Source: Gizmodo | 15 Feb 2009 | 12:00 am

Biofuels may speed up, not slow global warming: study

The use of crop-based biofuels could speed up rather than slow down global warming by fueling the destruction of rainforests, scientists warned Saturday. Once heralded as the answer to...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 14 Feb 2009 | 11:33 pm

4-finger gestures coming to Snow Leopard

MyAppleGuide found a help screen in Snow Leopard that shows that 4-finger gestures - try it on your trackpad and you’ll see that they’re a little awkward - are coming soon. Not a huge deal, but pretty cool for those with large glass trackpads.

The may hint at a new four finger gesture tab under the trackpad settings that would allow you to customize the action effected. This is similar to the current Exposé and Spaces Preference tab that allows you to use hot corners to call different commands. The file can be found at /System/Library/PreferencePanes/Trackpad.prefPane/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/FourFingerSwipeGesture.nib .

Source: CrunchGear | 14 Feb 2009 | 11:14 pm

Solar-Charged OLED Concept Uses Ironing Board Design

Designer Abhinav Dapke has come up with a green lighting concept that appears to be modeled on the easy old-school chore of taking out the laundry to be dried by the sun.

His Go Rack design centers around a combo cloth that is layered with flexible OLED displays, solar cells, and a textured, safety plastic. A person simply takes out the light 'ironing board/clothes rack' body outside, unspools the legs, and places the backside of the cloth (the solar cells) in an optimal angle to receive sunlight. In order to let a user know the power charge level, a small time indicator is also embedded on the side of this cloth. 

Once the panel is full, the body is once again erected, the cloth is folded in (exposing only the plastic) and the aluminum legs are used to conduct energy, once connected to a base inside a home. Presumably, you can then use the regulator switch to modulate the level of illumination. The brightness of the light, if and when this concept is ever brought to light, will depend on the materials chosen for the plastic.

I like this idea mainly because it's a simple, probably cheap way to bring solar light into the home without re-building the whole structure of a house. But there are potential problems. The single Go Rack won't be enough to provide enough lighting for a whole house. Also, the body of the rack needs to be engineered with enough safety features that transferring the aluminum legs after days left out in the sun can't lead to scalding injuries, and the OLED layers need to be durable enough to withstand the constant folding.

Still, it's a quality concept that we'd love to check in action in the next few years.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 14 Feb 2009 | 11:12 pm

Web Scam Bilks State of Utah Out of $2.5M

KitB sends in a story in the Salt Lake Tribune that tells of a Web-based scam, resembling some used by Nigerian gangs, that snared the state of Utah. $2.5M was sent to a bank account in Texas before the bank raised a question and then froze $1.8M in the account. "Thieves apparently used a Nigerian-based scam to steal $2.5 million from the Utah treasury, covering their tracks by using intermediaries and a church address. A Salt Lake Tribune review of the names listed in a search warrant as receiving or transferring money [found] names of African origin or connections to that continent. Michael Kessler, ... a forensic accounting [investigator] in New York City, said the thieves appear to have used a simple scam that originated in Nigeria about five years ago. The Utah theft is the first time he's seen a government victimized. 'Their IT people should have known better,' Kessler said after reviewing a copy of the search warrant Thursday. 'It sounds like any kid could have done this.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 14 Feb 2009 | 11:12 pm

UPDATE 2-Ecuador to freeze Repsol, Perenco assets over tax

QUITO, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on Saturday his government will freeze the assets of Spanish oil company Repsol and France's Perenco over demands for taxes owed.
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 14 Feb 2009 | 11:06 pm

Orange Joins Forces With HP to Bring the Internet to Everyone via Mobile Broadband

PARIS, February 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- - Strategic Partnership Signed Between Orange and HP to Drive Consumer Adoption of Mobile Broadband Across Europe Orange today continued its drive to give more mobile broadband customers Internet on the move, with a new partnership signed with Hewlett Packard.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 14 Feb 2009 | 11:01 pm

Mob Wars Creator Puts A Hit Out On Zynga, Sues For Copyright Infringement

It looks like the controversy around Mob Wars , a very popular social network game that has been rumored to pull in as much as $1 million a month, is only getting started. Creator David Maestri and his company Psycho Monkey have filed suit against Zynga, a popular developer of social network games. The lawsuit centers on Zynga’s game Mafia Wars - a text-based game very similar to Mob Wars, which has also developed a large following.

Zynga’s Mafia Wars launched after Maestri’s Mob Wars with very similar game play and design (not to mention a similar name). Since then some of the design elements have changed, but it’s clear that Zynga was at the very least inspired by Mob Wars (Maestri will likely contend it was a blatant clone). I suspect that Zynga will argue that text-based games similar to Mob Wars have been around for years, and games focused on mobsters are hardly a novelty. Should Maestri win the case, it would set important precedents for the future of social gaming, and would likely affect the many Mob Wars knockoffs on social networks like MySpace and Facebook and potentially the iPhone.

It’s clear that Maestri is willing to go to great lengths to defend Mob Wars, especially after he spent many months in a legal battle with his former employer SGN over the rights to the game (which he developed while he was still employed there). SGN and Maestri settled their issues last December, in an agreement that gave Maestri the rights to Mob Wars but gave SGN full license to produce similar games in the future (SGN just released its first mobster related game last week).

You can see the court docket for the case, called Psycho Monkey, LLC v. Zynga Game Network, Inc., here, but the complaint itself is not yet available online.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 14 Feb 2009 | 10:12 pm

Rabbit Ears To Stage a Comeback Thanks To DTV

Jeffrey Breen writes "Like Monty Python's Killer Rabbit, cheap indoor antennas seem harmless to satellite and cable providers. But with the digital TV transition in the US, rabbit ears can suddenly provide digital-perfect pictures, many more channels, and even on-screen program guides. Already feeling pressure as suddenly budget-conscious consumers shed premium channels, providers must now get creative to protect their low-end as well."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 14 Feb 2009 | 9:55 pm

Special light may detect Parkinson's

A light as bright as a million-watt bulb may be able to help identify early signs of Parkinson's disease, British researchers say. A Keele University team says the special light of a super-microscope could help spot changes in brain cells before Parkinson's destroyed them, BBC reported Saturday. Researcher Joanna Collingwood told the American Association for the Advancement of Science the technique could mean early treatment for Parkinson's patients. The researchers used a synchrotron, or Diamond Light Source, which fires particles at just below the speed of light, focusing them into a beam less than a single cell in diameter.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 14 Feb 2009 | 9:31 pm

Google enables spreadsheet editing on the go

Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile, Web, Web Apps, Google

Google has some good news for all the road warriors and smartphone junkies out there; at least for mobile workers who are fans of the spreadsheet function of Google Docs.  Google has officially added edit and filter functionality to their mobile spreadsheet application.

It was over a year ago that Google launched a mobile version of its Google Docs suite, which was met with some criticism, based on the fact that it was missing the capability to edit files.  This was especially frustrating to users of T-Mobile’s G1 and the iPhone, who do not enjoy the native editing support found in Windows Mobile or third party editing capabilities that can be found for Blackberry or S60 operating systems.  Google has now begun to remedy this by introducing data manipulation, entry, and sorting to their spreadsheet application.

Unfortunately as of this time, Google has not extended similar editing functionality to the mobile versions of Google documents or Google presentations.  One other limitation is that at this point, you’ll need a device that is running Android, OS X mobile, or S60 to take advantage of these new features.  Hopefully, now that Google has gotten spreadsheets out of the way we can see some enhanced functionality love for all the mobile documents users.

Read [Google Docs Blog]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 14 Feb 2009 | 9:27 pm

Neanderthal genetic code revealed

International researchers say they have completed a draft of the genetic blueprint of Neanderthals, humans' primitive cousin. The scientists say their discovery shows Neanderthals made very little, if any contribution to human genes, USA Today reported Saturday. Neanderthals occupied Europe from about 800,000 to 30,000 years ago, the newspaper noted. Team chief Svante Paabo of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig said their findings provide a good overview of the Neanderthal genome. We see this as a tool for future biologists (looking for) what's really unique to modern humans, Paabo was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Source: Gizmodo | 14 Feb 2009 | 9:00 pm

iFart v. Pull My Finger: The Court Case of the Century

It's rare for a genius to truly get satisfaction in his own time. Picasso was unappreciated until much later in life and Van Gogh died before receiving the notoriety he deserved. And so we meet Joel Comm, creator of iFart Mobile, who finds himself so decidedly under-appreciated and misrepresented in the realm fart programs for the iPhone that he is suing his closest competitor, Pull My Finger. Mr. Comm, a well known web-marketer, describes how the company that makes Pull My Finger, Air-o-matic, asked for $50,000 for using the tagline "Pull my finger!" in some of his PR materials and on a YouTube video representing iFart Mobile. Long story short, now Comm is asking a judge to find that "pull my finger" is part of public domain, essentially shutting Air-o-Matic up with the legal system. His court documents are here.

Source: TechCrunch | 14 Feb 2009 | 8:50 pm

Net Neutrality Still Lives

BuhDuh writes "Despite previous reports, and as subsequently discussed here, it appears that Sen. Feinstein's amendment (PDF) did not make it into the approved 'HR1' version of the stimulus bill (PDF). Of course, I cannot aver to having read all 680 pages, but searching for the terms Ms. Feinstein used came up blank, so it looks like we can breathe a collective sigh of relief until someone tries to bury similar proposals in the next wide-ranging, must-pass piece of legislation."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Gizmodo | 14 Feb 2009 | 8:15 pm

Appletell reviews Perfect Girl for iPhone, iPod touch

FROM APPLETELL - Perfect Girl for iPhone and iPod touch is hilarious, and it’s just what your typical guy needs, single or not…for about five minutes away. By then, you’re likely to get tired of her, but that’s just typical male behavior, right? MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 14 Feb 2009 | 8:11 pm

Study uncovers pre-pregnancy concerns

British researchers say a study they conducted found most women trying to get pregnant are not following dietary recommendations. The research team from Britain's University of Southampton found in a study of 12,500 British women that those attempting to become pregnant were only slightly
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 14 Feb 2009 | 8:08 pm

Abraham Lincoln the Early Adopter

Hugh Pickens writes "On the 200th anniversary of his birth, President Abraham Lincoln's popular image as a log-splitting bumpkin is being re-assessed as historians have discovered that Lincoln had an avid interest in cutting-edge technology and its applications. During the war, Lincoln haunted the telegraph office (which provided the instant-messaging of its day) for the latest news from the front; he encouraged weapons development and even tested some new rifles himself on the White House lawn; and he is the only US president to hold a patent (No. 6469, granted May 22, 1849). It was for a device to lift riverboats over shoals. 'He not only created his own invention but had ideas for other inventions, such as an agricultural steam plow and a naval steam ram, [and] was fascinated by patent cases as an attorney and also by new innovations during the Civil War,' says Jason Emerson, author of Lincoln the Inventor. But Lincoln's greatest contribution to the war effort was his use of the telegraph. When Lincoln took office the White House had no telegraph connection. Lincoln 'developed the modern electronic leadership model, says Tom Wheeler, author of Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph To Win the Civil War. At a time when electricity was a vague scientific concept and sending signals through wires was 'mind boggling,' Lincoln was fascinated by the telegraph and developed it into a political and military tool that allowed him to project himself to the front to monitor and track what was going on. 'If he were alive today, we'd call him an early adopter,' says Wheeler."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Gizmodo | 14 Feb 2009 | 7:30 pm

Computers Reported Missing At US Nuclear Lab

Eighty computers belonging to a major US nuclear weapons lab have gone missing, been lost or stolen, according to an internal memo.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 14 Feb 2009 | 7:30 pm

Biotechnology Expected To Rapidly Expand

Advances in biotechnology are laying the groundwork for a huge boom as it becomes more largely applied in fields of healthcare and alternative fuel production, according to scientists at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago."What you have seen over the last 35 years of biotech are tremendous applications, immediate applications of biotech starting with recombinant therapeutics all the way through," Drew Endy, assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford University, told AFP.But Endy says scientists have yet to really unlock and apply all of the potential held by biotechnology as a science.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 14 Feb 2009 | 7:25 pm

Samsung intros the solar-powered Blue Earth mobile phone

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Mobile, Gadgets / Other, Green

Samsung has recently unveiled the eco-friendly Blue Earth mobile phone and despite the fact that the back is a solar-panel the phone still offers a decent overall look.  To begin with, the obvious look of the handset itself, the front side contains a large touchscreen display and the back features a solar panel that is reported to be capable of being able to make a call at just about any time.

The Blue Earth also features an “Eco Mode” that allows for items such as display brightness, backlight duration and Bluetooth to be run in a more energy efficient mode. Other eco-friendly features that you will find on the Blue Earth is the “Eco Walk” function that will count steps thanks to the built-in pedometer as well as an energy efficient charger.  Of course, what eco-friendly phone would be complete without proper packaging, the Blue Earth is made from PCM (a recycled plastic) that is made from old water bottles and will ship in recycled packaging?

As for availability, it is expected to hit the UK market during the second half of 2009.  It seems that the Blue Earth is going to see a very limited release, hopefully we will see it spread to other areas as well.  The pricing information is still unknown.

Via [Pocket-Lint]

 

Source: Gizmodo | 14 Feb 2009 | 6:45 pm

NASA: Shuttle Discovery launch delayed

The next launch of the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 14 Feb 2009 | 6:23 pm

Is Jumping from XP to Windows 7 too Complicated? - PC World

UberGizmo

Is Jumping from XP to Windows 7 too Complicated? PC World - 18 hours ago When Windows 7 is released later this year or in early 2010, many PC users who upgrade will be coming from Windows XP. Unlike Vista users, they can't do an "in-place upgrade," in which the new OS overwrites the old one, preserving their installed ... Microsoft Hit With Suit Over ... InternetNews.com The case for the $50 Windows 7 upgrade CNET News InformationWeek - NetworkWorld.com - Ars Technica - ChannelWeb all 283 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 14 Feb 2009 | 6:20 pm

Open Source Study Included In US Stimulus Package

gclef writes "Buried deep in the details of the US stimulus package is an interesting provision that might go a long way toward helping Open Source software break into the medical area. It says that the Secretary of Health and Human Services should study the availability of open source health technology systems (PDF, page 488), compare their TCO against proprietary systems and report on what they find no later than Oct 1, 2010. Slashdotters may also be interested in the language that starts on page 553 of that PDF to see just what the final package says about broadband." The stimulus plan was approved by the Senate on Friday and is expected to be signed by President Obama by Monday.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 14 Feb 2009 | 6:10 pm

Sony working on movie-game hybrid Blu-ray discs

FROM GAMERTELL - Sony is working on a hybrid Blu-ray disc that will offer a full PS3 game and a full feature film that it hopes to make available later this year. MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 14 Feb 2009 | 6:06 pm

Court Ruling Affects Cable Privacy Laws

Yesterday, a U.S. appeals court ruled not to pass a proposal made by the cable industry to override privacy regulations that would make it hard to share subscribers' private information with others.The U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 14 Feb 2009 | 5:35 pm

Hamsters, Tapping Fingers Produce Electricity

Image Caption: This image shows a hamster wearing a jacket on which nanogenerators are attached. The generators produce electricity as the animal runs and scratches. Credit: Image courtesy Zhong Lin Wang
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 14 Feb 2009 | 5:00 pm

Strength Through Diversity

Tiny light-emitting diodes with optical microsystems that can produce all the colors of the rainbow, a new method for producing printed circuit boards – Fraunhofer researchers are showing innovative developments at the nano tech 2009 exhibition in Japan.Good ideas are not hard to find.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 14 Feb 2009 | 4:42 pm

The Law Of The Weakest – Not Only The Fittest Will Prevail

The extinction of species is a consequence of their inability to adapt to new environmental conditions, and also of their competition with other species. Besides selection and the appearance of new species, the possibility of adaptation is also one of the driving forces behind evolution.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 14 Feb 2009 | 4:38 pm

Biofuels, Like Politics, Are Local

Including native perennials in biofuel crops could keep watersheds healthyField work and computer simulations in Michigan and Wisconsin are helping biofuels researchers understand the basics of getting home-grown energy from the field to consumers.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 14 Feb 2009 | 4:30 pm

Green Power: Scientists Speed Up Discovery Of Plant Metabolism Genes

Research could lead to plants bred for biofuelMichigan State University researchers are dramatically speeding up identification of genes that affect the structure and function of chloroplasts, which could lead to plants tailored specifically for biofuel production or delivering high levels of specific nutrients.Chloroplasts, which are specialized compartments in plant cells, convert sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into sugars and oxygen ("fuel" for the plant) during photosynthesis. Chloroplasts also synthesize nutrients such as starch, amino acids, antioxidant vitamins and lipids, which are important to humans and other animals."We're using this advanced technology to capture information on almost 100 traits, with an emphasis on metabolism," said Rob Last, MSU professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. "We can then analyze that data and look for correlations that we wouldn't see using traditional genetic screening methods. Finding these correlations gives us a more complete understanding of the relationships between seemingly unrelated aspects of plant metabolism."Last and his colleagues use high-throughput genetic screening and advanced analysis technologies for their research. He discussed that technology, as well as the possible biotechnological outcomes, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting yesterday.Manipulating plant metabolism to create crops with more biomass or improved nutrition has been hampered by limited information on how metabolism works -- metabolic pathways are more complex than scientists realized. High-throughput genetic screening allows scientists to look at the effects of genetic changes with a much broader lens than traditional screening technology. Last said it's akin to looking at a traffic problem in a very small town compared to a big city."A genetic mutation is like a traffic jam," he explained. "If you block off Main Street in a rural area, there are a limited number of roads and possible detours, and it's likely that everyone will take the same detour. That's the way traditional screening looks at genetic changes, with a focused, close-up perspective," he explained. "But if you block off Michigan Avenue in Chicago, there are many detours people could take. Using high-throughput screening allows us to step back and look at all these detours, rather than focusing in on just one. It gives us a more complete view of the effects a genetic change can have."The knowledge that Last and his colleagues discover about the genes involved with plant metabolism may be used to create plants that have more biomass that could be used for biofuels, or plants that contain higher levels of beneficial nutrients such as unsaturated fats or fiber.This research is funded by the National Science Foundation. Last's research also is supported by the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.---Image Caption: Pictured is Michigan State University professor of biochemistry and molecular biology Robert Last. Credit: G.L. Kohuth, Michigan State University
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 14 Feb 2009 | 4:26 pm

Coal Industry Wins a Round on Mining - New York Times

WTRF

Coal Industry Wins a Round on Mining New York Times - 20 hours ago By ANDREW C. REVKIN The latest in a series of federal court rulings on mountaintop coal mining in Appalachia came down firmly on the side of the coal industry on Friday. Court Sides with Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Industry HNN Huntingtonnews.net Appeals court overturns new mountaintop mine rules The Associated Press Boston Globe - TriCities.com - Charleston Gazette - Wall Street Journal Blogs all 230 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 14 Feb 2009 | 4:06 pm

Electronic evidence firm grilled over absent memos (AP)

AP - Guidance Software Inc. bills itself as the leading provider of technology that helps companies dig up old e-mails and other electronic documents that might be evidence in a lawsuit. Yet when Guidance itself had to face a judge, it was accused of bumbling its internal digital search.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 14 Feb 2009 | 3:47 pm

Happy Valentine’s Day from Cisco

Ladies love backhaul capacity.

Source: CrunchGear | 14 Feb 2009 | 3:18 pm

iFart Mobile creator shocked - shocked! - at audacity of competition

It’s rare for a genius to truly get satisfaction in his own time. Picasso was unappreciated until much later in life and Van Gogh died before receiving the notoriety he deserved. And so we meet Joel Comm, creator of iFart Mobile, who finds himself so decidedly under-appreciated and misrepresented in the realm fart programs for the iPhone that he is suing his closest competitor, Pull My Finger.

Mr. Comm, a well known web-marketer, describes how the company that makes Pull My Finger, Air-o-matic, asked for $50,000 for using the tagline “Pull my finger!” in some of his PR materials and on a YouTube video representing iFart Mobile. Long story short, now Comm is asking a judge to find that “pull my finger” is part of public domain, essentially shutting Air-o-Matic up with the legal system. His court documents are here.

Now I’m no lawyer, but this whole thing sounds like people pissing - or farting - into the wind. “Pull my finger” is pretty common and I’m fairly certain it’s been used before in marketing, if only for some gross-out junk from the 1980s. As for iFart and Comm, well, homeboy got lucky. The Orlando Sentinel and a few other papers wrote about Comm and iFart, pointing out that Comm basically saw a hole and filled it. I’m of two minds when it comes to applications like iFart - it dumbs down the app store yet proves that you can make big money with the right idea - but this is kids in a slap fight.

Source: CrunchGear | 14 Feb 2009 | 3:10 pm

We're at the Toy Fair. Toys!

If you've been holding out for Aibo's return, this isn't the year for you.

This year's Toy Fair, which begins Sunday at the Javits Center in New York City, is all about getting the best bang for your buck, and expensive, high-tech electronic toys won't be the focus. This is is one business that can react quickly to economic circumstances.

Sure, there's going to be a lot of standard-issue merch: the likes of Elmo, Dora, Barbie and Tinkerbell will rule the show floor, no doubt about it. But we're here for the cool stuff, whether it's ingenious and imaginative or simply a reinvention of something old. Here's a few of the items on our itinerary:

• The Bernie Madoff action figure.

• A sidewalk airbrushing kit with wash-away ink, from Crayola.

• Mindflex, a "mind-control" game from Mattel that tracks electrical activity in your head muscles.

• Leapfrog's new science-ed handheld gaming system.

Now, what do you want us to check out?

Photo: Pro-Zak

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 14 Feb 2009 | 2:53 pm

New York Times releases newspaper-like “article skimmer”

While I prefer the sheer heft of the Sunday NYT, there’s something to be said for a great and easy way to skim the online version of the paper. Thankfully, the company just released a new webpage/browser for their website that creates skimmable browser that is easy to read without scrolling.

The skimmer works with most browsers. You simply click as section to see some of the latest stories - not all of them, but enough to be useful. The stories pop up in little boxes on the page along with a thumbnail image.

While many of a certain age will agree that there’s something about getting the paper in the morning that can’t be beat, I’m sure my son will be reading the NYT in this format on his own iTablet come 2020 or so. And so we march into the future.

Source: CrunchGear | 14 Feb 2009 | 2:50 pm

Japanese Architecture

Danny Choo is a guestblogger on Boing Boing. Danny resides in Tokyo, and blogs about life in Japan and Japanese subculture - he also works part time for the empire.

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A nice photo collection of Japanese architecture - of both the old and new can be found at Kirainet. And if you are thinking of buying some property in Japan, you can read about the interesting regulations including having your roof sloped at a certain angle so that the neighboring house gets enough hours of sunlight per day.

Source: Boing Boing | 14 Feb 2009 | 2:06 pm

As The Economy Sours, LinkedIn’s Popularity Grows

As layoffs continued to pound the economy in January, one beneficiary was job networking site LinkedIn. According to the latest January data from comScore, the LinkedIn’s U.S. unique visitors shot up 22 percent to 7.7 million, up from 6.3 million in December. Total minutes spent on the site doubled in January to 96.8 million, from 47.6 million in December.

Part of what is driving all the activity is people looking for job, and helping friends who are out of work. Recommendations are up 65 percent since December, says spokesperson Kay Luo. LinkedIn’s improved people search, which it launched at the end of November, is also driving a lot of activity on the site. The company is seeing a 50 percent increase in activity on the new search platform.

When times are tough, networking is a survival skill.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 14 Feb 2009 | 1:20 pm

The Death Of “Web 2.0″

I’m not going to discuss the economic meltdown and its devastating effect on technology companies and internet startups in this post, but rather something that crossed my mind earlier this morning: “Web 2.0″ seems to become more and more a void (and an avoided) term. Of course, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it is definitely apparent.

So why do I say it’s fading? For one, because the number of startups that contact us and include the term Web 2.0 in the subject line or message is visibly dropping (and that’s a good thing), and I hardly ever see it mentioned anymore on other technology blogs and news sites either. That’s not really tangible, so I took a look at the number of mentions of the phrase across the web, and they seem to be decreasing significantly, reflecting my feeling on this.

Judging by Google Trends, which shows how often a particular search term is entered relative to the total search volume across various regions of the world (and in various languages), the term started being used at the end of 2004 when Tim O’Reilly organized the first edition of the Web 2.0 Conference. Search queries for the term started picking up in the middle of 2005, when TechCrunch was started - with the tagline “Tracking Web 2.0″ by the way - and the number kept increasing until the end of 2007. After that, the trend is clearly downwards, falling back to the level it reached in early 2006 today. If the trend continues, there should only be a handful of people left who scour search engines for “Web 2.0″ by 2011.

Also noteworthy: take a look at the geographic regions that have generated the highest volumes of worldwide search traffic for the term over the years - it’s Asia, with the top 5 regions being India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia (in that order). Furthermore, Google Trends pegs the number one language in which people search for stuff related to the topic of Web 2.0 to be Russian before English.

And just in case you’re curious: “Web 3.0″ doesn’t seem to picking up much.
Let’s all rejoice.

Google’s “Insights for Search”, a beta service that analyzes a portion of worldwide Google web searches from all Google domains to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you’ve entered - relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time - gives an even better overview:

I’ve never had anything against the phrase “Web 2.0″, but I wouldn’t miss it a bit if it were never used again.

How about you?

(Picture of Tim O’Reilly at Web 2.0 Expo 2007 by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid)

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

Source: TechCrunch | 14 Feb 2009 | 12:54 pm

Google: Paid Apps For Android Smartphones

Starting in the United States next week, Google Inc will allow developers to sell applications for its Android cell phone operating system.  Google hopes the move will steal part of the smartphone market away Apple Inc, who has dominated the field.The announcement signaled Google’s commitment to catch up with Apple in the lucrative smartphone arena, even as the search engine giant pulls back on other initiatives like broadcast radio.In a blog post on Friday, the company said its Android Market will begin by carrying paid applications from developers located in the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 14 Feb 2009 | 12:15 pm

Experts Foresee No Dominant Source For Biofuels

A conference on second generation biofuels organized by German commodity analysts F.O.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 14 Feb 2009 | 12:10 pm

Microsoft Plans Global Retail Chain - InformationWeek

ABC News

Microsoft Plans Global Retail Chain InformationWeek - Feb 14, 2009 The software maker will open stores worldwide, from which it will hawk Windows 7 and other products. By Paul McDougall Microsoft revealed Thursday that it plans to open a chain of company-branded retail stores in locations throughout the United States ... Microsoft’s Retail Push Set to Improve the Company’s Image – Analysts. X-bit Labs Did Microsoft Learn From Its Last Retail Experience? ChannelWeb Los Angeles Times - San Jose Mercury News - ITworld.com - CNET News all 681 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 14 Feb 2009 | 11:36 am

Google Opens the Door for ... - InternetNews.com

stv.tv

Google Opens the Door for ... InternetNews.com - Feb 14, 2009 By David Needle: More stories by this author: Google has begun accepting paid applications into its Android Market mobile app store -- a move that lays the groundwork for potentially following Apple's lead in turning smartphone applications into a ... Android Market Paid Applications Available Next Week SlashPhone Android Market to offer priced apps for G1 starting next week Computerworld CNET News - InformationWeek - ChannelWeb - PC Magazine all 156 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 14 Feb 2009 | 11:06 am