• Expirable copyright makes giant-sized Little Nemo possible - Boing ...
• Titles from Little Nemo in Slumberland - Boing Boing
• Little Sammy Sneeze: Winsor McCay's anarchic precurson to Little ...
• Gigantic Little Nemo book does justice to the loveliest comic ever ...

Prescription Handguns For the Elderly and Disabled

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

YouTube Uglifies Embedded Videos With A Search Bar

That is one fugly search bar that YouTube added (without warning) to embedded videos.

Update: if you want to turn it off, simply add the parameter “&showsearch=0″. More information here.

Also, the site itself received a facelift, one that I’m not loving:

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

Where money comes from: fractional reserve and debts

In this 47-minute video, Paul Grignon lays out the workings of the fractional reserve system, explaining how banks are able to create money and then collect interest on it. He's highly critical of the system (which I have a hard time getting my head around), and he makes a good case for the idea that the deck is stacked against everyone except bankers.

Money As Debt (Thanks, Chris!)

GoDaddy Uses Standard Tactics To Warehouse Domains

Having working in the domain name industry myself for a couple of years, I’ve always been intrigued by the fact that there’s such a big business formed around something as trivial as a bunch of letters and numbers used to ‘translate’ IP addresses. And when there’s a big business in something, you just know there will be a grey area as well where ethics are left at the door sometimes.

Andrew Allemann over at Domain Name Wire has been doing an excellent job researching the hoops The Go Daddy Group jumps through to keep its shady tactics outside of the public view, resulting in this great blog post. Turns out The Go Daddy Group, which runs the world’s largest domain name registrar GoDaddy.com as well as some other domain name related companies, is apparently warehousing its customers’ expired domain names and directly profiting from them.

Warehousing and auctioning off expired domain names is not necessarily against ICANN (the governing body over domain name registration) regulations and actually quite a common practice among larger registrars, but the story only gets interesting when you take a look at what goes on behind the transparent part of it. When a valuable expired domain doesn’t sell through an auction on The Domain Name Aftermarket (aka TDNAM, GoDaddy’s auction platform), The Go Daddy Group changes the ownership of the domain to one of its lesser known subsidiaries, Standard Tactics LLC, using Domains By Proxy’s whois privacy service to hide its identity. Next thing you know, that company will start monetizing the domain names using parked domain pages filled with ads and list the domains for resale on TDNAM.

On August 16, 2005, GoDaddy formed a subsidiary called Standard Tactics, LLC in New Mexico. Before founding Standard Tactics, all of GoDaddy’s subsidiaries were incorporated in Arizona where the company is headquartered. There are a couple reasons GoDaddy may have chosen to form the company as a New Mexico limited liability company rather than an Arizona corporation. First, by creating the company in New Mexico it could distance itself from it. Second, by filing as a limited liability company instead of a corporation, it didn’t have to list directors of the corporation.

In fact, Standard Tactics LLC is a subsidiary of Special Domain Services Inc, which is a subsidiary of GoDaddy Inc, which is a subsidiary of The Go Daddy Group. See a pattern here? The only reason why we even know this is because the information got out when GoDaddy attempted to file for an IPO in 2006 (it eventually withdrew the filing).

So why is Go Daddy going through such lengths to keep the public from knowing about its aftermarket operations, when it’s not even against ICANN regulations? Paragraph 3.7.9 of the agreement between ICANN and Registrars says:

“Registrars shall abide by any ICANN adopted specifications or policies prohibiting or restricting warehousing of or speculation in domain names by registrars.”

Only problem is ICANN hasn’t yet adopted specifications or policies prohibiting or restricting warehousing, leaving registrars in a unique position to impact domain name pricing top-down by introducing competitive bidding or auctions for expired domain names.

It’s really no wonder GoDaddy is trying to cover its tracks and hide these practices, but thanks to Andrew the word is now out.

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

Science fiction buttons

Science Fiction Button Set (via Making Light)

Logitech Celebrates Its One-Billionth Mouse But The Party Might End Soon

At the dawn of the new era of user interfaces that is bound to end the reign of the mighty computer mouse, Logitech is celebrating the production of its one billionth mouse.

According to the company, the lucky legacy mouse was built a couple of weeks ago at one of the company plants in Suzhou, in western China.

Founded in 1981 in Switzerland, Logitech introduced its first mouse for retail four years later in 1985. It took the company 11 years to reach 100 million against heavy competition from IBM, Microsoft, and Apple, and almost just as long to multiply tenfold.

Matching that level of growth over the next eleven years will be much harder. If you look at where computer interfaces are headed over the next few years, it's very likely that Logitech's mice brigade might not make it.

Like we mentioned in a story about the coming death of the mouse earlier this year, the increasing quality and accuracy of interactive UIs and motion detectors are poised to kick out the mouse out of the mainstream and into the Senior House of Gadgets over the next decade.

Among the other technologies that will emerge as viable computer input devices, we expect to see eye-tracking software, realistic force-feedback technology, voice commands, and everyone's favorite, Minority Report-style gesture recognition.

But since it's bad form to spoil a party, we should note that Logitech is building a nice little contest around their event. The company is giving out a $1000 reward to whoever guesses where the billionth mouse ends up around the world, after tracking its whereabouts through its own blog and twit feed.

Facing its inevitable death sentence, you can't blame the poor mouse for stealing this idea from the Mars Landing.

Check out the full line of Logitech mice over the years after the jump, or at the company's Flickr page.

See also:

• Six Technologies That May or May Not Kill The Mouse in Five Years

IBM offers a 'Microsoft-free' desktop

Source: Gizmodo | 4 Dec 2008 | 6:30 am

Windows on a Mac: Virtually Perfect - BusinessWeek

ZDNet

Windows on a Mac: Virtually Perfect BusinessWeek - 6 hours ago By Stephen H. Wildstrom Excellent hardware and even better software are strong reasons for people to choose a Mac as their next computer. Apple yanks antivirus advice from its Web site Computerworld Apple Axes Antivirus Help Page InformationWeek Product Reviews - CNET News - Gizmodo - Wired News all 243 news articles

MySpace Launches Streaming Video for Mobiles - BusinessWeek

NewsOXY

MySpace Launches Streaming Video for Mobiles BusinessWeek - 6 hours ago Streaming Web video just might be one of those services that will come into its own during this economic downturn. Only a week ago, Google’s YouTube launched YouTube Live, which streams video channels via the Internet. MySpace Offers Streaming Video on Cell Phones PC Magazine MySpace Brings Streaming Video To Your Phone CRN CNET News - Washington Post - Reuters - Wall Street Journal all 107 news articles

Opinion: GameStop keeps expanding at the cost of local, intimate gaming shops

FROM GAMERTELL - Despite the looming recession and financial woes worldwide, GameStop is still a force to be reckoned with.  There are more than 6,000 stores worldwide.  However, GameStop’s success could lead to the extinction of privately-owned game stores… MORE »

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

Be-tentacled couture

VECONA Fashion Show BACKSTAGE: Cabaret Gothique Brugge Nov 2008 (via JWZ)

A Look At Modern Game AI

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

LG produces a shiny new external HDD

Nothing really revolutionary here, but it is very pretty. Wait, I was looking at the girl. The hard drive, as I was saying, has very smooth skin — damn, that’s the girl again. Okay, seriously, this LG XD4 hard drive is a normal external HDD with a good-looking shell, available in 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB capacities.

It uses 3.5″ drives so it’s not quite portable, but if it ever makes it to the states you can bet it’ll be a pretty decent price. The real question is: Where do these product-holding girls come from, and why is there one in every single post from Akihabara News?

What is non-commercial use? Creative Commons survey

As previously announced, Creative Commons is studying how people understand the term “noncommercial use”. At this stage of research, we are reaching out to the Creative Commons community and to anyone else interested in public copyright licenses – would you please take a few minutes to participate in our study by responding to this questionnaire? Your response will be anonymous – we won’t collect any personal information that could reveal your identity.

Because we want to reach as many people as possible, this is an open access poll, meaning the survey is open to anyone who chooses to respond. We hope you will help us publicize the poll by reposting this announcement and forwarding this link to others you think might be interested. The questionnaire will remain online through December 7 or until we are overwhelmed with responses — so please let us hear from you soon!

Deal of the Day: Buy Uncharted 160 GB PS3 bundle, get LittleBigPlanet free

FROM GAMERTELL - Amazon has 500 160GB consoles that include a copy of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, a voucher for PSN title PAIN and a Dualshock 3 controller for $499.99.  The deal here is that Amazon is throwing in LittleBigPlanet for free… MORE »

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

Congratulations Google, You’re the New Microsoft [Digital Daily]

Google abandoned [its deal with Yahoo] not because pressing ahead with it “risked” a protracted legal battle, but because it guaranteed one.

I wrote that on Nov. 6, following the official dissolution of Google’s (GOOG) proposed advertising partnership with Yahoo (YHOO). Turns out the guarantee to which I referred was an ironclad one. Sanford Litvack, the attorney who would have been lead counsel in the event of a government antitrust case against Google, tells American Lawyer Daily that the Dept. of Justice was literally hours away from suing the company when it bailed on the deal. “We were going to file the complaint at a certain time during the day,” he explains. “We told them we were going to file the complaint at that time of day. Three hours before, they told us they were abandoning the agreement.”

Had Google not turned tail, the DOJ would have charged it with violating Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act. Said Litvack, “It would have ended up also alleging that Google had a monopoly and that [the advertising pact] would have furthered their monopoly.”

As I wrote back in November, “Internet search advertising and Internet search syndication are natural monopoly businesses. And, according to the DOJ, Google is their presiding monopolist.” Truer words, eh?

Next major Android handset revealed: the Agora

It looks rather like a Blackjack, but it fits all the capabilities of a G1 or iPhone into that thinner form factor. I’m a bit jealous, although I think I’ll much prefer the keyboard on my handset. It’s being sold for 300 and 400 Australian dollars for the Agora and Pro respectively, which translates to about $200 or $260 in American dollars. You’d want to go with the pro, since it includes GPS, Wi-Fi, and a camera, although both have a microSD slot, full QWERTY as you can see, and yes, that 320×240 screen is touchable.

We’ll have to wait until we get one to evaluate, of course, but it looks like a solid piece of work.

[via ITWire]

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

The Slow Fuze Will Give You a Short Fuse

The Slow Fuze Will Give You a Short Fuse

10 Best NASA Spinoffs

Life's DHA and ARA
Algae- and fungus-based baby formula additives that are chock-full of brain-developing fatty acids.

Liquidmetal
A unique alloy—also known as metallic glass—that's more flexible and twice as strong as titanium.

Paragon CRT contacts
Lenses that reshape your corneas while you sleep, temporarily fixing nearsightedness.

LifeShear LS-100 Cutter
Pyrotechnic cutting tool that's 50 percent lighter and 70 percent cheaper than older explosive-powered choppers. FEMA uses it for rescues.

Zeno
A zit-zapping device that transmits heat to pimples, causing the offending bacteria to self-destruct.

EagleEyes StimuLights
Specs built for poor light—they let in vision-enhancing rays while blocking those that muddy your vision.

Insuladd
An additive consisting of hollow ceramic microcapsules that turn ordinary paint into insulation.

GameReady Injury Treatment System
Based on spacesuit tech, these wraps provide precise cold and compression therapy.

PRP Powder
Beeswax microcapsules that absorb oil and float at the surface to help clean up spills.

Field Scout CM-1000 Chlorophyll Meter
A plant stress detector that can sense nitrogen levels.

Stunning Screen, Fast Processor Mark This Desktop Sub

Commute-Friendly Electric Cycle Does 0 to 30 in 3.8 Seconds

Gallery: 10 Years of the International Space Station

Floating 190 miles above the Earth's surface, the extraplanetary crash pad known as the International Space Station careens through the sky at an average of over 17,000 miles per hour, making almost 16 Earth orbits a day.

Set for completion in 2011, it's been 10 years since construction first began on the ISS. The final version will double its current capacity of three residents to six and provide incalculable contributions to science. In honor of its 10th birthday, we've assembled some of our favorite photos from the space station's lifetime. Click through the gallery for a glimpse at one of the world's most impressive sci-fi realities.

Left:
Astronaut Piers J. Sellers moves along a truss on the International Space Station, while space shuttle Discovery is docked in July 2006.

The Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station with Expedition 18 on Oct. 14, 2008. Visible in the background is the southeastern coast of Tunisia (left), the Gulf of Gabès and the Isle of Jerba (bottom center). Top of the picture points northwest.

The Expedition 18 mission brought NASA astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov to the ISS for a six-month stay that relieved two other astronauts of their posts.

Of particular note to Wired.com readers: Videogame icon and now space tourist Richard Garriott (known as Lord British in the Ultima series) tagged along on the expedition for 12 days before returning to Earth on Oct. 24.

The International Space Station is seen here in front of the Earth's horizon, photographed from the space shuttle Atlantis as it moves farther away June 19, 2007.

During the departure and fly-around, the Atlantis crew got a look at the station's newly expanded configuration, which included the retraction of an old solar array and the unfolding of a new one on the starboard side of the station.



During a seven-hour, 19-minute spacewalk, astronaut Scott Parazynski cut a snagged wire and installed homemade stabilizers to strengthen a damaged solar array. Parazynski is anchored to a foot restraint on the end of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System.

Mission STS-120 was flown by the space shuttle Discovery and delivered the Harmony module. The module, among other things, added 2,666 cubic feet of living space and completed the U.S. core contribution to the ISS.

Best known for the insulation-foam scare after the Columbia tragedy, STS-118 found Endeavour with a puncture in its heat shield. Fortunately the fears that the exposed foam would lead to another catastrophe were needless.

Endeavour's orbital-maneuvering-system pods and vertical stabilizer are visible in this photo as it docks with the International Space Station. The mission successfully delivered its supplies and modules.

On mission STS-122, European Space Agency astronaut Hans Schlegel works to replace a nitrogen tank used to pressurize the station's ammonia cooling system.

Pictured in the photo is the exterior of the new Columbus laboratory, which Schlegel traversed during the six-hour, 45-minute spacewalk.

The station's first female commander, Peggy A. Whitson, walks with cosmonaut Yuri I. Malenchenko (center) and Malaysian space tourist Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, who is also the first Malaysian in space.

The astronauts are wearing Russian Sokol launch-and-entry suits for Expedition 16. The crew launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct. 10, 2007, and arrived at the ISS on Oct. 12.

In this photo, the Expedition 1 crew members are still training for their upcoming mission a week-and-half prior to the Oct. 30, 2000, launch to International Space Station.

They are (left to right) Soyuz commander Yuri P. Gidzenko, Expedition 1 commander William M. (Bill) Shepherd and flight engineer Sergei K. Krikalev.

As the first residents of the ISS, it was this crew's job to unpack all the supply boxes and move in. They stayed a little over four months before returning to Earth.

This view of Hurricane Felix was taken from the International Space Station on Sept. 3, 2007, with a 28-70mm lens set at 28mm focal length.

The ISS was located nearly over the coast of eastern Honduras when this image was taken. At approximately noon GMT, Hurricane Felix was moving west at 21 miles per hour. The sustained winds were 165 miles per hour with higher gusts making it a category 5 hurricane.

Photographer Bill Ingalls has traveled the world as a photographer for NASA since 1989. Honored by United Press International as one of the top pictures of 2007, Ingalls' photo of the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft shows it being transported by train to its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The spacecraft launched two days later, bringing the Expedition 16 crew to the International Space Station.

Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Expedition 17 flight engineer, uses a communication system in the Zvezda service module of the International Space Station on July 17, 2008. The Russian module provides living quarters and life-support functions.

Dec. 4, 1998: Midwife to the Int'l Space Station

1998: The space shuttle Endeavour lifts off from Cape Canaveral, carrying the first American-built component of the International Space Station. Two days later, the connecting node known as Unity is coupled with Zarya (Sunrise), the Russian-built control module, and the space station is a reality.

Following a flawless ascent, the crew of six — five Americans and a Russian — maneuvered Endeavour to within a robot-arm's length of Zarya, which had preceded the shuttle into space on Nov. 20. Once the shuttle had a firm grasp on the Russian module, the job of joining Unity and Zarya began.

Three spacewalks were performed to connect electrical and communications systems, and once the two components were functioning harmoniously, mission specialists began preparing the space station to receive its third module, which the Russians sent up the following year. The Endeavour astronauts also tested Zarya's battery supplies before heading home.

The space station's third component was the service module, which arrived in July 1999. This represented a huge piece of the overall puzzle, housing as it did the first living quarters for a station crew.

The International Space Station was assembled gradually, with most of the world's space-faring nations providing specific components, which were then delivered on a regular basis by U.S. and Russian cargo ships. Following the loss of the shuttle Columbia in February 2003, the Russians took up the burden of shuttling supplies and components to the ISS until the shuttle program was back on its feet.

Now, a decade later, expansion of the space station continues. It is easily the most expensive construction project in history, and it got a little more expensive on Nov. 18 when a spacewalking astronaut lost her tool bag.

Endeavour, incidentally, was named after 18th-century explorer James Cook's ship. Cook, of course, was an Englishman, hence the British spelling of the word. The shuttle is currently scheduled to be decommissioned in 2010.

Source: Various

Stunning Screen, Fast Processor Mark This Desktop Sub

Henry Blodget: Financial-Industry Scapegoat Reinvents Himself as Financial Reporter

Henry Blodget has never gotten used to the chorus of hate that follows his every move. He's merely learned to live with it. When he started his personal blog in 2005, the comments dripped with disgust. "You are a boldface liar," a reader wrote. "Give me one reason why I should believe what you are writing," said another. And that was just in response to Blodget's innocuous first entry.

During his years as a star Wall Street analyst, his pronouncements were welcomed and celebrated; now he couldn't say hello without getting savaged. Just last August, TechCrunch mentioned that Blodget would be one of more than two dozen tech celebrities judging a contest for startups. Blodget knew what was coming, even if his hosts didn't. "Blodget is scum.... He is no longer the arrogant prick we saw in the '90s, but he's still scum," someone wrote. "A lot of people lost money listening to this dirtbag." "Blodget is a Web 1.0, bubble-creating has-been." "He is unethical." "He's as crooked as they come."

I meet Blodget at the offices of his new business, a year-old site called Silicon Alley Insider, shortly after the TechCrunch beat-down. Alley Insider is one of many tech business blogs that feed news, earnings info, and rumors to investors and corporate insiders. But Alley Insider has one thing that others don't. Blodget. He's smart, he's skeptical, and he's got the kind of self-assured voice that sells well in the blogosphere. As the market sinks, his opinions are even more in demand, though he's still hated by a large portion of his prospective audience.

The site shares two floors of a Manhattan office building with programmers and business staff for some of Alley Insider's sister companies, all of which were started by former DoubleClick CEO Kevin Ryan. Blodget works in a double-wide cubicle near a window, separated by a low wall from the site's two other editors. They spend their days crawling Twitter and RSS feeds, calling sources, and pumping out about a dozen daily takes on the business world, most with Digg-friendly headlines (no easy accomplishment with bone-dry business stories). "Is Facebook Distracting Us From Porn? No" is typical, or "Google's Ginormous Food Budget: $7,530 Per Googler, $72 Million a Year." Blodget tells his team to think of the site as talk radio: He wants readers to feel compelled to check in several times a day to get the Alley Insider view on everything going on in their world.

For privacy, we duck into a small conference room, and Blodget, tall and skinny, sinks into a ridiculously deep leather chair. His floppy dirty-blond hair gives him a youthful, almost carefree air, but the deep circles that ring his eyes tell a different story. He's managing a 24-hour news startup. It's midday and he's been posting since 5 am. And then there's the burden that comes with being Henry Blodget, digital punching bag.

"There are obviously a lot of folks who say, 'Now wait a minute, isn't that the guy who....'" He lets the thought trail off. He's legally barred from talking about the incidents that led to his vilification. "To them, I'm that Henry Blodget. There's not much more I can say. I still can't address specific points. So it's like, 'OK, here's my face. Throw the fruit. When you want to stop throwing the fruit, if you want to listen, great. If you don't, fine.'"

It's been almost a decade since the impulse to greet him with rotten mangos first struck. Back in 1998, as a 32-year-old analyst with investment bank CIBC, he declared that the stock price of Amazon.com would nearly double to $400. Three weeks later it did, and Blodget was a hero. Soon he packed up his spreadsheets — he's never more comfortable than when he is lining up numbers in rows and columns and teasing out their secrets — and moved to Merrill Lynch.

Investors followed the new oracle's every utterance, and bankers wanted Blodget to bless the stocks of companies they were hoping to do business with. The lines on his graphs always seemed to point one way — steeply up and to the right. He wasn't just predicting profits, he was selling a revolution: The old metrics didn't apply. Blodget may have counseled people to own only a small percentage of Internet stocks — 10 percent at the most — but nobody listened.

Launched in 2007, Silicon Alley Insider is gaining on some of its established rivals.
Source: Compete

Then came the crash. Five trillion dollars in wealth vaporized in 24 months, leaving behind unquantifiable amounts of rage among the masses of day traders who had believed briefly that they, too, were market savants. When the bubble burst, so did Blodget's aura.

Still, it wasn't the crash alone that crushed him. It took Eliot Spitzer to turn Henry Blodget into that Henry Blodget. Spitzer, then New York's crusading attorney general, investigated Merrill in 2001 for conflicts of interest. He discovered a clutch of emails from the young analyst showing that while talking up certain stocks to clients, he was trashing them internally. Companies like 24/7 Media, Excite@Home, and InfoSpace — firms Merrill was publicly cheering — in private were deemed by Blodget to be "shit," "crap," and "junk" (respectively). According to Spitzer's findings, Blodget would have pulled in $12 million in 2001 — quadruple his earnings in 1999 — if he hadn't accepted a buyout that year. In 2003, Merrill's boy genius agreed to pay a $4 million fine and accepted a lifetime ban from working in the securities industry.

Public disgrace usually drives a person into hiding, or at least into a different career. Jerry Levin, the brains behind the disastrous AOL-Time Warner merger, today runs Moonview Sanctuary, his wife's spa; Spitzer, forced to resign as governor last summer, is currently discovering the joys of real estate management; Health South CEO Richard Scrushy, while on trial for accounting fraud, became a televangelist. Not Blodget.

One former colleague says Blodget spent the months when he was being investigated trying to grasp why he was singled out for something that was commonplace in the industry. He figured the controversy would blow over once the public realized his conduct was not unusual. "He was incredulous that the investigation got traction; he said it was silly," a friend says. But there was too much anger in the wake of the bubble, and Blodget's embarrassing emails made him an easy scapegoat. Later, when he was inclined to argue his case, the settlement terms prevented it.

So Blodget did what came naturally. He began writing about the companies he used to cover, first for Slate, then on his own blog, Internet Outsider. Was this journalism — or was it therapy? Rather than hide, he started saying in public what he had once said only in private, using the same brutally frank voice that got him in trouble with Spitzer. He marketed his notoriety to a new Web readership hungry for smart, independent analysis.

When Ryan, an Internet Outsider reader, approached him about starting an industry news site, Blodget jumped at the prospect of a bigger stage. Before working on Wall Street, he'd been a freelance writer; now he could combine the two vocations, borrowing freely from both journalism and equity research.

Through Alley Insider, Blodget is trying to erase, post by post, Spitzer's portrait of him as a duplicitous, money-grubbing shill for big business. Blodget has always believed that the Internet changed everything, so naturally he believes it has the power to change the world's perception of him. The venue offers all Henry, all the time (and even when his other writers are posting, it's clear they're channeling him). The result is a unique blend of x-ray analysis and tech evangelism.

As we talk, Blodget gets up from his chair, antsy to return to his laptop. I ask him if he understands what he's up against. If the hate has lasted this long, why expect it ever to fade away? "If all I knew about me was what I read during that period," he says, "I'd probably have the same reaction."

On a late summer morning, Blodget waits in the lobby of the Nasdaq building in midtown Manhattan. He's all banker today: blue suit, red tie, black cap-toed Oxfords, his shirt so deeply pressed there are creases down the sleeves. It's 10 am and, ready for his second breakfast, he pries open the plastic case of a turkey and Swiss sandwich and starts wolfing it down. In a few minutes he is supposed to conduct a video interview for Yahoo's Tech Ticker finance site. As soon as Blodget started appearing as a regular host in February, the Furies reemerged. "Did you not find any other decent, credible guy than Henry Blodget?" one of the first comments read. "Why spoil this new feature with such a scum and spoil the Yahoo reputation?"

As producers prepare to tape the show, Blodget wipes his crumbs off the table. He explains the guiding vision behind Alley Insider. "We don't want to do things we don't care about," he says. "It's nice to say theoretically we're the judge of what's important and what's not, but come on, give readers credit. They'll tell you immediately what they want, and that drives coverage. People are fanatically interested in Apple, Google, Microsoft. It wasn't a tough call to know what to write about."

Blodget's focus on content is matched by his apparent indifference to the look of the site. Alley Insider employs a cookie-cutter template of scrolling headlines and thumbnail photos dragged off the Web. But design limitations notwithstanding, by September the site was getting nearly 500,000 visitors a month, rivaling AllThingsDigital.com, the Wall Street Journal blog edited by Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg. Since the beginning of the year, traffic to the site has more than doubled, and Blodget's words now carry surprising weight. When he reported early this fall that Steve Jobs may have been rushed to the hospital after a heart attack — citing an anonymous (and, as it turns out, fraudulent) post on a minor user-generated news site run by CNN called iReport — Apple's stock dropped nearly 10 percent. Critics blamed Alley Insider.

"I read The New York Times, The Economist, and Alley Insider," says Scott Galloway, head of investment equity firm Firebrand Partners, who is best known for his successful public fight to get on the board of The New York Times. "Henry takes a no-mercy, no-malice approach to Web business and media." Valleywag recently called him "the disgraced stock analyst everyone now listens to."

The team at Silicon Alley Insider (left to right): senior editor Dan Frommer, COO Julie Hansen, cofounder Kevin Ryan, and editor in chief Blodget.
Photo: Mike McGregor

For all the success today, it took Blodget & Co. some time to figure out a winning formula. When Ryan, a New Yorker, launched the site in 2007, he wanted to cover the local startup and media scene. Blodget signed on as CEO and editor in chief, bought a minority stake, and hired Forbes journalists Peter Kafka and Dan Frommer to help him develop content (Kafka was later hired away by AllThingsD). The first few weeks, the site read like a tourist's guide to spotting B-list Internet companies in the big city, with each firm's location prominently announced: "NoHo-based Meetup has quietly launched a Facebook application"; "Flatiron-based YellowJacket Software has raised $1.25 million." Blodget branched out, taking on the bigger names himself — Apple, Dow Jones, NBC, JP Morgan. It quickly became clear to him that New York's tech industry was too small an arena to contain the ambition of the site. And nearly half the readers were in California anyway.

Alley Insider soon dropped its Silicon Alley focus but stuck with the moniker. And Blodget began to draw more heavily on his research experience. He created financial models of the companies he was talking about and posted the spreadsheets as Google docs so anyone could download and toy with them. He analyzed the potential revenue YouTube could bring to Google, mapping out his assumptions about viewership and ads watched, and offering a clear bottom-line conclusion. Readers weighed in with their critiques, which Blodget used to sharpen the model. He figured he wouldn't just write about Wall Street, he would also usurp part of Wall Street's business by providing high-quality research, the kind brokerage customers used to prize.

But visitors to the site wanted more than analytics. They also craved the edgier Henry of the Spitzer emails. Blodget obliged. In one post, Blodget declares New York Times economics columnist Ben Stein to be either "an idiot" or possibly just "delusional." He suggests that the anonymous sources cited by archrival TechCrunch in its reporting on Microsoft's attempt to purchase Yahoo "must have been drunk." And in November 2007, when E-Trade lost $9 billion in value as its risky mortgage bets turned to dust, Blodget offered only one piece of advice to the company's shareholders: "Cry."

"On Wall Street, I'd consistently submit a report that would say, 'This is going to be roadkill,' and it would come back rewritten as 'We see some weakness,'" Blodget says. "Now I can say, 'It's going to be roadkill.' That's very satisfying."

But even as he delights in railing against corporate giants, he's still disciplined enough to run the underlying numbers — Blodget loves the drama, but he loves the spreadsheets just as much. One post about craigslist should have been something only an accountant could love: a complex set of assumptions and analyses to determine what the company might be worth. Yet Blodget wrote the whole exercise as if it were a mystery plot, parceling out details and stringing the reader along until the very end.

When Yahoo announced this summer that it had hired Bain & Co., a consulting firm usually brought in when a company is about to start swinging the ax, Blodget sharpened his own pencil. "We're mad as hell ... especially now that Yahoo's wasting millions on Bain." He offered his own, free advice (spreadsheet attached) cataloging how many people Yahoo should fire in each division — 1,804 from its "positively obese" sales and marketing arm alone — in order to goose operating margins to a "more respectable" 20 percent from its current 7 percent. "He pushed us early on to ask, 'What does this mean for profits? How does any news affect a company's numbers?'" Frommer says. "It's great if it makes a company look bad or look good, but is this really going to affect the numbers?"

Blodget is also trying things that no mainstream-journalism-trained blogger like Swisher or GigaOm's Om Malik would ever dare. He makes serious-sounding offers to buy companies that he wants to demonstrate are significantly undervalued. It's pure showmanship, but with Blodget's background in finance and his ties to folks up and down Wall Street, no one knows just how far he will take the joke.

His first target was CNET. With the slightest of winks, he wrote post after post explaining how he'd purchase the company. At first he proposed a sort of reverse merger, with CNET buying Alley Insider for $50 million in stock, at which point Blodget's team would take over every aspect of the company. Then he detailed the operational changes he would make.

Ryan got nervous about Blodget's new direction. Blodget's deal with the government forbade him from giving individual research advice, but it didn't say anything about jumping into the private-equity space. Still, there might be legal issues. "Look, why don't we run this by a lawyer just to make sure, because we're getting into securities stuff here," he said to Blodget. When the lawyer asked them "Is this a real offer?" there was a brief silence. For the first time the two really thought about it.

"You know, yes," Ryan replied. "If they said yes, we would accept $50 million at that time to buy them. So it is a real offer. But we're actually asking them to buy us." The lawyer signed off on the convoluted reasoning.

After Blodget's taunting posts went up, investment firm JANA Partners announced a hostile takeover attempt of CNET. It failed, but by spring 2008 CBS stepped in to buy the company for $1.8 billion.

For one CNET executive, memories of Blodget's unwanted attentions still rankle. "The way you make a big name for yourself on the Web today is to make, for lack of a better word, ridiculous statements," says Zander Lurie, former senior VP of strategy and development at CNET and now CFO of CBS Interactive. Lurie found himself reassuring employees who sent him Blodget's postings and wondered whether their company was at risk. "Everyone knew there was nothing in the offering: He didn't have the capital, the expertise, or any specific insight into our business," Lurie says. "He makes the ridiculous statement and it gets sent all around, and then he claims credit when there's an event the following year, which obviously he had nothing to do with. Less than zero to do with. We all have reputations. And his track record is well known."

Blodget has been waging another half-serious acquisition fight, this time for the New York Times Company. All he wants is the Web site — the print side is dead, he says. He thinks the paper needs to cut about 80 percent of its costs, at which point it would be the perfect size to be the digital paper of record for a long time to come. "It's a serious offer from our perspective, but it hasn't been taken seriously," Blodget says.

In the wake of Wall Street's latest meltdown, Blodget finds himself in even greater demand. He's doing regular TV appearances and is posting again on Slate. When NPR wanted someone to talk about the Wall Street culture of greed, they brought in Blodget. The reporter introduced him by pointing out that Merrill is now gone, "and Henry Blodget is gone, too; he's banned from Wall Street after being charged with fraud."

"Thanks," Blodget said, stuttering for a second, "especially for that horrific introduction." They both laughed. But by the end, the host was treating Blodget like an elder statesman.

Recently Blodget has been expanding his franchise. He and Ryan have launched two sister sites: Clusterstock, which will compile and analyze Wall Street research on a much wider range of industries, and the Business Sheet, which will focus on corporate scandals. A third is in the works. For each new site, Blodget provides the bulk of the early posts, seeding the new enterprise with the Blodget touch.

Blodget is broadening beyond tech to get ready for what he sees as a coming shakeout in the news-blog industry. He says he might even start making acquisitions if the price is right. Ryan's suite of companies has raised $50 million in the past few years, possibly enough to buy out some other interesting small blogs. The winning formula for this new kind of business remains elusive: It's a matter of finding the balance between gossip and analysis, between aggregating news from other sources and doing original reporting. Revenue models that go beyond basic advertising have also been slow in coming. "If you look at the development of every new medium, there's been a new form of journalism that has been made possible by it, and there has always been this period of transition," Blodget says. "There is collective experimentation as people figure out what works and what doesn't, and usually you have some very important publications that are built."

Another way to expand is to sell to a larger media company. Blodget says he'd consider an offer, but Alley Insider is still defined almost entirely by one man. If he left, the value would plummet. Also, some media institutions — the grayer, stodgier ones — may find Blodget's unique baggage unacceptable. The endless barrage of comments, the angry mob that seems to follow him everywhere, may be too much for the sensitivities of some management teams, even in these freewheeling days of media transformation. When Blodget wrote a few small items for The New York Times, the newspaper's ombudsman went haywire. "The Times luster may help Blodget," he wrote last year, "but some of his taint rubs off on the Times."

It's just the sort of comment Blodget has come to expect from, well, everyone. That may change, but only if this latest reinvention succeeds in burying his past forever. In which case, he will have been right: The Internet really does change everything.

Senior writer Daniel Roth (daniel_roth@wired.com) wrote about the future of the electric car in issue 16.09.

Commute-Friendly Electric Cycle Does 0 to 30 in 3.8 Seconds

Mr. Know-It-All: Call-Center Etiquette, Offensive Podcasts, Awkward Transactions

Dear Mr. Know-It-All, is it cool to ask call-center operators what country they're in? I'm not a bigot or opposed to outsourcing, but I like to know who I'm dealing with.

Fire away with the geolocation query, but be wary of how you broach the topic. Call-center operators deal with countless xenophobic jerks, who typically follow the "Where are you located?" question with a stream of invective. An operator may thus turn defensive in anticipation of the same treatment from you—unless you're careful with your tone and timing. "If the very first thing out of your mouth is, 'Hey, what country are you in,' I think that's rude," says Kathleen Peterson, founder of PowerHouse Consulting, which advises call-center operations. Resolve your business first, then feel free to ask about location when there's a natural lull in the conversation. At that point, make sure your voice exudes affability, as if you were simply inquiring about the weather in Omaha.

And, should you learn you're on the horn with someone on the planet's flip side, go easy on the inane chitchat. "A call-center agent has a job to do and probably doesn't want to answer questions about the population of Bangalore," says Bill Colton, president of Global Telesourcing, a call-center service provider.

The operator may decline to answer your question or try to convince you that he's in Kansas even though his accent screams Ukraine. Such deception indicates that a company either wants to hide the fact that it's outsourcing or doesn't think too highly of its customers—make a mental note of it.

I've been helping my nongeek friend build a Flash-intensive Web site. It's gotten to the point where I'm spending a dozen hours a week on it. How should I ask for compensation?

Your pal surely didn't intend to exploit you. Odds are he doesn't know how much work goes into coding—an impression you encouraged by not demanding dough up front.

Assuming you want this relationship to survive, bring up the problem without making your friend feel like a total heel. Peter D. Johnston, the author of Negotiating with Giants, recommends telling him that a sudden influx of paying gigs precludes you from doing more work, but you'd be happy to point him to a replacement. "That approach can get the issue of time and payment out on the table in a nonthreatening way," Johnston says. Presuming he's hesitant to switch horses midstream, your pal should offer to make his project worth your while.

Refrain from pressing for back pay, however, or you're likely to look like a greedy ass. Those hours you've already spent slaving away in the digital mines? Consider them a lesson in the veracity of an age-old maxim: "Never mix business with pleasure."

Illustration: Christoph Niemann

It depends on how you gleaned those sermons' content. If you couldn't help noticing incendiary titles along the lines of "Fags Go to Hell," then a little indirect confrontation is in order—tell a manager, pronto.

But if the titles were innocuous, and you thus had to listen to the podcasts in order to be offended, pause a moment before taking action. You may have a valid case, but you'll have to decide whether this fight can ever yield anything more than a Pyrrhic victory.

It would be one thing if your colleague was blasting these sermons through her speakers for all to hear—or, for that matter, telling everyone around the watercooler about the Lord's contempt for sodomites. But a shared iTunes environment such as yours is strictly opt-in—you can easily avoid listening to the offensive content.

The best meatspace parallel is a coworker who keeps a small stack of religious pamphlets in plain view, which you can just ignore. True, there have been cases in which employers have been successfully sued for writing Bible verses on paychecks or broadcasting prayers over public address systems. But those situations were a lot more in-your-face than what's going on here—in part because they involved bosses rather than colleagues, but also because the employees couldn't escape the proselytizing.

An aggressive lawyer could still argue that the mere presence of those tracks on the network creates a hostile workplace. But that strikes Mr. Know-It-All as making a sermon on the mount out of a sermon on a molehill, especially considering that the suit could very well be a loser—you might be hard-pressed to prove that the screeds, tucked away in an iTunes library, are severe or pervasive enough to constitute harassment.

As odious as you might find your coworker's views, it's probably best to give her a pass. Look on the bright side—now you know who to avoid at the office holiday party.

Need help navigating life in the 21st century? Email us at mrknowitall@wiredmag.com.

Nokia's OSS strategy gets boost as Symbian deal completed - Ars Technica

CNET News

Nokia's OSS strategy gets boost as Symbian deal completed Ars Technica - 7 hours ago By Ryan Paul | Published: December 03, 2008 - 10:35PM CT Nokia has completed its acquisition of mobile platform company Symbian. The acquisition, which was announced earlier this year, will enable Nokia to continue moving forward with its plans to ... Nokia completes Symbian acquisition CNET News Nokia to complete Symbian acquisition and may change the mobile ... TG Daily BetaNews - Brighthand - FierceMobileIT - MarketWatch all 79 news articles

Who Protects the Internet?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Eee box gains home theater features

Section: Video, Computers, Desktops

With the impending release of the Eee Top, its easy to forget about Asus’s other Eee desktop offer, the Eee Box.  It carries about the same specs as the Eee PC, but the case is built as a standard computer, about the size of an tv.  Actually, with the new features that are being added to the Eee box, it is likely to replace the tv you may or may not have.

The new updates to the Eee box will essentially turn it into a home theater machine that can double as a PC, or the other way around.  The new features will come in two new models, the B204 and B206.  Possibly the biggest feature for the models is the inclusion of a Radeon HD 3400 GPU rather than simple integrated graphics. 

This will make it much easier to decode HD video on the machines for use in a home theater system.  To connect it to a home theater system, the new models have HDMI outputs so it can easily be connected to most any HDTVs.  The B204 will also have Bluetooth so if you do use it in a home theater there are no wires to trip over with the keyboard and mouse. 

The rest of the specs are the standard netbook/nettop fares with a 160 GB hard drive.  Asus hasn’t mentioned anything about price or release dates yet, but I’m hopeful that the price won’t be too much.  It would be nice to test out a computer media center in such a small package, especially one that is much more open than the tv.  The Eee box models will run Windows XP out of the box and use Eee Cinema for a media browser, but it shouldn’t be too hard to replace it with Ubuntu and Boxee if you have a license for it.

Read [Electronista]

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

Radiologists treat self-embedding disorder

Next major Android handset revealed: the Agora

The next gPhone has arrived, and surprisingly, it looks pretty nice. Although we were all very excited about China’s Sciphone (not really), the Kogan Agora and its upgraded twin, the Agora Pro, are probably a much better bet.

It looks rather like a Blackjack, but it fits all the capabilities of a G1 or iPhone into that thinner form factor. I’m a bit jealous, although I think I’ll much prefer the keyboard on my handset. It’s being sold for 300 and 400 Australian dollars for the Agora and Pro respectively, which translates to about $200 or $260 in American dollars. You’d want to go with the pro, since it includes GPS, Wi-Fi, and a camera, although both have a microSD slot, full QWERTY as you can see, and yes, that 320×240 screen is touchable.

We’ll have to wait until we get one to evaluate, of course, but it looks like a solid piece of work.

[via ITWire]

CNN Closes Space/Tech/Environmental Reporting Unit; Miles O'Brien Departs

Oh, man, this is sad and unexpected news: 16-year veteran CNN reporter and anchor Miles O'Brien will be departing CNN, as the network closes its sci/space/enviromental/tech news division. Snip from mediabistro:

O'Brien's departure comes as the network dismantles its science, space, environment and technology unit in Atlanta. That includes O'Brien as well as six producers. O'Brien has been CNN's chief technology and environment correspondent since being replaced as anchor of American Morning in April 2007.

Miles is truly one of the greats. I can't think of a single broadcast journalist as knowledgeable on space, aeronautics, and other tech topics. I am so sorry to hear this news.

Update: The screengrab above from Miles O'Brien's twitter feed. (Thanks, Matt West)

NFL offers first live game broadcast in 3-D (AP)

AP - In broadcasting the world's first live 3-D football game to theaters in Los Angeles, New York and Boston on Thursday evening, the NFL promises an "up close, personal, visceral" experience that could open a new revenue stream for the league.

Apple loses it, suggests puppetmaster behind Psystar

Oh dear, I think Apple’s legal department is getting paranoid. After suggesting that people taking their ad literally were irrational, they’re now suggesting that a shadowy unknown may be behind the whole Psystar drama. The suits and countersuits have been going on for months and months now (all I care about is that it works), and in an amendment to their suit today, Apple added the following language:

On information and belief, persons other than Psystar are involved in Psystar’s unlawful and improper activities described in this Amended Complaint. The true names or capacities, whether individual, corporate, or otherwise, of these persons are unknown to Apple. Consequently they are referred to herein as John Does 1 through 10 (collectively the “John Doe Defendants”).

Good lord, how mysterious! Can they really think that someone like Dell for example, jealous of Apple’s increasing market share, would set up a shell company to sell pieced-together Frankenmacs? I think Apple needs a drink.
[via MacRumors]

Source: Gizmodo | 4 Dec 2008 | 3:30 am

New .tel domain opens up

Section: Web

New domains are always exciting, and if you can remember the most recent major one (.me) you will remember the vast amounts of money are usually spent as people bid for the best of the selection.  However .tel will not involve vast amounts of money or even much media coverage, because it is something different and a new way of looking at domain names.

These domains will not be about websites, but more of a way of sharing the information of the domain owner, and will not involve any building, hosting or managing.  They are effectively domains that tell you all about the domain owner, such as their business, their address and their phone number: a bit like an online contact card.

The company in charge of operating this is Telnic, the communications director of which is Jusitn Hayward who’s .tel domain is “www.justin.tel“.  This is a good example of how this will be used, people will be able to give other people their .tel domain and they can easily find their contact details in one easy to remember place.

Currently (i.e as of 3pm GMT) it is only open to trademark owners, but at some point it will be open to the public although Telnic is cautious of spamming.  However this will have many advantages for the public, as it will be capable of combining many applications—meaning you can start a chat or phone call with the person in question at the click of a button.

There will also be a search feature allowing you to find people by a whole number of criteria and Telnic also plan to release a directory called telpages.com in next year, which will make finding people even easier.  Of course, there will be a cost (which will help alleviate the problem of spammers) when it does go public and it all depends on how desperate for your own name domain.

The “sunrise” period of trademark owners (around $350 for 3 years) only will end on the 2nd February after which anyone can pay a premium price (around $150) to get their domain before the price falls on March 24th (to around $20).  This is an incredibly clever scheme by Telnic: getting as much money as they can from the people who really want their own name domain, but also opening up to the wider audience.  I wonder if there will be an extra charge for popular names?  I think that would be a bit too far!

All in all this is a great idea, making it possible to easily give people your contact details and making communications easier.  The only problem really is if you have a very popular name as you may end up having a horrifically complicated domain, but I will be laughing come March 24th because I doubt there are any other people called Christian Milsom out there!

Source [Infoworld]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 4 Dec 2008 | 3:19 am

Google Was Three Hours Away From Being Charged As A Monopolist

When Google pulled out of its proposed search advertising deal with Yahoo last month, it was chief legal counsel David Drummond who made the announcement. He cited concerns of a “protracted legal battle,” but only now do we learn that the Justice Department was only three hours away from filing an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal. Sandy Litvack, the prosecutor hired by the justice Department to head up the case, tells Am Law Daily:

We were going to file the complaint at a certain time during the day. We told them we were going to file the complaint at that time of day. Three hours before, they told us they were abandoning the agreement.

. . . It would have ended up also alleging that Google had a monopoly and that [the advertising pact] would have furthered their monopoly.

When it came down to the wire, Google blinked. It was the right move. But Google is on notice that the DOJ considers it a near-monopoly, and will treat it as such if need be. At least until the Obama Administration takes over. Then Google CEO Eric Schmidt can remind them how hard he campaigned for them to win.

(Photo by CarbonNYC).

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

Source: Gizmodo | 4 Dec 2008 | 3:00 am

Today at Boing Boing Gadgets

Today at Boing Boing Gadgets, we loved the Logitech Mice That Weren't, hailed The Sharper Image's comeback, and wondered whether its "Inventor's Lab" would stop it becoming just another brand-for-hire. Uncut currency wrapping paper made Christmas morning a felony, a new iPhone app made it easier to log into free WiFi hotspots, and a Spectrum ZX81 was ressurected as an Ubuntu PC. Oobject listed ten fascinating toolboxes, Joel cooked in the Kitchen of 1943's Future while wearing Too Late watches, and we learned that If man were meant to fly, God would have given him wood-working tools. John, meanwhile, experienced Sonic Nausea — no, not yet another hedghog game. Rob reviewed Antec's Skeleton PC case There was an Animal screen cleaner for your dirty display, classic Andy Rooney going ape over computers, and LEGO Pirates, ahoy! Netbooks are the hacker's friend, birds live in Bird House CCTV Cameras, and Cameraphones became your weapon in the coming price-match wars. There was a Vintage PC hardware gallery, a A drinking straw made from straw, and an Eee Box with HDMI and a swankier video chip. You want a shuriken magnets. Nighttime video was shot with Canon's 5D mkII, Cats rode Roombas, and an inflatable outdoor projection screen was made to accompany inflatable pools and inflatable barbecues.

Source: Boing Boing | 4 Dec 2008 | 2:59 am

Nintendo Thinking About Changing the Accelerometer in Wiimote

At the heart of the success of the Wii is the accelerometer chip inside the Wiimote that detects motion in three dimensional space.

Now, the company that provided that first chip, STMicroelectronics, is about to be challenged by others who want to place their own chip inside the beloved gadget.

According to a report from Japan, Nintendo is looking into improving the efficiency and sensitivity of the control and is currently looking into chips from companies such as Kionix Inc, and Tronics. Sensors by Analog Devices Inc are also used used in Nintendo's system.

This is a separate issue from the recently announced Wii MotionPlus controller. The new add-on peripheral adds extra position sensitivity and horizontal rotation (with the help of a gyroscope) to the Wiimote, while keeping the original control innards intact.

Even though the company joined the development of the Wii while it was already in progress, STMicroelectronics and its main contributor, Italian physicist Benedetto Vigna, have been properly recognized for their contribution to the innovative game system.

Before their findings that led to the chip inside the Wii, small accelerometer designs could only detect motion in two dimensions. For example, early airbag designs included accelerometers, but they only inflated in the same direction as a collision.

STMicroelectronics main contribution was the merging of a three-accelerometer panel design with an electronic circuit that, according to Vigna, could recognize 'the displacement of fewer than 10 electrons' and was good enough to detect sensitive motions from 'a flick of the wrist or a big movement of the arm' and could be built at a cheap price.

A couple of years later, the $3 sensors were born and were placed in the Wiimotes. When they were combined with the infrared system that determines a player's initial position and then added to the usual Nintendo quality gamesmanship, they made the magic happen. By 2007, the chips were a part of the biggest selling game system in America.

But even successful technology needs to improve to keep the pace. Future microelectromechanical chip systems are bound to get even smaller, more sensitive, and become even cheaper to build. Thus, the expected war to get into the next version of the Wiimote at hand.

Maybe in three years the chip design will be so advanced that we'll be able to play Wii Bowling with super-small chips in each finger.

Source: IEEE, CEATEC Japan

Lead photo: Gerry Block/IGN, Second photo: Randi Silverman/IEEE

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 4 Dec 2008 | 2:45 am

UN Plans Asteroid Response Framework

chrb writes "The Association of Space Explorers, a non-profit group of people who have completed at least one Earth orbit in space, has presented a report to the United Nations titled Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response. The UN will now meet in February to discuss the issue and try to define a global political framework for dealing with asteroid-based threats to the Earth."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 4 Dec 2008 | 2:36 am

Buffalo Allowed to sell wireless products again (for now)

Earlier, Buffalo Inc. and Buffalo Technology, makers of external hard drives, monitors and other computer peripherals were sued by Australian science agency CSIRO who alleged that Buffalo’s Wi-Fi Products infringed on their U.S. Patent 5,487,069. This led to the district court issuing an injunction, ordering Buffalo to stop selling its allegedly infringing Wi-Fi products.

In September though, the Federal Circuit questioned the validity of CSIRO’s patent and suspended the injunction.

Buffalo is confident that through a trial court that will determine the validity of CSIRO’s patent, they will be exonerated.

AUSTIN, TX – December 3, 2008 – Buffalo Technology, a global leader in the design, development and manufacturing of wired and wireless networking, storage and memory solutions today announced that a federal judge has stayed the permanent injunction in the ongoing U.S. patent litigation (Commonwealth Scientific Research and Industrial Organization v. Buffalo Technology USA, Inc. and Buffalo, Inc.) with respect to the offer to sell, use, import or manufacture Buffalo’s IEEE 802.11a and 802.11g standard compliant products.

The Australian science agency CSIRO sued Buffalo Inc. and its US affiliate Buffalo Technology (USA) Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleging that Buffalo’s products infringed its U.S. Patent 5,487,069, which concerns Wi-Fi technology relating to the transmission and modulation of wireless signals. After the district court held that Buffalo’s products infringed certain claims of the patent and that those claims were valid, the district court ordered Buffalo to stop selling its allegedly infringing products in the U.S. Buffalo appealed that order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

On September 19, 2008, the Federal Circuit raised the issue of whether CSIRO’s patent is valid and remanded the case back to the district court. The order staying the permanent injunction confirms that Buffalo is free to sell IEEE 802.11a, 802.11g and 802.11n compliant products in the United States.

Although Buffalo believes that the appellate court implicitly vacated the injunction when it questioned the validity of CSIRO’s patent, Buffalo took the additional step of asking the trial court to stay the injunction to the extent it was still in force. Buffalo expects that the trial court will, in the near future, schedule a trial on whether CSIRO’s asserted patent claims are invalid and is confident that a jury will vindicate its position.

Any questions concerning the stay of the injunction should be directed to Richard D. Kelly, counsel for Buffalo and senior partner with Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, P.C.

About Buffalo Technology
Buffalo Technology (USA), Inc., based in Austin, Texas, is a leading global provider of award-winning networking, storage, multimedia and memory solutions for the home and small business environments as well as for system builders and integrators. With almost three decades of networking and computer peripheral experience, Buffalo has proven its commitment to delivering innovative, best-of-breed solutions that have put the company at the forefront of infrastructure technology. For more information about Buffalo Technology and its products, please visit www.buffalotech.com.

Source: Gizmodo | 4 Dec 2008 | 2:30 am

In The Face Of Weakening Demand, Adobe Sheds 600 Workers

Today, Adobe announced it would lay off 600 workers, or 8 percent of its total headcount. The recession is forcing it to reduce its sales forecasts for the next two quarters. No wonder it canceled its booth at Macworld. When the big guys are hurting, everybody hurts.

That brings our Layoff Tracker up to 76,000 tech jobs lost since late August. Adobe joins Leapfrog, which announced on Monday it will cut 70 people (10 percent) and Trutap, which will let 25 people go (80 percent) and is looking to sell the remains of the company.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 4 Dec 2008 | 2:27 am

Weighing Devices for Your Netflix Delivered via Web [Personal Technology]

Netflix was a pioneer in the business of movie rentals — getting consumers to rent DVDs online and mailing them out in cheery red envelopes. Recently, it has put a lot of effort into a service that delivers movies digitally over the Internet to subscribers, preparing for a day when getting movies on a physical disc will become outmoded.

People today use the Netflix service on their computers, but Netflix (NFLX) has cut a series of deals with hardware partners to make the service available on TV sets through an array of devices.

Most of these devices were designed to do other things: a videogame console, high-definition Blu-ray disc players, a TiVo (TIVO) digital video recorder. So to see how well the service works on these devices, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks comparing the Netflix experience on Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox 360 game console, on LG Electronics’ BD300 Blu-ray disc player and on a set-top box from Roku called the Netflix Player. The last, as the name implies, is designed mainly for Netflix service.

The devices suffer from a relatively skimpy selection of videos on the Netflix Internet service. Netflix has more than 100,000 titles for rent on disc, but about 12,000 titles for viewing through its Internet service at the moment, and there’s often a months-long delay after a movie’s release before it shows up online. Television shows generally turn up more quickly, with a handful, like NBC’s “Heroes,” watchable the day after they air.

Still, I find the Netflix service very appealing, especially for catching up on episodes of TV series, such as “30 Rock,” that I missed when they aired. Unlike the iTunes Store and other sites that charge users $1.99 per TV episode and $3.99 to rent a movie online, the Netflix Internet service is free to subscribers to its DVD service on one of the company’s “unlimited” rental plans, which start at $8.99 a month.

Depending on how fast your Internet connection is, Netflix videos begin playing almost instantly, though you can’t keep permanent copies.

Connecting the devices to Netflix through my wired home network was easy in all three cases. I used a wireless home network — more common in homes than the wired variety — with the Roku device, the only one of three products that comes with built-in Wi-Fi (it worked well in this mode). People who want to use the Xbox 360 with a wireless network will have to spend $70 or so on an external Wi-Fi adapter. LG recommends people use only a wired home network to connect to Netflix from its player, including adapter kits that cost about $100 for transmitting data over home power lines.

All the devices require you to create a list of movies you want to watch from a computer, just like Netflix subscribers set up “queues” of DVDs to be delivered by mail. The Xbox 360 offered by far the most elegant-looking interface for browsing through videos in my Netflix queue, letting me glide through a long row of cover art representing the movies and TV shows I selected on my PC.

In contrast, the Netflix menu on the LG Blu-ray player and Roku device were more static, making it more awkward to navigate the expanse of titles. Netflix became available on the Xbox 360 in November as part of a more sweeping software upgrade, delivered over the Internet, that remade the graphical look of the system.

The quality of most of the videos on Netflix is, to my eyes, about DVD quality, though Netflix is adding some titles in high-definition to its Internet library. HD titles were available for viewing only through the Xbox 360 when I was testing the service. Roku and LG say they will make software updates available online this month that add HD support to their devices.

The Xbox 360 also has some annoying quirks when using it as a movie player — including a noisy fan I found distracting. The game controller that comes with the Xbox 360 is clunky for playing movies, so users will need to invest in an inexpensive additional remote-control design for media. The Roku and LG players, in contrast, were totally silent and had acceptable remote controls for watching Netflix videos.

I experienced the most serious glitches with the LG Blu-ray player, which occasionally dropped the video signal to my television set as I was watching a movie. LG says the loss of video signal could have been due to the connection I used to hook the player to my TV, though I’ve never had a problem with other devices using the same connection. The LG Blu-ray player also took the longest of all the devices to install software upgrades from the Internet.

While there are some differences in the Netflix experience on the Roku device, Xbox 360 and LG Blu-ray player, none of them is so great that they should trump other considerations — like a desire to play videogames or watch HD Blu-ray movies — in deciding which system is the best fit.

The LG Blu-ray player is available online for about $300. The cheapest Xbox 360 model is $199. (To get Netflix through the Xbox 360, users must be “gold” members to the $49.99-a-year Xbox Live game service.) But if what you’re after is primarily Netflix movies, and you’ve got room near your TV for another box, the $99.99 Roku product is the best value.

Walt Mossberg is on vacation.

Write to Nick Wingfield at nick.wingfield@wsj.com

Source: All Things Digital | 4 Dec 2008 | 2:18 am

Copper Thieves Threaten U.S. Infrastructure, FBI says

The FBI releases a unclassified report detailing U.S. crop failures, power outages and tornado-siren warning failures due to copper thieves getting huge returns for their crimes. The report, however, is released the day global mining stocks tumble as mining operations announced cutbacks and a 50 percent decline in copper prices in light of the dwindling global economy.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 4 Dec 2008 | 1:09 am

Appletell review - eFizz Travel mobile speaker system for iPod

FROM APPLETELL - One of the smallest iPod speaker systems I’ve tried out recently is the eFizz Travel Mobile Station for iPod from Ewoo.  Although it certainly delivers on portability, it misses the mark on audio. MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 4 Dec 2008 | 1:05 am

Ben Heck updates the Xbox 360 laptop with the Xbox 360 Portable

Ben Heckendorn has done it again with another Xbox 360 Portable. Unlike his last Xbox 360 Laptop though, this isn’t just an upgraded Elite version.

Calling it the Xbox 360 Portable, Ben has nixed the keyboard, but has added the ability to swap hard drives, more accessible memory cards, better layout of ports and buttons and internal Wi-Fi.

I personally think that the best thing is that this one looks a lot less cheap and plasticky than his previous creations.

Keep it up Ben!

Source: CrunchGear | 4 Dec 2008 | 1:00 am

Congratulations to Joi and Mizuka Ito (and a lovely video). <3

Just Married. Joi blogs:

Mizuka and I just got married. We went to the Inbamura town hall, filed our papers and visited the local Shinto shrine, Munakata Shrine. It's the second marriage for both of us so we decided to keep it pretty minimal. The only non-minimal thing was setting up and taking shots of ourselves...

Previously:

• Joi Ito's Freesouls: a book of CC-licensed portraits of, and ...
• Best of BBtv: Cooking Young Bamboo Shoots with Joi Ito (score by ...
• Joi Ito on WoW's project management lessons - Boing Boing
• Joi Ito remembers Timothy Leary - Boing Boing
• Joi Ito's NYT op-ed on Hiroshima, Nagasaki - Boing Boing
• Joi Ito's Takenoko HOWTO - Boing Boing
• Joi Ito, Dan Gillmor on Korea's blogging scene - Boing Boing

Source: Boing Boing | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:56 am

SanDisk Rallies as Takeover Rumors Resurface [Voices]

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

SanDisk (SNDK) shares are on the rise on rumors that Toshiba might be planning a bid for the company, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The two companies have a joint venture to manufacture NAND flash memories, and Toshiba has been often rumored to be a logical partner for the flash memory chipmaker.

In October, Samsung withdrew a $26-a-share bid for SanDisk; there was speculation before Samsung pulled its offer that Toshiba might serve as a white knight for SanDisk.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:51 am

Doctor Performs Amputation By Text Message

Peace Corps Online writes "Vascular surgeon David Nott performed a life-saving amputation on a boy in DR Congo following instructions sent by text message from a colleague in London. The boy's left arm had been ripped off and was badly infected and gangrenous; there were just 6in (15cm) of the boy's arm remaining, much of the surrounding muscle had died and there was little skin to fold over the wound. 'He had about two or three days to live when I saw him,' Nott said. Nott, volunteering with the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, knew he needed to perform a forequarter amputation requiring removal of the collar bone and shoulder blade and contacted Professor Meirion Thomas at London's Royal Marsden Hospital, who had performed the operation before. 'I texted him and he texted back step by step instructions on how to do it,' Nott said."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:50 am

Review: Navigon GPS Unit Looks Pretty, Takes Its Sweet Time

Navigon's dashboard-mounted GPS unit has a lot to recommend it, including a whizzy 3-D display and street views that show photos of actual road signs, making it easier to find your way around. But as reviewer Rachel Ciricola discovers, this $600 navigation gadget has a big drawback: It's slooooow.

The 3-D view might just be enough to distract you from the 8100T's many minor annoyances. For instance, if you plan on turning the unit off between trips, you'd better know where you are going — at least for some of the ride. Every time we restarted, it took a good 3 to 10 miles for the GPS to sync up with its respective satellites. You could be halfway to Albuquerque by the time it warms up.

$600   •   navigonusa.com

For more on the 8100T, read our full writeup on the Wired Reviews site:

Navigon 8100T | Wired.com Product Reviews

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:31 am

Lunchbots, created by a loving father to save the (mid)day

For the past couple of weeks Justin has been drawing a different "Lunchbot" on his wife and son's lunch sacks each day. He warns: "This is what happens to underemployed dads/husbands who mostly work from home. Clever creativity or cautionary tale?"

Justin is now officially this blog's dad. Thanks, Dad.

The Saga of the Lunchbots [Disposable Drawings (Wordpress.com)]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:28 am

Rumors of 32GB iPhone greatly exaggerated

MacRumors is reporting that the organizers of the MacWorld San Fransisco 2009 have extended early registration until December 8th.

If the rumors are correct, this year promises to be exciting due to the hoped for updates to the iMac and Mac Mini, as well as the expected refresh of the remainder of the Cinema displays.

Also expected (however unconfirmed by Apple, of course) is the announcement of a 32GB iPhone. Previous versions of the iPhone have been limited in size due to the availability of larger, single memory chips. However in August, Toshiba announced that they would begin mass production of higher density 32GB chips in the 4th quarter of 2008. These chips could presumably be used in future iPhone and iPod touch models.

Source: CrunchGear | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:23 am

Remote control tankbot! The Robocalypse marches on

It won’t be long before the cursed machines turn on us. Already they vacuum our rooms and play our games, can there be any doubt that machines like this automated all-terrain Ripsaw tank will soon grow desirous for the blood of their fleshy oppressors?!

Fools! You will be the first to to be crushed under their brushed-aluminum heel!

Source: CrunchGear | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am

Talk-Powered Cell Phones Won't Need Batteries

alphadogg writes "It's possible that in the future conversations on your cell phone could generate enough electrical power to run the phone, without batteries. That's one possible outcome of recent work by a team of Texas researchers, who appear to have discovered that by building a certain type of piezoelectric material to a specific thickness (about 21 nanometers, compared to a typical human hair of 100,000 nanometers), you can boost its energy production by 100 percent. And the technology could power not just phones, but a whole range of low-power mobile devices and sensors. The breakthrough is an example of 'energy harvesting' that can convert one kind of energy, such as vibrations or solar rays, into electricity."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 3 Dec 2008 | 11:48 pm

As the mouse reaches 40, what’s for the future?

Section: Peripherals, Mice / Keyboards

Yesterday I talked about the keyboard and how it is rooted in the history of computers, but this week is also important for another input device: the mouse.  The 40th birthday of the mouse also coincided with history being made, as Logitech announced that they had shipped a billion mouses (or mice) since they started production.  But how did it start, why is it so good and what is the future of the mouse?  Read on.
The first “mouse” was invented by Douglas Engelbart at the Stanford Research Institute as a prototype for a way of manipulating a GUI.  It was one of many suggestions (including using the head) for how to control the computer.  The mouse won because of its accuracy, ease of use, and the fact that it did not cause too much inconvenience to use.  No one is quite sure who first coined the name “mouse” and it was only intended for use as a nickname and not as an actual product name, but the wire/tail resemblance is definitely there and so the name as well as its plural problems stuck.
Since then we’ve had the horrid ball mouse which was an improvement on the two external wheels that the original had, to a ball controlling two small interior wheels, and then onto the optical and laser versions that we use today.  This has meant that mice are now more accurate and easy to use than ever before, and as science and medicine come to rely upon computers more and more this is increasingly important.
However the fact that the mouse has lasted four decades is not the only amazing thing, the fact that Logitech has shipped 1 billion is also amazing when you think about it.  I’m not sure that there is any other product that a single company has consistently sold for this period of time, and managed to rack up 1 billion of them.  This really is an astonishing number for one company, and it goes a long way not only to showing the popularity of the mouse, but how big the computer world is.

“It speaks volumes to the success of the mouse that they (Logitech) have produced a billion and good luck. But past performance is not a guarantee of future success.  The world has changed and the nature of machines has changed.  The multi-touch interface I believe really does seal the coffin of the mouse,“ Gartner analyst Steve Prentice

This is perhaps a little presumptuous, touchscreens have never taken off in the home computer world in the past, but is this now the time for the mouse to hand over the baton?  There are many advantages for using touch screens.  With multi-touch, they are now much more versatile.  Advances in technology have allowed them to become more accurate, but there are still problems and many cynics believe this is just an excuse to drum up interest in Windows 7 and associated touchscreen products.

So please, sit back, and celebrate the wonderful product of design and manufacture that is your mouse, take a moment to be amazed by how big this little product actually is and think about what will happen in the future.  And then sing happy birthday to it, have a party or maybe even bake a cake… I know I have! (there is a virtual prize if you know where this is from!)

Source [BBC]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 3 Dec 2008 | 11:38 pm

Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing — Fisker Reveals the Production Karma

We didn't think it was possible, but the production version is even sexier than the prototype. And it produces a mind-boggling 959 foot-pounds of torque.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Dec 2008 | 11:35 pm

Review: An afternoon with Antec's Skeleton PC case

Antec's Skeleton is the strangest PC case you can buy that is not also a ridiculous one. This is because it's not a case at all, but rather a naked frame designed to hold your components neatly beneath a huge fan.

It looks great, though it might not after you've filled it with old computer junk. The only way it could have been better would be for the swooping ornamental arches to be made of pig iron rather than plastic, for a fully industrial effect. Nonetheless, it's solid and well-engineered, with no sharp edges. Trays for motherboard, power supply and peripherals slide neatly in and out.

Scott Richards, a senior Vice President at Antec, told me it was intended for high-end gamers, but attracted interest from style magazines.

"We were a little nervous," Richards said. "We showed in in secret at CES last year, to ... advanced computer types. The response was and has been amazing."

They did not want to over-adorn it with clever features, he added, in the hope that it would attain a timeless look.

Transferring the contents of another PC into it was a snap: I've built a handful of computers, and this was the least harrowing experience. Perhaps this'll make it interesting to both experienced system builders, who want easy access to the innards, and to new hands wanting something that will make setup and troubleshooting easier.

It's bigger than you imagine it to be, about 16 inches square at the base. This, however, makes it large enough to accomodate full-size ATX gear and big video cards. The mainboard sits on top, directly beneath the fan, with space for two optical drives and two 3.5" drives below. A tiny Mini-ITX version will be out presently.

Two USB ports, firewire, e-SATA and audio I/O line one of the bars. Its 250mm fan barely hums; of course, if you put loud stuff inside it, there's no enclosure to dampen the sound.

There are cons, mostly obvious ones. It's vulnerable to dust, liquids, small kids and pets. It takes up a lot of space, and is, despite its minimalist airs, an ostentatious design. If you hate visible cables, this is simply not the box for you. The fans' shifting disco lights are cheesy, but you can turn them off.

Finally, at $160 it's quite expensive. You don't get a free power supply, either, meaning your total outlay will likely be more than $200.

A wonderful design married to quality workmanship, Antec's Skeleton offers something nothing else does. That said, I expect it's pointless trying to convince anyone one way or another — who could not have made up theirs mind the instant they saw it?

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 3 Dec 2008 | 11:00 pm

Adobe Announces Crash® CS4 Professional [Digital Daily]

Well, no wonder Adobe won’t have an exhibition booth at Macworld Conference & Expo 2009–the company’s sacking employees who might have otherwise staffed it….

Citing the standard litany of economic tribulations, Adobe (ADBE) Wednesday reduced its fourth-quarter outlook and said it will cut 600 jobs around the world–about eight percent of its workforce. The company now expects revenue of $912 million to $915 million. In better times, that revenue target range had been $925 million to $955 million. “The global economic crisis significantly impacted our revenue during the fourth quarter,” said CEO Shantanu Narayen. “We have taken action to reduce our operating costs and fine-tune the focus of our resources on key strategic priorities.”

Adobe shares slipped nine percent to $20.50 in after-hours trading.

Source: All Things Digital | 3 Dec 2008 | 10:56 pm

Apple Stands Firm on Mac Security

Apple recently removed a security bulletin advising users of OS X to install antivirus software. The company's actions suggest confidence in its operating system's security — confidence that is actually well-founded.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 3 Dec 2008 | 10:42 pm

Mac 'Security Threat' Evaporates in 24 Hours

Shortly after updating a security bulletin recommending widespread use of antivirus software on Macs, Apple took it down.

The action reflects the company's confidence in the security of Mac OS X — confidence that is, for the most part, well-founded.

"We have removed the KnowledgeBase article because it was old and inaccurate," Apple spokesman Bill Evans told Macworld. "The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box."

Tech enthusiasts and journalists have been debating Mac OS X's security for years. One of the corporation's memorable advertisements brags about the safety of using Mac OS X while teasing Windows for its vulnerability to viruses. When the first major Trojan horse for Mac OS X emerged in 2007, many braced themselves for an influx of Mac-coded viruses. However, very few instances of Mac-targeting malware have surfaced since then, and none have made a significant impact. In fact, Apple is probably right to be confident about its platform, as OS X is one of the safest computing platforms available.

The bulletin was receiving a lot of media attention, and many bloggers theorized that Apple was implying Mac OS X is now more vulnerable to viral attack. In response, Apple removed the bulletin Tuesday to dispel such unsubstantiated speculation.

A security bulletin recommending anti-virus software would have somewhat undercut Apple's virus-free campaign. That decision will disappoint security experts, who count on customers' fear of infection to move copies of their antivirus software. Yesterday, McAfee's David Marcus applauded Apple for recommending antivirus utilities, calling it a "conservative and wise" move for Apple given the enormous quantity of new malware hitting the internet every day.

Removing the bulletin, however, suggests that Apple is more interested in positive PR than advising its customers to be safe. And frankly, it's good to advise people to use caution, so removing the bulletin may give customers an unwarranted sense of invulnerability.

But then, the company is on fairly solid ground in asserting the relative safety of OS X. The debate of which OS is more secure — Mac OS X or Windows — is stale and getting more trivial each year. It's clear that Apple has won the security game, given the diminutive number of viruses, Trojans and bots for Mac compared to Windows.

While Mac-directed exploits are certainly possible, they're not that likely. With Apple nabbing only 9 percent of the overall PC market, there isn't enough incentive for hackers to unleash an outbreak of Mac malware. Until Apple seizes a bigger slice of the pie — and until there is a confirmed outbreak of Mac malware — Mac users can rest easy.

Even as Apple's market share continues to get bigger, I have doubts that Mac OS X's security is suddenly going to go haywire. The benefit of Apple's tight control over its operating system and hardware is the ability it gives the company to implementing effective, reliable security measures.

Mike Romo, Symantec's product manager for Mac antivirus software, notes a lot of new malware is "platform-agnostic," because hackers are mostly attacking online shoppers with phishing scams and other internet-based methods. Yet Apple already has anti-phishing measures installed in its Safari browser.

And altogether, Mac OS X out of the box is architecturally more secure than Windows, both Romo and Marcus agreed, meaning hackers are going to have a more difficult time infiltrating the barriers. Bottom line: Any exploits directed at OS X are going to take a while to develop.

So I'm going to go out on a limb here and say to my fellow journalists: Can we stop freaking out about the storm until it actually happens? Right now it's barely even sprinkling.

Photo: the_scottish_podcaster/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Dec 2008 | 10:42 pm

Technical Specs Released For Aussie Net Filtering

smallkathryn writes "Technical specifications have just been released for the Australian net filtering trial. The trial, which aims to prove that ISP-level filtering is a viable way to stop 'unwanted content' from reaching users, will go live on 24 December. The trial will involve ISPs choosing a commercially available hardware filter from an internet content filter (ICF) vendor, adding it to their networks, then loading the blacklist of unwanted sites. Still no indication of how peer-to-peer information will be addressed."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 3 Dec 2008 | 10:41 pm

How-to: Enable transitional effects on the T-Mobile G1

Feeling as if your G1 is a little bland in the animation department? Want those fancy sliding animations generally reserved for Google’s demonstrations? Worry no longer - afbcamaro from XDA Developers noticed that you can use a development package from the Android SDK that allows for you to access some fun features (such as sliding transitions) that didn’t make their way in to the end product.

What you need:

• T-Mobile G1
• APKInstaller (download it from the AndroidMarket), Development.APK (Download link), and a MicroSD card.

How to do it:

1. Make sure you have APKInstaller from the Android Market, and Development.APK from here (If you want, you can point your browser directly to that link from your phone and bypass all the following steps. Thanks to Mark Murphy for the tip!).
2. Put the Development.APK in the root directory of the MicroSD card. In other words, put it at the very first section of the card - don’t go making a folder named “root”.
3. Launch the APKInstaller, navigate to the file you just placed on the MicroSD card, and install it. This will install an application called “Dev Tools”
4. Open Dev Tools, then select Development Settings. Scroll down to the bottom, and change Window Animation Scale to 1x, and Transition Animation Scale to 1x (or play around with them for varying effects).

Enjoy!

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Dec 2008 | 10:35 pm

Verizon adds cool features to FiOS TV

Section: Video, Content, DVD Players/DVRs, Video Providers

Got FiOS television?  Verizon has added some really cool new features. 

• ESPN Fantasy Football:  you can see your stats right on your TV.  Verizon’s site says you can check stats “while you watch the game.“  It’s not clear if you can have the stats up on the screen at the same time as the video.
• Widgets:   Weather widgets, scores, and news can be overlaid over video.  That’s very cool.
• Remote DVR programming:  Now you can schedule recordings online.

These features probably won’t appeal to the masses right away, but for geeks (like me), this is very cool.  I already have FiOS Internet and now I am more interested in their television package.  Between their multi-room DVR, widgets, and HD content, Verizon is putting together this geek’s dream.

Thanks to mLife for providing the tip

Read [Full Details]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 3 Dec 2008 | 10:12 pm

Studying The Daily Variation In Atmospheric Pressure

For over two centuries, meteorologists were puzzled by the observation that atmospheric pressure in the tropics peaks at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. nearly every day.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Dec 2008 | 10:09 pm

Land Rover partners with Sonim for rugged phone line

In today’s most perplexing bit of news, Sonim Technologies is announcing a partnership with Land Rover to bring out a series of rugged handsets bearing the British all-terrain vehicle manufacturer’s logo. While they’ve announced two devices, the Land Rover S1 and the Land Rover S2 G4, only the former has been pictured (see right). Awkwardly, the S1 looks almost exactly like the Sonim XP3 that started shipping last month, except with a Land Rover logo stuck up at the top.

It’s water resistant, and certified against drops at around 5 feet, humidity, and thermal shock. Unfortunately, it’s not certified against looking like it’s from outer space. Handsets can be made rugged without being made ugly - the Rugby and the Moto V950 have proven that.

Aesthetics aside, what’s the point? It doesn’t seem to me that people who need rugged phones and people who would care that their phone says “Land Rover” instead of “Sonim” are one in the same. If you plan on buying one of these, let us know why in the comments.

[Via Phonescoop]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Dec 2008 | 10:03 pm

Mobile Broadband to Hit 42Mb/sec In 2009

Barence writes "Mobile broadband speeds could hit a blistering 42Mb/sec as early as next year, according to Ericsson's chief technology officer. The idea seems far-fetched given that even the fastest dongles currently hover at around 7.2Mb/sec, but the technology to smash that barrier is thought to be just around the corner. One of the methods is very similar to the MIMO technology already used in draft-N wireless routers, but Ericsson believes a combination of factors may even squeeze that figure to 80Mb/sec in the longer term."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 3 Dec 2008 | 9:55 pm

HTC Shadow (II) strikes back, makes FCC appearance

If you’re in the market for a GSM/WiFi/UMA device, and enjoy slinking around in the darkness…HTC appears to have you covered.

Roughly a year since the original HTC Shadow hit T-Mobile stores (and 6 months since a beta unit surfaced on ebay), the FCC has posted some dirt on HTC’s latest Winmo device, the Shadow II.

Sporting a slightly redesigned, rounder (finger-magnet glossy) form factor, the Quad-band GSM WinMo 6.1 Pro Shadow II features an improved processor, a 2mp photo/video cam, slide-out keyboard, 6 button/spinning scroll wheel input, a spacious 2.6” QVGA color display, WiFi, stereo Bluetooth, and a MicroSD memory card slot.

According to the User Manual submitted to the FCC, the Shadow II also supports Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology, allowing T-Mobile @Home users to switch seamlessly between T-Mobile’s cellular network and their home WiFi.

As usual, no pricing or availability info yet. One more shot after the jump.

[Via MobileBurn]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Dec 2008 | 9:27 pm

Scientists Video Inner Workings Of The Immune System

Forget what's number one at the box office this week.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Dec 2008 | 9:27 pm

Help Stephen Colbert get the #1 spot on iTunes

Section: Apple, Audio

Stephen Colbert is trying to push his Christmas album to the top of the iTunes album charts.  How?  He’s organizing “Operation Humble Kanye” to game iTunes.  Kanye West’s album was #1 when Colbert started this plan (currently, Britney Spears is in the top spot). 

His plan is to get everyone to buy “A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All” today, December 3rd, at 5PM Eastern time. 

Can this actually work?  Will a concentrated surge of purchases propel the album to the top of the charts?  I guess we’ll find out later today.

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 3 Dec 2008 | 9:16 pm

Red Flag Linux Forced On Chinese Internet Cafes

iamhigh writes "Reports are popping up that Chinese Internet Cafes are being required to switch to Red Flag Linux. Red Flag is China's biggest Linux distro and recently received headlines for their Olympic Edition release. The regulations, effective Nov. 5th, are aimed at combating piracy and require only that cafes install either a legal version of Windows or Red Flag. However, Radio Free Asia says that cafes are being forced to install Red Flag even if they have legal versions of Windows. Obviously questions about spying and surveillance have arisen, with no comment from the Chinese Government."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 3 Dec 2008 | 9:12 pm

Advancements In Fusion Power

Research carried out at MIT's Alcator C-Mod fusion reactor may have brought the promise of fusion as a future power source a bit closer to reality, though scientists caution that a practical fusion powerplant is still decades away.Fusion, the reaction that produces the sun's energy, is thought to have enormous potential for future power generation because fusion plant operation produces no emissions, fuel sources are potentially abundant, and it produces relatively little (and short-lived) radioactive waste.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Dec 2008 | 9:10 pm

Biologists Aim To Measure Bite Strength Of Sharks

Marine biologist Enrico Gennari dangles one foot into the water as he calls out to a Great White shark circling his boat."Come on, Come on, you can do it," he says, as a 10-foot Great White shark swims within inches of the bait before turning away.A BBC News report describes an outing with Mr.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Dec 2008 | 8:35 pm

180-inch 3D LED TV Announced But Resolution Quality is in Question

It's not quite the high-definition stereoscopic display that blew our minds two months ago, but NewSight Corp's entry into the burgeoning 3D TV market has something really big going for it: 180 inches of LEDs.

This makes it the biggest 3D-based display in the world, and just like the Philips Quad-full 3D TV, you won't need to use silly glasses to check out the content. The 3D effect is caused by an array of parallax LEDs turned at a pitch of 6mm, thereby working in the same way as pixels on LCD displays.

NewSight Corp's business also includes a software package called PPTK 2.0 that is used to build 3D content for the displays. The software allows post-production engineers to reconfigure regular video to 'pop' in 3D. According to the company, the reprocessed 3D video can be used in their other smaller 3D displays (see pic at right), which range from the size of a small cell phone display to this ginourmous beast.

As part of the announcement, the company mentioned that it's possible to combine four displays to create a 360-inch 3D display. Being able to do this, however, doesn't mean someone should.

Part of the appeal of the recent announcements regarding 3D technology is that images displayed are actually starting to look real. Philips' 3D quad-full displays are interesting because their powerful data speed pushes out a screen resolution at 3840 x 2160 (or 8.29 million pixels), or four times the number of pixels of the current highest HDTV standard. This creates a large viewing angle at 160 degrees and a high image contrast.

On the other hand, NewSight's giant screen doesn't have the same power and the highest resolution is only 1920 x 1080. That's not terrible, but when you place that resolution on a giant screen and start pushing out 3D content, the images will probably look transparent and faded.

Granted, we've yet to see the screen up close, but the manufacturer noted that the best place to see this TV is from five feet away. This is a telling sign that it will most likely be used in super specialized arenas where its effects can be maximized.

Expect to see it cordoned off at first, to avoid potential customers from seeing the choppiness up close.

Check out a video comparison between Philips' 3D displays from last year (it's not the quad full display) and a recent NewSight display after the jump.   

See also:

• Philips' 3D HDTV Might Destroy Space-Time Continuum, Wallets
• Fujifilm's Real 3-D Camera Is Just the Beginning

• Laser TV Wins Early Color Showdown Against Pioneer Kuro in Early Tests

Gadget Lab 2.0: Jose Fermoso's Twitter feed; Gadget Lab on Facebook.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Dec 2008 | 8:34 pm

Is Technology Rewiring Our Brains?

Introducing the teenage brain, on Google.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Dec 2008 | 8:15 pm

US Computer Shipments Expected To Fall Next Year

Research firm IDC said Wednesday that it expects U.S. shipments of personal computers to decline three percent in 2009.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Dec 2008 | 8:15 pm

Software unlock for BlackBerry 8000/9000 series released

Got just about any GSM BlackBerry laying around that you want to take to another carrier, but just can’t seem to find anyone who can get the job done? You’re in luck. From the darkest pits of who-knows-where, someone has gone and released the MFI Multiloader required to free BlackBerry 8000 and 9000 devices from their reins.

It’s not for the faint of heart - coming in at 800 megabytes split up over 8 files, even downloading it is a bit of a chore. Then you’ve gotta install the application, run Desktop Manager, make the appropriate OS upgrades, delete vendor.xml - it’s a bit of work, but if you’re dying to have a BlackBerry Storm, Pearl Flip, or Bold on another carrier, this might be the easiest (and cheapest) way.

Hopefully someone will get around to putting this up on BitTorrent (let us know in comments if they do), but until then, you’re stuck waiting in the queues at RapidShare. You can find the download links and tutorial over at IntoMobile.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:56 pm

Blue vs. Red: new 13.3-inchers from MSI

Wind netbooks made MSI a gadget bloghold name, but the firm also makes more powerful machines. Its EX300, available immediately at Amazon, Buy.com and the like, is a $1,000 13.3-incher offered in blue and red.

It has an Intel Core 2 Duo P7350, up to 4GB of RAM, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD3450 graphics card with 256MB of its own memory, bluetooth and WiFi-n.

Product Page [MSI]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:44 pm

Thousands Sail Online In Virtual Vendee Globe Race

About 170,000 people on Wednesday took part in a virtual non-stop sailing race around the world known as the Mount Everest of the sea.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:41 pm

Apple releases the top 10 applications downloaded at the iTunes Store for 2008

FROM APPLETELL - Apple’s iTunes Store has released several lists containing the top 10 applications, both paid and free, in terms of download statistics.  Guess how many were game?. MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:41 pm

Mallards Affected By Avian Flu

In a broad series of tests on thousands of ducks migrating through Sweden, researchers found that avian flu makes mallard ducks thinner than other duck breeds.Reporting in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Jonas Waldenstrom of Sweden's Kalmar University, Albert Osterhaus of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam and colleagues found that the viruses do affect the birds.Their findings contradict previous notions among experts that mallards were immune to avian flu.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:30 pm

Inflatable outdoor projection screen

Open Air Cinema has a new 16-foot inflatable projection screen that folds up into a 20-pound bag. An air blower keeps the whole thing engorged, while six straps keep it taut.

Before you get ready for some mid-winter outdoor movies (perfect for keeping the elderly subdued yet entertained) be sure to get a look at the price: it's a cool grand.

Open Air Home Screen product page [OpenAirCinema.us]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:25 pm

New Internet Phone Book Domain

Starting December 3, companies will be able to buy addresses associated with a new web domain called (.tel).The new domain is intended to act as a universal contact point rather than as a hook on which to hang websites.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:25 pm

Cat, pharaoh of the carpet, surveys her realm by Roomba

Alternatively. Alternatively. Alternatively. Alternatively.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:22 pm

Astronomers ID Supernova First Seen 400 Years Ago

By studying a "light echo" astronomers identify what a Dane saw 400 years ago.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:15 pm

Logitech Celebrates 1 Billionth Mouse Made

The Silicon Valley-based Logitech has set a major landmark with the production of their one-billionth computer mouse.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:10 pm

Netflix Movie Streaming Suffers Serious Loss in Quality, Say Roku Owners

The fairy tale marriage between the movie rental darling Netflix and Roku, the hardware maker that enables the streaming of its videos, has suffered an unfortunate setback.

According to a customer forum on the Roku website, the box has suddenly suffered from a significant loss of quality for its video streams, for the last three weeks. The streaming decline is so prevalent that Roku engineers had to acknowledge the problem yesterday, but declared the loss of quality as 'inexplicable' and most likely the fault of Netflix.

Recent changes to the content distribution network (CDN) used by Netflix may have contributed to the problem, according to a company spokesman following the situation.

But if that's the case, the problem should be affecting many of their other new boxes, such as the Xbox 360 and the LG BD300 Blu-ray player. So far, customers of those services have filed almost zero complaints.

Netflix currently offers more than 10,000 movies for their streaming service. Earlier this year, we gave the Roku box a good recommendation with a 7/10 score, mostly based on the quality of the video feed and ease of use.

Unfortunately for owners of the Roku box, the video feed variation appears to be more than just a tiny glitch. One customer says the quality is at least half of what it was a month ago, with the speed of his connection barely coming at 'one bar out of four.' Another was told the streaming service was routed through slow servers owned by AT&T and Qwest, and that some of these have been down for the last few days.

The Roku engineers are saying that while they believe the root of the problem is still coming from Netflix, they’re going to look at their software code 'to see if there is anything on our end that can help.' They’ve collected ISPs and problem locations from many of the customers to use as data points to help them find a solution.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:07 pm

Nighttime video shot with Canon 5D mkII

My friend Matt just got a Canon 5D mkII and shot us this video from his balcony in the Eurolands. The file was about 450MB for around 90 seconds of shooting. It's a very, very dark shot, but that's sort of the point; it was almost pitch dark outside on his balcony and he still was picking up a lot of light. (I think it's kind of pretty, actually, especially when the train rolls by.)

Here's Matt's tech description:

This is a test shot from my balcony with a 5d mkII. it's pitch dark outside - correct exposure for the bright areas of the frame is something around a second, f:1.8 for iso 400. the lens is the 28 1.8, i'd assume it's shooting wide open and at 3200 iso. the camera is handheld. the card is a sandisk extreme iii, which seemed to work just fine. i tried with an old ultra, and it buffered out after about 5 seconds.

Can't wait to see what it looks like with some daytime light — and what Matt, one amazing photographer, does with it as a plain ol' DSLR.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 3 Dec 2008 | 7:07 pm

Baltic Sea Pollution Hotspots Overlooked

According to research from Sweden, large sources of pollution to the Baltic Sea have been missed by existing monitoring effects.The Baltic Sea has had more and more health issues since the 1960s, due to the disposal of untreated human waste and toxic materials such as heavy metals.The countries that border the Baltic Sea have put together an action plan to stem the tide of contaminants entering the sea.Gia Destouni, a professor from Stockholm University, said these areas were being left without systematic environmental monitoring.The Baltic Sea is also being harmed by "nutrients" from fertilizer used in agriculture.The sea water is naturally more prone to dead zone episodes, which is when water has a very low concentration of dissolved oxygen, because of the lack of water exchange between the Baltic and the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.The problem is made worse by the use of fertilizer, which runs off fields into streams and rivers.  When it reaches the ocean, it provides nutrients for algae, which can form blooms.This leads to more organic matter reaching the bottom of the sea, where bacteria breaks it down, using oxygen required by marine animals on the sea floor."Because of practical difficulties, you cannot monitor everywhere.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:58 pm

Online tool for protein analysis created

A U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:57 pm

BlackBerry Storm brings along memories of the mothership

Not too long ago, someone opened their new iPhone only to find test shots from the factory still floating around in the memory. In what I’m sure is a complete coincidence, the same thing has now happened with the BlackBerry Storm - albeit without the cute asian girl.

Photos like this always creep me out a little bit. They seem.. wrong. It’s like if a baby were to come out with a photo album of their adventures in the womb. Well, except that babies don’t have built-in cameras, so that analogy doesn’t really work. Still creepy.

Bigger shot after the jump.

[Via BGR]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:57 pm

Oil Sands Development Threatens Millions of Birds

Millions of birds could be in danger over the next five decades due to the development of Canada’s oil sands region, North American environmental groups announced on Wednesday.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:50 pm

Palm watches wistfully as HTC buys other design firm

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Mobile

Aww rats.  So what if my idea of HTC buying Palm didn’t really make any sense.  It might have been Palm’s big chance not to take a dirt nap.  HTC, refusing to yield to my new world view, decided to purchase One and Co., the design firm that helped create their awesome Touch Diamond.

Interestingly, One and Co. works with a lot of big names outside tech such as Nike, North Face and Soloman.  One and Co. brings broad expertise in design and manufacturing techniques combined with an emphasis on lifestyle design.  One latest achievement for the company was a helmet for K2.

“Design is key, it is why you love or hate something,“ said Horace Luke, Chief Innovation Officer, HTC Corporation. “Integrating iconic design into HTC products is an inspiring and dynamic challenge that requires a unique combination of consumer insight, creativity, innovation and an appetite to take risks; attributes that embody One & Co.“

This move, rather than purchasing Palm, should prove a much higher return for HTC.  The Touch Diamond was their breakout product (in my mind, at least) that made consumers take note of the HTC name.  Focusing on developing their own style is exactly what HTC should be doing.

I can’t help wondering how One and Co. will deal with only working in electronics now as last time I checked, HTC doesn’t have a footwear or ski business going yet, other core design competency for One and Co.  Perhaps I should stress yet.

Thanks to reader John Donaldson for the tip.

Read: [MarketWatch]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:45 pm

Researchers Concerned Over Alarming Decline Of Harbor Seals

Scientists say harbor seals (common seals) are vanishing along coastlines across the northern hemisphere at an alarming rate.Researchers from St Andrews University say numbers have halved in the hardest hit area, the Orkney Islands, since 2001 - falling almost 10% each year.Professor Ian Boyd of the Sea Mammal Research Unit said there would soon be no harbor seals left in some areas if the mysterious decline continues.Marine biologists currently have no explanation for the disappearances and have begun investigating possible causes, which include illegal hunting and disease.Boyd said the change in numbers is well outside normal limits and the decline appears to be accelerating."We're worried that over the next 10 years, there will be no harbor seals left in the core area for the animals in Europe."Classified as Phoca vitulina, the harbor seal inhabits cold and temperate waters throughout much of the northern hemisphere.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:40 pm

T-Mobile UK cutting back prices on the G1, early adopters not getting screwed for once

If you’re in the US and just dropped $179 on your G1, you might have been a bit disappointed to hear that G1 buyers over in the UK were gettin’ them gratis on a £40-a-month (roughly $60) plan. Well, prepare for a bit more disappointment.

In preparation for the holiday season and the rush of competitive devices they’re expecting to be up against over the next few months (and not as an indication of low sales, according to T-Mo), they’ve lopped 25% off the monthly fee. Yep - £30 (roughly $45) a month nets you a G1, without the need to drop a chunk of change on the device up front.

Better yet, anybody who picked up a G1 from T-Mo UK before the price drop can get in on the deal as well, according to Pocket-Lint. While T-Mobile’s not going to go around calling people to say “Hey, want to give us less money each month?”, you can give them a ring to have your £40 monthly fee dropped down to £30. That’s £120 (or $177) a year off - in other words, roughly the price we pay for the G1 in the US. Double ouch.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:39 pm

ESA operates two satellites in tandem

The European Space Agency says it has paired its European Remote Sensing-2 satellite with its Envisat satellite in their second tandem operation. ERS-2, the space agency's veteran spacecraft, and Envisat, the largest environmental satellite ever built, both carry Synthetic Aperture Radar instruments that provide high resolution images of the Earth's surface. By combining two or more SAR images of the same site, slight alterations that may have occurred between acquisitions can be detected, ESA said.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:37 pm

Scientists Prove Endothelial Cells Give Rise To Blood Stem Cells

Discovery could lead to new treatments for blood disorders, cancersStem cell researchers at UCLA have proven definitively that blood stem cells are made during mid-gestational embryonic development by endothelial cells, the cells that line the inside of blood vessels.While the anatomic location in the embryo where blood stem cells originate has been well documented, the cell type from which they spring was less understood.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:35 pm

77 gifts include Shuriken Magnets and sketchy bottle cap hole punch

Not all of Core77's holiday gift guide items are gems, but I like their two exclusive items quite a bit: The Shuriken Magnets ($19 a pair) have one tine removed, giving the impression they've been embedded in a target; and the "BottleBob" bottle cap punch ($21) that — provided it doesn't leave a little disc of metal in the bottom — makes drinking a soda with a straw "So fun it's possible!"*

77 under $77 gift guide [Core77.com]

* This catchphrase is my Xmas gift to you, Core77.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:27 pm

Eee Box goes high-def with HDMI and swankier video chip

Asus's Eee Box, a desktop counterpart to its miniature subnotebooks, just got a spec bump. Moreover, the thing it added was, for once, meaningful: a discrete video card, with 256MB of RAM and a HDMI port. This means the little Wii-like slab can serve HDTV much better from underneath the set.

It also gets WiFi-n and a bigger hard drive, but otherwise retains the old loadout of 1GB of RAM with a 1.6 GHz Atom processor.

Press Release [Asus]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:25 pm

Gizmodo Readies Awesome Gadgets for Four-Day Event

Tech publication Gizmodo this week is kicking off its first gadget showcase ever, dubbed Gizmodo Gallery.

Held in New York City, the event begins Thursday and ends Sunday. Gizmodo staff will show off about 40 gadgets, including the RED ONE camera, ancient Apple prototypes, and the first Walkman.   

Guess what else will be on display? My very own MSI Wind netbook hacked to run Mac OS X. Lam stopped by yesterday and took away my netbook after knocking me out with chloroform, so keep an eye out for a white mini Hackintosh.

Gizmodo Gallery takes place at Reed Annex at 151 Orchard Street, New York NY. Admission is free.

Gizmodo Gallery: Our Wonderful World of Gadgets On Display in NYC [Gizmodo]

Photo: Gizmodo

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:22 pm

A drinking straw made from ... straw!

The winner of the Muji's International Design Competition's third annual gold prize is Yuki Iida's Straw Straw. It is a straw that's actually made from a piece of straw.

Muji International Design Competition [Muji via Design Boom via Interior Design Room via Book of Joe via Gadget Lab]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:18 pm

Sumatra Fault Primed for More Mega-Quakes

Despite a history of huge quakes, the Sumatra fault remains tense and unpredictable.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Dec 2008 | 6:00 pm

Nokia Enters Home Automation Market

Nokia has demonstrated a system that could eventually control heating, home security cameras and draw curtains.The Nokia Home Control Center is a wireless router that can interface with equipment around the home, also known as home automation.Nokia has partnered with European energy company RWE to manage heating systems and is hoping other firms will sign up soon.The new gadget by the Finnish firm was showed off at Nokia World in Barcelona and is expected to be on shelves towards the end of 2009.The Nokia Home Control Center is based on an open Linux platform and includes a raft of wireless technologies which allow users to connect remotely via a PC or smartphone.Third parties will integrate their own services as Nokia vies for a slice of the "networked home" market.It will have a 6GB storage capacity, necessary if it is to act as a storage device for video from security cameras.  The system will be able to recognize when weather conditions change, giving it the ability to recognize cold weather when the home owner is gone and properly set the heat setting to avoid freezing pipes on their return."We believe that the mobile device is the ideal interface to control home intelligence, especially when the user is not at home," said Teppo Paavola, vice president of business development at Nokia."The rate at which gadgets, features and services are being incorporated into the mobile phone is astonishing," said mobile phone expert Thomas Newton from independent comparison mobilephones.co.uk."Two or three years ago it would have seemed a bit Star Trek to imagine people playing with their heating on their mobile phone - now it's not only plausible, it's actually in the process of being developed."Home automation devices are not a new idea.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Dec 2008 | 5:55 pm

SLIDE SHOW: Ancient Shaman Buried With Stash

See pictures revealing the oldest marijuana stash ever found.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Dec 2008 | 5:33 pm

Oldest Marijuana Stash Found

A blue-eyed man was buried 2,700 years ago in China with his stash of marijuana.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Dec 2008 | 5:33 pm

US Successfully Tests Laser System Aboard 747 Plane

The US military has successfully completed the first firing of a laser weapon system residing on a 747 plane. The Airborne Laser (ABL) was envisaged to deflect enemy ballistic missiles in the premature stages of their launch.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Dec 2008 | 5:00 pm

Yahoo’s Launchcast To Rebroadcast With CBS Radio

In light of rising broadcast rates, Yahoo Inc. has announced its decision to take its Internet radio service to CBS Corp. In February 2009, CBS will power Yahoo-owned Launchcast and sell ads on the service, but Yahoo employees will continue to control programming for the service.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Dec 2008 | 4:50 pm

MySpace Video Goes Mobile

On Wednesday, social network site MySpace announced it will offer mobile access to streaming video on cell phones.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Dec 2008 | 4:30 pm

'Smart' Fabric Glows in Response to Allergens

Nanotube-dipped threads light up when they encounter encroaching pollen.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Dec 2008 | 3:02 pm

Rare Gorilla Twins Born in Uganda

Twin mountain gorillas are born in Uganda and survive harsh November rains.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 3 Dec 2008 | 2:02 pm

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