Source: Gizmodo | 1 Dec 2008 | 11:55 am

Huffington Post Nabs $25 Million in Funding–Here’s a BoomTown Interview with Oak Investment’s Fred Harman [BoomTown]

The Huffington Post will announce this morning that it has raised $25 million, in a single investment from Oak Investment Partners.

The large round by Oak, which was led by Palo Alto, Ca.-based venture capitalist Fred Harman, will give the popular online news and blog site a valuation of just “south of $100 million,” a source said.

The new funding, the Huffington Post’s third, will be used for expansion of its offerings and the hiring of editorial and business talent.

“There is an inevitable shift from offline to online with people increasingly getting their news media online, and this election proved how powerful the Huffington Post could be,” said Harman (pictured here), in an interview with BoomTown. “And I think the post-election perception of the Huffington Post has changed in the eyes of advertisers to being a key mainstream news site.”

Indeed, the Huffington Post–which is now billing itself as ‘”The Internet Newspaper”–has been hitting on all cylinders during the current election season.

And it hopes to continue building that momentum into the Obama administration, which will give the liberal-leaning site a lot of advantages in coverage.

The Huffington Post has also become a powerful news aggregator, much as the more conservative Drudge Report has, sending traffic all over the Web from its site by linking with a variety of online sites. It also has a strong offering of high-profile bloggers.

But the site’s leaders are also hoping its traffic strength will allow it to be as strong in arenas outside of its flagship political arena, including in business, local, “green” and investigative news.

It will also use the money to make acquisitions, the company said in a press release about the funding, which it put out this morning.

It’s certainly a long way from May of 2005, when its high-profile Co-Founder Arianna Huffington was roundly mocked for launching the site. Today, she has seen her power grow as the site’s traffic and influence has.

The site’s namesake operates out of her California-based office in Los Angeles, while the company has its HQ in New York.

The Huffington Post’s traffic in September 2008, for example, quadrupled from a year before to 4.5 million unique visitors, according to comScore (SCOR). That performance made it the #1 “stand-alone political blog and news site,” besting Drudge.

“The cycle of print media is accelerating downward and there are not as many companies with a balance sheet and focus to do it right online,” said Harman, who will join the Huffington Post’s board. “The news market is really up for grabs in a lot of ways…and it is a good time for those who are viewed as authoritative.”

But, like a lot of advertising-reliant businesses, the Huffington Post is also facing a tough market and must show it can compete under more dire economic circumstances and build a sustained and profitable business.

This slug of money should give it a lot of room to do so, said Harman, who has invested in several digital media companies, such as Demand Media and Federated Media. He was also one of the lead investors in aQuantive, the digital advertising business which was bought by Microsoft for $6 billion in 2007.

“Who knows how deep this economic situation is going to be,” said Harman, who noted that he and others kept investing in aQuantive through the last Web downturn. “But strong companies that keep investing through a bad cycle can emerge as winners.”

Previous investments in the Huffington Post have totaled about $12 million. That funding has come from Softbank Capital and Greycroft Partners, as well as seed money from Co-Founder Kenneth Lerer and former AOL exec Bob Pittman.

Funding reports about the Huffington Post appeared about a week ago in the Times of London, with the post claiming a $15 million investment and expansion into investigative and local news.

But the most detailed posts were done by paidContent, which was the first to name Oak as the new investor and said the round was $20 million.

Source: All Things Digital | 1 Dec 2008 | 11:53 am

Linux on the iPhone

From the department of "Because We Can" comes Linux on the iPhone. Don't get too excited -- you won't be running Ubuntu or Google's Android OS on your iPhone any time soon (even if you wanted to). Here it is in action:

       

Right now, as you can see, this is strictly a proof of concept -- there's no actual interaction with any of the iPhone's input methods. No touch screen, no nothing. Instead, the iPhone runs a USB client which lets you type in commands from another computer via the dock connector.

Still, it's a good start, and once somebody slaps a few hardware drivers and a graphic user interface on there, it could be fun to play with. We're actually more interested with the keyboard side of this hack. Would it be possible to run the regular iPhone OS and hook a keyboard directly into the dock connector? That would be killer useful for getting some real work done on the iPhone. It would also destroy my excuse for not blogging when I'm traveling, so maybe it's not such a good thing after all.

Linux on the iPhone! [Linuxoniphone via TUAW]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 1 Dec 2008 | 11:28 am

ArenaFest Aims To Bring Social Networking, Unsigned Bands (And Lacrosse!) To Live Events

Next summer, you and all your so-called friends from Facebook and MySpace will be able to finally meet in a giant arena, where you ill be able to play dating games, compete against each other in Guitar Hero or Lacrosse, listen to live bands, or check out the modeling contest. The event will be called ArenaFest, and will eventually be held at 50 major sports arenas around the country. Next summer, it will start with 10 arenas in places like Dallas, Detroit, Cleveland, Phoenix, and Anaheim.

ArenaFest will have several draws, including live sports, live music, and live contests. John Ossenmacher, CEO of ArenaWorks Entertainment, which operates ArenaFest, calls it ” our version of live social networking.” People who go will be able to interact with their friends on Facebook and MySpace. And their friends on those social networks will be able to interact with what’s going on inside the arena.

The sport at the event will be lacrosse, which is one of the fastest-growing sports in the U.S. “We are basically building a brand new sports league targeted at this 16-to-24 year old demographic,” says Ossenmacher. But that’s not all.

Live bands, both signed and unsigned acts, will play onstage. For the unsigned bands, ArenaWorks is partnering with SellaBand, the site where music fans can fund unsigned bands. Since its launch in 2006, SellaBand has raised $3 million for musicians to record nearly 30 albums. Now bands on the site will have a chance to tour as well. They will be able to sign up to apply for the ArenaFest slots. If they gather 200 fans, $10,000 towards an album, or the most weekly votes, they get to proceed to Round 2 and play a local venue. The best of those will then be screened by a professional jury, which will determine who will play at ArenaFest.

At ArenaFest, the audience will be encouraged to participate themselves through a variety of contest stations, including a Lacrosse Challenge, Guitar Hero, Next Top Model (to lure the ladies), Dodgeball, and Break Dancing (yes, break dancing). There will also be some sort of dating game.

All of this will cost just $27.50 per ticket, and the whole thing will be repeated weekly throughout the summer at the same venues to encourage the high school and college crowd to keep coming back. “We are changing the whole philosophy of how the arena system works,” says Ossenmacher. Fill up the cheap seats in between games.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 1 Dec 2008 | 10:59 am

Nikon Announces $8000, 24.5 Megapixel D3X

Nikon has announced the D3X, a new full frame DSLR with a whopping 24.5 megapixels. It is, more or less, a D3 with a bigger sensor and a bigger price tag. How big? $8000 big.

About that sensor. It will give images of up to 6048 x 4032 pixels, and runs from ISO 100 to a rather conservative ISO 1600, compared to the ISO 6400 available on the smaller 12MP D3. The images coming off that sensor range up to a huge 138 MB, making a 2GB CF card look like a 12 exposure 135 film.

Amazingly, Nikon says that the D3X can still shift up to five frames per second in full frame FX format, and up to seven fps if you shrink your images down to DX format.

So, why would you buy this, aside from a need to fill up an empty hard drive quickly? Nikon is pitching this at the studio photographers who need all the pixels they can get, along with fashion and landscape photogs. It makes sense. If you are under bright lights or have the camera sitting on a tripod, you don't need the amazing low-light sensitivity of the original D3 (or D700). We actually like the fact that there is a choice here: you get the same body and functions with both the D3 and the D3X, but you can choose the sensor. It's, you know, just like changing films used to be. Only a little more expensive.

Is $8000 too much? If you stack it up against the alternative – medium format cameras – then $8000 starts to look cheap. And we'd be very surprised indeed if Nikon didn't follow this up in several months with a D700X.

Product page [Nikon]

See Also:

 
• Review: Nikon D3 is Light-Years Ahead of Other Prosumer-Grade ...
 
• Is Nikon Prepping A 24 Megapixel D3 Replacement?
 
• Hands-On With the Nikon D700
 
• Video: Nikon D700 Shooting at Eight FPS

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 1 Dec 2008 | 10:54 am

Songbeat Makes Searching For Music Online Really Simple

There’s a new version of Songbeat, a simple but powerful desktop application for discovering music online, and I like it. When it was first released earlier this year, the client only enabled you to search for music online using Seeqpod, but the updated version lets you search more engines at once and also lets you easily play, export and download songs.

The music industry will be interested to know that the new iteration of Songbeat supports integrated search for Seeqpod, Project Playlist, SpoolFM, iASK ‘and more’. You can use the client to listen to music over the web, or listen and record straight from Last.fm. Music files can be directly exported to iTunes, Windows Media Player and Winamp or burnt on a CD, and you can download tracks or albums straight from the internet, or even a complete genre or artist thanks to integration with Mixtape. Songbeat even automatically tags your music files with lyrics and album cover art when you download them from the net.

The German company behind the Songbeat player offers the desktop app for free, so you can find and listen to as much music as you want, but you can only download 25 times. An upgrade would cost you 19.99 Euros (or $ 29.9), for which you’d get unlimited downloads.

Note that it only works on Windows XP and Vista for now. A Mac and iPhone version are under development, and should be ready by the end of the first quarter of next year.

And what about copyright infringement? Songbeat’s answer:

The downloading of music is not fundamentally illegal. However, it lies in the hands of the user to discern whether or not they have the right to download the particular music file at hand.

Oh, ok then.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 1 Dec 2008 | 10:25 am

China launches satellite

The Chinese Space Technology Academy announced the Monday launch of a remote sensing satellite, sent aloft on a Long March-2D carrier rocket. The Yaogan IV satellite, fired from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province, will be used for scientific research,
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 1 Dec 2008 | 10:25 am

The Myth of Upgrade Inevitability Is Dead

Several readers pointed out a ComputerWorld UK blog piece on the expanding ripples of the Vista fiasco. Glyn Moody quotes an earlier Inquirer piece about Vista, which he notes "has been memorably described as DRM masquerading as an operating system": "Studies carried out by both Gartner and IDC have found that because older software is often incompatible with Vista, many consumers are opting for used computers with XP installed as a default, rather than buying an expensive new PC with Vista and downgrading. Big business, which typically thinks nothing about splashing out for newer, more up-to-date PCs, is also having trouble with Vista, with even firms like Intel noting XP would remain the dominant OS within the company for the foreseeable future." Moody continues: "What's really important about this is not so much that Vista is manifestly such a dog, but that the myth of upgrade inevitability has been destroyed. Companies have realized that they do have a choice — that they can simply say 'no.' From there, it's but a small step to realizing that they can also walk away from Windows completely, provided the alternatives offer sufficient data compatibility to make that move realistic."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 1 Dec 2008 | 10:14 am

Here’s Something About Online Retail That Is Not So Gloomy [BoomTown]

With all this humbugging about holiday retail online–down? up? sideways?–it would do a person well to think more Tiny Tim than Scrooge these days.

And here’s some very clever advertising videos from the fine folks at ChangingThePresent.org, created for the charity nonprofit by StrawberryFrog, to help you get there.

They should make you think twice, when you see those dumb buy-more-and-more-and-even-more ads out there.

Give the gift that matters, indeed. But judge for yourselves:

Say Forever

True Luxury

Source: All Things Digital | 1 Dec 2008 | 9:50 am

Holiday Online Retail Traffic: Walmart And Amazon Duked It Out

According to Hitwise, U.S. visit numbers across all tracked retail categories declined for Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday 2008, with the exception of online-only shopping websites. Among the top 500 Retail sites, Walmart was the top visited on Thanksgiving Day, but Amazon.com took over as top visited Retail site on Black Friday.

Overall, the numbers showed an expected but sharp decline: the percentage of U.S. visits was down 11% on Thanksgiving Day in 2008 compared to last year, and U.S. traffic on Black Friday was down 5%. But online-only (not brick-and-mortar) stores, of which there are 100 in the list of 500 top retail websites, had a pretty good run: the percentage of U.S visits to those shot up 11% on Thanksgiving Day, and went up 10% on Black Friday compared to 2007.

Still according to the Hitwise report, the top visited retail website on Thanksgiving Day was Walmart.com, receiving 13.72% of U.S. visits, while Amazon.com was the second most visited with 9.56% of visits. BestBuy.com came in third with 6.05%.

Amazon.com took over the lead on Black Friday, receiving 11.06% of U.S. visits among the top 500 retail websites. Walmart.com was the second most visited with 9.88% of visits followed by Target.com with 4.62%.

Source: TechCrunch | 1 Dec 2008 | 9:33 am

A new wind for MSI's netbooks: 2GB, WiFi-n, less power consumption

MSI is to offer new netbooks: the Wind U110, U115 and U120.

The U120 is much the same as the original U100, but with 3G built-in. It's the other two that do clever things with the standard netbook loadout, though all remain stuck with a 600-line display. Here's a bullet list:

• Options for 2GB of RAM.
• The Z530, a more expensive version of Intel's Atom CPU, which uses 20% less power.
• A new chipset that uses less power.
• 6-cell battery as standard.
• Hybrid flash/spinning storage, also said to use less power.

The holy grail is to get a full day of work off a single charge. It's driven netbook makers to offer long-life batteries, and Acer's Aspire One rules at Amazon thanks to the inclusion, at no extra cost, of the 6-cell upgrade. In the case of Samsung's NC10, almost 7 hours can be squeezed by keeping the display dim. even with WiFi on.

MSI's response line-items every part to stay ahead of the game, and UMPC Portal outlines where the compromise might be: New MSI Netbooks; Not Your Standard Cookie-Cutter Specs.

Update: I just double-checked the sales ranks, and it turns out Asus' Eee 900HA has dethroned the Aspire One. It's understandable — the 900HA has gotten excellent word of mouth. But look who's storming up the chart, despite its relatively high price.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Dec 2008 | 9:01 am

Windows Mobile easier to use than iPhone operating system?

Tweeted by Matt Buchanan:

trying to unravel how consumer reports scored windows mobile "excellent" on ease of use, better than iPhone and G1

You don't have to be an Apple fan to think it a little odd, that's for sure. What it comes down to, perhaps, is the problem of quantifying technologies whose appeal is more abstract than ever. On paper, Windows Mobile makes an ocean of wildly different devices accessible in uniform and utilitarian fashion. But the iPhone is just an iPhone.

Consumer Reports is the best place in the world to find out what vacuum cleaner to buy, but its gadget reviews are often ambivalent and unsatisfying, like an elderly grandmother trying to explain why she prefers sherry to port. To me, a religious devotee of its general coverage, this presents something of a mystery. Perhaps clinical detachment just isn't that interesting for things that inspire communication and encourage cultural anarchy in ways that fridges and televisions never can—software, particularly, simply isn't an appliance.

In the following video, senior editor Michael Gikas embarks on a journey into the land of the iClones. A benign review of RIM's panned BlackBerry Storm is followed by inconclusive fluff about the other usual suspects, all of which are treated to 8/10 talk. The best "what?" moment comes when he spots Sprint's Instinct as the best web experience on the market: "I was watching FOX on Sprint TV coming down today!"

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:50 am

Nokia AMOLED N85 is $556 unlocked

Nokia's $556 N85 lands at Amazon with a "list price" of $1,200 — "You save $644.01!" — but the site cautions that it will arrive after December 24th.

The N85 is a GSM/WiFi model that runs Symbian and has a 5 megapixel camera and GPS. The stout price, however, is explained by its active-matrix OLED display. According to Nokia, this gives it a higher resolution at a bigger size than passive OLED technology: 2.6" at 320x240.

Nokia N85 Unlocked Cell Phone--U.S. Version with Warranty (Copper) [Amazon via OLED-info and Engadget]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:37 am

Microsoft's Surface surfaces in BMW product navigator

Microsoft's stunning multi-touch display tech makes its real-world debut at German carmaker BMW, which is to use it in fancy in-dealership product configurators.

"Users can grab digital information with their hands and interact with content by touch and gesture," say the narrator.

"It's fun," adds Franz Wimmer, Innovation Manager of BMW Group.

It's easy to be cynical — the idea of buying a car using a digital four-square is hardly appetizing — but kudos to Microsoft for getting its perennial Today Show Special Report out of the lab. We're almost in the future!

BMW Using Microsoft Surface for Product Navigator [BMW Blog via Techmeme]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:30 am

Black Friday sales up 3% on last year

This factoid can evidently be taken one way or another.

There was also some confusion, with deals disappearing when they hit the checkout. HP and Microsoft promised 40 percent refunds at HP's online store, but the Microsoft's Live Search cashback program didn't award the advertised discounts, when they worked at all. [Techflash]

Pic: Nature's Graffiti

2008 holiday sales definitely either good or bad [Christopher Null]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:22 am

Archive of product manuals

BBG reader Garpike has established an online archive of classic product manuals. It's just getting started, but already has some great entries, like this ancient and colorful Kodak box.

The Product Manual Archive

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:11 am

Waistband Stretcher increases pant girth

A $30 gadget of simple and obvious utility, SkyMall's Waistband Stretcher adds 1-5 inches to cotton pants, skirts and shorts. From the blurb:

Just moisten the garment's waistband, insert the waistband stretcher, extend the garment to the desired size and let dry - voila, a more comfortable fit!

According to the specs, once you hit 45" round, you're beyond help.

Waistband Stretcher [SkyMall via RGS]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:05 am

Why This Famous Raider Is Scooping Up Debt [Voices]

By Lawrence C. Strauss, Contributing Writer, Barron’s

What a difference two decades makes. In the 1980s, Carl Icahn loomed large as a corporate raider, in the mold of the Gordon Gekko character in the movie Wall Street. Icahn made a lot of money but was vilified for what some considered a slash-and-burn approach to taking over companies. Twenty years later, Icahn has morphed into a shareholder activist and rails against what he considers to be incompetence among senior executives and on boards. “They call me raider. They call me an activist,” says Icahn, who, at 72, shows no sign of slowing down. “I don’t know what those labels mean. All I know is that something should be done to improve corporate governance and management. If we don’t, managements will remain unaccountable and our economy will suffer.”

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:02 am

Google’s Gatekeepers [Voices]

By Jeffrey Rosen, Contributing Writer, New York Times Magazine

In 2006, Thailand announced it was blocking access to YouTube for anyone with a Thai I.P address, and then identified 20 offensive videos for Google to remove as a condition of unblocking the site. ‘If your whole game is to increase market share,’ says Lawrence Lessig, speaking of Google, ‘it’s hard to . . . gather data in ways that don’t raise privacy concerns or in ways that might help repressive governments to block controversial content.’

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:01 am

Power On Self Test: I Can Has Cheese?

[FFFFound via Loveology]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:01 am

Why I Love Twitter [Voices]

By Tim O’Reilly, Founder and CEO, O’Reilly Media

If you care what I think, you know that Twitter is just about the best way to learn what I’m paying attention to. I pass along tidbits of O’Reilly news, interesting reading from mailing lists and blogs I follow, and of course, tidbits from the twitterers I’m following. These are all the things I could never find time to put on my blog, but that I spray via email like a firehose at editors, conference planners, and researchers within O’Reilly. A lot of my job is, as we say, “redistributing the future” - following interesting people, and passing on what I learn to others. And twitter is an awesome tool for doing just that.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 1 Dec 2008 | 8:00 am

Yiddish in Jazz

Sarah sez, "BBC radio is doing a piece about the influence of Yiddish on American culture - they have a great clip describing the ways in which Yiddish songs made their way into jazz (see blurb below). My grandma - the last surviving member of my family who remembers hearing Yiddish spoken in the home - got a real kick out of it."

Hell, I get a kick out of it! My father's first language was Yiddish, and I grew up taking Sunday Yiddish classes at the secular Workman's Circle school in Toronto. It's still the language I use to communicate with my family in Russia (they don't speak English and I don't speak Russian). It's a fantastically expressive, ironic language made for joking and tummeling and kibbitzing. It's a kind of weak Sapir-Worf: it's nearly impossible to speak it without turning ironic and funny.

And of course, Yiddish jazz like Mickey Katz (brilliantly covered by Don Byron) and the Yiddishisms in Slim Gaillard's music (Matzoh Balls, anyone?) just plain kicks ass.

Yiddish - a language once spoken by more than 10 million Jews - had a profound effect on American culture in the first half of the 20th Century.

It originated in central and eastern Europe - and spread to the United States when thousand of immigrants arrived in New York.

Zalmen Mlotek is the Artistic Director of the city's last surviving professional Yiddish theatre - the Folksbiene.

With the help of his piano, he has been telling Radio 3's Dennis Marks how the language influenced jazz music - and the likes of George and Ira Gershwin.

Audio slideshow: Inspired by Yiddish (Thanks, Sarah!)

Source: Boing Boing | 1 Dec 2008 | 7:50 am

IT Job Without a Degree?

adh0c writes "I have been lurking Slashdot for some time now without registering and I don't think this question has been answered yet. Is it possible to get a good IT job (assuming that there is such a thing), preferably a sysadmin position, without having a BS or other degree? From browsing the job postings on Monster and such, it would seem that everyone wants university papers. Is there hope for computer enthusiasts who didn't go to college?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 1 Dec 2008 | 7:22 am

'60 Minutes' report: How online gamblers unmasked cheaters (CNET)

CNET - In the wild, wild west, when a poker player was caught cheating it was a capital offense, with the punishment quickly dispensed right across the card table. But today if you're caught cheating in the popular and lucrative world of Internet poker, you may get away scot-free.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 1 Dec 2008 | 7:05 am

Recently at Boing Boing Gadgets

Recently at Boing Boing Gadgets, we endured Black Friday (which turned out to be Gray Friday for gadgets) and mundane gadget spam to bring you delights like humping USB M.U.S.C.L.E men. John spotted Stephen Fry's laconic review of the BlackBerry Storm, a tiny computer that screws into your monitor's VESA mounts, and new wireless earbuds from Sennheiser. With netbooks threatening to cannibalise general computer sales, Intel would prefer you bought things with profitable hi-performance chips. TechCrunch hates 'em, too: or at least 7" ones with 256MB of RAM running Vista on Via Nano processors. Lori Drew, who taunted a youngster on MySpace, was convicted of computer hacking. Boing Boing Gadgets

Source: Boing Boing | 1 Dec 2008 | 6:57 am

Watchismo is giving a free LIP diode watch to a BB reader!

Our pals at Watchismo have launched a new store to highlight their kick-ass line of reproductions of LIP diode watches -- replicas of Roger Tallon's 1973 timepieces that were among the first (and coolest) digital watches made. I bought my LIP back in September and I've been wearing it ever since.

Watchismo has offered to give away a LIP watch to one Boing Boing reader (and to offer a 20 percent discount to BB readers on the entire store, which includes dozens of superb vintage and new watches -- just use the discount code BBWATCHISMO) in a giveaway drawing that's scheduled for the 22nd of December.

I love watches -- my grandfather was a watchmaker and I grew up surrounded by them -- and I discovered Watchismo through a friend's recommendation. Since then, I've bought two watches from the site, and been given two more as gifts, and each one is an absolute treasure: beautiful, functional, and distinctive. There's an early digital that you adjust by rubbing a magnet (hidden in the bracelet) against the back of the case. There's another early digital whose numbers are actually printed in bright orange LED font on hidden cardboard wheels and then reflected on a disguised curved mirror that makes it appear that they are lit from within.

The craftsmanship and aesthetics of Watchismo's stocks really hit the sweet-spot for me: they're gizmos that are meant to last for the ages and be used every day.

Welcome to the BoingBoing LIP Diode Giveaway!

Source: Boing Boing | 1 Dec 2008 | 6:29 am

Scammer targets people who've been ripped off already

Here's a nice little variant on the traditional 419 scam letter that showed up in my inbox this morning:

THIS IS TO OFFICIALLY INFORM YOU THAT YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED AMONG THE 40 LUCKY VICTIM OF SCAMMED TO BE COMPENSATED WITH $500,000.00.FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS,THIS WAS CONCLUDED BY THE SENATE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA,SENATOR wALLIS KELLY WITH DELEGATE FROM THE UNITED NATION AND WORLD BANK AT THE AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT WHICH TOOK PLACE IN ADDIS ABABA IN (ETHIOPIA) AIMED AT REDEEMING THE COUNTRY'S IMAGE AND ALSO TO TRY TO PUT ANEND TO THE INCESSANT SCAM REPORTS BY FOREIGNER ESPECIALLY FROM USA AND AROUND THE GLOBE.YOU HAVE BEEN LISTED AND APPROVED FOR THIS PAYMENT AS ONE OF THE SCAMMED VICTIMS TO BE PAID THIS AMOUNT.

In David W. Maurer's classic 1940 book The Big Con (the basis for the movie The Sting), he describes how con-men would put their victims on the hook again and again, fleecing them, then convincing them to go home and borrow or steal everything their could from their friends in order to get their original money back. Like a desperate gambler doubling down, the poor marks would get deeper and deeper, and at every stage, it got easier for the grifter to con them again.

So here's the modern variant of it -- fleecing people who've been burned by scammers.

Source: Boing Boing | 1 Dec 2008 | 6:19 am

The Work Week Ahead

As we're approaching the end of what is a nice four-day holiday break for some of us, I want to talk about getting back to work. This will also be my final guestblog on Boing-Boing, for now. [Blogging here has been a welcome distraction and a delight; thanks for allowing me to share this wonderful space with so many of you.]

While traveling recently, I came upon "The 4-Hour Workweek" in paperback, prominently displayed in an airport bookstore. I started wondering how the book is selling today. (The hardback was released in 2007). Its subtitle says it all: "Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich." Author Timothy Ferriss, not to be confused with Timothy Ferris, the science writer, considers himself a "lifestyle designer." He reveals how to cut your time at work by 80% and spend more time doing things you really enjoy such as skiiing or scuba diving.

The book's title, "The 4-hour Workweek", suggests the least amount of work you could get away with. However, in this economy, I kept thinking the title might suggest the most work you're lucky to find. Ferris' pitch now seems out of tune with tough times, a bit like books that guide you to "Invest in Real Estate with No Money Down."

Ferriss promises to reveal the secrets of the "New Rich, a fast-growing subculture who have abandoned the "deferred-life plan" (aka "slave - save - retire") and create luxury lifestyles in the present." It seems like the book was written for NY investment bankers who don't enjoy what they do but they can't bring themselves to walk away from $500K salaries and seek a new lifestyle. Ferris notes that it's not the money of the millionaire that most people want; it's the freedom that it buys them. So what keeps us from being free and enjoying it? It's a valid question but I had to ask its opposite: what keeps us from enjoying work?

With the investment banking lifestyle fast disappearing, like a lot of good deals gone bad, this book might represent the apex of the boomer fantasy -- the self-absorbed vision of abundance and personal prosperity, and its pre-occupation with retiring early and leaving the work world behind.

Ferris does have good things to say, but times have changed. Most of his advice applies if you don't like what you do for a living. Ferris says that most people see their "job description as self-description". We get trapped answering the question "what do you do?" Yes, that happens but it's what you do, not what you say that defines you, and that's why work is important. Work is where you can do a lot of things that you can't do on your own. Work is where you can do something that matters, not just to you, but to others. We don't have the luxury of ignoring the problems that face us and the people around us. (The economy, education, health care, climate change, etcetera, etcetera).

Ferris writes that "the perfect job is one that takes the least time." I beg to differ. I love what I do because it demands more and more of me. So, the perfect job is one that requires the most of you -- more of your talent, more of your time and more of your will to make something happen. It challenges you to grow and learn more about yourself, often through the people you work with. I realize not everyone has a job they love and nowadays, a lot of people are happy just to have a job, even if they don't love it. Nonetheless, I feel fortunate not only to have a good job but to be in a position to make a difference in other people's lives. I want more hours, not fewer.

I like poet Frank Bidart's words in "Advice to the Players."

“The greatest luxury is to live a life in which the work that one does to earn a living, and what one has the appetite to make, coincide - by a kind of grace are the same, one.”

Here's to a full workweek ahead, not merely four hours but forty plus.

Source: Boing Boing | 1 Dec 2008 | 6:13 am

Children's welfare groups oppose Australian censorware -- petition to save Australia's Internet

Itsumishi sez, "A few weeks ago it was mentioned that the Australian Labor Government will be trying to introduce mandatory internet filtering despite promises before the election that any filtering would be on a voluntary basis. The whole insane proposal has received very little mainstream media attention despite vocal opposition from the Opposition, some smaller parties, industry experts, ISPs, consumers and even Child Welfare Groups! With trials due to start December 24th (while everyone is distracted by the holiday season) the time to speak up and let Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy as well as the Labor Government know how Australian's feel about this very important issue. GetUp! Campaign Actions (who helped abolish Work Choices and free David Hicks) have set up a campaign to Save the Net in Australia. I urge all Australian's who care about free speech, the internet and our economy to sign up now and stop this insanity before it has real impact on our daily lives."

Holly Doel-Mackaway, adviser with Save the Children, the largest independent children's rights agency in the world, said educating kids and parents was the way to empower young people to be safe internet users.

She said the filter scheme was "fundamentally flawed" because it failed to tackle the problem at the source and would inadvertently block legitimate resources.

Furthermore there was no evidence to suggest that children were stumbling across child pornography when browsing the web. Doel-Mackaway believes the millions of dollars earmarked to implement the filters would be far better spent on teaching children how to use the internet safely and on law enforcement.

"Children are exposed to the abusive behaviours of adults often and we need to be preventing the causes of violence against children in the community, rather than blocking it from people's view," she said.

"The constant change of cyberspace means that a filter is going to be able to be circumvented and it's going to throw up false positives - many innocent websites, maybe even our own, will be blacklisted because we reference a lot of our work that we do with children in fighting commercial sexual exploitation."

Children's welfare groups slam net filters, Save The Net petition

Source: Boing Boing | 1 Dec 2008 | 6:13 am

How Dan Kaminsky broke and fixed DNS

Wired's Joshua A Davis has a great profile of my pal Dan Kaminsky's work on discovering and then helping to fix a net-crashing DNS bug earlier this year. Davis really captures the excitement of discovering a major security flaw and the complex web of personal, professional and technical complications that come to bear when you're trying to disclose the research in a way that minimizes harm to the net.

Dan does a lot of fun security-related stuff that doesn't get talked about in public. There's this one thing he does --

But that would be telling.

The next morning, Kaminsky strode to the front of the conference room at Microsoft headquarters before Vixie could introduce him or even welcome the assembled heavy hitters. The 16 people in the room represented Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and the most important designers of modern DNS software.

Vixie was prepared to say a few words, but Kaminsky assumed that everyone was there to hear what he had to say. After all, he'd earned the spotlight. He hadn't sold the discovery to the Russian mob. He hadn't used it to take over banks. He hadn't destroyed the Internet. He was actually losing money on the whole thing: As a freelance computer consultant, he had taken time off work to save the world. In return, he deserved to bask in the glory of discovery. Maybe his name would be heralded around the world.

Kaminsky started by laying out the timeline. He had discovered a devastating flaw in DNS and would explain the details in a moment. But first he wanted the group to know that they didn't have much time. On August 6, he was going to a hacker convention in Las Vegas, where he would stand before the world and unveil his amazing discovery. If there was a solution, they'd better figure it out by then.

But did Kaminsky have the goods? DNS attacks were nothing new and were considered difficult to execute. The most practical attack—widely known as cache poisoning—required a hacker to submit data to a DNS server at the exact moment that it updated its records. If he succeeded, he could change the records. But, like sperm swimming toward an egg, whichever packet got there first—legitimate or malicious—locked everything else out. If the attacker lost the race, he would have to wait until the server updated again, a moment that might not come for days. And even if he timed it just right, the server required a 16-bit ID number. The hacker had a 1-in-65,536 chance of guessing it correctly. It could take years to successfully compromise just one domain.

The experts watched as Kaminsky opened his laptop and connected the overhead projector. He had created a "weaponized" version of his attack on this vulnerability to demonstrate its power. A mass of data flashed onscreen and told the story. In less than 10 seconds, Kaminsky had compromised a server running BIND 9, Vixie's DNS routing software, which controls 80 percent of Internet traffic. It was undeniable proof that Kaminsky had the power to take down large swaths of the Internet.

Secret Geek A-Team Hacks Back, Defends Worldwide Web

(Photo: John Keatley)

Source: Boing Boing | 1 Dec 2008 | 6:09 am

Cognitive Therapy is as effective as anti-depressants in chronic depression

A study published today in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology concludes that Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy is as effective as anti-depressants in controlling long-term depression.

I've had personal experience with MBCT. About ten years ago, my personal life hit a very low point that left me more than sad -- I was paralyzed, weepy, unable to see the bright side of anything, listless, always tired. I recognized the symptoms of depression and spoke to a psychiatrist I knew. He recommended MBCT in the form of David D Burns's The Feeling Good Handbook. Despite its cheesy title, the book was just what I needed: a series of simple exercises that used empiricism (writing down what happened around you and how it made you feel, and what alternative explanations you could think of for others' behavior) to help change the habits of thought that led to the downward spiral. It wasn't long before the depression lifted, never to return (so far -- and if it does, I know what I'll do).

I've never spoken in public about this before, but I have quietly passed on the book to many of my friends when it seemed needed, always with good results. So I'm not surprised to hear that this research ("led by Professor Willem Kuyken at the Mood Disorders Centre, University of Exeter, in collaboration with colleagues at the Centre for Economics of Mental Health (CEMH) at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, Peninsula Medical School, Devon Primary Care Trust and the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit") shows that MBCT works in cases of chronic, long-term depression. This is especially good news, since chronic depression (which runs in my family) is especially hard on the person experiencing it as well as those around her or him.

The holidays are prime-time for difficult emotions. If you or someone you know is experiencing depression, know that it's not a sign of weakness or personal inadequacy. Help is simple, widely available and effective.

Professor Willem Kuyken of the University of Exeter said: "Anti-depressants are widely used by people who suffer from depression and that's because they tend to work. But, while they're very effective in helping reduce the symptoms of depression, when people come off them they are particularly vulnerable to relapse. MBCT takes a different approach – it teaches people skills for life. What we have shown is that when people work at it, these skills for life help keep people well."

Professor Kuyken continues: "Our results suggest MBCT may be a viable alternative for some of the 3.5 million people in the UK known to be suffering from this debilitating condition. People who suffer depression have long asked for psychological approaches to help them recover in the long-term and MBCT is a very promising approach. I think we have the basis for offering patients and GPs an alternative to long-term anti-depressant medication. We are planning to conduct a larger trial to put these results to the test and to examine how MBCT works."

Depression Treatment: Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy As Effective As Anti-depressant Medication, Study Suggests

Source: Boing Boing | 1 Dec 2008 | 6:03 am

Police raid 79-year-old woman for pot, find tomato plants

Police officers in Scotland were disappointed to learn that the people they intended to arrest for growing marijuana were growing an equally innocuous, but unfortunately legal, plant -- tomatoes.

Uniformed officers burst into Lulu Matheson's house in the village of Shieldaig, Wester Ross, kept her son Gus in his bedroom for two hours, handcuffed her grandson Stephen, and turned the house upside down.

The high-profile afternoon raid involved three squad cars, seven officers and sniffer dogs. They told the family they were looking for cannabis, but after searching for several hours had to concede the green plants visible in the window from the roadside were tomatoes.

Naturally, the cops didn't apologize. They were just doing their job.

UPDATE: The best bit? At taxpayers' expense, "the officers insisted on sending samples of the plants to be analysed."

Police raid 79-year-old woman for pot, find tomato plants

Source: Boing Boing | 1 Dec 2008 | 5:46 am

Dec. 1, 1952: 'Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty'

1952: It's front-page news when George Jorgensen Jr. is reborn as Christine Jorgensen, gaining international celebrity and notoriety as the first widely known person to undergo a successful sex-change operation.

Jorgensen, who grew up in the Bronx, in her words, a "frail, tow-headed, introverted little boy who ran from fistfights and rough-and-tumble games," was drafted into the Army just after World War II. Military service only reinforced Jorgensen's belief that she was, in fact, a woman trapped inside a man's body.

After receiving her discharge, Jorgensen returned home and first heard about "sex-reassignment surgery," which was being performed only in Sweden. (It was illegal almost everywhere else, including the United States.)

Encouraged, Jorgensen began taking female hormones on her own, then headed for Sweden. She never made it. Stopping in Denmark to visit relatives in Copenhagen, Jorgensen was introduced to Christian Hamburger, a Danish surgeon who specialized in the kind of surgery she was seeking. He agreed to take the case and put his patient on hormone-replacement therapy as they prepared for surgery.

Several surgeries were required, the first one consisting of castration, which was only carried out after permission was obtained from the Danish minister of justice.

At the time of Jorgensen's transformation, Hamburger did not give her an artificial vagina, so she remained "anatomically incorrect" for several years before undergoing a vaginoplasty in the United States.

The hormone therapy resulted in profound changes to Jorgensen's body. Fat was redistributed, and she began to take on the contours of a woman. Subsequent surgeries completed the process until she was ready to step into the spotlight.

Jorgensen's sex change, which may have been leaked to the press by Jorgensen herself, hit the headlines Dec. 1, creating an international sensation. "Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty" screamed the banner of Jorgensen's hometown New York Daily News.

In fact, Jorgensen was not the first person to undergo sex-reassignment surgery. During the rollicking Weimar period, German doctors performed the surgery on at least two patients. The difference, in Jorgensen's case, was that she underwent hormone-replacement therapy in conjunction with the surgery. The earlier surgeries were strictly cut-and-paste.

Although Jorgensen complained frequently about the jackals of the press, she did become something of a publicity hound and took most of the tasteless remarks with good grace, laughing off jokes such as, "Christine Jorgensen went abroad and came back a broad."

She turned to acting and became a nightclub singer as well, performing, predictably, "I Enjoy Being a Girl."

But Christine Jorgensen's world was not an enlightened one, particularly when it came to transgenderism. She paid the cost for this lack of sophistication. A first announced engagement fell through, and a second one failed as well, when the state of New York refused to issue the couple a marriage license. Her intended husband also lost his job when the marriage plans became known.

She later traveled the lecture circuit, talking about her experiences and advocating for the nascent transgender cause.

Jorgensen died of cancer in 1989, a few weeks short of age 63.

Source: Various

Source: Wired Top Stories | 1 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Genetically Modified Peanuts Could Save Lives

Scientists have genetically engineered peanuts to silence two of the genes responsible for the most common cause of fatal allergic reactions to food in the United States. While the research is unlikely to result in the creation of completely allergen-free peanuts, it could result in fewer outbreaks and even fewer deaths.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 1 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Gallery: Happy Accident Opens Door to Cheaper, Higher-Resolution Cameras

: Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.com

LOS ANGELES — Scientific accidents have brought some of the most groundbreaking discoveries — vulcanized rubber, X-rays, penicillin — and now scientists at UCLA have accidentally discovered a material that could make digital cameras as we know them obsolete.

Graduate student Hsiang-Yu Chen was working on a new formula for solar cells when something went wrong. Instead of creating electricity when hit with light, the conductivity of the material she was working with changed.

"The original purpose [was] to make a solar cell more efficient," says Chen. "However, during the research we found the solar cell phenomenon [had] disappeared." Instead, the test material showed high gain photoconductivity, indicating potential use as a photo sensor.

Thanks to this lucky mistake, a new breed of camera sensors that are cheaper, higher-resolution and have lower distortion could be on the horizon. Click through the gallery to learn how this new breakthrough works and tour the labs where the magic happens.

Left: A piece of glass houses five strips of this new material, held between tweezers in a glove box.

: Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.com

Here, materials science Ph.D. student Hsiang-Yu Chen takes a polymer sample from a tray inside a glove box. Researchers in this lab test hundreds of samples before a material with desirable properties is found.

When Chen made the discovery, she was working on plastic-like substances with quantum dots — nanoparticles (roughly the size of a virus) with properties similar to a semiconductor.

The nano-size quantum dots could give photo sensors much higher resolution than current models. And because this new photo-sensing material is a polymer film, it's flexible and could someday be inexpensive to produce.

: Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.com

At left is a pair of stills that concentrate polymer solutions. Later, the solutions will be tested for their response to light.

Currently, the sensor in your camera that detects light and allows you to capture an image is made out of silicon. This makes it relatively expensive as well as flat and inflexible.

Having a flat sensor doesn’t seem like a big deal until you consider how your lens works. Lenses are curved, which shapes the image they see. When you project the spherical image onto a flat surface you get distortion around the edges. A flexible sensor would prevent this distortion.

: Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.com

The polymer- and metal-coated slide from the first photo of the gallery is now placed into an electrode clip (the white, rectangular portion of the setup). The electrodes on the clip will enable sensors to take readings from the material when it's exposed to light.

: Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.com

The sample in the electrode clip is inserted into the test chassis. The wires on the right send any electrical activity from the material to a computer for analysis.

: Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.com

A very bright, wide-spectrum light source is connected to the glove box. It's attached to the portal using a standoff header that keeps the light a fixed distance from the sample. The light appears blue because the light in the room has a yellow cast, it's actually much closer to the color of daylight.

: Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.com

Hsiang-Yu Chen checks the results of the test using a computer and laboratory graphing software. The graphs show the response levels to the light that the material exhibited.

In her initial experiment she was expecting to see electricity produced when the light hit the material, but instead the light stopped the flow of electricity. This means that her material acted as a photo detector instead of a solar cell.

The lab still remains committed to developing a better solar panel, but now that their findings have been published it may only be a matter of time before camera companies take notice of the technology.

: Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.com

An atomic force microscope is used to image the polymer sample to view its physical makeup. The AFM traces the surface of the polymer with a nanoscopic needle, the same way the needle on your record player tracks over vinyl.

This needle is attached to a cantilever that reflects a laser beam, which then determines the three-dimensional topography of the surface. Inset is the resulting micrograph of the surface from the AFM. This view allows researchers to make sure the quantum dots are properly aligning in polymer.

: Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.com

This tunneling electron microscope (TEM) is used to view the physical makeup of the polymer. The level of detail visible from the TEM micrographs is a few hundred nanometers. Inset is the micrograph created by the TEM of the photosensitive polymer.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 1 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Food Crunch Opens Doors to Bioengineered Crops

Surging costs, population growth, and drought and other setbacks linked to global climate change are pressuring world food supplies, while soaring prices on the street have triggered riots and raised the number of people going hungry to more than 923 million, according to U.N. estimates.With food demand forecast to increase by half by 2030, the incentive to use genetic engineering to boost harvests and protect precious crops from insects and other damage has never been greater.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 1 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Power.com: For Social Networking Power Users

Chances are you use at least two major social networks - 49 million people, for example, visited both MySpace and Facebook in October 2008 (Comscore, worldwide). Nearly 7 million people in the UK use both Bebo and Facebook. A lot of people maintain very different friend lists on LinkedIn than MySpace or Facebook. Etc. And when you add in niche social sites like YouTube, Flickr, etc., there’s even more overlap among users.

There has never been an effective way of aggregating and merging all the data and activity on these sites into a single user interface. A new venture backed Brazilian-based started called Power.com launches today, though, that aims to do just that. They’re calling what they do “social inter-networking” because it allows users to view and interact with all of their social networks at once. Data is aggregated, and the sites themselves, if accessed via the Power.com site, are marked up with added features in a way that Greasemonkey users are familiar with.

The service is unknown in the U.S. today, although it’s been live since August and boasts 5 million users already. Until today it supported just a few social networks, notably Orkut. Now, though, the service supports users from Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Orkut, Hi5 and a number of niche networks like YouTube.

Here’s how it works.

Log into one or more social networks on the Power.com site. Friends, messages, updates, photos and other information are either scraped from the site or obtained via the API (it varies by site), and aggregated on the Power dashboard. Users can respond/comment on this content directly from Power. And if they like, they can send messages and updates to all of their social networks at once. Or send a message to just one friend, but have it sent to all of their different social networks (and if they are a Power user, to their email, SMS, instant message, etc., per their settings).

If you visit one of the social networks through the Power site, the pages are marked up with additional functionality. Click a button to start chatting with the user over MSN chat, if they are a Power.com user.

Lastly, users can create a Power.com profile based on whatever social network they choose. Here’s mine, based on Facebook (which, by the way, effectively makes my private Facebook profile public).

It’s all a bit confusing, but it’s fairly simple to try out. Just log in and go.

There are real benefits to the service. Users can keep track of friends on social networks they belong to but don’t visit very often. Status messages can be added to all networks simultaneously. Photos and videos can be uploaded on multiple sites at once. And messaging people across multiple services is dead simple.

There are limitations to the service. You have to access the sites via Power.com. And the company is scraping content off the sites, something that may violate the terms and conditions of some or all of these services (Meebo did the same with instant messaging platforms, and was eventually embraced - but they could have just been shut down).

As I said above, the company has gathered 5 million users since August, mostly on Orkut. Power.com users who leave content on sites can choose to add a link to Power.com, making the service spread virally very quickly. Now that they’ve launched publicly and on the big sites, expect the service to grow even more quickly.

The company has raised $5 million in venture financing from Silicon Valley-based Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

It’s also worth noting that we’ve covered a bunch of services that attempt to do some of the things Power.com is doing. See our posts on MyLifeBrand, Spokeo, Loopster and ProfileLinker. None of those sites were able to tap into the viral growth features that Power.com has, though. Power’s decision to add a link when content is posted through their service was brilliant.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 1 Dec 2008 | 4:59 am

James Boyle's New Book Under CC License

An anonymous reader writes "James Boyle has released his new book, The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind (Yale University Press) under a Creative Commons License. It can be downloaded free or read online. There are chapters on Thomas Jefferson's views of IP, musical borrowing and the birth of soul, free software, and synthetic biology. Lessig is impressed. Doctorow says he is a law prof who writes like a comedian (is this a good thing?), and credits Boyle's first book for getting him involved in online rights."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 1 Dec 2008 | 4:27 am

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 | 1 Dec 2008 | 3:51 am

MP3 becomes official king of music

Section: Audio

Since it became an official standard in 1991, Moving Picture Experts Group -1 Audio Layer 3 (or MP3) has proven popular due to the fact that it is easily transferable, good quality and cheaper than hard copies.  So far it has been unpopular with record companies as a result of the close links it has to piracy, but recently Atlantic Records said that over 50% of their revenue was coming from digital sales.

This is the first instance where a publisher has made more profit from this type of sale than from CDs of DVDs, so this is definitely a landmark for the music industry.  The figure actually stands at 51% (of profit coming from digital sales) which may not sound much, is still a big achievement, and will give other companies confidence to go down this path.

As I said there is a great reluctance to encourage digital media because of the way that it can be easily copied, but this has caused a massive overhaul in the music industry.  Whilst many have embraced it by offering their music free over the Internet, others are suffering as people choose to listen/download the music free online rather than pay for a CD.  Craig Kallman, Chief Executive of Atlantic Records, explains how the Internet has affected their business:

“It was really important to educate artists about how we had to change the thinking on the release cycle and the type of products we were releasing.  Some fans only want to buy the physical disc, some only want to buy a ringtone and a T-shirt, others just want a concert ticket, others want to buy a digital album.  Everybody wants something different now ... we need to offer them whatever they want, whenever they want.“

Source [Guardian]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 1 Dec 2008 | 3:03 am

The Times Gets Pwnd

We were doubtful last night when the story first broke. There were just too many oddities to The Times’ tale about a complicated Yahoo/Microsoft search arrangement that would guarantee billions to Yahoo in exchange for a ten year search deal. We’ve checked with our sources - all of them - and we can’t verify a single fact in the story.

The first part of the story: “Microsoft is in talks to acquire Yahoo’s online search business for $20 billion.”

Wrong. Our sources at Microsoft say they are not in current negotiations with Yahoo, over anything. Our sources at Yahoo agree, also saying they are not in negotiations with Microsoft over anything. Yahoo sources add that the company is fully engaged in finding a new CEO right now, and nothing else.

The second part of the story: “The proposal forms the centrepiece of a complex transaction that would see Microsoft support a new management team to take control of Yahoo…Jonathan Miller, ex-chairman and chief executive of AOL, and Ross Levinsohn, a former president of Fox Interactive Media, have been lined up to lead the new management team.”

Wrong. I spoke with Ross Levinsohn this afternoon. He says that there is absolutely no truth to the story. He also says that neither he or Jonathan Miller, his partner at Velocity Interactive Group, were contacted by the Times.

The third part of the story: “Under the terms of the proposed transaction, Microsoft would provide a $5 billion facility to the Miller and Levinsohn management team. The duo would raise an additional $5 billion from external investors. This cash would be used to buy convertible preference shares and warrants which would give it a holding in excess of 30% of Yahoo. The external investors would also have the right to appoint three of Yahoo’s 11 board directors. The talks with Yahoo involve Microsoft obtaining a 10-year operating agreement to manage the search business. It would also receive a two-year call option to buy the search business for $20 billion. That would leave Yahoo to run its own e-mail, messaging, and content services. It is expected that the operating agreement would boost Yahoo’s income by as much as $2 billion per annum.”

Wrong. See above. Also, the deal terms make no sense compared to Microsoft’s actual search offer from earlier this year. It values Yahoo way above market value, even taking deal premiums into account, and the incremental cash flow from the deal doesn’t match up to previous estimates published by Yahoo.

The Times, first published in 1785, has long been considered the newspaper of record in the UK, but yesterday they really stepped in it, and someone has manipulated them badly. Thankfully the markets weren’t open, because the article would have definitely resulted in a short term spike in Yahoo stock.

Thanks to FailBlog for the image, and just in general for existing.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 1 Dec 2008 | 2:45 am

Florence Nightengale, Statistical Graphics Pioneer

Science News has a fascinating look at an under-appreciated corner of the career of Florence Nightengale — as an innovator in the use of statistical graphics to argue for social change. Nightengale returned from the Crimean War a heroine in the eyes of the British citizenry, for the soldiers' lives she had saved. But she came to appreciate that the way to save far more lives was to reform attitudes in the military about sanitation. Under the tutelage of William Farr, who had just invented the field of medical statistics, she compiled overwhelming evidence (in the form of an 830-page report) of the need for change. "As impressive as her statistics were, Nightingale worried that Queen Victoria's eyes would glaze over as she scanned the tables. So Nightingale devised clever ways of presenting the information in charts. Statistics had been presented using graphics only a few times previously, and perhaps never to persuade people of the need for social change."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 1 Dec 2008 | 2:02 am

Uke, washboard, and kazoo music from 1928

Amy Crehore found this video of Eddie Thomas and Carl Scott playing "My Ohio Home." Hokum Music on YouTube

Source: Boing Boing | 1 Dec 2008 | 1:25 am

Amazon’s Thanksgiving weekend, Cyber Monday 2008 game deals

FROM GAMERTELL - Amazon still has some pretty amazing deals that will last until Monday (December 1, 2008). For example, how would you like to own Far Cry 2 for $17.95 or Infinite Undiscovery for $18.95?  MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 1 Dec 2008 | 12:39 am

Pentagon Shoots $22 Million Into Guided Bullet Tech

What if a sniper could fire a bullet that changed course in mid-flight to hit its target? The Pentagon hands out nearly $22 million to try to find out.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Nov 2008 | 11:45 pm

Groklaw Summarizes the Lori Drew Verdict

Bootsy Collins writes "Last Wednesday, the Lori Drew 'cyberbullying' case ended in three misdemeanor convictions under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a 1986 US Federal law intended to address illegally accessing computer systems. The interpretation of the act by the Court to cover violations of website terms of service, a circumstance obviously not considered in the law's formulation and passage, may have profound effects on the intersection of the Internet and US law. Referring to an amicus curiae brief filed by online rights organizations and law professors, PJ at Groklaw breaks down the implications of the decision to support her assertion that 'unless this case is overturned, it is time to get off the Internet completely, because it will have become too risky to use a computer.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 30 Nov 2008 | 11:37 pm

Wii Speak can be purchased used after all

FROM GAMERTELL - Nintendo offers up replacement download tickets for Wii Speak so even second-hand Wii Speak microphone can be used… MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 30 Nov 2008 | 10:14 pm

Recourse For Poor Customer Service?

eleventypie writes "I am in the Army and currently stationed in Afghanistan. Recently I found myself without a laptop so I decided to build a studio 17 from Dell. I designed/customized my laptop on 2008-09-17 and placed my order, which totaled approximately $1,700. The laptop was built and apparently shipped on 2008-09-28. Given my APO address, I know mail can sometimes take a little while to get here, though 7-10 days is normal. Dell said to give my laptop 6-8 business days and occasionally, it might take as much as 4-6 weeks. So on 2008-11-12 I sent another email to Dell informing them I still had not received my laptop. One person said to give it more time, while another person responded to my message telling me to send my address again and they would send me a replacement. So I sent my address immediately and never got a response. It is now the 30th of November and I still have no laptop and Dell seems to have quit responding to my emails. This is very frustrating being out $1,700 and not having a laptop to talk to my friends and family and do school work. Phone calls aren't easy so calling them is pretty much out of the question. Any advice on what I can or should do at this point to get the computer I ordered or get my money back?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 30 Nov 2008 | 10:06 pm

Use a CueCat scanner with Collectorz’s Game Collector software

FROM GAMERTELL - Collectorz keeps the CueCat love alive, allowing the handheld scanner to work with Game Collector and other collector-friendly Mac and Windows software… MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 30 Nov 2008 | 8:15 pm

Hazing Keeps Swans From Lead-Filled Lake

After years of gathering dead carcasses of Pacific Coast trumpeter swans, and examining their lead-poisoned livers, wildlife biologist Mike Smith became convinced the only way to save the birds was by hazing them.So he kept vigil with a night-vision scope, a laser and a noisemaker in a makeshift watchtower behind Judson Lake, on a mission to scare the swans away.   Smith believes the lake, with its bottom full of shotgun pellets that have killed hundreds of the birds, is the likely source of the lead poisoning.After hearing the distinctive honk of a swan, he saw one of the snow-white birds gracefully land on the water.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Nov 2008 | 8:14 pm

Fuel-cell powered devices getting closer (AP)

AP - Laptop, cell phone and iPod owners tired of having their devices run out of charge after a few hours have been patiently waiting for the next portable power source to arrive.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:45 pm

Holiday Shopping Surge Shuts Down Sears.com

In one of the Web’s most notable holiday shopping snafus, Sears.com became inaccessible to shoppers for two hours on Friday.Other online retailers, such as Amazon.com, also experienced slowdowns, according to an Associated Press report that quoted data from research group Keynote Systems Inc.Keynote began monitoring the performance of about 30 major online retailers ten days ago, tracking the time it took to locate an item and begin the check out process.In addition to Amazon, Keynote monitored the Web sites of Macy’s Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Circuit City and others using a system that obtained measurements every 15 minutes from computers in 10 major U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:30 pm

150 Whales Die In Australia

Australian authorities reported on Sunday that at least 150 whales have died after being stranded on Tasmania's west coast.The long-finned pilot whales were discovered on Saturday, badly injured by jagged rocks.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Nov 2008 | 7:25 pm

Hot gaming news for the week of 11-23-2008

Section:

No need to scour the interwebs for hot gaming news, Gamertell‘s already done that for you!  Here’s a look at this week’s top stories…

• Walmart Black Friday 2008 ad leaked - has plenty of video game deals
• Best Black Friday 2008 deals for Wii
• Black Friday 2008 Uber Deal: eCost selling one Wii per hour for $99 (updated)
• Meijer’s Thanksgiving Day 2008 sale
• Playstation Store Update: Black Friday and Thanksgiving 2008 edition

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 30 Nov 2008 | 6:22 pm

Botanists puzzle over lack of acorns

Botanists say they're puzzled about why oak trees from Virginia to Kansas and north to Nova Scotia failed to produce acorns this year. It's a zero year. There's zero production.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Nov 2008 | 4:38 pm

Space Shuttle Endeavour Lands in Calif.

Endeavour and its seven astronauts safely returned to Earth on Sunday.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Nov 2008 | 4:30 pm

Study finds Internet searches boost brain

Searching the Internet exercises the brains of older people by activating their neural circuitry, says UCLA's Memory & Aging Research Center. Internet searches activate regions in the brain that control complex reasoning and decision making, the Center found in a nine-month study of 24
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Nov 2008 | 3:54 pm

Poachers find thriving market for fossils

A dinosaur skeleton that vanished from Mongolia likely was sold on the black market, says a fossil hunter from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The broken skeleton, found in the Gobi desert, was to be reassembled as a centerpiece for the Museum, said Michael Ryan, the Museum's head of vertebrate paleontology. It would have been the most significant chunk of Tarbosaurus in North America.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Nov 2008 | 3:09 pm