Source: Gizmodo | 31 Jan 2009 | 1:00 am

Ex-Fannie Mae programmer says not guilty of virus

Source: Gizmodo | 31 Jan 2009 | 12:40 am

Quebec man charged for making threats against police on Facebook

LAVAL, Que. - A 19-year-old Quebec man is facing three charges after allegedly making threats to blow up police property in messages he posted on the social networking website Facebook.
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 31 Jan 2009 | 12:39 am

Wis. man freed 23 years after wrongful conviction

A man sentenced to life in prison for killing a woman in 1984 had his conviction overturned and was released Friday on a personal recognizance bond after spending 23 years behind bars. ...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 31 Jan 2009 | 12:36 am

Teaser trailer for Transformers 2 to debut during the Super Bowl

So,

The Super Bowl spot is coming Sunday in the third Quarter (few minutes into the quarter slot). The spot will be online a few minutes after that - The full length teaser trailer will only be on Friday the Thirteenth. It will not hit the internet until a week later. The Teaser really only teases stuff - I’m holding so much stuff back from the final trailers because I personally hate going to movies where you have seen it all.

Tell me what you think,

Michael

Shootfortheedit via tformers

Source: CrunchGear | 31 Jan 2009 | 12:34 am

Catalyst Announces the Release of CR 8.0 (Analytics Edition)

Catalyst CR 8.0 Adds Powerful Analytics Tools to Assist Users in Reducing Document Populations and Targeting Key Documents for More Efficient and Effective Review. DENVER, Jan.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 31 Jan 2009 | 12:34 am

UAC Fix in Windows 7 Creates Security Hole, Blogger Says

Source: Gizmodo | 31 Jan 2009 | 12:20 am

Don’t tell Google that Google Earth can be used to help terrorists

The terrorist attacks in Mumbai last year brought any number of technologies “under the microscope”: Twitter can be used by terrorists to coordinate attacks; Google Earth can be used to map out possible attack routes, etc. Too bad Google completely disagrees with this slipshod logic.

That terrorists can use maps, electronic or otherwise, for Evil isn’t Google’s fault, as it explained to The Sydney Morning Herald. Or, specifically:

The evilness is in the philosophies and the desires of those that want to do evil. They will use the tools at hand to do that, whether it’s throwing a Molotov cocktail, or shooting a rifle or using some piece of technology as part of the process.

Yes, it’s like that old Chris Rock joke. Guns don’t kill people, crazy people do.

Post-Mumbai, Google Earth has been called “the Google threat.” Even the venerable British Army has expressed concern about the program!

But I don’t understand how it can. Are we to ban cellphones because, you know, Bad Guy 1 can SMS his location to Bad Guy 2? Or maybe we should shut down Casio for creating the alarm clock that awoke Bad Guy 3 on the day of an attack? It’s silly.

Source: CrunchGear | 31 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am

Exclusive Images Reveal McG's 'Terminator Salvation' Vision

The director will bring new kinds of exterminator bots and a nuke-devastated planet to the screen this May as he paints a bleak picture of a post-Judgment Day world.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Jan 2009 | 11:57 pm

OpenTable Files For IPO, And Reveals Its Finances

OpenTable, the online restaurant reservation site that was founded in 1998, is hoping to raise as much as $40 million in an IPO, according to a filing with the SEC (embedded below). The prospectus offers a detailed look at the company’s finances and operations.

Revenues through the nine months ended September 30, 2008 were $41.3 million, a 41 percent increase from the same period in 2007. The company makes money from the restaurants, which pay both subscription fees (54 percent of revenues) and reservation fees for each diner that shows up through the system (42 percent of revenues). It also makes a small amount on installation fees (4 percent of revenues).

The company lost 149,000 in net income, but turned an operating profit of 261,000. That is a rather slim margin, however, it appears that the company was spending as much as it could to grow and take market share, especially internationally where it is just getting started. Operating income in North America for teh period was $6.8 million, whereas the company took an operating loss of $6.5 million internationally. Those are startup costs, since it is just getting its foot in the door at restaurants outside the U.S. and Canada.

As of September 30, 2008, OpenTable offered reservations at 9,709 restaurants worldwide, 8,788 of which were in North America It seated 25.5 million diners the first nine months of last year, up 45 percent. It employed 292 people, and had $17.4 million in cash.

I have a feeling any IPO money will go towards international expansion. A successful IPO would be a coup for CEO Jeff Jordan, a former eBay executive who is well regarded in Silicon Valley.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 30 Jan 2009 | 11:56 pm

Casio announces new watch, the Cachalot

Casio announced recently that they are adding a new watch to their Oceanus line, the “Cachalot”. There’s not a ton of information out there about it yet, but based on what we know about the rest of the Oceanus line, it’s probably safe to say that it syncs with the atomic clocks, is solar powered, and has a sapphire crystal.

Retail pricing is expected to be in the $1,200 range. No word on availability yet, however it’s been out in Japan for several months.

Source: CrunchGear | 30 Jan 2009 | 11:30 pm

Lucene and SOLR Get Commercial Support

ruphus13 writes "Two of the technical leads and core committers of the Lucene Project have launched Lucid Imagination, a venture backed company now offering commercial versions of Lucene and SOLR in the hopes of making it the de facto choice of search technologies used by companies within their products. 'The Lucene search library ranks amongst the top 5 Apache projects, installed at over 4,000 global companies. Although OStatic is primarily Drupal-based, our site's search is based on Lucene. According to Lucid Imagination officials, the Solr search server, which transforms the Lucene search library into a ready-to-use search platform for building applications, is the fastest growing Lucene sub-project...Lucid's business model is roughly comparable to Red Hat's very successful model, in that it centers on support and services for free, open source software.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 30 Jan 2009 | 11:30 pm

First Look: MSI's Second Wind Blows Away Its Predecessor

Here at Gadget Lab we've been blessed with an early test unit of the MSI Wind U120 — the successor to the popular MSI Wind netbook. Our first impressions? We like it plenty. The improvements from the first model are very minor, but they make a significant difference on something as small as a netbook.

Here's a rundown of the MSI Wind U120's features, accompanied by beautiful photography courtesy of Wired.com's Jonathan Snyder.

Bigger, Better Trackpad

First and foremost—the trackpad (above). Almost everybody complained about the crappy trackpad on the first Wind, and MSI listened. The Wind U120's improved trackpad is about two centimeters wider than the previous one, and you'd be amazed at how much easier it is to mouse around with that tiny addition in space. Also, the texture of the trackpad is a bit grainy, which makes navigating less of a slippery experience than it was on the previous model's. Third and most important—the Wind U120 has two silver buttons accompanying the trackpad, which beats the living bejeezus out of the clunky, single mouse button on the original Wind.

Professional Makeover

Other than that, MSI completely reworked the Wind's exterior, ditching the original model's cute, rounded aesthetic for a more professional design with sharper edges and a mixture of black and white (above). More serious this new netbook looks and feels indeed, which business users should appreciate.

Spiffy Vents

The case is composed of a higher quality, sturdier plastic compared with the first Wind. MSI also redesigned the heat vents to, well, look like heat vents (above). The last model's sorry excuse for heat vents were five punched-out square holes, lined with cheap, holey aluminum.

Same Ol' Netbook Performance

As for computing performance, we saw no improvement. And we didn't expect any, since the Wind U120 contains the same guts as its forefather. The test unit shipped with a copy of Windows XP, which operates about as well as you'd expect an 8-year-old operating system to. (Read: Like a piece of sh*t. We look forward to hacking this baby to run Mac OS X.) Anyhow, we streamed some Hulu videos and they played back just fine. Audio from the puny speakers sounds tinny, awful and barely audible, just like on the first Wind. We recommend plugging into the headphone port (above), as we generally do with every netbook.

Spacey Keyboard

The keyboard (above) hasn't changed at all: It's plenty roomy, but some might have a problem with the three keys to the left of the "Shift" key (< > ? ) because they're smaller than the rest, which is a little awkward.

Business or Casual?

 

With all that said, I personally still prefer the more casual look of the original Wind (above and below)—but I treat my netbook as the computer I use to "unwind" at home (i.e., web surfing, chatting and listening to music).

We'll provide a full review after a bit more tinkering around and running benchmarks. Stay tuned, Gadget Labbers!

See Also:

• Review: MSI Wind U100
• Gadget Lab Catches a Second MSI Wind
• Second Generation MSI Wind Goes on Sale
• Gadget Lab Video: Running OS X on a Netbook
• Pink MSI Wind in Cynical Valentine Cash-In

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

(Thanks, Maren — for getting this thing in!)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Jan 2009 | 11:11 pm

Orange starts selling pay-as-you-go BlackBerry (CNET)

CNET - Orange has launched the first pay-as-you-go BlackBerry deal in the U.K.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Jan 2009 | 11:11 pm

Exclusive: Former Yahoo Scott Moore Heads Back to Microsoft As U.S. Content Head [BoomTown]

[UPDATED AND EXPANDED]

In an unusual homecoming and odd job switcheroo between two Internet execs, former Yahoo media head Scott Moore is returning to Microsoft to lead its U.S. content efforts, according to many sources both inside and outside the company.

Moore (pictured here) will become U.S. executive producer, responsible for leading the content and programming and strategy for the MSN online service. He will return to Microsoft’s Seattle area HQ in mid-March and report to Greg Nelson, GM of the MSN Global Media Group.

Microsoft (MSFT) declined comment about Moore’s new job, but sources said news of the appointment will be officially announced Monday.

But a memo about Moore’s new gig went out internally to some of the MSN staff earlier today, sources said. In fact, the return of Moore had been widely rumored inside Microsoft, even though there were several other internal and external candidates considered–including another former Yahoo, one source said–for the job.

Moore left Yahoo (YHOO), which was first reported here, last November, due to unhappiness over the turmoil at the company and also to pursue a start-up idea he had about a local-news site.

Moore even talked about the idea on the record with BoomTown (see video below), just as he was leaving Yahoo’s Santa Monica-based Media Group. Since he left Yahoo for good in December, Moore has been working on his start-up plans and also took time off to go on a safari trip to Africa.

But with the economic downturn making it harder for new start-ups to get funded on good terms, a desire to be back in the Seattle area, where his children live, and a new effort by MSN to compete better in the content business with top-ranked Yahoo, sources said Moore felt the powerful job at Microsoft would be a terrific challenge.

In what is a case of Web exec musical chairs, Moore had previously been replaced at Yahoo–in a rushed appointment–by Jeff Dossett. Dossett came to Yahoo from, wait for it, Microsoft, where he had held the job Moore is now taking.

In that move, also first reported here, Dossett was given a different title at Yahoo than Moore, as SVP of the U.S. Audience Group (Moore was SVP of the Media Group at Yahoo).

When he first started talking to Yahoo, Dossett (pictured here) was actually up for a job to run business development for Yahoo. But Moore’s sudden decision to leave had his boss, Yahoo’s EVP of U.S., Hilary Schneider, scrambling to fill the post. Dossett’s experience at MSN made him the obvious choice.

Now, Moore’s appointment puts the pair in head-to-head competitive positions in the online content business, a clash that has been consistently won by Moore, when he had Dossett’s job at Yahoo and Dossett had Moore’s job at MSN.

Moore should also be comfortable at Microsoft and move into his job more easily. Previous to coming to Yahoo in mid-2005, he was president of MSNBC.com and publisher of Slate.com. He had worked at Microsoft for a decade.

Moore will run MSNBC.com again, along with all of Microsoft’s domestic content programming, which makes up a bulk of its efforts in the area.

And, with Moore back on board, how MSN will better compete with the content juggernaut Yahoo is–due to Moore’s efforts, in part and one of the troubled company’s stronger units–will be interesting.

That’s because Yahoo’s news, finance, sports and other properties typically rank as No. 1 online by far.

Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL has also tried recently to improve its content offerings and has gotten some traction. It recently upped the ante with its new MediaGlow online studio effort of niche blog sites.

At the very back of this pack, Microsoft has made innumerable efforts in the content space over the years, mostly unsuccessful–Underwire!, Mungo Park!–and has settled more into the aggregation model.

But it still has a lot of interesting original content efforts under way, such as an unnamed celebrity-focused site property it is reportedly launching within the next week with former Yahoo media exec–and Moore’s former boss–Lloyd Braun.

Ironically, Moore launched a Yahoo celebrity site, omg!, initially pushed by Braun when he was at Yahoo, which has been successful.

Here is the video interview I did with Moore at his Yahoo going-away party about his future plans. Below that is another one I did when he was czar of Yahoo content, in which he talked extensively about the future of content on the Web.

Source: All Things Digital | 30 Jan 2009 | 11:05 pm

SunPower Soars On Strong Q4; Betting On Looser Credit [Voices]

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

Wow, the bears on SunPower (SPWRA) aren’t having a very good day. The solar module provider late yesterday posted better-than-expected results for the fourth quarter, and an outlook for 2009 that suggests strong growth, assuming the credit markets loosen. With the Street bracing for the worst heading into the quarter–one analyst even launched coverage yesterday morning with a Sell rating–the shares have rebounded impressively.

But as the skeptics on the stock point out, to buy it here is a bet on improvement in the credit markets. As I noted yesterday, SunPower said it expects 2009 revenue of $1.6 billion to $2 billion, with profits of $2.20 to $2.80 a share. The company said that reaching the high-end of the revenue and earnings ranges will depend on improved access to the project financing markets. And it also said that first-half performance will be “materially affected by seasonal factors and the continuing impact of the credit crisis.”

Weirdly, the company did not give any guidance at all on the first quarter.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 30 Jan 2009 | 11:00 pm

Appropriate attire for your next Chernobyl trip

Raiation Shield Technologies has what you need in order to hit those hard to reach geocaching locations deep inside the Chernobyl wasteland. The Flordia-based firm’s fabric is comprised of metallic fabric that is more flexible and light than traditional lead suits which should make galavanting around a tad more enjoyable. The suits can withstand gamma rays, X-rays, and even nuclear emissions. Doesn’t it look comfy!

Source: CrunchGear | 30 Jan 2009 | 11:00 pm

First Look: MSI's Second Wind Blows Away Predecessor

We got our hands on the MSI's latest netbook — the Wind U120. Here's a rundown of the features, with photos.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 30 Jan 2009 | 11:00 pm

First Look: MSI's Second Wind Blows Away Predecessor

We got our hands on the MSI's latest netbook — the Wind U120. Here's a rundown of the features, with photos.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Jan 2009 | 11:00 pm

Even Wall Street Won’t Pay for Content: Financial Times Sues Blackstone for Web “Fraud” [MediaMemo]

Earlier today I suggested that we were headed toward a two-tier information economy where wealthy people pay for good stuff and everyone else gets free crappy stuff. But I may have miscalculated–maybe even rich people won’t be willing to buy the good stuff.

That’s one lesson you might derive from this odd lawsuit: The Financial Times is suing Stephen Schwarzman’s Blackstone Group (BX), claiming that the private equity group has been defrauding it since 2002. How? By allowing multiple people to use a single account to access articles on the paper’s FT.com site.

The FT figures that this was done with the approval a “senior” Blackstone finance executive and constitutes a “massive” crime since a yearly subscription to the paper’s Web site costs up to $299 a year. It’s suing Blackstone for copyright violation and computer fraud. (Redundant disclosure: The FT competes with The Wall Street Journal, which owns this Web site and which also charges for comprehensive access to its Web property.)

And if you’re thinking this seems like an odd way for a powerhouse publisher to settle a billing dispute with a giant private equity company (even after the economic meltdown, Blackstone sports a $1.2 billion market cap), well, you’re not alone. I double-checked with an FT spokeswoman who told me that the company had no comment, but confirmed that the complaint below is indeed real.

Thanks to CityFile for pointing this one out.

Black Stone

Source: All Things Digital | 30 Jan 2009 | 10:57 pm

Awesome, Low-Tech Gadget Creates Liters of Fresh Water

Sometimes the simplest technology is the best. The Watercone, a solar-powered water purifier, is a testament to that.

The cone-shaped device turns salty or dirty water into up to 1.7 liters of fresh water in a matter of hours, according to Watercone.

Here's how it works: You pour the bad water into a black pan, and then you screw on a cone. The black pan absorbs sunlight and heats up the water. Then, the evaporated water condensates into droplets on the cone's inner wall, and the droplets drop into a circular trough at the inner case of the cone. After a few hours, you can unscrew the cap, tip the cone upside down and empty out the clean water into a receptacle.

The Watercone is due out this summer, and it should cost no more than $30. This will be a tremendous help for poorer, developing countries.

Check out a video of the Watercone in action below the jump.

Product Page [Watercone via RedFerret]

Photo: Watercone 

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Jan 2009 | 10:49 pm

Comcast testing new free Wi-Fi service (AP)

AP - Comcast Corp. is testing a free wireless Internet service for its cable subscribers in parts of New Jersey, following in the footsteps of a fellow cable operator.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Jan 2009 | 10:46 pm

Sidekick LX 2009 is really real, maybe

Ed at HipTop3 is claiming that the LX 2009 that broke cover in an online survey is legit and that it's the 'Blade' everyone but me has known about. One of his readers sent in this screen cap of the LX 2009 to update the previous image that looked to have been taken with a Sidekick. Looks good to me, but I'm not sure I can leave my BlackBerry for the Sidekick. We'll see when everything gets official or someone has actual specs and photos of the Blade or whatever it's going to be called.

Source: CrunchGear | 30 Jan 2009 | 10:41 pm

New Ads That Watch You

Pandanapper writes to tell us Yahoo is reporting that if you find yourself watching an ad on a video screen in a public venue, the ad may be watching you as well. "Small cameras can now be embedded in the screen or hidden around it, tracking who looks at the screen and for how long. The makers of the tracking systems say the software can determine the viewer's gender, approximate age range and, in some cases, ethnicity -- and can change the ads accordingly. That could mean razor ads for men, cosmetics ads for women and video-game ads for teens."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 30 Jan 2009 | 10:39 pm

‘Duck Hunt’ iPhone game pulled at Nintendo's request (Macworld.com)

Macworld.com - Lawl Mart’s Duck Hunt, an iPhone and iPod touch game that has been available at the App Store, can’t be found any more. The developer says that the game came down at the request of Nintendo, which alleges copyright infringement.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Jan 2009 | 10:23 pm

NEC cutting 20k employees, 20,000

 There isn’t a day that passes that CE companies don’t announce layoffs. NEC’s expected cuts are some of the largest yet though with plans to eliminate 20,000 employees. That would result in the company firing nearly 7% of its worldwide work force just to “convert to a more muscular profit structure.” The overall goal is to return the company to a more profitable state - or something PR-ish like that. After all these cuts are done, is anyone going to be employed?

Source: CrunchGear | 30 Jan 2009 | 10:15 pm

Sidekick LX 2009 is probably the ‘Blade’ and probably real

Ed at HipTop3 is claiming that the LX 2009 that broke cover in an online survey is legit and that it’s the ‘Blade’ everyone but me has known about. One of his readers sent in this screen cap of the LX 2009 to update the previous image that looked to have been taken with a Sidekick. Looks good to me, but I’m not sure I can leave my BlackBerry for the Sidekick. We’ll see when everything gets official or someone has actual specs and photos of the Blade or whatever it’s going to be called.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Jan 2009 | 10:13 pm

Travelzoo Buys Fly.com Domain For A Lofty $1.8 Million

Travelzoo, a publicly traded travel site launched in 1998, has annouced that it purchased the domain “Fly.com” for $1.8 million. According to Travelzoo’s announcement, Fly.com will be the home of “a new information web site to be launched in Feburary”. A visit to the site itself offers a slightly less vague description:

“Fly.com will launch a new travel search engine within the next few weeks that will help you find
the best travel options. Please visit us again soon.”

The $1.8 million price tag might sound like a lot (and it is), but pricey domains are nothing new, even in the down economy: Vibrators.com sold for $1 million a few months ago and A&T’s YellowPages.com paid a whopping $3.85 million for YP.com in December. Of course, good domain names are no guarantee for success - let’s hope Fly.com has more behind it than yet another generic travel search engine.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 30 Jan 2009 | 10:06 pm

Scientists warn of more acidic oceans

Greenhouse gases are putting oceans at risk of becoming too acidic to support reefs and marine life, scientists at a U.N.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2009 | 10:03 pm

Verizon Wireless Network Up and Running Across Ohio

DUBLIN, Ohio, Jan.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2009 | 10:01 pm

Judge Rules WoW Bot Violates DMCA

An anonymous reader writes to tell us that Blizzard has added another victory in their campaign against World of Warcraft bots. A federal judge has ruled that not only did the Glider bot break the EULA, it can be classified as a circumvention device under the DMCA. "As we've noted before, Blizzard's legal arguments, which Judge David G. Campbell largely accepted, could have far-reaching and troubling implications for the software industry. Donnelly is not the most sympathetic defendant, and some users may cheer the demise of a software vendor that helps users break the rules of Blizzard's wildly popular role playing game. But the sweeping language of Judge Campbell's decision, combined with his equally troubling decision last summer, creates a lot of new uncertainty for software vendors seeking to enter software markets dominated by entrenched incumbents and achieve interoperability with legacy platforms."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 30 Jan 2009 | 9:50 pm

Bioenergy research funding available

Up to $25 million in funding for research and development of biofuels, bioenergy and biobased products is available from two U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2009 | 9:41 pm

Hummer Drivers Get More Tickets. A Lot More

A study confirms what you've long suspected: Hummer drivers think they own the road.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Jan 2009 | 9:40 pm

TITAN Technology Partners Continues Global Expansion and Record Performance in 2008

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- TITAN Technology Partners, a global provider of consulting and outsourced industry solutions, today announced that 2008 revenue grew by nearly 14% compared with 2007.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2009 | 9:28 pm

MySpace CEO DeWolfe Jabs Back At Yahoo’s Bartz (Video)

We heard that some MySpace insiders weren’t exactly pleased when new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz made a subtle jab at MySpace during the Yahoo earnings call earlier this week.

When asked if Yahoo would start to focus on the younger demographic, Bartz responded “So one thing I would say, I want to make sure that we serve the demographic that we have now very, very well. Also what I would tell you, the good news is, that crowd is very finicky. And just as MySpace was extremely hot and then moved over to Facebook, who knows what’s going to come next and who knows whether Yahoo! can grab that property and be successful.”

The press took that quote and ran with it, writing headlines like this one from Reuters: Facebook hotter than MySpace: Yahoo CEO Bartz.

Bartz may have singled out MySpace because of a Financial Times article noting that the company was successfully targeting Yahoo’s advertisers.

I caught MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe in the hallway at the World Economic Forum at Davos earlier today. I have a much longer interview that I’ll post tomorrow. But I also asked him what he thought of being called out by Bartz. His response is in the video above. He was polite, but threw in a couple of zingers, saying Bartz, who is new to the consumer Internet space and is still learning, and “she’s not from this industry and it will probably take some time to get acclimated.” He also says he doubts Bartz has ever been on the MySpace website. Full transcript of the brief exchange is below.

Michael Arrington: I’m here with MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe. Chris, sorry to grab you in the hallway, there’s something I’ve mean meaning to ask you. A couple of days ago the new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz on an earnings call said something we found kind of funny. She said something along the lines of “Facebook is hot, MySpace isn’t, or MySpace is dead “or something along those lines. I found that interesting given that you guys have a pretty awesome revenue trajectory and also you guys are partners on OpenSocial and some other stuff. What was your reaction to that?

Chris DeWolfe: I didn’t have a big reaction to that. I think she is fairly new to the consumer internet space and is probably still learning. I hear she’s a really smart person and she’ll do a good job there. I doubt she’s been on our site and if you look at our numbers in the United States, we have 76 million unique users and our nearest competitor has 45 million unique users. So, it’s kind of an odd statement but again, she’s not from this industry and it will probably take some time to get acclimated.

Michael Arrington: All right, thanks very much.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 30 Jan 2009 | 9:23 pm

UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Possible flu silver bullet tested on mice TOKYO, Jan.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2009 | 9:21 pm

California could see worst drought ever

California is hovering near the worst drought in the state's history, officials said after reporting the Sierra Nevada snowpack is 61 percent of normal. California usually gets about 20 percent of its annual precipitation in January, but this year a string of dry, sunny days graced the state, reducing the anticipated precipitation, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The dry weather is occurring as the state's water system is pressured by an increasing population, an old infrastructure and court-ordered reductions in water pumped through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, none of which existed or were less severe during similar dry spells in the late 1970s and late 1980s, the Chronicle said. We're definitely in really bad shape, said Elissa Lynn, chief meteorologist with the state Department of Water Resources.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2009 | 9:18 pm

LimeWire's Mark Gorton Brings Open-Source To Urban Planning

mytrip writes to tell us that Mark Gorton of LimeWire fame is translating his knowledge from moving bits to moving people. Taking profits earned from his software business, Gorton is applying them to projects aimed at making urban transportation safer, faster, and more sustainable. "That's not the only connection between open-source software and Gorton's vision for livable cities. The top-down culture of public planning stands to benefit by employing methods he's lifting from the world of open-source software: crowdsourced development, freely-accessible data libraries, and web forums, as well as actual open-source software with which city planners can map transportation designs to people's needs. Such modeling software and data existed in the past, but it was closed to citizens. Gorton's open-source model would have a positive impact on urban planning by opening up the process to a wider audience, says Thomas K. Wright, executive director of the Regional Plan Association, an organization that deals with urban planning issues in the New York metropolitan area."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:57 pm

Ma.gnolia Suffers Major Data Loss, Site Taken Offline

The bookmark sharing site suffered a catastrophic loss of user data Friday it says will take "days, not hours" to resolve. The failure has users questioning the reliability of other web-based storage services.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:56 pm

More delightful silliness from "Look Around You"

Scott Beale of Laughing Squid pointed to two fantastic episodes of "Look Around You," a BBC Comedy from 2002 that parodies public science education videos.

Source: Boing Boing | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:45 pm

Pint-Sized Pico Projector Parties in Our Pants

The Optoma's Pico projector is so small and shiny it looks good enough to eat. That may be true but a closer look at its capabilities make the tiny titan a bit hard to swallow.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:45 pm

Pint-Sized Pico Projector Parties in Our Pants

The Optoma's Pico projector is so small and shiny it looks good enough to eat. That may be true but a closer look at its capabilities make the tiny titan a bit hard to swallow.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:45 pm

Top TV Deals for Super Bowl Sunday - Plus, Buying Tips!

Super Bowl Sunday is one of the biggest TV events of the year, and people are always interested in buying a new set for their house party, recession or not.

They are just more careful about the value of their dollar this year. As a result, retailers and manufacturers are getting together to bring plenty of good last-minute offers, including sales by as much as 45% off, like a couple of Sharp TVs we found online. Most of the sales we've monitored this week, however, are coming in between 20% and 30%. That's not too bad.

According to TV company reps, part of the motivation to pick up a new set this week is to also avoid problems with the upcoming DTV transition, but we don't believe that at all. A big sports event supercedes any sort of concern people might have about that, and most people who are buying a TV for a SB party have previously upgraded to an HD feed. Often, they’re just trying to man up to something bigger and better.

Samsung, in particular, is trying to take all of the attention during the run up to the Super Bowl. Having paid a huge chunk of change to have the honor of being known as the "Official Sponsor" of this Super Bowl, they're offering a $200 gift certificate on any TV bought over $1000 at Amazon.com.

This deal (and others online) might prove to be a Shipping Impossible Mission, what with the game coming in only 48 hours, but we've heard that many of the retailers are honoring online deals at their bricks & mortars. Even against offers of their competitors. So that means you should take your iPhone, G1, or Netbook with you to show the salespeople the competing offers and hassle with them for 15 minutes until they give you the appropriate discount. Believe me, they want to sell you that TV. This is not the time to turn away customers.

Check out some of the top TV deals we found that are available right now (above), and then check out our Google Docs spreadsheet with the larger list, right here. That one includes more big box retailers (so you don't have to deal with the shipping nightmares) and we'll update it throughout the day. Also, please let us know if you find out about any deals that are better than these in the comments below or by email, to jferm80@gmail.com. 

And here are a few important tips you should keep in mind before making a purchase:

• Do account for the number of people attending your party. If it will be less than ten people, consider buying a set at 40 inches of less. You don't need a monster set, just sit a bit closer together.
• Do consider the viewing angle of the set. The larger the angle, the more people should be able to crowd beside the set. But the angle should not be a priority ahead of resolution, brightness, and image processing speed.
• Do stick with LCDs for their durability and power savings. That is, unless you pick up one of the 'Ultimate Black' Kuros from Pioneer (with their ridiculous contrast ratios), or one of the Mitsubishi Laser TVs. In that case, you probably shouldn't be checking out any posts that feature 'deals'. But if you are really sticking to your price points and want to maximize size, there will be some, older good Plasmas available.
• Do try to pay for your TV straight-up, without buying into any interest deals. As the Wall Street Journal recently noted, many of the 'no interest' multi-year payment plans become horribly one-sided against customers the moment you send in one late payment. Please don't be that guy.
• Don't buy any high-end HDMI cables while at the store. They will pitch them to you, with ridiculous, cross-eyed, teeth-shattering lies. You don't need any Monsters in da house, just the TV. And some some chips. And guacamole. Skip the peanuts this year.
• Do figure out the best seating arrangements before the game starts. HDGuru came up with a great list that defines the optimal viewing distance for each size of a television. The main rule is that you should measure the distance in feet that you (and your friends) prefer to sit away from the set. Then, multiply that number by four to get the number of (diagonal) inches of screen you need. Check out the full (PDF) list of distance measurements right here, or after the jump.
• Do calibrate the TV to produce the best picture quality possible. Associate Editor Joe Brown recently noted during a video of his winter outing at the Wired Store that calibrating displays is a key to get the best out of any TV. Often, big box retailers will amp up the contrast, brightness, and color levels on in-store TVs in order to stand out in the high-ambient light conditions.

See also:

• Thanksgiving Update: We Rank the Best Early Black Friday TV Deals

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

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:43 pm

Etruscan Haruspices: New iMacs on the Way [Digital Daily]

Apple observers sifting entrails for portents of iMacs to come have three new signs in which to put their faith this week.

The first, a Monday note from Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu claiming that the new iMacs that had been expected to debut at Macworld are almost ready for market. “We wanted to give an update on the Mac business from what we are picking up from our latest supply chain checks,” Wu wrote in a note to clients. “While new the iMac appears to be almost ready for primetime, what is holding it up appears to be business reasons and a potential small technical hurdle…. Apple is in the midst of figuring out whether to power the new iMac with Intel quad-core processors or more high-powered dual-core processors with larger caches.”

The second: A report out of China’s Economic Daily News claiming Apple’s manufacturing partner Quanta Computer is “gearing up to supply monthly shipments of around 800,000 [iMaC] units during the first quarter of 2009.”

And the third: Reports that Apple (AAPL) has been telling resellers that iMac supplies are tightening, often interpreted as a sign that the company is dropping inventory levels ahead of a product life refresh.

Source: All Things Digital | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:42 pm

Possible flu silver bullet tested on mice

Japanese researchers say they've developed a new, universal flu vaccine, offering a possible silver bullet against new strains of the bug. Trials on mice have shown promising results even on strains that can mutate quickly, Yomiuri Shimbun reported Friday. Previous vaccines were developed based on proteins resembling barbs that covered the outer surface of the virus, researchers said.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:42 pm

Consumer Electronics Show Plans To Steal Macworld’s Thunder

After Apple announced it would no longer be participating in the annual Macworld conference and expo, makers of Apple product accessories will now be promoting their new lineups at the Consumer Electronics Show’s “iLounge” next year.The yearly Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas has been the San Francisco-based Macworld’s main competition for years.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:35 pm

Time-lapse of a 9-month-old at play

All hail Discordia! (Via Forgetomori, and BB Gadgets!)

Source: Boing Boing | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:34 pm

Vertical backflip on a Big Wheel

Courtesy of Brandon West via the BBG Faucet, the most bitching thing you'll see all day: what starts as a firework fight between two dudes dressed only in their underpants quickly becomes a vertical backflip on a Big Wheel plastic toy trike.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:30 pm

AnalogicTech Appoints David Schwartz as Vice President of Worldwide Sales

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Advanced Analogic Technologies, Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:30 pm

Global Game Jam has begun! (live video stream)

Global Game Jam is under way. Live stream above, more about the event here and in this previous Boing Boing blog post. Boing Boing Video, Boing Boing Gadgets, and Offworld will be popping up in various cities, give us a shout in the comments if you'd like to give us a shout-out from your location, and send us a video! We'll reach out with upload info.

(Thanks, Ustream, Jolon Bankey, and Global Game Jam Costa Rica crew!)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:28 pm

RushmoreDrive.com Announces Strategic Partnership With GlobalGrind.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:26 pm

A comment from Modusoperandi

Modusoperandi, responding to markmarkmark in the Attenborough's response to creationists' hate mail thread, said:

markmarkmark "Jesus is my rabbi and all that is best in me is him and every mistake is my own."

One Night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonged to him and the other to the Lord.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him, and he questioned the Lord about it: "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you you'd walk with me all the way, but I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me."

The Lord replied, "My precious, precious child, I love you and would never leave you. Also, you're being intermittently stalked by the Invisible Man."

Good one. Front page.

Source: Boing Boing | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:25 pm

Trilo Temporalis, the clockwork trilobyte

Jud Turner's the same gruesome metal worker who was responsible for the Skeleton Bicycle we posted the other day, but I like his black iron cogwork trilobyte more: it looks like something that would scurry out of the irradiated wreckage of an industrial holocaust, abiogenetically spawned from the broken and burnt gears and blades of metal of a self-destroyed civilization.

Jud Turner [Artist's Site via io9]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:24 pm

Global Game Jam has begun! (live video stream)

Global Game Jam is under way. Live stream above, and more about the event here and in this previous Boing Boing blog post. Boing Boing Video, Boing Boing Gadgets, and Offworld will be popping up in various cities, give us a shout in the comments if you'd like to give us a shout-out from your location, and send us a video! We'll reach out with upload info.

(Thanks, Ustream, Jolon Bankey, and Global Game Jam Costa Rica crew!)

Source: Boing Boing | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:23 pm

Norway or the Highway: Poo Powers Oslo Buses

Norway's capital harvests methane from sewage to fuel its buses.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:19 pm

Obama Turns Campaign Machine Into Grass Roots Activism

President Barack Obama has retooled his Web-powered campaign machine into a grass roots activist group to work alongside the White House in promoting his legislative agenda.Three days before he was sworn into the White House, Obama announced to the 13 million supporters on his mailing list the transformation of “Obama for America" into a new organization, "Organizing for America.” "You've built the largest grass roots movement in history," Obama announced through email and YouTube videos.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:18 pm

Russia puts research satellite in orbit

Russia has launched its first rocket of the year, carrying a research satellite as its payload, a space agency spokesman said Friday. The launch of the Cyclone-3 rocket from the Plesetsk space center in northwest Russia originally was scheduled for Thursday, but was delayed for technical reasons, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported. The Coronas-Photon satellite, which will study the sun from near-Earth orbit, is the third of three satellite placed in orbit under Russia's Coronas program.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:08 pm

PC's Waste Heat Could Add To Processing Power

Urchin writes to tell us that physicists working in a new field called "phononics" claim that waste heat from a processor could actually be used to add to its power. "Crunching data coded using photons — photonic computing — is one example, and in 2007 researchers built the first workable optical transistor. But now the idea of computing using heat flow is gaining popularity among applied physicists. Heat travels through solid materials by means of phonons — ripples of vibration passing through a series of atoms. Those ripples can be used to send and store data in digital form: one temperature is read as 0 or 'off' while a second, higher temperature is interpreted as 1 or 'on.' Provided that the thermal memory is well insulated, it can keep its temperature — and data — intact for a long time."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:06 pm

Hacked Netbooks Run OS X As Well As an iBook

It's becoming common knowledge you can hack a netbook to run Mac OS X. But just how does it compete with a real Mac? Tech blog AppleDifferent ran in-depth benchmarks and found an MSI Wind Hackintosh performs on par with a 4-year-old iBook G4.

Well, sort of. The hacked Wind was generally speedier in real-world tasks: It booted up OS X and launched programs faster. But processor-intensive tasks like converting an iTunes track or unzipping a folder took about the same amount of time as they did on an iBook.

You might think — bleh, an iBook? But the 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor in netbooks is designed to be a low-powered, energy-efficient CPU made for a budget device. And to me, real-world performance is more important with netbooks in particular, because you'll only be running processor-intensive tasks occasionally. What do you think?

Benchmark Results [AppleDifferent via Liliputing]

See Also:

• Gadget Lab Video: Running OS X on a Netbook
• OS X Running on Lenovo Netbook
• Cheap, Easy-to-Mod NetBooks Are a Hacker's Paradise
• Apple Still Oblivious to Netbook Opportunity
• It Lives! Gadget Lab's Netbook Running OS X Leopard
• Hackintosh Update: Installing a New Wireless Card
• Gadget Lab Hackintosh: Now With Added Sound Output
• Sound Output Enabled on Hackintosh Eee PCs
• Tablet Hackintosh on Dell Netbook
• Gadget Lab Catches a Second MSI Wind
• Run Mac OS X on an Eee PC
• Hack of the Clones: Why Apple Can't Stop the Copies

Image: AppleDifferent

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:05 pm

Watching the People Who Watch Their Ads

Using small cameras embedded in or near public video screens, a small but growing number of advertisers are keeping tabs on who is watching their stuff for the purpose of targeting specific groups.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:05 pm

Hitachi Shows Cellphone With 3D Display

3D is all the rage this year with the 3D television in the works and a 3D movie preview planned during Super Bowl.Add to that a cellphone with 3D.

Hitachi has developed a cellphone with 3D- capable display that it says will launch in April.

The Hitachi Wooo H001 phone has a 3.1-inch 3D TFT LCD display with 854 x 480 resolution. The screen can render images and videos created in 3D formats and convert 2D images to 3D. The Wooo H001 comes with a 5 megapixel camera of its own.

The clamshell-like form factor of the phone has a toggle that allows users to switch to a 3D parallax view, says Electronista. It also means users can customize the depth and phone works in both the portrait and landscape mode.

The phone wont' be available in North America but if it does well in Japan, it coudl spark off the trend of having more 3D displays in phones. 

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:04 pm

Biofuel Test Flight Of Boeing Jet A Success In Japan

Japan Airlines (JAL) conducted the world's first successful test flight of a Boeing airplane run on biofuel consisting mostly of a non-food energy crop called camelina.The 90-minute demonstration, a joint effort between JAL, Boeing and engine-maker Pratt and Whitney, began as the Boeing 747-300
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2009 | 8:00 pm

New theory advanced on Iceman's death

A new examination of Italy's mummified Iceman indicates the Stone Age man was attacked twice before he died, Italian and German researchers said. The joint study indicated the Iceman, also known as Oetzi, was wounded in the hand ''a few days before'' he was hunted down and killed in the mountains
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:57 pm

T-Mobile Exec: More “G series” phones on the way

We really could have guessed as much at this point, but T-Mobile’s Senior Vice President of Engineering Neville Ray has put it on the record that G1 followups are on the way in 2009:

As the year progresses there will be a significant number of HSPA-capable smart phones. We will be launching more G series phones and other products.

We’ve heard from at least one source at HTC that the G-series isn’t necessarily an HTC only gig - if more than one does indeed hit the shelves in 2009, we’d expect at least one of them to be outside of HTC’s doing.

[Via AndroidGuys]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:56 pm

Kittens chillax on a Roomba

A variation of Last Man Standing played with kittens on a Roomba. All these kittens are just champs: none seems particularly dispirited to lose the game. Teeth-gratingly irritating LOL Cat captions in the comments, if you please, my droogies.

[via POETV]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:50 pm

Congress Makes Second Attempt To Delay DTV Transition

The U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:50 pm

Space Invaders watch

The increasing speed and menace of an invading alien fleet. Evasive maneuvers behind scant shreds of pixel-shield. That primal and pagan bassline march -- now on your wrist!

Ah, but no: it's just an unplayable animation that begins when you push a button. Adds John: "They need to make one that actually PLAYS space invaders."

Brandon is planning to to buy one all the same: "I am perfectly happy with it being sexy and unplayable."

Product Page (Japanese) [Ebten via Gamovr]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:39 pm

Blind Hacker Pleads Guilty to Harassment, Eavesdropping, Fraud

Matthew Weigman, a legally blind 18-year-old Boston phone hacker, pleads guilty to two federal felonies that could lock him up for 13 years.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:33 pm

Cassette Wallets

Here are $43 wallets made from old cassette tapes.

Casette Wallet [Design Boom]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:32 pm

House set to vote again on analog shutdown delay (AP)

AP - Congress is going to take another crack at delaying the analog TV shutdown by four months.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:25 pm

When you watch these ads, the ads check you out (AP)

AP - Watch an advertisement on a video screen in a mall, health club or grocery store and there's a slim — but growing — chance the ad is watching you too.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:21 pm

Dumping Crops at Sea Proposed as Way to Bury Carbon

Scientists propose dumping crop remains at sea to sequester carbon.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:20 pm

Intel Pushes New Operating System For Netbooks

Forget the Microsoft Windows 7 beta. The alpha version of Moblin, an open source-based Linux operating system designed specifically for netbooks, is out.

The preliminary version of the Moblin 2 OS has been specifically created for netbooks that run Intel's company's Atom processor.

The idea is to build a new experience for netbook users, who so far have been buying netbooks loaded with either Microsoft's Windows XP or a Linux flavor OS. It could also help notebook makers maintain their price margins by building greater differentiation among their devices.

Inexpensive lightweight netbooks have become one of the fastest growing categories in the PC industry. The Moblin project sponsored by Intel among others attempts to create an OS specifically designed for a netbook processor that will be offer users a better experience on these tiny devices.

Earlier this month, Rahul Sood, chief technology officer for HP's Voodoo Business Unit complained on his blog that netbooks in their current form could kill PC innovation.

Netbooks were designed as companions for laptops and desktops but increasingly users are buying them as their primary device. That means users get a stripped down version of a notebook that doesn't entirely give them a satisfactory experience, says Sood.

Operating systems created specifically to take advantage of a netbook's processor such as Intel's Atom could help change that. It could also make it easier for notebook manufacturers and chip makers to prevent cannabilization among their products. "How do you differentiate the higher performance machines from the netbook equipped systems?," asks Sood.

Netbooks with their own customized OS could help create more distinct products. It's also one of the reasons that Intel has been actively supporting Moblin offering it the resources needed to optimize the OS for Atom processor.

The alpha release of Moblin 2 is the first chance for interested users to start multiple-level testing of the core Linux OS including the boot process, the connectivity and networking manager and the user interface development tools. The software has been tested on the Acer Aspire One, Asus eeePC 901 and the Dell Mini 9.

The release may not be something that Joe the plumber would want on his on his netbook yet, but as the user interface for Moblin develops it could become a viable alternative to XP and other Linux distributions, says Ars Technica.

Photo: (ekosystem.org/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:18 pm

Web design sketchbook

This web design sketchbook — which gives brainstorming web designers sheaths of blank Firefox web browsers and advertisement windows — looks rather swish, but you'd think it'd just be a lot more affordable to print off a bunch of these on your printer than pay for a bound notebook of them.

Web Design Sketchbook [Paraniv via Cool Hunting]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:17 pm

iRentToOwn.com Launches an Innovative Real Estate Search Engine with Over 4 Million Listings.

Customers Continue to Increase Exponentially as Website Gains Popularity. LOS ANGELES, Jan.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:17 pm

Make Your Own Scientific Super Bowl Snacks

This Sunday, skip the nachos and buffalo wings and try some beer ice cream or blue cheese whiz. Wired brings you the favorite finger foods of some of the top molecular gastronomists.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:15 pm

Microsoft Surface To Coordinate SuperBowl Security

suraj.sun writes to tell us that in preparation for nearly a quarter of a million people descending on Tampa for the Super Bowl, the Tampa authorities are deploying new tech for security communications and response. All of the incidents and communications will be plotted and tracked on a new implementation of Microsoft's Surface. Hopefully it wont have to reboot after every new incident report. "The Microsoft Surface device will display a Microsoft Virtual Earth map of the entire region tracking events, incidents, resources and tasks in real-time using its unique large display, multi-user, multi-touch and interactive capabilities, also allowing it to communicate with remote devices and PCs. With a quick hand-gesture, the map can zoom in and display a 3D image of the city, including detailed views of buildings and streets and real time resource tracking."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:14 pm

Economy takes wind out of project's sails

Germany's financial crisis has forced several offshore wind parks in the North Sea to be put on hold, government officials said. Some people involved in the wind farm project said they fear could worsen because of the lousy financial markets, Der Spiegel reported Friday. The German Environment Ministry sponsored an Offshore Summit Thursday to address the financial difficulties facing smaller energy companies, resulting in an agreement that the offshore industry would be considered in the second stimulus package the German government developed with to address the economic crisis. We are sliding towards a dangerous crisis in offshore wind power, says Fritz Vahrenholt, director of RWE subsidiary Innogy, which operates wind farms along the British coast. Some parts for the project -- backed by German energy firms E.ON and EWE and the Swedish power company Vattenfall -- have been delivered, but are still in the outfitting platform at Wilhelmshaven because of weather-related delays, Der Spiegel said. In July the government announced plans to build up to 30 offshore wind farms to meet the country's renewable energy targets.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:12 pm

Sterling Stamos Partner Daniel Okimoto to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award from Keizai Society

MENLO PARK, Calif., Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Stanford University Professor Emeritus Daniel I.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Jan 2009 | 7:08 pm

Save our Children, Combat Thieves With Fake Mold

Here's a way to protect your kids from the school bully: Anti-theft lunch bags, adorned with artificial green splotches to make food look moldy. Just tell your kids not to eat lunch around their teacher, or you might be getting a visit from Child Protective Services.

Novelty store The. is selling these bags of rancid awesomeness in packs of 10 for $25.

Product Page [via Design Sponge] (Thanks, Christina!)

Photos: The.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Jan 2009 | 6:50 pm

FlyCast for Android hits the market

When FlyCast announced during CES that an Android port of their streaming radio application was on the way, hopeful listeners were left waiting with little more than a passive “Coming Soon.” Well, wait no longer - just a day over 3 weeks after the announcement, the beta release of FlyCast for Android is now available in the Android Market.

Of course, that beta flag means rocky roads might lay ahead for early adopters. If you have any issues, FlyCast has set up a special support forum just for you.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Jan 2009 | 6:50 pm

BBC hoodwinked into running ad for magical cell phone

A top-secret project developed by a tiny ejector seat company, the Zumba Phone cracks one of the holy grails of artificial intelligence: perfectly accurate voice recognition. It also becomes "instantly useless to anyone else" when you lose it, according to designer Dean McEvoy.

Unfortunately, the BBC elected to run this promotional story without including standard elements such as demonstrating that it even exists as a functioning product: the reporter simply waves around a model and describes the magic!

Engadget commenter CooperFBI did a little research, and found that Mr. McEvoy is apparently a party promoter by night.

You know, if the story here was "local business has cute high-tech product, employs 40" it'd be great: small western businesses source blank gear from big Chinese factories all the time. But here we have wild product claims echoed as news by credulous reporters under a very respectable masthead.

They're mass-producing a cutting-edge handset from a light-industrial warehouse in Hereford, but no-one's allowed to see it? Oh, beeb.

Here's the logo:

Zumba phone report [BBC via Engadget]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 30 Jan 2009 | 6:45 pm

Japan’s NTT DoCoMo saying goodbye to 2G in 2012

Saying goodbye to that “special someone” is never an easy thing to do, especially after many years have passed.  But, when the time comes, it’s best just to try and move on.

Take today’s NTT DoCoMo announcement that it will be shutting down its 2G cellular network by March 31, 2012, for example. By the end of 2008, only 12% of its users were still rocking second-gen mobile phones, leaving a whopping 88% having already jumped on the 3G bandwagon.

Clearly NTT DoCoMo understands the circumstances and has decided to break things off before it gets any worse.  The Japanese mobile giant will offer the last few 2G stragglers incentives to get out of the stone age upgrade before the old service is shut off in 2012.

[via PhoneScoop]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Jan 2009 | 6:34 pm

Charts: 2

(Charles Platt is a guest blogger)

Here's another histogram which may seem a little grim but, I think, is worth contemplating. Suppose someone was born in the year 2004. If the factors which determined mortality in that year remain the same throughout the rest of that person's life, what percentage of his or her contemporaries will still be alive at various points in the future?

You can see that about half the people born in 2004 are expected to disappear by age 80, and from that point on, the number diminishes very rapidly. If you hope to live beyond 80, and you would like to depend on contemporaries for companionship, this may be a problem.

The good news is that the situation has improved. When a similar projection was made in the 1950s for people born in 1949, only 1 person in 5 was expected to live to be 80. We can feel happy that people today are surviving more tenaciously than anyone expected half a century ago.

How will our current prediction turn out fifty years from now? Presumably the answer depends on our priorities. If lives are worth saving, perhaps it will make sense to fund more research into the aging process.

Source: Boing Boing | 30 Jan 2009 | 6:33 pm

Most hospital patients don't know docs

Most hospital patients can't identify their doctors by name or explain their roles in the patients' treatment, a University of Chicago survey indicates. Roughly 75 percent of the patients surveyed by university researchers couldn't name any doctor assigned to their care, The New York Times reported Friday.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Jan 2009 | 6:28 pm

Zazzle Lays Off 15%, Corporate Office Hit Hard

Zazzle, the online shop that lets you order custom-decorated clothing, mugs, and a variety of other items, has laid off nearly 40% 25% of its corporate staff and 15% of the overall company, which includes workers in its manufacturing factory. The corporate office was hit hard, with over 30 28 of 110 employees cut, primarily in business development, marketing, and engineering. Cuts were also made in the company’s factories, which houses 140 workers (some of which are working under contract).

In an official blog post, the company’s founders write that the site has seen strong growth over the past year, but that the sluggish economy forced them to make cuts in order to ensure the company’s continued profitability. The company says it will continue to sell products currently available on the site, but has cut some projects that have yet to appear and will continue to drop products that aren’t performing well.

Update: Chief Product Officer Jeff Beaver says that the Zazzle representative I spoke to earlier was misinformed, and that 28 out of 110 corporate employees were laid off, representing around 25% of the corporate office. He confirmed that 15% of the staff overall had been laid off.

The news has been added to the Layoff tracker.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 30 Jan 2009 | 6:20 pm

Video: Unboxing the JimmyJane.com Form 6 Massager

Hey, guys, guess what just came in the mail? The JimmyJane.com Form 6 massager with dual-action for those heard to reach places. I'll do a full review shortly - WITH PICS! - but here's a quick unboxing for you all. Note: This is for external use only. Click through for the safe for work video.

Source: TechCrunch | 30 Jan 2009 | 6:18 pm

Netflix: Stifel Downgrades to Sell After Stock Doubles [Voices]

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

Netflix (NFLX) is suddenly one of the Valley’s hottest companies, as the DVD-by-mail company gradually morphs into everyone’s favorite streaming movie service. The service is showing up everyplace: on TiVo boxes, on the Web, on Xbox Live, in Blu-Ray disk players. The company reported blowout Q4 earnings earlier this week and provided a strong Q1 outlook. Netflix has become a hot counter-cyclical, nesting-in-the-living room recession play; the stock has doubled since late November.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Scott Devitt thinks the rally has gotten a bit out of hand; he downgraded the shares this morning to Sell from Hold, asserting that fair value is about $28, or well below the current level.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 30 Jan 2009 | 6:15 pm

GigaPan Releases Camera Rig for Automated Panorama Photos

Of the hundreds of photographs from President Barack Obama's inauguration, David Bergman's 1,474 megapixel panoramic shot was breathtaking for its scope and level of detail.

The photo was made up of 220 Canon G10 images stitched together for six and a half hours on the GigaPan software, a new project that looks to construct high-resolution panoramas.

Now the project has released the GigaPan Epic, a robotic camera mount that automates the process of taking different images to compose the ultimate shot. That means photographers can capture detailed panoramas with almost any point-and-shoot digital camera and without worrying about missing details while clicking the different photos that will be ultimately stitched together. 

"The potential applications for the Epic are limitless," said Henry Hillman Jr., founder and CEO of GigaPan Systems in a statement. "Our beta users have taken fantastic panoramas not only of President Obama's Inauguration, but of Yankee Stadium, Chicago skylines, Hawaiian landscapes and thousands of extraordinary images."

The GigaPan Epic mount comes with the GigaPan software. It costs $380. A second model, GigaPan Pan Epic 100, designed for larger digital camera models is expected to be available soon for $450.

Photo: (cogdogblog/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Jan 2009 | 6:07 pm

Rumor: iPhone App Store Will Feature $20 Games Section

Apple might be planning to create a premium game section in its iPhone App Store.

Game blog PocketGamer.biz claims receiving a tip from anonymous sources, who said Apple will be introducing a new section to its App Store, where it will sell $20 games.

Typically games in the App Store cost no more than $10; many are even free. Though there's very little to substantiate PocketGamer's rumor, it's a highly valid one: Apple recently touted the iPhone as a serious gaming console, calling it "the future of gameplay."

The idea of more complex, premium games in the App Store corroborates with Wired.com's analysis that the next-generation iPhone will be beefed up for serious gaming.

Rumour: Apple planning $19.99 games section on App Store [PocketGamer.biz]

See Also:

• iPhone Firmware Reveals Next Gen-Model Is in Testing
• Onyx Turns iPhone Into Web 2.0-Savvy Gaming Device
• iPhone Teases With Game Possibilities
• Why iPhone Games Will Rule
• Gamers Eye the iPhone, as SDK Approaches

Photo: JasonEscapist/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Jan 2009 | 6:07 pm

First Chemical Warfare Felled Roman Fort

Persian soldiers gas-bombed a Roman fort 2,000 years ago in a brutal siege.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Jan 2009 | 6:00 pm

Zumbafone: The secret phone from the land of Zumba Lumba

Don’t worry - besides the bits in the headline, absolutely nothing about this story is weird. Okay, I lied. It’s all kind of weird.

The BBC is running a piece on something called the “Zumbafone” by IA Technology. Never heard of’em? That’s because you haven’t been studying your “military ejector seat electronics” manufacturers well enough.

Apparently the whole shebang is so hush-hush that the BBC had to kill their cameras for much of the tour - which, to be honest, seems like a bit of a sham to make things a bit more interesting. The Zumbafone is essentially a two piece handset: a data handling unit with a screen, and an earpiece which attaches to the back of the other unit and controls the phone. If you get a text while wearing the earpiece, it’s converted from text to voice and read back to you. Want to respond? Tap a button on the earpiece, speak your text, and it’ll handle the transcription with what they’re claiming is a “fully accurate voice recognition system”. Contacts and data are stored in the cloud (or, as they call it, “Zumba Lumba”), essentially bricking the whole thing if someone walks off with it. It’s a nifty idea, but it seems like a whole lot of excitement and mystery about.. well, not much.

We’re not quite sure what to make of it yet. What do you think?

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 30 Jan 2009 | 6:00 pm

1981 video about online newspapers

Here's a report from KRON in San Francisco about The San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle's forays into online news in 1981. (Thanks, Mark!)

Source: Boing Boing | 30 Jan 2009 | 5:57 pm

Can Music Sales Get Any Worse? Just Watch. [MediaMemo]

Earlier this month, the music business got a rare piece of good news: Apple announced that it had posted “record” sales at its iTunes music store around Christmas.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming: I’m seeing more and more evidence that Apple (AAPL) notwithstanding, the industry’s last few months were bad even by the industry’s own terrible standards.

Earlier this week, a music industry exec told me he thinks that the CD sales decline, which started nearly a decade ago, accelerated at the end of 2008: “[Retail] floor space shrank even more, [unsold CDs] came back even faster, everything got worse, faster,” he told me.

The newest data point: Awful results from Sony’s (SNE) third-quarter earnings report, which covers the last three months of 2008. The company’s Sony Music Entertainment label saw sales shrink 22 percent compared to the previous year due to the “accelerated decline in the worldwide physical music market resulting from the worldwide economic slowdown.”

It’s possible that we’ll see a bit of variation in results from the other big music labels–EMI Music Group, Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group (WMG)–based on the makeup of their artist rosters, etc. But the worrisome thing is that Sony’s arsenal included three of last year’s biggest stars: AC/DC, Beyoncé and Britney Spears.

So while it’s possible that Warner Music, which reports next Thursday, won’t have equally brutal results, it’s a fair bet that it will.

Sort-of-related point: If you have a couple minutes and are interested at all about what the music business might look like in the near future, check out this New Yorker interview with Muxtape creator Justin Ouellette.

Ouellette achieved a brief bit of Internet celebrity last year when his free music-streaming site caught on with the the Web cognoscenti, but then folded after receiving complaints from the music labels’ trade group. Now he’s back with a legal version of the site, which will have much smaller ambitions.

Source: All Things Digital | 30 Jan 2009 | 5:33 pm

Charts: 1

(Charles Platt is a guest blogger)

I have always enjoyed drawing charts and graphs as a means to enhance my understanding the world.

The histogram above addresses the most fundamental fact of human life: Sooner or later, it ends. To me, all other issues are trivial by comparison.

I made this chart using data from the National Institutes of Health. You can find your age group on the bottom scale, then check your average remaining life expectancy on the left scale. Naturally this number declines relentlessly as you get older.

The good news is that the longer you live, the longer you are likely to live. Thus, at birth in the United States, under conditions that prevail today, you can expect to live for a little more than 75 years. But at age 75, on average you still have another 10 years left. How can this be? Because some of the people who were born around the same time as yourself have already died by the time you’re 75, leaving only a subset who were less susceptible to disease (or accidents).

The bad news is that despite all our advances in medicine, sanitation, and other relevant factors, the chart still tapers off around age 100. Average lifespan has increased, but maximum lifespan has not changed significantly.

One reason may be that research to prolong maximum lifespan receives minuscule funding, especially compared with popular endeavors such as cancer research. Many people seem to feel that extending maximum lifespan would be “wrong” (even at a time of rapidly declining birth rates in many nations) or “unnatural” (even though our average life expectancy used to be around 40, and has improved through totally unnatural means such as antibiotics).

As you may infer from the quotation marks, I disagree. Of course, I realize that these are controversial issues.

One of the most effective special-interest groups seeking funding for longevity research is www.methuselahfoundation.org .

Source: Boing Boing | 30 Jan 2009 | 5:11 pm

NEC Ya, Wouldn’t Wanna Be Ya… [Digital Daily]

If there’s an award to be given for most layoffs handed out by a technology company in a recession, NEC may have just won it. This morning the Japanese electronics giant said it will cut at least 20,000 workers world-wide as it struggles to shore up its business amid the worsening econalypse. (Click on table below to enlarge.)

Most of the cuts will come from NEC’s chip, electronic component and LCD display divisions, with 40 percent being made in Japan and the rest overseas. “We are aiming for 20,000 or more,” NEC President Kaoru Yano told a press conference today. “It is regrettable that we have to announce such a big downgrade. We must cut waste.”

Indeed, it must. NEC’s net losses rose an astonishing 13-fold in the past nine months, rising to 129 billion yen, up from 9.98 billion yen a year earlier.

Source: All Things Digital | 30 Jan 2009 | 4:52 pm

SLIDE SHOW: This Week's Top Stories

A look back at images from stories in Discovery News this week.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Jan 2009 | 4:50 pm

Hammers made from engine parts

A visitor to a quarry in Uganda notes a versatile type of hammer, hand-made from old mechanical parts, used by workers engaged in a truly gruelling job.

The “hammers” are an ingenious marriage of a stick and an engine gear. The one on the right has been worn down. Just think of how many swings it takes to wear down an engine gear by slamming it against stone. It’s a repetitive, depressing way to earn a meal.

Project Diaspora Visits the Women of Kireka [via Afrigadget]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 30 Jan 2009 | 4:03 pm

Amazon Shares on the Moon [Digital Daily]

Amazon’s much needed good news in a week full of bad news is proving a boon to investors. The nice gain the online retailer posted in its fourth quarter appears to be reviving traders beaten into submission by the worst economic malaise since the Depression. Amazon’s (AMZN) shares are trading up more than 17 percent as I write this. Sadly, the company’s good fortune doesn’t seem to be doing much for its peers. The tech-heavy NASDAQ is trending down and auction rival eBay (EBAY) is slipping, still suffering from those ugly earnings it reported earlier this week.

Source: All Things Digital | 30 Jan 2009 | 3:25 pm

Time Inc.’s Ann Moore Makes the Case for Magazines–And Is Glad She’s Not in Newspapers [MediaMemo]

Ann Moore, who runs Time Warner’s (TWX) Time Inc. spent last fall overseeing a lengthy series of reorgs and layoffs. But she’s starting off this year on a better note: Yesterday she received a lifetime achievement award from the magazine industry’s trade group.

Here’s an excerpt from the acceptance speech she delivered at the Magazine Publishers of America luncheon. I’m reprinting it here (with her staff’s help) because I think it’s a nice summation of why many of us are dismayed to see what’s happening to traditional media.

But I also think Moore’s argument–that quality magazines/newspapers/journalism will survive because society needs them to–doesn’t hold up.

The more I chew on this stuff, the more I fear that we’re headed for a bifurcated world: People with a lot of resources will get access to high-quality information. Everyone else will get free stuff that has little value. More on that later, and often.

First, I’m grateful in these crazy times that our readers have not abandoned us. On the contrary, readership of magazines is up. And at Time inc our circulation and net profit was up in 2008.

Consumers are still reading…. and buying…. It’s true — we had to go back on press four times for Time’s person of the year Obama issue. Let’s not forget 85 percent of adults in this country still read magazines

And I believe more than ever, especially during times like these, people will turn to trusted content and trusted brands. Am I the only person to notice that even “60 Minutes” has returned to the top ten tv shows?

Second, I’m grateful that print advertising is still very effective. The best [return on investment] is a media mix. So our core businesses—-print magazines–remain very effective vehicles for advertising messages in building brand awareness and purchase intent. That’ s a fact.

Third, I’m grateful that the basic need for fact-based information will not go away. Good editors will be needed more–not less– in an age of too much information. The public will increasingly understand the need for fact-based reporting…because sketchy information can lead to trouble.

The fastest way to turn a college classroom on the subject is to remind them of the price they paid for the rumor of weapons of mass destruction. We have somehow failed to teach the millenials that trustworthy information is essential for the free markets to thrive…

This is not a new problem for society, by the way. Mark Twain complained, ‘a lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. ‘ Wouldn’t Twain be amazed that it can now travel almost at the speed of light?

Real reporting takes expertise, wisdom and judgement. That’s why i still believe great news brands will be standing…like those in the Time and Life building — when the economic recovery comes.

And finally I’m also grateful that we’re not in the newspaper business…although i’m rooting hard for them. A world without newspaper journalism is not a better world.

I believe our children will eventually understand that all content can’t be free.Someone has to pay for a Baghdad bureau in the red zone. For investigative reporting. For fact checking. A world without journalism is not a better world.

Source: All Things Digital | 30 Jan 2009 | 3:17 pm

Belly Button Beauty Cues Potential Mates

The seemingly useless belly button may hold more meaning than you thought.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Jan 2009 | 3:09 pm

Alaskans Brace for Possible Eruption

As geologists warn an eruption at Mount Redoubt is imminent, Alaskans get ready.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Jan 2009 | 3:00 pm

What path did sci-fi writers in the 50s think technology would take?

I was really struck by this little thought experiment over at the Pajama Guy blog in a post about Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics:

Back in the 40s and 50s, I suppose people were noticing so many mechanical problems being solved, while computing as we understand it was in a primitive stage. It would have been great if someone sat down the top sf writers in 1950 and asked them in what order will these three events happen? 1) The invention of a machine that can walk around your house picking up after you. 2) A spaceship that takes us to the moon and back. 3) A small machine that can beat you at chess.

I don't really know what their answers would be, but I suppose that's the point. I wish someone had had the foresight to ask that question at some early con.

It's a slow news day, so let's see if we can't put together a similar question to ask sci-fi writers now in the comments... one that, fifty years from now, would really juxtapose the actual path of future technology with our own subconscious expectations of which way that path will wind.

Me Robot [Pajama Guy]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 30 Jan 2009 | 2:52 pm

Dell Mulling SmartDumbphone? [Digital Daily]

Dell, the second-rate PC company, may soon become a second-rate handset company as well. Anonymous sources tell The Wall Street Journal that the company has developed prototype smartphones that work on Windows Mobile and Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system. The first is said to boast a touchscreen similar to Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone, the other a slide-out QWERTY keypad like the Palm Pre, both intended to compete in the segment dominated by the iPhone and BlackBerry devices. According to the Journal, Dell (DELL) may uncrate one or the other, or both, as early as February, assuming it doesn’t abandon them entirely–which is also said to be a possibility. A few other details:

• The noncompete clause that prevents Ron Garriques, the former Motorola (MOT) executive heading up Dell’s consumer-products efforts, from working on mobile phones expires next month.
• If Dell does debut a phone or two, the introductions won’t take place at next month’s Mobile World Congress show; the company has announced that it’s not attending the show, much less introducing new phones there.
• Other reports name the alleged device as the (wince) “MePhone,” which is about the worst name I can think of, though it’s entirely appropriate for Dell.
• The Journal report comes on the heels of Kaufman Brothers analyst Shaw Wu’s claims that Dell has been making preparations for a cellphone for some time now. “From our supply chain checks, Dell has been studying the cellphone market and talking with component suppliers and manufacturers for nearly two years now,” Wu wrote earlier this month. “The exact timing of Dell’s launch is not clear but our sources indicate it is closer to reality than before. We believe it is likely inevitable that Dell enter the cellphone space given the cannibalization of PCs by smartphones and highly functional mobile devices.”
• If Dell does enter the smartphone space, it will likely be with far less elegance and grace than it would have if the company had bought Palm (PALM) when it had the chance. From RealMoney.com contributor Bob Faulkner’s open letter to Michael Dell:

  With the advent of the Apple iPhone in 2007 and its subsequent imitators, it has become apparent that we’re seeing “computing” evolve once again. Phones are no longer just something you speak into. They have transformed into a portal for taking the Internet wherever you go.

  I realize that you have been busy the last couple of years trying to right the good ship Dell, but your lack of participation in this market segment will hurt the company going forward. There is another rumor making the rounds that you’ve been feeling out suppliers in an attempt to enter the market at some point. While, if this is true, I’m glad to see some movement on this front, I fear that this approach is doomed to fail.

  Let me be so bold as to suggest that there is a ready-made solution for you that I recommended nearly two years ago: Dell should buy Palm. Think about it, Michael–it’s a match made in heaven. You get a solution, and they get the stability, influence and purchasing power of Dell.

Source: All Things Digital | 30 Jan 2009 | 2:47 pm

GPS-Laced Footballs to Offer Keen Play by Play

A football embedded with satellite positioning sensors will beam its location, in real time.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Jan 2009 | 2:10 pm

Underground Particles Forecast Winter Storms

Scientists consult a strange source -- cosmic rays -- to predict winter weather.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Jan 2009 | 2:02 pm

AP, news groups urge court webcast in music case (AP)

AP - Fourteen news organizations, including The Associated Press and The New York Times Co., are urging a federal appeals court to allow online streaming of a hearing in a music downloading lawsuit the recording industry filed against a Boston University graduate student.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Jan 2009 | 1:31 pm

'Perfectly Accurate' Voice Recognition Phone 'Too Secret' to See

To look at it, the Zumba is modest, at best: it's a giant, flat plastic ear and a rather retro looking box with a pie-chart shaped set of buttons on the front. Designer Dean McEvoy is dyslexic, and so designed the phone to be used without any typing or reading, ever. Sadly, the handset is too secret to even demonstrate. Or possibly, too not-working to show.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 30 Jan 2009 | 11:53 am