a brief program. Presenting to you, the Jonestown Express."
The Jonestown Institute website is maintained by Elizabeth Parker, and archivist-historians Fielding McGehee III, and Dr. Rebecca Moore, an SDSU professor of religious studies. Together, they have played an instrumental role in preserving and digitally archiving many important historical documents related to People's Temple at SDSU, and with the California Historical Society. The SDSU site introduction expresses hope that visitors "will come away with an understanding that the story of Jonestown did not start or end on 18 November 1978. Dr. Moore has a personal connection to the tragedy: her two sisters died there. Annie Moore was Jim Jones' nurse, and Carolyn Moore Layton was his lover and lieutenant.
RELATED:
* The fact that so many Jonestown-related source materials went missing or remained classified for years has fed much speculation, and many conspiracy theories. This Feral House book includes an interesting essay by Jim Hougan which explores some of the wackier theories, and some of the possible links between Jonestown and various military/government activities involving the US or Guyana.
* Snip from a 1998 CNN item about how the lack of access to documents and audio recordings has fueld rumors of CIA involvement:
Some people believe CIA agents were posing as members of the Peoples Temple cult to gather information; others suggest the agency was conducting a mind-control experiment. In 1980, the House Select Committee on Intelligence determined that the CIA had no advance knowledge of the mass murder-suicide. The year before, the House Foreign Affairs Committee had concluded that cult leader Jim Jones "suffered extreme paranoia."
The committee -- now known as international relations -- released a 782-page report, but kept more than 5,000 other pages secret. Without those documents, it's hard to confirm or refute the speculations that have sprung up around Jonestown, said Melton, who planned to be in Washington Wednesday to ask for the documents' release.
George Berdes, chief consultant to the committee at the time of the investigation, told the San Francisco Chronicle the papers were classified to assure sources' confidentiality, but he thinks it is time to declassify them.
* Loren Coleman has a post up on his Copycat Effect blog about connections between the Jonestown deaths and the murders of then San Francisco political figures Harvey Milk and George Moscone. For some time before the extent of his insanity and destructive activity were known, Jones and his church -- in which most members were black, while most leaders were white -- received expressions of support from left/liberal politicians including Milk and Moscone, and black power activists like Angela Davis and Huey Newton.
Boing Boing posts on Jim Jones, Jonestown and People's Temple:
On-Dash eX-10 iPod and Bluetooth Controller Makes Ideal Holiday Gift for Drivers TORRANCE, Calif., Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Bluetooth(TM) in the car, with iPods(R)... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 20 Nov 2008 | 9:59 am
From corporate gifts to green stocking stuffers, charity gift cards solve the gift-giving dilemma SEATTLE, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Giving a better world has never been Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 20 Nov 2008 | 9:58 am
This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net In case you missed it, Microsoft released their dashboard update for the Xbox 360, dubbed the New Xbox Experience. Now those of you that also... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 20 Nov 2008 | 9:54 am
MOSCOW, Nov 20 (Reuters) - BP's Russian venture, TNK-BP, said on Thursday a minor fire disrupted oil output at its major Samotlor deposit in western Siberia, but the company hoped to resume production... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 20 Nov 2008 | 9:17 am
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AMSTERDAM, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Dutch engineering consultancy Fugro NV raised its full year profit forecast on Thursday as demand for its services to the oil industry continues to rise, but flagged a more... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 20 Nov 2008 | 9:10 am
PRAGUE, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Czech coal miner NWR is considering a share buyback due to the low share price, NWR's Chief Financial Officer Marek Jelinek said on Thursday. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 20 Nov 2008 | 9:03 am
And, according to several sources and some puzzling by me–if an agreement can be reached–I think that Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer’s top choice is former Yahoo tech star Qi Lu.
While this is by no means a done deal, Lu is just the kind of top tech exec that Ballmer and Microsoft would warm to over a more media-centric choice like former Yahoo COO Dan Rosensweig or former AOL head Jon Miller.
Lu was EVP of engineering for the Search and Advertising Technology Group at Yahoo (YHOO), where he ran all development initiatives for its search and monetization platforms. He was at Yahoo for a decade.
If Ballmer manages to pull off the hire of Lu–on the heels of already grabbing another top Yahoo search exec, Sean Suchter, which I reported on yesterday–the aggressive exec could almost be bypassing a Yahoo search partnership he has long sought by sucking the talent right out of the place instead.
Ballmer is like Edward in “Twilight,” attracting top-notch search execs to Microsoft’s Redmond HQ, as if they were geek versions of Bella.
Lu would be a different choice for the post than many had expected, with a much more technical background than one in online media or advertising sales.
But since all of Microsoft’s future rests on winning in the search and search advertising space and trying to catch up with its archrival Google (GOOG) from way back in the race, Lu is also well suited for the position.
If Lu takes the job, he will be the boss of three strong digital execs at Microsoft: Satya Nadella, the SVP who heads engineering for Microsoft’s search, portal and advertising platform group; Yusuf Mehdi, whose online services portfolio includes marketing, online audience business development and product management for MSN and the search properties; and Brian McAndrews, the SVP for the advertiser and publisher solutions group.
Lu is known as as solid manager, but he is also called a very nice man and unusually humble for a tech star by many, which could be a good influence on Microsoft.
Before Yahoo, Lu was on the staff of the IBM Almaden Research Center, and worked at both Carnegie Mellon University and Fudan University in China (he also got degrees from both places).
And, in the kind of cred Microsoft likes, Lu holds 20 U.S. patents.
He left Yahoo after becoming dissatisfied with all the turmoil here, quitting in June, without another job lined up.
There has also been speculation that Lu would take a position at Facebook or even return to China for a tech job.
The well-respected Lu certainly has a multitude of choices, but the chance to lead money-laden Microsoft’s digital efforts–as it suits up for battle with Google–is compelling.
Several people close to the situation say Microsoft’s Ballmer has been keeping the deliberations close to the vest–perhaps because so many of those he has targeted have declined to consider the job.
But this week, many sources both inside and outside the company have told me that Ballmer is close to announcing his choice.
Annoyingly, one source has decided to play a digital version of “The Da Vinci Code” with me, dribbling out clues–more technical than media, very well liked in Silicon Valley, humble–about the candidate, which he wanted me to solve as if I were Robert Langdon and on the hunt for the progeny of Jesus.
Well, my solution is in: Microsoft’s most promising digital Holy Grail is Lu.
You can see him at 4:14 minutes in the video, laughing at me, as I bother Greylock Partners’ VC David Sze and make a bad pun related to former Yahoo exec Jeff Weiner’s departure from Yahoo.
The single most comprehensive online public resource for original source material related to Jonestown is Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple, a website sponsored by San Diego State... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 20 Nov 2008 | 8:45 am
Reuters - Japanese Oscar-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki criticized Prime Minister Taro Aso's penchant for "manga" comic books Thursday and said children should spend more time experiencing nature than getting engrossed in video games and TV.
(TrendHunter.com) Victoria Beckham might have started a trend with her super short pixie haircut. At least Hollywood movie star Winona Ryder is jumping on the bandwagon. Winona Ryder debuted the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 20 Nov 2008 | 8:39 am
Today, Microsoft launched the New Xbox Experience for Xbox Live. The list of new features includes the streaming of TV shows and movies through Netflix, the ability to install games to the HDD, an avatar system, and the Community Games platform. The launch itself was shaky at first, but most issues have been smoothed out. Sony-owned Columbia Pictures immediately pulled their movie selection, though it may return when a licensing deal gets worked out. Halo 3 developer Bungie pointed out that not all games will run faster when installed to a HDD because of the way the games already interact with the drive.
Love it or hate it, you have to give Dave Ciccone’s of Mobility Today: the boy knows how to video review a phone. His 29 minute opus is so thorough that I felt like I was in his pocket, nestled up to his car keys.
For Sun Microsystems (JAVA), it has come down to this: The stock is now trading for the net value of the cash and investments on its balance sheet.
As of September 30, the company had $2.63 billion in short-term cash and investments. Add in $490 million in long-term investments, and back out $694 million in long-term debt, and you get net cash of $2.486 billion.
JAVA shares today have dropped another 34 cents, or 9.2 percent, to $3.38. It’s current market cap: $2.49 billion.
We haven’t heard from Dospara for a while, so perhaps you were wondering what they have been up to. Well don’t worry, they have been doing exactly the same as everybody else: making a netbook.
I’m sure you could recite these specifications blindfolded, but in the interest of comparison I will tell you. It has a 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, a 120GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, 1,024 x 600 screen, 802.11b/g WiFi, Linux and a reasonable battery. To be honest, it is exactly the same as loads of other netbooks, and that is the point that I want to make.
Coming in at $413 it has an average price, with average spec and average looks: the netbook market is most definitely stagnating. As if to prove my point I discovered Epson’s Endeavor Na01 which I was not astonished to find that they were incredibly similar. Processor? Same. Operating system? Same. RAM? Same. USB ports? Same. Resolution? Same! They even share the same drab black color which means that if it wasn’t for the manufacturer’s name on them, you would be hard pushed to tell them apart.
They also come within $50 of each other and it would appear that within a year of this craze all the manufacturers are getting in on the act with their own branded monotonous netbooks (apart from the Dell, Acer, Asus, and HP editions). Yes, there is a possibility that this is driving prices down, and it does give you more choice, but it is getting to the point that one is overwhelmed.
This may seem like a bit of a rant (and that is probably because it is) but I think the way in which these companies follow the pioneers in the field like a pet, waiting till they are successful before putting their neck out, is really bad for the industry. Where is the excitement? Where is the color? The problem with netbooks is that people accept that they are only really for going on the web, so there are no real improvements on the old netbooks. No new colors, no more RAM or storage, no interesting designs, just the same old, same old.
So please, can all you manufacturers out there, can you please use your imagination and get back to where computing should be: the pinnacle of design? Brave new design, controversy, the thrill that comes when you are in suspense to see which laptop has the best graphics, the excitement as you pre-order the best that a handhold gadget can offer and the crushing blow as your mate gets a better one a week later.
This is my pre-Christmas wish: can someone make netbooks exiting again?
There’s nothing new about mobile computing. In the early 90s the industry promised a range of devices from tablets to mini-laptops to smaller handheld PDAs. Apple’s pioneering offering, the 1993 Newton Message Pad, sought to deliver a sophisticated new operating system and development environment running a unique new platform based upon low power, ARM RISC processors the company codeveloped with Acorn.
By Arik Hesseldahl, Technology Writer, BusinessWeek
From the first time Steve Jobs demonstrated “the pinch”—the two-finger gesture used to zoom in and out of photos and Web pages on the iPhone—some Apple observers assumed it was just a matter of time before a multitouch-enabled screen showed up on the Mac. That hasn’t happened yet. But as of Nov. 19, Hewlett-Packard has beaten Apple to the punch, announcing the first multitouch-enabled notebook PC, the tx2. I can’t help but wonder whether Apple just lost an important race.
Back in 2005, when Microsoft was first mulling the idea of offering security software, we noted that the company was between something of a rock and a hard place. If it decided to charge for the software, people would accuse the company of trying to get people to pay to protect themselves from the security vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s own software. Yet, if they went free, then they would face screams about antitrust violations for undercutting competitors in the security software market. We also suggested a third option: design better software that doesn’t need security software. But, failing that, Microsoft chose what I think was the worst of the three options: selling security software
I am very impressed lately by Google’s commitment to open source. Specifically, I love their “Catch and Release”strategy for developing their ecosystem of developers and partners. This strategy for ecosystem development is much different than Microsoft’s old model (closed ecosystem embrace and extend). Google is earning credibility in a new way by enabling key technology and then by releasing code for open collaboration and development - Catch and Release.
If you want to listen to an interesting discussion on what happened with Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s leaving his job and what’s next for the troubled Internet giant, well-known Internet analyst and now consultant Charlene Li (pictured) and I talked yesterday with Forum host Michael Krasny for the “Forum” radio show on San Francisco’s KQED public radio.
The first part of the show is about Iraq (also a great talk), but if you are interested in just Yahoo, click through to the 24-minute mark.
By Lance Ulanoff, Editor in Chief, PC Magazine Network
The January 2009 issue of PC Magazine will mark a monumental transition for the publication. It is the last printed edition of this venerable publication. Of course, as with any technology-related enterprise, this is not the end, but the beginning of something exciting and new. Starting in February 2009, PC Magazine will become a 100-percent digital publication.
Just a few months after letting loose their 128GB SSD, Samsung is joining Micron and Toshiba in the exclusive Quartergig Solid club in South _____shire (that’s for all the Austen fans). The new drive boasts read speeds up to 220MB/s and writes up to 200MB/s, which makes it half-faster than the Microns and way faster than the Toshibas.
If the river were lager and I were a duck, I’d buy a Trufill concept device designed for stadiums that can fill ten pints of beer in ten seconds and drink it all up. This amazing new concept uses magic and space technology to fill up glasses from the bottom up. How? I don’t know. No one knows. All we know is that we have to go visit FoodBev next week and if this amazing system is true my drink will be on so hard that it will be difficult for me to post from Monday to Friday anymore.
MMS is coming to the iPhone 3G! Buy stock in Apple!
* Note: 3G only available in Finland and on the Telia network. This post does not in any way imply that Apple and/or AT&T will offer MMS support in the United States. This application only work on Telia’s network and it should not be suggested by the tone or wording of this post that you should be excited by the prospect of MMS for the iPhone and, in fact, maybe a little something like cut and paste would probably be worth Apple’s time - hell, Telia’s time - rather than recreating the email experience over cellular networks. Seriously, who still uses MMS anyway?
CrunchGear is not responsible for any excitement we may have caused with our headline or body text. Do not read CrunchGear if you are pregnant or nursing or have a heart condition. If erections last over four hours after reading CrunchGear consult a doctor.
FROM APPLETELL - Cube, a first-person shooter for desktops, has been ported to the iPhone. The best news of all is that it drops at a very attractive price…free. But, as you might suspect, it’s not perfect. MORE »
By Luke Anderson I’ve been lucky enough to never have been in a car wreck that left me unable to easily exit the vehicle. Unfortunately such situations do occur, and you really need to be prepared... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 20 Nov 2008 | 6:52 am
By Luke Anderson I’ve always thought that spray bottles were a great invention. They disburse liquids in either a mist or stream with a minimal amount of effort on your part. My only complaint is... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 20 Nov 2008 | 6:51 am
I love the Buddha Machine, a little plastic ambient music generator that looks like a transitor radio -- put two or three in a room together and play them at the same time and you get something haunting,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 20 Nov 2008 | 6:33 am
I love the Buddha Machine, a little plastic ambient music generator that looks like a transitor radio -- put two or three in a room together and play them at the same time and you get something haunting, bent and hypnotic. Now there's a new version, with more loops, colors, and sound-tweaking options.
The Buddha Box 2 features nine new ambient sound loops. The new selection is noticeably more diverse than those of its predecessor--a welcome change. One of my biggest issues with the first incarnation of the box was its relatively limited aural palate. The selections on number 2 should fit a wider range of ambient-suitable scenarios. For further variation, the box also includes a wheel that bends the loops' pitch, to help you tailor the sound perfectly to its surroundings.
Writer/game designer/film-maker Jim Munroe sez, IFComp 2008, The 14th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition and keeper of the old-school text-game torch, recently declared its winners. Bronze went... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 20 Nov 2008 | 6:31 am
IFComp 2008, The 14th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition and keeper of the old-school text-game torch, recently declared its winners. Bronze went to my game, Everybody Dies, silver went to Eric Eve's Nightfall, and the gold went to Jeremy Freese's Violet.
Everybody Dies puts you in the shoes of a chubby metalhead who has smoked his last smoke, with illustrations by Michael Cho; Nightfall drops you into a mysterious city where everyone's fled before the approaching Enemy; and in Violet your struggle to write your dissertation is aided by the most charming voice-in-your-head character in history.
Peter Ha is walking because of one thing: hope. And modern medicine. So two things, but the hope thing is much more interesting. That’s why I’m asking that you to nominateCG in one of the categories, I’d recommend best tech blog, in the 2008 Weblogs Award. But don’t do it for me, friends. Do it for Peter Ha. When Peter Ha was little he had an advanced case of rickets that was cured, almost miraculously, when his mother told him that one day, if he learned to walk again, he would win the 2008 Weblog Awards for Best Technology Blog. That day was 20 odd years in coming, but I’d love for that day to be whenever they announce the awards this year. We can do this thing. We can do this thing for little Peter Ha.
Bell Canada, the giant Canadian telco, is before the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission over its throttling practices, whereby it secretly corrupted the download sessions of its customers. The company also interfered with the connections initiated by its wholesale customers -- ISPs that leased lines from the giant and re-sold them to end-users. Bell said that it had to cripple everyone's connections, or the people who bought network access from its wholesale customers would get a better service than its own retail customers, which would be "unfair" to retail customers. Steve sez,
According to the CBC, after twice delaying the ruling, the CRTC will make a landmark decision on the Bell Throttling case by 9 a.m. tomorrow. The decision will determine whether Bell Canada has violated the Telecommunications Act by slowing down the Internet access it sells to wholesale customers.
Steve Anderson from SaveOurNet.ca coalition will be available for comment.
Steve said today, “This decision has huge implications for Internet service competition online innovation, consumer choice and free speech. The biggest battle over the Internet is yet to come, but this ruling will signal whether the CRTC is willing to take action to put Canada on a path that supports online innovation, and online choice. Otherwise the CRTC is abdicating its responsibility to Canadian people and putting us on a path towards a more closed Internet defined by the interests of big telecom companies.”
Every time I'm asked whether I'd consider moving back to Canada sometime, the answer is the same: "Not until the country gets some real telcom regulation." I earn my living on the Internet. I can't afford to live somewhere where the telcos get to throw away your packets if they don't fit their business model.
Whew! I just churned out almost a thousand words about the latest iPhone killer. But this is no mere half hearted attempt at making a touch compatible device. RIM's BlackBerry Storm seeks to be just as good and even improve on aspects of the Jesus phone. Here take a dash of what I just wrote:
How the hell do you brew up an iPhone killer?
Short of cracking open Steve Jobs's head and slurping out his big
think-y brain, there's always creating a half-assed imitation that
masters one aspect of the Jesus phone and fumbles the snap on virtually
every other feature. That seems to be the model handset manufacturers
have been using for almost two years as they churn out a seemingly
endless line of touchscreen enabled iPhone imitators — iClones. There
have been Instincts, Dares, Beholds, Diamonds, G1s — even something
with the obtuse moniker of Viewty — but none of these come remotely
close to knocking the iPhone off its perch as King Of All Touchscreens.
And heaven forbid any one of them improve on the flaws (and there are
many) that the iPhone possesses.
FROM GAMERTELL - Amazon is offering a pre-Black Friday deal today (November 19, 2008), where if you buy 2 or 3 select PC, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 titles, you will receive a $25 or $50 credit on a future Amazon video game purchase. MORE »
Buying an Apple computer? Get ready to throw away your monitor, over and over again. New Apple hardware is shipping with "HDCP" anti-copying technology that prevents showing some video on "non-compliant" monitors. Best part: the list of "compliant" monitors will change over time: the monitor you buy today can be "revoked" tomorrow and stop working.
Slashdot says that Apple's added "copyright protection" to its video. But copyright law isn't violated when you watch a movie on an "unapproved" monitor. This isn't about enforcing copyright law, it's about giving a small handful of movie companies a veto over hardware designs.
Yesterday, our buddy David Chartier at Ars and Sam Oliver at AppleInsider both publicized an issue that's been burning up the support boards for a while now: iTunes video rentals and purchases in HD are flagged for HDCP control, and in cooperation with the new Mini DisplayPort connector on the MacBook and MacBook Pro unibody models, those movies and TV shows are refusing to play back on non-compliant external displays.
In this case, 'compliant' means HDMI or recent-vintage DVI, but even monitors or TVs that support HDCP may not properly negotiate with the DisplayPort connector to give iTunes and QuickTime the all-clear signal (if so, quitting and relaunching iTunes once the display is hooked up may clear the playback hold).
Equally annoying: HDCP is only supposed to apply to 'high-value' digital streams, meaning standard-def purchases and rentals on the iTunes store should be out of scope... but some reports indicate that both the HD and SD instances are flagged, blocking playback on anything but the laptop's internal display or a straight-thru HDMI connection. Argh!
Remember your Apple TV? That thing next to the TiVo? It’s ready for its upgrade. The improvements are very minor but it now supports third-party remote control learning and AirTunes streaming to other audio outputs including Airport Express speakers as well as other Apple TVs. You should be able to download the new firmware in Settings.
AirTunes Streaming from Apple TV Music can be streamed via AirTunes to Airport Express speakers or other Apple TVs in your house.
Third-party Remote Controls Apple TV can now learn other remote controls and use them in addition to the Apple Remote.
Playlists Playlists in iTunes that contain Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, and Music Videos can now be seen on Apple TV.
Music Volume Control Support for volume control in Music.
coondoggie writes "NASA is trying to decide between eight space exploration missions that include further exploring Venus and comet composition as well landing on an asteroid or examining the space around Jupiter. The space agency today began accepting solicitations for these space exploration opportunities and will ultimately pick one of them to begin perusing in 2009 with a launch date targeted at 2018. The solicitations and ultimate expedition are part of NASA's New Frontiers program, which has as its main objective to explore the solar system with medium-class spacecraft missions that will conduct high-quality, focused scientific investigations, NASA said. The first New Frontiers mission was selected in 2003 and will result in the launch of Juno, a Jupiter polar orbiter mission set to blast off in 2011."
AP - Microsoft Corp. is giving an early holiday gift to people who pay for all-you-can-listen access to the Zune digital music store: 10 songs to keep each month, included in the $14.99 monthly subscription fee.
Thirty years ago this week, nearly a thousand adults and children lost their lives in Jonestown, Guyana. The settlement was also known as "Peoples Temple Agricultural Project", and was formed by followers of the Reverend Jim Jones and Peoples Temple.
Today, some refer to the mass deaths as suicide, others murder. We still don't really know all the facts of what happened, or how, or exactly why. Autopsies were botched, records and forensic evidence were mis-handled, and many of the US government's documents remain classified, out of reach of FOIA requests.
But we do understand that most of the people who died on November 18, 1978 drank fruit-flavored Flavor-Aid laced with a variety of intoxicants and poisons: Valium, chloral hydrate, and cyanide. The victims included hundreds of children. Many of the corpses, including children, bore puncture wounds indicating they received lethal cyanide injections. Adults who resisted were injected with cyanide or killed by gushot.
Jones' followers had moved from their Northern California base to the South American jungle the year before. The promise: they'd build a utopian, agrarian, interracial community in Guyana, which had a Socialist goverment at the time. Jonestown was to be free from racism, sexism, and ageism, and founded on communist principles. Jones told his followers to think of him as a living incarnation of Jesus Christ, and God.
Over the past 30 years, many documentaries, books, and articles have been produced about Jones, Peoples Temple, and Jonestown. I'll be blogging pointers to some of them today.
I want to start with the one I've returned to again and again -- a radio documentary from 1981 that for me, also defines what radio journalism can achieve. "Father Cares: The Last of Jonestown," was co-written by my NPR colleague Noah Adams. Here's a snip from the original introduction on npr.org:
In the months preceding the tragedy, Jim Jones and his People’s Temple followers recorded their tho ughts, their problems and their aspirations. The hundreds of hours of audio tape form the basis of [this] NPR documentary (...) written by James Reston, Jr and Noah Adams, and produced by Deborah Amos. It was based on the tapes Reston acquired under the Freedom of Information Act, and won most major broadcast awards including the Dupont Col umbia Award, the National Headliner Award and the Prix Italia.
Father Cares: The Last of Jonestown recaptures the final months for the People’s Temple cult. After problems arose for the group in San Francisco, they moved to the South American jungle during the 1970's. In 1978, reports of an increasingly hostile and controlling atmosphere by Jones led to a Congressional fact-finding mission into the cult. As the group, led by Rep. Leo J. Ryan (D-Calif.), was preparing to leave they were ambushed. Ryan, three American journalists and a Peoples Temple defector were killed. A dozen other people were injured. The incident was just hours prior to the deaths of the cult members.
You may also want to obtain a copy of Reston's book, for which this radio work was, in part, preparatory research: Our Father, Who Art In Hell.
I stayed up all night last Saturday listening to Father Cares in entirety. I really hope you listen to it. It is a profound example of the power of radio as a storytelling medium. It captures the souls of those who died, and those who survived, with a sense of lasting respect and sorrow.
Boing Boing posts on Jim Jones, Jonestown and People's Temple:
The LA Weekly published an article by Barry Isaacson about the discovery earlier this year of a number of letters sent by a Jonestown resident to her parents, who lived in LA's Silver Lake neighborhood.
Phyllis and her family were dead for more than a decade by the time her elderly parents moved out of their house in Silver Lake in 1992. Architectural real estate agents had to bring the exquisite midcentury modern on Micheltorena Street back from the brink of decrepitude before selling it to my wife, Jenny, and me. Handing over the keys, they told us that, according to neighborhood folklore, the Alexanders might have left behind a concealed suitcase containing correspondence from their long-dead daughter and grandchildren. We looked but found nothing, and having been made aware of the circumstances of this family’s demise, we felt reluctant to intrude on an almost unimaginable grief.
But this past February, 10 years after we started to raise a family of our own where the Alexanders had raised theirs, a handyman working on our house emerged from the basement carrying a dusty vinyl briefcase. Inside was an extensive collection of press clippings, evidence of an almost obsessive attempt by the Alexanders to make sense of their daughter’s fatal acts of bad judgment.
In a separate envelope were letters written by Phyllis from San Francisco and later from Jonestown, Guyana, where she and her husband had moved with their children in 1975. There were fond letters to their grandparents from Gail and David. The most moving document in the cache was a carbon copy of a painful valediction from Dr. Alexander to Phyllis, written on an old manual typewriter on September 21, 1977. Tenderly, but with eloquent firmness, he reprimands her, perplexed and offended by her embrace of Jim Jones, the deviant cuckoo who had flown into the Alexanders’ nest and whom Phyllis and her fellow Peoples Temple members called “Dad.”
Current TV contributor Charmoshproduced this interview with Jordan Vilchez, a Jonestown survivor who lives in the Bay Area. In 1971, cult leader Jim Jones established the headquarters of the Peoples Temple on Geary Boulevard in San Francisco, CA. The building is now a US Post Office. Vilchez, a survivor of mass deaths in Jonestown, Guyana in 1978, remembers what it was like in the early days of the Peoples Temple. (thanks, Gabriel del Rio)
Boing Boing posts on Jim Jones, Jonestown and People's Temple:
Reuters - Yahoo Inc announced an expansion of its mobile Web portals to T-mobile, so its smart phone users who get data will have Yahoo search by default. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 20 Nov 2008 | 5:38 am
This story has all the makings of a tragic soap: a vulnerable love sick teenager, a sick vengeful adult and death. Unfortunately this story is not confined to the pages of a book, but is a reality that took place in October 2006 and resulted in Megan Meier, aged 13 at the time, taking her own life. But why did she do it? What had happened before? Who caused it? And what does this have to do with technology?
It all started when Megan fell out with the daughter of her neighbor Ms Drew in St Louis, prompting Ms Drew to take it upon herself to spite Megan. She did this by creating a fictitious 16 year old boy, Josh Evans, who lived in the local area which she did by creating a fake MySpace account. This was then used to contact the unassuming Megan, and create a friendship, although the implication is that Megan believed it to be more serious than that.
But why would she do this? The idea was to get back at Megan by then breaking up the virtual relationship, which of course would cause harm to Megan—the aim of the whole scheme. However the comments were incredibly harsh, including one that said the world would be better of without her and a distraught Megan took her own life. Now, Ms. Drew is on trial under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, something only previously used against computer hackers but the only law in Missouri that the prosecutors could take her to court for.
Although she is not being directly charged with the death of Megan (the judge had considered this, but later dismissed the idea of excluding suicide evidence) she could still end up with a 5 year prison sentence. However this will end up being a very gray area, as Dean Steward the defense lawyer believes “The jury is going to end up thinking that Lori Drew is being tried for the death of Megan Meier. . .“ Nevertheless, there is still a chance that the jury will take this into account regardless, which although is not ideal, it could result in a full 5 year sentence.
So what can we learn? Firstly that there are bad people out there, and that we are in danger of becoming immune to this threat because of the amount that it is publicized. Perhaps the teens of today don’t care what adults say and will go out of their way do to the opposite, but we must remember that they are still vulnerable and that social networking can be dangerous. So if you are considering getting back at an ex, a hated enemy or an irritating boss, remember that it is not hard to track this kind of thing.
Man, Zunes are getting to be sweeter deals by the minute. The prices just dropped, an update with free games and stuff just hit, and now the $15 Zune Pass that lets you listen to as much music as you want also lets you keep 10 tracks a month. If you’re looking to buy a new media player this holiday season, Zunes are looking better and better.
The ‘iPhone killer’ label (which I hate using – BTW) as been thrown around since the first touch-screen device hit the market after the original iPhone was launched last year. Unfortunately, nothing has been able to live up to the hype. Both consumers (you) and techies (us) have been eagerly awaiting the launch of the Storm in the hopes that it would knock down the iPhone a peg or even level the playing field. I don’t want to dash your dreams, but the Storm is not on par with the iPhone. It is, however, the closest device available on the market today to compete with the iPhone, but that’s not saying much. Imagine the iPhone being on top of a mountain with the rest of the touch-screen devices at base camp. The Storm sits atop all the rest, but it’s still at base camp.
Video after the jump.
The Good
E-mail
It’s a BlackBerry through and through so there are no problems here. You can swipe through e-mails by going left to right and vice versa, but swiping from right to left on the last e-mail will put you back at your inbox.
Cut/Paste
It’s not the most intuitive feature jumping from a standard QWERTY BlackBerry, but the iPhone doesn’t have it so that’s saying something. However, it doesn’t always register my tap or click in the right spot, which is extremely frustrating. The point is that, I don’t want to take an extra 10 seconds or more to tap/click the sweet spot to select exactly what I want. It works great on my Curve and Bold and takes far less time. But, again, the Storm has it and the iPhone does not. Take it however you want.
Browser
I had zero issues with the Storm’s browser. Zooming in and out is simple and it seems to load most pages fine except the NYTs as it reverts to the mobile edition and doesn’t want to load the regular site. Anything with a lot of Javascript chorks though. Everywhere else on the device there are scroll up/scroll down keys but they’re missing on the browser. Seems like an odd move, but the navigation bar would be a bit crowded.
Camera
It has a flash and ‘auto focuses’ as well as takes video. It even zooms in and out by swiping from corner to the center or vice versa. Picture quality is very good and certainly beats out the iPhone. It takes a very long time to focus and capture an image (slower than the iPhone). I believe it’s best suited for still photography.
Visual Voicemail
The interface is very similar to that of the iPhone and works just fine.
Application Center
There are currently eight applications available that include: Visual Voicemail, VZ Navigator, Flickr, Facebook, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger. It’s no Apple App Store but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.
Media
I wasn’t able to test all video formats, so I apologize for that in advance, but the Storm was able to handle all the formats (mostly MP4s) that I threw onto it. The default music player is nothing fancy, but it plays music and that’s all I need it to do. Because of the screen’s size pictures look crisp and sharp and you can swipe across the screen to get from one picture to another.
Call quality
Seemed fine to me and those on the other end said I came across crystal clear. Voice dialing was peppy and fairly accurate.
The Bad
I like the way RIM handled the touch-screen because it’s different than what every other manufacturer has done, but I’m not the biggest fan of the clickable screen. It’s a BlackBerry, first and foremost, and it’s meant to knock out e-mails, texts, and IMs and I just can’t do those things as efficiently as I would on a standard BlackBerry. When you pull up any one of the three keyboards you lose half the screen. Yes, the iPhone falls into that trap as well, but I’m also making a direct comparison to other BlackBerrys here. I don’t want to lose that big beautiful screen just because I need to type something.
Because of the nature of the screen I worry that all the dust and dirt will affect its performance in the long run by burrowing into the sides.
The accelerometer is spastic on the Storm. It reorientates itself far too often. I ran into some issues when taking the Storm out of my pocket and unlocking it when it was still in landscape mode where it remained for some time. It’s best to let the Storm get back into portrait mode before unlocking.
I think it’s safe to say that BlackBerry users rely on shortcuts and the Storm obviously fails in this department. By pressing down on the Home key you’re presented with the active apps menu (alt-back button on all other BlackBerrys), but it simply doesn’t get the job done.
The lack of physical keys also takes away the ability to soft and hard reset the Storm. Are we supposed to take the battery out every time we want to reset the device?
Grey area
OS
RIM, please stop worrying about the hardware and speed up the OS updates. Yes, it’s always stable when released, but I don’t like waiting years and years for you to update the software (HTML e-mail, anyone?). You can’t take a nap in this department anymore.
Overall
I love BlackBerrys and will finally admit that the iPhone is not stupid. I refuse to give up one for another and so I carry around both devices. I wish the Storm were the real iPhone killer, but it’s not and I’m afraid there won’t be anything to ‘kill’ it. So, let’s all just move on until someone makes some decent hardware for Android, but that’s neither here nor there. If you can get used to the click screen and I’m sure you will (and so will I, but I’ve only had it for 36 hours thus far) then the Storm combines what’s great about RIM and their products and does a decent job of bringing in the touch-screen aspect. I won’t be ditching my Bold or iPhone 3G for the Storm, but if you’ve been waiting for it then I strongly encourage you to go to your local Verizon Wireless store and spend some time with it. I don’t think hardcore BlackBerry users will like it if you’re used to shortcuts and hot keys and hammering out text, but if you’re a casual user looking for a touch-screen device (which is the market RIM seems to be going after here) then go for it.
If there’s something specific you’d like me to take a look at then please drop a comment and I’ll do my best to answer them.
1820: The whaling ship Essex is rammed and sunk by a sperm whale 2,000 miles off the west coast of South America. The ordeal of the crew inspires Herman Melville's classic, Moby Dick.
The Essex was an aging vessel from Nantucket, which at the time possessed the largest whaling fleet in the world. The three-masted ship was 87 feet long and weighed 238 tons. She was captained by George Pollard Jr., at 28 already an experienced whaler.
By November 1820 the Essex had been at sea for over a year (three years out was not uncommon), surviving an early knockdown in an Atlantic squall and a rough passage around Cape Horn. Once the ship reached the fertile Pacific whaling grounds, however, things began looking up.
If the risks of whaling were many, the rewards could be great. Whale oil was prized as a lighting fuel. A successful voyage could make a captain wealthy, and meant a good payday for the crew as well. The Essex had taken its share of whales and on Nov. 20 appeared ready to take a few more when a pod was sighted off the starboard beam.
The ship's three remaining whaleboats — one had been destroyed by a whale's flukes during an earlier hunt — were dispatched for the kill. As the harpooning began, First Mate Owen Chase, commanding one of the whaleboats, looked back and saw a large sperm whale, which he estimated at 85 feet, approaching the Essex.
As he watched helplessly, the whale propelled itself into the ship with great force. Some crewmen on board were knocked off their feet by the collision, and Chase watched in disbelief as the whale drew back and rammed the ship again. This time the Essex was holed below the waterline, and doomed.
The crew organized what provisions they could and two days later abandoned ship aboard the three whaleboats. Twenty men left the Essex. Eight would ultimately survive the harrowing ordeal that played out over the next three months.
Fearing the "cannibalistic savages" of the South Seas islands (the irony of that reasoning will become apparent momentarily), Pollard decided to head for the more distant coastlines of Chile or Peru, first heading south to catch the expected favorable winds.
The winds, it turned out, weren't favorable at all, but Pollard was determined to reach South America. Eventually the three boats became separated from one another. One vanished and was never heard from again. The other two, one commanded by Pollard and the other by Chase, thrashed against the elements, and as the provisions dwindled and ran out, men began to die.
The first to go were given proper burials at sea, but as food ran out and the survivors on both boats became delirious from hunger, they turned to cannibalism. In Pollard's boat, straws were drawn to see who of the remaining four would be sacrificed so that the other three might survive. Pollard's young cousin, Owen Coffin, drew short straw. He was shot and eaten.
Only two men on that boat, Pollard and Charles Ramsdell, were alive when they were rescued by the whaling ship Dauphin after 95 days in an open boat. Chase and the survivors of his boat were picked up after 90 days. Three other men, who had chosen to remain on a small island shortly after the ordeal began, were also rescued.
What is known of the details of the ship's ill-fated voyage rests largely on Chase's memoir. He could offer no reason why the whale should attack the ship. But another young Nantucket whaleman, Herman Melville, drew his own conclusions. Moby Dick was a very, very smart whale.
When a giant sperm whale rammed a whaling vessel in 1820, the deadly encounter inspired Herman Melville's classic novel, Moby Dick.
Melville's story, inspired by real-life man-versus-beast mayhem from the 1800s, made it to movie screens in the 1950s. Director John Huston's Moby Dick was evidence of Hollywood's growing fascination with giant, thrashing creatures.
Here are some of the best beasties ever captured on celluloid.
Left:
Captain Ahab (played by Gregory Peck) battles the great white whale in Moby Dick.
:
A giant squid battles Captain Nemo (played by James Mason) in Walt Disney's 1954 production, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
:
Another great white terror of the deep surfaced in 1975's Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg. The blockbuster scared beachgoers and spawned three sequels.
:
Not nearly as big as a whale, a giant squid or a great white shark, the Gill Man nevertheless emerged from murky waters to menace humans in 1954's Creature From the Black Lagoon, by director Jack Arnold.
:
In a black-and-white battle of the box office titans, Godzilla battles King Kong in the 1962 Japanese film, Kingu Kongu tai Gojira. Only unlucky structures get between the behemoths in director Ishirô Honda's movie.
:
Bigger isn't always better. Suspense master Alfred Hitchcock turned seemingly innocuous seagulls into a giant, crowdsourced flying nightmare in 1963's The Birds.
:
A Tyrannosaurus rex foolishly liberated from the Forbidden Valley goes on a rampage in The Valley of Gwangi. Stop-motion animation great Ray Harryhausen created the creature for director Jim O'Connolly's 1969 flick.
:
Fussy intergalactic fat-ass Jabba the Hutt smokes out, Star Wars-style, in Return of the Jedi. The beast is known for his bad temper — and for keeping Princess Leia, dressed in her sexy slave girl outfit, on a chain.
:
Cuddly creatures turn into nightmarish beasts in 1984's Gremlins.
:
Creature-feature fans saw two classic extraterrestrials face off in 2004's AVP: Alien vs. Predator, by director Paul W.S. Anderson.
:
A hideous beast from god knows where thrashes Manhattan in 2008's Cloverfield. Director Matt Reeves did a masterful job of unveiling the monster, one blurry bit at a time.
After leading authorities to his wife's body, apologizing for killing her, agreeing to a 15-to-life term in prison, waiving his right to appeal, declaring that he knew what he was doing and had effective legal representation, Hans Reiser now claims that he thought the deal was for just three years — in his recently-filed appeal.
Reiser's handwritten request is the latest baffling move from the brilliant programmer, whose file system graces many Linux-based computers to this day.
In it, Wired reports, he suggests that his lawyer is delusional.
It’s hard to believe that nearly a year has gone by since we gave out those crazy gorilla awards to the best startup and product successes in Silicon Valley and around the world. Some of the photos from last year are here.
The Crunchies are back. We are once again partnering with some of our favorite blogs - thank you to co-hosts GigaOm, Silicon Alley Insider and VentureBeat (click the links for their announcements). Thanks as well to 1938 Media, our video production partner (see their first video below in the comments).
The Awards Ceremony will be held on Jan. 9, 2009, 7:30 pm at the Herbst Theater across the street from City Hall in San Francisco. The reception will follow and tickets will be released in December.
What we need from you right now: please nominate your favorite startups and products in fifteen categories. And remember, you’re judging them based on their 2008 performance. Nominations may be made until December 10, 2008 Midnight PST.
On December 15 we’ll begin the final voting process for the winners.
If you are a startup and want to encourage your users to vote for you, you can create a customized badge here.
Crunch Network: CrunchBasethe free database of technology companies, people, and investors
It’s not easy being a wrestler. Inside the ring your pounding an opponent’s head against the corner post, but outside the ring it’s hard to meet people. Nobody really wants to be your friend. Not even on MySpace. They say their your friends, but they are not really your friends.
Wrestlers aren’t stupid. They know everybody thinks they are just a bunch of clowns. That’s why the company that employs all the wrestlers you see on TV, World Wrestling Entertainment, created WWE Universe, a social network just for them and their fans. Okay, it’s not really a social network. It’s just a craptastic promotional vehicle. And some of those wrestlers aren’t so bright. But they are lonely.
Just because Mark Henry is the “world’s strongest man” doesn’t mean he doesn’t cry at night when all he has to keep him company is his pit bull, Theodore, and a can of beans. Or Zack Ryder. The poor guy might be a tag team champion, but when he goes home all he has to look forward to are watering his plants and watching reruns of Smackdown with his cat, Fluffy. Be friends with them. Don’t block them out of your life. They need you.
The only person who needs to be scared of these guys is Mark Zuckerberg. I sent Mark and Zack a message explaining that nobody is going to sign up to be their friends on the WWE Universe because everybody is over at Facebook. They didn’t respond so well to that news. Be scared Zuckerberg. Be very, very scared.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunchMobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
FROM GAMERTELL - It’s almost officially time to stop drooling and start throwing down folks. Capcom and Microsoft are double teaming fighting game fans with tomorrow’s official launch of the New Xbox Experience and the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. MORE »
If you’re in the market for a pair of excellent in-ears then take a gander at the Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 5 or Super.Fi 5vis. The latest entries to the Super.Fi series are aimed at the fashion conscience folk, but don’t skimp on the superb audio quality that UE is known for. Top-firing design is a fancy way of describing the single driver that pumps the audio into your noggin across a wide range providing thumping bass, vocals and clear highs. If they’re anything like my Super.Fi 5 Pros then you can’t go wrong. The 5vis have a mic for you folks who use your phone’s music player.
The Super.Fi 5 retails for $170 while the Super.Fi 5vi goes for $190. Look for a review next week.
One of the hottest gifts this holiday season is going to be GPSs. Everyone, at some point in their life, has gotten lost multiple times while on the road and owning a GPS these days seems almost as necessary as having a cell phone.
In case you want a general idea of what to look for in GPSs, you can check out Gadgetell’s Buying Guide for GPSs. However, if you are in need of a GPS and plan to buy one on Black Friday, then you will want to know what’s going to be sold at a cheap price and where it’s going to be sold.
We have three different GPS companies to talk about - TomTom, Magellan, and Garmin. Overall, we have four different GPS models that are going to be sold in many different stores. First, let’s begin with the TomTom One 125, which is going to be sold at Sears, Circuit City, Office Max, RadioShack, and Navy Exchange - all for the same price of $99.99.
This GPS comes with a 3.5 inch touch screen, voice guidance capabilities, FM Traffic updates, and maps of US and Canada. Right now, this GPS is available for $179.99 at Circuit City, so it definitely will be marked down by a lot come Black Friday.
Next up, we have the Magellan RoadMate 1200, which is going to be available at Meijer, Military BX, Sears, Target, and Navy Exchange. Meijer will be selling it for $89.99, Military BX for $95.00, Sears for $99.99, Target for $99.99, and Navy Exchange for $99.99. If there is a Meijer store located near you and you want to buy this GPS, you should probably head over there first to see if they have it in stock. Now, this GPS features a 3.5 inch touch screen, 1.3 million POIs, SD memory expansion, Auto-Route recalculation, as well as a Dash Mount. I went to the Target website for this GPS as well as the Sears website and right now they are selling this for $199.99 and $149.99, respectively. Again, this gives you some perspective on how much GPSs are being marked down.
Moving on, we have the Garmin nuvi 260 only available at Circuit City for $149.99. This GPS comes with a 3.5 inch touch screen, SD memory expansion, maps of the United States and Canada, picture display, many POIs, and voice guidance. Also, this GPS is available right now for $249.99 at Circuit City.
Lastly, we have the Garmin nuvi 260W, which is only available at Best Buy for $189.99. This comes with maps of North America, a 4.3 inch QVGA TFT LCD touch screen with 320 x 240 resolution, SD memory expansion, automatic rerouting, and a high-sensitivity receiver, meaning it will calculate available routes fast. Also comes with voice guidance, POIs, conversion calculators, 2D and 3D mapping, and a battery life of up to 5 hours. This is available right now at Best Buy for $299.99.
Stay tuned to Gadgetell for more GPS deals as they become available.
Roland Piquepaille writes "In recent months, the concept of 'cloud computing' was all the buzz. European researchers think about another name, the World Wide Grid, which could run on top of the Internet. In an article to appear soon, ICT Results will report about the g-Eclipse project. As the scientists said, 'the g-Eclipse project aims to build an integrated workbench framework to access the power of existing Grid infrastructures. The framework will be built on top of the reliable eco-system of the Eclipse community to enable a sustainable development.' The project started in July 2006 and was successfully completed in June 2008 for a total cost of 2.5 million including a EU contribution of 1.96 million."
Even Google is getting into the downsizing spirit. It just announced that it is killing Lively, its browser-baseed virtual worlds that could be embedded into other Websites. Lively launched just last July. The death notice on the site says it will shut down on December 31, so we are adding Lively to the deadpool.
Lively just never took off, and was extremely far afield for Google. A post on the Google Blog explains the decision:
. . . we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business.
We should have known something was up when we noticed that it didn’t work with Google’s own browser, Chrome. It’s Google Website Trends chart says it all. After an initial spike, it flat-lined. Hype can only go so far.
Maybe Google didn’t kill Lively so much as mercifully pull the plug. This is a good sign actually that Google is willing to weed out non=performing products. What else is being cut at Google?
What else should be?
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
To its fiercest devotees, one of the best things about the BlackBerry is its carefully designed physical keyboard, which the skilled BlackBerry addict can play like a violin. These folks scorn Apple’s popular iPhone, whose keyboard is virtual and must be operated by tapping on the screen.
But, on Friday, Verizon Wireless and Research in Motion (RIMM), the BlackBerry’s maker, will do the unthinkable: They will introduce a BlackBerry model without a physical keyboard, one where typing and navigating require tapping on glass, just as users do on the iPhone. This new model is called the BlackBerry Storm, and will sell for $250 with a two-year contract, though a $50 mail-in rebate can bring the price down close to the $199 that Apple (AAPL) charges for the base model of the iPhone.
Despite its lack of a keyboard, the Storm is a real BlackBerry in every other respect, with push email, corporate features and the familiar BlackBerry menus. In many respects, the Storm is a touch-based, large-screen version of the recently released BlackBerry Bold, which is the most polished version of a traditional BlackBerry. It is also the latest member of the new class of hand-held computers, the super-smart phone category kicked off by the iPhone last year and joined by the Google G1 earlier this year.
The Storm sports a large, high-resolution touch screen that fills most of its surface and automatically switches from portrait to landscape mode when the phone is turned. There’s also a forthcoming souped-up download store for third-party software, meant to be similar to the ones on the iPhone and the Google (GOOG) phone. And the Storm can even be used in European and other countries where most Verizon (VZ) phones don’t work.
BlackBerry Storm’s touch screen switches from portrait to landscape mode when turned, and aims to make typing on glass feel more like typing on a real keyboard.
However, the biggest innovation in the Storm is a clever feature RIM hopes will give it a big advantage over the iPhone. When you strike a key or icon on the Storm’s screen, you feel a physical sensation, as if you were pressing down on a real key or button. That’s because you are, in fact, pressing a real button. The entire glass display is one large button, mounted on a mechanical substructure that allows it to be depressed when pressure is applied.
The idea behind this feature is to make typing on glass feel much more like typing on a real keyboard, and thus to make the virtual keyboard, and the touch interface, more acceptable to people used to physical keyboards and buttons. This push-down screen also replaces the side-mounted scroll wheel or track ball on other BlackBerrys for activating menu choices and icons.
But, in my tests, this physical feedback feature, which RIM calls SurePress, didn’t magically turn the Storm’s touch interface and virtual keyboard into their physical counterparts. The feature does provide a more reassuring confirmation that a key has been struck or an icon has been clicked than the mere visual feedback one receives from the iPhone. But neither I, nor any of the several BlackBerry addicts I asked to try it out, considered typing on the Storm’s keyboard to be very similar to using the keyboard of a traditional full-sized BlackBerry.
In my opinion, using the Storm’s keyboard is much more like using the iPhone’s keyboard than a traditional BlackBerry’s. I found that I could type quite well on the Storm after awhile, but that a greater adjustment, and more practice, were required than with a physical keyboard.
The Storm also has a keyboard oddity that I found annoying, and that may put off others. It presents you with a full virtual keyboard only when you are holding it horizontally. When you hold the Storm vertically, you get a mashed-up keyboard, like the one on the narrower BlackBerry Pearl, which has multiple letters on each key. This keyboard design relies on software to guess which letter you meant to press. You can also switch to a virtual cellphone-style keypad that requires you to hit each key multiple times.
From left, BlackBerry Storm, Google G1, and iPhone 3G
This is a curious design decision. Once a company ditches a physical keyboard for a virtual one, it can create all kinds of keyboard variations. RIM could have offered a full, vertically oriented keyboard, even if it would have had smaller, more closely spaced keys.
RIM also failed to customize the Storm’s virtual keyboard for some common, specific tasks. For instance, on the iPhone, when you are typing in a Web address in the browser, the keyboard morphs to offer a convenient key that automatically enters “.com”. Not so on the Storm.
There’s another glaring deficit in the Storm: It lacks Wi-Fi capability. This means that, unlike on the Bold, the iPhone or the Google G1, if high-speed cellphone data service is absent or pokey, you can’t fall back on speedy Wi-Fi connections in public places. And, at home or in the office, you can’t take advantage of Wi-Fi connections that are often much faster than cellphone data networks.
The Storm has some important advantages over the iPhone. Its screen, while 7% smaller physically, offers about 13% higher resolution. Photos and videos look beautiful on it. It has much better battery life for phone calls than either the iPhone or the Google G1. While the latter two phones deliver just under their claimed five hours of talk time, in my tests, the Storm lasted a bit over six hours, which is actually half an hour more than its claimed 5.5 hours of talk time. And the Storm has a removable battery, unlike its Apple rival.
This new BlackBerry comes with more memory than the similarly priced base model of the iPhone — nine gigabytes versus eight gigabytes. And, unlike the iPhone’s memory, the Storm’s is expandable, via larger flash cards.
The Storm’s camera is much better than the iPhone’s, at 3.2 megapixels, versus just 2 megapixels for the Apple device. It also has zoom and flash, features the iPhone’s camera lacks. And, unlike the iPhone or the Google G1, the Storm can record videos. In my tests, all of these camera features worked well.
Also, the Storm has copy and paste functionality; MMS (a service for sending photos directly to other phones without using email); voice dialing; and the ability to act as a modem for your laptop. It also allows you to edit, and not just to view, Microsoft (MSFT) Office documents. All of these features are missing from the iPhone out of the box.
The Storm also has a better speaker than the iPhone, and a noise-canceling microphone system. Phone calls, even on speaker phone, were crisp, clear and plenty loud. Physically, the Storm is attractive but hardly svelte. While it’s about the same length and width as the iPhone, it is 15% thicker and 17% heavier — almost as heavy as the chunky G1.
The Verizon high-speed network on which the Storm runs is older and better-established than either the T-Mobile (DT) high-speed system the G1 uses or the AT&T (T) 3G network used by the current iPhone. Where Verizon’s high-speed data coverage is strong, the Storm flies.
But, because it lacks Wi-Fi, the Storm can be much slower at Web access than its main competitors. I tested these Web speeds in two hotels in Silicon Valley. In the first, where Verizon reception was strong, the Storm trounced the iPhone on cellphone data speeds, averaging over 800 kilobits per second to the iPhone’s 621 kbps over AT&T. But, when I switched the iPhone to use the hotel’s Wi-Fi network, it beat the Storm by 100 kbps or so.
At the second hotel, barely a mile away, the Storm’s lack of Wi-Fi hurt much more. There, Verizon’s signal was poor, and data speeds on the Storm averaged a horrible 96 kbps. But the iPhone on AT&T averaged 459 kbps, and on Wi-Fi the iPhone averaged 785 kbps.
My test Storm, which was a near-final model missing only a few minor software tweaks, was also sluggish at some tasks. It took noticeably longer than the iPhone to flip the first photo from landscape to portrait orientation, or to start the process of flipping through a series of photos by swiping them with a finger. And some other tasks were also slow. It’s possible that production models will be quicker.
Rim has tweaked the familiar BlackBerry user interface for the touch screen, and in general these changes worked well. You select the menu item or icon you want with a light touch, then press down on the screen to activate or confirm your choice. There are even a couple of cool new touch features. For instance, in a list of emails, if you lightly touch and hold one entry, the Storm shows you all messages in that thread.
But this combination of a light touch followed by a hard press on the large screen took some practice, just like typing did. It befuddled several BlackBerry veterans at first.
And some common tasks took more steps than on the iPhone. For instance, emailing a link from a Web page required four steps on the Storm, versus two on the Apple device. The Storm’s email system will be familiar to every BlackBerry user. It has the same corporate email features as other BlackBerrys, and I was easily able as well to use a BlackBerry Internet email account and to set up several personal email accounts, including Gmail.
The Web browser is much improved over the one in older BlackBerry models, and offers multiple ways to view and navigate pages, including one in which a finger moves a cursor, just as on a PC. But I found that panning and zooming in the browser was a bit slower and more awkward than on the iPhone. And, to make some Web sites work properly, I had to dig through menus to change options.
Using the BlackBerry desktop software, I was easily able to synchronize my calendar and contact data over a cable from a Windows PC. (There’s also Mac software for the same task.) But, unlike the iPhone or the G1, the Storm doesn’t offer wireless synchronization from consumer services, only from corporate servers.
The Storm’s multimedia software isn’t as fancy as the iPhone’s, but it’s better than the G1’s, and worked very well in my tests.
Overall, the Storm is a very capable handheld computer that will appeal to BlackBerry users who have been pining for a touch-controlled device with a larger screen. And it offers yet another good option for anyone who is looking to buy one of the new, more powerful, pocket computers.
Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.
Yahoo Glue, a new search results page design that the company has been testing in India, is rolling out to the US market this evening. You can view it at glue.yahoo.com, although Yahoo says it is rolling out in stages, so sit tight if you don’t see it.
It’s also a little different than the Indian version, and includes a number of resources beyond what India’s version of Glue offers. On a typical query, content from Wikipedia, Yahoo Shopping, Yahoo Answers, blog search results (from Google) and YouTube videos are shown.
For the US, Yahoo is starting with a limited set of topics and using a two column instead of a three column design. They’ve also left out the search results altogether. In this example for Barack Obama, prominent links to Memorandum (a political blog aggregator) are also shown.
Yahoo says they won’t use Glue to replace search in the US. Instead it seems to be a useful content page that brings in data from lots of different sources on topics.
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
I want to purchase an e-reader. Currently I use my Palm Tungsten, but the screen is rather small for reading books. I purchased the Amazon Kindle for my niece but I do not like the design of it. Are there any other e-readers on the market that have a full keyboard and can connect to the Internet?
A: There may be some obscure models that do, but the main competitor to the Kindle, Sony’s Reader, lacks a direct connection to the Internet. You have to purchase titles on a computer and then move them to the device. The Reader does have a keyboard, but it’s virtual, not physical.
I’m considering the new 13″ aluminum-body MacBook. I’m a nontech guy doing routine computing tasks. I own an iMac and I’m ready to add a laptop. The only downside to the new MacBook seems to be the absence of a FireWire port. Is that a deal killer?
I don’t believe so. At one time, FireWire (also called 1394 or iLink on some computers and peripheral devices) was much faster than USB, but now the two are about the same speed. At one time, plugging most camcorders, or many external hard disks, required FireWire. Now both types of devices typically use USB or offer both types of ports.
If you are a professional photographer, videographer or musician with a heavy investment in USB peripheral devices, then the lack of a FireWire port may make the new MacBook a non-starter. But for an average user, unless you have invested in FireWire-only peripherals, I don’t think its absence would matter at all. Besides, you still have your iMac, which includes FireWire.
You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.
The cutbacks continue, even at seemingly healthy startups. Social recommendation engine Strands let exactly 10 percent, or 14 people go (7 in the U.S. and 7 in Spain), the company confirms. Strands has raised a total of $55 million, still employs 125 people, and is hiring for other positions. It also just announced a mobile version for Nokia S60 phones.
Qik, which lets you stream live video from your cell phone, also laid off about 10 percent of its employees, which in its case amounted to five people. We got a tip that the reason for the layoffs is because the startup could not raise a $10 to $15 million round, but a spokesperson says that is not true and that we should stay tuned. We hope its not true because we love Qik. The company so far has raised only $4 million, but its investors include Marc Benioff and Marc Andreessen.
You might not have realized it, but the next great battle of cryptography began this month. It's not a political battle over export laws or key escrow or NSA eavesdropping, but an academic battle over who gets to be the creator of the next hash standard.
Hash functions are the most commonly used cryptographic primitive, and the most poorly understood. You can think of them as fingerprint functions: They take an arbitrary long data stream and return a fixed length, and effectively unique, string. The security comes from the fact that while it's easy to generate the fingerprint from a file, it's infeasible to go the other way and generate a file given a fingerprint.
Originally created to make digital signatures more efficient, hashes are now used to secure the very fundamentals of our information infrastructure: in password logins, secure web connections, encryption key management, virus and malware scanning, and almost every cryptographic protocol in current use. Without cryptographic hash functions, the internet would simply not work. At the same time, there isn't a good theory of hash functions. Unlike encryption algorithms, there are no secret keys involved; this makes it harder to mathematically define exactly what hash functions are.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, is holding a competition to replace the SHA family of hash functions. "SHA" stands for "Secure Hash Algorithm." It was developed by the NSA in 1993 to replace the commercial MD4 and MD5 algorithms, and has been updated several times since then. All the SHA algorithms are very similar, and have been increasingly under attack, so NIST wants to replace them.
The competition is important because, unlike other technological standards, committee design — balancing the interests of diverse constituents — isn't conducive to good security. Security is best when it's designed by expert teams and then subjected to public review. And cryptography is best when it's chosen by competition.
In 1997, NIST held a competition for a block cipher to replace DES. Fifteen candidates and three-and-a-half years later, Rijndael became the new Advanced Encryption Standard — AES. NIST is doing the same thing for what it's calling SHA-3 (not, for some unexplained reason, the Advanced Hash Standard or AHS).
The deadline was October 31, and NIST received 64 submissions. This isn't surprising — I predicted 80 — as most of the 15 AES submitters were professors, whose students at the time have become professors themselves, with their own students. (If NIST does a stream cipher competition in another ten years, they should expect about 256 submissions.) These submissions came from academia, from industry, and from hobbyists. CIO magazine recently interviewed one of the submitters, who is 15. Twenty-eight submissions have been made public by the submitters, and six of those have been broken.
NIST is going through all the submissions right now, making sure they are complete and proper. Their goal is to publish all accepted submissions by the end of November, in advance of the First Hash Function Candidate Conference, to be held in Belgium right after the Fast Software Encryption workshop in February.
The group expects to quickly make a first cut of algorithms — hopefully to about a dozen — and give the community a year of cryptanalysis before making a second cut in 2010. After another year of cryptanalysis, NIST will choose a winner in 2011. Expect a final standard by 2012.
My advice for software developers is to let the process run its course. While it's tempting to use the new cool algorithms in your designs, it's far too soon to trust any of them. This process is likely to result in all sorts of new research results in hash function security, and some real cryptanalytic surprises. Give the community a few years to figure out which ones are good and which aren't.
I've previously called this sort of thing a cryptographic demolition derby: The last one left standing wins. But that's only partially true. Certainly all the groups will spend the next few years trying to cryptanalyze each other, but in the end there will be a bunch of unbroken algorithms. NIST will select one based on performance and features.
NIST has stated that the goal of this process is not to choose the best standard but to choose a good standard. I think that's smart; in this process, the best is the enemy of the good. While there's no rush to choose a new standard — the SHA-2 algorithms will remain secure for the foreseeable future — we don't want to analyze the candidates forever.
Personally, I was part of a group of eight cryptographers that submitted Skein to the competition. A decade ago, writing Twofish and participating in the AES process was the most fun I had ever had in cryptography. These next few years promise to be even more fun.
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Bruce Schneier is chief security technology officer of BT. His new book is Schneier on Security.
You’d think that with all the viruses, malware, spyware and what not on Windows, Microsoft would offer some sort of protection. Well, actually it does, currently the service costs $49.95 per year and is called Microsoft Live OneCare. It’s one of the many things Microsoft has that’s easy to forget about. That’s not a bad thing, though, as it will be leaving on June 30, 2009.
To replace OneCare, Microsoft is working on “Morro.“ Morro is the project-name for its new, free virus protection program. According to the Reuters article, Morro is being designed to work on “smaller, less powerful computers.“ That probably means it is being made to work with netbooks.
There’s no word on what Windows platforms will be supported by Morro, though given that it will be released “the second half of next year,“ it seems natural to include Windows 7, though it will most likely work on XP and Vista as well. At least that’s what I would assume.
Rueters claims this is a direct shot at McAfee, which it could be. Although, I don’t know anyone who actually pays for virus protection anymore. Most everyone I know has Avast, or maybe AVG. This might be more of a shot at those programs more than McAfee. It seems a bit ridiculous to have to pay every year for a new version of virus protection for a computer, though it is needed. This gives Microsoft more of a chance to either control more aspects of computers, or manage to screw them up somehow (which is unlikely). It is more competition for free personal virus protection, and that can only lead to good things for the average user in the long run.
Hans Reiser, the 44-year-old Linux guru who was convicted in April of killing his wife, is seeking a new trial. But Reiser, who killed wife Nina Reiser, waived his right to appeal in exchange for his sentence to be reduced from 25-to-life to 15-to-life. The deal included leading authorities to the hills in Oakland, Calif., where he buried his 31-year-old wife who was divorcing him.
Appearing to cave to Hollywood demands, Apple has quietly added a restrictive copyright
protection mechanism to its new MacBooks that is preventing customers from watching movies on external displays.
Apple has secretly included a copy protection scheme called High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) in the external display ports on the latest models of it MacBooks, released in the middle of October.
Apple has not disclosed the new anti-copying mechanism, and now increasing numbers of customers are discovering that they cannot play movies bought from the iTunes online store on many external monitors, TVs or projectors.
"I tried all the movies that I have purchased from the iTunes Store
with the same result," said "Maxyourmacs," who
complained about the issue on Apple's support forums. "None of them
will play on anything but the MacBook's small 13-inch screen. This is
crazy unacceptable."
Released by Intel in 2001, HDCP is designed to prevent digital
pirates from outputting movies to copying devices, such as digital video recorders. In industry parlance, the technology plugs the "analog hole" -- the security hole created by analog devices like TVs and monitors.
By definition, the technology also prevents movies from playing on non-compliant devices like older computer monitors or flat-screen TVs, which many Apple customers are just now discovering. Even TVs a couple of years old may not be HDCP compliant.
The issue is complicated by obsessive secrecy surrounding the technology. HDCP has been added to many models of Blu-Ray players and other entertainment devices, and several laptops from a range of PC manufacturers. However, it is unclear how many devices are HDCP-compliant: Manufacturers
don't explicitly label which products are and aren't. Even industry analysts don't know how widely the technology has been adopted.
Intel declined to comment, and Apple did not respond to several requests for comment.
However, the surging popularity of Apple's laptops and its iTunes online store is bringing the issue to the fore.
The copyright mechanism is posing problems for some customers, who are complaining
in Apple's support forum that they had no idea their viewing devices were not compliant with the HDCP standard,
forcing them to watch movies purchased from the iTunes Store on their
small laptop screens.
"You really shouldn't be expected to know whether your video devices are compliant," said James McQuivey, a
technology and media analyst at Forrester Research. "It's not your job. To require that burden on them is an unfair thing to do."
Apple's new MacBooks (including the MacBook Pro and
MacBook Air) are the first
Macs to include HDCP. McQuivey said Apple is clearly giving in to pressure from its studio partners.
McQuivey said studios are reluctant to deal with iTunes since its
movie-purchasing model involves downloading content straight
to a hard drive, where it is vulnerable to copying. Movies are easily
copied and shared with friends on DVDs or thumbdrives (as long as the sharer also provides their password).
Movies from services like Vudu and
Netflix, on the other
hand, which stream movies over the internet, are much more
difficult to copy and easier to
police, he said.
McQuivey noted that iTunes' movie offerings (about 1,500 movies) pale in comparison to Vudu (5,000 movies) and Netflix (15,000 movies) because studios are distrustful of customers downloading movies to their hard drives.
Michael Cai, director of digital media at Parks Associates, a digital
market research firm, said the headaches caused by HDCP is largely a result of poor communication between manufacturers.
"The industry hasn't done a very good job
in coordinating with each other to make sure their devices are
compatible with each other so you won't feel this issue," Cai said.
"And they haven't done a very good job in terms of educating consumers
with these issues."
Cai, himself, experienced the pains of HDCP.
He recently tried to plug his Blu-ray equipped Sony VAIO laptop into
his Sharp high-definition TV, and the image wouldn't show up.
McQuivey
added that the HDCP restriction might be counterproductive for both
Apple and movie studios: It could encourage MacBook owners to resort to
illegal means of downloading, such as BitTorrent.
In the Apple support
forums, this already seems to be the case.
"Apple will be out of
luck, because we will, as of today, buy no more movies from the iTunes
Store," writes a new MacBook Pro customer, who said he couldn't playan iTunes-purchased copy of Terminator 2 on his TV. "If this starts hitting the TV shows and the music videos, too, then
we'll stop buying them from the iTunes Store as well."
Intel declined to comment. Apple did not respond to several requests for comment.
In other Mozilla news, Firefox and other Mozilla products hit a major milestone today with the one billionth download of add-on software for the browser. That feat took three and half years.
Many of those downloads are never used more than once or twice, of course. But there is no doubt about it that Firefox is major software platform. Just look at StumbleUpon, it was built on top of Firefox.
What is atop the current list of most popular add-ons? Adblock Plus, followed by a bunch of download tools. And let’s not forget Greasemonkey at No. 9, which is it’s own Web development platform.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
alphadogg writes "Researchers at the University of Maryland say they have discovered a material to replace lead, a potential environmental hazard, in electronics products. The material, bismuth samarium ferrite (BSFO), was found by researchers in the university's A. James Clark School of Engineering. It can be used in products such as biomedical imaging devices and inkjet printers, and if implemented commercially could keep lead out of landfills and the ecosystem, they say. While manufacturers have developed replacements for lead in many products, until now no commercial replacement existed for lead zirconate titanate (PZT) — the material of choice for transducers, actuators, sensors and microelectromechanical systems used in common electronic devices, the university says."
The National Review Online is courting financial contributions by offering "new opportunities for access" to its editors and writers. Not to be outdone, here's the skinny on Threat Level's new sponsorship drive. Break out your wallet. We're going cheap.
The woman accused of making unauthorized use of MySpace to inflict emotional harm on a 13-year-old girl, who then committed suicide, "fully intended to hurt and prey on Megan Meier's psyche," a federal prosecutor charged Wednesday, as opening statements began in the first federal cyber-bullying trial.
Being a CEO of a major brand on the net isn’t easy. Getting the job is even harder, that is where Gadgetell comes in. By entering our contest, you’ll earn our public recommendation to Yahoo!‘s board for the open CEO position. Warm up those golf clubs, here is what we think Yahoo! needs:
To be the next CEO at Yahoo!, we believe the company needs a big personality. Google has the rollerblading wonder twins, MS now has almost larger-than-life Ballmer and Apple’s got a guy with a closet full of black mock turtlenecks. While we don’t believe having rollerblades, being nutty or sticking to one outfit is a prerequisite, here is what we do think is:
Qualifications:
Yahoo! needs some life pumped back in. The CEO needs to be able to stand up and say this is why we have the largest user base. This is what makes us #1 and why we should be kicking some royal tush, no groveling for MS to come and vacuum this mess up.
Vision. If you are picked as CEO, you need to have a vision of where you can take Yahoo! leveraging things like popularity and its awesome AJAX library.
Openness. As the CEO you need to be clear with your vision and show us some goods. You’ll have to walk the tightrope of being open while still offering us surprises now and then (see the wiki on Steve Jobs for reference).
Channel Kenny Rogers. For this CEO job, you have to know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. A buyout may become a real possibility at some point and you’ve got to know when to pull the trigger. If it helps, sing the song a few times in a karaoke bar just to get in the groove. Yang wouldn’t take our advice, maybe you will.
Enter to win
Sounds easy enough right? What is awesome about Yahoo! is I’ve found people love different things about it. So, here is the contest part. If you believe you are up the challenge, here is what we need:
leave a comment below citing 3 things you’d do on your first day on the job to signal Yahoo!s return to dominance. Impress us. Wow us. Make Robert Scoble cry (love ya big guy). Show us that you’ve got the moxy to get Gadgetell’s nod.
In our vast expertise, the editors at Gadgetell will review the entrants and pick one winner based almost blindly on who can best lead Yahoo! to being a player once more. We’ll post the results on Friday and send Yahoo! our best candidate for the job.
You’re still waiting? Get to commenting!
This is your chance to earn some big bucks, get some free perks (if nothing more than a year’s supply of Yahoo! stickers), and national attention if you are selected by Yahoo!. Gadgetell is proud to sponsor this contest.
Fine print: you must be 18 to enter, no purchase necessary to enter, Gadgetell really has no say in who Yahoo! picks as CEO, we can merely suggest on quite possibly deaf ears - I mean they’ve never listened to us before, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying, right? We strongly suspect there will be a drug test involved, crack heads need not apply. Thanks to Dougie B for getting me thinking about Yang’s replacement.
SnT2k writes "Adobe recently released the beta version of Alchemy which compiles C/C++ code into AS3 bytecode (which runs on AVM2) that can run on the Flash or Flex platform and boasts increased performance for computationally-intensive tasks (but still slower than native C/C++). It was demonstrated last year during the Chicago MAX 2007 to run Quake. A few months later it has been demonstrated to run a Python interpreter and Nintendo Emulator. One interesting tidbit is that the thing is built upon the open source LLVM Compiler Infrastructure."
Make sure to look at the latest job listing on CrunchBoard. While doing that take a look at our new Crunchboard Service and Sales Directories. They are a great way to connect with the start-up community. Here’s some of jobs posted in the past week:
Today, the (for-now) non-profit Mozilla Foundation released its financial statements for 2007 (embedded below). Revenues for the organization behind the open-source Firefox browser were up 12 percent to $75 million, with search-related royalties from Google accounting for 88 percent of the total, or $66 million. (Another $2 million or so came from other search engines). Those revenues come from Mozilla’s portion of the search advertising revenues generated by the default Google search box in the Firefox browser.
Google’s overall percentage of Mozilla’s revenues is even bigger than it was in 2006, when it accounted for 85 percent. And that proportion may continue to grow over the next three years, as Google just extended its contract with Mozilla.
But buried in the financial statements is the fact that the Mozilla Foundation is being audited by the IRS and its non-profit status is in question:
On the audit of the Foundation there has not been any formal notification of issues. There has been inquiry regarding its tax exemption. Management believes that it is conducting its operations in accordance with its original application for exemption and for which it received the advance ruling as a public benefit corporation.
The Foundation has an advance ruling as a public benefit corporation. The ruling period ended December 31, 2007. It submitted its public support test documentation as required by the advance ruling. While the Foundation did not automatically qualify as a public charity with public support at 33% of total support, it believes that it qualifies as a public charity under the facts and circumstances test with public support over 10%.
Mozilla argues that the search dollars should be treated as royalties, and thus not count as revenues under the tax code. There is little precedent for a non-profit generating so much of its “support” from what is, in effect, a commercial agreement. If the IRS rules against it, the Mozilla Foundation would lose its tax-exempt status. It would then be classified as a private foundation and have to pay an estimated $100,000 in excise tax for 2007 alone.
That’s peanuts, and wouldn’t change much at Mozilla—except for the fact that it is pretending to be a non-profit foundation when everyone knows it is a charitable arm of Google. What we still don’t know is how Google accounts for the $66 million it paid to Mozilla last year. Was it a charitable contribution, or lumped in with its regular traffic acquisition costs?
And here’s another conundrum: Why does it take the Mozilla Foundation more than year to issue its financial statements from 2007? After all, it is almost 2009.
Chinese Democracy, the first new Guns N’ Roses album since 1991, debuts tonight at 9 PM PST exclusively on MySpace Music, where fans can listen to it for free.
Well, actually it debuted on BitTorrent a while ago, but we’re not talking about that. Also, the band has previously released two songs, Chinese Democracy and Better, to radio stations and music sites in the past couple of weeks.
But tonight is the big debut, and for most people it will be the first time they hear the music. It will be available in 25 countries: US, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Russia, Turkey, Poland, India, Australia, New Zealand, Korea and Japan.
Remember this ’cause it’s important: listening to music on BitTorrent for free is illegal. Listening to it for free on MySpace isn’t.
The physical album goes on sale November 23.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
AP - Microsoft Corp. is no longer interested in buying all of Yahoo Inc., CEO Steve Ballmer said Wednesday, though he told shareholders that the company would still be "very open" to a collaboration on Internet search. His comments sent Yahoo shares diving more than 20 percent.
The Defense Department's geeks are spooked by a rapidly spreading
worm crawling across their networks. So they've suspended the use of
so-called thumb drives, CDs, flash media cards, and all other
removable data-storage devices from both their secret and unclassified
nets, to try to keep the worm from multiplying any further.
Using the hair of a woolly mammoth preserved in the Siberian tundra, scientists have reconstructed 80 percent of the mammoth genome, raising the possibility of one day resurrecting the beast.
Fiio has just released the E5, and despite it offering a design very similar to that of the iPod Shuffle it is not a media player but instead a headphone amplifier. The E5 comes as a replacement to the previous E3, and in turn offers 30-percent more power than the E3. The E5 has a power output of 150mW at 16Ω or 12MW to 300Ω and less than a 0.009-percent distortion at 10mW. Additionally, the E5 has onboard volume controls (an item that was lacking on the E3) and a built-in battery that should offer around 20 hours of use. Otherwise the E5 measures 1.73 x 1.50 x 0.48-inches and weighs in at a lightweight 0.92-ounces. The E5 is currently available and retailing for around $20.
Physicists have detected electrons over Antarctica that could be the first ever direct evidence of the mysterious dark matter that scientists say makes up 20 percent of the universe.
raque writes "Appleinsider is reporting that the new MacBooks/MacBookPros have built-in copy protection. Quote: 'Apple's new MacBook lines include a form of digital copy protection that will prevent protected media, such as DRM-infused iTunes movies, from playing back on devices that aren't compliant with the new priority protection measures.' Ars Technica is also reporting on the issue. Is this the deal they had to make to get NBC back? Is this a deal breaker for Apple or will fans just ignore it to get their hands on the pretty new machines? Is this a new opportunity for Linux? And what happened to Jobs not liking DRM?"
Baidu.com, considered “China’s Google”, is working hard to save its reputation after state media reports accused the company of permitting unlicensed medical suppliers to purchase higher rankings on its search results page without informing users.U.S. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 19 Nov 2008 | 10:30 pm
Image 1: Ball of permafrost-preserved mammoth hair containing thick outer-coat and thin under-coat hairs. (Stephan Schuster lab, Penn State)Image 2: Penn State University genomicists Webb Miller and Stephan C. Schuster, in front of the Roche / 454 Life Sciences' Genome Sequencer 20 System that was used to sequence mammoth DNA. (Lynn Tomsho, Penn State)Image 3: Drawing of a wooly mammoth. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 19 Nov 2008 | 10:05 pm
InfoWorld - Advocates for the Ruby programming language on Wednesday hailed its usefulness as an enterprise application development option, especially in a down economy. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 19 Nov 2008 | 10:05 pm
We have recently seen the official announcement of the MSI Wind Neton and now we are seeing reports that Asus will be launching their competing all-in-one desktop as early as tomorrow. The Asus all-in-one desktop PC is the Eee Top, and it comes in two models, the ET1602 and the ET1603. The announcement is expected to come during an Asus news conference on November 20.
As for the specs, the ET1602 features a 15.9-inch touchscreen, a 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, Wi-Fi 802.11, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, and a pair of built-in speakers. The ET1603 will offer similar features as the ET1602 but has a better (ATI HD3450) graphics card along with a battery. Of course, the ET1603 weighs in at 9.7-pounds, and given that it seems the battery would serve more as a backup in case of a power loss, than provide for portability.
Still unknown is the pricing, although Asus CEO Jerry Shen did mention in the past that it would be a low priced device. As for the actual availability, hopefully we will find that out, along with the official pricing tomorrow.
yanx0016 writes "Wow, that's some news this week at SuperComputing 08. Apparently Microsoft Windows HPC Server 2008, with a Chinese hardware OEM (Dawning), made #10 on the Top500 list, edging out #11 by only 600 Gflops. Folks were shocked to see Microsoft getting so serious around HPC; I think we are only beginning to see a glimpse of Microsoft in the HPC field."
Image Caption: Savanna fires occur almost every year in northern Australia, leaving behind black carbon that remains in soil for thousands of years. Grant Stone, QCCCE Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 19 Nov 2008 | 9:27 pm
Yet another reason never to use mail-in rebates: Continental Promotion Group, a rebate processor for a variety of companies, has filed bankruptcy. If you've filed for a rebate recently for one of the dozens of companies involved, well, good luck.
Here are a few of the companies most recently affected, but there are tons more: Antec, XFX, Acronis, AVG, Canon, Logitech, Smith Micro, TRENDNet.
thricenightly writes "After more than 20 years in IT I've learned that the most valuable people in a team are frequently the old timers. Young pups straight out of college might (think they) know all the latest buzzwords and techniques, but in the real world, where getting working products delivered on time and on budget is of paramount importance, people who have been doing the job for a decade or two tend to be the people I'd rather be working alongside. I've recently been elevated to a position where I get to interview and choose those who get hired in my department. Although I'm very much focused on choosing the right person for the role regardless of age, experience or whatever, it's probably fair to say the more mature applicants will get a more sympathetic hearing from me than they might from most other interviewers for IT roles. The question is, what do I ask older applicants to get them to demonstrate the value of their experience? My current gambit is something like 'IT is seen as a young man's game. My next applicant after you is 23 years old. What do you know that he doesn't?' This gets responses ranging from the vague to the truly enlightened. All next week I'm interviewing for a number of senior software designer and developer roles. What should I be asking of the more experienced applicants, and what responses should I be looking out for?"
The Demy Digital Recipe Reader from Neiman Marcus is not modeled on the iPhone at all.
The minimalist design, the large touch-screen, and the cube-shaped glossy menu icons really do not remind us of the ubiquitous media player.
Alright, so we are kidding. But who are they kidding? Unsuspecting moms everywhere, it seems, as Neiman Marcus is taking the opportunity of the holiday season to sell these at the premium price of $300. I actually overheard an older couple in a city store talking about this as a gift possibility for their daughter a few weeks ago.
The problem is that it is $100 more than the cheapest iPhone (8GB), which could easily serve as the main kitchen helper and access thousands of recipes online. (Did anyone say Epicurious?)
The only apparent difference between the devices is that this one is 'splash resistant,' and of course, doesn't make calls, play movies, or have hundreds of interesting other online applications, like the steak cooking timer. And you can cover the iPhone with any available crappy plastic protectors.
With the recipe reader, you can upload your own recipes to the device by syncing to your computer and it holds up to 2,500 recipes. It does have a slightly bigger screen though, at 7 inches.
But really, the only way this could be a more shameless copy of the iPhone was if it had a picture of Steve Jobs serving up pie with his regular Kool-Aid at a bountiful Thanksgiving feast.
Is this the perfect gag gift for the Apple aficionado who can't wait for his third iPhone Touch? We think so.
A group of scientists investigate innovative ways to manage urban stormwater runoff in the November-December issue of Journal of Environmental Quality. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 19 Nov 2008 | 9:04 pm
Scholars in the Institute of Bio-inspired Structure and Surface
Engineering (IBSS), Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
(NUAA) used a three-dimensional locomotion video-recording and
measuring system to observe and measure the angular rotation of joints
in gecko's limbs when they were running on horizontal floor and
climbing on vertical wall. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 19 Nov 2008 | 8:56 pm
JTRipper writes "Monty Python seems to have done the right thing. Instead of issuing take down notices of their videos on YouTube, they are doing it better themselves with their own YouTube channel. They are putting all their clips (including snips from their movies) up in a decent resolution, with the only caveat being a link to buying the movies and TV episodes from Amazon."
Researchers say the stereotype of women being the chattier sex may indeed be true.A research team at Roehampton University in London observing a female-centric group of macaques noticed that the gossipy nature of the monkeys might add weight to the theory that human language evolved to forge social bonds.Many experts theorize that language replaced grooming as a less time-consuming way of preserving close societal bonds.The university researchers tested the theory by hypothesizing that species of animals with large social networks, such as macaques, should consider vocal exchanges to be just as important as grooming.A group of 16 female and eight male macaques living on Cayo Santiago Island off Puerto Rico were observed for three months. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 19 Nov 2008 | 8:28 pm
The Royal Society journals have reported that the earliest turtles known to live in water have been discovered on a Scottish island.The reptile fossils, thought to be some 164 million years old, were found on a beach in southern Skye, off the UK's west coast.A team from London’s Natural History Museum and University College London (UCL) uncovered them.Experts say the new species—embedded in a block of rock at the bay of Cladach a'Ghlinne, on the Strathaird peninsula—forms a missing link between ancient terrestrial turtles and their modern, aquatic descendants.The rock contained four well-preserved turtle skeletons, and the remnants of at least two others, forming the most complete Middle Jurassic turtles described to date.The National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh is now showing the historic specimens."Why did turtles enter the water? We have no idea. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 19 Nov 2008 | 8:19 pm
Crafting your image for your 1,000 friends on Facebook or MySpaceStudents are creating idealized versions of themselves on social networking websites — Facebook and MySpace are the most popular — and using these sites to explore their emerging identities, UCLA psychologists report. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 19 Nov 2008 | 8:15 pm
An EU lawmaker suggested that honey bees should be given large swaths of Europe’s farmlands so that they can recover their struggling population size. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 19 Nov 2008 | 8:10 pm
Image Caption: Close-up view of the head of a saber-toothed cat on display at the American Natural History Museum. Courtesy Wikipedia Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 19 Nov 2008 | 8:03 pm
MSI, the Taiwanese makers of the popular Wind netbook, is hoping to create a new category for low-powered, inexpensive computers called "nettops."
Dubbed the Wind Neton, MSI's nettop is an all-in-one desktop, meaning the computer's guts (i.e., CPU, hard drive and memory) are crammed into its display -- similar to Apple's iMac. The main difference is that the nettops are running the low-powered Atom processors designed for mobile devices, meaning they're streamlined for web browsing and basic computing tasks.
The Neton prices will range from $400 to $800 depending on the screen size you choose (15.6, 18.5 or 22 inches). There will also be touchscreen options, according to Engadget China. No details on a ship date yet.
Revised theory says levels in air must decline, not just stabilizeA group of 10 prominent scientists says that the level of globe-warming carbon dioxide in the air has probably already reached a point where world climate will change disastrously unless the level can be reduced in coming decades. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 19 Nov 2008 | 7:50 pm
Analysis of newly revealed items found at the site of the mausoleum of King Herod at Herodium (Herodion in Greek) have provided Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeological researchers with further assurances that this was indeed the site of the famed ruler's 1st century B.C.E. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 19 Nov 2008 | 7:43 pm
Stellian writes "The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Second Report and Order that establishes rules to allow new, sophisticated wireless devices to operate in broadcast television spectrum on a secondary basis at locations where that spectrum is open. It's the first time we have access to clear specifications for these devices, dubbed TVBDs — 'TV band devices' by the FCC. The published guidelines allow manufactures to create protocols and build compatible devices, which could be available in 18 Months, according to Larry Page. The full PDF text of this Second R&O is published on the FCC site."
You can almost imagine the Vudu executives huddling together after taking a look around the CEDIA A/V installer conference two months ago:
"You mean we can charge way more money for a giant box of HD content, under the bogus pretext of the 'highest quality standard' promised by the custom installer market? Really? And we can do this when the sensible thing to do in this economy is to market the regular Vudu box for $200? Ok, let's do it. Let's go to Bubba Gump's to celebrate.”
Vudu's new $1,300 HD HL2 box comes packed with a terabyte-sized drive for storing about 500 1080p HD movies and it will only be available for custom jobs. You'll be available to choose from about 10,000 titles, or about the same amount of the downloadable (and lower quality) movies from Netflix. It's also the same amount of movies available to you in the cheaper Vudu versions.
Among the features the box receives through this A/V installer focus is dedicated IP and IR control for a smooth cohesiveness with high-end systems.
We love the Vudu service and its high-quality HDX video (software-upgraded to near-Blu-ray quality), but this box is too expensive. Leave it for the owners of fancy super-condos in Manhattan, and buy the older version instead.
The Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday that Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc and South Korean partner KTF Co are jointly developing a smartphone using Google software to be launched next year.Japan's top mobile phone operator, DoCoMo, has been eyeing a launch for 2009 as part of a global alliance to develop phones based on Google's Android platform.Both DoCoMo and KTF have been jointly procuring handsets to cut costs.Smartphones have been gaining popularity in Japan ever since the July introduction of Apple’s iPhone.The report said that DoCoMo aims to introduce the Google phone at a price 20 percent lower than existing smartphones, hoping it will save costs on software development using the Android software. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 19 Nov 2008 | 6:37 pm
An online book company is following in the footsteps of home video delivery outlets like Netflix, by offering a book rental and delivery service.The company called “BookSwim” allows readers to order books and have them delivered right to their door for a set fee each month. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 19 Nov 2008 | 6:20 pm
On Wednesday, the world's top five cell phone makers launched a common energy rating system for chargers, making it easier for customers to compare and choose from the ones consuming the least energy.This new system is in response to the heavy criticism from environmentalist that has been poured out to the cell phone industry. The industry has become the world's top consumer electronics business by volume.The companies involved in making this system are Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and LG Electronics. They agreed on a system that has five stars for the most efficient chargers, down to zero stars for the least efficient. Cell phone chargers still consume electricity even when it is left in the socket with the phone disconnected. Around two-thirds of the electricity used by mobile phones is wasted this way, according to Nokia."If the more than three billion people owning mobile devices today switched to a four or five-star charger, this could save the same amount of energy each year as produced by two medium sized power plants," Nokia said in a statement.The top four charger makers include Flextronics, China's BYD Co., Emerson Group and Finnish Salcomp."This should be positive for us," Salcomp Chief Executive Markku Hangasjarvi told Reuters. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 19 Nov 2008 | 6:10 pm
Did you ever buy a case fan only to think, "Damn! If only I could remove the impeller?" Gelid Solutions has a fan for you: the Wing UV Blue Removable Impeller Edition.
Tiny notebooks became "netbooks". Fine. Now tiny all-in-one desktop machines of the iMac/Dell XPS One pedigree, have become "nettops". MSI, maker of the popular "Wind" netbook, has announced the "Wind Neton" line of nettops, essentially flat panel monitors with little Atom-powered computers inside, perfect for browsing the web and doing basic computing tasks.
Prices will start around $400 and go up depending on screen size, with optional touch screens and operating system choices. The "M16" model has a disc-drive; the sleek "M19" [pictured] does not.
Will the "nettop" terminology stick? It might for a while, but I have a suspicion that within a couple of years we'll just be calling these sort of devices "computers", as the all-in-one PC merges with connected HDTVs.
Reader Tucker Cummings bought the Bandai Gun O'Clock. Here's what she thinks of it!
I have never been a morning person. I need at least a liter of coffee to function between the hours or 8 and noon. I pity anyone who tries to wake me in the morning. Sleep is an awesome, awesome thing, and woe betide anyone who tries to come between me and my REM cycles. My mom could never wake me up in high school without me swearing at her, although my alarm clock always seemed to take the brunt of my morning aggression. And I'm sure I'm not alone in my hatred of that most awful of inventions: the alarm clock. I can't even tell you how many alarm clocks I have broken over the years by throwing them across the room or pounding them with angry morning fists. So of course I was intrigued by reports of an alarm clock that actually encouraged you to shoot the damn thing.
So I pre-ordered my Bandai Gun O'clock from Strapya World, and I picked it up from the post office this morning on my way to work. It was totally worth the cash I plunked down to have the thing shipped here from Japan.
The clock is, thankfully, fairly intuitive to operate. The clock does come with instructions, but they are Japanese-only. Setting the time was easy to figure out, but I did have to refer to the directions to figure out how to set the alarm (thankfully I have 2 semesters of Japanese under my belt, but it was still embarrassing to realize all I had to do to enter the Alarm Set Mode was hold down the alarm button, instead of tapping it).
The clock and gun were both a little smaller than I expected them to be when I finally extracted them from the packaging. I ran around the house hunting down the 6 double A batteries I needed to run the clock (two for the gun, and four for the clock).
The gun itself is a cute little thing that looks like it was modeled after a Smith and Wesson semi-automatic pistol. It's espescially fun to shoot because it makes a cute “pew-pew” noise, and the slide action actually moves when you pull the trigger.
The Gun O'clock has all the fun of Duck Hunt on the NES. Which is to say, it's fun, but I wish there was more to do. Both game modes are designed for very short rounds of play, which I found tremendously disappointing.
The clock's display goes to sleep after a few minutes. The backlight turns off, and the numbers turn from red to black, rendering the clock pretty much useless. Clearly, this is not the clock you should buy if you are looking for a useful time piece. But chances are, if you bought this clock, it was for the coolness factor.
And there is plenty of cool to be found. The sound effects that play as you cycle through the numbers to change the time sound like a gun being cocked and then fired. If you start a round of gameplay, but then change your mind and go back to the clock setting without shooting the target, a loud ARGH is played. When you hit the target in game mode, a very American sounding voice praises you in flawless English.
My only complaint about the sound is that there is no way the alarm clock can be used for it's intended purpose. The alarm buzzer is waaaay too quiet. It's a soft chime that does not increase in volume. I'm a heavy sleeper, and there's no way that chime would wake me up.
Overall, a great conversation starter, and a great item to add to your collection of quirky Japanese imports. But Gun O'clock is certainly not your best bet for an alarm clock. Until Bandai releases Gun O'clock version 2.0, I'll just have to keep shooting my alarm clock with my real gun every morning.
All great athletes know that in order to perform well, they can't just depend on their physical capabilities. Speed and efficiency in decision-making are just as essential. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 19 Nov 2008 | 4:51 pm
Microsoft announced it will offer free anti-virus and security solution software starting from the second half of next year.It will stop selling its all-in-one security and PC management service, OneCare, at the end of June 2009.With the code-name Morro, the new software will be a program Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 19 Nov 2008 | 4:29 pm
Contrary to the legend circulating the Internet, Jodorowsky and Mobius did make this epic but not in the form they originally wanted. Jodorowsky had always said that he considered the novel as a starting point. His Dune was radically different. One the many changes was making the main character Emperor Shaddam IV, not Paul Muad'dib Atreides. Frank Herbert disavowed the project and this may have contributed to the funding falling through. Jodorowsky and Mobius did some tweaking (mostly name changes) and starting in 1981, published it as an original comic book series called L'Incal (The Incal). Some issues were translated into English and published in Heavy Metal magazine. Like Dune, the story was later greatly expanded. Science fiction/ comics fans refer to the books as the Jodoverse or the Metabarons Universe. The latest series, Sans Nom, le Dernier des Métabarons - (Nameless, the Last of the Metabarons) was released in 2003.
Because of L'Incal's popularity and success in Europe, Jodorowsky and Mobius again attempted to make a film in the mid-1980's. This time, the film would have been animated, giving the creators greater visual control but at a (hopefully) lower cost. For unknown reasons, this project also fell through. Enough footage was created for a trailer. [Posted above – Ed.] None of the Pink Floyd music is in the trailer. A generic synth track was used instead, but some of the filler footage does reference the now iconic cover of "Dark Side of the Moon". The voiceover may be jazz poet Ken Nordine.
More Dune facts:
• Frank Herbert has publicly stated that he was happy with Lynch's adaption of Dune. Because of their complexity and thematic density, Herbert believed his novels would never have mass appeal and was unsurprised by it's poor box office perfomance.
• Because of contractual obligations to producer Dino DeLaurentis, David Lynch had to turn down George Lucas' offer to direct Return of the Jedi.
• Dune may have inspired Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice" (Walk without rhythm, it won't attract the worm.)
Mind: blown. I actually had some Metabarons comics when I was a kid and had no idea that they stemmed from Dune in any way. (And I barely knew who Moebius was, let alone Jodorowsky.) Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 19 Nov 2008 | 4:15 pm
Not since Hermann Göring stood slowly from his chair, unbuttoned his creamy uniform, and revealed the wicker-and-leather lattice that swaddled the world's only anti-Semitic orang-utan pulling levers has Nuremberg hosted such a peristaltically perturbing reveal as Scotsman Beverage Systems' "Trufill" concept beer dispenser which can serve a pint of beer...from the bottom.
Gentlemen, let not your breakfasts further erupt from your bellies into your fellows' homburgs! Ladies, grasp your baby by its chubby ankle and remove it from your gullet! The mystery of the Trufill will be revealed in due time by the ace reporters of FOODBEV.COM, who assure us all: "Self serve, self fill... this takes the old fashioned world of dispense into the vending arena with a mix of Star Trek meets Harry Potter. I tour most of the major trade shows and it's rare to see true innovation. ‘Bottoms up Scotsman’, you’ve made my Brau. We can’t wait to follow this story as it unfolds."
After seeing the Gadget Lab how-to project on making a ratty, thief-proof camera bag, the bigwigs at Lowepro couldn't contain themselves. "We make a stealthy camera bag, too," they cried, "You MUST test it!"
So I did. In reality, the Lowepro folks weren't nearly as pushy, but they did send over the Classified 160AW, a nylon and leather day-bag for photographers which is purposely styled to be less flashy than a normal camera bag. Is it the kind of bag which would let you pass unnoticed through the mean streets of Barcelona's pickpocket-laden tourist center? No. Is it a comfortable, capacious and capable bag for the photographer on the go? Let's see.
First, the looks. The Lady said that the Classified 160 looks like a bull and, in the top picture, you can see her point: The extended zipper that gives you access to the main compartment kind of makes the bag looks like a bull's head, if you look at it the right way. She is, though, from Catalonia, a part of Spain, so she could have been influenced by a childhood of bullfighting.
There is a bull connection, though. The nylon bag features some leather accents, most usefully the top-mounted handle and the ends of the zippers. They add some elegance, but also toughness where it's needed. There is also a nifty, stiff leather tab on the shoulder strap which will stop a camera from sliding off your shoulder:
Otherwise, the bag looks a lot more like the kind of thing a middle manager might use to tote his Dell brick -- not a bad thing for a low-profile design, but hardly the thief repellent that is the Gadget Lab rat-bag.
The Classified is meant to be a work bag rather than a storage or transportation bag, and it has enough cubby holes to squirrel away most of your stuff. Here's the front pocket:
The flap is secured by a nylon clip, as you can see at the bottom. It lifts to reveal two pockets - a front, non-padded one which is ideal for tobacco, and another just behind which, on the larger models, is big enough to take a notebook computer. This one is smaller, but that pocket still has room for my currently out-of-action Hackintosh, a 10" netbook (the trackpad is broken, if you must know). The zipper you see isn't another pocket. It actually unzips to reveal...
... an expansion, erm, flap. This will add a few inches to the front-to-back depth so you can squeeze a little more in. Inside the front pocket you'll also find this card holder, which hooks onto a strap inside the pocket via metal clip. It's also good for holding a set of keys.
There's also another, zippered pocket at the back, and underneath yet another pocket containing the usual Lowepro rain cover.
So, all your junk is taken care of. Onto the inside, which is big enough in this model to hold a camera with a lens, a spare lens or two and a flashgun, depending on their size. There are several inserts which use Velcro to grab onto the interior like a moron's tongue on a frozen metal pole. Moving them around can be tricky but once their in, they're not shifting. One of them even has a microfiber cloth for polishing your LCD screen.
The odd shape of the larger dividers is designed to hold a camera up close to the top for easy grabbing. Here is the splendid Nikon D700 sat snugly atop the leather tipped pads (shortly before I put it on the sofa, caught the camera strap on my foot and sent the body and lens flying to the hard tile floor. It's fine, but I just lost a year of my life due to shock):
When I go out shooting, I don't carry much -- usually the camera and either a strobe or a spare lens. So I took out all the inserts except one and just let the camera rest on the floor of the bag. As there is a removable (and thick) pad here, it felt perfectly safe.
Above you see the extra strap, and I couldn't work out what it was for. A quick email to Lowepro revealed the truth. One end loops around the main strap and the other clips onto one of the metal rings on the back of the bag. This allows you to keep the pack from swinging around. If you are familiar with a proper cycle courier bag, you'll be at home with the design, which sits between groin and nipples.
Conclusion
There are some downsides. The bag is very well made, but all that padding makes it both bulkier and heavier than our home-made version. On the other hand, this thing is built like a tank. You'd have to decide exactly what you need -- light and thin or thick and protective.
I had some trouble with the shoulder strap, too. I like to be able to swing the bag from my side around to my butt, and back again. The ultra-grippy shoulder pad means that this action drags on the shoulder of your jacket as you do it. A small point, but an adjustable pad would help. Once in place, though, the strap is very comfy.
While the Classified series isn't going to ward off the baddies like the home-made version, it's discrete enough to pass unnoticed in a decent part of town. It's also tough enough that I feel fine throwing it into the front basket of my bike without worrying about the contents. And if I ride fast enough, people think that a there's a bull charging towards them. Or at least, that's what I tell myself.
You can find the Classified 160 AW online for around $150.
The Peek just got a whole lot more useful. The little email-only device is simple in both form and function, and despite only scoring 5 out of 10 in our Gadget Lab review, got this endorsement from Wired.com copy chief Tony Long:
If you're a Luddite at heart but still have reason to fiddle with e-mail from time to time, or if you believe that simplicity in all things is the key to life, the Peek is for you.
The simplicity is the appeal, but a new service update has added support for text messages and pictures (jpegs already worked, but now you get almost all image types). Both of these are well within the spirit of email, and the SMS function would probably have made me buy this back when I was trying live without a cellphone.
Messages are sent by adding an@cell.getpeek.netsuffix to the phone number, and then sending them like normal emails.
Peek got in touch to tell us that the SMS function works exactly like it does on a cellphone, by tapping in the phone number.
The Peek people warn that this is a strictly alpha service right now, but certainly a welcome addition. Better still, the Peek can now be had for just $80
HP's Pavilion-alike Touchsmart tx2z has been thoroughly groped by Laptop Mag, with the sticky-fingered results (above) posted for our voyeuristic pleasure. The $1300 tx2z is HP's first consumer level tablet notebook and features an AMD Turion X2 processor (hence the name) and a variety of custom finishes.
But the important part is the screen, a 12" capacitive swiveller. The capacitive screen, like that of the iPhone, allows multi touch gestures, and the swivelling hinge means that those gestures might actually be useful as you don't need to hold your arms out straight to use it.
So, how does it fare? According to reviewer Joanna Stern, the touch works great, but is still limited by drivers. The advantage of the iPhone is that it was conceived from the beginning to be controlled by touching the screen. Any PC maker needs to hack together custom controls for any existing applications that aren't built with touch support. So, swiping up and down works fine for scrolling web pages (despite a spotty Wi-Fi connection), and "double tapping the screen and then drawing the letter M, brings up the multimedia touch panel".
The conclusion? Promising, but flawed. There's one oddity to Sterns' review which makes us think that the Laptop Mag folks have access to some secret, thought control tech:
Since the debut of the Apple iPhone, people want to use their fingers to control their technology
Just what have they been using up 'til now, Joanna?
The 3K Carbon Fiber & Leather Wallet is much like a regular wallet with the addition of two carbon fiber panels on the outside, and it does seem rather pointless as anything other than a style statement.
We'd prefer a Kevlar-coated version which could work like the heart-protecting cigarette case of old, stopping a well aimed bullet in our all-too-frequent gentlemen's duels at Gadget Lab (sample arguments: Who has the best hair? [Danny], who has the most boyish good looks? [Chen] and who has the same name as the plush, dungaree wearing rabbit toy of my childhood? [Dylan]).
Still, the point of carbon fiber is to be lightweight, and in this the wallet excels: after you have spent $50 to buy it, you'll have $50 less to put in it. In single dollar bills, that comes to around 1.8 ounces saved.
The Buddha Box 2 features nine new ambient sound loops. The new selection is noticeably more diverse than those of its predecessor--a welcome change. One of my biggest issues with the first incarnation of the box was its relatively limited aural palate. The selections on number 2 should fit a wider range of ambient-suitable scenarios. For further variation, the box also includes a wheel that bends the loops' pitch, to help you tailor the sound perfectly to its surroundings.
You may also want to obtain a copy of Reston's book, for which this radio work was, in part, preparatory research: 
This story has all the makings of a tragic soap: a vulnerable love sick teenager, a sick vengeful adult and death. Unfortunately this story is not confined to the pages of a book, but is a reality that took place in October 2006 and resulted in Megan Meier, aged 13 at the time, taking her own life. But why did she do it? What had happened before? Who caused it? And what does this have to do with technology?
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You’d think that with all the viruses, malware, spyware and what not on Windows, Microsoft would offer some sort of protection. Well, actually it does, currently the service costs $49.95 per year and is called Microsoft Live OneCare. It’s one of the many things Microsoft has that’s easy to forget about. That’s not a bad thing, though, as it will be leaving on June 30, 2009.
Being a CEO of a major brand on the net isn’t easy. Getting the job is even harder, that is where Gadgetell comes in. By entering our contest, you’ll earn our public recommendation to Yahoo!‘s board for the open CEO position. Warm up those golf clubs, here is what we think Yahoo! needs:
Chinese Democracy, the first new Guns N’ Roses album since 1991, debuts tonight at 9 PM PST 
