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SanDisk’s Cyber Monday dealsSection: Audio, Accessories, Portable Audio, Video, Portable Video, Imaging, Accessories, Peripherals, Storage
If you’ve got a phone that uses micro SD cards or a camera that uses SD cards, SanDisk is having a big Cyber Monday Sale starting today. There are some good deals here including some USB flash drives in case you’re a fan of sneakernet. You can pick up a SanDisk 16GB flash drive for under $44 (which is down from $79.99). SanDisk also makes some MP3 players and they are discounted as well. Sale ends Monday, December 1st. Check out the full details after the break.
Read [SanDisk CyberMonday]
Full Story » | Written by Iyaz Akhtar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 29 Nov 2008 | 7:07 pm Obama Team Considers Cancellation of Ares, OrionHanzoSpam sends us this story from Space News, which begins: "US President-elect Barack Obama's NASA transition team is asking US space agency officials to quantify how much money could be saved by canceling the Ares 1 rocket and scaling back the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle next year. ... The questionnaire, 'NASA Presidential Transition Team Requests for Information,' asks agency officials to provide the latest information on Ares 1, Orion and the planned Ares 5 heavy-lift cargo launcher, and to calculate the near-term close-out costs and longer-term savings associated with canceling those programs. The questionnaire also contemplates a scenario where Ares 1 would be canceled but development of the Ares 5 would continue. While the questionnaire, a copy of which was obtained by Space News, also asks NASA to provide a cost estimate for accelerating the first operational flight of Ares 1 and Orion from the current target date of March 2015 to as soon as 2013, NASA was not asked to study the cost implications of canceling any of its other programs, including the significantly overbudget 2009 Mars Science Laboratory or the James Webb Space Telescope."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 29 Nov 2008 | 2:29 pm Why the Lori Drew Decision Was a Bad One - GigaOm
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 29 Nov 2008 | 2:06 pm Space Shuttle Endeavour Crew To Land In Florida On Sunday - AHN
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 29 Nov 2008 | 1:54 pm Cameroon Establishes Park For Endangered GorillaCameroon has established a new national park that seeks to protect the world’s rarest gorilla. Takamanda National Park, which borders Nigeria, is home to an estimated 115 endangered Cross River gorillas.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Nov 2008 | 1:45 pm Secluded Indonesian Tribe Unaffected By Global CrisisAn animistic tribe dwelling high in the abundant hills of western Java lives oblivious to the world economic crisis. Estimated to include somewhere between 5,000-8,000 people, the Baduy are an anomaly.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Nov 2008 | 1:41 pm Jupiter, Moon and Venus in a Triangle - ChattahBox
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 29 Nov 2008 | 1:39 pm Seiko develops world’s most solar-efficient clock
Seiko yesterday announced it has developed the world’s most solar-efficient clock [JP]. The HS533W will go on sale in Japan at the beginning of next month (price: $310). Seiko hasn’t said yet if the device will ever find its way outside Nippon. The clock, which is just 8.5mm thick, comes equipped with a CR2032 battery as a backup power supply. Seiko says in dark places, the clock will work for 2 years powered by the CR2032 alone. The company promises that solar energy alone is enough provided the clock gets around 8 hours of sunlight each day. Source: CrunchGear | 29 Nov 2008 | 1:16 pm Linux Kernel Booting On the iPhonemhm was one of many readers to note that the Linux 2.6 kernel has been ported to the iPhone. "Planetbeing, one of the iPhone devteam members, has been working on porting Linux to the iPhone (along with a custom bootloader called OpeniBoot). Today they managed to boot the kernel! Video showing the boot process has been posted. Instructions and binaries are available on the project blog."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 29 Nov 2008 | 1:15 pm Weekly Wrapup: Health 2.0, Tips for Web BigCos, Jobwire Graphs, And More...It's time for our weekly summary of Web Technology news, products and trends. On the trends side, we gave you an overview of health 2.0 and followed up with a RWW Live podcast on the topic. We also looked...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 1:00 pm 30-MPG Sports Cars - The Lotus Evora (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) Lotus hasnt produced a new car in 13 years, so the Lotus Evora had its own buzz even before its debut at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show. After the Lotus Evora was unveiled, however,...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 12:59 pm Feuding India, Pakistani Hackers Deface Web Sites (PC World)PC World - Indian and Pakistani hackers have once again taken politics to the web, hacking and defacing web sites in the two countries.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Nov 2008 | 12:41 pm Portable Internet Access - SolarNetOne (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Internet access is a major issue with the modern traveler, especially when they must head to remote locations where traditional workstations are unheard of. SolarNetOne is essentially...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 12:39 pm Epson Japan rolls out Hello Kitty netbook
First NEC’s model, then Onkyo’s and now it’s time for Epson to release a Hello Kitty laptop [JP]. The devices are only available in Japan, where they will be exclusively sold online starting December 10. The Hello Kitty notebook is based on Epson’s Endeavor NJ2150. Buyers can choose between a combo model ($1,200) and a so-called super-multi version ($1,500). Both versions are available in two different designs. The combo model comes with an Intel Celeron 575 CPU (2GHz), 1GB memory, a 80GB HDD, a 15.4-inch TFT WXGA screen (1280×800 resolution), a DVD drive, WiFi, Windows Vista and, of course, a number of super-cute pre-installed Hello Kitty wallpapers. The super-multi notebook features the same specs but is equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 CPU (2.26GHz), 2GB memory, a 120GB HDD and a DVD super multi drive. Source: CrunchGear | 29 Nov 2008 | 12:29 pm Europe to Cap Prices for Roaming Text Messages and Data (PC World)PC World - European telecommunications ministers gave their backing on Thursday to a plan to cap retail prices for sending SMS (Short Message Service) text messages and browsing the Internet using mobile phones while abroad.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Nov 2008 | 12:27 pm Cartoon Network Game "Ben 10" Tops 2.5 Million Sales (PC World)PC World - If you've never heard of Ben 10: Protector of Earth, welcome to the club. If I said "Steven Seagle," that might raise some eyebrows, except that I mean Steven T. Seagle, the American comics, TV, film, theater, video game, and animation guy, not the American movie actor turned deputy sheriff with a black belt in aikido and (oddly enough) a thing for Tesla coils (who also spells his name 'Seagal').Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Nov 2008 | 12:23 pm Subway Car Studios - The Village Underground (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) The Village Underground is a community for struggling artists in London, England. Furniture designer Auro Foxcroft came up with the concept of rescuing abandoned subway cars and turning...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 12:19 pm UK Bans Apple 3G IPhone Advertisement (PC World)PC World - The U.K.'s advertising regulator banned a video advertisement for Apple's 3G iPhone, saying Wednesday that the ad exaggerates the phone's speed and is misleading.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Nov 2008 | 12:17 pm Used PCs Sought for Windows XP (PC World)PC World - Some used PCs are being purchased not for the hardware but because people want to get their hands on a copy of Windows XP, according to industry analysts and hardware suppliers.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Nov 2008 | 12:17 pm EFF Berates Apple Over Open-source ITunes Project (PC World)PC World - Apple's attempt to quash an effort to help the latest iPods and iPhones work with non-Apple software such as the Linux operating system is out of line, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said Tuesday.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Nov 2008 | 12:06 pm 50 Km/H Folded Airplanes - Electric Paper Plane Launcher (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) The Electric Paper Plane Launcher ups the ante on that co-worker who insists on flicking elastic bands your way. The office will never be the same if the whole department is packing...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 11:59 am Endeavour's astronauts await permission to landEndeavour's seven astronauts entered their last full day in space Saturday awaiting word if mission managers had cleared the space shuttle for a return to Earth. Astronauts used a...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 11:45 am Estonian ISP Cuts off Control Servers for Srizbi Botnet (PC World)PC World - An Estonian ISP that temporarily hosted the command-and-control servers for the Srizbi botnet, responsible for a large portion of the world's spam, has cut off those servers, according to computer security analysts.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Nov 2008 | 11:43 am Cell Phone Pistols - Undercover Deadly Weapons (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) A man in Naples, Italy was literally able to shoot his mouth off with this cell phone look-alike that was recently confiscated. The Italian police seized the weapon in a raid on...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 11:39 am Childhood Pastime Revivals - Recreational Tree Climbing (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) Recreational tree climbing is gaining popularity among adults and children. Using a system of ropes and specialized gear, trees can be safely ascended with minimum instruction. ...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 11:19 am Survey Suggests Nearly 30 Percent Of Online Holiday Shoppers Plan On Spending Less This YearThe theme this holiday shopping season is frugality. J.P. Morgan analyst Imran Khan expects online sales to be flat this year. In a survey of U.S. consumers conducted by J.P. Morgan, nearly 30 percent...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 11:18 am Survey Suggests Nearly 30 Percent Of Online Holiday Shoppers Plan On Spending Less This Year
The theme this holiday shopping season is frugality. J.P. Morgan analyst Imran Khan expects online sales to be flat this year. In a survey of U.S. consumers conducted by J.P. Morgan, nearly 30 percent of online shoppers say they plan on spending less this year during the holidays than last year. Nevertheless, online retailers should do better than offline ones. In total, including offline shoppers, 44 percent say they plan on spending less this year (up from 33 percent who responded the same overall last year). But even among those who plan on reducing their total spending, 19 percent still think their online purchases will be higher. And while only 12 percent of total shoppers plan on spending more money this year, that number is 32 percent for onine shoppers—slightly more than the number who are cutting back on their online holiday expenditures. When it comes to online shopping sites, Amazon still rules, but Walmart and Target are catching up. About 50 percent of online shoppers say they will shop this year at Amazon, compared to 35 percent at Walmart.com, 32 percent at eBay, and 27 percent at Target.com. In fact, this year could be the first one where Walmart.com surpasses eBay in total number of online shoppers. The survey also indicates that Sears.com could see a 36 percent increase in shoppers. (Maybe that’s why the site went down today). Among high income shoppers, however, Amazon is head-and-shoulders above the rest. A full 59 percent of those making more than $100,000 a year shop at Amazon. The nearest competitor in the survey attracts only 33 percent of that income group. No matter what income group respondents fall into, the single most important factor when shopping online is price, followed by selectionand familiarity with the store.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. Source: TechCrunch | 29 Nov 2008 | 11:18 am Boomertography - Cindy Sherman's Post-Modern 'Paintings' (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) Cindy Sherman is one of the best known contemporary artists, and this exhibition is her first in four years. The series of portraits show the full range of beauty and aging in women...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 10:59 am Hanging Cars - The LIFT(TrendHunter.com) I cant wait for the day when I get measured for my gadget LIFT car and then park it like a cheap suit on a wire hanger. I know the idea of parking structures in urban/suburban...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 10:39 am Three Reasons Why Netbooks Just Aren’t Good Enough
Lots of people think Netbooks are the next big volume market because they allow people who previously couldn’t afford computers to own one. People got so bullish on the devices that sales projections reached 50 million units by 2012. I’ve had a chance to test many of the units, though, and I can say that the promise is much bigger than the payoff. Perhaps that’s why Intel is rethinking whether the devices are as great as everyone’s expectations. A typical Netbook has a 7 inch screen, an Intel Atom or Via Nano processor, a solid state (flash) hard drive and a keyboard that’s 80-85% standard size. Most have Wifi. Some have other bells and whistles like bluetooth, a camera, etc. I find Netbooks unusable for three reasons: they’re underpowered as PCs, the screen is too small for web surfing, and the keyboard is so small that effective typing is impossible. The basic problem as I see it: Netbooks are designed to appeal to two very different markets - the price sensitive and the size sensitive. The two are really mutually exclusive. Netbooks use Intel Celeron, Intel Atom, or Via Nano CPUs. All are x86 compatible, and they have great power usage. At best the devices have 1 GB of memory, and some make do with as little as 256 MB. Most of these machines are running Windows XP or Vista. A few have some flavor of Linux. Combining that UI, even the lower end XP and Linux, with normal computing is a heavy chore for these machines. If you have an email application open and a couple of tabs in a browser, there’s a lot of slow down. One Vista machine I’ve been testing tends to crash after a few minutes of use. This is not the computing experience that most people are familiar with. The Atom just can’t compare to a dual-core laptop when it comes to performance Anyone with an alternative will quickly be unhappy at how sluggish these machines are. Then There’s The Screen These machines have screens ranging from 7 inches on up. The worst thing about the screens is vertical resolution, which is generally 600 pixels. Even if you aren’t using a lot of toolbars and plugins on the browser that take up vertical space, they annoyance factor is high. This is, at best, how much of a web page you’ll see on the screen:
You are constantly scrolling down on these devices. You have to scroll down just to see the title of the first article on the NYTimes, for example. And unlike the iPhone, you can’t just swipe your finger. You have to use the keyboard or trackpad to scroll down, and it means taking your eyes off the screen. It’s annoying and, again, if you have a different device, you are going to stop using your Netbook. Remember that the iPhone has 480 vertical resolution, and you can resize text to fit a lot of it on the screen. The image above shows 8 lines of text in the post (net of title, etc.). The iPhone shows 22 lines of text. In other words, the iPhone or iPod Touch, with a tiny 3.5 inch screen, has a vastly better browsing experience than any Netbook (it’s faster too). The Keyboard Then there’s the keyboard. It’s tiny - most of them are just 80% of regular size. Any normal adult can’t type fast on it without constantly hitting the wrong keys because there is no space between them. It isn’t much better than a Blackberry-type mobile keyboard when it comes to speed and accuracy of input. Convergence Of Mobile And Laptop There is a big fat hole in the market between mobile devices like the iPhone and regular laptops. But smaller, underpowered laptops aren’t the answer for the mass market. Most of the Netbooks aren’t much cheaper than very low end laptops (and those laptops have normal keyboard and much bigger screens). The problem with Netbooks is they are trying to address two markets at once: emerging markets where price is very important, and developed markets where people want a second computer. The emerging markets don’t care about size, they just want it at a low cost - so offer them something that’s bigger and works better at the same price (remember, bigger = cheaper for most computer parts except the screen). Developed markets don’t care about price as much as performance, and Netbooks cut too many corners. Perhaps that’s why Netbook screens are starting to inch up to 10 and 11 inches. Which doesn’t really make them much different from normal laptops (and the prices are about the same). So what’s the answer? Well, we have our own ideas. When you ditch the operating system and all it’s weight and focus on a device that runs a browser only (a true netbook), you can make do with mobile phone level hardware. Give people a big screen to really experience the Internet. Make it a touch screen or add a normal keyboard. And keep it really inexpensive. That’s a device people will want. The sub notebooks can get bigger and more useful without sacrificing cost, which is great for emerging markets and students. Tiny notebooks that perform well will be higher cost, and there’s a market for those, too. Source: TechCrunch | 29 Nov 2008 | 10:14 am An Optimized GUI Based On Users' AbilitiesOstracus writes "Researchers at the University of Washington have recently developed a system, which, for the first time, offers an instantly customizable approach to user interfaces. Each participant in the program is placed through a brief skills test, and then a mathematically-based version of the user interface optimized for his or her vision and motor abilities is generated. The current off-the-shelf designs are especially discouraging for the disabled, the elderly and others who have trouble controlling a mouse, because most computer programs have standardized button sizes, fonts, and layouts, which are designed for typical users."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 29 Nov 2008 | 10:11 am Wash. biologist hazes swans away from deadly leadYears of collecting dead carcasses and examining lead-poisoned livers have convinced Mike Smith of this: to save Pacific Coast trumpeter swans, he has to haze them. As the sun set behindSource: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 9:31 am Blockbuster Snubs Netflix: We’re Quality, You’re Quantity - eFluxMedia
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 29 Nov 2008 | 8:59 am Papervision Parlor Trick Puts 3D Flash Character Into Web Video
A digital design shop in Australia, Boffswana, shows off a neat parlor trick in the video above. It places a 3D Flash character made with Papervision into a regular Webcam video using nothing more than a paper printout. (Update: Oh, and you can print it out yourself and add the character to your own video). Eat your heart out, George Lucas. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. Source: TechCrunch | 29 Nov 2008 | 8:53 am Boing Boing's Holiday Gift Guide part four: Comics, graphic novels and funnybooksHere's part four of our week-long "Best of Boing Boing" holiday gift guide: basically, it's a list of the bestselling items from among the stuff we reviewed this year, reflecting your favorite items from among our picks. Today's list is comics, graphic novels, funnybooks and the like.Don't miss the previous installments: kids' stuff, fiction and gadgets! Tomorrow's nonfiction day, and Monday'll finish up the series with DVDs and CDs.
Source: Boing Boing | 29 Nov 2008 | 8:36 am Mile-long secret tunnel in central London for saleA stuffy, noisy mile-long secret Cold War tunnel is up for sale in London, asking price $7.4 million -- it's only five minutes' walk from my office, too, connecting up Chancery Lane with the Thames. It's only got two lifts, which means you couldn't possibly get fire-code approval to run it as a hotel or club, but there's all kinds of intriguing possibilities (e.g. ball pit) for this much subterranean volume.Mile of London Tunnels for Sale, History Included (Thanks, Organ Leroy!) Source: Boing Boing | 29 Nov 2008 | 8:31 am Paper bottlesBrandImage (whose site in an unnavigable, unlinkable Flash blob) have come up with an all-paper bottle. This looks like a concept, not a product, but it's an intriguing one nevertheless.360 Paper Bottle (Thanks, Rian!) Source: Boing Boing | 29 Nov 2008 | 8:26 am Boob Job piggybank sold as girl's room decor How to be a terrible parent: buy your daughter one of these "boob job" piggybanks, sold on a site specializing in girls' room decor. Stuff like this makes me want to smack someone. Source: Boing Boing | 29 Nov 2008 | 8:23 am New Asimov Movies Comingbowman9991 writes "Two big budget Isaac Asimov novel adaptations are on the way. New Line founders Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne are developing Asimov's 1951 novel Foundation, the first in Asimov's classic space opera saga, which has the potential to be as epic as Lord of the Rings. At the same time, New Regency has recently announced they were adapting Asimov's time travel novel The End of Eternity. Despite having edited or written more than 500 books, it's surprising how little of Isaac Asimov's work has made it to the big screen. '"Isaac Asimov had writer's block once," fellow science fiction writer Harlan Ellison said, referring to Asimov's impressive output. "It was the worst ten minutes of his life."' Previous adaptations include the misguided Will Smith feature I, Robot, the lame Bicentennial Man with Robin Williams, and two B-grade adaptations of Nightfall." This reader also notes that a remake of The Day of the Triffids is coming.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 29 Nov 2008 | 7:02 am Gadgetell Roundup: Top 5 overlooked Black Friday gadgetsSection: Audio, Portable Audio, Computers, Desktops, Software / Applications, Gaming, Accessories, Console, Games, Miscellaneous, Originals, Features
Spider-Man accessoriesHe’s got a great comic book, a great movie, and has some pretty cool accessories. KB Toys has a bunch of Spider-Man stuff and a few gadgets that caught my eye was a MP3 player and a Plug-n-Play gaming system. The MP3 player is something I wouldn’t recommend getting if you want store a lot of media and videos, but if you want to give it you child who really likes Spider-Man, I’m sure they would enjoy this very much. In terms of specs, it comes with 512mb of storage, and can be expanded by 1GB (at the most) via SD card, and requires 1 AAA battery. This sold for $49.99, but now sells for $29.99.
GamesThat above Spider-Man game could also fit in this category, but I felt it was more appropriate to keep it there. In addition, we have an Air Puck Hockey game and Civilization III for the PC. The Air Hockey game is similar to what you often see at arcades - it comes with one puck, two sticks, two goals, and, of course, the puck glides on air. It also requires 4 AA batteries. This would make a great gift for children, teens, and even adults if you like air hockey. It used to sell for $29.99, but now sells for $11.99.
The game is meant for all ages and used to sell for $12.99, but is now $9.99. The King - Elvis Presley
Thank you very much for reading this. I hope you enjoyed some of the gadgets I found to be interesting during the 2008 Black Friday. Read [KB Toys] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 29 Nov 2008 | 6:32 am Joost Launches A Broken iPhone App
I’m sure it’s a temporary issue, but the application just doesn’t work yet. I tried to play multiple videos, including the full length version of Men In Black, but an error message reads “The connection to the server was lost. This may be because of poor network quality. Please try again later.” Meanwhile, YouTube videos are playing promptly. Still, when the app settles down and works properly, it will be a nice addition to the iPhone. Lots of great shows to watch while wiling away the hours on a plane. At least until the battery runs out. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors Source: TechCrunch | 29 Nov 2008 | 5:48 am Vietnamese phone shop unlocks iPhone 3GFROM APPLETELL - Read on for more about the ultimate hacking of an iPhone: and how easy it is for Apple to undo it. MORE » Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 29 Nov 2008 | 5:04 am UPDATE 1-Ancora gets up to 5 pct of Bumi Resources -sourceJAKARTA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Ancora Capital Management (Asia), an Indonesian private equity firm, has taken a stake of up to 5 percent in coal miner Bumi Resources , worth about $75 million, a person familiar...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 4:59 am Ancora gets up to 5 pct of Bumi Resources-sourceJAKARTA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Ancora Capital Management (Asia), an Indonesian private equity firm, has taken a stake of up to 5 percent in coal miner Bumi Resources , worth about $75 million, a person familiar...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 4:34 am Greenpeace Slams Apple For Environmental Recordnandemoari writes "According to a recent advertisement airing on American TV, Apple's new Macbooks (well-received by most technology critics) are 'the world's greenest family of notebooks.' It seems an indication that the Cupertino-based company is increasingly aware of a consumer base that demands green electronics. However, Greenpeace is less than enthused with Apple's overall green performance. In their report (PDF), the environmentalists argue that Apple 'needs to commit to phasing out additional substances with timelines, improve its policy on chemicals and its reporting on chemicals management.'" Ars Technica points out that Greenpeace's research isn't quite up-to-snuff, and it's also worth noting that Greenpeace admitted to targeting Apple for the publicity in the past.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 29 Nov 2008 | 4:11 am Large Candy Cane Used To Beat Threatening NeighborIn what may be the only appropriate use for a Christmas lawn decoration, a Sacramento man grabbed a large candy-cane on his lawn and used it to beat a drunken knife-wielding neighbor who was threatening his Thanksgiving guests. He and his red-and-white weapon were able to hold the man until police arrived. Good thing he put those decorations out early. While it sounds like it came from the Onion, the story is in today's Sacramento Bee.The attacker's name is Donald Kercell, a 49-year old. I searched for his name and found this SacBee story from 2007, and archived in a library service. Kercell is a 48-year-old resident of Rio Linda. In his youth, he discovered two things. One was that he had a talent for working with concrete. The other was methamphetamine. Source: Boing Boing | 29 Nov 2008 | 4:03 am Linux on iPhone: Whoa!After reverse engineering the original kernel, some hackers have gotten their own version of Linux to run on the iPhone, proving that the first gen iPhone will live on as a hacker and hobbyists tool for a decade. They’ve got BusyBox running on the processor and the team reports that the following systems are working:
What did YOU do this holiday? Source: CrunchGear | 29 Nov 2008 | 3:50 am UPDATE 3-FDA defends U.S. infant formula; sets safe levelWASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration defended the safety of infant formula sold in the United States on Friday despite tests that found the chemical melamine in one brand...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 3:48 am Dreamcast modded into a Windows PCFROM GAMERTELL - The modded Dreamcast console is running Windows XP SP2 and includes a Blu-ray drive, ATI Radeon graphics card and a few other features far nicer than the original Dreamcast… MORE » Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 29 Nov 2008 | 3:08 am Little Brother UK launch at Forbidden Planet tomorrowA reminder that tomorrow is the UK launch and signing for Little Brother at Forbidden Planet in London -- 1PM! You can also pre-order signed copies through the Forbidden Planet site. Hope to see you there!Little Brother UK launch/signing at Forbidden Planet London, Nov 29 Source: Boing Boing | 29 Nov 2008 | 2:20 am Blockbuster to offer streaming set-top boxSection: Video, Accessories, Content, Video Providers
The player, called The MediaPoint, is available to anyone who wants to spend $99 and rent 25 movies from the Blockbuster ONDEMAND service. So essentially, the player is free with 25 rentals, which isn’t too bad. However, while HD streaming is available to those with fast enough connections with Netflix, ONDEMAND only offers DVD-quality video which it claims looks good on everything. The videos don’t stream, though. The MediaPoint uses progressive playback, which is supposed to keep the video quality constant at all times. It’s doubtful that a lot of people will pick this up, or even know it exists. To me, the only real appeal of Blockbuster is that they have brick-and-mortar stores to go to when I want a movie immediately. Granted, this box makes it much easier than that, but I doubt anyone is going to switch from Netflix streaming to using the MediaPoint. It is nice to see Blockbuster giving people more options for viewing their movies, but it would look better if they would come out with the services closer to when Netflix introduces theirs—it just seems reactionary to Netflix. What Blockbuster really needs to find is something innovative before Netflix finds it. Read [InformationWeek] Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 29 Nov 2008 | 2:18 am Proprietary Blobs and the Pursuit of a Free Kerneljammag writes "Ever since the GNewSense team pointed out that the Linux kernel contains proprietary firmware blobs, the question of whether a given distro is truly free software has gotten messier, notes Linux pundit Bruce Byfield. The FSF changed the definition of a free distribution, and a search for how to respond to this new definition is now well underway. Who wins and what solutions are implemented could have a major effect on the future of free and open source software. Debian has its own solution (by allowing users to choose their download), as do Ubuntu and Fedora (they include the offending firmware by default but make it possible to remove it). Meanwhile, the debate over firmware rages on. What resolves this issue?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 29 Nov 2008 | 2:09 am CabEasy Looks To Pair Off Strangers For Half-Priced Taxi Fares
With the economy as turbulent as it is, most people are trying to save a few bucks whatever way they can. CabEasy, a 1-man startup that launched earlier this month, is looking to help people save some cash on their Taxi rides. The site allows people to post a public listing of their upcoming taxi travel plans, and pair up with someone else who is traveling a similar route to split the ride. The concept is very similar to Hitchsters, a startup that helps pair up travelers so that they can share a limo on the way to the airport for a fraction of the cost they would normally pay. Hitchsters has plans to expand beyond airport travelers (including events like ball games), but at this point these options aren’t available. And, unlike CabEasy, Hitchsters only offers support for a few cities. CabEasy has more flexibility, but the site is clearly still in its infancy, and lacks the functionality that would make it useful for a large audience. For one, there isn’t an easy way to search for upcoming trips within a certain radius - you’ll need to look on the map and check for yourself (this works fine now, but if CabEasy ever establishes a sizable user base it would get confusing). I also question how often this will come in handy - most people rarely plan out their cab trips in advance unless they’re going to catch a flight. If CabEasy gets big enough that it’s always easy to find a match, then it would be a great service. But until then, most people probably won’t invest the time needed to check out the site if there’s only a small chance it will be of any use.
Information provided by CrunchBase
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. Source: TechCrunch | 29 Nov 2008 | 1:54 am Mundane gadget spam of the day"请确认您是否订阅由"军华网为您提供的办公学习休闲期刊: 确认要订阅请直接回复本邮件; 无须订阅请不要理会此信息，如果您想从此不再受此信息困扰请将本邮件主题改为"unsubscribe"或今后您将再也收不到由本站发出的所有信息了。附"休闲岛"电子杂志期刊简介：本电子杂志期刊由"军华网主办，不定期通过电子邮件免费寄送，其主要内容包括：幽默笑话、生活小常识、电脑使用技巧、趣闻趣事、娱乐星闻、八卦、读者交友、中长篇小说(言情、武侠、侦探、科幻等)、杂文、办公管理知识、等等。(所有内容均来自网友推荐)。欢迎各位订阅，同时也请您推荐给您的好友一起欣赏，请将您朋友的地址告诉我们，谢谢!" Source: Gizmodo | 29 Nov 2008 | 1:00 am How Microsoft plans to make its mark in CRM (CNET)CNET - Microsoft Dynamics CRM has become a key product for the company, according to CRM division general manager Brad Wilson--and it's an area the software maker plans to invest in further.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Nov 2008 | 12:30 am UPDATE 2-FDA defends U.S. infant formula; sets safe level(Adds safety level, company reaction, details of findings)Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Nov 2008 | 12:13 am Scientists Identify a Potentially Universal Mechanism of Agingcybergenesis2008 points us to a summary of research out of Harvard Medical School in which a set of genes known to affect aging in yeast was found to affect aging in mice as well. The genes, called sirtuins, perform two particular tasks; regulating which genes are "on" and "off," and also helping to repair damaged DNA. As an organism ages, the frequency of damage to DNA increases, leaving less time for the sirtuins' regulatory tasks. The increasingly unregulated genes then become a significant factor in aging. Realizing this, the researchers "administered extra copies of the sirtuin gene [to the mice], or fed them the sirtuin activator resveratrol, which in turn extended their mean lifespan by 24 to 46 percent." We discussed the plans for this research a few years ago.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 29 Nov 2008 | 12:08 am Who’s On Crack in tech: Black Friday ‘08 editionSection: Originals, Columns, Who's On Crack, Features
Microsoft Pink -ZunePhone?So the whole, “we are not making a phone” thing Ballmer told us was a lie? According to the rumor brought to us by Natesh, CNBC says their source reveals “Pink,“ what could a Microsoft phone based on the Zune player. For those not aware, and judging by the Zune sales numbers - you’re not, the Zune is an MP3 player designed to compete with iPods. I’ve been wanting to believe this for so long, I’ve given up. I am still hoping for a Surface Phone, but hey, I could be on crack too. Good luck with this one, MS.
Kindle 2: Intro in January?Um, whoops? If this is isn’t a bad leak that could erode holiday sales inspired by Oprah’s love session with the paper book replacement, I don’t know what is. Rumored to be just missing this year’s holiday season, the new Kindle looks pretty similar save for being rumored to be slightly thinner and a slightly redesigned keyboard. While the Kindle seems to have a loyal following, owners like our Robert Nelson will be holding onto their first gen until they see something worth upgrading for. Or until Apple decides it wants to own that market too.
7-11 to take on Game Industry?Why not? 7-11 wants to start selling video games according to GamerTell’s Kris Rosado. Because when I get a hankering for half-soda/half-cherry Slushy, I am always jonesing to pick up the new Gears of War. Hmmm, “pick me up some Combos, a Slim Jim, $4.00 on pump #2, some condoms and a video game” just doesn’t roll off the tongue like I thought it would. Now, I am not saying it takes a well informed staff to man the local gaming store, but I think it takes more than the workers at my local 7-11. They give me funny looks when I ask what pump I am parked in front of… Expect these to be kept under lock and key; just like the smokes. Don’t worry, 1 inch worth of dust included with each game they sell. No way this works, crackers.
Cheap HDTVsCan you believe how far and how fast prices on these things have come down? I saved 1/3rd on my 42” plasma just by purchasing it in conjunction with this crazy time of year. Heck, I even bought it at a pre-Black Friday sale. No sales tax and no shipping fee too boot. Blame too many in the market, blame the slumping economy, blame economies of scale; I don’t care what or who you want to blame, but us consumers reap the benefits. Normally I am on the sidelines on Black Friday, but this year is special. These deals are quite insane. Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gizmodo | 29 Nov 2008 | 12:00 am Protip: Wear these cufflinks to ensure there’s no second date
Nothing says “well dressed man” like fine cufflinks. On the other hand, nothing says “I have no desire to date” like these cufflinks. Available from Etsy, everyone’s favorite peddler of homemade haute couture, these clay Mario Mushrooms come in your choice of a pair of green or red. Or hell, mix the two if you want. You’re the master of your destiny. They’re a bargain at $24, plus you save money by never having to buy a girl dinner. Source: CrunchGear | 28 Nov 2008 | 11:30 pm BBtv: Friday recap + Unicorn Chaser - Joel of Boing Boing Gadgets in "UHHHHHH."
In today's edition, Boing Boing Gadgets' Joel Johnson, who trekked out into the wilderness for this previous episode, returns there to perform the nerdcore anthem embedded above -- UHHHH. (MP4 Link). Not a single one of these grunts was repeated. All were taped in the order they appear in this remix, the morning after Joel was nearly bitten by a snake, doing a gadget review out in the wilds.
Perhaps you were too busy stuffing yourself with turkey this week to catch all of this week's BBtv goodness. I'll embed a recap below. BBtv/Offworld: Status Report Edition, Brandon's Still a Death Gnome
Boing Boing Gadgets: Joel Reviews T-Mobile Cameo Picture Frame
Boing Boing tv Update: Virgin WiFi, Obfuscated Code, Comment Poetry, Downfall Housing Remix Source: Boing Boing | 28 Nov 2008 | 11:29 pm CIBC, former trader Flynn settle market-timing feudTORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce said on Friday that it resolved legal matters with a former New York-based trader who was accused in 2004 of helping hedge funds in the mutual fund...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Nov 2008 | 11:01 pm Fortis investor groups propose alternative boardAMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch and Belgian shareholder groups proposed on Friday an alternative list of nominees to the Fortis board of management ahead of shareholder meetings next week to vote on a change...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Nov 2008 | 11:01 pm PC Grand Theft Auto IV Features SecuROM DRMarcticstoat writes "Game developer Rockstar has revealed that the forthcoming PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV will feature the controversial SecuROM 7 DRM system. Unlike some of EA's recent titles, such as Spore and Mass Effect, GTA IV won't limit the number of times that you can install the game, although SecuROM will be impossible to remove without leaving 'some traces' on your PC. Anyone hoping to avoid SecuROM by downloading the game form Steam will also be disappointed, as Rockstar says that all versions of the game will feature SecuROM, including digital versions online. On the plus side, Rockstar says that it's 'working with SecuROM to post information on our support pages regarding how to remove these inactive traces of the program for users who wish to do so.' Has Rockstar gotten a better balance between draconian DRM and fair copy protection here?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 28 Nov 2008 | 11:01 pm Ohio banks First Place, Camco cancel mergerNEW YORK (Reuters) - First Place Financial Corp and Camco Financial Corp , two Ohio-based banks, on Friday said they agreed to cancel their planned merger, citing worsening market conditions.Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Nov 2008 | 11:00 pm JPMorgan retains WaMu branch staffNEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co , which bought the banking operations of Washington Mutual Inc [WAMUQ.PK] in September, said on Friday it would retain most of the giant thrift's branch banking...Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 28 Nov 2008 | 11:00 pm Dual Core Via nanos by 2010Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Hardware
The dual core version of the Nano isn’t due out until June 2010 according to VIA’s roadmap. However, there isn’t much information on the dual core Nano aside from the fact that it will feature a “new process technology” and it will be compatible with current motherboards using VIA Nanos. Most of the improvements for the VIA Nano are set for June 2009. Improvements include increased front side bus speed, virtualization, and 64 bit processing. The chips will also change from the current 90nm process technology to 65nm. The improvements will be nice for those that use VIA Nanos, but it’s hard to see the roadmap and think that Intel will beat VIA to the punch with dual core chips. Sure, dual cores aren’t everything, but everything concerning multiple cores seems to get everyone excited recently. Intel has no real reason to stop developing the Atom either way, but it is nice to see some competition in the market with a company that isn’t AMD or ARM. Read [Electronista] Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gizmodo | 28 Nov 2008 | 11:00 pm Gadgetell Black Friday Giveaway: Win 1 of 10 Seagate FreeAgent 1TB + 500GB Drive BundlesSection: Peripherals, Storage, Features, Contests
It’s Black Friday, you slept through your alarm, and are now scouring the web for the leftover deals (ie. non HD LCD TVs). Well why not sit back, relax, and enter to win some free drives from Seagate? Whether you give them away to your mother-in-law as a present or keep them for your movie collection, nothing beats free. Winners will get their choice of either a FreeAgent Desk 1TB or FreeAgent Desk for Mac 1TB as well as a 500GB FreeAgent Go or 500GB FreeAgent Go for Mac portable drive. The FreeAgent Go for Mac has FireWire 800 and USB ports comes in a silver and white design. It matches the look and feel of a MacBook. The FreeAgentGo (non Mac) is much slimmer and comes in Red, Forest Green, Sky Blue, Tuxedo Black and Silver. For a chance to win all you need to do to is answer following questions in the comment form at the bottom of this article:
Only one entry per person. Entry valid by answering the required question as well as leaving your email address in the comment form. We’ll pick a random winner from all the entries received by 11:59PT on Friday December 6. Click here for the full list of Dabbledoo contest rules. You can also enter to win one of the ten hard drive bundles at these sites once they post their rules:
Full Story » | Written by Adam Berger for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 28 Nov 2008 | 10:57 pm Cool tech: object-based interactions within videoThis video demonstrates some techniques UW and Adobe are working on for deep analysis, object recognition, and embedding of metadata within video. It looks really interesting, and although at the moment it all looks a bit academic and probably requires a ton of processing time, but remember, that’s how Photosynth started and now it’s totally usable and has a growing community. Source: CrunchGear | 28 Nov 2008 | 10:30 pm Set Your Phones a’Jingling With Free Calls From Santa
The holiday season is officially in full swing, and Santa is prepping for his big night by offering phone calls to anyone who may need a little extra motivation to stay good through the end of the year (or who would just love to hear from the big man himself). To request a call, visit ChristmasDialer.com, where you’ll be able to choose from three possible voice greetings that can be directed towards any phone number. The first call is free, while subsequent requests cost around a dollar each (depending on how many you buy at a time). Paid calls can also be made to international numbers, and can be scheduled to go out at a specified time. The site is based on the technology behind PrankDialer, and could probably be recreated fairly easily using Twilio, an API for phones that we covered last week. Also be sure to check out The Santa Tracker on Christmas, where you’ll be able to watch him make his way around the globe in real time.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. Source: TechCrunch | 28 Nov 2008 | 10:19 pm So Hot Right Now: Top 10 Gadgetell posts for the week of November 23, 2008Section:
Haven’t caught all of the Gadgetell news this week? Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles!
Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 28 Nov 2008 | 10:00 pm Would You Add Easter Eggs To Software Produced At Work?Mr. Leinad writes "Do you add Easter Eggs to the software that is produced at the office? I mean, if you have complete control over the final product, do you spice it up with that little personal touch, which, as unlikely as it is that anyone will see, carries with it an 'I was here' signature? I've just finished the development of a large software product, and I have a couple of days left to try to add my own personal Easter Egg code, but given that the software is quite professional, I don't know if I should. What do you think? Should we developers sign our creations?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 28 Nov 2008 | 9:55 pm Douglas Repetto's Squirrel Cages
Earlier in the fall, I had the opportunity to visit Douglas Repetto in his office at Columbia University in New York. The founder of Dorkbot and organizer of ArtBots, Doug is an artist and maker and he writes the "Art Work" column for Make magazine. When I visited Doug, he was working on a piece about Squirrel Cages. These cages are quite beautiful constructions, made out of wood with the assistance of a laser cutter.
At the time, I wasn't familiar with the term "squirrel caging", which means to turn things over in your mind without end. One writer describes squirrel caging as the "act of rumination on negative thoughts." Whether they are good or bad thoughts, we all have had the experience of not being able to stop thinking about SOMETHING.
The completed work, "Distributed Squirrel Cage for Parallel Processing" was later exhibited at the Main Street Museum in White River Junction, Vermont. Doug explains: Humans are invited to write obsessive thoughts on scraps of paper, deposit them in squirrel cages, and turn the crank, thus offloading the actual work of obsessing to the mechanism. This cutting-edge apparatus applies the latest techniques in distributed, massively parallel processing to the age-old problem of broken human minds.
Maybe Doug could set up a Squirrel Cage installation somewhere down on Wall Street.
Source: Boing Boing | 28 Nov 2008 | 9:47 pm Family of disabled boy whose pony is to be taken away starts a fundraising driveThe mother of the disabled child who may lose his miniature pony -- his only means of moving independently -- because his neighbours (who live next to a cow farm) complained about the smell -- has established a PayPal account to fund the legal work of keeping the pony. That address: antoniaspiteri82@hotmail.com .Mother begins work to keep her son's pony (Thanks, Jeremy!) Source: Boing Boing | 28 Nov 2008 | 9:45 pm Black Friday fatality: Wal-Mart staffer trampled in Long Island
Our condolences to the man’s family and friends. Source: CrunchGear | 28 Nov 2008 | 9:45 pm UPI NewsTrack Health and Science NewsDoctors debate new cancer treatment WASHINGTON, Nov.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Nov 2008 | 9:44 pm Canada's Internet is crapJesse Brown from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Search Engine has written a stirring editorial about the ways in which Canada's internet infrastructure is being turned into second-rate cable TV by greedy telcos and incompetent regulators.Every time I think about moving back to Canada some day, I remind myself of how miserable the national Internet infrastructure is -- and how awful the big telcos are, and how weak-kneed and ass-licking the telcoms regulator is -- and I realize I can't possibly move home. The Internet's where I live, it's how I earn my income. Living on Canada's Internet would be better than living on China's Internet, say, but that's a pretty low bar to hurdle. 1. Last week the CRTC sided with Bell against a group of small Internet Service Providers who want to offer their customers unthrottled connections where what they download is their own business and not subject to interference.Is Canada becoming a digital ghetto? (Thanks, Jesse!) Source: Gizmodo | 28 Nov 2008 | 9:35 pm Capcom releases soundtrack to new Street Fighter game for free
Although I like to flatter myself that my personal blog has the top Google result for “nes mp3 themes” and related searches, it’s folks like VGMusic and OC Remix that have the selection and newer tracks that gamers crave (if they crave game themes at all). Case in point: Capcom didn’t come to me when they wanted to freely distribute the soundtrack for the new (and from what I hear, awesome) Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix. There are a lot of tracks (torrent here) and they’re pretty much what you expect. Crazy-ass fan-made video game music. My only question is, how can something be Super, Turbo, and a Remix at the same time? That way lies madness. [sprite rip from here, and yes a 200kb image was absolutely necessary for this post] Source: CrunchGear | 28 Nov 2008 | 9:25 pm Cowon’s S9 to be available in United States by DecemberSection: Audio, Portable Audio, Video, Portable Video
Cowon has been teasing us for a while now with their S9 Curve, but it looks like we have some concrete information saying that the S9 will be available in States around Christmas time. It makes sense for Cowon to make it available around then, as more people would buy it as gifts. In case you don’t remember the specs of the S9, I’ll give you a rundown. It comes with a 3.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen with 480 x 272 resolution. In addition, it comes with improved BBE audio, DMB receiver, dual core processor, FM Tuner, and 40 hours of battery life when playing audio. It is set to be available in an 8GB model and a 16GB model. No word on exact pricing as of yet, but expect it to be a little on the expensive side. Via [PMP Today] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gizmodo | 28 Nov 2008 | 9:09 pm Live Cashback Having A Bad Black Friday
It’s also not so great for Microsoft’s expanding cloud computing efforts. If Microsoft can’t keep their own sites live on heavy traffic days, they can’t expect other companies to have faith in them as a platform either. Live Cashback first launched in May 2008 to give users a refund on purchases. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. Source: Gizmodo | 28 Nov 2008 | 9:00 pm Clearwire and Sprint unit close WiMax merger (AP)AP - Clearwire Corp. has completed its merger with the unit of Sprint Nextel Corp. that is building a new wireless data network, the companies said Friday.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 28 Nov 2008 | 8:57 pm Shoppers cautious with gadget buys on Black Friday (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 28 Nov 2008 | 8:57 pm Ubiquitous Hydrogen Power Not Getting Any CloserNewScientist has a story about the "hydrogen economy" that has been resting on the horizon for a decade or more. Despite a great deal of enthusiasm for and research into hydrogen-based power systems, the technology seems just as far away from everyday use as it's always been. A British startup, ITM Power, has recently claimed a breakthrough in lowering production costs by using a nickel catalyst (rather than platinum) with a membrane small enough for home use. But, even if their method is proven and adopted, it still wouldn't address huge energy efficiency problems in the process. "The point was made forcefully by Gary Kendall of the conservation group WWF in a recent report called Plugged In (PDF, pgs. 135-149). Kendall, a chemist who previously spent almost a decade working for ExxonMobil, highlights how the energy losses in the fuel chain - from electrolysis to compression of the hydrogen for use to inefficiencies in the fuel cell itself — mean that only 24 per cent of the energy used to make the fuel does any useful work on the road."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 28 Nov 2008 | 8:47 pm Good, weird times in new Street ViewI’ve been cruising around my neighborhood in the updated Street View today and have already found a few interesting items. For instance, as you see above, the stretch of northbound I-5 above Eastlake is now a terrifying corridor of colorful static. I haven’t driven that stretch in a few weeks so I guess it’s possible, but I should have noticed it when I was out there at the Lo-Fi last Saturday. What other glitches mar the face of the Emerald City?
Gas prices here are fluctuating wildly, as these two pictures from Admiral and 42nd in West Seattle show: just in the time it took the Vehigoogle to cross the street, gas prices jumped more than a buck. What a scam! (yes, I know what’s really going on here)
Lastly, I found the van I was driving this summer parked on 12th in its usual habitat, but unless Google took this picture in a vehicle-mounted funhouse mirror, I’m guessing they’ve got a few aspect ratio issues to smooth out. Find anything interesting in your recently added town or neighborhood? Glitches, funny occurrences? Feel free to leave them in comments. Source: CrunchGear | 28 Nov 2008 | 8:45 pm Astronomy students find a galaxyFive astronomy students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have carried their research to unexpected heights -- they found a galaxy. They made their improbable find in a most improbable way, using the world's largest radio telescope, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The students told the Wisconsin Sate Journal that their good fortune was not expected when they signed up for a research methods class being taught by UW-Madison astronomer Snezana Stanimirovic.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Nov 2008 | 8:21 pm Rumor: New Xbox 360 mobo to get 256MB flash memory
Xbox Scene is pretty positive that the onboard storage means you can install the NXE dashboard without robbing you of hard disk space. Good news for those of you who are trying to milk every single byte out of your already-crammed hard drives. The new GPU is built on a 65nm process — and as you may have learned from the constant shrinking of processors, the smaller the process, the less power drawn and the less heat produced. This is good news for reliability, as RROD problems were heat-based; if you’re still trepidatious about dropping $250 on a hot brick, this next generation may set you at ease. Nothing else too groundbreaking here, unless RAM configurations get you hot. Source: Gizmodo | 28 Nov 2008 | 8:00 pm Icahn Picks Up More Yahoo Shares On The Cheap
Carl Icahn bought up another 6.8 million shares of Yahoo earlier this week, bringing his total holdings to 75.6 million shares (just north of 5 percent). He paid just under $10 a share, or about a third of what he paid last May when he started building the bulk of his position. Of course, now he controls three seats on Yahoo’s board, including the one he occupies. So he is personally involved in the search for a new CEO to replace Jerry Yang, and he knows the stock will probably react favorably to the announcement of any new leadership. Why not buy now before the news when the stock is hitting rock bottom? He is obviously in the stock for the long haul now. I wouldn’t read too much into this move other than that Icahn is in too deep with Yahoo to bail out now. If you are committed to a stock, you buy it when it’s cheap. It doesn’t mean that Yahoo has found a new CEO. If the search was over and Icahn knew who was going to take over, that might be considered insider information and Icahn wouldn’t be able to trade on that knowledge. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. Source: TechCrunch | 28 Nov 2008 | 7:46 pm Interesting reading: Snipers, rifles, and current ballistics research
DARPA has its fingers in this pie, of course, and are researching “smart” but still traditionally fired projectiles which could increase the range of a rifle to far beyond the generally agreed-upon maximum of about 1500 meters. Finally, the finned bullets of Sci-Fi book covers will come to pass! Source: CrunchGear | 28 Nov 2008 | 7:45 pm European Regulators Rule Against Embryonic Stem Cell PatentIn a ruling that could suppress research by stem cell companies for commercial applications, regulators in Europe decided against allowing a patent on the development of human embryonic stem cells.An appeal panel at the European Patent Office upheld a June decision on Thursday that rejectedSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Nov 2008 | 7:34 pm Analyst: Mac, iPod discounts lower than expected - CNNMoney.com
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 28 Nov 2008 | 7:31 pm Game Makers Target Travelers With New ReleasesVideogame makers are gearing up for the upcoming holiday travel season by introducing new games and consoles especially well-suited for planes, trains and automobiles.Nintendo will launch two limited edition Nintendo DS bundles on Friday, including an Ice Blue Nintendo DS with matching carrying case and a copy of "Brain Age", and a Mario Red Nintendo DS with the "New Super Mario Bros" game.And in Japan, Nintendo recently introduced Nintendo DSi, its next generation portable that adds an SD card slot, two cameras, an online game store, advanced music capabilities, larger screens and a slimmer body to the dual-screen handheld player.The Nintendo DSi will be launched next year in North America and Europe, roughly five years after the North American debut of the Nintendo DS. Nintendo has sold about 84 million units during that time.Sony Corp.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Nov 2008 | 7:25 pm Google Updates Street View: Better Because It Has Seattle
Google has rolled out an update to Google Maps, and has expanded Street View to include many new locations including my home town of Seattle! That makes it exciting to me, and obviously it's exciting for everyone else on the internet because now there are miles and miles of new streets to investigate for hilarity, strange occurrences, and of course yourself. I've already scoured half of my routine locations looking for that familiar face, but no dice.
Source: Gizmodo | 28 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm Sennheiser announces wireless, unconncected ear buds
Sennheiser just announced these totally wireless earbuds for the Japanese market. They are truly wireless and bandless: no loop of plastic connecting buds between the ears. Each bud has a 2.4GHz wireless receiver built into it, and Sennheiser promises 10 hours per charge with no compromise to wireless fidelity. Price is jaw-meets-cracked-sternum: $630. I eye these with a bit of skepticism. There is one notable advantage to wires: a cord snaking from your iPod makes it almost impossible to lose your ear buds. But there's very much the awareness of my own innate fuddyduddery: I feel like the first outraged optometrist who cried, "Contacts! They'll never work! Cram them in your eyes? And there's not even a nose piece in the middle to hold them together!" Sennheiser announces the MX W1 [Watch Impress via Crunchgear] Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 28 Nov 2008 | 6:57 pm Get Notified When Your Favorite Website Is Not Down AnymoreA fan of extremely simple, straight-forward web services? Then you probably know about amusing pet-projects like DownForEveryoneOrJustMe, GoingToRain or IsTwitterDown (variations apply). Here’s another one for your bookmarking pleasure that won’t make you go back to the website every time to check the uptime. NotifyMeWhenIt’sUp lets you enter any website or service suffering from downtime and sends you an e-mail notification as soon as it’s back up (and only when it was effectively down upon entering). Simple, clean, obvious, free, and as far as I can tell it works like a charm too. The service was created by freelance web designer Sahil in his spare time.
Update: I just got an e-mail a couple of minutes after publishing from one Milov Patel claiming that the service is a complete rip-off of a website called DingIt’sUp.com that was scheduled for launch tomorrow (placeholder for now). The screenshots sure look alike, but I have no way of knowing who stole from whom, or if this is merely a coincidence. Either way, up to you to check up and compare both services tomorrow if you’re interested. Update 2: all is well on the playground now, Sahil and Milov are on good terms again. Good.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. Source: TechCrunch | 28 Nov 2008 | 6:50 pm Swedish doctors predict spray-on skinDoctors predict that spray-on skin cells will be used as a common form of sore treatment in the Swedish healthcare system within a few years.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Nov 2008 | 6:46 pm Videogames get set to go on vacation - Reuters
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 28 Nov 2008 | 6:39 pm Atlantic Hurricane Season Breaks RecordsThe 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, which ends Sunday, has set at least five weather records in the United States and Cuba."It was pretty relentless in a large number of big strikes," said Georgia Tech atmospheric sciences professor Judith Curry.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Nov 2008 | 6:35 pm MSI WIndbox makes the MSI Wind VESA mountable
The MSI Windbox is an interesting variation on the netbook-turned-PC concept: it's basically a stock MSI Wind without a display, meant to be strapped behind a VESA display of somekind. Otherwise, the specs are the same as always, for which I have set up a TextPander script: 1.6 GHz Atom, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. It's actually a rather cool idea, but there's no HDMI out, and as Slashgear notes, that is a missed trick: this could be marketed as a very cheap Media Center Expander if it had one. Price when released will be roughly at around $260. VESA-mounted fanless nettop [Slashgear] Source: Gizmodo | 28 Nov 2008 | 6:30 pm Gene flap delays babies' epilepsy careAustralian infants with a severe form of epilepsy risk having their diagnoses delayed because of a company's patent on a key gene, a hospital official says. It is the first reported evidence that private property rights over human DNA are adversely affecting medical care, the Sydney Morning Herald said. Dr.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Nov 2008 | 6:21 pm Assassin’s Creed 2 Confirmed, French Revolution Setting Rumored - eFluxMedia
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 28 Nov 2008 | 6:06 pm Scientists Able To Predict Break Rate Of Ice ShelvesScientists have developed computer models that are useful in predicting how fast icebergs break off Antarctica and Greenland.Researchers hope the discovery will enable them to predict rising sea levels due to global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels."To predict the future of the ice sheet and to understand the past, we have to put the information into a computer," says Richard B.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Nov 2008 | 5:55 pm Pioneer surgery saves British twinsBritish twins Samantha and Jennifer Bennett are flashing chubby-cheek smiles, acting like happy babies these days after pioneering surgery, their parents say. The sisters spent the first six months of their lives in a London hospital after being born with a rare windpipe condition that blockedSource: RedOrbit News - Science | 28 Nov 2008 | 5:51 pm Hands on with Live TV: Sling.com goes public - Ars Technica
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 28 Nov 2008 | 5:04 pm Joel's Post-Thanksgiving MessageSee the full story at BBTV. Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 28 Nov 2008 | 4:52 pm SMBs Beware: Spam Levels on the Rise - eWeek
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 28 Nov 2008 | 4:06 pm Stephen Fry hates the Blackberry Storm In his Twitter feed, Stephen Fry — my favorite dropsied, dandyish British comedian with the BMI of a bowl of congrealed oameal — devastated the Blackberry Storm in less than 432 characters.
Been playing with the BB Storm. Shockingly bad. I mean embarrassingly awful. Such a disappointment. Rushed out unfinished. What a pity. That last "Ha!" is just so scathing. The upper crust British aristocrat's answer to screwing in his monocle and saying "lolwut!" Stephen Fry slams the Blackberry Storm [Gizmodo] Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 28 Nov 2008 | 3:59 pm M.U.S.C.L.E. men go humping USB
I post this not for any id-driven delight at another variation of the phallic humping USB dongle motif, but because these particular ones are based on M.U.S.C.L.E. men, the tiny embryonically pink wrestlers that I bought by the plastic trash can full when I was nine. I'm just finding out now that America's M.U.S.C.L.E. line was based on the popular Kinnikuman manga, which is what these USB hubs are based on. You know, if these came in fleshy pink, I'd actually be nostalgic enough to buy one. Kinniukman Warriors [Geekstuff 4 U] Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 28 Nov 2008 | 3:36 pm Gray Friday for gadgetsIs it bedlam where you are? Where I am, it's ... slightly busier than usual. The TV sections of the local consumer electronics shops are getting good foot, because that's where the best deals are. But the car lots aren't full and the traffic's not too bad. In Circuit City, I was the only guy checking out the laptops at 9:30 a.m.! The only store I saw that was genuinely slammed was Bath and Body Works, which had checkout queues out the door: buying lotion futures now. Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 28 Nov 2008 | 2:57 pm Harnessing Light To Drive NanomachinesScience fiction writers have long envisioned sailing a spacecraft by the optical force of the sun's light. But, the forces of sunlight are too weak to fill even the oversized sails that have been tried.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Nov 2008 | 2:19 pm Restaurant Owner Tracks Down Thieves On FacebookAn Australian restaurant owner has tracked down five young diners who stole dinners by using Facebook, a popular social networking website.Peter Leary, from seafood restaurant Seagrass in Melbourne, was enraged when the diners slipped out without paying their $340 bill for oysters, trout, red emperor, and wine.Leary remembered one of the diners mentioning that they knew a former waitress, so Leary contacted the former waitress and she suggested he search through Facebook for the thieves."We searched a few names and there in front of us his face came up," Leary said."He was pictured with his girlfriend who was the only girl in the group.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Nov 2008 | 1:20 pm Sling.com To Give Hulu CompetitionVideo-streaming website Hulu has become a popular place to watch movies and TV shows since its release in March. This week, however, Hulu met its first real competition as Sling Media released Sling.com.Sling Media, which makes the Slingbox device that allows users to watch their home TVSource: RedOrbit News - Technology | 28 Nov 2008 | 1:10 pm
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The debate about Netbooks, which are very small and very cheap laptop devices, is beginning to heat up. The category is only about a year old but sales are expected to top 5 million this year. 
Laika 
The Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories 
Invention of Hugo Cabret 
Good as Lily 
The Plain Janes 
100 Days Of Monsters 
Army @ Love Vol. 1: The Hot Zone Club 
Three Shadows 
St. Trinian's: The Entire Appalling Business 
The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need 
Cory Doctorow's Futuristic Tales Of The Here And Now 
Too Cool To Be Forgotten 
A People's History of American Empire 
TEKKONKINKREET: Black & White 
The Mad War on Bush 
MAD About Star Wars 
Alan's War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope 
The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation 
Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan 
Bound by Law?: Tales from the Public Domain 
Al Jaffee's Tall Tales 
Many people generally associate 
The next Spider-Man accessory is a game that you just have to plug into your TV and it works. Instead of a normal game controller, it comes with an actual Spider-Man jet ski, so you can ride your way through the 7 games it comes with. I remember seeing stuff like this at arcades, and they were always fun to use. I would recommend this for your child. Unfortunately, it requires A LOT of batteries - 8 AA. Also, don’t sit on it just to try it out as it only holds up to 90 pounds. This used to sell for $59.99, but now sells for $39.99. 
Next, is the Civilization III PC game, which is similar to Age of Empires by Microsoft. Features include:
Saturday 29, November, 1:00PM - 2:00PM
CrunchBase Information
This is where we call out the tech moves that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin’ crack. This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity. 
Microsoft lined up some great deals for 
