Source: Gizmodo | 14 Feb 2009 | 2:00 am

Women, Know Your Limits.

Video Link. A cautionary tale for all womankind, from the mid-90s BBC show "Harry Enfield and Chums" (Thanks, Richard Metzger!)

Source: Boing Boing | 14 Feb 2009 | 1:37 am

Microsoft: Bounty on Conficker worm creator

Microsoft has announced today that it is offering a reward of $250,000 to anyone who can provide information that can help arrest the creator of the Conficker worm. They stated that this worm is a criminal attack and that citizens from any country can receive the bounty.

Conficker, also known as Downandup, has infected millions of computers around the world since last year. It is difficult to stop because spreads through USB thumb drives or the internet and takes advantage of Windows machines that are missing newer security patches. Once it infects a computer, it can halt automatic updates and security scans, block access to security-related websites and even lock users out of their accounts.

Microsoft has experience with fighting large virus outbreaks like this. Back in 2004, they offered $250,000 for information about the Sasser worm. They later paid out the reward in 2005. They said that this time they are teaming up with security companies, and internet companies like AOL to stop the outbreak. Better late than never, I guess.

Source: CrunchGear | 14 Feb 2009 | 1:18 am

Dell’s tiny portable printer

Section: Peripherals, Printers / Scanners

If you hear about a portable printer, you’re probably like me and think that it’s very unlikely that you can easily transport a printer place to place.  However, with the new Dell Wasabi PZ310, you are able to instantly print your photos on this handheld device.

The Wasabi PZ310 will work with Bluetooth ready camera phones, digital cameras and mobile PCs.  The photos printed out are wallet size and measure borderless 2 x 3 inches.  The ultra small Dell Wasabi PZ310 weighs a mere 7 ounces and measures 4.8 in. x 2.8 in. x 0.9 in.  It uses sticky back paper that you can apply to lockers, fridges, scrapbooks and more.  It will also use inkless ZINK technology in order to provide vivid images without any mess left behind.  Printing time for each image is under a minute and can be achieved by using the device’s simple control buttons.

The Wasabi will come in three different colors: pink, black and blue and will have a limited release price of just $99.

Product Page: [Dell]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 14 Feb 2009 | 1:18 am

Study Finds Gamers Prefer Control, Competence Over Violence

Science News reports on a new study which found that the violence in video games was not a significant contributing factor to players' enjoyment. Instead, the feelings of control and competence the games engendered were closely linked to how fun the players found it. Quoting: "... the researchers extensively modified a popular first-person shooter video game called Half-Life 2 to have less gore. Half the people in a group of 36 male and 65 female college students were instructed to dispatch adversaries as the original game intended, 'in a thoroughly bloody manner,' says Ryan. The other half was instructed to tag enemies with a marker. 'Instead of exploding in blood and dismemberment, they floated gently into the air and went back to base,' Ryan describes. An extensive survey of the two groups showed that the exclusion of violence didn't diminish players' enjoyment of the game."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 14 Feb 2009 | 1:15 am

Ripdev launches anti-piracy service for iPhone developers

FROM APPLETELL - Kali Anti-Piracy from Ripdev is a new service offering protection for iPhone developers worried about their apps being pirated. MORE »

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Source: Gadgetell | 14 Feb 2009 | 12:54 am

Microsoft Sued Over Vista-To-XP Downgrade Fees

Krojack writes with this excerpt from Computerworld: "Los Angeles resident Emma Alvarado charged Microsoft with multiple violations of Washington state's unfair business practices and consumer protection laws over its policy of barring computer makers from continuing to offer XP on new PCs after Vista's early-2007 launch. Alvarado is seeking compensatory damages and wants the case declared a class-action suit. ... Irked at having to pay a fee for downgrading a new Lenovo notebook to XP, Alvarado said that Microsoft had used its position as the dominant operating system maker to 'require consumers to purchase computers pre-installed with the Vista operating system and to pay additional sums to "downgrade" to the Windows XP operating system.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 14 Feb 2009 | 12:22 am

Prepare for LocoRoco 2 with Don’t Worry, Get Loco!

FROM GAMERTELL - Sony has announced a Don’t Worry, Get Loco! Sweepstakes to promote the release of LocoRoco 2.  Among the amazing prizes are a PSP-3000 unit and a Sony Ericsson W760 Walkman Handset. MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 14 Feb 2009 | 12:12 am

Dating service for terminally ill people

Till Death Do Us Part is a new free dating site that purports to connect people with terminal illnesses. I don't think it's a joke, but the creator is all about a sense of humor, quoting Robert Anton Wilson on the front page: "Please pardon my levity, I don't see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd." From the press release:

Till-Death-Do-Us-Part.com is profoundly different from other dating sites. We're dealing with people who know they are facing imminent death. They are aware that their days are numbered and they know, more or less, how long they have to live. This service does not require members to answer the frivolous questionnaires other dating sites provide, although they can if they want to. We are not interested, as we are sure our clients are not either, in the inane, trivial and essentially meaningless come-ons and delusional fantasies of finding the perfect mate. We assume our members don't care if someone's eyes are blue or green, whether they wear glasses or not. According to Marketing Director Joseph DiAngelo, "This site is designed to cut through the superficiality and embrace issues we think are most meaningful -- the desire and need for understanding, compassion, empathy and comfort between human beings facing their greatest challenge..."

Disclaimer: Worldly hang-ups don't belong here. If you have a profound sense of irony and humor, we welcome you. If not, this site may not be for you.

"Announcing Till-Death-Do-Us-Part.com: The World's First Dating Service for the Terminally Ill" (press release), Till Death Do Us Part (tilldeathdouspart.com)

Source: Boing Boing | 14 Feb 2009 | 12:05 am

There’s a Fender on my table! No, there’s a table on my Fender!

If you’re a big shred head, why not totally show off your rockstar moves with this odd, $750 Fender-headstock coffee table complete with machineheads and enough power to tear up the Lindberg Air Force Base in Seattle and then some.

Reader Mike says his company makes these things from scratch in the US of freaking ROCK!

And they’re from my home town of Portland, OR! - Peter Ha

Source: CrunchGear | 14 Feb 2009 | 12:04 am

Letter Monsters illustrations by Joey Ellis

Joey Ellis's Letter Monsters are a hoot. He made the entire alphabet to help his son learn his letterin'.

Source: Boing Boing | 14 Feb 2009 | 12:02 am

YouTube Kills Our Video Download Tool

For the last few years we’ve offered a very basic tool for downloading YouTube videos that allowed users to enter the URL of any video to immediately get a link to a downloadable file. The tool does exactly the same thing as dozens of other sites and plugins, which have emerged because YouTube has long refused to offer similar functionality through its own site. Now, in light of yesterday’s news that the site is going to begin supporting downloads for a small number of videos, YouTube has apparently decided to crack down on these tools - and it looks like they’re making an example out of us.

In the last 24 hours our tool stopped working, but every other method I’ve tried has worked fine so far, including a handful of other websites and popular Firefox extensions. It’s possible that YouTube was just disabling a certain technique of creating links to their video files that we happened to use, but it’s more likely that they singled us out (our tool has become very popular, and ranks second when you run a Google search for “download YouTube“).

When asked why our tool was being disabled, A YouTube spokesman referred us to this portion of the site’s Terms of Service (the company had a similar response when they sent us a Cease and Desist back in 2006):

Section 5. Your Use of Content on the Site

Part B. You may access User Submissions for your information and personal use solely as intended through the provided functionality of the YouTube Website. You shall not copy or download any User Submission unless you see a “download” or similar link displayed by YouTube on the YouTube Website for that User Submission.

The move isn’t particularly surprising. YouTube’s new download feature - and more importantly, the fact that it can charge for downloads - won’t become a viable cash cow unless the company can stifle these unauthorized downloads. But if this is the start of a trend then it is very premature. While you can download a handful of videos on YouTube, the vast majority of them still don’t offer that option, and users may soon be left with no alternative.

And even if YouTube can eliminate all of these tools, the downloads may well be too little, too late: most people already use iTunes, Amazon, or Netflix for their video downloads, and while YouTube may get a massive amount of traffic, it’s unclear if many people be willing to actually start paying for the brief clips that litter the site.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 13 Feb 2009 | 11:56 pm

Charles Bonnet Syndrome, seeing demons, and the Talmud

Earlier this week, I posted about Charles Bonnet Syndrome, a disease where mentally healthy people have very strange and vivid hallucinations. It seems to be tied to visual impairments from old age or eye damage. Over at Omphalos, Aharon Varady considers the possible relationship between Charles Bonnet Syndrome and a Talmudic method for seeing Mazikin (harmful spirits, ie. demons). The magickal technique involves putting ash into the eye. From Aharon's fascinating post, titled "Reality and Hallucination: Towards a Talmudic Ontology of Consensus (by way of demons)":

Mazikin are a class of sheydim (animistic spirits) that pervaded the natural world in the Rabbinic Jewish worldview of late antiquity. From תלמוד בבלי ברכות ו א (Talmud Bavli Tractate Berakhot, 6a):

Raba says: The crushing in the Kallah lectures comes from them. Fatigue in the knees comes from them. The wearing out of the clothes of the scholars is due to their rubbing against them. The bruising of the feet comes from them. If one wants to discover them, let him take sifted ashes and sprinkle around his bed, and in the morning he will see something like the footprints of a rooster. If one wishes to see them, let him take the placenta of a black she-cat [that is] the offspring of a black she-cat [that is] the first-born of a first-born, let him roast it [the placenta] in fire and grind it to powder, and then let him put some into his eye, and he will see them. Let him also pour it into an iron tube and seal it with an iron signet that they [the demons] should not steal it from him. Let him also close his mouth, lest he come to harm.

R. Bibi b. Abaye did so, saw them and came to harm. The scholars, however, prayed for him and he recovered.

Could Raba’s magic recipe for perceiving demons by placing ash in one’s eye create a condition like Charles Bonnet Syndrome? Could Rav Huna’s 10:1 ratio of ubiquitous albeit invisible demons indicate a left-brained dominance when perceiving/hallucinating these creatures? Curious minds wish to know the answer to these arcane questions.

"Reality and Hallucination: Towards a Talmudic Ontology of Consensus (by way of demons)"

Source: Boing Boing | 13 Feb 2009 | 11:54 pm

Sound Revolution Inc. Appoints New Director and Executive Officer

VANCOUVER, Feb. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Sound Revolution Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 Feb 2009 | 11:52 pm

AT&T Technical Services Corp. to Pay U.S. More than $8.2 Million to Settle False Claims Involving the E-Rate Program

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AT&T Technical Services Corp.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 Feb 2009 | 11:46 pm

Scientists Agree: It's in His Kiss

Experts in the science of kissing say the behavior may have evolved to help us choose a mate by assessing their biological profile in their spit. Kisses may also be involved in pair bonding, according to scientists at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 13 Feb 2009 | 11:45 pm

A Shoreline Dream's Sonics Outrun Terminology, 'Shoegaze'

The band might bring to mind reverb-heavy rock in the vein of My Bloody Valentine, but its spaced-out sophomore effort, Recollections of Memory, defies labels.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 13 Feb 2009 | 11:42 pm

Windows 7 upgrade details revealed

Section: Computers, Software / Applications

There comes that time before a new operating system is released when people begin to wonder what the upgrade costs will be and whether they should hold off on purchasing a new computer.  It seems that time is upon us now, thanks to the upcoming release of Windows 7, and while we still do not have a final release date or pricing information, the upgrade details are slowly being revealed.

According to some still unconfirmed information, it looks like there are going to be a few options and they will depend on whether you are choosing to upgrade from Vista or XP.  Also, for anyone that has been through an operating system release in the past, these details will be familiar.  To begin with, anyone who purchases a new computer running Windows Vista after July 1, 2009, you will then qualify for a free upgrade to Windows 7.  The version of Windows 7 that you will receive as a free upgrade will depend on your version of Vista.  For example, Vista Home Premium users will get Windows 7 Home Premium, Vista Ultimate users will get Windows 7 Ultimate and so on.

As for current users, who are choosing to upgrade, XP users will not have a direct upgrade path, however a clean installation will be allowed. This option is both good and bad. It means you will have to migrate you files over manually.  This may be difficult for some less technical users, however on the positive side, a fresh installation will give you a nice starting point.  It will also give you a good chance to clean your system of all that unwanted junk that tends to build up over time.  Vista users will have a few options to consider as they will be able to either upgrade their current installation or perform a fresh install.

Via [TechARP]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 13 Feb 2009 | 11:30 pm

Twitter Could 'Go for Years' Without Earning a Dime, Investor Says

Twitter just received another $35 million in funding, and one investor claims the company is now well-positioned to grow without nailing down a business model for years to come.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 13 Feb 2009 | 11:09 pm

Military laptops for sale on the black market

As the U.S. miltary gets more and more technical, more and more military laptops are finding their way onto the global black market. It’s not really surprising (well, maybe it is) that it’s possible to buy all sorts of military equipment on the black market. But it’s one thing to buy a rocket propelled grenade to use to shoot at someone; it’s another thing entirely to buy a laptop filled with troop deployment plans, personnel information, and known weaknesses in your opponent’s vehicles.

I think this situation really highlights a fundamental flaw in the way computing technology works. The military uses all sorts of specialized gadgets, and yet they (and their contractors) rely on the same old Windows operating systems that you and I use. Businesses have been struggling for years with ways to keep corporate information secure. The current trend is whole disk encryption, whereby the entire contents of a hard drive are encrypted. If the drive is removed from the system, or the proper credentials not supplied at boot, the data on the drive remains inaccessible.

I’m sure the military is using stuff like whole disk encryption, and other techniques to protect the data stored on their laptops. But I wonder if consumer computing solutions can truly be effectively hardened for use in such hostile environments?

Via Defense Tech.

Source: CrunchGear | 13 Feb 2009 | 11:02 pm

Cooking Helped Humans Evolve ... With Side Effects

Humans are highly adapted to eat their food cooked, as evidenced by our soft teeth and small guts, and learning to cook may have enabled the jump in brain size between Homo erectus and modern humans. But it may also have enabled the current obesity epidemic in some human cultures.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 13 Feb 2009 | 11:00 pm

IVP’s Chaffee: Why I Invested In Twitter

Why did Institutional Venture Partners and Benchmark Capital just plow $35 million into Twitter? I talked today with Todd Chaffee, the partner at IVP behind the deal, and asked him just that. His answer:

Our model is to find the winners and market leaders that are going to grow at a disproportionate level. Twitter falls in that category.  Twitter is bigger than a lot of people realize and growing faster than a lot of people realize, but it has not hit the mainstream yet. It is just starting.

To Chaffee, Twitter is a new type of media property, pure and simple. He (conveniently) puts it in the same category as YouTube or Facebook. The bigger it can grow and the more addictive it can become, the more opportunities there will be for revenues from advertising and other sources. He says:

From a business perspective, it is a media property that is growing very quickly. These newer media properties that have emerged are massive compared to older media properties.

[Some people say] Twitter is whatever you want it to be. But at the end of the day you have this open, one-to-many network, and to enable that is this platform. But who cares? The reality is that it is a network/platform which has millions of users and thousands of applications.

Twitter does three things. It facilitates social connections with friends, colleagues, writers, and celebrities. The second is knowledge transfer. It is a real-time mechanism for tapping the wisdom of millions of people. The third is social expression. It is a mechanism for the global community to express itself.

Sounds good, but how will it make money? Chaffee is not so worried about that just yet:

I love that here is this cry for revenue generation out of a company not even two years old, Relax, it is coming.

But what gave him the confidence to invest? He ticked off four characteristics of Twitter that make it a potential game-changer.

1. Open.  That makes it easy for others to build on top of Twitter and it also makes it searchable.
2. Real time. It is a huge database of what is happening right now.
3. Ubiquitous. You can get to it from just about any device.
4. Scalable. (Don’t laugh)
5. Persistent. It allows for an archive of what is happening and what has happened, which is searchable (see No. 1).

Chaffee says:

[Twitter is] the only thing we’ve found that has all of those things. None of the other things out there—Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn—has all of those variables. That is why Facebook tried to buy them.

With more than $35 million in extra cash now in the bank, Twitter has a lot more time to figure out which business opportunities to pursue. For now, it’s investors just want it to keep growing as fast as it can and make the jump from early adopters and celebrity users to the mainstream.  But there are several money-making avenues it can pursue, from real-time search to premium marketing services for brands.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 13 Feb 2009 | 10:59 pm

Sirius could file bankruptcy as early as Tuesday (AP)

AP - Financially strapped Sirius XM Radio Inc. said Friday that it could file for bankruptcy as early as Tuesday if it cannot successfully negotiate with the holders of its debt.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 13 Feb 2009 | 10:36 pm

Education Leaders Regret Reduction in Stimulus Funding for Technology-Rich Classrooms

View Congress as Falling Short of President Obama's Goal for 21st Century Learning Environments WASHINGTON, Feb.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 Feb 2009 | 10:20 pm

Blockbuster to begin testing online game rentals

FROM GAMERTELL - Later this year Blockbuster is going to add games to its online rental program, Total Access.  Renting games will incur an additional fee for the month.  Check out the full article for more… MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 13 Feb 2009 | 10:19 pm

5 Geeky Marriage Proposals That Worked

Propose to your girlfriend with technology and you're bound to get blogged.

There's no shame in that, though. If the idea of Cupid were conceived in modern times, he'd probably be sending messages through an RSS reader rather than shooting arrows with a bow, right?

OK, probably not. But even so, geeks have come a long way since they were mocked and despised a couple decades ago. Now that we know nerdiness can lead to fame, power and riches, it's possible to be a geek and get the girl. To prove the point, we've rounded up a list of the geekiest, tech-inspired marriage proposals that were sweet enough to work. They might even get a cold, dead heart like mine thumping a little.

Proposal 2.0

Michael Weiss-Malik, a Google employee, deserves a lot of credit for this one. What better way to show the world your love than displaying it on Google Maps? Weiss-Malik got his buddies on the Street View team to give him a heads-up on the next time the Street View car was coming out to take pictures. And when that day came, he was well-prepared, holding a banner that read "Proposal 2.0: Marry me Leslie!!" (see above) After that, all he had to was lure Leslie into loading Google Maps and zooming in on the precise coordinates of his romantic stunt.

Now, that's clever.

iPropose with iPhone

We've heard two stories of tech-savvy Casanovas using their iPhones to propose to their girlfriends. Just this week Bryan Haggerty coded a custom iPhone application to send his girlfriend Jeannie Chou on a scavenger hunt throughout San Francisco. The web app included a map containing location points, each one accompanied with a video providing clues on where to go next. In the end, the map points connected to form a <3, and the final destination was the top of a hill in Dolores Park, where Haggerty busted out the big question. Tell us that isn't cute.

And then there's Dan Deeble, who concocted a similar idea in October 2008. He found an iPhone app called Scribular, which works with the handset's GPS and allows users to tag locations with notes. Deeble put on his geeky-romantic thinking hat, and he came up with a creative way to use Scribular. He drove around Sacramento, leaving notes for his partner Crystal Gardner at various locations. He loaded Scribular on her iPhone, too, and had her friends calling her throughout the day, telling her to check the app. Finally the two met at a restaurant, where Gardner checked Scribular one more time to see another note: "Almost one year ago, I found you -- and I found love.... I ask if you will grant me the greatest privilege of my life and marry me. Forever yours, Dan."

Awwww.

Playing games with her heart

YouTube user TheRealPfhreak's proposal method was arduous, not to mention retro nerdy. He hacked a ROM  of the old Super Nintendo role-playing game Chrono Trigger while his girlfriend was playing through it. Before tweaking some of the game's dialogue to ask her to marry him, he modded the game to recreate some of their favorite memories such as stargazing and dancing. And he even added in her favorite song lyrics from The Princess Bride. Whoever said nerdy computer scientists couldn't be romantic?

Virtual diamonds

Game geek Bernie hacked his way into his lady's heart, too. He modded his girlfriend Tammy's favorite game, Bejeweled, to work on a Nintendo DS. Only, it was slightly different: At some point the jewel pieces formed the shape of a diamond ring, which he used to pop out the question. Looks like it took a lot of time, but it's safer than buying an actual ring, right? Just kidding — he got her one of those, too.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 13 Feb 2009 | 10:09 pm

John Carter of Mars, past and present

Above, Andrew Stanton, director of Finding Nemo and Wall-E discusses the creative process at Pixar. Stanton is currently working on a live-action version of Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter of Mars, a classic sci-fi series from the 1910s through 1930s. Despite previous rumors, John Carter will not be a Pixar film, but instead a Disney-produced film that will be rated PG-13.

The series was previously going to be produced by many different directors, including Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids), Kerry Conran (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) and Jon Favreau (Iron Man). This version looks like it has a good shot at actually hitting the silver screen by 2012.

Because John Carter has been around for a while, several classic artists have taken a crack at an adaptation, including Ray Harryhausen (Clash of the Titans, Mighty Joe Young) and John McTiernan (Die Hard). But the first adaptation attempt was by Looney Tunes director Bob Clampett, who intended to make John Carter into the first full-length animated feature. If it had not been abandoned due to studio pressure from MGM, who wanted a comedy version, it would have predated Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as the first feature-length animated film by five years.

Below, Clampett shows some of the test footage that was created in spare time. (A bonus for other fantasy dorks: Classic pulp cover artist Frank Frazetta also did lots of John Carter work which would have been used as the visual touchpoint for Rodriguez's adaptation.)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 13 Feb 2009 | 10:08 pm

A phone designed by tech journalists: sweet or meh?

Wading through miles of devices gives tech journalists a unique outlook on what exactly everybody’s doing wrong, but it’s not always possible to take all that and turn it around into something that’s exactly right. TechCrunch is working on a simple, cheap tablet PC (with some success) because there’s nothing that fills that role right now. T3 felt the same way about mobiles, and has decided to design a phone — and maybe actually get it made.

It’s called the 01, and I’d say the closest thing off the top of my head is probably an N97. It’s got a big touchscreen and no hard buttons on the top, and a full QWERTY keyboard that’s actually a display, not unlike the Optimus Maximus. The 8-megapixel camera seems a bit much, but I’m a sensor snob. They’ve been taking reader input for a while and letting design team The Alloy do the heavy lifting — now they’re hoping to get the sucker made. Of course, that’s the hard part, isn’t it? It’s easy enough to say “rubber overlay” for the keyboard, but what about the mechanical action, how will the light pass through, what kind of rubber is it… there are hundreds of these questions that will need to be addressed. And an entire population of readers is a risky committee to be making design decisions.

Still, they’ve done a lot of work on it so far, and it looks cool, which is more than I can say for a lot of concept phones. At the very least they might prove or disprove the workability of a featureset like this.

Source: CrunchGear | 13 Feb 2009 | 10:00 pm

Stantum Adds Finger-Pressure Detection to Its Patented PMatrix Multi-Touch Detection Platform

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 Feb 2009 | 10:00 pm

Hands-on with Dragon’s upcoming eyewear line

Spring is just around the corner and the sun is slowly poking its head out through the clouds here in NYC. I’ve been rocking polarized Electric Hi-Fis for the last couple years, but I think it’s time for a new set of shades for this year. I sat down with Dragon yesterday and they gave me a peek at some new shades for this coming year. If you’re a snowboarder or motocross rider than we have something for you, too.

First up is Rob Machado’s signature line of shades called the Rob Machado Experience. The E.C.O. (Environmentally Conscious Optics) is particularly cool because it’s the first set of sunglasses that are made from 100 percent renewable resources. If you’re unfamiliar with Rob than you should know that this guy is a free spirit or what many would call a hippie. He’s also my favorite surfer and idol. The E.C.O. model obviously draws design inspiration from the 70s with a bit of present day flair. Grilamid makes up the frame and has a nice raw matte black finish to it. Packaging for the E.C.O. is made from FSC certified materials and comes with a 100 percent organic cotton bag and the little pamphlet that comes with it is printed with water-based ink.

Next up is the Momentum. This particular SKU has a bullseye on each temple, which is significant because Rob’s boards donned a bullseye logo all of the 2000 season. It was the same year he won the Pipeline Masters (Video of his 10-point ride) on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawai’i. If you’re a Ben Harper fan than you’ll recognize this design from the Fight For Your Mind album as well.

And last but not least are the Mellow Torts. These babies sport a groovy tortoise pattern with some psychedelic swirls.

Oh, there’s also a set of glossy black ones, too. They’ll all go for about $100.

And now something for the snowboarders and MX riders in the audience.

I present to you the Rogue. This model will be apart of Dragon’s Fall 09 collection, so they won’t be coming out for a little bit. It’s not too early to think about Christmas presents, folks. In co-operation with Skull Candy, the Rogue along with the Mace, DX and DXS models come with color matched Skull Candy headphones.

The DX (middle) and DXS (the one with the tassles) along with the Rogues have Super Anti-Fog technology. This exclusive technology is said to prevent lens fogging twice as long as everyone else’s gear. Dragon’s SAF is applied to the inner portion of the lens to keep things nice and clear while you’re hauling ass down the mountain. There’s a sprinkling of NASA tech as well.

Once the weather actually clears up I’ll start dirt bike riding in the dirty Jerz and I’ll be giving the Vendetta a swirl. Dragon’s MX goggles feature a 2-inch adjustable strap and have removable lenses and a washable foam lining cuz things are bound to get funky in there.

Dragon Alliance

Source: CrunchGear | 13 Feb 2009 | 9:57 pm

Overstock.com Announces Winner of January $10,000 Family Bailout Sweepstakes

Plans to Continue Monthly Sweepstakes Through December 2009 SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Overstock.com, Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 Feb 2009 | 9:55 pm

PA-Grown Company Teams with International Technology Leader, Governor Rendell Says

CICLON's Operations, Jobs to Remain in Bethlehem HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 Feb 2009 | 9:48 pm

Food hack: the DIY geek guide to impressive eats this Valentines

Section: Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle, Features, How To

The net is full of recipes.  How can you tell the difference between some crazy person with a site vs. something tried and true for your Valentines meal?  Easy, follow Gadgetell’s guide for cooking a sweet Valentine’s meal and be assured if it fails, it won’t be the recipes fault.

First, follow the pack.

How do you know any of these recipes are any good?  Easy, user ratings.  My favorite recipes site is easily allrecipes.com.  There, user ratings guide my decisions plus have the added boost of some nifty changes they made to make it come out better.  Based on a five star system, the site encourages responses and makes them easy to decipher: a simple mouse over opens the comment for quick decisions.  The site is super easy to navigate and a high user rating usually means the eats are good.  I just this site at least 3 times a week and haven’t gone wrong yet.

Stand out recipes:
Carne Asada
Bourbon pecan chicken

Second, Be inspired by Pros

Another site I love is cookstr.  This site incorporates the best from professional chefs signature dishes.  A little bit more of a gamble without user ratings, but the site is super clean and I’ve gleamed a few gems off them.  Plus, I like the modern take on foods that are there, you can make some real high-class type foods without the years in culinary training.

Stand out recipes:
21 Club Steak Diane
Chicken with Herb sauce

Third, bring it with you.

I always have my iPod touch with me in the kitchen to read off directions/ingredients.  Hugely helpful if I have to look up how to poach again or need conversions.  I have not been too fond of the recipes applications found in Apple’s App Store for one reason, they tend to lack the breadth of info on the top two points.  I like lots of choices and lots of feedback.

Lack a smartphone with a big screen?  It is OK to print them out; most sites actually reformat the recipe to your paper size which is handy.  Just save the recipes that work for use another time and watch the oil splatters.

Fourth, get a knife

Seriously, stop fooling around with the Ginsu or whatever knife Chef Tony is throwing around this week.  Pony up for German steel as the difference will make you feel like you know what you are doing.  A sharp knife will get you moving faster and make you feel more like a pro without Gordon Ramsey shouting profanities at you.  There is nothing quite like the simple pleasure in dicing an onion with a sharp blade.  At least one 8” chef knife ought to be standard issue in any kitchen.

Stand out blades:
Wusthof (I swear by them)
Henkels

These are the tools of a great meal.  The rest is up to you.

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 13 Feb 2009 | 9:30 pm

Earth Pays High Ecological Price For Cheap Roses

Ecology and conservation biologist at the University of Leicester, Dr David Harper, who has conducted research for over 25 years at Lake Naivasha in Kenya, today warned that cut-price Valentine roses exported for sale in the UK were 'bleeding that country dry'.Dr Harper, of the University's Department of Biology where he is a senior lecturer, claimed that cheap roses grown by companies that had no concern for the environment were having a devastating effect on the ecology of Lake Naivasha - the center of Kenya's horticultural industry.Instead, Dr Harper urged UK shoppers to buy Fair Trade roses, produced by companies that were conscientious and had a transparent supply chain.Dr Harper said: "Roses that come cheap are grown by companies that have no concern for the environment, who cut corners and avoid legislation, who sell their flowers into the auction in Amsterdam so that all the buyer knows is the flowers "come from Holland"."In reality, they have come from Kenya where the industry is - literally - draining that country dry."However, some companies took a more responsible approach and sold direct to British supermarkets - many of them being "Fair Trade" certified.Said Dr Harper: "These companies want a sustainable future for the wildlife and the environment, as well as the people, where they grow their roses.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 Feb 2009 | 9:29 pm

Google to Take a Hefty Cut on Android App Sales

Google's Android Market will start letting developers sell applications, instead of merely giving them away, in the middle of next week.

But contrary to popular impression, Google will take a hefty 30 percent cut on the sales — 15 times its usual transaction fee, and the same rate charged by Apple in its App Store.

Google Checkout will serve as the payment and billing mechanism for Android Market. But while Google Checkout typically charges sellers just 2 percent of the sales price, that's being bumped to a 30 percent transaction fee for the Android Market.

Allowing app sales will go a long way towards making Android more attractive to developers. Apple has allowed sales since its App Store opened half a year ago, enabling a handful of developers to strike it rich. That in turn has attracted thousands of hopefuls, whose 20,000 iPhone applications have been downloaded more than 500 million times. Google will need to offer a similar opportunity to encourage developers to create apps on its own platform.

Google says the company "does not make money" from its application store. "Developers will get 70 percent of the revenue from each purchase and the remaining amount goes to carriers and billing settlement fees," a Google spokesperson said in a statement to Wired.com. "We believe this revenue model creates a fair and positive experience for users, developers and carriers."

Google rival Apple also keeps 30 percent of the revenue from apps sold through the iPhone store. Apple has no made no bones about the iPhone and the App store as a profit center for the company. But Google has long given the impression that it will allow developers for Android Market to keep all the profits to themselves, largely stemming from its stance that it wouldn't be profiting from the Android Market.

Currently Android Market is accepting priced applications from U.S. and U.K. developers only, said Eric Chu, Google's mobile platform manager. It is likely to extend to developers from other countries in Europe by the end of the quarter. Developers can directly upload their apps along with the price for them. App creators will have no choice but to use Google Checkout, the company's payment processing system that competes with PayPal.

For developers now the biggest difference between Android Market and Apple's iPhone App store lies in the approval process. Apps do not have to be approved by either the carrier or Google which developed the Android mobile operating system. That is in contrast to Apple's "walled garden" approach that requires all apps to be scrutinized by the company before they are published.

With the revenue split for apps being the same on Android Market and iPhone App, Google is counting on Android's widespread adoption by cellphone makers to make it an attractive platform for developers. So far, only one manufacturer — HTC — has released a phone running the Android operating system; it's being sold in the United States by T-Mobile as the T-Mobile G1. But a number of handset makers including Motorola, LG and Garmin say they are working on Android-based handsets.

See also:
Paid Apps Coming to Android This Week

Photo: Josh Russell/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 13 Feb 2009 | 9:27 pm

Google to Take a Hefty Cut on Android App Sales

Google's Android Market will start letting developers sell applications from mid next week. But developers can only use Google Checkout and they will have to pay 30 percent from the sale of the app as "transaction fees" to Google.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 13 Feb 2009 | 9:27 pm

Android pay apps to multiply, thrive in RC33

Last week's update to the T-Mobile G1, which included the handy voice search among other things, apparently also laid the foundation for the real pay app push, which should be starting right... about... I'm going to say Wednesday. T-Mo had this to say...

Source: MobileCrunch | 13 Feb 2009 | 9:17 pm

Animals Can Relearn Who's Who After Hibernation

Research may help endangered species re-establishment programsAnimals can re-establish their use of smell to detect siblings, even following an interruption such as prolonged hibernation, research at the University of Chicago on ground squirrels shows.Smell is an important animal survival tool.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 Feb 2009 | 9:15 pm

En Pointe Technologies, Inc. Announces Financial Results for the Quarter Ended December 31, 2008

- First quarter net product sales decrease 29% to $52.4 million from prior year first quarter. - First quarter gross profits decrease 43% to $6.8 million from prior year first quarter. LOS ANGELES, Feb.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 Feb 2009 | 9:00 pm

Gaming Industry Sales Grow In January (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - The NPD Group reports that video game console and software sales continued to grow respectably last month, despite tough economic conditions here at home and abroad.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 13 Feb 2009 | 8:57 pm

Google to offer paid smartphone apps in Apple challenge (Reuters)

Reuters - Google Inc will allow developers to sell applications for its Android cell phone operating system beginning next week in the United States, as the search giant strives to expand in a smartphone arena dominated by Apple Inc.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 13 Feb 2009 | 8:54 pm

Emerson Radio Corp. Reports Fiscal 2009 Third Quarter Results

PARSIPPANY, N.J., Feb. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --Emerson Radio Corp. (NYSE Alternext US, LLC: MSN) today reported financial results for its third quarter ended December 31, 2008.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 Feb 2009 | 8:51 pm

Android Pay App Explosion Due Next Week

Last week's update to the T-Mobile G1, which included the handy voice search among other things, apparently also laid the foundation for the real pay app push, which should be starting this coming week — perhaps to give a chance for developers to debut during the supreme madness of the Mobile World Congress season. European Android-lovers will have to wait a little longer, however.

Source: TechCrunch | 13 Feb 2009 | 8:49 pm

Climate Change To Cause Massive Fish Migration

Climate change will trigger a massive fish migration toward the poles by mid-century, leading to numerous local extinctions, scientists said on Thursday.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 Feb 2009 | 8:35 pm

Avensys Corporation Reports Fiscal Second Quarter 2009 Financial Results

Positive Cash Flow Generated Despite Slower Growth Due to the Economic Downturn MONTREAL, Feb.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 13 Feb 2009 | 8:30 pm

Ultrasone Blings up Latest Headphones With Ethiopian Sheepskin, Gold Plating

German-based Ultrasone is debuting its newest headphones with a wily concept that's a perfect recipe for success during these economy-crippled times: An elegant, super high-end design that includes interior ear cups covered in Ethiopian sheepskin, an exterior base made out of ruthenium metal, and gold-plated plugs. And a $1500 price tag.

Clearly, this is a serious attempt on the company's behalf to trick buyers into getting their butts kicked on the subway.

Granted, the technology behind Ultrasone's Edition 8 headphones suggests these headphones are more valuable than the regular gadgety street-wear. They feature the company's new proprietary S-Logic Plus tech, which builds natural, full-bodied surround sound, boosting the quality of audio accuracy detail. Its 40mm titanium-plated driver (with a neodymium magnet) feature a frequency range of 6 Hz to 42 kHz.

This means that if you were indeed thinking about investing in these cans, you'd be smart to listen to lossless audio instead of the tight MP3 files you're used to carrying around. And you'd probably want to set-up a nice, quiet room where you can fully appreciate the difference in audio. Chances are, you already have this room if you have that chunk of change to invest in headphones. From the top of my head, for that amount of money, a smarter investment would be a Macbook Pro, a High-end digital camcorder, or a Canon 450D DSLR.

Putting aside economic matters, these headphones have another high-end feature that's interesting, and if proven true through testing, could be quite great. The cans' S-Logic tech reduces 40% of the sound pressure that other headphones in its class use to regularly beat down on the ear drum (its sound pressure level goes to 96 dB).

Considering that the PMP-crappy headphone combo era is nearing the end of its first full decade, it's good to know engineers are trying to figure out how to improve audio quality without blowing our brains off. And that's more important than a pretty mirror-finish surface.

The Ultrasone Edition 8 headphones will be available in March 2009.

Photos: Ultrasone

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 13 Feb 2009 | 8:19 pm

Large Samsung NC20 is large ... at least compared to the NC10

Samsung's NC10 is a netbook: John's fave, in fact, thanks to its extravagant battery life. Samsung's NC20, however, is not a netbook. Looking almost identical in early shots, this side-by-side comparison reveals it to be the little fella's big brother.

Proof the samsung nc20 is bigger than the nc10 [Lilliputing]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 13 Feb 2009 | 8:07 pm

Google Japan Apologizes For Awkward PR Campaign, Gets Punished With PageRank Reduction

On Monday, we covered an embarrassing pay-per-post campaign Google launched in Japan with the aim of boosting awareness of a new keyword hitlist box on the Google Japan top page. It now turns out the move, which was (to my knowledge) first brought to light by Japanese super bloggers Masato Kogure and Akky Akimoto, triggered a number of repercussions.

The aftermath in a nutshell: The campaign is now stopped, Google is embarrassed, apologizes and penalizes the Japanese site with a PageRank reduction.

Just a few hours after the Japanese version of the TechCrunch article went online Tuesday, Google Japan issued a half-baked, vague apology on the official Google Japan blog, basically saying the Japanese subsidiary was unaware of their own terms of service. The campaign was halted and Google Japan ordered their outside PR agency to remove all existing paid postings in question.

An email Google Japan sent out to bloggers asking for a comment states the following (the second half of the last sentence is a winner):

Our internal guidelines have been violated in two ways:
First, the blog posts were connected to Google (via the outside agency which we contracted), but failed to fully disclose that relationship. Our internal guidelines are committed to transparency, and this was not sufficiently transparent.

Second, we have strict rules against doing anything that would
artificially promote the ranking of our own sites — or even be
perceived as artificially promoting their ranking. Having outside
blogs write about our gadget and linking to our site may have had an
impact on our own ranking, which is not acceptable under our
guidelines.

At Google, we believe in being open and transparent with our users,
and do not condone these kinds of opaque communications. We would
like to apologize for this episode, and express our gratitude to the
community of users and bloggers who brought this to our attention so
that we could put a stop to it.

But the apologies obviously weren’t enough as Google has imposed a PageRank penalty upon itself, busting down the rank from 9 to 5 (Google.com has a PageRank of 10, while TechCrunch still stands at 8). Matt Cutts, head of Google’s anti web spam team, tweeted that he expects Google Japan’s lower rank to remain as is for a while.

Considering that Google stopped the campaign after a little more than 24 hours, the funding was openly acknowledged in the posts and apologies were issued, the self punishment may appear a bit too harsh at first sight. But Google is actually just replicating a punishment strategy it pursued against other sites that violated company policies in the past (Google Japan’s PageRank hasn’t been reset to zero, however).

I doubt Google will lose any significant search traffic in Japan in the process, but think the measure is better than no measure at all. It should be OK now anyway as the company has been heavily scoffed at in the last few days and will probably have to live with a damage to its image for a while. But it’s Google, after all, and worse things than this PR meltdown could have happened.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 13 Feb 2009 | 8:06 pm

Report: AT&T to sell slightly cheaper netbooks with long service contracts

AT&T is about to launch a broad subsidy program for netbooks, offering cheap laptops with always-on internet at rock-bottom prices--so long as you agree to long-term service agreements.

Among the "deals," uncovered by Gizmodo, are Asus's Aspire One for $200, or HP's Mini 1000 for $400. In short, you save about $100, in return for agreeing to a contract that will cost you $1,000 or more over the life of a data plan.

There are choices: $60 for the 5GB, but light 'net users can opt for $40 a month, so long as they use less than 200MB. The pre-paid option is a silly token offering, providing a useless 50MB for $20 a month. More interesting is a $70 plan that includes a basic DSL plan for your home, and gets another chunk discounted from the netbook.

As with cellphone subsidies, AT&T's scheme is fine if you know what you want and will be spending the money on 3G anyway. The problem with 'phone subsidies, however, is that they allow cellular carriers to control the hardware market: congress considered regulating the cellular industry to stop the abusive practices that result, such as punitive early termination fees.

If they gain a similar position with netbooks, a similar situation could result: a limited selection of devices, manufacturers who design them for the carriers instead of for customers, and a debt-like contract-subscription model that lets carriers get away with the worst customer service standards in America.

Since we want 3G, though, it's pretty much inevitable that netbooks will end up the same way. But it'll be hard not to complain when high-end unlocked models end up saddled with artificially bloated prices. [Gizmodo]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 13 Feb 2009 | 7:33 pm

Crochet R2D2

Consider this a unicorn chaser, of sorts, for my grave posting misdemeanors of last night.

The cutest crochet R2D2 you'll see today [Technabob]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 13 Feb 2009 | 7:29 pm

Researchers Investigate Bird's Carotenoid 'Circle Of Life'

"What you see is what you get" often is the mantra in the highly competitive life of birds, as they use brilliant displays of color to woo females for mating.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 Feb 2009 | 7:26 pm

Penguins Showing Strain Under Climate Change

A major Magellanic penguin population declined more than 20 percent in two decades.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Feb 2009 | 7:24 pm

Twitter Raises $35 Million Series C From Benchmark and IVP

Update: We just got off the phone with IVP partner Todd Chaffee who says this round was actually in excess of $35 million. Apparently, $35 million is just the total of what Benchmark and IVP put in ($21 million and $14 million respectively), while the additional amount put in by Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital is still unknown. According to Chaffee, “Everybody wanted to protect their pro rata and then some.”

Biz Stone just announced on the official Twitter blog that Twitter closed a third round of funding led by Benchmark and Institutional Venture Partners last night. We have confirmation from IVP that the round was $35 million, and that Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital also participated. The news gels with our report last month that Twitter was raising a new round at around a $250 million valuation following Facebook’s failed attempt to acquire the company, with IVP as one of the leading investors.

Stone says the company was not actively looking for additional funding because they haven’t burned through all of the money from the last round. But he was impressed by both of the VCs who led the round (and presumably also impressed by some very favorable terms).

This is the first time either Benchmark or IVP have invested in Twitter. Union Square Ventures participated in both the Series A and Series B as well, while Spark Capital first joined for the Series B. For more information about Twitter’s funding history, refer to its CrunchBase profile. As part of this Series C deal, Peter Fenton from Benchmark will be joining Twitter’s board of directors.

According to Stone, this round is intended for Twitter to go from strength to strength:

Twitter is growing at a phenomenal rate. Active users have increased 900% in a year and even though our web traffic is amazing, we see twice that traffic to the APIs. Interacting with Twitter over SMS is also getting more popular every day. Our relatively small team of 29 employees has accomplished quite a bit lately but it’s obvious that we have the world ahead of us.

Stone has also indicated that it’s time for Twitter to get serious about making money, saying “We are now positioned extremely well to support the accelerating growth of our service, further enable the robust ecosystem sprouting up around Twitter, and yes, to begin building revenue-generating products.”

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

Source: TechCrunch | 13 Feb 2009 | 6:59 pm

Dell Spices Up Portable Printing With Hot Pink Wasabi

Dell's new portable photo printer is called Wasabi, but it's anything but hot. The little box hooks up to a camera or cameraphone via either USB or Bluetooth and outputs borderless 2×3" prints. Because the printer uses batteries, you can take it anywhere with you.

If this sounds a little like Polaroid's PoGo, that's because it is. It uses the exact same inkless technology, called ZINK (or Zero Ink), which prints the pictures onto dye-impregnated paper using heat to release the colors. And if the quality is as "good" as that of the Polaroid effort, this is a box best avoided by novelty seekers and enthusiastic photographers alike. To see just how bad are the results, check our hand-on experience with the PoGo at CES.

The Wasabi is available now for $100, rising to $150 when Dell has managed to clear its stocks to gullible fools and reviewers.

Product page [Dell]

See Also:

• Review: Polaroid PoGo Printer Spits Pics on the Quick
• Polaroid Stages Comeback With Instant Printing Digicam
• Polaroid and Zink Making Digital Polaroid Camera Without the ...

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 13 Feb 2009 | 6:56 pm

Oxford prof suggests lynx to cull deer

A British ecologist says lynx should be reintroduced in parts of Britain to help cull deer that are destroying crops and woodlands. David MacDonald of Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit said the lynx, hunted to extinction in Britain 500 years ago, are no danger to humans, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday. The report said there are estimated to be more than 2 million deer in Britain, the largest number in 1,000 years.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 13 Feb 2009 | 6:53 pm

Beautiful and Expensive Radio Probably Worth Every Penny

This stunning radio, a simple monoaural AM/FM tuner designed by Jonas Damon, costs an equally stunning $350. It does almost nothing other than suck electromagnetic waves from the ether and convert them into pure, warm, valve-amped sound via the three glowing vacuum tubes inside. As is often the case with these analog sound-expanders, the output is a whispering 8.5 watts maximum (recommended 6W for "zero distortion").

The sole concession to modernity, aside from the incredibly sharp and beautiful design, is a jack to allow audio input from a dirty digital source. Available as soon as you save up some cash to buy it.

Product page [Areaware via Retro Thing]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 13 Feb 2009 | 6:49 pm

Hand Powered Portable Washing Machine Misses the Point

The Hand Powered Portable Washing Machine purports to be a fast, easy and green alternative to the bulky, water and electricity sucking behemoths we normally use. The plastic tub comes pre-assembled and requires just dirty laundry, soap and water. Seal it up and spin the handle (one revolution per second, say the instructions). Open it up ten seconds later and you have… Well, you have a tub filled with dirty, soapy water and clothes.

The makers of this sloshy-tub have completely missed the point of the automatic washing machine. See if you can spot the gap in the instructions here:

• Rinse your laundry either in the portable washing machine after draining the dirty water or in the sink
• Then hang the clothes to dry!

This reminds us of the "How to Draw Comics" books we used to buy as kids. Step one is a stick man. Step two is a slightly rounded out stick man. Step three is a perfectly inked and colored superhero.

The washer is the same. Anyone who has washed clothes by hand knows that the easy part is the kneading of the laundry in the bathtub. The hard part is the rinsing and then the wringing. This is why the mangle was invented way before the washing machine.

However, at just $50 it could be useful for campers, or at least caravanners as a way to avoid sloshing water all over the RV. We’ll find out soon enough. Bent on forcing me to write about washing machines of all kinds, Wired editor Dylan Tweney and Gadget Lab review maestro Danny "Frosty Tips" Dumas have conspired to have one of these sent to me for review purposes. Thanks, guys.

Product page [Clean Air Gardening via Book of Joe]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 13 Feb 2009 | 6:44 pm

Bespin Web-based code editor effort launched (InfoWorld)

InfoWorld - Mozilla Labs this week launched a preview of Bespin, a Web-based code editor intended to boost developer productivity, enable compelling user experiences and promote "open" standards.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 13 Feb 2009 | 6:44 pm

Impress, a smooshy 3D touchscreen by Silke Hilsing

I'm having a little bit of difficulty parsing the art-speak, but I'm pretty sure from the pictures that "DIS.PLAY" is a prototype projection surface that responds to not only touch in two dimensions, but smooshed down into a third.

Oh, there's a video! Now I get it. Silke Hilsing, I like everything about this. Good job!

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 13 Feb 2009 | 6:41 pm

Acoustibuds Turn Earbuds Into Canal-Gripping Probosces

The Acoustibuds are like shower caps for your earbuds -- if only shower caps made things look like strange, aardvark-nosed aliens. Aliens wearing gas masks.

Instead of trying to make you buy yet another set of headphones, Burton's Acoustibuds instead slip on to the earbuds you already own and turn them into a pair of in-ear plug-type headphones. The tips cinch in place with an elastic waistband, like a large lady's leisure pants, and the fins hold them safe and sound inside your canals.

The whole lot is fashioned from "hypoallergenic silicone" to keep you from sneezing along to the music, and best of all, the plugs are just $20 ($12 if you snap them up soon).

Given the propensity for earbuds to slip out, and the fact that these tips can be transferred as you successively break pair after pair, they might be just the thing for people with big, sweaty, slidey ear-holes, and users of the notoriously fragile Apple in-ear phones.

Product page [Burton. Thanks, Jessica!]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 13 Feb 2009 | 6:36 pm

The Real Power of iPhoto Face Recognition: Busting Superheroes

The always wonderful Joy of Tech takes a look at iPhoto's new face recognition feature. We always wondered why a pair of specs and hair parted on the other side was enough to fool even the woman he'd slept with. I also wonder how Lois managed to get face recognition to work properly. My version of iLife '09 is truly useless.

Next: Adam gets a fake tan and butch cat and is discovered to be He-Man.

Cartoon page [Joy of Tech]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 13 Feb 2009 | 6:24 pm

Art Project Forecasts Floods of Doom

Watermarks is a kind of science project with an artistic bent. The project uses high-powered projectors to throw killjoy warnings onto the walls in public spaces. These warnings consist of a straight line indicating the level of sea or river should global warming really kick in, along with a scary message about the extremes of weather ("strong winds!")

The main reason we're interested is the use of projectors, but sadly the only detail we're given is that they will be "digital". Watermarks has yet to begin, but artist Chris Bodle will be starting off in Bristol, England -- a curiously appropriate choice of location. First, the Bristol Channel (that's the body of water, not a TV station) has one of the highest tides in the world, the sea rushing miles distant at low tide.

Second, it's England. Many Brits silently welcome global warming as an antidote to the nation's notoriously poor weather ("Summer fell on a Tuesday this year"). The trouble is that one of the first changes would be the shift of the Gulf Stream, the sea feature that brings warm water to the island all year round. Scratch that and England would have Canadian winters. Shiver!

Project page [Watermarks via Style Crave. Thanks, Mike!]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 13 Feb 2009 | 6:22 pm

Microsoft Plans New Zune Strategy

Microsoft has restructured its Zune digital music player business which has struggled to find its groove since the device debuted nearly three year ago.

The company has split the hardware and the software teams behind the Zune and says it will work to extend some features of the Zune player to other hardware devices such as PCs, TVs and mobile phones.

Microsoft's move with Zune is reminiscent of how Nokia transitioned its N-Gage brand from a specific phone to a software service. N-Gage was first launched as a device that would combine phone and gaming. But after tepid user feedback, Nokia reinvented it as a gaming platform. As a software distribution platform N-Gage would allow any user to download games to their Nokia phones and become the go-to place for cellphone games, hoped Nokia.

With Zune, Microsoft could be headed that way. The Zune software team will be combined with Microsoft's Windows Media Center and Mediaroom units. The hardware team will join the Microsoft's mobile communications business group.

"This is an extension of the way we’ve been taking the business for some time," said Microsoft in an update. "We’ve said before the strategy for Zune is to provide a great entertainment experience across multiple screens and devices and this move will help us deliver that."

For some time though, Microsoft will continue to churn out more Zune hardware. "We can confirm that Zune is committed to delivering new software, services and devices to consumer later this year," a Microsoft spokesperson told Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 13 Feb 2009 | 6:20 pm

Qualcomm Promises One Wireless Card to Rule Them All

Qualcomm's new Gobi wireless platform will bring embedded mobile broadband connectivity to laptops and allow users to choose multiple carriers.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 13 Feb 2009 | 6:16 pm

Ning’s Doing Just Fine Without The Porn

At the beginning of last December, Ning reversed course on its anything-legal-goes policy by declaring a prohibition on adult social networks. The reason? Porn wasn’t paying the bills; instead of attracting advertisers, it was scaring them away. Legal adult content was also begetting illegal content, which drew the ire of both authorities and lawyers with DMCA notices in hand.

Given the report released by CPM Advisors at the beginning of 2008, which suggested that Ning relied on adult content for much of its traffic, one might expect Ning to take a hit after shooing the smut out the door. But according to comScore traffic from January, that hasn’t been the case at all.

Ning gave adult networks until January 5th to pack up their bags and leave. That gives us the rest of the month to see how the network of networks fared without them. And it actually fared quite well, picking up almost 1 million unique visitors in the United States (from 3.94 million in December to 4.79 million in January). That pickup is almost enough to pass Bebo, which attracted 4.97 million Americans in January and barely managed to halt a downslide that surely didn’t make AOL happy.

What’s not clear is whether there’s been much dispute over what constitutes adult content. As far as we can tell - and as CEO Gina Bianchini outlined prior to the evictions - Ning hasn’t prohibited nudity entirely. Nudist social networks are still listed in its directory, for example, although all of them appear to be private networks. If you’ve run a Ning network with borderline content that has been either kicked out or allowed to stay, please let us know in the comments.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 13 Feb 2009 | 6:05 pm

Common Cold Genes Reveal Complex Bug

The genetic code of the common cold reveals traits that could be targeted, but no cure.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Feb 2009 | 5:39 pm

We’re off to Barcelona

Mobile World Congress in Barcelona kicks off in just 3 days, and we’re headed out the door for the first leg of our trip. We’re still a car, train, and plane ride away - but Barcelona, here we come!

So what can we expect? Too much to list. Samsung is bringing all kinds of stuff (but no Android, and no 12MP camera phone, according to SamsungCentral). All sorts of Android goodness will debut. The first day alone has half a dozen press announcements, many of which are happening back to back or at conflicting times. Yikes.

Be sure to keep an eye on all of our Mobile World Congress 2009 coverage.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 13 Feb 2009 | 5:34 pm

Dear Fashion: Uh, no.

"That cursor is hovering dangerously close to the age verification zone."

High-End Fashion Of The Day: Sancho Hemelsoen [The Daily What via Gizmodo]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 13 Feb 2009 | 5:30 pm

HP's custom Ubuntu skin for netbooks now installable by everyone

As I hoped, plucky hackers have taken that gorgeous HP custom shell for their Ubuntu netbooks, ripped out the launcher, OS skin and some application skins, and made it available for everyone. Score.

Hp mie interface download [Ubuntu Forums]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 13 Feb 2009 | 5:26 pm

Brother, can you spare a Crawligator?

If you've got a vintage 70's Crawligator skateboard for babies around, this is very good karma. DaddyTypes got an email from a new dad of a disabled eight month old, who writes:

I’m searching for a Crawligator for my eight month old son with leg deformities. He will be having them amputated and is expected to have trouble crawling. I would like to find him a Crawligator to give him the best start possible.

If you've got one you can spare, drop a comment at DaddyTypes.

Brother, Can You Spare A Crawligator? [DaddyTypes via Crunchgear]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 13 Feb 2009 | 4:56 pm

Ocean 2 gets pictured in black

All throughout the Ocean 2’s development cycle, pictures of it kept popping up in a silver and black motif. When it actually launched, however, everything silver had been turned red. The color change made sense, with the Helio-brand now under the parental guidance of Virgin Mobile (who’s primary color is red) - but it was one of the things we didn’t like. We said in our review that we hoped a black version would follow, as various hearsay had lead us to believe.

Looks like it is indeed. This render of the Ocean 2 decked out with a black bezel was hiding in a Helio page intended for Korean-American customers, and it appears it might even be for sale already for that market. It might mean a trip to a Korea-town dealer or calling up a Helio CS rep and asking real nicely, but if you’re waiting for a slightly less vibrant Ocean 2, you might be able to get one now.

[Thanks David!]

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