Source: Gizmodo | 23 Dec 2008 | 2:15 pm

How to Dupe The New York Times: A Letter to the Editor [MediaMemo]

The New York Times (NYT) admits that it has been duped by someone who pretended to be the mayor of Paris. How did the duper ever get one over on The Paper Of Record? By writing a letter to the editor. NYT:

Editors’ Note: December 22, 2008
Earlier this morning, we posted a letter that carried the name of Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, sharply criticizing Caroline Kennedy.

This letter was a fake. It should not have been published.

Doing so violated both our standards and our procedures in publishing signed letters from our readers.

We have already expressed our regrets to Mr. Delanoë’s office and we are now doing the same to you, our readers.

This letter, like most Letters to the Editor these days, arrived by email. It is Times procedure to verify the authenticity of every letter. In this case, our staff sent an edited version of the letter to the sender of the email and did not hear back. At that point, we should have contacted Mr. Delanoë’s office to verify that he had, in fact, written to us.

We did not do that. Without that verification, the letter should never have been printed.

We are reviewing our procedures for verifying letters to avoid such an incident in the future.”

Expect this story to generate a lot of new media rulz! from the blogosphere. But you can file that in the same place you put the “Twitter is like a news wire, only better!” arguments. I’m just glad the Times can afford to have a staff big enough to verify the authenticity of every letter it prints. And I worry that this won’t be the case in the near future.

Source: All Things Digital | 23 Dec 2008 | 2:13 pm

Textecution Stops Texting Above 10mph

Textecution is a $10 application for Android phones which, as the name suggests, stops the user from sending text messages, specifically while they are driving.

It does it by tapping into the handset's GPS. When the phone is detected as moving at 10mph or faster, the text function is executed.

Let us count the ways in which this sucks. One, a T-Mobile G1 (the only current Android phone) owner is likely to be of geekier stock than the average user and therefore entirely capable of removing Textecution. In fact, the FAQ confirms this:

Q:My parents installed this application on my phone. Can I uninstall it?
A: Yes.

Second, the app runs as a background process and, to work, will always be on, constantly accessing the GPS unit. The G1 has notoriously bad battery life already. This will kill it. The product pushes the safety angle thus:

Put your mind at ease knowing that your loved one, friend, employee or teenage driver is safer behind the wheel of the vehicle.

Indeed, but what is they do have an accident? With a dead cellphone battery, they can't summon help.

Third, and possibly the most hilarious, is the answer to this question:

Is there a way to override the application once installed?

The answer is "yes", but ridiculously, you have send a request to the administrator, via, you guessed it, a text message.

If you wish to override and text while the car is in motion, let's say you're a passenger, choose "Request Permission", and a text message will be sent to the administrator who installed Textecution on your mobile device. [emphasis added]

Could a teenager pretend to be a passenger and lie to get their phone unlocked? Never!

Product page [Textecution via the Giz]

See Also:

• UK Woman Kills Grandmother While Texting at 70mph
• Governator Terminates Texting While Driving
• Drinking+Driving+Texting=Really Bad Idea

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 23 Dec 2008 | 2:07 pm

GateHouse Media sues NY Times Co. over copyright (AP)

AP - GateHouse Media Inc. filed a copyright infringement lawsuit Monday against the parent company of The Boston Globe, claiming the newspaper's new community Web sites use online material from GateHouse without permission.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:59 pm

Tibco Q1 Sales, Profit Forecast Light, but Shares Still Rise [Voices]

By Tiernan Ray, Blogger, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

After infrastructure software vendor Tibco (TIBX) this afternoon beat profit estimates for its fiscal fourth quarter, company management held a conference call with analysts and offered a fiscal first-quarter forecast, and the profit outlook may not be as bad as some might have worried.

The company anticipates sales for the three months ending in February of $140 million to $144 million, well below analysts’ average estimate of $154 million and a decline from $146 million a year earlier. The company’s gross profit margin is expected to decline from last quarter’s 76 percent or so to 74 percent, the company forecast, while non-GAAP operating profit will be 13.5 to 15 percent of sales. That adds up to profit per share, excluding some costs, of seven cents to eight cents per quarter, the company said.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:58 pm

Citrix To Bring Millions of Windows Apps To iPhone

Anonymous writes "Citrix is putting out word that it's developing an iPhone receiver that could make 'millions' of Windows applications work on Apple's handset. (Something Citrix is calling 'Project Braeburn.') Aside from Flash and a few other apps, is anyone pining for Windows-based apps on the iPhone? (Exchange on the iPhone seems to be successful, but so does Apple's App store, which has done pretty well without Windows.)"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:56 pm

New iTunes Application Wins Vatican Support

A new iTunes application that brings the book of daily prayers used by priests onto iPhones has won the support of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications.The iBreviary is the creation of Rev.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:21 pm

AT&T Vietnam Continues Supporting Christina Noble Children's Foundation to Help Underprivileged Children

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Dec.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:16 pm

Perfect MITM Attacks With No-Check SSL Certs

StartCom writes "In a previous article I reported about Man-In-The-Middle attacks and spotlighted an example showing that they really happen. MITM attacks just got easier. In the attack described previously, untrusted certificates from an unknown issuer were used. Want to make the attack perfect with no error and a fully trusted certificate? No problem, just head over to one of Comodo's resellers. Screenshots and disclosure provided at the link."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:07 pm

Possible iPhone Nano Photos 'Leaked'

The iPhone Nano is shaping up (or shaping down?) to be the hot Macworld rumor. First we saw a leaked case design, and now an anonymous reader has submitted this shot to MacRumors.

To us, this looks like little more than a quick invocation of Photoshop's scaling tool, but as MacRumors points out, it is at least consistent with the purported case design.

I'm unsure on this one. While the picture is almost certainly a fake, if the iPhone is to replace the iPod as we have previously speculated, there needs to be a Nano-sized product in the lineup. What do you all think? Is a smaller iPhone likely, desirable or even usable? Answers, as ever, in the comments.

iPhone Nano Concept Photo? [MacRumors]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:06 pm

Criminals Switch To Malware For Online Crimes

In April, many scammers began to see problems with their phishing scams.Security researchers had spent time studying botnet networks and had become very good at blocking fraudulent emails.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:05 pm

Verizon Wireless Recognized as the World's Best Wireless Service by Global Traveler

Verizon Wireless Gives Customers the Freedom and Reliability to Stay Connected Around the Globe BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Dec.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm

FriendFinder Networks Inc. Announces the Filing of Registration Statement on Form S-1 for an Initial Public Offering of up to $460 Million Aggregate Offering Price

BOCA RATON, Fla., Dec. 23 /PRNewswire/-- FriendFinder Networks Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm

CSI Reports Record Results for Third Quarter Fiscal 2009

PADUCAH, Ky., Dec.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm

KEMET Announces New Vice President of Quality and Chief Compliance Officer

GREENVILLE, S.C., Dec.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm

Ricoh Introduces Xythos Enterprise Document Manager Solution

RiSVP Member Software to Enhance Collaboration for the Enterprise WEST CALDWELL, N.J., Dec.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm

Just in Time for the Holidays, More than Three Dozen New Jersey Nonprofit Organizations Reap $325,000 in Literacy Grants from Verizon

Customers' Donations Support Local Efforts NEWARK, N.J., Dec.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm

Snapture Brings Flash to the iPhone

Snapture has until now concentrated on enhancing iPhone photos with software. Now, the company is doing the same thing, only with hardware. This prototype unit contains a Xenon flash, allowing the iPhone to take decent photos even in low light. The slide-on case also features an LED lamp for lighting video.

Video? Oddly, yes. Like the Snapture application, the SnaptureFlash requires the iPhone to be jailbroken to work, as the regular, unhacked iPhone won't send a trigger signal to an external flash.

The Snapture unit runs off the iPhone's battery, but doesn't drain it significantly despite being around 100x brighter than an LED flash, according to company founder Bowei Gai.

The Snapture folks have shoved this flash into the patent office's maw and are actively seeking a manufacturer. We have but one suggestion: put a close-up lens on there, too. That way you can fix two shortcomings in one.

Product page [Snapture. Thanks, Bowei!]

See Also:

• Snapture Fixes The iPhone's Camera, Free
• Snapture 2.0: Finally, a Reason to Jailbreak Your iPhone 3G ...
• Interview With the Creator of Snapture
• iFlash For Your iPhone Camera

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 23 Dec 2008 | 12:50 pm

Wipro Buys Citigroup's Indian Software Arm (PC World)

PC World - Wipro is acquiring Citi Technology Services, an IT services and software development subsidiary in India of Citigroup for about US$127 million in cash.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Dec 2008 | 12:10 pm

Finding rare songs on YouTube (CNET)

CNET - In the small hours of a summer night when I was in college, I heard a song play on San Francisco's famous Live 105 that seemed, at the time, one of the most profound, melodic, and catchy tunes I'd ever come across.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Dec 2008 | 12:00 pm

The RIAA's Rocky Road Ahead

The RIAA's new plan to enlist ISPs in its war on file sharing, once it announced it was calling a halt to new consumer lawsuits, is running into rough sledding. Wired reports on the continuing legal murkiness of the RIAA's interpretation of copyright law. And one small ISP in Louisiana asks the recording organization, "You want me to police your intellectual property? What's your billing address?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 23 Dec 2008 | 9:47 am

Animoto On The iPhone: Trust Me, You Want It

Yeah, I gush about Animoto (and so do others). And I’ll keep on gushing because they are an example of a startup that just focuses like a laser on doing one thing well. In their case, it’s creating slideshows for users from their photos.

They just launched their iPhone application. Select 8-16 photos from your photo library, pick some music to play in the background, and it creates a slideshow for you on the fly. Watch it on your iPhone or email it to friends. I created one in just a few second with some photos I took today. It’s embedded below.

You don’t go through the hassle of creating a new account when you use Animoto on the iPhone. That’s great for new users, but existing Animoto users need a way to tie the two accounts together. They’re working on that, says CEO Brad Jefferson.

Why this is so great - you no longer have to wait until you get home and to your computer to create slide shows of the amazing pictures you take at a wedding, sports event, or whatever. Make it on the fly and then email it out to friends while you’re still there. I love it.

Get the application here (iTunes link). More information is here.

Now go create some content. Put a link to your shows in the comments below, I want to see them. Here’s mine:

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

Source: TechCrunch | 23 Dec 2008 | 9:19 am

Power Plug Acts Like an Energy Bartender, Cuts off Gadgets After Last Call

The mCube90G smart plug hub plays the role of a strict bartender at a bar full of heavy drinkers -- only in this case, the drinkers are power-thirsty gadgets running up your tab.

Research has shown that the average American family pays anywhere from $50-150 extra a year on wasted energy costs from plugged-in electronics that aren't being used, such as DVD players and TVs that are ostensibly "off" and cellphones that are fully charged but whose chargers continue to draw a trickle of electricity from the wall outlet.

It's the latter category that the upcoming plug hub from Innergie targets: It cuts off the electricity flow of gadgets at the moment they're done charging, offering a good energy efficiency option to those looking for ways to save a few bucks.

While many gadgets know when they are charged fully by an internal indicator, their chargers often continue to pull energy out. Since most people don't have the time or the inclination to constantly plug and unplug appliances, even with easy-to-see stand-by settings, this gadget's steady, silent work should make things easier.

The gadget is compatible with many different types of electronics and you should be able to plug them all in at once. This will save you the trouble (and the space) needed to carry an extra charger for each.

The mCube90G uses technology developed by San-Ramon-based Green Plug. The latter's 'Greentalk' open system is an universal interface that will also be adapted into the gadget charge systems of other consumer electronic companies, in addition to this stand-alone unit.

But this hub will only be regarded as an intermediary solution to a larger problem. It  doesn't track the detailed consumption in a visual data form, like the Wattson power monitor. It also depends on the volition of individuals to use them with all gadgets, as opposed to being part of a complete home energy system.

According to Innergie, one of the most interesting features of the mCube90G is what it calls its ability to 'dynamically adapt' to the energy demands of individual gadgets. For example, if you plug in a large laptop at only 20% of energy, a cell phone at 80%, and a low-powered lamp running LEDs, it will funnel most of the energy from the charger to the laptop until its close to full, while it slowly siphons some to the ones who need it less.

And when all the juice is consumed and every gadget is nice and toasty, the plug turns off the lights on itself by shutting down. That sounds like a responsible way to deal with the terrible addiction that is the leading sympton of years of energy abuse.

The mCube90G will be available in 2009, presumably after its CES debut. There's no word on the price.

Photo of mCube90, predecessor to mCube90G: MyEnergy.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 23 Dec 2008 | 8:38 am

QOTD [Digital Daily]

QOTD

The worst has not come yet…. The problem is three times worse than everybody thinks.”

– Terry Gou, chairman of electronics contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry, on the econalypse

Source: All Things Digital | 23 Dec 2008 | 8:13 am

Last Major VHS Supplier Throws In the Towel [Voices]

By Jacqui Cheng, Associate Editor, Ars Technica

Farewell, VHS… and don’t let the door hit you on your way out. Though most of us have given up our VHS players by now in favor of something a little less dated, there have been the usual stragglers in the “old ‘n’ busted video format” department that have kept VHS alive long past its expiration date. But with the last major VHS supplier in the US ditching the format at the end of this year, the sound of the death knell has forced us to reminisce on VHS and other formats we wish would die with it.

VHS, which became wildly popular in the 80s and rode out its popularity well into the 2000s, has been on a very steady decline since the advent of DVD (and now digital downloads and Blu-ray).

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 23 Dec 2008 | 8:04 am

Read This and Cost Your Company Dough [Voices]

By Matt Richtel, Reporter, Bits, The New York Times

The question is not whether the nation is overwhelmed with checking email and RSS feeds, answering calls, exchanging instant messages, surfing the Web, watching YouTube and playing that one game where you try to organize the falling blocks.

The question is how much money all of this costs.

Basex, a research firm, estimates in data published on Monday that information overload costs the economy $900 billion a year in lost productivity. And a new online calculator created by Basex professes to provide a rough estimate of the cost to individual companies.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 23 Dec 2008 | 8:03 am

Washington Is Killing Silicon Valley [Voices]

By Michael Malone, Opinion, The Wall Street Journal

Even as economic losses and unemployment levels mount, America’s most effective engine for wealth and job creation is being dangerously–perhaps fatally–compromised.

For more than 30 years the entrepreneurship-venture capital-IPO cycle centered in Silicon Valley has generated new wealth, commercialized innovation, and created new companies and industries. It’s also spun off millions of new jobs. The great companies created by this process–Intel (INTC), Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), eBay (EBAY), Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco (CSCO), to name just a few–have propelled most of the growth in the U.S. economy in the last two decades. And what began as a process almost exclusively available to scientists and engineering Ph.D.s became open to just about anyone with a good business plan and a healthy dose of entrepreneurial drive.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 23 Dec 2008 | 8:02 am

Even Bigger Nightmare on Tech Street [Voices]

By Om Malik, Founder and Senior Writer, GigaOm

Updated: The technology sector, already rocked by the credit crunch and slowing global economies, is facing a bleak 2009, the impact of which is going to be felt across the entire ecosystem. From PC makers to chipmakers to chip equipment makers, almost everyone is bracing for a stomach-churning ride.

“The problem is three times worse than everybody thinks,” said Terry Gou, chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., a large Taiwan-based contract manufacturer. According to The Wall Street Journal, he is looking to cut jobs in his factories, most of them in mainland China.

Now here is a man who should know the actual extent of the troubles. His company’s customers include Apple (AAPL), Nintendo and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ).

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 23 Dec 2008 | 8:01 am

I’m Sorry Robert, But It’s Time For A Friendfeed Intervention

I’m a big champion of services like Twitter and the newer Friendfeed (can you believe Friendfeed is less than a year old?). But there’s a difference between liking a service and having an addiction. Robert Scoble crossed that line, and I believe he’s asking for help.

I spoke to Robert for a few minutes at the Le Web conference a couple of weeks ago. I said “You sure do like Twitter and Friendfeed.” His response - “Yeah, but I wonder if that was such a smart investment of my time.”

This isn’t the first time Robert has questioned whether he’s wasting his time on those services. On November 18 he wrote (on Friendfeed) “I invested a lot of time this year in FriendFeed and Twitter instead of my blog. Was that the right decision?”

I asked Robert how much time he actually spends on those services. He monitors them all day, he said, hitting refresh over and over on both (he doesn’t use desktop clients to manage the services, and he says he doesn’t like real-time streaming feature on Friendfeed). In addition to watching all day, he says he spends at least seven hours a day, seven days a week, actually reading and responding directly on those services.

That’s 2,555 hours over the last year.

Which is more than a full time job (2,000 hours/year).

It is more than 106 full 24 hour days interacting with those services in aggregate.

It is an addiction.

What is the cost of this addiction? Well, I’ll put his family life aside, that’s his business. But his blog has clearly suffered. He now posts only a few times a week, sometimes sporadically writing multiple posts in a day but often skipping 3-4 days in between. A year ago, Robert wrote multiple posts, every day. I used to read his blog daily, now I visit once a week.

“Some people tell me my thought leadership has declined as I’ve blogged less.”

What has he gained? On Twitter Robert has nearly 45,000 followers and has written over 16,000 messages. On Friendfeed Robert has nearly 23,000 subscribers.

So lots of people follow Robert on those services, but they aren’t visiting his site and the content he writes is on someone else’s server. Plus all that content is just really forgettable, compared to a good thought piece that people refer back to over time. There is no direct way to monetize any of that content, which is something that a full time blogger with a family really needs to think about.

Meanwhile, all this attention from Robert has certainly helped the valuations of Friendfeed and Twitter. How much of that value does Robert receive? Zilch.

So Robert has spent 2,555 hours spent reading tens out thousands of mostly inane Twitter and Friendfeed messages, and has written a few thousand messages of his own. Meanwhile, we as a community lost the regularly entertaining and thoughtful posts of a great writer.

Like I said, it’s time for an intervention. I want Scobleizer back.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 23 Dec 2008 | 7:47 am

YouTube forced to take down Warner Music

Section: Web, Websites, Online Music/Video

2008 has been a good year for YouTube.  There’s been a lot of good things happening to the site, from major partnerships with CNN, adding HD video and trying to find new ways of monetizing the millions of daily hits.  It’s a shame that the year has to end on such a sour note for them.

On Saturday, Warner Music forced YouTube to remove all music videos from its artists.  The two companies were negotiating a contract, when the talks came to a standstill.  Warner Music wanted more revenue from its artists’ music videos, and YouTube presumably wouldn’t budge. 

Warner claims that the fraction of cent it got per view for each video, and the small share of ad revenue relating to those songs were “staggeringly low.“  It’s possible that Warner Music pulling out could lead to issues with the other labels that have agreements with YouTube: Universal Music, Sony Music, and EMI Music, but that isn’t really clear.

As of right now, the official YouTube Warner Music is still up with 1127 videos on it.  It seems like a bad idea for Warner to take the channel down from a consumer stand point, but a big statement on the business side.  Granted Warner is a huge label, but I would imagine it would want to give more exposure to its artists, especially the newer or less popular ones, and the easiest way of doing it is through YouTube.  I know plenty of people who use YouTube as a means of listening to full songs before buying albums.  I would hope they don’t pull everything down, or, at least, let the artists have their own channels if they so want.

Read [Reuters]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 23 Dec 2008 | 7:33 am

Police blotter: baby or burrito?

I like this clipping from a police blotter in the Silicon Valley area. I don't know if it's real or not, but I hope it is.
"Burrito Baby" on Flickr (Thanks, Kirsten Anderson!)

Source: Boing Boing | 23 Dec 2008 | 7:12 am

First real iPhone 3G unlock appears

FROM APPLETELL - If you’ve been eagerly waiting for the iPhone Dev Team to unlock the iPhone 3G so you could use it and its wonderful new features on any carrier, your wait will soon be over. MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 23 Dec 2008 | 6:48 am

Inside the Active Volcano On Montserrat

Roland Piquepaille writes "An international team of researchers has begun collecting imaging data on the Soufriere Hills Volcano in Montserrat, which has been erupting regularly since 1995. They're using the equivalent of a CAT scan to understand its internal structure and how and when it erupts. The experiment is dubbed SEA-CALIPSO and 'will use air guns and a string of sensors off the back of a research ship combined with sensors on land to try to image the magma chamber.' Early results are surprising. Quoting one of the leading scientists: 'The interesting thing is that much more magma is erupting than appears represented by the subsiding bowl. ... The magma volume in Montserrat eruptions is much larger than anyone would estimate from the surface deformation, because of the elastic storage of magma in what is effectively a huge magma sponge.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 23 Dec 2008 | 6:27 am

XSKN cases hint at new Apple iPhone Nano

FROM APPLETELL - iPod/iPhone accessory manufacturer, XKSN, has added a new category of products to their site: iPhone nano.  Will this be Apple’s big announcement at Macworld Expo? MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 23 Dec 2008 | 6:26 am

Sony ready to put an end to annoying packaging

Section: Audio, Accessories, Headphones, Portable Audio

Perhaps in an attempt to save money and to stop frustrating their consumers, Sony is taking the necessary steps to use more friendly packaging instead of the cumbersome packing they call clamshell.

If you have ever bought an MP3 player or headphones from Sony, then you probably know the type of packaging they often include.  More than just Sony, I find other electronics coming with similar packaging that leaves me armed with scissors attempting to open up the package.  Sony and other companies often use these clamshell packaging in attempts to keep the product clean and theft-free, while allowing the public to view the product easily.  In addition, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission found that since 2004, there have been 25,000 injuries that resulted from people trying to open up the package. 

As of now, it is not known when Sony plans to officially stop clamshell packaging, but expect it soon and to roll out slowly at first.  You may recall Amazon starting their “frustration-free packaging“ started a little over a month ago, which is very similar to what Sony plans to do.  It’s nice to know that companies care for the public, because I have always found packaging annoying. 

Below is an official video released by Sony about their clamshell packaging.

Via [PackagingNews]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 23 Dec 2008 | 5:54 am

NHS to create Alzheimer's clinics

A top British health official says the National Health Service needs to create memory clinics in major towns to treat Alzheimer's patients. Care Services Minister Phil Hope said medical students will be given specific training to diagnose dementia, and current doctors will be offered extra
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 23 Dec 2008 | 5:25 am

Zebrafish used in Costello Syndrome study

Japanese and Italian researchers have developed a new model of Costello Syndrome to investigate the link between the disorder and tumor formation. Costello Syndrome is an inherited developmental disorder that causes cardiac defects, mild mental retardation, and face-shape abnormalities, the publisher of Disease Models & Mechanisms said Monday in a release.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 23 Dec 2008 | 5:09 am

Why Early Detection Is the Best Way to Beat Cancer

When the first cell in one of Brenda Rosenthal's ovaries mutated and turned cancerous, she felt no symptoms. The telltale pains or lumps that signal cancer were still months, if not years, away. But there were signs, sparks thrown off by the tumor that had begun to smolder in her belly. As more cells were conscripted from the original task coded in their DNA and assigned a new, malignant mission, they produced proteins that leaked into Rosenthal's bloodstream. Had an effort been made to see these molecules, had there been a strategy for detecting them, the 69-year-old wouldn't face such long odds today.

Certainly, there were statistical red flags, if only Rosenthal had known to look for them. Twenty years before, she had survived a bout of breast cancer, increasing her risk for ovarian cancer in the future. That risk was exacerbated by a mutation in her BRCA2 gene that's been associated with much higher rates of breast and ovarian cancers.

Going purely by the numbers, Rosenthal, a New York City native now living in Delray Beach, Florida, was a prime candidate for ovarian cancer. But even after the link between the BRCA2 gene and breast and ovarian cancer was discovered in 1995, Rosenthal didn't think to get tested. "It didn't even register," she says. "I went on with my life, and I didn't think about cancer." It wasn't until 2005, when she first noticed a physical symptom—"this huge lump in my stomach area"—that Rosenthal learned she was once again a cancer patient.

Ovarian cancer, like most cancers, is measured in four stages. Stage I is early, when the disease is contained in the ovaries. In stage II, it may be present in the fallopian tubes or elsewhere in the pelvis. By stage III, it has migrated into the abdomen or lymph nodes. And by stage IV, the malignancy has spread, or metastasized, into major organs like the liver or uterus. (The first three stages are further subdivided into A, B, and C levels.) For ovarian tumors discovered in stage I or II, the survival rate 10 years after diagnosis is reassuringly high—almost 90 percent—because treatment is straightforward: surgery, perhaps followed by low doses of radiation. But survival rates drop precipitously as the diagnosis shifts to stage III or IV, when the cancer is well established and spreading. Here, the survival rate falls to 20 percent and then to 10 percent. Unfortunately, more than two-thirds of ovarian cancers aren't found until these later stages. That was true in Rosenthal's case: By the time she noticed her lump, the disease had spread and progressed to stage IIIC.

Four years later, after two rounds of chemotherapy, Rosenthal's cancer is in remission. But she remains vigilant. Every three months, her blood is tested for levels of CA125, a protein marker used to monitor ovarian cancer. She tracks clinical drug trials in the hope that she will qualify as a subject. Yet she'll always blame herself, if only a little bit, for missing a way to find the disease earlier. "I could live 10 or 15 years more, but I still won't have the quality of life I would've if we'd found the cancer early," she says. "I don't want anyone else to be in my position."

The survival rate for many cancers is similar to the cliff-like curve that defines ovarian malignancies. Find the disease early, thanks to a stray blob on an x-ray or an early symptom, and the odds of survival approach 90 percent. Treatment—surgery—is typically low risk. But find it late, after the tumor has metastasized, and treatment requires infusions of toxic chemicals and blasts of brutal radiation. And here the prognosis is as miserable as the experience.

This reality would seem to make a plain case for shifting research and resources toward patients with a 90 percent, rather than a 10 or 20 percent, chance of survival. But these are largely hypothetical patients. Cancer may be present, but since it hasn't been detected, as a practical matter these cases don't yet exist. People with full-blown cancer, however, are very real. They are our fathers and mothers, our children and friends. They're right in front of us. These are the 566,000 Americans who will die of cancer this year.

The US spends billions of dollars to save these late-stage patients, trying to devise better drugs and chemotherapies that might kill a cancer at its strongest. This cure-driven approach has dominated the research since Richard Nixon declared war on the disease in 1971. But it has yielded meager results: The overall cancer mortality rate in the US has fallen by a scant 8 percent since 1975. (Heart disease deaths, by comparison, have dropped by nearly 60 percent in that period.) We are so consumed by the quest to save the 566,000 that we overlook the far more staggering statistic at the other side of the survival curve: More than a third of all Americans—some 120 million people—will be diagnosed with cancer sometime in their lives. Their illness may be invisible now, but it's out there. And that presents a great, and largely unexamined, opportunity: Find and treat their cancers early and that 566,000 figure will shrink.

Cancer, in other words, has a perception problem. We lack the ability to see what's going on inside the body, to gaze through our too-solid flesh and glean information on a molecular level. Conventional medical technologies—blood tests, x-rays, MRIs—can serve as proxies for proximity, but the picture they offer is often incomplete and obscured. Without a way to positively identify illness early, to detect that first spark, medicine will continue to be a last resort.

But new technologies for the early detection of cancer are now at hand. Researchers are refining sophisticated protein tests that can pick up molecular whispers in the bloodstream and are testing next-generation imaging techniques that can identify and isolate a tumor within the body. These technologies build on screening methods already proven to reveal cancer—the Pap smear (cervical), the antibody blood test (prostate), the mammogram (breast)—but go further and deeper so that even stubbornly covert cancers might become visible.

This new approach treats diagnosis as an algorithm, a sequence of calculations that can detect or predict cancer years before it betrays symptoms. It starts with a statistical screening to identify people, like Rosenthal, who have a genetically greater risk for disease. A regular blood test follows, one primed to look for telltale proteins, or biomarkers, correlated to specific cancers. A positive result prompts an imaging test to eliminate false positives or isolate a tumor. The process is methodical, mathematical, and much more likely to find cancer than current diagnostic procedures.

This is the potential of early detection: To use data instead of drugs, to reveal a cancer before it reveals itself, and to leave the miracles for the patients who really need them.

Don Listwin learned about the 90/10 survival curve after his mother, Grace, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2000. Doctors had diagnosed her—twice—with a bladder infection and prescribed antibiotics. Not surprisingly, that treatment didn't work. By the time her doctor established that she had ovarian cancer, she was stage IV and 12 months from her death.

Listwin, a onetime heir apparent to CEO John Chambers at Cisco Systems, says his impulse was to sue the doctor, the hospital, and anyone else who looked culpable. "I thought their incompetence had killed my mother," he says now. "But then I started staring at this 90 percent and this 10 percent, and I realized that if she had just been over here at 90, she'd be alive today." An electrical engineer by training, Listwin started to ask questions. Why does survival drop off so steeply? What happens in later stage cancers that make them so lethal? And most obviously, why can't we find the killer cancers early? "This looked like an emergent systems engineering problem, a systems biology problem," he says. "And it looked like an opportunity to engineer solutions."

Listwin, who says he was at Cisco during "the right 10 years," left the company in 2000 at age 41 with $100 million in the bank. Typically, people like Listwin—wealthy, philanthropic, and touched by cancer's ruthlessness—get on the cure bandwagon. But after looking at the numbers, Listwin was drawn to the problem of early detection. In 2004, he created the Canary Foundation, a research group with the single goal of bringing a battery of screening tests to patients and their doctors by 2015, starting with ovarian cancer and moving on to pancreatic, lung, and prostate. Listwin likes to explain the Canary approach with PowerPoint, and every presentation starts with a slide of the survival curve for cancer. Pointing to the 90 percent, he makes this simple observation: When we see cancer early, we have a chance to fight it.

In fact, much of the meager increase in cancer survival rates over the past 30 years can be attributed not to new chemotherapies or treatments but to early detection. Deaths from skin cancer, which is the most obvious to diagnose and treat, have fallen 10 percent. Since the Pap smear—a simple swab of the cervix for precancerous and cancerous cells—became part of routine care in the US in the 1950s, cancer incidence and mortality rates due to cervical cancer have fallen by 67 percent. Five-year survival rates for breast cancer have likewise improved as mammography and MRI screening have increased. There are tests for these diseases not because they are biologically different from other cancers but because they occur in accessible parts of the body. It's neither difficult nor prohibitively expensive nor dangerous to swab a cervix or perform a mammogram. Other areas of the body, though—the lungs, the pancreas—are less accessible and harder to monitor. Consequently, their malignancies are far more deadly.

Despite this proven model, early detection is an afterthought in cancer research. The pharmaceutical industry spends nearly $8 billion annually on cancer research, according to the International Union Against Cancer, most of it steered toward drug development and late-stage treatments. The major cancer foundations spend lavishly on cure-based research: The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation spent $180 million on cures in 2007; the Michael Millken Prostate Cancer Foundation spends about $14 million annually pursuing a cure for prostate cancer; the National Cancer Institute spent just 8 percent of its 2007 budget, less than $400 million, on detection and diagnosis research. Compared to these sums, Canary's $5 million annual budget scarcely registers. Yet Canary stands out in the cancer research community because its focus is on early detection rather than treatment.

Some cancers can be too easy to find. About 80 percent of prostate cancers are detected early. Yet most patients survive at least five years even if untreated. The problem: deciding whether medical intervention is necessary.

Other cancers are inherently elusive. Pancreatic cancer, for one, betrays almost no symptoms, making diagnosis a matter of pure luck. Only 3 percent of cases are found in the first, most curable stage.

The money goes where the cancer is. Some malignancies, notably lung cancer, are mostly detected only in late stages. As a result, that's where most research is directed. Shifting those priorities won't be easy.

A creature of Silicon Valley, Listwin based his foundation in San Jose and has structured it like a tech startup. Canary has recruited some of the nation's foremost oncologists, molecular scientists, and biostatisticians—researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Stanford School of Medicine—and assigned them to one of four teams, each of which concentrates on a specific cancer. The foundation uses its grants as seed capital. Research is closely tracked so that years aren't lost in the lab. Failure is allowed, so long as it happens fast. And in contrast to many big-ticket medical technologies, there's a priority on making costs for a test low enough that innovations can be widely deployed. The objective is to draw in research money from the NCI and other cancer foundations as well as venture capital, jump-starting an industry. Once that happens, Listwin's exit strategy will be easy: "I'll be on the beach in Belize," he says.

In case the allusion isn't obvious, the Canary Foundation takes its name from the avian early detection system used by coal miners. Listwin, whose year-round tan, golf-pro good looks, and cheerful swagger make him seem younger than his 49 years, adopts the plumage of the namesake bird at every opportunity, wearing a canary yellow blazer at most foundation functions. (At outside meetings, he goes with a buttercup oxford shirt, tucking a matching pocket square in a blue coat.) Given his manner, though, the yellow jacket brings to mind less a songbird than a hornet, buzzing around and ever-ready to engage.

Last May, at the foundation's annual science meeting at Stanford, Listwin was in typically high spirits. The Canary Symposium pulls together the 125 scientists who work on Canary research in the US and Canada. For them, the symposium is an opportunity to share progress, swap strategies, and meet such luminaries as NCI director John Niederhuber and Nobel laureate Lee Hartwell, director of the Hutchinson Center and chair of Canary's science team. It's also a chance to get a taste of Silicon Valley swank. Listwin makes a point of serving the best food and drink during the three-day event; a friend who is an avid wine collector generously uncorks several cases of remarkable wines, from 30-year-old Bordeaux to $300 California zinfandels. It makes for a blithe mood, and this year, Listwin had extra reason to be jazzed. He'd just announced an agreement with Stanford to build a new research center focused on early detection. Scheduled to open this year, the Canary Center at Stanford will be a headquarters for Sam Gambhir, director of the university's molecular-imaging program and the developer of a promising new ultrasound technology that's central to Canary's efforts.

Listwin is much more engaged than the average philanthropist. Rather than dole out research money and send the scientists back to their labs, he's involved in each step of the scientific process, from generating hypotheses to analyzing the data. Ever the engineer, he has schooled himself in the minutiae of biomarkers and cancer genetics and readily interrupts a presentation to correct a scientific point. (At a recent meeting of the NCI's Early Detection Research Network, he was mistakenly introduced as "Dr. Don Listwin.") And drawing from his corporate days, Listwin applies classic group management theories to the effort. "It's basic team-building," he says. "Forming, storming, norming, and performing."

Each member of the team is responsible for a different link in the chain leading to a workable screening test—or more accurately, toward two tests: a biomarker blood test to identify a cancer, followed by an imaging test to isolate it in the body. Some group members are engaged in proteomics—running tissue samples through mass spectrometers to uncover the proteins that may be biomarkers for a particular type of cancer and then handing off promising proteins to other specialists who use statistical methods to confirm the correlation. Others are developing new imaging tools that can pinpoint a tumor as small as 2 millimeters across. Still others design cost-benefit models to determine whether a test has commercial potential. And in contrast to the five-year duration of a standard NCI grant, Canary reviews its grants annually. "Most scientists aren't used to doing things this way," says Martin McIntosh, a bioinformatics guru at the Hutchinson Center and member of Canary's ovarian team. "If something's not working, Don's not afraid to pull the plug. So that takes some getting used to. But there's definitely a sense that we're getting somewhere, that we're working on this problem in a new and smart way."

Despite the flush atmosphere that Listwin cultivates, most Canary grants are in fact relatively modest. At an average of between $100,000 and $200,000, they are side projects for most researchers, covering their costs but hardly funding a full research lab. The festivities and the team-building, though, get the scientists committed to the greater mission of early detection. Soon enough, team members start assigning their junior scientists to early-detection work, and they engage outside resources and colleagues on the problem. In this way, Canary's strategy is to "create leverage," Listwin says, giving the foundation access to far more brain power and institutional muscle than its size might otherwise command.

The Canary approach comes at a time when the NCI is in the midst of what director Niederhuber calls "a big pivot" away from a single-minded war approach and toward a portfolio of strategies, including prevention and early detection. But 40 years into the war on cancer, he says, changing the course of the NCI is akin to turning around the proverbial aircraft carrier. That leaves the "well-informed higher-risk activities" to more agile groups like Canary. "New screening approaches are increasingly important. I think eventually you'll go in for a pit stop on a regular basis," Niederhuber says. "And with a little bit of blood, we'll know what's normal and what's abnormal."

The typical human body contains something less than 2 gallons of blood. The bloodstream is basically a transport system, a combination of plasma—the fluid itself—and a number of passengers, mostly red and white blood cells, which distribute oxygen and fight infection. Blood also contains thousands of proteins that serve a range of biological purposes, from distributing energy and nutrition to repairing injury and inflammation. The science of proteomics is trying to correlate each of these proteins with its specific metabolic function.

When the first Canary team came together in 2004, proteomics promised to be a powerful tool for early detection. All the teams needed to do was pump biomarkers through the testing process, identify a handful that link to early-stage cancers, corroborate the results with a CT scan or MRI, and then roll out the early-detection test. "It looked like a pretty simple problem," says Patrick Brown, a molecular biologist at Stanford and member of Canary's ovarian cancer team. "Get a molecule, make a test, and you're done. It was just a matter of going out and finding them."

Brown doesn't think that anymore. "It's gone from something that seems really simple and really boring scientifically," he says, "to something that's not at all simple and, therefore, really compelling scientifically." He functions at Canary as something of a bug tester, probing for logical flaws, false assumptions, and wishful thinking. The complications that have turned up around blood protein biomarkers, he says, are riddles that must be solved before the way forward becomes clear. And two riddles stand out.

The first goes something like this: In the past decade, proteomics has been great at discovery—the eureka moment when a protein is identified and strongly associated with a cancer. The field has identified thousands of proteins in cancerous human tissue, and hundreds of research papers have claimed strong correlations between a particular new marker and a certain type of cancer. But there's been a dearth of validation—the more laborious process of confirming the results and establishing that a protein actually does work as a biomarker for a particular cancer and isn't the result of some unrelated condition like inflammation or anxiety.

The problem starts with the very structure of the proteomic investigations. Most of these are case/control studies, in which proteins extracted from known cancer patients (the cases) are compared with proteins extracted from healthy volunteers (the controls). In a perfect study, you want the cases and the controls to match up in every way—age, sex, diet, home town—except for the fact that half of the sample has cancer. That way, any differences that turn up are statistically likely to be due to the cancer. But in reality, good samples of cancer tissue are in short supply, so most research is done in a take-what-you-can-get mode. The controls are assembled afterward and matched as well as possible. The result is that the cases and controls often have little in common—they can come from people of different ages, different towns, or countless other variables. "So it's not surprising that you find all sorts of differences between the cases and controls," says Lee Hartwell, on whose watch the Hutchinson Center has become a leader in proteomics research. "But those differences could have nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that they have cancer."

Take the case of prolactin. In 2005, a research group at Yale announced it had identified several biomarkers that together could work as a test for ovarian cancer. (More markers mean better odds of a true positive, since different people have different proteins in their blood at different times.) The Yale markers included CA125; osteopontin, a protein believed to be overexpressed in several cancers; and prolactin, a pituitary hormone found in the breasts, ovaries, and other organs. The test for early detection of ovarian cancer was released commercially by LabCorp last June under the name OvaSure.

The results troubled the Canary ovarian team, which had already taken stock of a few of these and other markers and ruled them as insufficient for a valid test. The inclusion of prolactin, in particular, stood out. "It looked wrong to me," says Nicole Urban, head of gynecological cancer research at the Hutchinson Center. "It seemed highly unlikely that it was related to the cancer."

So Urban ran her own study, comparing prolactin levels in women with ovarian cancer to those who were cancer-free. She also introduced further variables: when and under what circumstances the blood was drawn. It turned out that during a routine blood test, prolactin was present in normal levels among cases and controls alike. But the levels spiked dramatically when blood was drawn right before the patient went into surgery—whether it was surgery for ovarian cancer or another procedure. In other words, Urban concluded, it seems that prolactin isn't a biomarker for cancer. It's a biomarker for a stressed-out patient about to go under the knife. (Last fall, after the Food and Drug Administration warned that there were "serious regulatory problems" with the OvaSure test, LabCorp withdrew it from the market).

The ambiguity over prolactin exemplifies the leap required to get from an apparent signal to a true signal. "A good biomarker will tell us something we don't know," says Martin McIntosh, who crunched the prolactin numbers with Urban. "But even worse is when you think you have a good biomarker, and it's telling us something we don't actually want to know." And that's the first riddle of biomarkers.

But assume that science eventually makes that leap and that a list of biomarkers with proven links to specific cancers is in hand. The next step is to find these markers in the blood. This is the second riddle: It's one thing to find a biomarker in the research lab, using tissue known to be cancerous. But putting a test into clinical practice means finding a marker when it's floating around in those gallons of human blood. Doing that accurately and consistently is a far more daunting proposition.

Patrick Brown first noted this problem in a presentation at the 2007 Canary Symposium. He started by laying out the yardsticks. The basic premise of early detection assumes there's a window of opportunity when a would-be lethal cancer is germinating but potentially curable. For ovarian cancer, Brown put this window at about four years. Assuming annual or biannual screening, an effective test then must be able to detect a cancer when it's too small to be lethal but large enough for a significant number of proteins to spill into the bloodstream. This boils down to a question of signal versus noise: Are current testing technologies, known as assays, accurate enough to catch those few extra molecules, or will they be mistaken for randomness?

Brown offered some preliminary calculations. He started by estimating the size of a pre-advanced-stage ovarian tumor during this window of opportunity. On average, these tumors are just 2 millimeters in diameter, or 4 milligrams in mass. "That's less than one-ten-millionth of the mass of the average adult!" Brown noted. But with current assay technology, a tumor would have to be closer to 30 millimeters in diameter, he figured, to throw off enough biomarker molecules to exceed levels for normal women and to be reliably spotted amid all the other stuff in the blood. And at that size, he acknowledged, most ovarian cancers have already metastasized, so early detection wouldn't likely save a life. According to these calculations, the prospects for blood-based early detection looked bleak.

For more than a year, Brown's presentation hung over the project. It seemed to expose a paradox at the very core of early detection: What use is a biomarker if it doesn't show up on a test until it's too late?

The Canary approach may be collaborative, but it's also competitive. Sam Gambhir, Brown's Stanford colleague, had been working on a mathematical model to address the problem. Though Gambhir's specialty is radiology and imaging, his PhD is in mathematics, and he thought some additional number-crunching might point the way. His model re-created the human bloodstream and sent some CA125, the known marker for ovarian cancer, into the mix. Soon enough Gambhir had his answer: According to his calculations, a blood test for a biomarker like CA125 can reveal a growth as small as one-half of 1 millimeter, "maybe even one-tenth of 1 millimeter," says Gambhir, who published his calculations in PLoS Medicine this past August. "So it's not out of the question to have a blood test that can detect a tumor that's very small, small enough to work for early detection." In other words: A biomarker test is possible. The cancer can be perceived.

Computerized tomography was developed in the 1960s in London at EMI, the electronics and recording giant. Legend has it that the Beatles made the technology, better known as CT scanning, possible; sales from their hit records allowed EMI to fund an engineer's dabbling in medical imaging. The machines are like an x-ray machine in orbit. Where a traditional x-ray creates a two-dimensional image of the human body, a CT instrument rotates an x-ray on an axis around the body, producing a three-dimensional image or "slice" that's much sharper and more detailed than a conventional x-ray.

Used at first for brain images, CT scans were a slow and tedious technology lagging behind x-rays, ultrasound, and MRIs for decades. In the 1990s, though, faster computation allowed for faster image processing, and several companies engaged in what came to be known as the slice wars. Image quality soon climbed along a geometric progression common to many technologies, from 16 slices per rotation to 32 to 64 to 128. The boom failed to reduce costs—the machines still run about $2 million apiece—but it made CT machines ubiquitous at American hospitals. Today, about 62 million scans are performed in the US annually, about twice as many as a decade ago. Even as warnings about overuse grow louder (the machines send 50 or more times the radiation into the body than a conventional x-ray), there's an increasing call for putting CT scans to greater use, particularly as a potential screening tool for hard-to-see and hard-to-diagnose diseases like lung cancer.

While lung cancer kills more people worldwide than any other form of the disease, it remains comparatively under-researched. In part, this is because of the stigma it carries as a self-inflicted smokers' disease. But it is also neglected simply because its location, deep within the body, makes it exceptionally hard to detect and treat. To this problem, CT scans offer a remedy. Compared with the foggy blur of an x-ray, a CT scan of the lungs is sharp and detailed. The lobes of each lung show up as a river system, the bronchioles that conduct air from the trachea fanning out into the alveoli, one tributary branching into a hundred more. Any unusual blip, be it from infection or cancer, shows up on this map as a well-defined land mass with a precise longitude and latitude.

In the mid-1990s, the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program began a 12-year study to examine the potential of CT scans as a screening tool for the disease. The study brought 30,000 smokers into hospitals and scanned their lungs, following up with another scan a year or so later. The scans turned up 484 cases of potential cancer, and subsequent biopsies confirmed that 85 percent of those patients did indeed have stage I lung cancer. It was a stunning result, far higher than many screening tests would have predicted. Even more remarkable was the survival rate: Of the 375 patients who opted for surgery, 92 percent were still alive 10 years later. The triumphant findings, published in 2006 in The New England Journal of Medicine, seemed to make a clear case for the widespread use of CT scans as a screening test for the early detection of lung cancer.

But there's one question the study didn't ask. "What if they're finding things that look like cancer—even things that may be cancer under the microscope—but that aren't the cancers that actually kill people?" asks Peter Bach, a pulmonologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and a member of Canary's lung cancer team. Though Bach and his Canary colleagues are eager to find a viable imaging test for lung cancer, they are wary about jumping onto the CT bandwagon. Their concern is that, by itself, a CT scan makes it too easy to rush to judgment. With no knowledge of a tumor's molecular characteristics—the sort of information a biomarker test might provide—a CT scan offers an alluring but potentially deceptive image.

Bach decided to follow up the Early Lung Cancer Action Project study with his own assessment of CT screening for lung cancer, analyzing three large studies of CT scans among smokers in the US and Italy. As with the Action Project, these studies found that, yes, CT scans detected a huge number of early cancers—10 times as many as they would expect to find without scanning. In that regard, the scans did their job as a screening test. And as expected, the number of surgeries based on those diagnoses jumped. But when Bach looked at the resulting mortality rates, he found essentially no difference between those who received a CT scan and those who had not. Despite the additional surgeries, just as many people were dying as before. And in this regard, CT scans seemed to be a failure as a screening test—they didn't appear to save any lives at all. Bach's counter-research has kicked up a storm in radiology circles, and various organizations now give conflicting recommendations. The NCI has started a major study to assess the true usefulness of CT scans for lung cancer; early results could appear this year.

So if these aren't all lethal cancers, what exactly are the CT scans finding? Bach believes it's what some radiologists call pseudodisease. His theory is that lung cancer may come in at least two forms: fast-growing, lethal tumors that appear "like a meteor" and spread quickly, and slow- growing masses that are essentially benign. This isn't the same thing as an imprecise test turning up false positives or false negatives—on a molecular level, these are real cancers. They're just not the kind of tumors that would eventually kill a patient. Oncologists call this cancer heterogeneity, and it's one more riddle that seems to be at work across Canary's research. Heterogeneity is a factor in prostate cancer, which many men have but few will die from. And it looks to be a factor in ovarian cancer, too. Indeed, Urban believes the most deadly type of that disease may not start in the ovaries at all; it may be another kind of malignancy that starts in the fallopian tubes. By the time it appears in the ovaries, the disease has already progressed.

The issue of heterogeneity leads directly to a central quandary for early-detection researchers: What is the baseline for growths and tumors in the human body? In other words, how do we distinguish between what's normal—which would include cancers that aren't lethal or that our immune system can remedy—and abnormal, defined as cancers that are lethal and demand intervention? Remarkably, the question of what constitutes normal has been neglected by medicine. But for early detection to work, groups like Canary will have to establish that baseline. Otherwise, high-resolution imaging may cause more trouble than it's worth. A CT scan may offer a profound window into the body. But it tends to find both kinds of cancer. So as a tool for early detection, it's still too blunt an instrument.

In late September, Don Listwin assembled the ovarian team in Montana for a biannual progress report and brainstorming. The 11 experts flew in from Seattle, Southern California, and the Bay Area to gather at the vacation home of Don Valentine, the venture capitalist who also happens to be Listwin's father-in-law. Standing in the living room of his lodge, beneath a massive buffalo head mounted over the fireplace, Listwin began the meeting by noting the date. It was seven years, to the day, since his mother had died. And it was six years since he'd made his first investment in early detection research, with a grant to fund Urban's lab at the Hutchinson Center, and four years since the start of the Canary effort. After all that time, Listwin told the group, "we've made progress. I still think we can get there by 2015."

Over the next couple of days, team members took turns updating one another on their snags and successes. Urban and McIntosh noted that they'd made headway with two biomarkers, MMP7 and HE4, which could work in unison with CA125 as part of a panel test for ovarian cancer. Brown ran through a further exploration of his needle-in-a- haystack problem for finding biomarkers in the blood, an analysis that complemented Gambhir's mathematical model.

And Gambhir gave an update on a new imaging technique to suss out a tumor. Based on ultrasound imaging, the approach is a high tech/low tech hybrid. Ultrasound, of course, has been around for decades. But Gambhir's lab has crafted a way to transform it from a relatively imprecise tool that displays general anatomical information into a precise one that can discern details on the molecular level. First the patient is injected with a chemical agent designed to seek out and attach to specific proteins on the surface of a tumor. Each of those molecule is, in turn, attached to a microbubble that acts as a signal. When an ultrasound wand sweeps over the area, the microbubbles vibrate, creating a sharp image that pinpoints a tumor as small as 2 millimeters in animal studies. The ultrasound technique, Gambhir explained, is significantly more promising for early detection than CT scans because the microbubbles affix only to a certain kind of cell. Thus, it provides not just anatomical information (what a growth looks like) but molecular data (what it's made of). "It shows us what we want," Gambhir told the group. "It's tumor-specific information at the molecular level." What's more, it's cheap, because it piggybacks on an already ubiquitous and inexpensive imaging technology. Pending FDA approval, Gambhir plans to start human trials this year.

Listwin was ecstatic. "This is a big deal," he said eagerly, in contrast to Gambhir's more clinical tone. "This is the beauty of a two-stage test. You don't go screening-to-scalpel. You've got to have part two. And that's what Sam has here."

Screening-to-scalpel, where a single positive test is immediately followed by surgery, is standard procedure for most diagnostic tests. But Listwin argues—and Canary researchers uniformly agree—that it's a dangerous reflex, leading to the possible overtreatment already common for prostate p;;cancer. A two-stage test, on the other hand, subjects all positives to further inspection. The beauty of the idea is that it works algorithmically, because one test increases the predictive value of the next. In the UK, researchers have studied the effectiveness of various early-detection tests for cancer since the 1980s. One-off tests, such as ultrasound, showed some promise for the early detection of ovarian cancer, but the predictive value of a positive test—the likelihood that a positive test is, in fact, a true case of disease—was abysmal. Among surgeries following a positive ultrasound, only one in 50 procedures found a true case of cancer. The rest were unnecessary.

More recently, Ian Jacobs, a gynecologist and oncologist at University College in London, has researched whether a two-stage test might improve that hit rate, even with standard technologies. In Jacobs' study, women were first given a blood test for CA125. Those who showed a high level of the protein then received a normal ultrasound scan. An algorithm used these test results to select women for possible surgery. The research showed that the true positive rate among surgery cases had improved by an order of magnitude, with one in three surgeries revealing a true cancer. That still means, of course, that unnecessary operations outnumbered necessary ones. But the study demonstrates the potential impact of a two-stage system, even when deployed with fairly rudimentary tools like ultrasound and a one-marker test. Jacobs, whose work is often cited as a model by the Canary team, is now doing a further study that aims to answer the question of whether screening actually saves lives.

The challenges that linger around early detection reflect a larger disconnect between how we want medicine to work and how it actually does. When we go to the doctor, we expect a definitive diagnosis—a true verdict of what's wrong. Having that, we expect a clear prognosis—an expert prediction of what's going to happen. But the thing is, no matter how brilliant your physician may be, these things always boil down to a guess—informed by lab tests and experience, perhaps, but still a guess. We want medicine to be deterministic, to follow clear laws and mechanisms. But in reality, it's almost always probabilistic, more calculation than divination. There is no certainty in medicine. Early detection, which is steeped in probability predictions and statistics, just makes these calculations more transparent than we're used to encountering. Short of running a complete molecular breakdown of the human body (which remains impossible), early detection will always be a numbers game.

For a disease like cancer, so often seen as a death sentence, early detection promises a trade-off. At first, it makes things more complicated. It introduces more doubt and complexity into an already complicated equation. But in return, early detection promises that this doubt can be quantified, that these new variables can be broken down into metrics, analyzed, and factored into our health decisions. Early detection proposes that the result of this calculation—complicated and ambiguous as it is—will yield better results for individuals and for their families. In exchange for a modicum of doubt, it offers a maximum opportunity for hope.

Deputy editor Thomas Goetz (thomas@wired.com) wrote about the Personal Genome Project in issue 16.08. He has a new blog about health and medicine at www.thedecisiontree.com.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 23 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Nation's First 'Underwater Wind Turbine' Installed in Old Man River

The first ever dam-less hydro-power plant splashed into the Mississippi River this week, after its giant turbine got the OK from government regulators.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 23 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Try This at Home: Camera on a Flex Cable Finds Lost Objects

Cops can use it to peer around corners, but you can poke around and find the grape that's rolled under the fridge. A camera-mounted LED illuminates dark and dismal places, letting you see anywhere you can cram the 3-foot-long cable.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 23 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

How to Fold an Origami Millennium Falcon

Origami. Star Wars. What could be more fun than combining the two? (Rhetorical.) Paper-folding artist Philip Schulz showed us how to fold the iconic ship.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 23 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Science We Can Believe In: How President Obama Can Recharge US Research

Back in September, when the presidential election seemed up for grabs, a group of more than 60 Nobel Prize-winning scientists endorsed Barack Obama. One important reason: his plan to increase federal funding for research, which they argued would result in "new ways to provide energy ... and improve our economy." Fund science, goes the logic, because basic research always yields economic benefits.

Now, with the economy in tumult and a deficit that could reach $1 trillion this year, the question is not whether research and development should be a priority but whether Obama will be able to deliver. And even if he can still manage to increase funding, simply putting more cash into the same old research priorities won't help invent the future. Obama will surely aim to spend more than George W. Bush (but not enough to make everyone happy). More important, he'll have to create policies that ensure good ideas make it out of the lab.

Take energy. While campaigning, Obama promised to shell out $150 billion over 10 years on energy R&D, several times what the government allots now. But he based his pledge on the assumption that industry would buy permits from the government to continue to emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse pollutants. This in turn would drive the demand for technologies that minimize greenhouse gases. But without auctioning carbon credits, which would require congressional approval—far from guaranteed—Obama would be able to afford only a fraction of that $150 billion. And no amount of money will matter without policies that foster a market for alternative sources of energy and energy-efficient products.

These new carbon-emission rules would raise the price of fossil fuels—never a popular move. That's why neither presidential candidate advertised that fact. John McCain actually talked about lowering oil prices while touting a climate plan that would have raised them. But unless the prices of gas, oil, and coal reflect their total cost to the environment, ideas generated by research into green technologies will never survive in the marketplace.

The Obama administration's promised economic stimulus package offers another opportunity to align policy goals with research priorities. Truly inventive transportation research has never received more than crumbs. We need more R&D on information networks and intelligent highways that direct drivers to the fastest routes, better-planned communities that reduce the need to drive in the first place, and more flexible and appealing mass transit systems. But none of the resulting innovation will make it to the real world without additional policy steps, like limiting federal funding to transportation projects that use the latest proven technologies.

The richest opportunity of all is probably in biomedicine, which, at $30 billion a year, is the biggest area of nondefense government R&D funding. Obama has promised to remake health insurance, which provides a chance to put advanced medical technologies and therapies within the reach of far more Americans. But that's even more complicated than it sounds. Treatment and research are confusingly entangled in today's health system; teaching hospitals, for example, serve as research centers while relying on reimbursement for clinical services. Obama will have to make sure that the new system encourages insurers to reimburse for new drugs and devices, creating greater incentive for their development.

In politics, proposing to spend more money on research makes nothing but friends. Thinking and acting comprehensively about science and the policies that can shape its application is not only riskier politically but more challenging intellectually. A willingness to take political gambles and avoid ideologically preordained conclusions is exactly the kind of change Obama promised during his campaign. He has an opportunity to fundamentally change science policy, but it will take a lot more than money.

David Goldston (partyofonecolumn@gmail.com) is a science policy columnist for Nature and former chief of staff for the US House Committee on Science.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 23 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Driving Christmas Home — 10 Outrageous Gifts for Gearheads

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Is the household gearhead driving (pun intended) you nuts incessantly blathering about the latest supercar? Try putting one of these sweet auto-related gifts under the tree to shut him up for 10 minutes.

Left: If you've already got a $1.5 million Reventon in the driveway, a $350 Lamborghini hoodie on your back and the $60 Lamborghini baseball cap on your head, the only thing you need to complete your collection are these $120 signature Christmas ornaments. Buy them and you'll truly be the man who has everything.

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

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It won't make your cigars smell any better or taste any finer, but they'll look smokin' in this carbon-fiber–wrapped humidor from Ferrari. At a cool $1,000, just make sure you put something nicer than Swisher Sweets in it.

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

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Nothing would look more debonair on a hot day than your crisply pressed shirt sleeve hangin' from your XKE with a pair of Leaping Jaguar cufflinks. They'll leap onto your wrist for less than a C-note.

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

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You want to tear up the twisties in your 911 Cabriolet, but your wife says it's too cold to put the top down? No problem. Hand her this $900 Porsche leather jacket. It hugs curves better than your 911.

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

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Make an Audi addict out of your kid with this 1936 Auto Union Type C replica. This pint-sized pedal-powered racer has seven speeds and disc brakes just like your S3. And at 10 grand, it will introduce Junior to the high cost of German engineering.

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

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If you can afford $350,000 for the Bentley Azure T, you've probably already got a pretty nice watch. But if you've got butter-soft leather under your butt and a jeweled gearshift in your hand, you might as well cough up the cost of a used Honda to put the Bentley watch on your wrist.

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

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Michael Jordan wouldn't play ball in loafers, and Tiger Woods wouldn't tee off in Topsiders, so why are you wearing those stupid Crocs? For less than the cost of an oil change at the dealer, you can dance on the pedals in a pair of Piloti's Prototipo driving shoes. If they're good enough for the guys racing at Le Mans, they're good enough for you.

Photo courtesy Piloti

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The last thing you want to do when signing the deal for your Ducati Desmosedici is break out a Bic. Reach for this finely tuned writing instrument from Tibaldi. Yes, $850 is a lot for a pen, but if you're spending $72,000 for a motorcycle, you probably don't care.

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

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Now that you've bought your Lamborghini ornaments, Ferrari humidor, Ducati pen and other trinkets, you want something cooler than a shopping bag to carry them in. Check out this $350 Team Lotus leather duffel from Caracalla Bagaglio. It won't make you as fast as Jim Clark, but then he probably carried his driving shoes in a canvas bag.

Photo courtesy Lotus

Source: Wired Top Stories | 23 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Dec. 23, 1970: World Trade Center Tops Out

1970: Construction workers place the highest steel on the highest building in the world. New Yorkers will first hate it, then get used to it and eventually mourn its destruction.

The massive project was conceived in the 1950s to energize lower Manhattan. Architect Minoru Yamasaki worked in conjunction with Emery Roth and Sons to design twin towers 110 stories high.

Ground was broken Aug. 5, 1966, and steel construction began in August 1968. The North Tower topped out at 1,368 feet (some sources say 1,353 feet) Dec. 23, 1970. Ribbon-cutting took place April 4, 1973.

The twin towers knocked New York City's own Empire State Building (1931, 1,250 feet) off the top of the list of the world's tallest buildings, but lost out in 1974 to Chicago's Sears Tower at 1,451 feet. The twin 1,483-foot Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, surpassed Sears in 1998, only to be overtaken by Taipei 101 in Taiwan at 1,667 feet in 2004. But Burj Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is already above 2,250 feet and slated to reach 2,300 feet soon.

With an acre of rentable space on each of the upper floors of each tower, the WTC's 110 stories were ocupied by about 50,000 people. The South Tower had an observation deck on its 107th floor, offering views for 45 miles in all directions, skies permitting.

The architects and engineers had solved a number of problems with great ingenuity. To keep the nearby Hudson River from flooding its foundations, the buildings were constructed in a vast concrete case, called the Bathtub. A central core in each tower carried the dead (or gravitational) weight of the building's materials, while light walls were designed to withstand the force of wind on a tall, giant building.

The amount of space taken up by elevators was reduced by creating "sky lobbies" at the 41st and 74th floor, served by express elevators. Local elevators could stop at any floor within each zone. It was a vertical model of a New York subway line.

Despite these innovations, many New Yorkers greeted the towers with derision. They were assailed for being out of scale with the surrounding neighborhoods and a distortion of the classic midtown peak of the Manhattan skyline. Some rudely suggested that the towers looked like the plain boxes out of which two Art Deco classics, the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building, had been unpacked.

Yamasaki died in 1986. The final building in the 16-acre complex, 7 World Trade Center, was completed the following year.

Terrorists exploded a massive bomb in the WTC's parking garage Feb. 26, 1993, killing six people and injuring more than a thousand. The towers withstood the blast.

But they could not withstand the impact of the fully fueled jetliners that terrorists crashed into the twin towers Sept. 11, 2001. That attack brought them down within hours, killing almost 2,800 people.

Construction on new WTC buildings, including the Freedom Tower to replace the twin towers, is now underway.

Sources: Various

Source: Wired Top Stories | 23 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Try This at Home: Camera on a Flex Cable Finds Lost Objects

Cops can use it to peer around corners, but you can poke around and find the grape that's rolled under the fridge. A camera-mounted LED illuminates dark and dismal places, letting you see anywhere you can cram the 3-foot-long cable.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 23 Dec 2008 | 5:00 am

Fujitsu unveils 3G-equipped LifeBook U820

Section: Communications, Broadband Cards, Mobile, Computers, Mobile Computers, Laptops, Wireless

Fujitsu has recently unveiled the 3G-equipped LifeBook U820, which is priced from $1,199.  The U820 is a tablet style mini-notebook that features a 5.6-inch display, 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, 1GB of RAM, 120GB hard drive, 1.3-megapixel webcam, GPS, Bluetooth and a built-in card reader.  Additionally, the U820 can be configured with either a 2-cell or 4-cell battery and is running Windows Vista Home Premium with an option to upgrade to Windows Vista Business.  The one catch with the 3G-equipped U820 is that you will have to choose the 120GB hard drive as the 64GB SSD and smaller 60GB hard drive do not offer the AT&T Broadband option.

Product [Fujitsu]  Via [Pocketables]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 23 Dec 2008 | 4:45 am

Bambuser Gets A Facelift, Rejoins The Mobile Video Streaming War

We haven’t covered live video streaming startup Bambuser until now, but the Swedish startup is rapidly shaping up to becoming a formidable contender to the likes of Qik, Flixwagon, and Kyte in the race to turn mobile phones into portable TV studios. Bambuser has just released an updated version of its site, which features a new embeddable player and more intuitive interface.

The site strongly resembles Qik, which we’ve covered extensively. Users can stream videos directly from their mobile phones to their profiles on Bambuser and can also syndicate their video elsewhere on the web using embeddable video players. Videos can be streamed over either Wi-Fi or 3G, and the software supports a range of phones running on Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms (you can see a full list here).

The site’s biggest differentiator is its ability to automatically pinpoint where users are streaming from using GPS, which it then presents in a Google Map alongside its videos. It’s not a major feature, and is one that Qik and its competitors could likely implement without much trouble (Update: Qik actually does have it). In the end, it will be the service with the best quality and ubiquity that will win out (so far Qik has the advantage in terms of compatibility - it already supports BlackBerry, which Bambuser doesn’t).

There may also be another entry into this space soon: we’ve received leaked footage of a mobile version of Ustream, a live video streaming site that until now has not supported mobile devices.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 23 Dec 2008 | 4:41 am

HP Announces Wireless Printing App for iPhone

It's not the super portable thin printer we've advocated for in the past, but HP's upcoming app for the iPhone promises to at least save you some time in the tedious printing process.

HP announced its iPrint Photo application today as precursor to its main debut during CES 2009 (only two weeks away now). The free app allows you to print 4 x 6-inch photos from your iPod Touch or iPhone to HP printers connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Since those two gadgets are basically tiny PCs, it was a given that one of the main printing leaders created a way to bypass the transfer-to-the-PC step. Still, it appears that there are a few functions that the company missed out on that could have really added something for portable users.

For example, an app that included mix and matching possibilities into a single printing sheet would have been interesting and could have played upon the creativity of iPhone users (as well as the larger options of its line of printers). For now, you can only print one image at a time.

Also, according to the company's website, the printing from the Apple portables can't be interrupted in the middle of the wireless command -- otherwise, the job will likely be cancelled

Recently, we noted that several companies were in the process of creating gadgets compatible with small, digital, portable cameras and that have the ability to print pics on the fly. Part of this development is due to the surprising re-emergence and cultural appreciation of instantaneous cameras, like the classic 'shake-it' Polaroid. Cameras with embedded printers, like the Tomy Xiao and the Instax 200, produce the pictures immediately.

The HP app doesn't solve the paper side of the printing equation, but if you have access to a somewhat small HP printer that can be carried around, it will prove useful and you might even be able to get better prints that with the other cameras. Of course, there is one thing the app can't do, and that's improving the camera in the iPhone, which leaves a lot to be desired.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 23 Dec 2008 | 4:35 am

Psystar Claims Apple Forgot To Copyright Mac OS

Preedit writes "Mac cloner Psystar is claiming in new court papers that Apple's copyright suit against it should be dismissed, because Apple has never filed for copyright protection on Mac OS X 10.5 with the US Copyright Office. Infoweek is reporting that the claim, if it holds up, could open the door for third-parties to enter the Mac market without fear of legal action from Apple. In its latest set of allegations, Psystar is also accusing Apple of bricking Macs that don't run on genuine Apple hardware." We've been following the Psystar-Apple imbroglio since the beginning.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 23 Dec 2008 | 4:13 am

Unlocked Nokia E63 now available on Amazon, retailing for $399.95

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile

Amazon has just listed the Nokia E63, which according to the listing is available, but in limited quantities.  We saw the introduction of the E63 back in November, but, at the time, the availability was unknown. 

The Nokia E63 is blue in color and features a full QWERTY keyboard with Wi-Fi, a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, FM radio, memory card slot, speaker phone, 3.5mm headphone jack and is running Symbian.  Additionally, the E61 is listed as an “International Version” which means that US buyers will not be able to take advantage of the built-in 3G.  Like I already mentioned, it seems to be available in limited quantities, as of this posting there was a note of just “5 left in stock.“  The nice part is the price, a reasonable $399.95, which all things considered is not bad for an unlocked handset.

Product [Amazon]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 23 Dec 2008 | 3:28 am

Samsung NC20 netbook details beginning to leak

Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Laptops

Some details are beginning to leak out on the Samsung NC20, which is the follow up to the NC10.  Judging from the leaked specs, this seems for the most part like your typical low-cost laptop, with one exception.  The NC20 is expected to feature a 12.1-inch display, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, Ethernet, Bluetooth, 1.3-megapixel webcam, 3-in-1 card reader and weigh in at 3.3-pounds. 

Now back to that exception, the processor will not be the “standard” 1.6GHz Intel Atom, but instead a 1.3GHz VIA Nano U225.  As far as pricing and availability, while nothing has been stated officially, it looks like it will be retailing for around $650 with an announcement coming during CES 2009.

Read [Notebook Italia]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 23 Dec 2008 | 2:44 am

Stanley Milgram's shocking experiment, redux

A Santa Clara University professor is the latest person to replicate Stanley Milgram's shocking 1960s psychological experiments around obedience to authority. As regular BB readers know, Yale University social psychologist Milgram's most infamous study involved subjects administering apparently painful and even lethal electric shocks to others just because an authority figure in a lab coat told them to. Times have changed, but people haven't. From the San Jose Mercury News:

Burger found that 70 percent of the participants had to be stopped from escalating shocks over 150 volts, despite hearing cries of protest and pain. Decades earlier, Milgram found that 82.5 percent of participants continued administering shocks. Of those, 79 percent continued to the shock generator's end, at 450 volts.

Burger's experiment did not go that far.

"The conclusion is not: 'Gosh isn't this a horrible commentary on human nature,' or 'these people were so sadistic,'' said Burger.

"It shows the opposite — that there are situational forces that have a much greater impact on our behavior than most people recognize,'' he said.

"Santa Clara University professor mirrors famous torture study" (Thanks, Robert Pescovitz!)

Source: Boing Boing | 23 Dec 2008 | 2:26 am

Boing Boing tv year in review: Galactic Super Funtime

(Flash embed above, and here's a downloadable MP4.)

Happy Lazy-Time on Boing Boing tv! We're slowing down for the holidays, and taking a few weeks to gloat over all the fun stuff we produced together in 2008. Come join us in the seasonal gloating! Right here, under the genetically engineered mistletoe, by the warmth of burning fuel cells.

Today's installment: Remember when we flew out to the Mojave Spaceport to hang out with astronaut and American hero Buzz Aldrin, Virgin Galactic (and Virgin America, and Virgin everything) founder Sir Richard Branson, Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan, and other space luminaries for the Virgin Galactic launch? Well, why don't we just revisit that moment of glory here. It was a lot of fun. And we're hoping a future episode of our video hijinks will actually take place on the spacecraft. That's what we want for Christmas.

Original blog post here:
BBtv: Virgin Galactic and WhiteKnightTwo with Buzz, Branson, and Rutan.

Why revisit this episode today? Snip from a blog post on spacefellowship.com:

Earlier this week images were appearing on the internet showing that the WhiteKnightTwo craft had been doing some tests in Mojave, the earliest tests showed perhaps two of the engines being used, while a later test showed all the engines working and some further testing. Today we finally saw the four Pratt & Whitney Canada PW308A engines carrying the craft into the air and a huge milestone being reached by Virgin Galactic.

The maiden flight of the craft lasted just shy of one hour and happened today at around 08.15 at Mojave air and spaceport. Rumours suggest that a Beechcraft King Air was used for a chase plane. (...) This key event now leads us into an interesting 2009 when we should see the SpaceShipTwo craft being unveiled.

Read: Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Mothership Makes Maiden Flight.

And, you may also enjoy revisiting this related Boing Boing tv episode, another one of our faves from 2008: Xeni kicks the tech tires on Virgin America (Flash embed below, here's the downloadable MP4 Link).

In case you're joining the party late -- you can watch Boing Boing tv while you're on Virgin America airplanes, we think they're about as awesome as an airline gets, and I believe the Galactic episode above is actually playing on seat-back rotation right now.

Source: Boing Boing | 23 Dec 2008 | 2:20 am

Microsoft Warns of SQL Attack (PC World)

PC World - Just days after patching a critical flaw in its Internet Explorer browser, Microsoft is now warning users of a serious bug in its SQL Server database software.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Dec 2008 | 2:10 am

Not All Cores Are Created Equal

joabj writes "Virginia Tech researchers have found that the performance of programs running on multicore processors can vary from server to server, and even from core to core. Factors such as which core handles interrupts, or which cache holds the needed data can change from run to run. Such resources tend to be allocated arbitrarily now. As a result, program execution times can vary up to 10 percent. The good news is that the VT researchers are working on a library that will recognize inefficient behavior and rearrange things in a more timely fashion." Here is the paper, Asymmetric Interactions in Symmetric Multicore Systems: Analysis, Enhancements and Evaluation (PDF).

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:56 am

The State Of The Twittersphere (HubSpot Edition)

How many followers do most people really have on Twitter? The average number of both followers and other members people on Twitter are following is about 70, according to the State of the Twittersphere, a new report by Web marketing startup HubSpot. (Full report embedded below). But that average is skewed by elite Twitterers who have hundreds or thousands of followers. The vast majority of people on Twitter use it to keep in touch with a much smaller circle of friends and peers. For those with 50 or fewer followers (three quarters of all users), the average number of followers is 15.6 and the average number of people they are following is 18.4.

HubSpot’s State of the Twittersphere report is inspired by Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere, which tries to quantify trends across all the blogs it tracks. HubSpot gets its data from Twitter Grader, a site it operates that generates a grade for Twitter users based on factors such as how many followers they have, the reach of the people who are following them, and how often they post updates.

Twitter Grader is basically a vanity search site for Twitter, but it has managed to compile data on over 500,000 Twitter accounts, which is probably around 10 percent of the total. It is not clear how representative these users are, but it is a large sample and they certainly are not all power users. (Three percent had 0 followers, 9 percent didn’t follow anyone else, and 22 percent had five or fewer followers). Until Twitter releases its own State of the Twittersphere report, this is as good as the data gets.

Some other key stats from the report:

—70% of Twitter users joined in 2008
—20% of Twitter users have joined in the past 60 days
—The average user has been on Twitter 275 days

So it is pretty much all newbies, and mainstream adoption is just getting started.

—The most popular days of the week to Tweet are Wednesday and Thursday
—An estimated 5,000 to 10,000 new accounts are registered each day.
—Only 5 percent of all Twitter users have more than 250 followers.
—Only 0.8 percent have more than 1,000
—22 percent have five or fewer followers
—Another 24 percent (the largest group) have between 11 and 25 followers

Similarly, most people don’t follow more than 25 other people. In fact, 30 percent follow the Tweets of five or fewer other members. Again, 11 to 25 seems to be a sweet spot, with 21 percent users following that many others. Here’s is the breakdown:

State of the Twittersphere - Get more Information Technology

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

Source: TechCrunch | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:54 am

Hackers Mod Nerf Gun Into Crazy Weapon of Cushiony Destruction

The joy of Nerf-play never fades. But the older you get, the sillier you look shooting toy guns. Modify a Nerf gun to shoot as fast as a machine gun, and you've got a different story.

That's what a pair of hackers -- Eli and Aaron at ManaPotions -- sought out to do. They modified a Nerf chaingun to spit out 500 rounds per minute by increasing its voltage. And on top of that, they added a round counter and gave the gun a paint job.

That's some serious horsing around. The hack cost them about $80; they provide an entire how-to on their site. Check out the video below the jump.

[via Engadget]

Photo: ManaPotions

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:48 am

Lenovo to show dual-screen laptop at CES

Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Hardware, Laptops, Trade Shows, CES

Usually if you want to have a dual-screen display, you need to buy a second screen, hook it up and try to get both screens up and running.  It tends to be a bit of a pain if you haven’t done it before.  However, for some people, having two screens is the only way to do everything they want to with a computer.  At CES Lenovo will make it much easier for those who want two screens, especially if you want to bring both screen with you wherever you go.

At CES Lenovo will show off its upcoming ThinkPad W700ds, which features a 17 inch display, as well as a second, 10.6 inch screen.  The second screen pops out of the primary screen via a spring-loaded “pocket door.“  The second screen has a resolution of 768x1280, which is fairly impressive for a secondary screen, especially considering it would have been much easier to just shove in an S10 netbook screen.  Other specs include an Intel Core 2 Extreme or Core 2 Quad, up to a ridiculous 8 GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M.

The system is made mainly for photographers and graphic designers, or anyone else who finds it necessary to carry a very heavy, dual-screened laptop.  With max brightness, the battery is said to last 2 hours, which isn’t surprising for two screens, but this seems more like a portable workstation than a straight out laptop. 

Images show the machine running Vista, though it might possibly be configurable to run XP.  According to Electronista, it also works with Red Hat and Ubuntu Linux distros, and will work with Windows 7 when its released.  The thought of running a dual screen laptop wit Ubuntu is intriguing, but it doesn’t seem all that necessary to me as a blogger or a gamer.

Read [Electronista via eWeek]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:33 am

HP’s iPrint Photo for the iPhone, iPod touch: Print your photos wirelessly!

HP has a quick and dirty little iPhone (and iPod touch) application that may interest you. It’s free, too!

Anyhow, the application, iPrint Photo [iTunes link], lets you print photos located on your iPhone (and iPod touch) on an HP printer that’s on the same Wi-Fi network. So, you’re walking about your house and say to yourself, “Man, I need to print this photo right now, well, now you can.

Being that I don’t have either an iPhone or iPod touch I can’t test it out; the reviews on the App Store are positive, though.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 23 Dec 2008 | 1:24 am

Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly To Run For California Attorney General

Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly will be announcing his candidacy for the office of Attorney General of California, we’ve heard from multiple sources. He’ll be running in the 2010 election as a Democrat, and will be leaving Facebook (or taking a leave of absence) in June 2009 to focus on his campaign.

Three others have already declared their candidacy, including San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, Torrence assemblyman Ted Liu and Pittsburg assemblyman Gerald Canciamilla.

This puts Facebook in an awkward position, as Kelly has led the team that represents the company in their ongoing negotiations with Attorneys General around the U.S. They’ll need to hire a replacement for Kelly, fast.

As Facebook grows it continues to draw fire from the government and various privacy advocates, and things are going to get worse over time, not better. Concerns range from too much private information getting into the hands of third parties to Facebook becoming a platform for the spread of computer viruses. Reports of terrorist and hate groups using the site to draw recruits have recently popped up. And Facebook, like many online services, wages a relentless war against spammers.

It will be interesting to see if voters think of Kelly as a man in the trenches who understands privacy and security issues, or the guy who’s defended Facebook’s various slip ups over the years as the company has experimented with new privacy-pushing products like Beacon.

Kelly is a former attorney who worked at Baker & Mckenzie and Wilson Sonsini. He also served as an education advisor in the Clinton Administration. He wouldn’t comment on this article (nor would he comment on the “latte incident“).

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

Source: TechCrunch | 23 Dec 2008 | 12:51 am

Spacewalk under way

Two members of the International Space Station crew have begun a spacewalk to install experiments and an electromagnetic energy probe, NASA said Monday night. Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov also plan to take photographs and relocate an experiment that measures thruster exhaust plumes, the space agency said on its Web site.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 23 Dec 2008 | 12:37 am

Susie Bright: "My Psychoanalyst Says There Ain't Any Santa Claus"

Bright Eyes (1934)

Starring Shirley Temple, with Charles Sellon -- completely upstaged by uber-brat Jane Withers. I'm starting to see where PeeWee Herman got some of his moves!

One of the best rat-a-tat-tat's is between the Indulgent Mom and her Spoiled Child:

Anita Smythe: Now, dear, practice your piano and Mama will buy you something nice.
Joy Smythe: What?
Anita Smythe: Anything you like. What do you especially want?
Joy Smythe: A machine gun!

Withers was cast- and everyone else sent home- the moment the director, David Butler, heard her impression of a machine gun.

Bright Eyes was quite the splash for our Shirley.  She won the first "child's" Oscar and made a hit out of the film's classic tune, "The Good Ship Lollypop." It was 1934's big Christmas movie. Even the dog in the show was a star- the same pooch played Toto in The Wizard of Oz!

(Susie Bright is a guest blogger)

Source: Boing Boing | 23 Dec 2008 | 12:34 am

Gadget Lab Podcast #58: Macworld: Show's Over, Folks (Without Apple)

In the latest episode of the Gadget Lab podcast, Brian Chen and Priya Ganapati discuss Apple's shocking announcement that Steve Jobs will not appear at January's Macworld Expo. And beyond that, Apple said the corporation would cease attending Macworld after 2009. We talk about what this all means for Apple and Macworld. (One thing's clear: You can expect pretty boring Apple products to launch at Macworld, such as the rumored upgrade for the Mac Mini.) 

On a related note, we also discuss the possibility of Dell working on an ultra thin notebook to compete with Apple's MacBook Air. Then, we analyze a new trend seen in netbooks: Cellphone-like contracts.

If the embedded player above doesn't work, you can download the Gadget Lab podcast MP3.

Use iTunes? Subscribe to the Gadget Lab Audio Podcast in iTunes. Do it now!

You also simply must check out the Gadget Lab Video Podcast — available on iTunes and the Gadget Lab blog.

 

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 23 Dec 2008 | 12:26 am

Nothing Escapes the Pull of a PlayStation 3, Not Even a Black Hole (PC World)

PC World - How did Sony's PlayStation 3 solve an astrophysics puzzler? Easy: With a pallet full of sleek sable doppelgangers crunching the interstellar math in tandem.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Dec 2008 | 12:25 am

Scrapplet: Powerful Social Web Canvases That Are As Easy As Drag-And-Drop

There are a few sites out there that let you aggregate your entire online presence into a single place, but for the most part they offer little control over the way your information is actually presented. Today sees the launch of Scrapplet, a powerful new website/platform based entirely on JavaScript that allows users to design pages combining all of this information to their liking using a WYSIWYG interface. The site also offers a dizzying array of options - so many, in fact, that the site could be used by experienced developers to create pages that go far beyond showing off your interests and favorite photos.

CEO Steve Repetti stresses that Scrapplet isn’t another social network - rather, it’s a place for you to compile all of your information from sites across the web and present it however you’d like. The site gives users a blank canvas, allowing them to import information from sites including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, RSS feeds, and a number of other sources. You can also embellish your profile with music, embedded videos, and images.

Once you’ve imported all of your content, you can drag and drop each item wherever you’d like in your canvas. Each item also has a properties menu that allows you to customize how it should behave (for example, you can determine if it should have a border or if it should “stick” to another item on your canvas, or if should move independently when it’s dragged). More advanced options include a Timer, Rollover, and OnClick actions that allow you to execute commands accordingly.

To novice computer users, Scrapplet’s wide array of available options can be daunting at first. Immediately after registering, I was presented with a page full of default widgets, asking me to add a profile picture, configure my guestbook, list a few of my favorite things, and so on - there was so much there that I simply didn’t know where to start. Fortunately the site offers a listing of Scrapplets created by other users, which gives an idea of what’s available. Repetti says that while there is a learning curve, once you’ve got the basics down it becomes much more intuitive (as proof as its wide accessibility, he directed me to this canvas, which was created by a user named Rockin’ Grandma). Still, it would be nice if the site offered a better tutorial, or allowed users to go into ‘Easy’ mode by eliminating advanced options entirely.

Besides appealing to more casual users, Scrapplet also has the potential to become very popular for businesses and experienced developers. Because users are free to append their canvases with extra code, developers can enhance their Scrapplet pages, leveraging the platform to quickly build powerful web apps. For an example, check out this sample Gallery Scrapplet, which showcases some of the site’s layering and lighting effects in a virtual art gallery.

Repetti is a member of the board of the DataPortability project, so it comes as little surprise that Scrapplet canvases can be exported to a number of widespread formats, and it’s also easy to share to other social online services. The site also readily supports logins through OpenID, as well as other sites like Facebook. Scrapplet is going to be free for most users, who will probably be fine with only a few canvas pages. Users with more than 7 canvas pages or who want to present their canvases on a custom domain will need to become paid members, with memberships beginning at around $2.95 per month.

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Source: TechCrunch | 23 Dec 2008 | 12:24 am

Red Hat 3Q up 20 pct, but revenue below estimate (AP)

AP - Red Hat Inc. on Monday reported a 20 percent increase in profit for the third quarter as budget-conscious companies opted for the software provider's open-source Linux operating system over more expensive proprietary systems.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Dec 2008 | 12:16 am

ScrollMotion Partners With Major Publishers To Turn Popular Books Into iPhone Apps

Tired of lugging around paperbacks, but don’t feel like dropping the extra change for a standalone e-book reader when you already own an iPhone? ScrollMotion has announced that they’ve partnered with Random House, Simon & Schuster, Houghton Mifflin, Penguin Group USA and Hachette to begin selling e-books repackaged as iPhone applications, or “books-as-apps”.

Serving as the core of all of these app-books is ScrollMotion’s Iceberg Reader, which they promise provides a “natural book-like reading experience”, with pagination, cover art, adjustable text size, and margin notes.

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Source: TechCrunch | 23 Dec 2008 | 12:16 am

ScrollMotion partners with major publishers to turn popular books into iPhone apps

Tired of lugging around paperbacks, but don’t feel like dropping the extra change for a standalone e-book reader when you already own an iPhone? ScrollMotion has announced that they’ve partnered with Random House, Simon & Schuster, Houghton Mifflin, Penguin Group USA and Hachette to begin selling e-books repackaged as iPhone applications, or “books-as-apps”.

Serving as the core of all of these app-books is ScrollMotion’s Iceberg Reader, which they promise provides a “natural book-like reading experience”, with pagination, cover art, adjustable text size, and margin notes. To turn the page, readers swipe across the image as they would to jump between pictures in the on-device Photo app. Each book is self-contained, with both the reading application and the book itself built-in.

ScrollMotion certainly isn’t the first to take such an approach - in fact, Apple’s got an entire section [iTunes link] dedicated to this type of thing, already containing over 600 books. It is, however, the most significant publishing partnership we’ve heard of thus far, as each of the publishing houses involved has a solid library of popular content. As examples, ScrollMotion came out swinging with Random House’s The Golden Compass [iTunes Link] and Hachette’s Twilight [iTunes Link], both of which would be considered best sellers by anyone’s count.

For heavy ebook readers, the prices may be a bit steep. For the 11 Iceberg Reader powered books I could find in the app store, the prices fell between $12 and $28, with each book coming in at 30-40% more than what their respective “Kindle edition” goes for on Amazon. The Golden Compass is $11.99 through ScrollMotion, while it’s $7.50 for the Kindle. Twilight is $10.99, or $6.04 for Amazon’s reader. While that’s not enough to justify the purchase of a Kindle for most (especially at today’s post-Oprah prices), the difference starts to accrue pretty quick for avid readers.

As a side note, I’m a bit surprised that Apple has yet to incorporate a first-party eBook solution into the iPhone, beyond the clunky PDF-via-email method already in place. With the current books-as-apps solution, every development house has their own book reader, each with entirely different UIs and functionality. As anyone who has read through Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines could probably tell you, that sort of goes against their normal practices. Why not throw in a standard reader, and let publishing houses peddle their goods to the consumer as musicians and application developers can?

ScrollMotion Iceberg Reader

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Source: MobileCrunch | 23 Dec 2008 | 12:05 am

Fat-Fueled Ford Is Biodiesel Biohazard

A Beverly Hills plastic surgeon used fat collected from liposuctions to fuel his SUV? Uh-huh. Sure he did.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Dec 2008 | 11:30 pm

Good: The return of amateur science

I wrote for an essay for Good magazine's blog about the rebirth of amateur science. Here's an except:

For 72 years, Scientific American ran its popular “Amateur Scientist” column, which debuted in 1928. Projects included constructing an electron accelerator, making amino acids, photographing air currents, measuring the metabolic rate of small animals, extracting antibiotics from soil, culturing aquatic insects, tracking satellites, constructing an atom smasher, extracting the growth substances from a cantaloupe, conducting maze experiments with cockroaches, making an electrocardiogram of a water flea, constructing a Foucalt pendulum, and experimenting with geotropism. Who knew you could have so much fun at the kitchen table?

Good: The Return of Amateur Science

Source: Boing Boing | 22 Dec 2008 | 11:18 pm

Science Behind Mysterious 'Fifth Taste' Revealed

Scientists have revealed how the fifth taste — termed umami — works, raising the possibility that food engineers could create a better alternative to MSG.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Dec 2008 | 11:00 pm

COOP's Boing Boing t-shirt!

COOP and Ruth's new Boing Boing t-shirts featuring COOP's awesome artwork are now shipping! I can't wait until my order arrives. There were only 69 available and Ruth tells me they are selling quickly.
Long-sleeved Boing Boing t-shirt

Source: Boing Boing | 22 Dec 2008 | 10:30 pm

Analysis: RIAA Strategy Shift Mired in Murky Legal Waters

Although the Recording Industry Association of America says it is abandoning its litigation campaign against online copyright scofflaws, it continues to embrace a legally muddy definition of what constitutes copyright infringement.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Dec 2008 | 10:19 pm

Energy Dept. biofuels grants available

Up to $200 million for pilot and demonstration-scale biorefineries is available to develop cost-efficient advanced biofuels, the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Dec 2008 | 10:18 pm

Kaden Harris's alcohol without liquid delivery system

Over the years, we've posted about vaporized alcohol delivery systems that enable users to "inhale" their booze. Well, Kaden Harris, the incredible eccentric genius who creates antiques from a parallel universe, has constructed his own "alcohol without liquid" device. Of course, Kaden's machine, named Mr. Mister, is far more enticing than the commercial versions. From Kaden's project page:

The tech is pretty simple: It's an industrial strength ultrasonic mist generator in a sealed chamber, with a 3 outlet manifold so you and two friends can get traditionally festive in a new and exciting way.

It does wot it sez on the package.

With considerable efficiency when used with resin/ethyl alcohol solutions.

Kaden Harris's Mr. Mister

Source: Boing Boing | 22 Dec 2008 | 10:10 pm

Spacewalk includes experiment retrieval

Retrieving experiments and checking the Russian segment of the International Space Station were on the work detail of the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Dec 2008 | 10:04 pm

Docs to learn battlefield acupuncture

The U.S military is adding acupuncture to its repertoire for relieving chronic pain, said Pacific College of Oriental Medicine officials. In fact, the Air Force will add a class in battlefield acupuncture beginning next year for physicians being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, the college said Monday in a news release. Acupuncture can relieve a range of pain, including sharp chronic pain, for days at a time, Pacific College said. Physicians will learn auricular acupuncture -- or acupuncture of the ear -- is the primary technique the physicians will learn, officials said.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Dec 2008 | 10:01 pm

Textecution Hopes To Put An End To Texting While Driving

Texting while driving is incredibly dangerous - perhaps moreso than driving under the influence according to some studies - yet it is a widespread habit that is socially acceptable, especially among younger crowds. Some states are finally beginning to outlaw the act, but as with the recent legislation mandating Bluetooth headsets, this will be difficult to enforce.

The solution may wind up coming not from the lawmakers, but from the phones themselves. Technology firm eLYK Innovation has created a $10 application called Textecution for Google’s Android mobile platform that will sit in the background and use the phone’s GPS system to detect whenever the phone is moving faster than 10 MPH, at which time the app will deactivate the phone’s SMS capabilities. Once the phone comes to a standstill (say, at a stop light) the driver will be allowed to text again within a few seconds.

The application has been designed primarily for adults looking to keep their teens (who are apparently most prone to the behavior) in check. When parents install Textecution on their child’s Android phone, they are asked for an ‘admin phone number’, which will be contacted if the child ever needs to temporarily deactivate the app (like if they’re on a train or in the passenger seat). To grant the exception, the parent simply sends an SMS message saying “Allow”.

Unfortunately while Textecution has admirable goals (namely, keeping everyone safer), it has some serious flaws. For one, children can easily remove the application without needing any administrator approval (though the developers are considering implementing tighter restrictions). The exception system is also far from perfect - any teenager who frequently rides trains or as a passenger in a car will be constantly assailing their parents with exception requests and will probably be more likely to simply disable to application than constantly check in for approval.

There are a few other methods being employed to address this issue. Key2SafeDriving makes a key fob that disables phone activity, which is another big-brotherish approach that most teens will just find a way to circumvent. In the long run, the solution will likely be something that offers the convenience of SMS without the constant need to read from a tiny screen - one contender is Yap, which allows drivers to translate their voice into SMS text messages without taking their eyes off the road.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 22 Dec 2008 | 9:49 pm

Angry mob attacks Nokia store in India

Nokia’s maps caused a big stir in Jabalpur city, India, because they show Kashmir as being part of Pakistan. Led by members of the youth wing of BJP, one of India’s political parties, an angry mob seized Nokia handsets from a local store and set them on fire. Take that, Nokia!

The local BJP legislator claimed Nokia’s transgression was “a case of anti-nationalism. We demanded that the Nokia and other people involved in the conspiracy be booked for spreading anti-national activities. We will intensify the protest if this case has not been registered.”

This is the problem of Nokia and we are not concerned with it as we are merely shop owners, not the client of the company. But, the manner in which the mob entered and started torching the shop is bad,” said Rafiq Khan, the Nokia showroom owner.

You know, if looters set fire to a shop’s product in the U.S., I can guarantee that the store owner would have a slightly different tone.

Via: Cellular-News

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Source: MobileCrunch | 22 Dec 2008 | 9:41 pm

Pass it on: Football 2 for iPhone

IPhone developer Mark Helmuth is dedicated to feeding the old-school handheld gaming nostalgia beast: LED Football 2 is released today for iPhone. It'll be up at the AppStore imminently.

New features include running, kicking, punts, field goals and, of course, passing. It even emulates the slow accumulation of wear on the plastic buttons:

Introducing LED Football 2 with passing. Now you're in charge with 2nd generation electronic football technology! Total Control LED Football 2 with Passing means you have total offense. Now the power is at your fingertips to bring the defense to its knees. Watch as your receiver goes wide and your Quarterback locks on. Hit the orange PASS button and let that bad boy fly over the heads of that shifty defense (watch out, they can and will intercept you!) and into the waiting arms of your fastest receiver. Now you take control of the receiver as you dodge that line of defense.

Homepage [LED Football]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 22 Dec 2008 | 9:28 pm

8 Signs That Apple Customers Are No Longer Special

Guess what, Apple elitists? You're no longer special; you're like everyone else. Here's a list of eight reasons why.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 22 Dec 2008 | 9:15 pm

Healthy may have possible autoimmune cells

Potential autoimmunity-inducing cells have been found in healthy humans as well patients with autoimmune diseases such as lupus, U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 22 Dec 2008 | 9:00 pm

Inexpensive hack turns cameraphones into pathogen detectors

Wired's Dave Bullock has a write-up and gallery of a cellphone hacked by UCLA researchers that, using just a simple plastic light filter, can be used to test for HIV, malaria, and other diseases in blood.

Scientists Hack Cellphone to Analyze Blood, Detect Disease, Help Developing Nations [Wired.com] (Thanks, Zuzu!)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 22 Dec 2008 | 8:23 pm

Pissing Match: Operational cost of Roomba vs. (expensive) upright

While ignoring carbon emission factors like cost of production and such, Treehugger's Alan Graham used his trusty Kill-A-Watt to see which cost more to operate: a Roomba or a Dyson upright vacuum.

The numbers are interesting, but in the interest of not stealing his thunder, I'll only excerpt the Rooma's:

Total cost of ownership so far:

$250 Roomba purchase price
$118 Batteries
$5.64 Electricity per year
$58 Parts
Warranty lasts for 1 year
---------
$443 total cost (cost will vary depending upon electricity rates in different areas and other variables, of course)
Average of $51.76 per year for parts and batteries, and an averaged annual cost of about $130 since purchase

Of course he ignores one key line item: the Roomba is a happy chap with a mustache and a handsome cap, while the Dyson is a sunken-cheeked bishop with haughty lips pursed in disapproval. Can you put a price on robot demeanor?

Is it Greener to Use a Roomba or an Upright? [Treehugger]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 22 Dec 2008 | 8:17 pm

Mitch Altman travels to Paris (some more!)

Mitch Altman — Finally, I’ve finished (mostly) catching up with (enough) of my emails (for now), and have been bopping all around Paris, eating plenty of excellent examples of pain au chocolate, one of my favorite things about our universe.  I’ve also been invited to plenty of peoples’ apartments, and getting to know some very interesting people.  My host in Paris is an established photographer and also a well known activist that goes by the name of Charlie de Nose.  Of the many interesting actions he has been involved with, one of my favorites was: putting a pirate TV transmitter on the Eiffel Tower, and broadcasting illegally from it for 6 months before getting caught.  In the US Charlie and his group might have been called terrorists (a label that is way too easily bandied about over the past few years), but here in Paris, they were simply told not to do it again.  (Do a search for “Zalea TV Tour Eiffel” and make use of your favorite translation medium.)  He also organized an anti-war event at a community center, and somehow during the event the Coke machine they rented as the center-piece of the performance caught on fire while videos of “Dr. Strangelove” mixed with actual footage from Iraq on the floor.  I met Charlie through a journalist from Libération who interviewed me in the early days of TV-B-Gone media craziness.  As well as hosting me in his wonderful, government-subsidized apartment (they actually support the arts in France!), Charlie is a great connector, hosting get-togethers where journalists, film makers, artists of all sorts, many flavors of activists, and other interesting, creative, intelligent people mix and mingle in long nights of conversation and friendly debate.

The night before Charlie’s most recent get-together I gave a soldering workshop at /tmp/lab, the hacker space in Paris.  Any disappointment I initially experienced at the low turnout was quickly dispelled as people successfully soldered their projects together.  Making things is really fun!  And it is incredibly gratifying to show people, even if they have never made anything before, that they really can make things!

Tonight I hung out with a young video maker and VJ, discussing, over some brilliant couscous, how best to touch others with our work, the nature of activism, the inherent lack of utopia on our planet, as well as the power we all have, whether we know it or not, each in our own way, to improve our lives, as well as the lives of those around us.  Before we knew it the restaurant was closed, and all of the tables but ours had their chairs stacked up.  We almost went to a party I was invited to, but it was time to go home and type all this up (with the sounds of Charlie and his girlfriend enjoying their company above me)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 22 Dec 2008 | 8:05 pm

Kiboko camera backpack designed by wildlife shooter

Just as wearing skin-tight cycling shorts endorsed by Lance Armstrong lets you bike more efficiently and using a keyboard gummed up with FATAL1TY's name makes you a better gamer (LIVE FATAL wristbands forthcoming, surely), this new "Kiboko" camera backpack, designed by "renowned wildlife photographer" Andy Biggs will certainly make you more than able to get that close-up of your golden retriever taking down a zebra in your backyard.

Which is not to say that it doesn't look pretty decent. It does. Deep enough to hold big SLR bodies and medium format cameras, as well as up to 600mm lens, the whole bag is made of a lightweight sailcloth that keeps the unloaded bag down to under four pounds.

It's priced for pros, though: $400 if you buy direct from manufacturer Guru Gear.

Kiboko camera bag product page [GuraGear.com]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 22 Dec 2008 | 7:57 pm

Nokia N79 Firmware update packs a punch

We’ve seen plenty of firmware updates hit plenty of devices in our time, but the newest N79 update puts them all to shame. Seriously - it’s fourteen pages long, by print preview’s count.

Besides new versions of N-Gage and Mail for Exchange, the rest of the list is made up of bug fixes and tweaks. Now, one might be tempted to give Nokia a bit of flack for letting so many issues-needin-fixing slip through to the N79 in the first place - but anytime someone brings a small novel of improvements to anything, they’re cool in our book.

Check for the full list after the jump. (Remember - it’s 14 pages long. If you’re still on 14 baud, your setup might explode)

[Via S60Inside via SymbianGuru]

Changes/improvements made from MCU SW version 10.046 to version 11.049:

New features:
- New version of N-Gage
- New version of Mail for Exchange

Changes:
Active Idle
- Search & WLAN information difficult to read in Active Idle.
- Active Idle screen becomes blank in landscape mode.
- Default Active Idle shortcuts configured.
- Active Idle going dead after quickly accepting and rejecting an incoming video call.
- White boxes shown on the screen while doing orientation change quickly in idle mode.

Application Manager
- The sis file which is installed to MoviNand or SD card cannot be seen in application manager.
- Wrong Feature Manager flag used for seamless link functionality.
- Flashlite sis installation is not successful in the first attempt.

Application Update
- Unable to upgrade graphic icons in Media Player / Media Settings via sis file.
- Unable to upgrade ROM based UI application by installing new version to memory card.
- Application Update self-update never completes.
- Upgrade of BrowserAudioVideoPlugin.rsc via sw installation is not possible.
- Upgrade of Connection Manager via sw installation is not possible.

Audio Performance
- Tunings improvements for IHF audio.
- Keypad tones cannot be tuned for IHF.

Auto-Rotate
- UI Accelerator toolkit (Hitchcock/Alfred) stub file missing.
- Locking keys and then opening camera reveal confuses orientation sensor.
- Disable orientation in alarm ringing, incoming call and semi active state.
- Panic after orientation change.

Bluetooth
- Bluetooth headset disconnects when Wireless Keyboard is disconnected from the phone automatically.
- Phone panics when changing views in Bluetooth menu while choosing the last connected device from paired view.
- Phone crashes and doesn’t disconnect correctly in audio gateway.
- BT stereo audio drops when using certain accessories.

Bookmarks
- Pre-defined browser bookmarks missing from APAC2 variant.
- Added empty folder in Americas bookmarks to make embedded bookmarks work.
- Bookmark shortcuts revert to prior setting following backup.

Browser and Streaming
- After selecting a link in Expedia website, a panic occurred and “Application closed: !CookieServer” is shown.
- Device crashes upon receiving a big cookie in an HTTP response.
- Hotspot Browser Login UI not scalable.
- Browser launch in embedded mode with custom access point setting does not work.
- Reconnecting to streaming content doesn’t work and default connection is changed to “Always ask” after trying to connect again.
- Note “MediaPlayerTemp has not been saved. Save now” displays when user exits preview in BrowserNG.
- 30s timer for out-of-coverage monitoring in the browser utilities is too short
- ITU keypad lights stays off when browsing in landscape mode.
- Helix crash or general “memory full” issue occurred when streaming a high resolution clip (704×576) and high bit rate (3Mbip/s).
- PP bit #165 flag should be off.

Calendar
- Calendar plug-in displays events incorrectly.
- Alarms missed note shown when Calendar is opened even when there are no missed alarms.

Camera and Video
- Indicator LED is not on.
- Application closed: Image viewer is shown after pressing Send key many times.
- LED flash is weak.
- Still capture and video recording with main camera does not work when there is a HW fault with acme secondary camera.
- Capture tone and Internet Radio play simultaneous when capture button is pressed when camera is auto focusing.
- Sometimes images captured in dark conditions are totally white
- Front camera image rotation is not working properly.
- Camera crashes if IVE policy server releases client immediately after reserve.
- Camera view finder opens when keylock is on.
- Camera freezes when capturing video with “Normal” quality and when Photos application is not closed after clip has been watched.
- Phone does not go to sleep after opening/closing camera reveal.
- Keylock activation plus opening camera reveal causes new camera instance started.
- Camera shutter and volume key lights are OFF when secondary camera is in use.
- Camera reveal open/close events are not executed when keypad is locked.
- Device does not go to sleep correctly after using camera.
- Error note “Unexpected error occurred…” displays and Camera cannot be used unless reboot DUT after playing one video clip in different Phone mode on TV.
- After recording and then deleting the video, the camera LED flashes once when back to video mode.
- Image and video counter do not display all digits in settings views.
- Camera is disabled if keylock is pressed (unlocked) during video call.
- Camera preview opens even in keylock.
- Camera application is started even when device is locked.
- Phone does not go to sleep after opening/closing camera reveal.
- Recorded video time counter disappears when another video is captured subsequently.
- Camera viewfinder is shown incorrectly after opening the lens cover when camera is opening.
- Camera cannot be launched when device is in Landscape view.
- Changing to secondary camera when viewfinder is not yet shown causes unexpected error.
- Video camera is not started after few repeats.
- Camera crashes when opening video quality settings rapidly after recording.
- Phone is in still image viewfinder mode when answering an incoming call in burst mode.
- Pressing applications key immediately after starting video capture causes post-capture image to be missing when returning the camera from background.
- Cannot play video sometimes after recording has stopped.
- Phone reboots when recording is started.
- The note of “Unexpected error occurred. Restart phone” pops up when receiving a BT message in recoding state.
- Wrong view is shown when using secondary camera while video playback is paused in the background.
- Viewfinder image quality seriously degrades when recording a video.
- Video playback hangs in application switch use case.
- Crash is detected after recording high quality video clips for 50 iterations.
- Camera jams when stopping video recording.
- The camera hangs when the recording has been paused for one minute.
- Video stabilisation not working.
- Overlapping functionality when pressing Volume/Zoom key in Camera (music is playing in background).
- Keylock plus opening camera reveal causes new camera instance to be started when in Messaging.
- Backlight automatically turned off during video playback.

Clock
- The clock in application status pane is not updated after power-saver deactivates.
- Phone lost correct time during power off.
- Removing battery during alarm makes the device unusable.
- Alarm alert dialogue box disappears if setting new alarm when alarm goes off.
- Display light remains on when clock/calendar alarm is not cancelled or snoozed.

Connectivity
- Device panics when headset is powered on/off very fast.
- Nothing is heard when 616 car kit and wired headphone is connected to the phone during MT CS call.

Contacts
- Contacts application closed after selecting “All contacts” in Multimedia menu.
- Pre-defined Contacts does not support Chinese characters.
- Search pane does not work after deleting one contact in Chinese mode.
- Contact name with enter key is displayed incorrectly in Sender list view after importing it from Contacts.
- Adding new number from SMS to existing number in ADN causes number to corrupt.

Default Settings
- Some default settings values are against the specs in Russian variant.
- Default USB connection mode is Mass storage. It should be PC Suite.

Device Management
- Delivery via Device Management corrupts EAP-FAST PAC file.

File Manager
- The music in File Manager is played when pressing Pause/Play key on headset.
- File manager crash when in USB mass storage connection and trying to copy with Remote drive.
- Unable to open or delete file whose name contains illegal characters.
- Mark/Unmark menu item displays additional ‘Mark All’ sub-menu item even when all items
are already marked.

FM Radio
- S60 3.2 phones allow user to tune to FM frequency lower than 87.5MHz.
- Current Playing Radio item is not shown in idle state of screen after changing standby theme from Basic to Horizontal icon bar.

FM Transmitter
- FM transmitter deactivated after receiving a voice call.
- Audio playback is heard from stereo BT when FM TX is activated.
- FM TX Chirp signal does not switch off after 5 minutes.
- FM TX usability improvements implemented.
- FM transmitter still transmits when headphones attached.
- IHF cannot be enabled during call when FMTx is on.

FOTA
- Mobile crash after updating the phone with dummy package using FOTA.
- FOTA Suspend and Resume: Resume download doesn’t work when DM server uses Silent mode.

Gallery
- Naviscroll behaviour is jumpy in Gallery.
- MPXCollectionserver and SQL Server consuming 20% of CPU for just viewing and switching between images using navikey.
- Naviscroll light is ON only in Gallery/Images folder.

Help
- The help topic for Theme switch can’t be opened.
- Description about Podcasting in Help is incorrect.
- The Help topics about “video sharing” and “video calls” need to be removed in EDGE variant.
- Help data is missing for some options related to access points.
- Help application hangs after selecting Naviwheel setting link in Help.
- Boxes in Help text in Finnish language.
- Strange text exists in Help text for Office Folder in Simplified Chinese language.
- Duplicate word “”Drucken”” in Photos Help topic in German language.
- Most of the help topics are missing when English is in use in Thai variant.
- Some words are localized to incorrect language in Help topics in Bahasia Indonesia language.
- Help topics missing from Camera -> Options -> Customise toolbar -> Options ->Help.
- ‘Frequency presets’ topic is missing in the help of ‘Equaliser’.
- The Application launching link ‘Music player’ does not work in the Help topic of ‘Edit frequency presets’ .
- A blank page is opened when clicking ‘Internet call connectivity sett.’ link in Internet call settings in Help.
- Audio themes application can not be opened when clicking the link from Audio themes in Help.
- Strange text exists in Help text for Games tile when in Chinese language.
- Many question marks in Help for software checker (NSC) in Chinese translation.
- Helps are missing from American-English.
- Some words in Help are localized to incorrect language.
- Wrong help topic opens for Help topic “Sensor settings” in localised English.
- The help content of SW Checker is not shown correctly in Chinese language.
- A few display texts are shown as logical names in Chinese language

Home Media
- Phone UI conflict after playing video and music at same time.
- Upload to Corel DMS failed.
- Filename extension is missing or wrong (.mp3) from downloaded WAV-audio files.
- Share content view is not updated properly.
- Content server crash when C-drive is full.
- None is still displayed for home access point after creating new access point in Home Media.
- Unable to copy image and video files when home network is Orb server.
- Create new access point doesn’t work properly.
- Changing “hide phone” to “show phone” sometimes results with crash.
- Selected device’s Music and Uploaded folders can not be accessed in Home Media.
- Phone crashes when Home Media application is closed.
- DRM file is not skipped when copying files from handset to media server.
- ‘Application closed: MediaServer_MainThread’ displays during sharing if memory is almost full.
- Images & Videos updating dialog box is not refreshed if “Visibility in network” has been changed during sharing many images.
- Print server crashes connecting to UPnP printer.
- Media Servant did not harvest all 10000 files.
- Metadata hasn’t been refreshed.

Key and Keypad Functionality
- Zooming functionality is not performed by ITU-Keys.
- Long press of Lock key for unlocking re-locks again.
- S60 keypad is not working after waking up device during call.
- Naviselect key press filtering does not work properly.
- Navikey centre select not filtered.
- Keypad lock haptics have wrong intensity, length and interval time.

Licences
- Forward locked java applications fail to start.
-.Icon for invalid rights is shown for WM DRM protected videos in RealPlayer.
- Deleting licenses fails if C: drive doesn’t have enough memory.

Lighting Behaviour
- Boot up failure when ALS component is detached in drop testing.
- Lights are controlled wrongly in several use cases.
- Send/End keys are not illuminated even when other S60 lights are on.
- S60 and ITU-T illumination not turned on after reboot and keylock release.
- Navikey light doesn’t light up in semi-active state.
- Navikey LED functionality improvements.

Localisation
- Support for Korean language selection.

Location Services
- Positioning server address is not retrieved.
- No GPS fix after factory reset.
- Can not use Chinese characters to search in Maps application.
- Landmarks: Panic is detected when cancelling searching current position.
- Maps and Landmarks can’t be opened when phone language set to Catalan.
- GPS is not stopping after Camera enters Standby Mode and consuming battery.
- Assisted GPS and “Integrated GPS” items are not localized to Chinese in positioning methods view.

Memory and Memory Card
- Memory full displayed when opening multiple applications.
- Memory leak is detected when making BT modem dial up connection over 3G.
- After restoring settings from memory card, a number off settings are not restored.

Menu
- Scroll bar displayed the first time entering Menu application after booting even though Menu application view don’t need a scroll bar.
- The Options soft key is inactive after moving an application to a new position.
- Pressing Menu key shows previously visited item first before switching to default.

Messaging
- Number of saved msgs. default value is 20 instead of 100.
- Predictive text default value in Language is “Off” instead of “On”.
- Receive adverts’ default value is “Yes” instead of “No”.
- Impossible to insert new image to MMS message.
- Panic happens when connect to pop3 mail server.
- Application crash after pressing End Key to close attachment of email message.
- MMS viewer crash with unprotected content when playback is restricted.
- Unable to open MMS/SMS messaging url in the page: http://rave.cellulardata.com/xhtml/…_url_tests.html
- Launching Message Viewer for Business Card not working from external home screen.
- Truncated email username causing problem with login.
- Messaging application closed when deleting a keyword after searching the marked items.
- Cannot fetch email with OD2 WMDRM song as attachment.
- ChinaUI_MsgMngt: Can not enter the application or application crash after removing battery.
- ChinaUI_MsgMngt: The localization of Junk in rules list view cannot be changed after changing
the phone’s Language.
- ChinaUI_MsgMngt: “Application closed: Message” is displayed when creating a new rule named “Junk”.
- Phone panics during “Send via bluetooth”.
- Note ‘Remove XXX.jpg ‘ is truncated after one image is inserted to MMS twice and then try to remove the second one.
- Error message missing if receiving message when FLASH is below critical level.
- Gimlet: Cannot configure client after backup/restore to SD.
- Inbox message can’t be read, deleted, or moved.
- China UI SMS Filter breaks SMS timestamp.
- Message sending issue on PC Suite when multiple recipients selected.
- General: Feature not supported message seen when sending email with incorrect username or password.
- E-mail message retrieval size limit is not working properly when receiving Japanese message.
- MMS Postcard application is not configurable in variant.
- The SMS switch to MMS automatically after adding more than 20 receivers.
- Maximum length email address name causes Messaging application to crash.

Music Player
- Phone becomes unresponsive when using Music Player with 6000 songs.
- MP3 file does not play.
- The phone performance is low after skipping forward when playing aac song
- Media Player does not refresh “Recently played list” when USB cable is connected.
- The options in ‘Playlists’ has issues with playing the music properly.
- Music player crashes if renderer name contains tab characters.
- Progress bar in Now Playing view displays incorrectly after finishing playing automatic playlist.
- IHF speaker damage (failure) in Music Player.
- Artist name is not shown correctly.
- Artist name missing after music sync from Twonky.
- Music playback breaks when warning appears in Silent mode.
- Music volume level jumps when previewing a ring tone in profiles application.
- Visualization view is corrupted.
- Music player enters loop when updating the music library.
- Music can not be played after installing web server application from Downloads!.
- MPXPlaybackServer crashes when memory card is removed with Music Player running in the background.
- Music player library gets corrupted after several synchronizations.
- Music player keep searching new songs when activated if time separator was changed from default ( / ) to colon ( : ).
- Problems to control music player in applications where zooming is enabled.

N-Gage
- Drive New drive unavailable. Try again? is displayed when launching Ngage after creating a remote drive.
- N-Gage games fail to start after restore content from SD card.
- Could not install N-Gage and received error msg “Unknown error: -5″.
- N-gage gaming keys do not work in portrait mode.
- Volume key not illuminated when playing Games (N-Gage).

Nokia SW Checker
- Nokia Software Checker included in Welcome application.
- NSC can be used when DM is in the background.
- NSC background application sends Mobile-Crash reports in RnD releases.
- Log file must be removed if it exists in Production configuration.
- Timer (internal) is not working properly in Error cases.
- Interface is missing to enable other applications to use SW update checking capabilities.
- The time format is displayed incorrectly after updating in NSC application.
- Problem in French translation for “new update found” text.
- NSC-client incorrectly treats Error Codes from NSCS (FOX/FiRE).

Notes
- The second marked note cannot be sent after the first marked note was sent.

Other Applications
- Phone freezes or just stops opening applications when multiple applications are opened.
- Delete title in Newsticker application does not work correctly.
- When using an application with a high CPU load in the background(e.g. Music Player), the user interface to any other application on the phone becomes slow and sometimes crashes.

Photos
- Corrupt thumbnails are displayed if stopping a video in Photos after changing the display mode from Portrait mode to Landscape mode.
- Tag Manager in Photos closes on down arrow key.
- Location information not deleted from Image when deleted from details view.
- Photos crashes after opening ‘All’ view when 1000 images are saved in device.
- Photos is too slow with more than 10 DRM items
- Photos Application performance problems after number of photos are transferred to the device.
- Media keys illumination is wrong in slideshow in MC Photos is music is ON
- Slideshow is not illuminated
- Backlight goes off during Slide Show.

Podcasting
- Garbled search results when entering a number as the search title.
- Crash occurred after pressing end key during acquiring license for OD2 episode in episode view.
- The name of podcasting application includes unexpected symbol “/”, when phone language is Melayu.

Power Management
- Naviscroll is not entering Sleep Mode.
- Standby current is stuck at approx 10mA if phone locked directly after boot up.

Profiles
- Silent profile: Video call ringing tone is Beep. It should be Nokia Tune.
- Meeting profile: Video call ringing tone is Nokia Tune. It should be Beep.
- Offline profile: Vibrating alert is On. It should be off.
- Multimedia profile should be flagged as hidden.

Push to Talk
- PTT service is logged out after trying to delete connection profile.

Real Player
- Error message “Memory full. Close other apps and try again.” occurred in Real Player.
- Playback view displays incorrectly in landscape mode in Real Player.

Search
- “Show Songs” doesn’t work in Search in main view.
- Hidden IM application can be found and launched from Search.

Security
- Check validity of password against time limit does not work.
- Lock code query does not pop up when powering on the phone even though “Lock if SIM card
changed” is set to “Yes”.
- Lock code query pops up when powering on the phone even if SIM cards IMSI is in devices IMSI list.

Settings Wizard
- Unable to define MfE from Settings Wizard.

Share Online
- Camera functionality works differently if changing camera modes from menu instead of using the lens cover.
- Crash is detected after pressing RSK quickly and continually when opening Share Online folder.

Switch
- Application crashes in device A when fetching MMS started from device B.
- No conflict solving dialog is displayed when previously synced contact’s phone number is edited on both phones.
- Phone crashes during Contacts slow sync with S40.
- Retrieving multiple MMS messages fails.
- Fetching multimedia files fails.
- Nokia folder file larger than 2MB is removed from terminal B when Nokia folder file sync is repeated.
- The start storing icon is missing in the landscape mode.
- Error note “Application closed: Switch” after copying has been finished.
- Part of address disappears in Contacts in slow sync with Series40.
- Fetching several giga bytes of sound files is interrupted.
- Fetching media gallery images fails.
- Deleted items from either device are not sent.
- The phone can not select the data type item when synchronised with a S60 2.0 phone.
- The phone cannot synchronise after disconnect the PC suite.

Sync
- OviSuite 1.0 - E-mail synchronization does not work.
- Calendar and Contacts are not synchronized though the note “Synchronization completed” is displayed when synchronizing with OVI Suite.
- Sync feature has several texts not localized.

Telephony
- No downlink audio heard in the phone or headset on outgoing call.
- UI doesn’t send user defined image for VT call.
- CDSP problem in video call.
- Back camera is used as default camera during video call.
- Phone uses main camera even when reveal is closed during video call.
- Camera swapped to main camera when locking keys during video call.
- Call disconnects after 20min.
- Can’t adjust MT call volume level when Visual Radio is in foreground.
- Opening multiple instances of voicemail via 1 key causes phone reset.
- DTMF signals are not sent when inband is used with key tones switched off.
- The person on other end of call can also hear the call audio when the gain value is set to zero.
- Crash when call is blacklisted.
- Not Allowed warning note is shown and Telephony UI is hidden when pressing the “End Call” button before an externally created MO call alert.
- Phone can’t display the in-coming call interface when connecting to PC suite.
- When placing multiple calls on “hold”, the other caller’s send key becomes unresponsive and on hold note is shown after call is ended.
- Telephone will crash after trying to send a media file during voice call while C-drive is too full for the generated multimedia message.
- Video call is shown in Options when highlighting a contact in EDGE SW.
- Call divert icon for line 2 disappears from UI.
- Phone reboot when making or receiving a call.
- Held call is activated after 1X+Send.
- Making a video call using DialNoFdnCheck () fails with -8071.
- Phone call is rejected if there are numbers in the idle screen while receiving an MT call.
- The volume can not be adjusted during a video call.
- Improvements to emergency call handling.
- Send to caller is inactive when trying to send a picture to caller during voice call.
- After call transfer, call cannot be ended.
- Video sharing image quality is poor on MT end.
- Call divert icon not seen on UI after phone powered off/on.
- ITU keys light turns off when receiving a voice call.
- During call, using volume key or camera key to wake up the device does not work.
- Back camera is used as default camera in video call.
- Phone uses main camera even when reveal is closed during video call/sharing.
- Camera swapped to main camera when locking keys during video call.
- Display lights turn off during video call when lock switch activated.

Themes
- Phone application goes to background after standby theme has been changed.
- Menu events and “Phone handling events” missing from Audio Themes view.

TV Out
- Video can not be played continuously if changing phone mode during playing video on TV.
- Screen becomes blank after rotating to landscape while viewing images on TV-Out if theme effect is ON.

UA Profile
- Incorrect UA Profile shown when in 3G.

Video Center
- H264 Decoder hangs if first frame after valid header is corrupted
- Helix FLV payload support for playing flash videos from YouTube etc missing from 3.2 and 3.2.3 platforms.
- Video Center crashes when C: disk is full.
- Operator specific H.264 movie clip does not play.
- The content catalogue update for new feed fails when downloading a big video.

Visual Radio
- Visual Radio does not startup.

Voice Commands
- Enter key gives wrong behaviour in idle.
- Voice commands: Playback volume is 10 > should be 5.
- The phone freezes after pressing down arrow key in Voice Command list.
- Voice Commands play back volume configured.

VoIP
- Video clip sharing does not work during VoIP call.
- Cannot input 256 characters to the query of VoIP service username and service password after enabling a VoIP service without a password.
- The name of MSK and display of Options are incorrect in Internet call barring settings.
- VoIP calls are shown as last name, first name in log.
- Device rebooted on MT call with Alcatel-Lucent Multicore.
- Two services can not be activated simultaneously if AP linked to SIP profiles
- Cancelling VoIP call causes reset.
- Double hold not working with Cisco Call Manager
- Unable to save the new profile created using existing one.
- Incorrect value of PTime and UDP packet length in RTP stream are shown.
- Phone crashed when using VoIP with NAT setting to AP without NAT.
- DTMF tones are sent but tone is heard twice on sending phone during VoIP call.
- Crash occurs if VoIP service connection isn’t selected in 20-30 seconds.
- Logs doesn’t show presence status when call is made before subscribing.
- Presence status is not updated correctly.
- UI note “Error in connection” is missing if first VoIP call fails.

WidSets
- WidSets application is not rotating correctly.

WLAN
- WLAN login application crashes randomly.
- WLAN APN passed along with SDP content is not utilized by Real Player.
- Connection fails via WPA/WEP protected access point.
- Connection fails when SNAP-list has first priority packet data and wanting to use WLAN connection.
- Incorrect active WLAN interface handling.
- Phone reboots when user confirms to close one PDP context in disconnect dialog.

Zip
- Unable to use Zip Manager if phone has a remote drive with incomplete settings.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 22 Dec 2008 | 7:17 pm

Elevation Partners Pours $100 Million More Into Palm. How’s That Nova Running?

Can Palm’s upcoming operating system, Nova, revive the fortunes of the flagging company? Palm’s biggest investor, Elevation Partners, is putting $100 million into that Nova, after already spending $325 million for 25 percent of the company last year. Maybe all Palm needs is a really good tune-up, but it is going to be tough to go up against all the newly-polished goodness coming from the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry.

When Elevation first invested, it brought in former Apple hardware chief Jon Rubinstein to head up the company. The fruits of his labors may now be just about ready to be unveiled. But will it be enough?

Nova is supposed to bridge the smartphone gap between the hard-working Blackberry and the upmarket iPhone, and is expected to be announced at CES in January. Everyone else (from Android to WinMo to Blackberry itself) is also trying to bridge that gap.

The stock is up 20 percent on the news to $3 (Elevation is buying its new shares at $3.25). Did Elevation just sink another $100 million into a clunker, or is the Nova going to be a sweeter ride than anyone expects? I’m thinking clunker.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 22 Dec 2008 | 6:51 pm

Sacred texts: Vatican embraces iTunes prayer book (AP)

AP - The Vatican is endorsing new technology that brings the book of daily prayers used by priests straight onto iPhones.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Dec 2008 | 6:49 pm

Soda cup is actually sloven-chic phone

This cute soda cup only telegraphs its status as a telephone by the sort of completely obvious curlycue cord coming out of its side.

$13 + $5 shipping at ye olde SourcingMap.com, "The Crapvendor That Uses Amazon.com's Form Buttons for a Transaction You Can...Trust?™."

Novelty Soda Fountain Drink Beverage Bottle Cup Telephone Green catalog page [SourcingMap.com via GadgetAlerts.blogspot.com]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 22 Dec 2008 | 6:13 pm

Tropics Cooled by Volcanic Eruptions

Particles spewed by erupting volcanoes have periodically cooled the tropics for centuries.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 22 Dec 2008 | 5:41 pm

Activists Say Whalers Unable to Harpoon

The Sea Shepherds intercept Japanese whalers off Antarctica.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 22 Dec 2008 | 5:07 pm

Nokia Launches Ovi Mail On Lower End Phones

Robin Wauters at TechCrunch writes:

Earlier this morning, Nokia released a public beta version of its Mail on Ovi service, which enables users to sign up for a free e-mail account directly from their Series 40 handsets. The new service is available worldwide and available in a dozen languages, after a test period of one month during which users in India, Malaysia and the Philippines were able to try out the service.

Mail on Ovi gives users all the features and functionalities of a PC-based e-mail account, and functions on some 35 different Series 40 handsets. Nokia claims to have shipped over 110 million of such devices globally as of October 2008, so this is definitely a major announcement, particularly for countries where mobile devices are the main digital communication hubs instead of computers. These so-called ‘emerging markets’ represent a big growth opportunity for mobile device manufacturers and service providers, so it’s no wonder Nokia is so focused on creating new services to go with lowered-price devices. (Its more advanced phones are in the Series 60 line).

Read more at TechCrunch.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 22 Dec 2008 | 5:02 pm

Android’s coming on-screen keyboard demoed on video

Be warned, folks: the video contains so much action-packed keyboarding that your face might just blow right off your head. There’s keyboarding car chases, keyboarding shoot-outs .. it’s a non-stop fiesta of fingermashing fury.

Fine. It’s none of that. It is a video of the new on-screen keyboard from the work-in-progress “Cupcake” roadmap for Android, running on a G1. That’s pretty cool too - but let’s get some Michael Bay stuff in there next time, okay?

[Via Phandroid]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 22 Dec 2008 | 5:02 pm

Males Dominated 'Out-of-Africa' Migration

In a vast human migration 60,000 years ago, men outnumbered women.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 22 Dec 2008 | 4:07 pm