Source: Gizmodo | 17 Dec 2008 | 11:14 am

Why Apple Quit Macworld Expo, Forever

Yesterday, our own Brian X Chen wrote about Apple's abandoning of the the Macworld Expo, the yearly (and sometimes twice-yearly) Mac exhibition which has run since 1985. The show has traditionally been a launchpad for new gadgets and geegaws, and is characterized by some rather hysterical speculation in the preceding months. But why has Apple quit the show, and does it really matter? We take a quick look at the causes and effects of this surprise divorce.

The Macworld Conference & Expo, to give it its full title, is not an Apple-run event, but the company has made it its own, especially in recent years where Steve Jobs has presented a keynote speech at the show, usually launching new products.

From yesterday's press release:

Apple today announced that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo.

Why? Macworld is a high profile event that last year managed to eclipse the whole of the CES consumer electronic show that ran concurrently in Las Vegas. You'd think Apple would appreciate the publicity, right?

Well, no. The trouble with a yearly show is that you face pressure to come up with new products at a set time. And we know that this isn't the Apple way. Apple works on something and then, when it is good and ready, launches it. Usually the kit is in the shops the same day, and the previous iteration (if there was one) disappears like an out-of-favor politician from a Soviet-era photograph.

That the show is at a strategically hopeless time of year (January) doesn't help. Who has the money left after the Holiday Season buying orgy?

So it seems pretty obvious why Apple is pulling out. The problem is for the Apple "community", the developers who meet at the show, the fans who meet the developers and the peripheral makers who exhibit there. Sure, they could move to CES, but the nerd-party atmosphere and sense of fraternity would be lost, drowned amongst the tat.

Rob Griffiths of Macworld sums it up:

As an individual and Mac enthusiast, though, I think it’s one of the worst things to happen to the Mac community in many years [...] what I’ll really miss is the once-a-year chance to meet with people who I would otherwise never get to meet in the flesh.

The Cult of Mac has largely grown from this sense of belonging, largely – and ironically – springing from the historical outsider-ness of Mac users in a Windows world. It's a shame to see the show go (and to be fair, Apple pulling out of the show doesn't mean – yet – that the show won't continue) but its also hard to make a case for Apple continuing to attend now that it is such a big brand with little need for the publicity.

Keeping the fanboys happy comes a distant second to being free to make product launches at strategic and sensible times.

One more thing: Phil Schiller, a senior vice presidfent at Apple, is making the final January 2009 Macworld keynote speech, a role usually filled by Steve Jobs. Much has been made in the tech press about this nugget, mostly focusing on Jobs' health. To this we say: C'mon. Are you serious? Do you really think Apple would cancel its attendance at all future Macworlds because Jobs isn't up to one speech?

Putting Schiller in the hot seat is probably no more than shorthand for "no big announcements this year". An attempt, if you like, to stop the wild rumors and speculation that afflicts the Apple press every January. Not that it is likely to stop anyone.

Apple Announces Its Last Year at Macworld [Apple]

Photo: SeenyaRita/Flickr

Jobs Won't Appear at Macworld — 2009 to Be Apple's Last Show [Gadget Lab]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Dec 2008 | 11:14 am

Why You’re Getting Jay Leno in Prime Time: NBC Profits Shrank By $1 Billion In Three Years [MediaMemo]

Want to know why NBC is giving up on five hours a week of prime time programming and replacing it with Jay Leno? Take a look at this chart, pulled out of parent company GE’s investor presentation Tuesday.

To spell it out: Profits at NBC’s broadcast business — the NBC network along with revenue from local stations the network owns, and revenue from other stations that carry its programming — shrank from $1.4 billion in 2005 to $400 million this year.

That’s a billion dollars of profit that disappeared in three years (or a compound annual growth rate of negative 33%, if you like your stats served that way).

Bear in mind that GE (GE) is actually boasting here: It’s using the chart to pat itself on the back for making itself less dependent on broadcast advertising and revenue. Still, it’s always disconcerting to see a billion dollars disappear from the books, no matter how big and how well-positioned you are.

You can blame some of that loss on the fact that NBC has tumbled in the ratings and has never replaced the hits it had in the days of Seinfeld, and later Friends.

But hits are cyclical: Wait around long enough, and you end up airing something that works. If NBC thought that hits would be enough to claw back some of that billion, CEO Jeff Zucker wouldn’t be conceding 5 valuable hours to Jay Leno, who costs less to air than the shows he’s replacing, but has less upside potential.

Instead, Zucker seems to be saying that broadcast TV is a big but shrinking business, and that he’s not going to fight that trend. Hard to argue with the numbers.

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Dec 2008 | 11:00 am

The Internet In 2020: Mobile And Mean - InformationWeek

Canada.com

The Internet In 2020: Mobile And Mean InformationWeek - 3 hours ago A Pew Internet & American Life Project prediction suggest voice recognition and touch interfaces will become more prevalent in technology sector. Most Will Access Web Via Cell Phones by 2020 PC Magazine Web Tool of the Future: Your Phone CRN Ars Technica - Corpus Christi Caller Times - CNET News - MediaPost Publications all 118 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 17 Dec 2008 | 11:00 am

Microsoft plans quick fix for IE - BBC News

Siliconrepublic.com

Microsoft plans quick fix for IE BBC News - 3 hours ago Microsoft is to due to issue a patch to fix a security flaw believed to have affected as many as 10000 websites. The emergency patch should be available from 6pm GMT on 17 December Microsoft has said. MS warns of major IE flaw bit-tech.net Microsoft releases emergency patch Inquirer Ars Technica - Computerworld - Washington Post - ITProPortal all 925 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 17 Dec 2008 | 11:00 am

The tricky math of server virtualization ROI

Source: Gizmodo | 17 Dec 2008 | 10:42 am

Will The Dark Knight Light Up Blu-ray Sales?

One of the maxims of the electronics business is that content is king and often drives the buying of hardware. Another says that for big-ticket items, their price is the most important.

This week, we'll have a great test of these competing theories with the release of The Dark Knight, the second highest-grossing domestic movie of all time, and definitely the most badass.

The video was released in Blu-ray and DVD formats less than 24 hours ago, and it is already setting records. Taking into account all purchases from the U.S., Canada and the U.K., about 3 million copies of The Dark Knight have already been sold.

Warner Brothers is anticipating the movie will reach total sales of 13.5 million worldwide by the end of the first week.

For the first day, Blu-ray disks account for 600,000 of the total, or a bit less than 21%. The rest are all DVD purchases, which brings up the issue we mentioned only yesterday when talking about the slow adoption of the Blu-ray format: DVD's are still pretty good! And for most, that's good enough to avoid paying a few extra bucks for Blu.

With cheap Blu players newly available, the highly sought out film might push their sales in the next week. Since the last weekend before Christmas is the biggest shopping period of the year, the availability of a good movie to go with a new-generation player seems like an appropriate combo gift.

But what if all of the relatively cheap Blu-ray players sell out? Then, people will be faced with buying the higher-end (over $250) versions. That's too high for families, and at that point, they might pass on it.

Demographics are also an issue. Like Iron Man before it, the movie most appeals to comic book fanboys, special effects aficionados, and videogame fans, all of which are types already likely early adopters. A good number might also already own Playstation 3 systems.

There's another interesting note from the first day of sales: According to the studio, the digital copy included on the Blu-ray and Special Edition DVD has already been activated 300,000 times, which gives us a good idea of how many users are going to push their movie to their portable media players.

But since the movie was built for IMAX-level dimensions, we probably won't have to worry about the idea that any Dark Knight copies will lead to better iPhone sales, not with that tiny screen.

What about you? Are you more or less willing to buy a Blu-ray player now that this movie is available? Or does the player's price matter more? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Dec 2008 | 9:52 am

Spaceport America Gets FAA License

DynaSoar writes "Spaceport America received an early and double holiday gift this week: first, the expected (positive) FAA environmental impact report, and second, the hoped-for but not immediately expected 'launch site operator's license.' With this license, and with the previously accomplished creation of a tax district, two of three pieces are in place as required by the New Mexico legislature to receive its funding package. The third, a lease with a space services tenant to use the facility, may come this week also, in the form of a contract with Virgin Galactic. While timing is impossible to predict, the contract is a virtual certainty. The New Mexico Spaceport Authority fully expects it, and so has projected late 2010 for completion of hangar and terminal facilities. Virgin Galactic also seems confident, as they have already screened and submitted their first 100 customers (called the Virgin Galactic Founders) to their contracted medical and training supervisor. They are busy screening their second 100 'spaceflight participants' (NASA and RKA having decided that only those who can tack 'career' on the front of it deserve to be called 'astronauts')."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 17 Dec 2008 | 9:47 am

Gigantic knitwear-cum-furnishings

Dutch artist Bauke Knottnerus created these "Phat Knits": "a series of giant threads used to create, knitted or not, interior products." Love this stuff -- like being miniaturized and set loose on a chunky sweater!

PHAT KNITS (via Yanko Design)

Source: Boing Boing | 17 Dec 2008 | 9:34 am

Shoppers Advantage Ranks Top Holiday Gifts of Week

NORWALK, Conn., Dec.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Dec 2008 | 9:20 am

EMI Sort Of Launches Its Own Music Portal [MediaMemo]

EMI Music Group has launched EMI.com, which is supposed to be… I’m not sure, exactly.

The company says the site is emphatically *not* supposed to be another MusicNet or PressPlay, the two unenthusiastic yet very expensive attempts the big labels made at creating their own portals in the wake of the original Napster.

So what is it? The site wasn’t scheduled to go live until 4am New York time, but it popped up earlier this evening and I gave it a quick spin. (Click to image to enlarge)

Based on that very cursory look, I think it’s meant to be a cleaner, in-house version of sites like MySpace Music and iMeem. Those sites offer streaming music, music videos and the opportunity to buy songs via affiliate deals with Apple (AAPL) or Amazon (AMZN).

Once it’s really up, that is. EMI says the site is in beta, but that’s generous. US users can only listen to 30-second clips. UK users can listen to entire songs. But only ones from EMI’s catalog — which are the only songs that appear to be on the site, anyway.

There’s also a rudimentary discovery engine, and it appears as if the site will eventually direct would-be buyers to 7Digital, a UK-based iTunes and Amazon competitor.

The press release, which I’ve reprinted below, describes the site as a “learning lab”. I guess there’s nothing wrong with that — and the company has more pressing issues than a Web site launch. But I don’t understand the point of putting up something this raw.

LONDON, 17 DECEMBER 2008 — EMI Music today announced the launch of its new website, EMI.com. The site provides options for fans to discover new music and rediscover their favorite musicians. It also gives artists another platform to showcase their music and videos. EMI.com is one of many ways EMI Music will experiment with new digital platforms in order to develop a deeper understanding of how consumers interact with and experience music online.

“EMI.com is designed to be a learning lab. It will help us gain even more knowledge about consumers’ preferences and choices. Those insights will be invaluable to our artists, helping them respond to fans in a more relevant way,” said Alex Haar, Vice President of Digital Special Projects at EMI Music. “This is the beginning of a longer term experiment. In the coming months, we will continue to add content and features to the site.”

This launch of EMI.com is the first step in a process to better test and learn from the consumer experience. As of today, EMI.com will house a range of information about EMI artists, such as music, videos, photos, biographies and discographies. Fans in the U.K. and U.S. can listen to their favorite songs (in full or in 30 second segments, respectively), watch videos and create playlists. The discover feature of the site helps fans search for tailored music recommendations, by entering artists’ names, including those of non-EMI artists.

Future features, such as the ability to create widgets or to purchase music, will be added to the site in ways that will enable the company to test different values of increasing consumers’ music experience. The site will also be home to free special and unique content from EMI artists, such as interviews, concerts and back-stage visits.

Shamsa Rana, Managing Director of Imdad Capital Ltd., was responsible for designing and implementing EMI.com. Rana also brought in a digital media company, Perform, which built the site.

“With EMI.com, we wanted to build a site that provides a simple, user-friendly experience,” said Rana. “A focus on the fan and passion for the user experience is critical in today’s digital landscape, and that’s exactly what we worked to achieve with EMI.com.”

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Dec 2008 | 9:00 am

Tagged Inc. Secures $5 Million in Venture Debt

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Tagged Inc. announced today the

Source: Gizmodo | 17 Dec 2008 | 9:00 am

DMC Capital Funding Established to Provide Growth Financing and Advisory Services to Technology and Consumer Focused Companies

-Private Equity Firm with a 30-Year Legacy in Consumer Products, Supply Chain Management to Help Foster Mid-Market Growth Amid an Uncertain Economy- NEW YORK, Dec.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Dec 2008 | 9:00 am

MySpace Quietly Begins Encouraging Users To Use Their Real Names

A constant criticism of MySpace is that real names are hidden when you view someone’s profile or interact with them on the site. They’re now making subtle product changes that encourage users to show their real name on the site.

Anonymity is great when you don’t want your actual identity to get in the way of whatever fantasy life you are living online. But it’s also one of the reasons Facebook, which identifies users by their real names, is gaining so quickly on MySpace. On Facebook, you generally know who you are talking to. On MySpace, it’s anyone’s guess.

All this anonymity suited MySpace just fine for the first few years of growth. But 2009 is going to be all about social network identity and spreading it out around the web. MySpace, Facebook and Google all want users to log in to third party sites using their account credentials from those sites, and having those accounts be associated with real names to do it is a competitive advantage.

Facebook has a big head start on that already with Facebook Connect, which is now available to any third party site that wants to use it. Google also has its product out the door, and is integrating with sites like Twitter.

MySpace is working to get MySpaceID (formerly Data Availability) out to partners.

MySpace also added a feature in account settings that ask users if they want to display their real name on their profile along with whatever display name they’ve chosen (so MySpace COO Amit Kapur’s MySpace page now shows his real name, it didn’t before).

When adding a new friend, MySpace users are also prompted to reveal their real name (see first image above).

All this serves to legitimize MySpace’s chaotic namespace with actual names of actual people. If they’re successful in getting a large percentage of users to reveal their names they’ll mitigate Facebook’s advantage in this area. I’d expect more of this over time, not less.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Dec 2008 | 8:30 am

Jaxtr’s FreeConnect: Free Mobile Calling Worldwide That Seems Too Good To Be True

VoIP startup Jaxtr has just launched a new service called FreeConnect that gives members the ability to talk to each other on their mobile phones, free of charge, for as long as they’d like. The service seems too good to be true - unless Jaxtr begins serving ads with each call, FreeConnect has no apparent way of making money. But Jaxtr’s interim CEO Bahman Koohestani says that the company is using the service to expose itself to new members, who may be enticed by the more convenient and feature rich premium services offered by Jaxtr.

The biggest deterrent to using FreeConnect is the number of hoops that users will have to jump through to get started. For starters, both members have to be members of Jaxtr. To initiate the call, you first need to enter the number you’re looking to reach into Jaxtr, which will then spit out a local number for you to call using your cell phone. After calling that number, Jaxtr will send a SMS message to the person you’re calling with a number that’s local for them. Once they dial that number, you enter a free mobile call that can go as long as you’d like. The process is tedious, but after creating the initial connection you can use the same local numbers to reach each other in the future.

Users can skip this ordeal entirely by placing calls using Jaxtr’s (very cheap) paid service, which is probably what the company is hoping will eventually happen. Koohestani says that FreeConnect is not just a trial promotion, but I can’t see the company keeping it going for long unless it can increase membership and convert a significant fraction of new members into paying customers.

The last few months have been rough on Jaxtr. Only a few months after closing an $11 million funding round, the company was forced to lay off 13 employees, and then saw its CEO Konstantin Guericke resign (VP Engineering Bahman Koohestani is acting as an interim CEO).

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Dec 2008 | 8:30 am

Egyptian Saudi Finance Bank Selects Misys for Islamic Banking

LONDON, December 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- - Leading Islamic Solution to Drive Innovation in Banking Misys (LSE: MSY), the global application software and services company, announced today that Egyptian Saudi Finance Bank (ESFB) has chosen Misys Equation 3.9 for its 11 branches across Egypt.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Dec 2008 | 8:22 am

Bailing On Macworld is a Good Thing [Voices]

By Arik Hesseldahl, Technology Writer, BusinessWeek

The first thing that’s coming to so many minds in the wake of Apple’s announcement that CEO Steve Jobs won’t be making his customary keynote address at the Macworld Expo on Jan. 6, is the condition of Jobs’ health. I don’t think his health has anything to do with it. Though I think the speculation that has come to surround his appearance in recent years is a minor factor in the decision.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Dec 2008 | 8:01 am

Twelve Questions About the Apple-Macworld Expo Breakup [Voices]

By Harry McCracken, Blogger, Technologizer

Wow. Wow. Wow. Over the last few days, folks noticed that the traditional announcement that Steve Jobs would kick off IDG’s Macworld Expo with a keynote speech hadn’t come yet, and began wondering if he might be a no-show–as unlikely as that seemed. Sometimes, the unlikely is nonetheless reality: Apple has announced that marketing head Phil Schiller will keynote, and that it’s pulling out of Macworld Expo altogether as of 2010.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Dec 2008 | 8:00 am

Daily Crunch: Progress Edition

Bury me with my BlackBerry, please
Contest: Call the Apple stock drop, win a Microsoft mouse
Can you solve this 1932 brain teaser concerning two vehicles?
Rubber tracks for military vechicles
So now what? Will Apple still bring a netbook or new Mac Mini to Macworld SF?

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Dec 2008 | 8:00 am

BoomTown Decodes the Apple Dumps Macworld Press Release (The “Yes, Virginia” Version) [BoomTown]

BoomTown extends apologies to the late Francis P. Church, who penned the original “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus” editorial in the New York Sun on September 21, 1897.

But with just a little rejiggering, his eloquent words work perfectly as a translation for Apple’s press release about its withdrawal from San Francisco’s Macworld and no keynote speech from Apple CEO Steve Jobs yesterday, which doubtlessly has shook the Apple (AAPL) faithful to the core.

Oddly enough, it matches up surprisingly–and a little disturbingly–well.

Thus, here’s a little holiday inspiration for those pour souls make it through these darkest of days:

Dear Editor:

I am 28 years old. Some of my little fanboys say there is no Steve Jobs at Macworld. My imaginary friend at AppleInsider says, “If you see it on BoomTown, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Steve Jobs?

–O’Hanlon, a geek in Virginia

Apple wrote: CUPERTINO, California—December 16, 2008—Apple today announced that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple’s last keynote at the show. The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009.

Translation: Virginia geek, your little friends are wrong (and they also have no life, which is self-evident). They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia geek, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. Not as elegantly tiny as the iPod Nano, but little nonetheless. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Apple wrote: Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers. The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.

Translation: Yes, Virginia geek, there is a Steve Jobs. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion and the fabled touchscreen tablet Mac exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Steve Jobs! It would be as dreary as if there were no amazingly great iPhones. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance, no Pull My Finger app to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Apple wrote: Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years, including NAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris.

Translation: Not believe in Steve Jobs! You might as well not believe in those admittedly freaky iPod shadow dancers. You might get your other pretend friend at MacRumors to hire men to watch in all the Chinese manufacturing factories on Christmas eve to catch Steve Jobs, but even if you did not see Steve Jobs ordering up new Mini desktop computers, what would that prove? Nobody sees Steve Jobs, but that is no sign that there is no Steve Jobs. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see the iPod dancers dancing bizarrely on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

Apple wrote: Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications.

Translation: You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, and the fact that the Mac guy vs. PC guy ads are pure genius can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia geek, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

Apple wrote: Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

Translation: No Steve Jobs! Thank God! he lives and lives forever, despite Henry Blodget-fueled health rumors to the contrary. A thousand years from now, Virginia geek, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of Mac fanboyhood.

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Dec 2008 | 8:00 am

NBC’s Samberg: Still King of YouTube [Voices]

By Michael Learmonth, Reporter, Ad Age

NBC is supposed to give all its hit “Saturday Night Live” clips to its online joint venture, Hulu, not YouTube, right? Well, not always, apparently. Andy Samberg’s “Jizz in My Pants” has racked up 6.7 million views on YouTube, and is the most-watched video of the past month.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Dec 2008 | 8:00 am

Future Schlock [Voices]

By P. J. O’Rourke, Contributing Writer, The Atlantic

More than half a century ago, Disneyland opened its House of the Future attraction. I was 10, and I was attracted. In fact, I was in love. The Tomorrowland dwelling had a cruciform floor plan, a more elegant solution to bringing light and air into a “machine for living” than Le Corbusier had been able to devise. Each side of each arm of the cross was glazed, sill to ceiling. The mullions and rails between the panes were as pleasingly orchestrated as Mondrian’s black stripes.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Dec 2008 | 8:00 am

Zzz-mail: What Happens When Sleepwalkers Go Online [Voices]

By Roger Dobson, Staff Writer, The Telegraph

It was only when a would-be guest phoned the next day to accept, that she found out what she had done. The 44-year-old woman, whose case is reported by researchers from the University of Toledo in the latest edition of medical journal Sleep Medicine, had gone to bed at around 10 PM, but got up two hours later and walked to the next room. She then turned on the computer, connected to the internet, and logged on by typing her username and password to her email account. She then composed and sent three e-mails.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Dec 2008 | 8:00 am

Flowchart: How to read flowcharts on XKCD

Today's XKCD swallows its own tail with a great flowchart explaining how to read flowcharts.

Flow Charts

Source: Boing Boing | 17 Dec 2008 | 7:58 am

Alexander Izosimov Elected Chairman of the GSMA Board

MOSCOW and NEW YORK, Dec.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Dec 2008 | 7:57 am

Ridge Global Names Duncan Campbell and Chris Furlow to Executive Team

Homeland Security Experts to Expand Suite of Client Services, says CEO Tom Ridge WASHINGTON, Dec.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Dec 2008 | 7:05 am

GSMA Elects New Board Members and Alexander Izosimov as Chairman

LONDON, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The board of the GSMA, the global body for the mobile industry, has elected Alexander Izosimov, the Group Chief Executive

Source: Gizmodo | 17 Dec 2008 | 7:00 am

Google Book Search's embedded book previewer

Frances from Google Book Search writes in with news of their embedded book previewer:

It allows people to programatically search, access, and preview books digitized as part of Book Search. For an example of the viewport in the wild, here's the Book Search iGoogle gadget that incorporates the previewer. Just install it on your iGoogle page and then click on a book to see a preview. I haven't seen a lot of cool uses of the previewer yet (which is why I'm pinging you), but I think there is potential for it. For example, I want to see someone annotate a bunch of books (maybe make an app engine app that lets people do this generically?) and then allow users to navigate around the book based on the comments - imagine the potential for collaborative reading or interpretation of a text. Using the API you can move forward or back in a book, zoom in or out, show the current page number, jump to a page, or search within the book.

My Google Book Search Library, API documentation (Thanks, Frances!)

Source: Boing Boing | 17 Dec 2008 | 6:41 am

Better Worlds: a book of Rudy Rucker's paintings

Cyberpunk legend Rudy Rucker has put a volume of high-quality reproductions of his delightful, surreal paintings up for sale on Lulu.com. It's called "Better Worlds." Rudy explains,

I took up painting in 1999 and quickly I fell in love with the medium. I started with oils, and switched to acrylics, as they’re more amenable to quick set-up and clean-up. My studio is a plastic chair and table in our back yard.

I enjoy the exploratory and non-digital nature of painting, and I love the luscious mixing of the colors. Usually I make a quick sketch with broad brush. Sometimes I have a specific scenario in mind, other times I don’t think very much about what I’m doing, I just paint and see what comes out. Sometimes I’ll even start with an abstract pattern and slowly tweak the blobs into objects. Once I know where I’m going, I’ll polish the painting through two or three or even more iterations. I’m never in a rush to finish.

My pictures are realistic in the sense that they contain recognizable objects and landscapes, but fantastic in their use of heightened colors, cartoony simplifications, and odd scenarios. Many of images are telling a little story.

Better Worlds by Rudy Rucker on Lulu, Better Worlds on Rudy's blog

Source: Boing Boing | 17 Dec 2008 | 6:33 am

New York Public Library joins Flickr Commons

The New York Public Library has joined the Flickr Commons, uploading an initial contribution of 1300 images from its photographic collections. Next, the NYPL is promising even more material!

We think of this as a sort of appetizer course, a sampler of collections accessible in greater breadth and depth on the NYPL Digital Gallery, and on-site in our network of libraries. Lush images of modern dance pioneers; haunting early cyanotypes of algae (the first photographic works to be produced by a woman); majestic geographical surveys taken along the Union Pacific Railroad, iconic Depression-era images taken under the Farm Security Administration's famed photography program; Bernice Abbott's epic documentation of 1930s New York for the Federal Art Project; stunning 19th century vistas of the Egypt and Syria; scenes and portraits of Ellis Island Immigrants, the Statue of Liberty under construction... These and more are now available to view, tag and discuss in the Flickr Commons, and are offered as an invitation to explore further on our own site or in our actual libraries. After this initial road test, we expect to post many more images into the Commons pool.

NYPL joins Flickr Commons (Thanks, David!)

Source: Boing Boing | 17 Dec 2008 | 6:27 am

Galaxy Clusters' Stunted Growth Confirms Dark Energy

A new study of 86 galaxy clusters in the early universe has provided independent confirmation of the existence of dark energy. In its absence, gravity's pull should have caused the number of clusters to increase by a factor of 50 over the last 5.5 billion years. What is observed is a factor of 10 increase. "Together with earlier observations... the new data strengthen the suspicion — but do not prove — that dark energy is a weird antigravity called the cosmological constant that was hypothesized and then abandoned by Albert Einstein as a 'blunder' almost a century ago. If that is true, the universe is fated to empty itself out eventually, and all but the Milky Way's closest neighbors will eventually be out of sight. ... Adam Riess of Johns Hopkins and the Space Telescope Science Institute, said: 'If this was a fox hunt and dark energy was the fox, I think they have closed off another escape route. But there is still a lot of terrain left for the fox, and we've seen little more than a glimmer of fur.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 17 Dec 2008 | 6:26 am

Civil liberties in cloying song-form: the 12 Days of EFF

Learn more about this video and support EFF!

The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Danny O'Brien sez,

EFF get the biggest chunk of its funding from individual donors, and a lot of that money comes in right around now -- at the end of the year.

Usually we do a quick summary of the areas our team of thirty lawyers, techies and activists have worked on, civil liberties online, privacy, fair use, free speech, protecting innovators, and battling overreaching IP laws.

But after looking over everything we've tried to handle this year -- from our real-time US election monitoring system, to our ongoing fight against warrantless wiretapping, to keeping an eye on Comcast's packet forging, to defending dancing babies on YouTube, to representing whistleblowing MIT students on the Boston MBTA -- we decided the only way we could summarise it all was in traditional cloyingly seasonal song form.

You can watch the 12 Days of EFF here. Or just skip to where we really want you to be: on our our holiday donation page. Have a great holiday -- and a free and open 2009!

Share 'The 12 Days of EFF'

Source: Boing Boing | 17 Dec 2008 | 6:11 am

Candy-Coated: the story of a badass with a lollipop for a head

Carlton Mellick III is one of bizarro fiction's most talented practitioners, a virtuoso of the surreal, science fictional tale. He was one of my students last year at the Clarion West workshop and was a real gem -- a great writer and insightful critiquer with exemplary work-habits (Carlton's the hardest-working man in bizarro, if you ask me). He's just placed a story, "Candy Coated," with Vice Magazine -- it concerns the romantic ambitions of a shallow muscle-bound womanizer whose head is a giant lollipop, whose fate unravels when he has the bad judgement to attend a fancy cheese-tasting. Vice has also recorded an audio version of the story, read by "the girl who tells you which register to use at Whole Foods over the PA."

Knob Tyler thinks he’s the strongest, toughest, most badass motherfucker on Mill Avenue. Unfortunately, Knob has a lollipop for a head. This makes him not quite as badass as he thinks he is.

While he’s strutting down the street with his white muscle shirt tossed over his sweat-drenched shoulder, Knob likes to flex his pectorals at the ladies. Whenever he says ladies, he pronounces it laydaaays. But for some reason the laydaaays are never impressed by the size of his pecs. They are too creeped out by his weird lollipop head to notice anything special about his muscles.

Knob’s lollipop head is the size of a bowling ball and light orange in color. The flavor of the lollipop is Tropical Sensation, which is a mixture of pineapple, mango, and star fruit. His tiny candy eyes, nose, and mouth are clustered together in the center of his large round face. His eyebrows are always curled downward to show how fucking serious he is about shit.

CANDY-COATED By Carlton Mellick III, Candy-Coated, read by the girl who tells you which register to use at Whole Foods over the PA (Thanks, Carlton!)

Source: Boing Boing | 17 Dec 2008 | 6:01 am

LaLa, The Black Sheep Of Music Startups, Just May Have The Right Formula

LaLa doesn’t get nearly as much attention as the other streaming music services, probably because they actually charge users to listen to music. Sites like MySpace Music, Imeem and Last.fm all stream music for free these days. But LaLa only lets you listen to a song once. After that, you have to “buy” it for ten cents to listen to it as many times as you like, and add it to playlists.

Seems like a non-starter, right? But wait, there are a few reasons why LaLa has a real chance at success. First, they have an absolutely exceptional user experience, which was completely relaunched in October (and we loved it). Unlike all of the other services, LaLa gets you to the music you want to hear as quickly as possible, whether it’s through search, browsing or suggestions from friends. Creating and embedding playlists is dead simple, too (see below). The other services mentioned above take more steps to find music. Last.fm is the worst interface, it’s very hard for new users to figure it out. And both Imeem and MySpace Music have their issues too - too many clicks to get to music, and MySpace doesn’t allow embedding.

Second, LaLa is completely advertising free. It lets you play any song once without paying. After that you have to pay $0.10 to add it to your collection and stream it whenever you want. But you get 50 songs free when you sign up, so users can get a feel for the service before paying anything. If you choose to download a MP3 of the song for $.89 (which is already cheaper than the other services), you get that $.10 streaming fee back.

Frankly, the exceptional user experience probably isn’t enough to compete with the free services. But LaLa also has its Music Mover client for Mac and Windows machines. Download it and it identifies all of the MP3s and paid iTunes songs on your hard drive and adds them to your collection on LaLa. You don’t have to pay the $0.10 to listen to those songs stream. What this means - you can listen to all that stolen music you’ve been gathering since Napster days on any computer with an Internet connection. You don’t have to worry about copying the songs from one hard drive to another to access them.

That sort of makes LaLa perfect. You can listen to all the music you already have, and then get new music recommendations from your friends. Listen to it once and then add it to your collection for $0.10.

They also have an iPhone app coming that lets you listen to all your music streaming on that device. No longer will you be limited to the small hard drive on your iPhone or iPod and forced to make tough decisions on which music to upload.

LaLa also has plenty of money to let the whole music scene shake out. While competitors lose money on every stream, LaLa has a business model that they say doesn’t burn cash. And they still have $20 million of unspent venture capital in the bank.

The company tapped former Yahoo Chief Product Officer Geoff Ralston as their CEO in late 2007, and his product experience shows. The company has the best streaming music product on the Internet today, and a business model that doesn’t burn cash.

Competing with giants like MySpace and possibly Facebook isn’t trivial. And those competitors will eventually catch up. But they have to serve a certain amount of advertising to make their models work, a handicap that LaLa neatly avoids. Don’t count them out any time soon.

It’s the joy of using products like LaLa that keeps me excited about startups.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Dec 2008 | 5:57 am

New York considers taxing iTunes downloads

Source: Gizmodo | 17 Dec 2008 | 5:30 am

HP Magic Giveaway Winner: Check your e-mail

Section:

A quick update, folks.  We’ve sent out an e-mail to the winner of the HP Magic Giveaway.  Go check your e-mail and see if you won!  We’d like to thank everyone for signing up with Dabbledoo—stay tuned, because there will be more details.

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Dec 2008 | 5:28 am

China defends right to censor Web sites (AP)

AP - China said it has the right to block Web sites its says break its laws after being accused of restarting the practice it halted during the August Olympic Games as part of a promise to widen media freedom.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 17 Dec 2008 | 5:23 am

Scientists kill gray goo with horseradish

Fear not the gray goo: researchers have created a non-toxic substance that can break it down. And the main ingredient is horseradish.

Developed by a team at the University of Pittsburgh, the technique anticipates haz-mat scenarios that have become a staple of science fiction—think tiny robots on a crazed self-replication bender—whose more mundane reality could still cause problems as nanotechnology leaves the lab.

Following publication a report in the Nano Letters journal, co-author Alexander Star said that nanotubes are under production but that their toxicity remains controversial.

"Accidental spills of nanotubes are inevitable during their production, and the massive use of nanotube-based materials could lead to increased environmental pollution," Star said in a press release.

The report's abstract describes how the Pitt team degraded single-walled carbon nanotubes using horseradish peroxidase and hydrogen peroxide. They worked on the nanotubes in their "raw form"—a fine power—already known to cause severe lung inflammation.

“Nanomaterials aren't completely understood," said Valerian Kagan, a professor and vice chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in Pitt's Graduate School of Public Health, in a press release. “Studies have shown that they can be dangerous. We wanted to develop a method for safely neutralizing these very small materials should they contaminate the natural or working environment.”

The team anticipates their method could be used "as easily as chemical cleanups in today's labs."

Press release [University of Pittsburgh]

Abstract of Biodegradation of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes through Enzymatic Catalysis [Nano Letters]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Dec 2008 | 5:06 am

Experts Discuss Economic Downturn and Top Ten Technology Best Practices That Can Help Companies Remain Competitive at ILOG's DIALOG09 Conference

Author James Canton, and Other Global Technology Thought Leaders Say Increased Agility and Innovation are Essential for Survival SUNNYVALE, Calif. and PARIS, Dec.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Fake News Index: Charting the Media Parody Industry

In these trying times, satire might be the most rational response to reality. Perhaps that explains why fake news, satiric journalism, news parody—whatever you call it—has proliferated. The modern roots of this industry (yes, it is undeniably an industry now) can be traced back at least to Orson Welles' War of the Worlds news bulletins of 1938. Since then, countless permutations of journalistic fakery have taken root, from incisive, trenchant fabrications by The Onion ("U.S. vows to defeat whoever it is we're at war with") to slapstick gags like Obama Girl ("Don't Cry for Me, Alaska: The Sarah Palin Story"). Some satirists aspire to a form of transcendent truth-telling. (Thank you, Jon Stewart.) Others are just in it for the yucks. Which fake news—past or present—best fits your tastes? This matrix chart reports, you decide.

Obama Girl: Ben Relles; Karlin, Miller: Getty Images; Kinnear: AP; Chase: Corbis; NNTN: Chris L. Fesler/HBO

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Cycling GPS Tells You Where You Are — and How You Got There

The Garmin Edge 705 is top-tier, GPS-enabled cycling computer that monitors heart rate, distance, and elevation tracking. It tells all on a glare-resistant The 2.2-inch color screen.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Cycling GPS Tells You Where You Are — and How You Got There

The Garmin Edge 705 is top-tier, GPS-enabled cycling computer that monitors heart rate, distance, and elevation tracking. It tells all on a glare-resistant The 2.2-inch color screen.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 17 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Dec. 17, 1790: Aztec Calendar Stone Discovered

1790: Workers doing repairs in Mexico City unearth a massive stone bearing ancient symbols. It turns out to be a representation of the Aztec calendar and will eventually become a national treasure.

The disc-shaped stone measured 12 feet in diameter and 3 feet thick. It was covered with pagan symbols. The Spanish had contemptuously buried it underneath the Zocalo, or central plaza of the city, soon after they toppled the Aztec empire in 1521. The new rulers also tore down the pagan grand temple and, at the opposite end of the plaza, built a large cathedral to worship their own deity.

Soon after its 1790 discovery, the 25-ton stone was again ritually subjugated to the new religion, this time by embedding it in the wall of the cathedral's western tower.

When Mexico achieved independence from Spain in the early 19th century, it retained the Catholic religion but also developed a growing interest — and pride — in its indigenous history and culture. General Porfirio Diaz (nominally president, in reality a dictator) ordered the stone removed to the national Museum of Archaeology and History in 1885.

Though the stone carries calendrical and astronomical decoration, it's now thought that it wasn't used primarily to keep time, but as an altar for human sacrifice. Mexican anthropologists refer to it as the Cuauhxicalli Eagle Bowl or simply the Sun Stone — for the sun god Tonatuih, whose visage appears at the center.

Based on the earlier Mayan timekeeping, the Aztecs used two different types of year. A ritual calendar of 260 days rotated 20 divine symbols into a "week" with 13 numbered days. After 20 weeks, each sign (associated with a god) had appeared in each of the 13 slots, and the cycle was complete.

A secular, agricultural calendar kept pace with the seasons. It had 18 months of 20 days each. The month was divided into four market cycles (or "weeks") of five days each. At the end of each year, an extra, monthless period of five unlucky days topped up the year to 365 days.

The new year of the two calendars coincided every 18,980 days, or once every 52 years. At that time, Aztec priests performed a special ritual to light a new fire in the bleeding chest of a sacrificial victim to ensure that, in their world view, the sun would not die. The 12-day New Fire rite was a period of abstinence marked by the destruction of old idols and the dousing of the ritual fires of the old cycle.

But the 12 days added to the calendar to conclude the cycle amounted to adding 12 leap days per 52 years. The Julian calendar then in use in Europe had a leap year every four years. The Gregorian calendar established in 1582 has 97 leap years in every 400. It turns out that the Aztec calculation of an average 365.2420 days per year is actually closer to the real value of 365.2422 days than the old Julian value of 365.2500 days or even our current Gregorian value of 365.2425 days.

The Sun Stone was hand-carved in the 52-year period from 1427 to 1479. Because the double calendar determined the timing of sacrifices, the sacrificial stone was decorated with calendar marking. A glyph on the outer rim marks the date 13-Reed, probably its creation date in the ritual calendar. Nearer the center, a circle of glyphs representing the 20 day names surrounds the face of the sun god.

When Mexico opened its modern, new National Museum of Anthropology in 1964, the Sun Stone was given the central place of honor among 120,000 works of artistic and cultural relevance. Two million visitors a year gaze upon it.

Source: Various

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Appletell review - Proporta cases for iPod touch

FROM APPLETELL - Do you want a leather case or silicone for your iPod touch?  What color, or colors?  And how much are you willing to pay?  No matter what your answer, Proporta has you covered. MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Dec 2008 | 4:25 am

Review: Nextar Peanut. Verdict: Stocking stuffer

A wee MP3 player in the shape of a nut, Nextar's Peanut is extremely cheap, extremely basic, and a bit odd.

Powered by a single AAA battery, this 1 or 2GB nugget comes in pink, red, blue, white or black. It plays MP3 and WMA files, has a small LCD display, and offers basic old-school controls. Hunting through menus reveals equalizer settings, a file browser, and a voice recorder. It comes with a USB cable and free (not very good) earbuds.

It works O.K., but won't serve any duty greater than stocking stuffer or emergency backup. Two caveats: it doesn't show up as a removable drive on a Mac, and faint radio noise occasionally muddied the audio output. Also, Win98 and Mac drivers come on a mini-CD that won't work in slot-loaded drives, and are not offered for download at the product page.

The Peanut is $20 or $30, depending on capacity, at Staples and other main-street stores.

Source: Gizmodo | 17 Dec 2008 | 4:11 am

Jobs Not Giving This Year's Macworld Keynote

Many readers including thermopile wrote in about Apple withdrawing from Macworld Expo after this year. The other bad news for Apple fans is that Steve Jobs won't be delivering the keynote in 3 weeks — we may have seen his last "one more thing." Apple VP Phil Schiller will be doing the honors. He's "an Apple executive notably lacking in Jobs's showmanship and star power," according to the Fortune blogger. Apple's press release states that "trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers." While this may be true, the keynote addresses have been a critical venue for major new product announcements. Apple's stock is taking a 6% hit in after-hours trading, possibly on concerns about Jobs's health. Reader Harry has gathered together YouTube clips from most of the Macworld keynotes Jobs given since 1997.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 17 Dec 2008 | 4:09 am

Thank You Seesmic, For Sucking Less

Even though I’m an investor, one thing that has always bugged me about Seesmic is the all black background (its depressing), and the excessive use of Flash on the site (there’s nothing except Flash, try loading it on an iPhone). Having a few Flash elements on a site when necessary is fine. But using it just to use it is so…ugh.

You can check out the new all white site which ditches the Flash here. They’ve also added some additional bells and whistles to improve usability, like a big red button on the top left to start a new conversation.

User reactions are here. Let us know in the comments what you think as well (you can leave a video comment via Seesmic if you choose too).

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Dec 2008 | 3:51 am

The Road to CES: What do you want? (BBtv + Boing Boing Gadgets)

(Embedded Flash video above, and here's a downloadable MP4)

In just a few weeks, Boing Boing TV will be traveling to Vegas for The 2009 Consumer Electronics Show with the Boing Boing Gadgets guys -- Joel, John, and Rob. We're planning to broadcast video reports from the show floor. We're also bracing ourselves for lots of casino umbrella drinks.

To get us started in planning our coverage on the blog in text, photos, and in video, we thought it might be cool to hear from you, our audience. So we asked BB commenters and peeps who follow us on Twitter -- what do you hope or expect to see more of, or less of, at the world's largest electronics show this year. What exactly do you want us to bring home from CES?

In this episode of BBtv, we share your responses. They include:

♦ Find weird things on the fringes -- BE BOING BOING.
♦ OH WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN!!! (capture that on video.)
♦ Better netbooks, notebooks -- mobile computing.
♦ The most impractically ginormous flatscreen television ever.
♦ mobile gaming! laptops and mobile devices that allow me to get my game on out in the world.
♦ What notebooks or a/v devices are attendees themselves using on the show floor?
♦ Do not cover gadgets at all. Cats are better than gadgets. Also, they are an emergency food source during times of economic crisis.

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Sponsor shout-out: Boing Boing TV's coverage of CES 2009 is sponsored by WEPC.com, in partnership with Intel and Asus. WePC.com is intended to be a site where users come together to "share ideas, images and inspiration about the ideal PC." Participants' designs, feature ideas and community feedback will be evaluated by ASUS and "could influence the blueprint for an actual notebook PC built by ASUS with Intel inside."

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Source: Boing Boing | 17 Dec 2008 | 3:44 am

How to successfully guilt-trip software pirates

Oh my. I like the “Shame on me” button. I think I’m going to go register my trial copy of WinRAR , which I’ve been “evaluating” for 8 years.

A commenter points out that in the full screencap you can see that the guy has an 8-core Mac Pro with 10 gigs of RAM. I think he can afford a $20 program!

[via Reddit]

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Dec 2008 | 3:28 am

Briggs & Riley unveil four new TSA friendly laptop bags

Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Laptops, Gadgets / Other, Transportation

Briggs & Riley Travelware have just announced a few new options that should help you get through that dreaded TSA checkpoint a little quicker.  A total of four new cases were unveiled and they offer a wide range of options, they have the @work SpeedThru Computer Sleeve, the @work SpeedThru Briefcase, the Verb Mach SpeedThru Briefcase and the Verb Sonic SpeedThru Computer Sleeve—each of which offer a “checkpoint friendly” design.

As far as features and pricing, the @work SpeedThru Computer Sleeve is the lowest priced coming in at $49 to $69 depending on size.  This sleeve is available to fit a 13, 15.4, or 17-inch laptop and is made from a lightweight fabric with a fleece lining on the interior.  Moving up from there, we have the Verb Sonic SpeedThru Computer Sleeve which retails for $53 to $57, again the price is dependent on size.  The Verb Sonic SpeedThru Computer Sleeve is made of a durable neoprene fabric.  Both of these computer sleeves are made to either be used as a standalone sleeve or in combination with some of the larger Briggs & Riley cases.

Aside from the sleeves, they also introduced two larger cases.  The @work SpeedThru Briefcase features a clam-shell design with a three compartment file folder. Additionally it also has a removable accessory pouch.  This model is available for 15.4 and 17-inch notebooks and is priced from $249 to $259.  Finally, we have the Verb Mach SpeedThru Briefcase, which also offers a clam-shell design and can accommodate either 15.4 or 17-inch notebooks.  The Verb Mach SpeedThru Briefcase also has a vertical pocket, a SpeedThru section and a four compartment file folder organizer. It is priced from $197.

As for availability, the @work SpeedThru Computer Sleeve and the Verb Mach SpeedThru Briefcase are currently available, while the @work SpeedThru Briefcase will be available beginning December 15 and the Verb Sonic SpeedThru Computer Sleeve will come later in the month on December 29.

BRIGGS & RILEY GIVES YOU MORE WAYS TO FLY FASTER THROUGH SECURITY WITH NEW CHECKPOINT FRIENDLY LAPTOP BAGS

Complete SpeedThruTM System Now Offers Three Design Choices – Removable Sleeve, Standalone Sleeve and Clam Shell Briefcase—That Eliminate Trays, Hassle and Stress When Going Through Airport Security

Hauppauge, N.Y. – Briggs & Riley Travelware, a leader in innovative, high-quality luggage and business cases, expands its @work and verb collections with a full suite of checkpoint friendly sleeves and briefs. The comprehensive SpeedThruTM System now offers travelers three different design choices: removable sleeve, standalone sleeve and clam shell briefcase. Every SpeedThruTM sleeve and briefcase is Travel Sentryâ approved to meet TSA guidelines for checkpoint friendly and Travel Sentry’s operational and quality standards.

Jim Lahren, Vice President of Marketing at Briggs & Riley states, “With these timely checkpoint friendly additions to our @work and Verb collections, Briggs & Riley continues to exceed the needs of business travelers. The complete SpeedThruTM System encompasses three unique designs that ensure a more efficient and speedy security checkpoint experience while keeping laptops well protected and easy to identify.“

The new SpeedThruTM additions include:

@work SpeedThruTM Computer Sleeve

• Lightweight fabric and fleece lining for laptop protection
• Comfortable webbing handles
• Hide-away ID card conceals personal information
• Can be used alone or with a large selection of @work styles.
• Available in three models to fit 13”, 15.4” and 17” laptops
• Now available for $49.00-$69.00

@work SpeedThruTM Briefcase

• Clam-Shell design allows laptops to remain securely in bag while passing through airport security checkpoints.
• Trolley handle pocket allows bag to slide over the Outsiderâ handle for fast, convenient travel
• Three compartment design of organizer, file folder and checkpoint friendly laptop section.
• Removable accessory pouch holds miscellaneous items and fits into a store-away pocket
• StretchTechâ side gussets open wide for easy access
• Webbing handles and flexible shoulder strap for comfort.
• Available in two models to fit most 15.4” and 17” laptops
• In stores December 15, 2008 for $249.00-$259.00

Verb Mach SpeedThruTM Briefcase

• Clam-Shell design allows laptops to remain securely in bag while passing through airport security checkpoints.
• Padded vertical pocket provides easy access to a cell phone
• Four compartment design of organizer, fan file, computer section and SpeedThruTM compartment.
• SpeedThruTM section includes a recessed are for your keys, wallet and cell phone to reduce the number of trays you will need while moving through security.
• Slip-through back pocket allows bag to slide over the Outsiderâ handle for fast, convenient travel
• Magnetic wrap top handle with soft grip or shoulder strap for easy carrying
• Available in two models to fit most 15.4” and 17” laptops
• Now available for $197.00

Verb Sonic SpeedThruTM Computer Sleeve

• Protective and durable neoprene fabric gently stretches to cradle laptop
• Can be used alone or with select verb styles
• Available in two models to fit most 15.4” and 17” laptops
• In stores on December 29, 2008 for $53.00-$57.00

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Dec 2008 | 3:23 am

Mahalo Answers User Gets $100 Payday For Giving PR Tips To Strippers

Mahalo Answers, the just-launched Q&A service that is part Yahoo Answers, part Google Answers has just proven that people will actually pay for valuable information. At least, they will when strippers are involved.

This morning a representative for the The Stripper Method - a video series that invites viewers to watch “two former strippers, now housewives, business owners and mothers, as they teach secret stripper techniques for use at home with your significant others” - asked how they could book the video’s stars on a nationally broadcast TV show or radio show.

Mahalo member budgallant answered the call, offering a detailed guide to contacting local radio hosts, reaching Public Access Television, and, if all else failed, staging a protest (you can see the full answer here).

In return for his answer, the question’s originator (a user by the name of vegasundressed) has just awarded budgallant with $100 in Mahalo Dollars (the site’s virtual currency). Budgallant will now be able to exchange those Mahalo Dollars for real cash, less a 25% cut taken by Mahalo.

(Disclosure: Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis is our partner in the TechCrunch50 conference).

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Dec 2008 | 3:17 am

Consumer Reports: BlackJack II is best smartphone

Consumer Reports has issued a roundup that places Samsung's Blackjack II at the top of its smartphone listings. Ancient mediocrities like T-Mobile's Shadow beat out HTC's more recent Windows Mobile hotstuff, not to mention the Android-powered G1. The only Blackberry in the top 5 is the Pearl Flip. Nokia can go whistle.

Matt Buchanan delivers a whipping at Gizmodo:

Ignoring for the moment that four out of the five are Windows Mobile phones, they didn't even pick new, actually good hardware. Not one of the phones, except for the Pearl Flip—which is actually the least capable phone in RIM's new batch of devices—is even from this year. Its top phone, the BlackJack II, doesn't even have Wi-Fi or a touchscreen, and is loaded with Samsung's BS proprietary ports, rather than industry standard ones.

Matt quotes a post of mine from a couple of weeks ago criticising some dismal gadget coverage at CR, but he sharpens the point and drives it home: "Consumer Reports shouldn't review cellphones."

It's not that CR is making mainstream-oriented choices at the expense of the geeky toys that gadget bloggers might love: it is out of touch. I suspected that it thinks that the feature list is the soul of a cellphone—an approach which will be less helpful to readers the more software provision and interface design become central to the experience—but man, this top list is simply baffling ... the T-Mobile Shadow?

The Motorola Q?

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Dec 2008 | 3:00 am

Vudu Reveals Open-Source RIA Platform, But is it Enough to Survive Heavy Competition?

In something of a surprise announcement earlier today, streaming video hardware-maker Vudu released a standards-based platform for its set-top box.

It's a daring attempt to bring the expertise of web-based third-party developers to box-based ‘consumer appliances.' We know what they’re thinking: Hey, it worked for Apple's iPhone with the App Store didn't it?

Vudu's RIA (Rich Internet Application) project combines the powers of open-source development to a hardware machine that already did some cool things, like up-converting video to HD quality. The goal of the RIA is to create a facile TV portal for web-based content, something a few other companies have tried with mixed results.

Vudu says that the first set of web applications available are a few "casual games," access to Flickr, Picasa, and YouTube, as well as an on-demand TV option with more than 120 channels, including major networks like NBC and CNN. However, the full RIA won’t be open to developers until later next year.

Edward Lichty, executive VP for Vudu says the new service will be the best way to connect to web services via the TV: “Vudu RIA enables us to quickly open up huge libraries of Web-based content to TVs," while noting that by using Vudu’s high-end user interface and control navigation, as well as its patented TruFilm video render technology (which is quite good), it will offer the best full-media option.

Only recently, Vudu pumped up its regular service by offering movies at 1080p, lowered the price of the box, increased their HD library, and started giving out a $200 download credit to new users.

If all this sounds like a company desperately trying to stay relevant, you're right. Still, these options might not be enough for the company to move back to the front of the pack.

Last year, the Vudu box achieved critical acclaim due to the innovative tech that borrowed from web-based sharing models of the past: the box stores a tiny piece of each movie on its hard drive, and then sends the bit out to other users when called upon. This allowed quality video to download quickly, and the ease of use of the UI was also a step ahead.

This year, however, has led to a significant buzz-drop due to heavy competition. Roku's Netflix box and the AppleTV grew their service by focusing on improved download speeds, better prices, and most significantly, better content deals.

Yes, the Apple TV streams media from networked Macs (and Windows PCs), allows you to rent movies and TV shows, and has access to YouTube videos and Flickr, but it's the funnel-like access to the large library offered by the iTunes store that made it an attractive option. At the same time, this also proved limiting. Many file types couldn’t play on the box, and prices for iTunes HD movies fell a bit on the pricey side.

The Roku, on the other hand, used the large subscriber base of Netflix to roll out a quick launch and its quality movie streaming (instead of downloading) was the 'the textbook definition of a simple setup.' Combined with a nice $100 price, the box quickly became popular.

However, using the Roku means you are still tethered to the limited streaming options made available by Netflix (only 10% of its overall lineup), and you can't access other net apps.

But the most important development in web video this year was the popularity of web-based services delivered via PC browsers, such as Hulu.com. Basically, they blew up and the video industry trembled in fear. In less than a year, Hulu went from a laughingstock to one of the most trafficked sites on the internet.

Even hardware based companies like Sling saw the writing on the set-top wall and quickly developed a web service loosely tied to their own box, offering streaming content similar to Hulu's.

So if open/free web-based services are already the most popular, an open source project based on a box might not have a chance if the only thing it does is to serve as a UI caddy for web navigation. But as with a lot of these things, it depends on the software and the content available.

If Vudu's up-converting special sauce improves upon web-based video, or finds an easier way to personalize content, it might be a worthy buy. And if it finds a way to deliver the very content getting in their way (like Hulu, Sling.com, and the rest of them), it might catch on with those who want access to quick movie rentals.

Finally, sacrificing themselves to the whims of web developers could produce unexpected hits in applications and games, just like the iPhone with the App Store.

With Roku's box recently experiencing its first serious problems, and Apple TV offering no recent updates of note, the Vudu might still have a place in the video game after all. That is, if Apple or someone else doesn't get there first, before developers have a chance to have their say.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Dec 2008 | 2:36 am

AT&T offers up the sapphire blue BlackBerry Curve 8320

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

Despite the originally rumored date of September 23, AT&T has officially released the BlackBerry Curve 8320.  So, while the release date was quite a ways off, the Curve 8320 should still make for a welcomed addition to the lineup.  To begin with, the Curve 8320 will be available in one color—Sapphire Blue.  It will also come with a nice price tag, as low as $149.99.  Of course in order to get that low price you must be willing to sign a two-year agreement and also get a $100 mail-in-rebate.  Otherwise, you can snag it for $399.99 with no commitment.

As for features, the Curve 8320 features Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, a 2-megapixel camera with video recording, Bluetooth 2.0 and a microSD card slot with support for up to 32GB.  Additionally, AT&T is also offering free Wi-Fi at any of their 17,000+ available hotspots.

Product [AT&T]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Dec 2008 | 2:30 am

Australian Court Lets Lawyer Serve Papers Via Facebook

a302b writes "A Canberra lawyer has been permitted to serve legal documents via Facebook for a couple who defaulted on a loan. He claims he needed to do this because he was unable to track them down to a physical address. At what point does our online presence become 'real?' And what opportunities are available for fraud, if social networking sites are considered legal representations of ourselves, even when they can be anonymously created under any name?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 17 Dec 2008 | 2:28 am

Taxi Magic: Hail A Cab From Your iPhone At The Push Of A Button

Taxi applications on the App Store are a dime a dozen, but for the most part they’re just glorified phone directories that don’t really make it any easier to call a cab. Taxi Magic, a new app that recently went live on the App Store, is doing what the others can’t: on-demand cab service from your iPhone at the push of a button. The application connects directly into Taxi routing systems, allowing users to book cabs without ever needing to speak to an operator.

The service is available in over 25 cities across the US, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington DC (oddly enough New York seems to be excluded for now). Ordering a cab is fairly simple: after launching Taxi Magic, your iPhone will use GPS or triangulation to determine your general location, and will present a list of nearby cab services (some listings are only phone numbers, while others fully support Taxi Magic’s ordering system).

Update: Apparently NYC is excluded because no booking systems for the cabs are available.

After choosing a supported cab company, the application will ask for your exact street address and will then take you to a status screen that will alert you once your ride is dispatched (wait times can vary depending on the time of day and location). The status screen also allows you to view how far away the cab is and the driver’s name.

I’m looking forward to using Taxi Magic next time I need to hail a cab, but I still have a few gripes with the program. For one, the interface could use a facelift - the funky blue background makes it look like an amateurish effort. It would also be nice if the application could send SMS alerts to inform me when my cab was on its way, and some kind of wait time indicator would also be handy. Finally, the app should integrate some of the features found in other Taxi apps on the App Store, like toll estimates based on the distance you’re traveling.

Taxi Magic was made by RideCharge, a startup geared towards frequent cab users who can book their taxis on the web and pay for them using their mobile phone. The site also makes it easy for businesses travelers to produce expense reports for their cab rides.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Dec 2008 | 2:18 am

Today on Offworld

Today on Offworld we got an extensive look back at the design behind Chronic Logic's fluidly dynamic platformer Gish, and nosed around the new Club Nintendo campaign which has finally hit the U.S. We also saw indie adventure game Aquaria released on Steam, decoded game title anagrams, and played Lode Runner on our iPods.

Elsewhere, we saw Dogmeat finally get his armor, budgeted for the downloadable DS games coming to Japan for the holidays, watched even more new footage of Noby Noby Boy, from Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi, and saw Joel talking with NYC Game Boy musician Bubblyfish at the recent Blip Festival.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Dec 2008 | 2:11 am

Video: Robots Have a Sex Life? (NSFW)

Filmmaker Michael Sullivan's twisted, stop-motion orgy of animated androids has provoked controversy -- and landed the artist an exhibition at New York City's Museum of Sex.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Dec 2008 | 2:00 am

Apple Cancels Christmas

Oh no!

Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, spoke at a joint press conference held with Santa Claus at the North Pole this morning. He announced: "Apple has been honored to work with the North Pole the last several years to make Christmas possible, however, we have decided together that this is the last year for Christmas."

PRESS RELEASE [applecanceledchristmas.com]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Dec 2008 | 1:42 am

Twittering Toaster Offers Some Tasty Bites

Twitter is clearly all the rage now. And with plants and cats tweeting, there's no reason machines such as a toaster shouldn't get into the game.

Over at Instructables, Hans Scharler  has a photo guide to his twittering toaster creation.

The toaster uses an off-the-shelf IO-204 monitor and control module that allows it to be plugged to the internet without having to run a home web server.

Scharler glued a switch to the toaster's exterior that is triggered by the slider's movement. The switch hooks up to the control module's digital input.

"Using a terminal board, a pull up resistor (1k), and some alligator clips, I hooked up the resistor from the digital input to the +5v source from the module, and clipped my clips on the resistor and the ground,"  Scharler explains on his blog.

The real gem in this hack is the control module from ioBridge available for $88. It can bring most devices online and interested newbies don't need to be a programming or electronics whiz to do that, says the company.

Right now the toaster's tweets seem rather binary, switching between 'toasting' and 'toast is done.'

But isn't Twitter with its 140-characters limit just the perfect place for such Zen pearls?

Also see:
DIY Kit Helps Your Plant Twitter
The Age of Tweety Cats

Photo: Twitter Toaster/Hans Scharler

[via Hack a Day]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Dec 2008 | 1:36 am

Gross Panasonic remote recalls Cronenberg’s “Existenz”

This very strange-looking Panasonic remote reminds me of the computers they stroke in Existenz. I couldn’t find the clip, so here’s where Jude law finds a bone-gun in his soup. The idea of this remote is, I believe, that it remains flaccid, lambent with a pulsating light, until touched — at which point it becomes firm and functional.

It wouldn’t be half so suggestive if they didn’t make it that rather caucasian color. You couldn’t do a delicious watermelon color, Panasonic?

[in Adbusters, then on the internet]

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Dec 2008 | 1:30 am

Yahoo Mail Gets More Social, But Price of Admission Is Too Steep

Yahoo announces updates to several of its key properties, including an overhaul of its free, web-based e-mail service. Yahoo Mail will now feature more Facebook-like social networking enhancements. They have 275 million worldwide visitors, a large audience from which to draw. But who really wants to set up another profile page?

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Dec 2008 | 1:20 am

Boost Mobile to introduce pre-paid unlimited calling plan

Section: Tech News, Communications, Accessories, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Mobile, Web

Good news for everyone suffering from insane mobile service bills - Boost Mobile is gearing up to launch a flat rate prepaid service with unlimited calling and texting on Sprint’s Nextel network.  This is coming off of Boost’s popular PAYGO chat plans, so it seems like a logical next step.  This will be the nation’s first pre-paid plan (with a flat rate) within a national network - a sign of the trying economic times, perhaps?  Or maybe Master Shake was just right.

The plan is set to launch “early next year”, though a specific date hasn’t been announced yet.

Read [Boost Mobile]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Dec 2008 | 1:04 am

Sneak peek at Lost season 5

 
It seems like forever ago season 4 of Lost wrapped-up but the first batch of season 5 previews are slowly becoming available. Above is a look at Jack and Ben where Ben confirms that the island really did move. After the jump is Kate going back on the run. Oh boy, I hope they wrap the show up properly.

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Dec 2008 | 1:00 am

Fuel.TV adds HD video

Section: Video, Content, Video Providers, Web, Websites, Online Music/Video

It’s great that you can get television shows online, but it’s even better when they’re in HD.  FUEL TV, a sports network, is now showing HD video on its website via a new flash player.

You can watch full episodes of programming, but you have to sit through a 32 second promo video before you can watch anything.  “The Great Ride Open” shows off deserts while the “Oakley Arctic Challenge” shows off snow sports.  There is some nice detail in these very pretty videos. 

FUEL TV is using a player made by Move Networks.  Move Networks also makes players for ABC and Fox.

Check out [FUEL.TV]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Dec 2008 | 12:45 am

Data Breach Notices Show Tip of the Iceberg

d2d writes "The Data Loss Database has released a new feature: The Primary Sources Archive, a collection of breach notification letters gathered from various state governments as a result of data breach notification legislation. The documents include breaches that were largely unreported in the media, many of which are significant incidents of data loss. This lends credence to the iceberg theory of data-loss reporting, where many incidents never break the surface. Now, thanks to the Open Security Foundation, we can 'dive' for them."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 17 Dec 2008 | 12:39 am

Add exact smidgens to your gumbo with this cyber-spoon

It’s true, anything can be improved. Some clever designer has created what could be the penultimate kitchen gadget. The digital spoon.

The issue is, while for general cooking, you can use volume measuring. Normally, just using that one cup measure isn’t going to cause problems. However when you get into more gourmet usage of high end spices, it just doesn’t cut it. So you need to start measuring by weight.

So instead of busting out the coke scales, you can use the digital spoon. It provides accuracy up to the nearest 10th of a gram. Perfect gift for the kitchen obsessed.

[via Wired]

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Dec 2008 | 12:30 am

Sharp Kills Its Zaurus PDAs

Remember the Zaurus? In the early 1990s Sharp introduced a new line of Personal Digital Assistants or PDAs called Zaurus that went on to become a big hit among consumers especially in Japan.

Though initially based on a proprietary operating system, Sharp soon offered Linux-based versions of the PDA. The last model of the Zaurus, the SL-C3200, was released in 2006 and since then it has been all quiet.

With smartphones getting better and now smaller netbooks being all the rage, Zaurus was clearly headed for the deadpool--only Sharp is making it official now.

If you have one of these Zaurus oldies hold on to it. You may want to show it off at the antiques roadshow in a couple of years.

Sharp Zaurus on Wikipedia

Photo: (rachelandrew/Flickr)

[via Akihabara News]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Dec 2008 | 12:19 am

iPod: Helping to win hearts and minds in Iraq.

Turns out the iPod is being used by soliders for psychological operations in Iraq. A very creative solider used his iPod and a loudspeaker to broadcast Iraqi pop music while on an operation to distribute food.

Another soldier is using a transmitter to do the same thing. The transmitter and iPod use a very low powered system (normally used for rescue beacons) to transmit a pro-coalition message along with Iraqi pop-music. Religious extremeists in the area have recently cracked down on the transmission of certain types of music, so the broadcasts are more then likely welcome in the area.

[via Wired]

[Image via: Bluewave on Flickr]

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am

CAN-SPAM Act Turns 5 Today — What Went Wrong?

alphadogg writes "Five years ago, the US tech industry, politicians, and Internet users were wringing their hands over the escalating problem of spam. This prompted Congress to pass a landmark anti-spam bill known as the CAN-SPAM Act in December 2003. Fast forward five years. The number of spam messages sent over the Internet every day has grown more than 10-fold, topping 164 billion worldwide in August 2008. Almost 97% of all e-mails are spam, costing US ISPs and corporations an estimated $42 billion a year. What went wrong here?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Dec 2008 | 11:52 pm

Best Smartphone? Not the iPhone For Sure!

Quick, name at least two smartphones that you think must be part of any top five list?

Apple iPhone. T-Mobile HTC G1. Ding! Wrong Answer!

Consumer Reports has surprisingly picked Samsung Blackjack II and T-Mobile Wing as its top two smartphones, says ZDNET.

Others on the list that comes out in the January issue of the magazine include Motorola Q9c, T-Mobile Shadow and BlackBerry Pearl Flip.

We would trust Consumer Reports all the way to buy our next washer, dryer or microwave. But has the magazine missed the mark when it comes to gadget reviews? At least one other blogger has said this in the past.

"Its (Consumer Reports) gadget reviews are often ambivalent and unsatisfying, like an elderly grandmother trying to explain why she prefers sherry to port. To me, a religious devotee of its general coverage, this presents something of a mystery," says Rob Beschizza in a recent BoingBoing post.

It also compels us to ask if the iPhone and G1 are not smartphones, how exactly do you define a 'smartphone?'

Photo: BlackJack II (dushaun/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 16 Dec 2008 | 11:49 pm

Looks like Ustream is headed for the iPhone, as well

When we broke the news last week that Ustream.tv is working on a mobile streaming application, the only device we could verify support for was the Nokia N95. A few days later, we’ve received photographic proof that they’re cracking away at a client for at least one other popular handset: the iPhone.

Continuing a tradition long established in the world of pre-announcement photography, the shot we received is all kinds of blurry. That said, it came from the same source as last week’s video, so we’re confident that what we’re looking at is the real deal.

Along the bottom, we can see buttons labeled for broadcast, record, mute, and preferences. Above that is the chat history window which, according to our source, can be perused with the flick of a finger.

Apple has yet to allow any video recording applications into their App Store, so it’s pretty safe to assume that this application will be limited to jailbroken iPhones until Apple changes up their policies.

We’ll update if more details come in.

[Thanks again, Captain3!]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Dec 2008 | 11:47 pm

Bury me with my BlackBerry, please

“No, don’t recycle my BlackBerry — put it in my coffin with me.”

Noelle Potvin, family service counselor for a funeral home and cemetery in Hollywood, California, is noticing a new trend of tech items being taken to the grave:

“It seems like everyone under 40 who dies takes their cell phone with them. We even had one guy who was buried with his Game Boy.”

This trend has been seen in the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, and is now appearing in the states. Does this seem like your thing? What gadgets would you like to be buried with?

Source: CrunchGear | 16 Dec 2008 | 11:40 pm

Rumor Confirmed: Palm Treo Pro heading to Sprint in January

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

Thanks to a leaked lineup sheet, we are getting some confirmation that the earlier rumor about the Palm Treo Pro coming to Sprint is indeed accurate. 

We have yet to see the official announcement so the details are limited, however we know the availability date will be January 25 and that it will be replacing the Palm Treo 800w.  Still unknown is any pricing information, we do know that the Treo Pro sells unlocked for $549, but we can expect a subsidy to bring that down a bit.  Hopefully we will see something in the mid $2xx price range.

Additionally, along with the Palm Treo Pro, it looks like Sprint will also be adding the Motorola i365IS and a new color for the Instinct.  The new color, which will be pink is expected to be available beginning January 7, and the i365IS will be available on January 11.

Via [Engadget Mobile]

 

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 16 Dec 2008 | 11:30 pm

U.S. natural hazard death map is produced

Scientists using nationwide data collected since 1970 have produced a map depicting natural hazard mortality across the United States. Susan Cutter and Kevin Borden from the University of South Carolina said their map presents a county-level representation of the likelihood of dying as the result of natural events such as floods, earthquakes or extreme weather. This work will enable research and emergency management practitioners to examine hazard deaths through a geographic lens, the researchers said.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Dec 2008 | 11:05 pm

20 Thick, Juicy Questions With Meatwad From 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force'

The ground-meat superstar spills the proverbial beans on condiments, hot dogs and Season 6 of animated hit Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Dec 2008 | 11:01 pm

SoHo NAS With Good Network Throughput?

An anonymous reader writes "I work at a small business where we need to move around large datasets regularly (move onto test machine, test, move onto NAS for storage, move back to test machine, lather-rinse-repeat). The network is mostly OS X and Linux with one Windows machine (for compatibility testing). The size of our datasets is typically in the multiple GB, so network speed is as important as storage size. I'm looking for a preferably off-the shelf solution that can handle a significant portion of a GigE; maxing out at 6MB is useless. I've been looking at SoHo NAS's that support RAID such as Drobo, NetGear (formerly Infrant), and BuffaloTech (who unfortunately doesn't even list whether they support OS X). They all claim they come with a GigE interface, but what sort of network throughput can they really sustain? Most of the numbers I can find on the websites only talk about drive throughput, not network, so I'm hoping some of you with real-world experience can shed some light here."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Dec 2008 | 10:55 pm

Last call for the HP Magic Giveaway!

Section: Features, Contests

We’re picking a winner for the HP Magic Giveaway tonight!  We are also allowing you til 3PM Eastern TODAY to register for a Dabbledoo account.  By registering for a Dabbledoo account you are entered into the contest (you don’t have to do anything else).  Feel free to leave a comment about what you will do with the prize pack!

You can win a Touchsmart PC, three HP latops, a printer, and more!

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 16 Dec 2008 | 10:36 pm

Jobs Won't Appear at Macworld — 2009 Is Apple's Last Show

Steve Jobs will not appear at Macworld in January 2009 for his usual keynote. Apple announces the company will pull out of the trade show as of 2010.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Dec 2008 | 10:04 pm

Jobs Won't Appear at Macworld — 2009 Is Apple's Last Show

Steve Jobs will not appear at Macworld in January 2009 for his usual keynote. Apple announces the company will pull out of the trade show as of 2010.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 16 Dec 2008 | 10:04 pm

Computer Models and the Global Economic Crash

Anti-Globalism passes along a review in Ars of some recent speculation on the role of interconnected computer models in the global economic crash. "If Ritholtz, Taleb, Mandelbrot, and the rest of the computer modeling and financial engineering naysayers are correct about the big picture, then we really are arguably in the midst a bona fide computer crash. Not an individual computer crash, of course, but a computer crash in the sense of Sun Microsystems' erstwhile marketing slogan, 'the network is the computer.' That is, we have all of these machines in different sectors of the economy, and we've networked all of them together either directly (via an actual network) or indirectly (by using the collective 'output' of machines in one sector as input for the machines in another sector), and like any other computer system the whole thing hums along nicely... up until the point when it doesn't."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Dec 2008 | 10:03 pm

Quiet Bison Make Better Fathers

Researchers at University of California, Davis, and Point Loma Nazarene University have found that during bison mating season, the quietest bulls score the most mates and sire the most offspring while studs with the loudest bellows see the least actionDuring bison mating season, the quietest bulls score the most mates and sire the most offspring while studs with the loudest bellows see the least action, according to a surprising new study by researchers at University of California, Davis, and Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Dec 2008 | 10:00 pm

The Impact Of Olympic Pollution Controls

Image 1: This map, an average of August 2005-07 nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels, shows high levels of pollution in Beijing and other areas of eastern China. Credit: NASAImage 2: In contrast, levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) plunged nearly 50 percent in and around Beijing in August 2008 after officials instituted strict traffic restrictions in preparation for the Olympic Games. Credit: NASA
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Dec 2008 | 9:50 pm

Just kidding: Radiation-fighting E-Waves Phone Chip no longer for sale

It’s been just one week since Omega Pharma (part of the LOST conspiracy, anyone?) announced the availability of its magical radiation-fighting E-Waves Phone Chip.  And, guess what?  Today, the Belgium firm has withdrawn the chip from sale because, according to the company:

After the launch… a storm of protest broke out during which scientific proof of doctors and professors was brought into doubt.

In an effort to save face, Omega Pharma (best known for its non-prescription pharmacy products) has indicated that it will perform new product testing and plans to release the results as quickly as it can.  Don’t hold your breathe…

[Reuters via Phonescoop]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Dec 2008 | 9:25 pm

First U.S. face transplant performed

The Cleveland Clinic said a team of physicians has performed the first near-total face transplant ever done in the United States. The surgical team met with the media Tuesday to discuss the procedure, performed on a patient who was disfigured in a traumatic injury, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Dec 2008 | 9:22 pm

Corn Pests Could Get Worse Due To Warmer Temps

Climate change could provide the warmer weather pests prefer, leading to an increase in populations that feed on corn and other crops, according to a new study.Warmer growing season temperatures and milder winters could allow some of these insects to expand their territory and produce an extra generation of offspring each year, said Noah Diffenbaugh, the Purdue University associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences who led the study."Our projections showed all of the species studied spreading into agricultural areas where they currently are not endemic," said Diffenbaugh, who is interim director of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Dec 2008 | 9:13 pm

Dark Energy Could Be Einstein's Cosmological Constant

New data from the X-Ray Chandra Observatory sheds light on dark energy, the enigmatic stuff that makes up almost three quarters of the universe. It appears dark energy has some weight -- and it looks a lot like Einstein's cosmological constant, which Einstein thought was an error.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Dec 2008 | 8:30 pm

So. Cal seals show high level of DDT, PCB

Researchers say sea lions and seals living off the coast of Southern California are contaminated by high levels of DDT and PCB. The research by California State University, Long Beach suggests waste laden with pesticides and chemicals continues to poison marine life off the Palos Verdes Peninsula's White Point, more than 30 years after the dumping was halted. The report said U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Dec 2008 | 8:26 pm

Jumbo Squid May Be Impaired By CO2 Levels In Ocean

Image Caption: Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas) swarm around Tiburon, possibly attracted to its lights. Several of the large (about 1- 2 meter, or 3-6 foot) animals clouded the water with greenish-gold ink. NOAA
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Dec 2008 | 8:21 pm

New Pterosaur Species Unearthed in Sahara

The remains of two new species of extinct animals are found in remote Morocco.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Dec 2008 | 8:00 pm

FDA requires suicide warning on some drugs

The U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Dec 2008 | 7:56 pm

Bush Shoe-Toss Immortalized in Games, Animations

Flying footwear thrown at President George W. Bush during a Baghdad press conference inspires an avalanche of crazy games and animated GIFs.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Dec 2008 | 7:49 pm

NASA studies Mars' arctic soil

The U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Dec 2008 | 7:43 pm

California To Release Impact Report For Desalination Plant

A draft environmental impact report will be issued soon for a proposed desalination plant on the Monterey Peninsula that is to open by end-2015, the California Public Utilities Commission said on Monday.California American Water Co wants to build its Coastal Water Project, planned to supply 11,730 acre-feet of water per year for public use, next to an existing power plant at Moss Landing in Monterey County.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Dec 2008 | 7:28 pm

Drillers Accidentally Create First Live Magma Observatory

Drillers on Hawaii's big island who were working on a geothermal energy field hit an unexpected live magma chamber that could offer geologists insights into the poorly understood process of how the Earth's crust is formed.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Dec 2008 | 7:28 pm

Rumor: HTC Shadow II to drop 1.28.09

The recently outed (thanks FCC) HTC Shadow II is apparently making its way to T-Mobile shelves on January 28, 2009.  Pretty exciting, huh.  Another boring uninspired slider phone coming stateside.

A recap of the (questionably) noteworthy features includes: WinMo 6.1, WiFi w/ UMA @Home functionality, 2.6″ display, MicroSD slot, 2mp photo/video cam, stereo Bluetooth, slide-out keyboard, and a 6 button/spinning scroll wheel.

Not quite what we’re hoping to see in lieu of the Touch HD / Max 4G…

[via TmoNews]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Dec 2008 | 7:23 pm

On Saturn's Moon Titan, Ice Volcanoes

Cassini spots what may be active ice volcanoes on Saturn's flagship moon.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Dec 2008 | 7:03 pm

Samsung Memoir (T929) for T-Mobile passes through FCC

Just last week, we passed along a few shots of an 8-megapixel Samsung garnished with a T-Mobile logo. While there wasn’t much reason to doubt its authenticity, the FCC has gone and verified it for us anyway. Yesterday evening, the FCC spilled the beans on a Samsung-made, 8 megapixel camera phone running on T-Mobile’s 1700mhz 3G. That’s about as concrete as it gets short of a press release.

What we know about the T929:

• Otherwise known as the Samsung Memoir
• GPS, Stereo Bluetooth
• Uses Samsung’s TouchWiz UI
• 8 megapixel camera
• myFaves enabled

[via Phonescoop]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Dec 2008 | 6:56 pm

Dark Energy Steers Galaxies Down Lonely Road

Astronomers are probing the effects of dark energy on the universe.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Dec 2008 | 6:15 pm

Pandora now available for Windows Mobile

More than two years ago, Pandora began working on a Windows Mobile client for their personalized music streaming service. Right as that project was entering alpha, they penned distribution deals with AT&T and Sprint, who both had one requirement: it needed to work on their standard, run-of-the-mill feature phones. With their relatively small development team, Pandora shifted their efforts to the development of a J2ME application. Soon after that was ready, the iPhone SDK became available, which meant Windows Mobile development was pushed aside again.

At long last, the project has come to fruition. Pandora has now released a Windows Mobile client.

Anyone accustomed to the online Pandora experience should feel right at home here. Punch in an artist or song, and Pandora will start offering up songs it thinks you will love. Love it? Give it a thumbs up. Hate it? Thumbs down. Pandora will throw these factors into its algorithm in attempt to fine-tune its understanding of what you like. Also similar to the online package, you can log in to make sure Pandora doesn’t forget how much you love Swedish female-lead punk bands.

While the client is free to download, having a Windows Mobile handset doesn’t mean you’re good to go. At launch, they’re currently only supporting two devices: the HTC Touch, and the Motorola Q9c (Sprint/VZW only, for both handsets). The good news? The HTC Touch is (obviously) a touchscreen handset, while the Motorola Q9c is not - that means they’ve got base versions for both input methods complete, so expansion to other Windows Mobile handsets should be fairly rapid.

HTC Touch and Q9c owners can grab the new client by pointing their mobile browser at http://www.pandora.com

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Dec 2008 | 6:13 pm

Dev-Team jailbreaks the iPhone3G and suggests fixes for 10.5.6 PwnageTool issues

iPhone owners have been foaming at the mouth for an iP3G unlocking solution since its release and it seems that hack is right around the corner. The Dev-Team has announced that they have successfully done the seemingly impossible and will make the hack available via PwnageTool and QuickPwn sometime around the New Year. Which is just in time for Steve Jobs to announce something new at Macworld and make the iPhone irrelevant. I kid, I kid.

Speaking about PwnageTool, the Internet is swirling with reports that the 10.5.6 Leopard update breaks the DFU mode needed for the jailbreak. The Dev-Team seems to think that stopping iPhone hacking wasn’t Apple’s intent, and has suggested some workarounds. Chiefly, use the Windows version for now. Blasphemy!

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Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Dec 2008 | 5:41 pm

Koala Not a Dwarf of Prehistoric Versions

Koalas did not evolve as dwarf versions of prehistoric giant koalas.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Dec 2008 | 5:03 pm

Two Trillion Tons of Ice Melted in Arctic Since 2003

More than half of recent Arctic land ice melt occurred in Greenland.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Dec 2008 | 4:03 pm

Semen Quality Linked to Intelligence

New research connects a man's intelligence to his semen quality.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Dec 2008 | 3:03 pm

Mars Once Had Bizarre 'Shell' Tectonics

Mars probably once had a crust that slid around independently of the mantle.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Dec 2008 | 2:16 pm