Daily Crunch: Oops! I DJ’ed CES Edition

Spyball: Capture the face of God
Ooh, an updated Pacemaker (the DJ device-thing) on the way this spring
Western Digital now has Mac-specific My Passport, My Book external hard drives
Oops! I Crapped My Pants: Japanese space diapers to the rescue
Review: iTunes Plus

Apple’s Brilliant Video Engineer: Anonymous No More [Voices]

My favorite moment at this year’s Macworld Expo keynote had nothing to do with any of the products that were unveiled–it was was about the unveiling of a person.

At last year’s Macworld Expo keynote, Steve Jobs waxed rhapsodic about the Apple engineer who had gone on vacation to the Cayman Islands, shot video, and had trouble editing it–and who then invented the all-new, simpler iMovie as a result. He couldn’t have spoken more highly about the guy, but he never mentioned his name. I pinged an Apple (AAPL) contact to ask who this brilliant Apple employee was, and got a prompt and polite note back saying that they wouldn’t disclose his name.

After I wrote about this experience and said that I thought Apple should give its developers some glory–as it did in the early days of the Mac–I got an e-mail from someone who said that the iMovie inventor was surely Randy Ubillos, one of the creators of Adobe (ADBE) Premiere.

Read the rest of this post

Nunami Services, LLC, in Production at New York Stock Exchange

ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR ENGINEERING, INC. ANNOUNCES MONTHLY NET REVENUES

CES: Loving the enemy

We've just returned to our hotel room after CES Unveiled, a sneak peek intended to highlight the best of show. Tthe urge to be downbeat is strong: there wasn't a lot of spectacular stuff on display. Hard times call for austerity, folks. These things are frivolous luxuries, right? Right.

Highlights included a convertible tablet netbook from Asus, an ultra-realistic Guitar Hero game controller from Logitech, and a handset from Krone that converts English to sign language. Then there were many tables of nothing much memorable.

Xeni and Joel took up the slack, recording footage for Boing Boing Video. In a brief face-to-face interview, Joel convinced Consumer Electronics Association CEO Gary Shapiro to anoint him the Official King of CES. Shapiro smiled and extended his hand like a sword, gently dubbing him on the shoulder.

It seemed almost plaintive, but why shouldn't he play along? He was promoting the show, his life's work.

When we filtered out of the hotel, long rows of taxis waited to take us back to our pad: a rare convenience during CES week.

It'd be easy to write the same "recession-hit CES" story that you'll find elsewhere. It'd be easy to take gleeful pleasure in charting the show's decline. The fact that this would be so much fun, to writer and reader alike, is not a good thing.

We shouldn't enjoy it when the things we love aren't popular. And what the consumer electronics industry sells isn't very popular right now.

In fat times there's an authority that comes from being in the position of attack, of all-out criticism. Gadget blogging's always been laden with snark; its the internet's motherlode of the stuff.

It won't stop, either: it's our fluent language, a fair response to the subordination of innovation to business. But when tens of thousands of jobs will likely be lost in the coming months, what's the point in kicking the trade when it's down?

It's time to have a little hope, and to find things to be positive about.

A year ago, an expensive gizmo that does nothing more complicated than display a picture of someone's hands could easily have been mocked or ignored. This device, however, permits communication between a frustrated parent and a disabled child. It's the application of technology to solve a problem. Its value transcends its specifications.

It works, it's wonderful, and it's yours, for $200.

Just a luxury, right?

Manufacturing Industry Continues to Attract Significant FDI Despite Global Financial Crisis

How Do You Manage Your SD Card Library?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple cuts copy protection and prices on iTunes (AP)

AP - Apple Inc. is cutting the price of some songs in its market-leading iTunes online store to as little as 69 cents and plans to make every track available without copy protection.

Nokia.mobi Enriches the Mobile Internet With Here & Now

Redfly pushes back, offers PC functionality and something else that is mysterious

The Redfly is a cool little device, but while it worked perfectly I was afraid it would quickly find itself unnecessary in a world where you can get a full-featured Atom-powered netbook for the same price and with the same small size. Redfly seems to have noticed that and they’re bringing some interesting stuff to the market.

The problem with the Redfly device wasn’t that it didn’t work, but that it was just too limited. Celio is now going to be offering software that can be run on a suitably-sized laptop or netbook that will allow you to dual-boot your hardware, so you’ve got the best of both worlds. I can’t imagine the Redfly stuff takes up more than a gig at the very most. That alone is a solid product — in a limited connectivity situation, tethering may be difficult or not useful, but using your smartphone to the maximum of its capabilities may be a great idea.

Another interesting thing they’ve got going on is what they’re stressing is a “proof of concept” for Android compatibility. Obviously it’s not quite ready for the living room, but hey, it’s stretching right and the cursor works. That’s good news by any measure. They haven’t given a date (they’re emphatic about the fact that there’s no timeline) but that doesn’t mean I can’t look forward to the day I get to try it out.

Lastly they’ve got a device that, well, I’m not quite sure exactly what it does. Says here, “enables projectors, office kiosks, and commercial applications to use any display, keyboard and mouse with just a smartphone.” Okay. I believe that means it’s going to be using a smartphone as an interface device. In any case, it’s one of the things we’ll be able to see and touch pretty soon, so we’ll get you more info ASAP.

Use Otalo To Search For Vacation Rentals

Vacation rentals are big business. HomeAway, which owns a dozen or so vacation home listing sites, just raised $250 million in a venture round that values the company at more than $1 billion.

But listings are spread across lots of sites - what the industry needed was a good central search engine for all those vacation home rentals. It’s also a pain to do lots of searches on different sites because you have to enter where and when you want to go, making it a lot more complicated that a standard search engine query.

That’s just what Otalo, which just launched, is doing. They are starting off with 200,000 listings. The company was founded by Michael Giles (the founder of Furl) and Baer Tierkel. The name Otalo comes from the Zen symbol enzo - “O” - with the Finnish word for house - “talo.”

The company will earn commissions from the referral of customers to the various vacation rental sites. By the way, if you always stay in hotels on trips, you should try renting a house sometimes. It’s much calmer and usually a lot cheaper. You can also get great deals at the last minute.

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

T-Mobile officially outs the BlackBerry 8900

Rumors have been floating for weeks now and we knew the 8900 would be coming sometime in early ‘09 and tonight T-Mobile has made it official. However, the 8900 aka Curve II aka Javelin will not be hitting store shelves on the 11th or 18th according to the press release. T-Mobile is being coy and saying it’s coming sometime this month. It could happen on those dates, but T-Mobile isn’t confirming anything today. No word on price either. Official specs after the jump:

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

TiVo updates their search functionality, calls it Search

TiVo just updated their search functionality so it’s all shiny and new. It’s basically a UI redesign with a bit more oomph. They’ve essentially appeased the HDTV crowd with album cover-type artwork and suggested content based on what you’re searching for. It also eliminates the nuisance of having to drill down through the menus to see what’s going on. TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and HD XL subscribers are privy to the Beta starting today. I don’t use a TiVo myself, but I know a few of the fellas on staff do and I’m sure they’re happy about this announcement. Are you?

LAS VEGAS, NV. January 7, 2009 —TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today showed the future of television, unveiling a redesigned TiVo Search feature that offers improved search results with a completely new High Definition design, all at no additional charge. TiVo Search brings users the power of choice, offering millions of pieces of content not available via cable or satellite, along with thousands of linear TV choices. Delivered via broadband, TiVo Search combines a graphics rich experience with simplicity and relevancy that makes it a truly revolutionary way to get more out of your TV.

“What Google did for the Internet, TiVo is now doing for the TV, bringing people a combination of excellent search results and innovative discovery that can’t be found anywhere else,” said Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo Inc. “TiVo has always been known as the best way to watch what you want, when you want it. Now we’re taking that to a new level, using TiVo technology to find just the right program from hundreds of channels and thousands of broadband options, all in seconds. It is clear TiVo is leading the way in providing more choice, and also leading the way in finding content quickly. TiVo Search is a new way to find what you’ve been missing.”

TiVo Search takes advantage of extra screen size afforded by high definition televisions by showing more details about a highlighted program than ever before, eliminating the need to dig down into each and every program to learn what it is about. It ensures the most important information is surfaced right up to the screen you’re already on, equaling less navigation and quick, accurate results.

“One of the best things about the new TiVo Search feature is how it works as a discovery engine, helping users find content they didn’t even know they could get,” said Jim Denney, Vice President of Product Marketing at TiVo Inc. “We’ve added a new discovery bar that gives a quick guide to relevant content, and the search experience incorporates content from broadband sources like Amazon Video on Demand and YouTube. The newly tuned search engine also displays the most popular search results of the day automatically, even when typing only a single letter. Searches work not with just the first word of a title, but any word of the program, which is especially handy when looking for programs with specific search words.”

The new interface not only displays in high definition, it has a focus on finding high definition television content. TiVo search automatically recommends high definition television channels and episodes when users schedule a program to record. Additionally, users can now browse shows season by season and select any episode they want utilizing a robust episode guide. Depending on availability users may record content from cable/antenna, download it from Amazon Video on Demand, or use WishList searches to record it the next time the content is broadcast.

Seeing equals believing, and the new TiVo Search is no exception. Starting today broadband connected TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and HD XL subscribers can experience a beta version of the feature on their TiVo DVR, which can be found under Music, Photos, and Showcases. For an online preview and to provide your comments and feedback on this new search tool to TiVo visit www.tivo.com/tivosearch.

CES: Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Me

Several people have already asked me today what I expect to get out of CES? Meager as it may be, here's the only thing I can offer: I'd just like to see something that excites me.

Even after just a few hours on the ground in Las Vegas, it's clear that this year's show is even less exciting than usual. It's not a bloodbath or anything; people are generally happy, except when you ask them about layoffs at their company and they meekly offer "I just hope it's not me."

Rob tells me that the CEA, the body that puts on the show itself (and whose President, Gary Shapiro, I goaded into crowning me "Official King of CES"), has estimated 130,000 people will show up for this year's show. There's no way in hell. Normally getting a cab after a function, like tonight's "CES Unveiled", is a twenty minute wait. Not tonight. We got right in. I know that's more Las Vegas-class research than Los Alamos, but it's good enough to convince me.

And it's fine. We told ourselves that we'd head out to CES this year to meet a lot of the representatives of the companies with which we deal with as part of our day-to-day. And to spend time with each other, which as part of a company that is spread across the globe is rare.

But I think the consumer electronics industry as a spectator sport may be on its way out. And thank god. Perhaps asking what consumer electronics will do to improve our lives, expand our human experience, is about as asinine asking how our Nissan Sentra is going to revitalize our appreciation of man's inherent spirit of exploration. The experience of using technology has so saturated our everyday awareness that the shine has gone off our pocket miracles.

I still love gadgets and widgets and incremental upgrades. And I've threatened to become a caricature of myself with all my skepticism of the industry that fuels my career. But I'm coming to realize that I don't actually get off on being contrary like I used to, not when it's just for the sake of it. Out there somewhere is a gadget — a real innovation — that will make my life quantifiably better. But I'm starting to feel like those transformative items will come less and less frequently, rarely enough that the interval between products that provoke that giddy inhalation of excitement becomes a few times a decade, not a reliable, annual experience.

Linksys announces Wireless Home Audio System, another wireless audio toy for rich people

Unless you’re down to hobble your own crazy homebrew set-up, tinkering with wireless audio systems is a damned expensive hobby. Everytime I read about these products, I imagine some rich old dude tango’ing himself around his mansion with a rose in his teeth and an air-partner in his arms.

Linksys’ just announced “Wireless Home Audio System” is an obvious attempt at a shot across Sonos‘ bow - we’ll have to wait until we get our hands on it to see if Sonos has any reason to be wary.

Here’s what makes up the system (Left to right in above image):

The Player: sends audio from the system to your already in-place home theater system by way of RCA cables. 300 bucks, model ID: DMP100

The Conductor: A “Self contained wireless music system”. Its got a seven inch touch screen for accessing your library, built-in speakers, and a CD player (you know, just in case.) Includes one remote. Pricing and availability not yet announced

The Director: Essentially a 100-watt amplifer access hub with an LCD display, and RCA output. Price: 450, Model ID: DMC250

Speakers: They make sounds. That’s about all that’s available about them thus far - outside of their inclusion in certain bundles and the standalone price, not much is being said about them. Price: $150

The Controller: Connects to the network by way of 802.11n, and is controlled by way of D-pad or touchscreen. This is how the old dancing rich guy would pick his next song. Price: $350, Model ID: DMWR1000

Also announced, though not pictured above, is an iPod dock (MCCI40) which you can nab for 80 ducats. Once it’s docked and on the network, you can access your iPod content as you would anything else on the system.

Cisco Multi-Room Home Audio Solution Enhances and Extends
the Listening Experience for Consumers

Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio makes it easy to play music
from a variety of sources wirelessly throughout the home

Las Vegas – January 7, 2009 – Cisco® today announced the Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio system at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. From the world leaders in networking, the Wireless Home Audio system utilizes Wireless-N technology to deliver a rich audio experience to any room in the home. Users can create a party atmosphere with immaculate synchronization when listening to the same song throughout the entire home, or send different music to customized “zones”. The Wireless Home Audio solution also puts millions of songs at your fingertips through integrated Internet services such as Rhapsody, AudioLounge, and RadioTime. An optional Docking Station for iPod enables your content on Apple iPods™, including Podcasts, Audio Books, and purchased iTunes content, to be played through any Wireless Home Audio device on the network. Wireless Home Audio products also work great with the newly announced Linksys by Cisco Media Hub that gathers and presents the available media on a network.

Facts/Highlights:

Complete Solution
The Wireless Home Audio product family includes three available options for playback devices that allow consumers to bring wireless audio to any room – the all-in-one Conductor, the Director with powerful amplifier and the Player which is the ideal addition to existing sound systems. A Wireless-N Controller enhances the Wireless Home Audio experience by providing touchscreen access to all available audio from anywhere in the home. Consumers can easily unleash audio from their iPods by simply slipping it into the available Docking Station for instant access to all of the songs, playlists, and other audio content on the device. In addition, with millions of songs available from Rhapsody in the US and AudioLounge in Europe, Wireless Home Audio users can search for tracks, discover new artists, and create playlists to be sent to any room. A “Favorites” function gives one-touch access to any content from any source.

Great Audio Quality, Precise Synchronization
Cisco, the world’s leader in networking technology has applied its years of knowledge and expertise to develop an amazing lossless digital audio delivery solution that preserves the full depth and richness of the recording, as originally intended by the artist. Through distributed decoding technology, each Wireless Home Audio device receives unmodified audio source material without any trans-coding or compression. The audio is then reproduced and synchronized to within microseconds, virtually eliminating echo artefacts so often evident in other wireless audio systems.
Wireless Simplicity
With Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio, music can be unleashed from existing digital libraries that are stored on a PC or other device, integrated Internet services, or even an iPod, with no need to run new wires around the home, or undergoing complex home renovation to install the devices. As a complete wireless solution, Wireless Home Audio products enable consumers to fully equip their homes with a world of music that is at their fingertips.
Standards-Based Compatibility 
Following Cisco’s standards-based approach to networking, the Wireless Home Audio products utilize Wireless-N technology to provide greater value to the consumer by allowing each device to achieve its full potential as an extension of the solution rather than requiring that one of the devices be hard-wired to a router. Wireless Home Audio products have been built to utilize the DLNA 1.5 standard, extending the value of the solution by making it accessible to and from a broad variety of devices. The products are compatible with standards such as HomePlug, Wireless-G, and Ethernet to allow consumers to choose the mix of networking technologies that is right for them.

Products

Conductor DMC350 Wireless-N Digital Music Center
The Conductor is a complete, portable, self-contained wireless music system with integrated speakers that can be used to bring music to any room of the home. All it needs is a power outlet. It features a seven inch LCD touch screen for easy navigation through your music library and an integrated CD player to play those songs that you have not digitized yet. An individual IR Remote is included.

Director DMC250 Wireless-N Music Player with Integrated Amplifier
Features a 50-watt per channel integrated amplifier powerful enough to be placed in any room as a more permanent solution to access digital music, and includes a line in and out to connect to speakers. Its full color LCD display makes navigating through your music library simple. An individual IR Remote is included.

Player DMP100 Wireless-N Music Extender
Allows you to access digital music from existing stereo or surround sound systems in the home. Its compact design allows it to blend well with any décor making it an ideal option to extend music to any room in the home utilizing your existing audio equipment. An individual IR Remote is included.

Stereo Speaker Kit DSPK50 
designed to compliment the Director - Wireless-N Music Player. Pair them to create a complete, high-quality wireless sound system and experience your digital music all around your home, at your control.

Controller DMWR1000 Wireless-N Touchscreen Remote
Designed to control the complete Wireless Home Audio system wirelessly. It features a large, color touchscreen, thumbwheel, and engaging interface designed to let you easily control any one or every one of your Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio devices, including a docked iPod, from anywhere in your home, even when they’re out of sight.

Docking Station for iPod MCCI40
Allows consumers to extend their available Wireless Home Audio library to include all of the content on their iPod, including Podcasts, Audio Books, and purchased iTunes content.

IR Remote DMRIR500
Comes standard with the Conductor, Director, and Player. Its simple button layout and slim form factor allows you to easily control your audio devices when you do not have a Controller nearby.

To simplify the purchasing process, three Wireless Home Audio kits are available:

Premier Kit:
A two-room starter kit that includes Director and IR Remote, Player and IR Remote, and Wireless-N Controller.

Trio Kit:
A kit for consumers looking to add the power Wireless Home Audio to their existing audio systems, the Trio Kit includes 2 Players, 2 IR Remotes, and a Wireless-N Controller.

Executive Kit:
An easy way to add a Wireless Home Audio capabilities to any room, the Executive Kit includes a Director, IR Remote and matching speakers.

Supporting Quotes:

Greg Memo, vice president and general manager, products, Cisco Consumer Business Group.
“After years of research and testing, we are answering the consumer’s call for a wireless home audio system that seamlessly consolidates music content from all of their sources into one solution with incredible audio quality. By both expanding the amount of accessible music and simplifying the experience, we have developed a family of products that work together to greatly enhance the experience of enjoying digital music throughout the home.”

Mike Wolf, director, Digital Home, ABI Research
“We believe that today’s home usage paradigm for digital music will transition from being PC-centric to one that is networked and accessible throughout the home. Cisco’s products allow consumers to enjoy their digital music collections over the network and point to where we believe this market is going.”

Worldwide Market Trends:
In a recent IDC survey, 46% of home network owners and 27% of non home network owners were interested in streaming music from their computer or the Internet to their stereo. (IDC, June 2008)

ABI forecasts total worldwide networked audio shipments will grow from 6.4 million to 38 million with a CAGR of 68%. (ABI, 2007)

Nearly a fourth — 22% — of US households have at least one iPod. That’s nearly 25 million households that currently have an iPod. Thirty percent of them have more than one iPod. (Forrester 2008)

Pricing and availability:
The Wireless Home Audio products are available in the United States from authorized Linksys by Cisco retailers, authorized resellers, and VAR partners. Cisco anticipates availability in stores in Denmark and The Netherlands during the first quarter of 2009. The Conductor will be available in the first quarter of 2009.

Estimated street prices are as follows:

Premier Kit - $999.99/ €999.99
Trio Kit - $849.99/ €849.99
Executive Kit - $549.99/ €549.99
Conductor – Pricing available at launch
Director - $449.99/ €449.99
Player - $299.99/ €299.99
Stereo Speaker Kit - $149.99/ €149.99
Controller - $349.99/ €349.99
iPod Dock - $79.99/ €79.99
IR Remote - $29.99/ €29.99

Wendy’s is giving out free stuff like Xboxes, cars, laptops and HDTVs

Wendy’s, yeah the fast food chain that claims to be “waaaay better than fast food,” is having a promotion. They’re running a bunch of reverse auctions for the next two weeks and will be giving away Xboxes, ThinkPads, Plasma HDTVs, cash, a car and tons of other stuff. 

Here’s how it works. They will start each item at its retail price. Each bid you guys place will drop the price by one cent. Whoever drops the price to 99 cents wins the item. It is not like other auctions where bids cost money though this one is completely free. So go ahead and bid away. 

Here is the press release and some details: 

Introducing the first-of-its kind online value auction where the  
lowest bidder wins

What: Wendy’s 99¢ Bid for Value - It’s an auction but waaaay better. Wendy’s is auctioning off XBoxes, Snowboards, laptops, HDTVs and even a brand new car…all for 99¢!

Bidding starts at the prizes’ retail value.  Each bid lowers the price by 1¢, so the more you bid, the lower the price goes. The lucky bidder who lowers the price to 99¢ wins!

When: The Wendy’s 99¢ Bid for Value auction kicks off at 1pm EST on January 7th and runs through January 14th.  Register to play today!

Where: www.99centbidforvalue.com

Why: Wendy’s is helping consumers make better choices with great value items — not only great tasting food on the Value Menu, but  fantastic prizes that will be auctioned off at 99¢.

Schedule of prizes:

January 7, 2009
1:00 PM EST - 1:29 PM EST Xbox 360 Elite Console
1:30 PM EST - 1:59 PM EST Xbox 360 Elite Console
2:00 PM EST - 2:29 PM EST Xbox 360 Elite Console
2:30 PM EST - 2:59 PM EST Xbox 360 Elite Console
3:00 PM EST - 3:29 PM EST Xbox 360 Elite Console
3:30 PM EST - 3:59 PM EST Xbox 360 Elite Console
5:00 PM EST - 5:29 PM EST Kawasaki KDX126FS 26? mountain bike
5:30 PM EST - 5:59 PM EST Kawasaki KDX126FS 26? mountain bike
6:00 PM EST - 6:29 PM EST Kawasaki KDX126FS 26? mountain bike
6:30 PM EST - 6:59 PM EST Kawasaki KDX126FS 26? mountain bike
7:00 PM EST - 7:29 PM EST Kawasaki KDX126FS 26? mountain bike
7:30 PM EST - 7:59 PM EST Kawasaki KDX126FS 26? mountain bike

January 8, 2009
1:00 PM EST - 1:29 AM EST Lenovo ThinkPad T400
1:30 PM EST - 1:59 PM EST Lenovo ThinkPad T400
2:00 PM EST - 2:29 PM EST Lenovo ThinkPad T400
2:30 PM EST - 2:59 PM EST Lenovo ThinkPad T400
5:00 PM EST - 5:29 PM EST HEAD TRANSIT i. Snowboard/HEAD P4 Bindings
5:30 PM EST - 5:59 PM EST HEAD TRANSIT i. Snowboard/HEAD P4 Bindings
6:00 PM EST - 6:29 PM EST HEAD TRANSIT i. Snowboard/HEAD P4 Bindings
6:30 PM EST - 6:59 PM EST HEAD TRANSIT i. Snowboard/HEAD P4 Bindings

January 9, 2009
2:00 PM EST - 2:29 PM EST Panasonic - 50? 720p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV
2:30 PM EST - 2:59 PM EST Panasonic - 50? 720p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV
3:00 PM EST - 3:29 PM EST Panasonic - 50? 720p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV
3:30 PM EST - 3:59 PM EST Panasonic - 50? 720p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

January 13, 2009
2:00 PM EST Bill Payoff ($10,000)

January 14, 2009
2:00 PM EST Hyundai 2008 Santa Fe SE, No Options Package

Silver screen idols as manga characters photoshopping contest

Vintage Hollywood Manga

Sock monkey goddess

saras sock vati (via Neatorama)

Vintage firefighter helmet is a steampunk inspiration

Vajen Mask (Thanks, Scuba_SM!)

ooma officially brings out some new hardware, calls it Telo

ooma has officially unveiled their new hardware at CES for the rest of the world to see and they’ve dubbed it Telo. It’s a cordless handset to go along with their VoIP service. It features “DECT 6.0 technology, High-Definition voice, connected phonebook, mobile transfer, speaker phone, and musical ring tones.” No word on price or availability.

REDFLY goes Android.. sort of

As a CPU-less, OS-less, storage-less extension of Windows Mobile handsets, the REDFLY is a topic of a fair share of debate; is it a useful godsend, or useless bunk? No one really seems to be on the fence about it - you either love the idea immediately, or just don’t see the ppoint. As Devin put it in his (positive) review, “if you need convincing, it’s probably not for you.”

That said, this newest bit of news did manage to convince me, a long time skeptic.

REDFLY goes Android.. sort of

As a CPU-less, OS-less, storage-less extension of Windows Mobile handsets, the REDFLY is a topic of a fair share of debate; is it a useful godsend, or useless bunk? No one really seems to be on the fence about it - you either love the idea immediately, or just don’t see the ppoint. As Devin of CG put it in his (positive) review, “if you need convincing, it’s probably not for you.”

That said, this newest bit of news did manage to convince me, a long time skeptic. According to a concept-only video released today, the folks behind the Redfly have managed to coax the G1 to play friendly with the mobile-to-psuedo-netbook. They’ve tweaked it to run at 800×480 and have pushed in basic mouse cursor support and, well, I want it. We’ve spent a whole lot of time with WinMo, and the idea of bumping WinMo into a bigger package just doesn’t make sense. Android, however - we’d be into that. Word is this thing will be on the floor at CES, so we’ll keep an eye out.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

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

TomTom teams up with Fujitsu Ten for one expensive ass semi-embedded PND

TomTom and Fujitsu Ten have announced the ECLIPSE AVN4430 in-dash nav system and it’s pretty darn expensive at $850. But, I’m not sure how much in-car GPS units go for from manufacturers so correct me if I’m wrong. The plus side is that you can remove the TomTom GPS unit whenever you please and use it elsewhere. It sports a 4.3-inch screen and controls all of your car’s entertainment needs. It will be available in the States this month. Hit the jump for specs.

Best Maps

* TomTom Map Share™ technology, enabling users to make updates and corrections to their own maps instantly on the device and to benefit from improvements made by other users free of charge.
* Latest map guarantee so users always have free access to the latest map at time of purchase.

Safety

* ‘Help Me’ Emergency menu that gives drivers direct access to emergency services and roadside assistance
* Voice address input so that users can drive to millions of cities and street names by simply announcing the address of their destination
* Clear voice instructions and text-to-speech to enable street names, places, traffic alerts and SMS messages to be read aloud as part of the spoken instructions
* Enhanced hands-free calling with high-quality sound system via Bluetooth® to allow drivers to keep their eyes firmly on the road while making phone calls in the car
* Rear-view Camera Ready so drivers can expand their view outside of a normal field of vision.

Future Proof

* Free TomTom HOME software and content from the TomTom community to keep their device up to date at all times.

Easy to Use

* Large 4.3 inch touch screen with fresh icons and an updated user interface to navigate drivers to their destination even more easily.

Asus Shows a Tablet-Style Eee PC

LAS VEGAS -- Other computer manufacturers might think the Tablet PC is dead, but Asus has its own ideas.

At a press conference here at CES 2009, Asus showed a prototype version of the EeePC T91, a convertible tablet-style notebook. Its 8.9-inch swiveling screen folds up to expose a keyboard, like any other notebook or netbook -- but it can rotate around and folds back over the keys, turning the device into a tablet.

You know you want one.

Unlike other tablets, it is touch-sensitive, meaning you can use your finger (or fingers) to tap on icons, select text, and perform other mouse actions. You can also use an included stylus, if you prefer.

Also unlike other tablets, the T91 will weigh just 2.1 pounds. It will run on Intel's Atom Z520 processor, which means that the T91 will be relatively underpowered, like other netbooks.

It will likely be running a version of Linux, like other Eee PCs, and pricing will be low -- in line with other netbooks, Asus representatives are saying.

Bonus features include a TV tuner and GPS.

A related model, the T101, will have similar features (minus the TV tuner and GPS) but a larger, 10.1" swivel screen.

The T91 will be available around March 2009, and the T101 will follow shortly thereafter.

The company, which singlehandedly invented the ultra-cheap, ultra-light netbook category with the Eee PC, is betting on multitouch as the next big thing. And why not? Apple's iPhone has shown that a well-executed touch-screen interface can do a lot to make a computer so fun and easy to use that people cease to think of it as a computer.

In addition to its multitouch-capable tablets, Asus also showed off a prototype of a strange, two-brained computer with a secondary, 4.3-inch display embedded just below the keyboard.

In this prototype (no actual product is planned yet, Asus says), the mini display is also the computer's touchpad. And it has its own processor, which you can use without booting up the main computer -- so you can listen to music, check your calendar or check your email, all from this tiny, parasitic iPhone-like display embedded in the base of your notebook. The advantage that offers is that it will be instantly on (no boot time required) and it won't use much power.

The touchscreen computer can also be used to select a movie from your hard drive or DVD drive and then display it on the big screen, again without using the computer's main processor or going through a lengthy boot process.

Whether anyone will actually go for these strange hybrids is another question. But one thing's clear: Asus is not afraid of mixing things up a little.

Photos: Dylan Tweney / Wired.com

AOL Exec Kevin Conroy Out After Product Empire Dismantled

AOL’s EVP of Products and Marketing Kevin Conroy is leaving to take a new position at Univision.

This isn’t much of a surprise - we speculated on his future back in July when he announced (internally) the shuttering of four of his products (Xdrive, AOL Pictures, Bluestring and MyMobile). That still left him with AOL Mail, MYAOL, the AOL client, Userplane and Truveo, among others. But each of those products seemed to be a better fit in a different organization.

CEO Randy Falco’s memo to AOLers:

Dear AOL colleague,

I’m writing to tell you that Kevin Conroy has accepted a position as President of Interactive Media at Univision. I want to thank Kevin for all he’s done on behalf of AOL during his time here, particularly over the past two years. I’m proud to have worked with Kevin and happy for him as he takes on this new role.

When I arrived here two years ago, I asked Kevin to take on one of the most important and difficult assignments – to completely revamp and revitalize AOL’s suite of products, while at the same time globalizing product development and expanding our reach across the Web. I knew Kevin had the drive and discipline needed to meet and exceed this challenge.

Under Kevin’s leadership, for example, AOL Mail made a dramatic turnaround, with a steady stream of upgrades and globalization (it’s available in 48 locales) that generated a 31% increase in page views last year. Our products are now more open to developers, more widely distributed through widgets and gadgets, and are at long last back on the Mac. The iPhone apps developed under Kevin’s leadership have been huge hits, generating millions of downloads. AOL now has a strong position in video and video search, an innovative partnership with CBS Radio, a strong lineup of toolbars, reinvigorated Winamp and SHOUTcast products, and the all-new AOL Desktop. At the same time, Kevin refined our product lineup so we could devote more resources to our key products.

Having done all this and much more, Kevin told me that he very much wanted to return to his media roots. If you don’t know, Kevin came to AOL eight years ago from BMG Entertainment, and his first assignment at AOL was to build AOL Music, which is now the leading music destination on the Web. At Univision, Kevin will be responsible for developing both online and mobile experiences for the nation’s fastest-growing audience. While we’re saying goodbye to Kevin, it’s my hope that we’ll continue to work with him in his new role.

We’ll be providing transition details about the Products organization soon. In the meantime, please join me in offering Kevin our very best wishes on his future endeavors.

Randy

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

Sharper Image iPod Dock Ready For Take-Off

LAS VEGAS -- Sharper Image, a former favorite of geeks for its awesomely craptastic gadgets, went into bankruptcy last year.

Now at CES 2009, the company is trying to make a comeback with a shiny iPod dock and wireless speaker system.

Riding on millions of iPod users may sound like a good strategy but there's no dearth of iPod docks out there. Still Sharper Image is hoping its latest addition will impress potential customers.

The rocket-tip shaped dock's two halves can be joined together or separated to transmit audio for up to 150 feet from the base system. Features-wise there's little new in it. But at $130 its a system that should appeal to those who like some pizazz in their home decor.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Dancing, Wisecracking WowWee Robot Looks Like More of the Same

LAS VEGAS -- WowWee's humanoid robots--the RoboSapien and the FemiSapien--are a geek favorite.

At CES 2009, the company showed its latest robot, the Joebot. The Joebot is an interactive robot and "personality", says WowWee. It has voice command control and can respond to key phrases via sound sensors. The Joebot can also be manipulated using the Robosapien's remote controller.

As for the personality part? Well, the Joebot can beatbox, dance, and interact in modes such as 'Guard' and 'Battle.' In the 'Battle mode', for instance, it wanders around while tracking and blasting objects with the LEDs in his hands. But the overall look is awfully similar to the RoboSapien, which came out in 2004.

The Joebot, which is set to be released in fall, will be priced at $150.

WowWee also has a prototype robot called Spyball in the works. Spyball is Rovio-lite, a stripped down remote control robot with a built-in camera that can roll into any room. The $100 Spyball is also expected later this year.

Also see:
FemiSapien Robot Goes on Sale

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Oprah Sued For Infringing "Touch and Feel" Patent

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Gizmodo | 7 Jan 2009 | 5:00 am

Meade's ETX-LS Telescope: Astronomy for Dummies

About the only thing Meade's ETX-LS telescope doesn't do is turn itself on. The new device, on display at CES 2009, automatically aligns itself to major celestial objects and even offers a tour of the night sky based off the pre-loaded information. The device's built-in magnetic compass, GPS, level sensor and CCD camera means users just have to turn it on and let the telescope do its work to zero in on the starry night.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 Jan 2009 | 5:00 am

MSI's Super-Thin MacBook Air Killer Will Cost Just $700

MSI, a company best known for its critically-acclaimed line of netbooks, is showing a thin-and-light notebook CES 2009 that goes head to head with Apple's MacBook Air: It's extremely thin, and tapers along the front. It weighs 2.9 pounds. It has a 13-inch widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio) display. It has an extra-large touchpad. Sound familiar?

Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 Jan 2009 | 5:00 am

The Ultimate Flying Machine: Sexy as a Sports Car, Portable as a Jet Ski

On the shore of Lake Isabella, about 150 miles north of Los Angeles, a crowd of flight techs, most of them either pierced or tattooed, swarms around a small white airplane. It's called an Icon A5. It's a collaboration between an F-16 pilot and a skateboard designer, and it looks like an odd, rakish sea monster.

Today is the plane's first flight. Aeronautical calculations, computer simulations, and wind tunnel tests have been performed, of course. And yet ... every maiden flight is a dance with death. If all that math was foolproof, after all, no one would need test pilots.

At 6:30 am, the winds are calm. Jon Karkow pulls a parachute over his shoulders, hugs his girlfriend—a long embrace with whispers exchanged—and clambers into the cockpit; the A5 is remarkably stable on the water for something with a knife-edged underside. The tech crew chief closes the cockpit and gives the carbon-fiber skin a few pats; Karkow fires up the propeller and taxis the A5 out onto the lake.

A former F-16 jockey and a skateboard designer collaborate to design the tiny Icon A5 aircraft.

For more, visit wired.com/video.

Back on the beach, a square-jawed guy with closely cropped hair watches, frowning, his arms crossed. Kirk Hawkins started Icon Aircraft, and he has spent the past five years designing and building the A5. It's a plane like no other—the wings fold at the push of a button, making it easy to store and trailer. The side windows pop out so pilots can feel the wind, and the cockpit has just a few gauges. Meant to evoke something sporty, like a jet ski, instead of a lumbering Cessna or a tough-to-fly experimental kludge, the plane is supposed to let anyone who can afford the $139,000 price tag become a barnstormer. In a few weeks, a prototype will be on display at the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin—mecca for air enthusiasts. If the A5 flies today, and flies well, it could create a new market for airplanes.

Former F-16 jockey in Iraq, Kirk Hawkins is bringing barnstorming to the masses.
Photo: Andrew Zuckerman

In a way, the A5 was made possible by the Federal Aviation Administration. In 2004, the FAA implemented the most far-reaching change to aviation rules in 50 years by creating an entirely new category. Dubbed light-sport aircraft, the category is a sort of intermediate designation between those small private planes parked at every regional airport in the country and flimsy-looking, ultralight "experimental" craft, which are built from kits and flown by the seat of the pants. Hawkins' A5 is cheaper than the former and more consistent than the latter, and if the economy doesn't put an end to the purchasing of expensive toys, Hawkins thinks A5s are destined for the top of the wish lists of the Ferrari-and-speedboat crowd. "Those kit-built airplanes are like early PCs," he says. "They're cool, but there's nothing easy or intuitive about them. The Icon A5 is going to be completely different."

The FAA has long had strict certification rules for aircraft and pilots. Anyone who wants to sell a new type of plane has to spend tens of millions of dollars on tests and paperwork for the Feds. At the same time, becoming a pilot takes fortitude and a big bank account: A certificate to fly a private, single-engine piston aircraft requires a complete exam by an FAA-certified physician and a minimum of 40 hours of instruction (running almost $10,000). And why would you want to? The myth of barnstormers in open-cockpit machines landing and taking off at will, of flying as the ultimate expression of freedom—like Denys Finch-Hatton soaring over the Great Rift Valley in Out of Africa—is mostly a lie. Even small airports are surrounded by chain link and security gates, and private pilots in "controlled airspace"—above 18,000 feet near busy airports—have to file flight plans and do what air traffic control tells them. It has all the charm of driving on a freeway.

Over the past few decades, all that regulation and cost have nearly killed innovation in the small aircraft market. In 1978, the US produced more than 14,000 single-engine, piston-powered airplanes. As of 2007, that number was 2,000. A classic of the genre, the Cessna Skyhawk, is a slow, ugly beast that, save for a few refinements, looks today just like it did when it was introduced in 1955.

The A5's wings fold at the push of a button, making it as trailerable as a jet ski.
Photo: Andrew Zuckerman

Luckily for wing nuts, the FAA also certifies experimental planes. Pilots can fly just about anything, as long as they build it and fly it themselves. This is where most of the innovation in small-craft aviation has come from in the past couple of decades: fabric-winged two-seaters and carbon-fiber kit planes with clean aerodynamic shapes and customized performance. Today, one in seven single-engine piston airplanes is experimental. Putting one of these kits together is hardly a minor project, of course, and when you're done you still have to get a pilot's certificate.

The new light-sport category makes it much easier for amateur fliers to take to the air. Planes in this class must have just one engine, and maximum airspeed is 138 miles per hour. Sport pilots must stay below 10,000 feet (lower than most jetliners) and fly only during the day, in clear skies and away from busy airports. But that's still a lot of room to barnstorm. And wannabe pilots need only 20 hours of instruction to get certified.

Giants like Cirrus and Cessna are rushing to bring out light-sport airplanes; Cessna has already taken more than 1,000 orders on its new SkyCatcher, which won't be delivered until the end of the year. It costs about $112,000, half what the next-lowest-priced Cessna does. Unfortunately, it also looks like a baby Cessna, and most of those orders are headed straight to flight schools as entry-level models. Meanwhile, the light-sport designation has been a magnet for entrepreneurs. In just five years, a flock of upstart companies have introduced almost 90 planes that meet the new standards.

Hawkins wanted a piece of that market. To explain why, he offers to take me flying. "Look," he says, muscling a tiny airplane off the beach in his bathing suit and Nike water shoes, "flying is fun! Or it's supposed to be, anyway." Our aircraft is an Aventura II—it's amphibious, like the A5, but made of aluminum tubes covered with fiberglass, Dacron, and Kevlar. It looks a little like a 7-foot-tall ostrich head.

And Hawkins looks a little like someone dreamed up by the guys down in marketing. As a boy, he wanted to be an astronaut. He grew up racing motocross and jet skis, then spent a summer as a bush pilot in Alaska. After the first Gulf War, he flew F-16s over southern Iraq—and came home to get master's degrees in engineering and business from Stanford. He's 41, frequently wears untucked striped dress shirts and Diesel jeans, and possesses the smooth, fighter-pilot cool that's tough to pull off unless you actually are a pilot.

Icon A5 Specifications

We squeeze into the cockpit, just big enough for the two of us, and when I rest my elbow on the open window I notice that it's a mere 8 inches down to the waterline. Hawkins fires up the 100-horsepower motor. In seconds we're airborne, skimming over the lake at 85 mph, the wind in our hair. Hawkins yanks and banks in crazy circles, flies 2 feet over the ripples, plays chicken with brown hillsides, and falls into formation with a flock of pelicans. "When you see hawks, they'll engage with you!" he shouts over the noise of the prop, climbing toward a pair of vultures at 500 feet. "We could go camping at the next lake over! We could land right there and have a picnic!"

Hawkins dives toward a dirt road that runs alongside the lake. He's grinning, laughing; we both are, and for the first time in my life I feel like, well, like I'm really flying and not just cruising in a tin can.

"Flying like this is easy. Anyone can do it," he says, giving me the stick and telling me to bring the Aventura into a level buzz above the water. "Night. Weather. Flying into LAX while working the radio and avoiding traffic. Those are difficult," Hawkins says. "Stick-and-rudder basics are easy. I could teach you to solo in five hours. You couldn't fly at night or in congestion or in the fog, but you wouldn't take a jet ski out at night in a shipping lane, either."

Actually, the Aventura is one of those kit planes, just one step up from ultralights, and it's anything but easy. You have to devote hundreds of hours to building it yourself, and it still costs $70,000. Getting it from your garage or hangar to a body of water for takeoff means putting on and taking off the wings, a process that can take two people four hours. And although it's a simple airplane, it's fickle to fly, looks and feels flimsy, and is uncomfortable. Hawkins' plan, then, was simple: Keep the fun. Fix the rest.

On a balmy night in Los Angeles a month before the A5's maiden flight, 500 people gather in Icon's parking lot. The bar is seeing a lot of action, and motocross videos loop on big LCDs. This is the official unveiling of the A5, wrapped for now in black silk.

Olympic snowboarder Shaun White, the Flying Tomato, is knocking back beers in skintight black leather pants and skater sneakers. Further contributing to the X Games vibe, Troy Lee, a celebrity in the world of motocross and mountain biking, is chatting with fellow Icon board members. There's tech guru Esther Dyson, an early Icon investor. And there's Dick Rutan, brother of aviation visionary and X Prize-winning SpaceShipOne designer Burt and the first person to fly around the world nonstop on a single tank of gas. None of them have seen the plane yet.

Every switch and button of the Icon A5 became a design exploration
Photo: Andrew Zuckerman

When the FAA announced its new rules, Hawkins was getting his second Stanford degree, in the Sloan business program. His engineering experience had left him infatuated with the power of design, and the light-sport changes made him think he could build a truly sexy airplane—one designed for a high-end consumer instead of a traditional pilot. Why have a complicated instrument panel and glass cockpit when all you were going to do was fly around a lake on a beautiful day? "Flying had this complex, regulated-transportation mentality," Hawkins says, "but the best flying I've ever done was always at low altitudes with the window open. I wanted to make a great flying airplane that creates an emotional response but isn't intimidating, that makes you want to fly it, like driving a great sports car."

Using his biz school assignments as an excuse to do market research, Hawkins became convinced of an "enormous pent-up demand" for light aircraft, and the industry naturally welcomed his enthusiasm. "Cessna wants more share of the same old market," says Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association. "Icon wants to break into a whole new one."

Hawkins' approach to starting an aerospace company was more Boing Boing than Boeing. In a class called Ambidextrous Thinking, he met an ex-banker named Steen Strand, who would later invent a skateboard that could slide and skid like a snowboard. Dubbed the Freebord, it went on to sell 70,000 units; Hawkins brought him in for that cult design expertise. "I wasn't a pilot, and that seemed a big no-no to me," Strand says. Before he can explain how he got over that obstacle, our conversation is interrupted by pulsing music and flashing lights; it's time for the unveiling. Hawkins whips off the black shroud. There's the A5, painted in gleaming silver and red.

"Every switch and button on the plane became a product of design exploration," Strand says, giving me a tour of the plane a few minutes later. "Airplanes have always been about form following function, but if you look at a snowmobile or a jet ski, there's a lot of stuff that has less to do with function than with aesthetics and the way it makes you feel. A Cessna is the product of a completely different culture." Which is clear the minute Shaun White steps up to the plane. "Dude, I so want one of these!" he says, tossing his mane of red hair. "I've always wanted to fly, and I could get to Mammoth in, like, an hour. Then I'd really be the Flying Tomato!"

Back on Lake Isabella, as the A5 motors out to the middle of the water, Steen Strand and his design team watch with surprising calm. "To design an airplane that consumers want in a flight-weight vehicle is hard," says Matthew Gionta, Icon's VP of engineering. He spent 13 years at Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's aerospace company. He was slated to lead the design of SpaceShipTwo when Hawkins brought him to Icon.

First of all, the A5's cockpit had to be roomy, but the fuselage aerodynamic. As an amphibian, it needed a tapering, knife-edged lower hull so it could hydroplane quickly, but it also had to be stable and wide enough to swim and jump from. Then, making it trailerable meant giving it folding wings, which add weight and complexity the same way a hardtop convertible weighs down a car. "The laws of physics don't change," Gionta says. "And a lot of airplanes aren't very easy to fly. With this, every force has to be the same in pitch and roll so it's smooth and fun and predictable." Gionta looks out at the water and the taxiing plane.

Seconds later, the A5 rises up on its hull. And then, with no apparent effort, it lifts from the water like a gull. "Nice," Strand says.

Behind the stick, Karkow makes a long, wide loop, just 10 feet above the lake's surface, and then slides smoothly back down onto the water. It takes all of 90 seconds. "Totally badass!" Hawkins barks. "We've got a Porsche 911!"

Two hours later, Karkow takes the plane up again. It's another short hop, but this time he rises 70 feet off the lake and swings a lazy circle around us. The A5 looks steady and smooth, a solid piece of professional engineering. Karkow brings it lower and banks into a gentle turn, taking one more small circle before dropping back onto the lake with a splash, to more cheers and whoops. "No surprises at all," he says as he climbs out of the cockpit. Which is what every engineer wants to hear.

There's a long test program ahead, but for now Hawkins is armed with prototypes and a video that he can take to Oshkosh to generate buzz and orders. (He'll get 70 at the air show a couple of weeks later.) Despite his market research, no one knows if fun-loving guys outside the Oshkosh crowd will actually buy A5s, especially in the midst of a global financial meltdown. "The economy is terrible right now," says Joel Peterson, chair of JetBlue Airways and an Icon investor, "but there are enough pilots out there that even if he gets a small market share, it'll be enough. And anyway, Kirk is an extreme-sports guy, and no one personifies the market like him."

As the airplane slides from the lake onto its trailer, Hawkins splashes around the shore shaking hands. Then he gathers his staff for an important announcement. "We're out here on the water," he says, "and we've got two jet skis and a speedboat. Anyone wanna go wakeboarding?"

Contributing editor Carl Hoffman (carlhoffmn@earthlink.net) wrote about Canadian diamond mines in issue 16.12.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 Jan 2009 | 5:00 am

Mr. Know-It-All: Human Guinea Pigs, Cremains in Orbit, Surveillance Video

Dear Mr. Know-It-All, I'm a college student who makes money volunteering for medical experiments. Do I have to accept whatever fee the researchers offer me, or can I negotiate for more?

In principle, you're entitled to the same economic rights as the researchers, who likely spent long hours pleading for more dough from whatever drug company is footing their bills. So don't let the doctors guilt you into thinking that it's somehow unethical to treat guinea pigging as a regular job rather than a selfless calling. If they were the ones getting poked and prodded and restricted to bland food, they'd be keen to secure a fair wage, too.

That said, your odds of receiving a raise are practically nil. The supply of willing test subjects far exceeds the demand, a situation that puts human guinea pigs at a serious negotiating disadvantage. And since budgets are usually set long before the call goes out for volunteers, the researchers may not have much wiggle room.

Bob Helms, a veteran participant in clinical trials who edited the now-defunct zine Guinea Pig Zero, says he has managed to negotiate a higher fee only once, for an experiment that was unusually agonizing. (It involved catheters and pooping in baskets.) Helms banded together with his fellow test subjects and threatened to break protocols or drop out altogether, eventually persuading the experiment's sponsor to offer an $800 bump.

If you feel strongly that a study's hassles merit extra pay, Helms recommends waiting until the experiment has commenced before making your case. Having borne witness to your distress, the researchers may turn sympathetic and cough up some cash. Just don't expect to be invited back—assertiveness is not a valued trait in your line of work.

Illustration: Christoph Niemann

I've heard that it's possible to have cremated remains launched into space. Sounds fantastic, but what happens if the rocket explodes before escaping the exosphere? Will my heirs get a full refund?

Your descendents won't receive any money back, but you will be granted a second shot at celestial interment free of charge. The company that runs these missions, Celestis, is a subsidiary of Houston-based aerospace company Space Services. Celestis arranges to stash remains-filled containers on commercial satellites or scientific probes. (The ashes of astronomer Eugene Shoemaker, for example, were placed in a NASA lunar explorer.)

But only a symbolic portion of each client's remains is blasted into space—1 to 7 grams, depending on which memorial package you buy. That thimbleful represents less than 0.1 percent of the total ashes created by cremation. "We do not launch the entire amount of cremated remains because such a service would be cost-prohibitive to the consumer," says Charles Chafer, CEO of Space Services. Indeed, getting a single gram of ashes into deep space costs a minimum of $12,500. (You get a price break if you want to make your final journey with a partner—the two-participant Gemini Capsule Option starts at $18,750.)

The upshot: If the rocket explodes short of orbit, there will be plenty of your cremains left on Earth to mount another mission. Celestis will give you top priority for the next launch, and your heirs won't be billed for the do-over. In any case, it may take a while for your remains to join those of Timothy Leary and Gene Roddenberry: Celestis has flown only seven missions since its founding in 1997, and two of those flights failed.

I was recently robbed while withdrawing money from an ATM. As the victim, do I have a right to see the bank's surveillance footage of the incident?

Whether or not to share the video—assuming it exists—is entirely up to the police. The video is now evidence, so even if you approach the bank directly, the request would likely have to be approved by the detective assigned to the case. And his top priority is catching the bad guy, not helping to heal your psychological wounds.

Still, cops are generally sympathetic to requests along these lines, so if you ask nicely—and don't come off as some Charles Bronson-style vigilante—you can probably sneak a peek. "The police usually work with a victim, unless they believe it is a false report," says Tom Lekan, a bank security expert at The Atlantis Company, a consulting firm in Cleveland. "Showing the victim the video is not unusual."

Be prepared for letdown, though. Given the typically shoddy quality of surveillance footage, even if the perp didn't wear a mask, he may look like nothing more than a grayish blob.

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

Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 Jan 2009 | 5:00 am

Jan. 7, 1851: Foucault's Pendulum Experiment

1851: Léon Foucault uses a pendulum to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. It is the first direct visual evidence not based on watching the stars circle in the sky.

Jean Bernard Léon Foucault was born in 1819. His mother wanted him to become a doctor, but he dropped out of medical school when he made his first scientific discovery: He couldn’t stand the sight of blood.

Without formal scientific training, he worked as a lab assistant and continued tinkering. He used the new Daguerreotype photographic process to take the first photograph of the sun. Together with Armand Fizeau, in 1850 he devised a way to use rotating mirrors to measure the speed of light. They observed that light travels more slowly in water than in air.

Scientists had been trying for two centuries to drop objects from towers and measure their drift as the planet spun beneath them. It didn't work: too quick, too crude, too many interfering factors.

Foucault had an insight. A pendulum hanging on a wire and swinging directly north and south would appear to the observer to slowly move its plane of oscillation as the Earth turned underneath it.

To grasp this, just picture a pendulum at the North Pole. It starts at zero degrees longitude and swings back and forth, as the Earth spins below it. For every hour it's going back and forth, the Earth will have moved 15 degrees of longitude eastward. The effect is less farther away from the poles, but it's still there.

After weeks of work in the cellar of his home, Foucault hung a 5-kilogram (11-pound) pendulum from a 2-meter (6½-foot) cable in January 1851. He observed a small clockwise motion of the pendulum's apparent plane of oscillation. The pendulum was going straight back and forth, but the Earth moved for Foucault.

(Sources disagree on whether the crucial experiment took place on Feb. 6, Feb. 7 or Feb. 8. We've taken the middle course here.)

Foucault refined his apparatus and also derived his "sine law" showing the governing influence of latitude on how much a free-swinging pendulum would move. Specifically, the angular speed (in clockwise degrees per sidereal day) is 360 times the sine of the latitude. A Foucault pendulum will rotate through a full 360 degrees at the North Pole (the sine of 90 degrees is 1), but not at all at the equator (the sine of zero degrees is zero).

Foucault arranged a demonstration for the scientists of Paris on Feb. 3. He told them, "You are invited to see the Earth turn." And so they did, as they watched Foucault's pendulum move on an 11-meter wire at the Paris observatory.

French President Louis Napoléon was a science buff, and he arranged for Foucault to give a public demonstration of his remarkable pendulum on March 31. Under the lofty roof of the Pantheon in Paris, Foucault hung a 62-pound brass sphere on a 220-foot cable. A pointer attached to the bottom of the sphere traced patterns in sand on a low wood platform.

The public was dazzled. President Napoleon soon became Emperor Napoleon III, and he gave Foucault the position of Physicist Attached to the Imperial Observatory. While there, Foucault's work on the centrifugal governor improved the precision of surveying instruments.

Despite Foucault's imperial support, the university-trained scientists of Paris sniffed at him as an untrained upstart. They turned him down several times for membership in the French Academy of Sciences, before finally admitting him in 1865. Foucault died in 1868 at the age of 49.

Source: Various

Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 Jan 2009 | 5:00 am

Cisco adds social networking to its forte (CNET)

CNET - Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated that technology from the Five Across acquisition was the foundation for the new Eos service. It is not.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Jan 2009 | 5:00 am

MSI's Super-Thin MacBook Air Killer Will Cost Just $700

MSI, a company best known for its critically-acclaimed line of netbooks, is showing a thin-and-light notebook CES 2009 that goes head to head with Apple's MacBook Air: It's extremely thin, and tapers along the front. It weighs 2.9 pounds. It has a 13-inch widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio) display. It has an extra-large touchpad. Sound familiar?

Source: Gizmodo | 7 Jan 2009 | 5:00 am

Photo: Lenovo Dual-Screen Notebook Is A Heavyweight

LAS VEGAS -- Lenovo's dual-screen ThinkPad w700ds, which was announced yesterday ahead of CES 2009, is the plus size model of the mobile computing world. The 11-pound notebook is much fuller compared to its skinnier, anorexic peers thanks to the pop-out second screen.

As this picture from the event floor shows, the $3600 ThinkPad has a 17-inch primary screen and a 10.6-inch secondary screen that slides out to the right.

The notebook is perfect for business users who prefer dual monitors, says Lenovo. But isn't it too clunky to be a "mobile" workstation?

Also see:
Lenovo Introduces New Dual-Screen Notebook, Slim Desktop

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 7 Jan 2009 | 4:52 am

MSI's Super-Thin MacBook Air Killer Will Cost Just $700

LAS VEGAS -- MSI, a company best known for its critically-acclaimed line of netbooks, is showing a thin-and-light notebook here at CES 2009 that goes head to head with Apple's MacBook Air.

The MSI X-Slim Series X320 borrows unabashedly from the Air's design. It's extremely thin, with a maximum thickness of just 3/4 of an inch (1.98cm) and winglike profile that tapers down to a knifelike edge along the front. It weighs just 2.9 pounds (1.3kg) and has a 13-inch widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio) display, plus an extra-large touchpad. In short, it's an Air clone.

But the X320 will cost far less than the Air's $1,800 starting price: It will cost between $700 and $1,000, depending on options, when it goes on sale this spring, an MSI representative told Wired.com.

Naturally, such cost cutting doesn't come without compromises. The X320 has an attractive but chintzy-looking plastic housing. It was decidedly difficult to open (long fingernails might help in prying the clamlike halves of the shell apart). And instead of OS X, the X320 is running Windows Vista.

But beggars can't be choosers. If you want an ultralight computer and don't want to go with the dinky keyboards and tiny screens of the netbooks, the X320 looks like it will be an inexpensive alternative to the Air.

Photos: Jonathan Snyder / Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 7 Jan 2009 | 4:43 am

Meade Telescope Sleepwalks Through The Night Sky

LAS VEGAS -- Need a reason to go camping? Here's a great one. Meade Instruments showed off its new telescope at CES 2009, a 30-pound mean machine makes the night sky come alive. It's astronomy for dummies.

The ETX-LS telescope automatically aligns itself to major celestial objects. The device's built-in magnetic compass, GPS, level sensor and CCD camera means users just have to turn it on and let the telescope do its work to zero in on the starry night. The device offers a tour of the night sky based off the pre-loaded information in its database.

Want to see Saturn's rings? Just type the planet's name into the telescope's remote control, press the 'Go To' button and it will automatically locate the planet and align itself to the right position in the sky.

Users can also plug-in a pair of headphones and listen to some commentary, turn on the speakers or connect it to an external video monitor.

Despite its newbie-friendly features, the telescope is no lightweight. Unlike the Skyscout, a personal handheld planetarium, Meade's upcoming telescope can offer magnification ranging from 20x to 400x thanks to its 6-inch mirror aperture.

There's also plenty of sweet astro-imaging possibilities for Flickr addicts. The telescope lets users capture images of the objects and save it to a SD card.

What's not super-impressive is the battery life--it takes 8 'C' cell batteries in return for three to five hours of battery life.

The telescope will be available starting next month and is priced at $1300.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Gizmodo | 7 Jan 2009 | 4:30 am

WowWee Shows Pocket Projectors for iPods, iPhones

LAS VEGAS -- A tiny video projector is just what you need for impromptu screenings of the latest lightsaber video on the wall of a tent -- or on the back of that dweeby kid sitting in front of you in class.

And that's exactly what WowWee -- a name better known for a line of flying, dancing, wisecracking robots -- has come up with. The company's "Cinemin" line, which debuts today at CES 2009, includes three models of tiny, iPod-friendly projectors. Prototypes of all three were on display at CES Unveiled, a press preview event at the trade show.

The Cinemin Stick, pictured above, is a candybar-sized projector with internal flash memory and an SD card slot.It will cost between $325 and $350 when it debuts in the second half of 2009, according to a WowWee representative. It was the only working model on display. The images it projected appeared reasonably bright and clear at a distance of two or three feet, when projected against a silver projection screen in ordinary hotel ballroom lighting.

A related model, the Cinemin Swivel (below), has a hinge to facilitate aiming the projector at the ceiling. Unlike the Stick, it will not have an SD card slot. The company claims that the Swivel will have a 3-hour battery life; it's expected to cost around $250. The Swivel will be available in the second quarter.

Both models have ports for connecting an iPod or iPhone, so you can play videos using the projector instead of just the device's tiny screen.

And the Cinemin Station (also below), which is about the size of a clock radio, has an iPod dock for plugging in your favorite MP3 player. It doubles as an external speaker as well as a projector, and will cost about $400 when it becomes available in late 2009.

All three models use DLP technology from Texas Instruments. WowWee has not yet released detailed specifications, exact pricing, or the exact dates when these products will be available.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 7 Jan 2009 | 4:25 am

H-E-B Mexico Rolls out DemandTec Everyday Price Optimization

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- DemandTec, Inc. (Nasdaq: DMAN), a leading provider of on-demand optimization solutions for retailers and consumer products manufacturers, today announced that Supermercados Internacionales H-E-B, S.A.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Jan 2009 | 4:01 am

Cooksey-Talbott's Vertical Panorama Landscapes

Ralph Cooksey-Talbott is a landscape photographer who studied under Ansel Adams in Yosemite in the 1970's. Ansel published one of his photographs in the portfolio section of his book "Polaroid Technique Manual." Ansel and Orah Moore, another of Ansel’s students, suggested that he shorten his name to Cooksey-Talbott, and that's the name he's worked under ever since.

Cooksey is currently doing vertical panoramic photography that is reminiscent in composition to monumental Asian landscape ink-on-silk paintings. He calls them Vertoramas and I think they are exceptionally beautiful. Besides selling prints, Cooksey provides many of his images as free desktop pictures (here's some zipped sets or just check for a Free Desktop link across the top when you're browsing his galleries). And he's also put up a lot of informative tutorial articles and videos on his site.

--Bruce (Thanks, Howard!)

Cooksey-Talbott Gallery

(Shawn Connally and Bruce Stewart are guest bloggers)

Source: Boing Boing | 7 Jan 2009 | 3:54 am

Sagittarius offers planet clues

U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Jan 2009 | 3:14 am

Obama Picks RIAA's Favorite Lawyer For Top DoJ Post

The Recording Industry of America's favorite courtroom lawyer, Tom Perrelli, who has sued individual file swappers in multiple federal courts, is President-elect Barack Obama's choice for the third in line at the Justice Department. CNet's Declan McCullagh explores the background of the man who won the RIAA's lucrative business for his DC law firm: "An article on his law firm's Web site says that Perrelli represented SoundExchange before the Copyright Royalty Board — and obtained a 250 percent increase in the royalty rate for music played over the Internet by companies like AOL and Yahoo," not to mention Pandora and Radio Paradise. NewYorkCountryLawyer adds, "Certainly this does not bode well for CowboyNeal's being appointed Copyright Czar."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 7 Jan 2009 | 3:05 am

Mystery ailment hits Calif. brown pelicans

Scientists are trying to determine what is causing California brown pelicans to become disoriented, wandering onto freeways or hitting boats. Scores of birds have been treated at rescue centers, The Orange County Register reported.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Jan 2009 | 2:45 am

Young Lovers Try to Elope to Africa

Three German children under the age of 8 were caught trying to get to Africa so two of them could get married. In warm environs, no less.

When asked why they were going, groom-to-be Mika explained his seemingly simple plan.

"We wanted to take the train to the airport, and then catch a plane, then we would unpack, and get married once we arrived. Then we wanted to go for a little holiday," he said.

There’s a slightly different version of the story on SkyNews, with a quote from a shocked and amazed mother. Now that may be taking free-range kids a bit too far!

Child elopers' Africa plan foiled (Thanks, Katie Wilson!)

(Shawn Connally and Bruce Stewart are guest bloggers)

Source: Boing Boing | 7 Jan 2009 | 2:38 am

Apple’s Lowered Expectations Pay Off

Today’s keynote presentation by Phil Schiller has been widely regarded as a relatively lackluster affair. That isn’t to say it went badly - I’m genuinely excited about some of the new software updates. But the Macworld keynote in years past has been home to some very major product announcements, including the Macbook Air, the MacBook Pro, and perhaps most notably, the first iPhone. Investors have learned to expect big things from Apple every January, and for at least the last four years their reactions to the keynote have weighed heavily on Apple’s stock price.

Except for this year. And that’s no accident.

A site called the Keynote Index Fund has tabulated just how big these stock swings have been over the years. In 2006, Apple launched some of its first Intel-based computers, and was rewarded with gains of 10.3% over the two days following the announcement. The next year, the launch of the iPhone and the Apple TV was met with an increase of a whopping 13.5% over the same time period.

But the stock has taken a major hit whenever the keynote didn’t live up to expectations. Last year, Apple released products including Time Capsule, Movie Rentals, AppleTV 2, and Macbook Air - an impressive lineup to be sure, but nothing that could live up to the iPhone release of the year before. The stock subsequently took a 10.7% loss over the next two days.

In the weeks leading up to Macworld 2009, it looked like this year’s show might be headed for a similar fate. Rumors of new products were few and far between, and it seemed like Apple simply didn’t have much to announce. And then Apple dropped the bomb: this would be the company’s last Macworld, and CEO Steve Jobs wasn’t going to be giving the keynote. This spawned countless distasteful rumors regarding Jobs’ health, but it also served to lower expectations. Leading analysts went on to report that “no significant new products [were] expected“. So when Phil didn’t whip out the third generation iPhone this morning, nobody was surprised. The stock dipped a bit, but little more than it would on a typical day.

So what was the damage? A loss of $1.56 (-1.65%). Nothing to cheer about, but looking at years past, it could have been much, much worse. Granted, the figures stated above were averaged over two days, so we won’t know until tomorrow just how big the swing was, but given today’s performance I won’t be surprised if any change is relatively modest.

It’s unlikely we’ll ever know if Steve Jobs pulled out from the show with the direct intention of lowering expectations. But can you picture him presenting a keynote whose major highlights were an 8-hour laptop battery and some software updates? I don’t think he could either.

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

Source: Gizmodo | 7 Jan 2009 | 2:30 am

Flexible Wrist-Mounted OLED Display Excites Dick Tracys Everywhere

One of the coolest product categories we’ll get to see at CES this week will be wrist mounted touch screen displays.

Among the most anticipated is Universal Display's flexible 4-inch OLED prototype. Universal Display is one of the companies at the forefront of the flexible display business and so far, they've been working with the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a few real-world applications. But as with many other technologies, what starts as a government project eventually leads to the private sector of consumer electronics.

But what really matters to us is that it will end up in our wrist and will make those TokyoFlash watches Danny favors seem like a baby's toy.

Universal Display says the OLED 'watch' display is made out of a one-sheet metal foil, and that its malleability will allow it to be quite comfortable. It's considered to be a direct communications device, which means it will likely also include the 3G, HSDPA capability of the prototype to be unveiled by LG during the conference.

LG's GD910 will have a smaller touch screen, 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and a camera for taking pictures and video. Universal Displays has developed its OLED display in collaboration with the LG Display division, but the larger showcase display is clearly meant to show the possibilities of the technology.

Neither watch is quite at the level of some of the best nor most fanciful designs we've seen before (see below), but it's really only now a matter of time before they're made.

See also:

• TokyoFlash "Infection" Watch Attracts/ Repels The Ladies

 

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 7 Jan 2009 | 2:00 am

Lung cancer gene suppressor identified

University of Cincinnati researchers say they've identified a tumor suppressor that may lead to new treatments for lung cancer.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Jan 2009 | 1:22 am

Colorful mice help track hantavirus

U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Jan 2009 | 1:11 am

Phishing Is a Minimum-Wage Job

rohitm918 writes "A study by Microsoft Research concludes that phishers make very little (PDF): '...low-skill jobs pay like low-skill jobs, whether the activity is legal or not.' They also find that the Gartner numbers that everyone quotes ($3.2B/year etc) are rubbish, off by a factor of 50. 'Even though it harvests "free money," phishing generates total revenue equal to the total costs incurred by the actors. Each participant earns, on average, only as much as he would have made in the opportunities he gave up elsewhere. As the total phishing effort increases the total phishing revenue declines: the harder individual phishers try the worse their collective situation gets. As a consequence, increasing effort is a sign of failure rather than of success.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 7 Jan 2009 | 1:06 am

Twitter Hacker Says Admin Password Was 'Happiness'

In an interview with Wired.com, an 18-year-old hacker with a history of celebrity pranks admits to Monday's hijacking of multiple high-profile Twitter accounts, including President-Elect Barack Obama's and the official feed for Fox News.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 Jan 2009 | 12:30 am

Wii boosts UK games sales, music resilient (Reuters)

Reuters - British retailers sold a record combined number of DVDs, games and music in 2008 despite the economic gloom, boosted by the popularity of Nintendo's Wii and single downloads, trade bodies said on Wednesday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Jan 2009 | 12:04 am

Air Force Releases 'Counter-Blog' Marching Orders

Bloggers: If you suddenly find Air Force officers leaving barbed comments after one of your posts, don't be surprised. They're just following orders.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am

New York Times’s Front Page: Worth $29 Million a Year? [MediaMemo]

Snap consensus on the New York Times’s (NYT) decision to start selling space on its front page to advertisers: What took you so long?

In another era, the move would have occasioned finger-wagging from a certain kind of journalistic moralizer. But I think that any moralizers left are busy job-hunting or thinking about new careers. And the Times certainly needs the cash.

But how much cash will this provide? Reuters’s excellent Robert MacMillan takes some preliminary guesstimates from the New York Post and does his own rough math. He figures the Times could pull in $28.6 million a year if it sells the inventory every day of the year. For comparison, that’s a little more than nine percent of the company’s November sales.

Very nice, especially given that this is essentially found money that the Times can count on as along it still has a sales staff and a print edition. But at this rate, that may not be long. Again: What took you so long?

Source: All Things Digital | 6 Jan 2009 | 11:46 pm

Finally, No DRM in iTunes — What the New Deal Means

Steve Jobs and three major labels come to terms on a deal to make music available on iTunes without DRM. Consumers can choose between three price levels instead of the "any song for 99 cents" model the store implemented on day one.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Jan 2009 | 11:41 pm

Apple’s Last Macworld: Not With a Bang, but an Update to iWork [Digital Daily]

Analysts expecting Apple’s Macworld 2009 keynote to be light on revolutionary products or otherwise “modest” or “neutral” were not disappointed.

Well, they were disappointed, but they knew they were going to be disappointed going in, so it shouldn’t have come as a shock, right?

Said Robert Francello, head of equity trading for Apex Capital, “There were some innovative products, but no true blockbusters. People were bullish going into it, and now they’re kind of taking money off the table.”

Indeed, Apple shares closed down 1.65 percent today, a clear reflection of the lackluster announcements made this morning.

“[The] Macworld keynote was underwhelming as expected,” said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. “The lack of significant announcements adds clarity to Steve Jobs’ absence. We believe he remains the primary spokesman and active leader of Apple.”

Well, obviously. He did say as much yesterday, didn’t he? That being the case, perhaps there’s something to be read into the first song of the short Tony Bennett set that closed today’s event, “The Best is Yet to Come.” Apple (AAPL) didn’t uncrate the new iMacs or Mac minis that many expected of it this morning. Nor did it demo Snow Leopard, the next iteration of OS X. Perhaps it will in the months ahead, at its own event and on its own terms. And with Steve Jobs presiding, of course. The best is yet to come, right?

Macworld ‘09 Keynote Coverage:

• Macworld ’09 LIVE


• Macworld ’09: All About the Mac, iLife ’09, Faces and Places


• Macworld ’09: iMovie ’09


• Macworld ’09: Garageband “Learn to Play,” “Artist Lessons”


• Macworld ’09: iWork ’09, iWork.com


• Macworld ’09: 17-inch MacBook Pro With 8-Hour Battery
• Macworld ’09: One Last Thing–DRM-Free iTunes Plus, 3G iTunes and Tony Bennett
• Macworld 2009: Live and in Living Color [PHOTO SLIDESHOW]

Source: All Things Digital | 6 Jan 2009 | 11:28 pm

Digging for Life in the Arctic Ice

If aliens from another planet sent a probe to Earth in search of life, their most promising target would be the tropics, where the greatest density and diversity of life are found. But on other nearby worlds, planets and moons within reach of present-day spacecraft, tropics are hard to come by.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Jan 2009 | 11:25 pm

A Peek At DHS's Files On You

kenblakely writes "We've known for a while that the Department of Homeland Security was collecting travel records on those who cross US borders, but now you can see it for yourself. A Freedom of Information Act request got this blogger a look at DHS's file on his travels. Pretty comprehensive — all the way down to the IP address of the host he used to make a reservation."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 6 Jan 2009 | 11:07 pm

Pandora Radio 2.0 Lands On The iPhone Tonight

Pandora Radio, the personalized internet radio service that has remained among the most popular iPhone apps on the iTunes App Store since its inception in July (and that I’ve previously called the iPhone’s killer app), will be releasing its most significant update yet later today.

Dubbed Pandora 2.0, the application will now include artist biographies, streaming samples for songs you’ve bookmarked, and perhaps most notably, the ability to create a station using a single song (much as you would using the iTunes Genius features). Other features in the new release include a CoverFlow-like view for song history, the ability to share stations with friends using Email, and a song progress bar (which has long been annoyingly absent).

Pandora has been around for years, offering a very powerful music recommendation engine powered by The Music Genome, which employees professional musicians to describe each song using over 150 attribute (or “genes”). Its iPhone app closed out 2008 ranked as iTunes’ top free application overall, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

Update: It looks like you can download the application now here. The application page still shows the older version, but you’ll download the 2.0 version of the app.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 6 Jan 2009 | 11:04 pm

Macworld 2009: Wozniak Demos MacBook Mod

Guess what else Steve Wozniak is doing besides playing Segway polo?

He's endorsing a new product called the ModBook Pro. As its name implies, the device is a MacBook Pro modified into a tablet.

At Macworld Expo, Wozniak said he joined the advisory board to weigh in on development of the device. He said he felt compelled to join the mod company Axiotron because the CEO was so "friendly with approaching" him.

Wired.com asked Wozniak if there were any other Apple products he would modify.

"I have a million ideas for Apple products I would change, but I can't tell you what specifically, because you guys will make it sound like I'm putting Apple down," Wozniak said. "But it's clear touchscreens are going to be big in Apple's future. That's my prediction at least."

Of course, he was referring to when media outlets quoted him saying the iPod would one day "die out."

Wozniak's recommendation for Axiotron was to incorporate the use of an interface called QuickScript for the device's handwriting recognition. In addition to translating handwriting into digital text, the software enables a user to use the stylus to write the name of an app to launch it. (For example, with the launch mode selected, writing "Chess" launches the Chess app.)

Axiotron is selling the ModBook Pro for $5,000. Owners of a 15-inch unibody MacBook Pro can send their notebook to Axiotron to be modified for $3,050. (There's a special Macworld discount -- $2,600 for the mod service until Jan. 12.) Macworld has a hands-on video demonstrating the ModBook Pro.

Axiotron is a familiar company at Macworld Expo. At past Macworld events, the company showed off its ModBook (below) -- a MacBook modified into a tablet.

To modify the MacBook Pro into a tablet, Axiotron installed a touchscreen and slightly moved around the computer's guts to fit in a custom enclosure. Andreas Haas, Axiotron's CEO, said the new MacBook Pros' unibody makes the mod process very easy.

Easy, huh? Does that mean Apple's new unibody enclosures will open doors to all sorts of crazy MacBook mods in the near future?

We're going to guess no: The darn things are too expensive for the average geek to mess around with, unlike netbooks.

Photos: James Merithew/Wired.com, Axiotron

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 6 Jan 2009 | 11:03 pm

Here Come The 12 Inch Netbooks, And Intel Isn’t Happy About It

12 inch Netbooks are coming. Dell has the Inspiron Mini 12, Samsung will unveil its 12 inch netbook model to the U.S. shortly, and more are coming. And Intel isn’t happy about this at all.

In fact, the whole Netbook market may be making them nervous. Despite the fact that they power most of these devices with their new Atom chip that handles some PC chores well and uses a lot less power (so batteries are smaller and last longer). Intel sees Netbooks as devices for people who can’t afford normal laptops, or as second devices. But it’s clear that a lot of people are buying them instead of normal dual core machines, despite their very serious limitations.

That means that for the most part, every Netbook sold is one less Dual Core that Intel can sell at a higher price and higher margin. Which explains exactly why the company has been publicly criticizing the performance of the machines. “If you’ve ever used a Netbook and used a 10-inch screen size–it’s fine for an hour. It’s not something you’re going to use day in and day out,” said Intel VP Stu Pann at an event last year.

Intel also wants to keep Netbooks at 10 inches or less. Some PC companies we’ve spoken with say that Intel doesn’t want Atom chips in devices bigger than 10 inches, and puts incredible pressure on them to keep Netbooks at 10 inches or less. Dell’s Inspiron uses an Atom chip anyway, but Samsung is using Via’s competitive (and less expensive) chip, the Nano.

We asked Intel if they forbid manufacturers to build Netbooks with larger than 10 inch screens, which is what those manufacturers are telling us (Dell notwithstanding). Their answer: “Intel defines a netbook as a 10″ or smaller screen size. We recommend that OEMs and netbook manufacturers use that guideline as well in order to get the best user experience.”

That’s a nice statement but it’s complete rubbish. There is no performance loss with a 12 inch screen v. a smaller screen (other than power usage). A 12 inch Netbook is just as fast or as slow as a 10 inch one. The only difference is that the user is even less likely to buy a low end laptop with a dual core.

Netbooks are clearly here to stay, and the new models with larger screens and larger keyboards solve two of the three problems I have with them (the last issue is Vista and XP, which runs poorly on these devices, but people are fixing that problem, too).

We’ll soon see 13 inch and larger Netbooks, despite the pressure Intel is putting on manufacturers to keep them at 10 inches. Intel may not agree to have their chips in these devices, but Via, with their excellent Nano competitor, seems more than willing to fill the void.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 6 Jan 2009 | 10:45 pm

Study looks at major chlorine disaster

A study on the aftereffects of a chlorine gas disaster in South Carolina provides insight into how to prepare for the gas's release, the authors said. The study researches the aftereffects of the 2005 accident near Graniteville, S.C., in which eight people died at the scene and at least 525 people were treated in emergency rooms and 71 were hospitalized. The authors said the report provides major cities insight into what to expect and how to prepare emergency response systems for an accidental or terrorist release of the gas.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Jan 2009 | 10:45 pm

Jay Leno's wind turbine

Ed Begley, Jr, says:

Thought I would send along this video from my friend Jay Leno about a new wind turbine called the MagWind from Enviro-Energies that he and I will be installing soon. As many of you have asked about "vertical axis wind turbines," I thought you'd like to see the latest in this technology.

Jay Leno's wind turbine

Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2009 | 10:41 pm

Article about quasi-perpetual motion technology

Randell Mills, founder of BlackLight Power, claims to have invented a reactor that makes hydrogen atoms drop to an energy state below ground level, which causes them to release "100 times as much energy as you’d get by just burning the hydrogen." IEEE Spectrum interviewed several physicists about it, and they say it's poppycock. Nevertheless, the company developing the technology has received $60 million in funding.

“This is scientific nonsense—there is no state of hydrogen lower than the ground state,” says Wolfgang Ketterle, an MIT scientist and a Nobel Prize laureate in physics. “Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, and it’s had time enough to find its ground state.”

Anthony Leggett, a professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and also a Nobel laureate, says that quantum mechanics is “consistent with just about everything we know about atomic physics, so the onus is firmly on anyone who wants to discard it to prove his case.” He adds, “I don’t see that [BlackLight] has got anywhere near doing this.”

But turn to Randell Mills, the founder, chairman, chief executive, and president of BlackLight Power, and he’ll tell you that this lower-energy hydrogen, which he calls hydrino, is very real indeed.

“We produce hydrino on demand,” he tells IEEE Spectrum, adding that his team has isolated and characterized hydrino’s properties using spectroscopy and has even created hydrino-rich materials it can provide for analysis.

BlackLight Power says it's developing a revolutionary energy source—and it won't let the laws of physics stand in its way

Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2009 | 10:24 pm

Researchers Hack Intel's VPro

snydeq writes "Security researchers from Invisible Things Lab have created software that can 'compromise the integrity' of software loaded using Intel's vPro Trusted Execution Technology, which is supposed to help protect software from being seen or tampered with by other programs on the machine. The researchers say they have created a two-stage attack, with the first stage exploiting a bug in Intel's system software. The second stage relies on a design flaw in the TXT technology itself (PDF). The researchers plan to give more details on their work at the Black Hat DC security conference next month."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 6 Jan 2009 | 10:18 pm

MixedInk Goes Public With Its Digg-Like Collaborative Document Creator

MixedInk, a document editing site that allows large groups to democratically create a single collaborative document, has launched its service to the public. The service fuses concepts from Digg and popular wiki sites to create a unique document creation tool that is ideal for groups far larger than you’d normally encounter in the workplace. In conjunction with today’s public launch, the site has also partnered with Slate to create a community-written inauguration speech for President Obama, which will be published on the site in two weeks.

While there are quite a few collaborative document services available (including Google Docs, Zoho, and the just-announced new version of iWork), most of these services focus on letting a small group of people interact. Unfortunately, these services are clumsy for large-scale collaboration with groups of more than a dozen or so people, as it becomes difficult to reach a consensus and certain sections are repeatedly overwritten.

MixedInk from MixedInk on Vimeo.

MixedInk is taking a different approach to collaboration, allowing users to draft their documents using a Digg-like voting system. Instead of constantly editing the same document, users are invited to submit their own versions, which can then be voted on and rated by their peers. As they they read drafts submitted by others, users can mouse-over the passages they like most and incorporate them into their own submissions (the system will also suggest popular passages as you write using keyword detection). Over time, the most popular passages and versions float to the top until the entire group is satisfied and voting ends.

MixedInk probably won’t be useful for small groups (it would probably be easier to pick up a phone), but for larger scale initiatives it could become a great alternative to traditional Wiki systems, which often use confusing versioning systems. The system has already been put to the test on some very large-scale documents: over the summer the technology was used by the Netroots community to write its platform.

The service is available for free to users who create documents on MixedInk’s site, with a premium version available for branded enterprise solutions and possible integration into other sites.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 6 Jan 2009 | 10:13 pm

ResizeImage For Quick Online Image Cropping And Resizing

ResizeImage is the simplest and most usable tool I’ve seen to handle quick image resizing and cropping. It’s not as useful as Skitch, which a downloadable application for Macs only, but it works in a pinch.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 6 Jan 2009 | 10:12 pm

Study: Shade trees lower bills, emissions

Shade trees on the west and south sides of a house in California can reduce summertime electricity use and reduce carbon emissions, a study indicates. The study conducted last year on 460 single-family homes in Sacramento, is the first large study using utility bill information to demonstrate that trees can reduce energy consumption, the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Jan 2009 | 10:06 pm

The Price Of Going DRM-Free: Apple’s Hidden $1.8 Billion Music Tax

Nearly two years ago, Steve Jobs published an open letter to the music industry calling for the death of DRM (digital rights management). He convinced EMI to ditch DRM back in April, 2007, but the three other major music labels held out. Until today. Now all the songs on iTunes are DRM-free, or soon will be.

And, with that, the DRM era of digital music finally can be put to rest. (Amazon’s MP3 store has been selling DRM-free tracks from all the major labels for a year now already). The labels were likely holding out for other concessions from Apple, such as variable pricing (which they got), and the Apple also thankfully convinced them to sell songs over cellular data networks to iPhones for the same price as they could get them on their computers.

But it looks like the labels prevailed in sticking it to consumers on one last point. Anyone who wants to upgrade their entire existing iTunes Library to DRM-free versions of the same songs, can conveniently do so with one click. But it is going to cost you 30 cents a track to do so. That’s right, you have to pay again for songs you already bought. Let’s see, 6 billion songs X 30 cents = $1.8 billion in potential upgrade fees. That’s a music tax, plain and simple. No wonder the music companies finally relented.

It still won’t save them.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 6 Jan 2009 | 9:44 pm

Bright Flash in Space Has No Earthly Explanation

Astronomers have no explanation for a mysterious bright flash in space observed by several telescopes. Suggestions range from a collision between a white dwarf star and a black hole to an exotic star made out of hypothetical "mirror matter," but none fit the phenomenon, according to scientists at the American Astronomical Society meeting.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Jan 2009 | 9:43 pm

Macworld Already a Bummer, With or Without Apple

Macworld 2008 did not feature a speech by Steve Jobs, a single revolutionary bit of software, or any surprise product announcements. So really, what was the big deal? Wired explains.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 6 Jan 2009 | 9:40 pm

Macworld Already a Bummer, With or Without Apple

Macworld 2008 did not feature a speech by Steve Jobs, a single revolutionary bit of software, or any surprise product announcements. So really, what was the big deal? Wired explains.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 6 Jan 2009 | 9:40 pm

Intel: Stuffing Channel With Inventory, Says AmTech [Voices]

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

Is Intel (INTC) stuffing the channel with chips? That’s the contention of analyst Douglas Freedman with American Technology Research in a note put out this morning. “Our checks suggest that Intel may be aggressively filling the channel and OEM inventory to mute the present demand cycle.” His thesis is that if Intel sticks distributors and PC makers with lots of its processors, both parties will be “incentivized” to sell more Intel parts to get rid of them. While Freedman is not raising his estimates, he thinks the result of channel stuffing is that Intel’s December and March quarters may not be as bad as he’s been thinking till now, while some sales and profit could be taken out of next fiscal year.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 6 Jan 2009 | 9:38 pm

2007 spending on prescription drugs slows

Spending on prescription drugs in 2007 showed the smallest increase in 40-plus years, driven by low-cost drugs and prescriptions, the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Jan 2009 | 9:36 pm

State Secrets Defense Rejected In Wiretapping Case

knifeyspooney writes in with an Ars Technica report that a federal judge has issued a strong rebuke to government lawyers attempting to invoke the "state secrets" defense to quash a lawsuit over warrantless wiretapping. This is not the high-profile case the EFF is bringing against the NSA; instead the case is being pursued by an Islamic charity that knows it had been wiretapped. "At times, a note of irritation crept into [Judge] Walker's even, judicial language. At one point, he described the government's argument as 'without merit,' and characterized another as 'circular.' He also seemed impatient with the Justice Department's refusal to provide any classified documents addressing Al Haramain's specific claims for review in chambers. 'It appears... that defendants believe they can prevent the court from taking any action under 1806(f) by simply declining to act,' wrote Walker."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 6 Jan 2009 | 9:27 pm

Newborn manatee deaths increase

A record number of newborn manatee carcasses were recovered by Florida researchers last year, state wildlife officials said. Biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute documented 337 manatee carcasses in state waters in 2008.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Jan 2009 | 9:24 pm

Electric Cars Get a Makeover

Electric car makers polish the image of what could be a hard sell in the current recession.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 6 Jan 2009 | 9:14 pm

Bush names three marine national monuments

U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 6 Jan 2009 | 9:09 pm

Logitech's new gaming gear

Logitech's G-series looks good, in that special-ops gamer sort of way, and has plenty of clout: the G19 keyboard bristles with programmable buttons and its new G35 headset thumps eardrums with 7.1 surround. The G13 "advanced gameboard" has 25 extra keys, if standard keyboards just aren't enough.

The G9x laser mouse has 5000dpi, which I think officially qualifies mouse dpi for the inaugural "Megapixel" award for technological diminishing returns.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 6 Jan 2009 | 7:59 pm

Android Fans Watch HTC Release a Windows Phone (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - Many observers of this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas are waiting to see what kind of presence the open-source Android mobile-phone platform will have among new smartphones. Some have speculated that HTC, which makes the pioneering T-Mobile G1 Android handset, might release its own Android model.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 6 Jan 2009 | 7:56 pm

HP's new netbook has a high-def display, still just $500

HP's Mini 2140 is a netbook that means business. With it, we are assured, one will be ultra-productive.

What I care about, however, is the 1377x768 display resolution on its 10.1" display: allied with a new Atom-based chipset (the original 2133 used an older VIA c7), it makes it a more attractive option than most similar machines, stuck as they are in 600-line v-scroll hell.

Its 1GB of RAM, WiFi, BlueTooth, dual USB ports and 80 gig hard drive are standard fare, but the ExpressCard 34 slot is another unusual feature, good for expansion. The keys have a matte coating to prevent them from going bald, which is nice. If you upgrade to Vista, you can have 2GB of RAM pre-installed.

It weighs 2.6 pounds and comes with a 3- or 6-cell battery, which should be good for 5 or 6 hours on a charge.

HP Mini 2140 [HP]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 6 Jan 2009 | 7:42 pm

MacWorld: 17" MacBook Pro has 8GB and 8-hour non-removable battery. Also: DRM-free iTunes deal

Apple announced a 17" MacBook Pro, offered at $2799 and up with a non-replaceable battery. Gizmodo's just published a hands-on of the big book, in which Christopher Mascari says it's beautiful and very thin indeed.

There'll be wireless iTunes downloads direct to your iPhone, and Apple's finally giving rights management a proper kick in the ass: also announced was a new deal with the labels to take iTunes more substantially DRM-free.

There was a revamp of iLife, including facial recognition in iPhoto. Sting, finally imprisoned for good inside Garage Band, will also teach you to play guitar.

For more, read Harry McKracken's liveblog coverage and Technologizer.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 6 Jan 2009 | 7:27 pm

Apple now allowing iTunes music downloads over 3G

Finally! No more having to find the nearest Starbucks just so you can get that blasted Beyonce song out of your head - now you can download that drivel over 3G!

During today’s MacWorld Keynote Phil Schiller announced that iPhone iTunes downloads are now enabled over 3G, where as they’d been previously limited to WiFi connections only. Audio quality for 3G downloads is identical to that of those downloaded on the full-blown desktop iTunes - as is the price. Some expected the music industry to push for an additional surcharge on mobile downloads, so good on all parties involved for working something out that doesn’t stiff the customers.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Jan 2009 | 7:18 pm

Japan Taps Seabeds for Rare Metals

Japan plans to explore its seabeds in search of rare metals used in electronics.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 6 Jan 2009 | 7:14 pm

HP's Firebird named for heat its power-gaming components will generate

The HP Firebird, a gaming box with "Voodoo DNA," will be released Jan. 9 at $1,800 and up. Replacing the Blackbird, it the sort of thing where they don't actually tell you the specifications in the press release. Instead, we are assured, it will "change paradigms."

Voodoo's own website actually reveals what we need to know: an Nvidia 760s motherboard studded with Core 2 Quad processors at 2.6 or 2.8 GHz, 4GB of DDR2 RAM (expandable to 8GB) and dual 512MB Nvidia GForce 9800S video cards.

There's HDMI out, Dual-link DVI, 6 USB ports, memory card reader, two SATA hard drives, optional Blu-Ray. It's made of aluminum and weighs nearly 25 pounds.

Big, beastly, expensive, and obsolete by Christmas. Enjoy!

Firebird [Voodoo]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 6 Jan 2009 | 7:13 pm

CES: Checking in for duty

CES involves lots of walking about in endless huge corridors with horrible carpet, and is mostly about televisions. But it's also the nation's most potent concentration of cool stuff that blinks, beeps and occasionally does something useful.

There'll be new gear from the big names, strange gadgets from people we've never heard of, and unbelievably cheesy junk that should not be at all. A handful of the 130,000 floorwalkers will take the stage to tell you how all this will enrich your lives, line shareholders' pockets, and change the world. Most, of course, will be stuck in tedious behind-the-scenes meetings with suppliers, buyers, and journalists—all just trying to get through another year of the sprawling tech bazaar that is the Consumer Electronics Show.

For us, though, it's just about the toys. Let's see what we can dig up in the next four days.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 6 Jan 2009 | 6:47 pm

SLIDE SHOW: Age of the Gladiators

Artifacts from ancient Pompeii reveal the popularity of gladiator battles.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 6 Jan 2009 | 5:36 pm

Bush Establishes 3 New Marine Monuments

Three marine areas are slated to be protected as national monuments.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 6 Jan 2009 | 4:36 pm

HTC fills a gap we didn’t know existed with the S743

Existing somewhere between (and a sidestep or two away from) the full-touch HTC Touch Diamond and the HTC Touch Pro QWERTY slider is the S740, a non-touch, Windows Mobile 6.1 QWERTY slider. While it’s been floating around Europe for a few months now, HTC is just today announcing its US brethren: the S743.

Surprised that HTC is still making non-touch Windows Mobile 6.1 phones for the touch-obsessed US market? So are we. If the audience is out there, though, good on’em for having it covered. A shout out to the trendy-touch-tech-free days of yesteryear, the S743 sports 850/1900 HSDPA support, a full QWERTY slider, a number pad on the face, and good old softkeys. The 2.4″ screen is a relatively paltry QVGA (320×240) resolution - but if you want some HTC smartphone action but just can’t bring yourself to poke and prod just yet, maybe that can be overlooked.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Jan 2009 | 4:33 pm

AT&T East Coast data network on the fritz

Early this morning, we woke up to a thicket of tips informing us that a hefty helping of AT&T’s East Coast data network had gone done. From New York City to Chicago, anybody lookin’ to do some early morning mobile browsing was out of luck.

Fortunately, word is now trickling in that everything is up and happy again. These quick-fixes have a tendency to be a bit shaky, though - so don’t be surprised if you get an outage aftershock or two in the following few hours. Feel free to drop us a comment and let us know how things are lookin’ in your locale.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Jan 2009 | 3:30 pm

CES 2009: Prepare for “green” lip service

Every year around CES time we get a slew of emails describing the thinnest this or most of that. A few years ago it was GPS devices (”The most points-of-interest in Scranton!”) and then it was TVs (witness Samsung’s recent announcement of a 7mm thick TV). Now it’s green. Take the Renew for example.

Through an alliance with CarbonFund(TM), Motorola offsets the energy required to manufacture, distribute and operate the phone through investments in renewable energy sources and reforestation. The plastic housing of MOTO W233 is 100 percent recyclable and made from plastics comprised of recycled water bottles, and the packaging was also created with the environment in mind.

100 percent recyclable? So is everything, given enough processing. Plastic comprised of recycled water bottles? Want a cookie? What about the 5 million RAZRs now paving the bottom of countless rivers? Environmental packaging? If you stuff the thing into a bag made of fruit roll-ups, I’ll go along with you. Otherwise, weak sauce.

Read More..

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Jan 2009 | 3:13 pm

Did Earth's Twin Cores Spark Plate Tectonics?

A new theory suggests Earth has two cores. But not everyone is convinced.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 6 Jan 2009 | 2:36 pm

Coming Soon From Sling Media: Watch Cable TV From Your iPhone

Sling Media, the company behind the popular (and very cool) settop boxes that allow you to stream cable from your house to your computer, looks like it has outdone itself. At this week’s Macworld the company will be showing off its upcoming iPhone application, which effectively gives iPhone owners instant access to their Cable TVs and Tivos from anywhere they have a network connection. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a little longer (the company says that the app will be submitted to Apple some time in Q1), but it looks like it will be well worth the wait.

Read More …

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 6 Jan 2009 | 2:22 pm

CES: On to JFK

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 6 Jan 2009 | 2:20 pm

Gladiators to 'Fight' Again at Rome's Colosseum

Gladiators will engage in mock battles in Rome's famous Colosseum.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 6 Jan 2009 | 2:10 pm

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