Source: Gizmodo | 25 Feb 2009 | 10:12 am

NASA satellite crashes - Los Angeles Times

Washington Post

NASA satellite crashes Los Angeles Times The rocket carrying the NASA satellite blasts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Soon after, a protective covering failed to separate from the craft, and it crashed. NASA Satellite Fails to Reach Orbit New York Times Satellite Crashes After Its Launch Washington Post InformationWeek - The Coloradoan - Reuters - The Associated Press all 1,137 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 25 Feb 2009 | 10:01 am

Superguns Helped Defeat the Spanish Armada

Hugh Pickens writes "With the discovery last year of the first wreck of an Elizabethan fighting ship off Alderney in the Channel Islands, thought to date from around 1592, marine archaeologists are revising their ideas on how the English defeated the Spanish Armada. Replicas of two cannon recovered from the Alderney wreck were recreated in a modern foundry, and tests carried out showed that the Elizabethans were throwing shot at almost the speed of sound. Elizabeth's 'supergun,' although relatively small, could hit a target a mile away. At a ship-to-ship fighting distance of about 100 yards, the ball would have sufficient punch to penetrate the oak planks of a galleon, travel across the deck, and emerge out the other side. Tests on cannon recovered from the Alderney wreck also suggest that the ship carried guns of uniform size, firing standard ammunition. 'Elizabeth's navy created the first ever set of uniform cannon, capable of firing the same size shot in a deadly barrage,' says marine archaeologist Mensun Bound from Oxford University, adding that that navy had worked out that a lot of small guns, all the same, all firing at once, were more effective than a few big guns. '[Elizabeth's] navy made a giant leap forward in the way men fought at sea, years ahead of England's enemies, and which was still being used to devastating effect by Nelson 200 years later.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Feb 2009 | 9:38 am

Critics light into DWP solar plan - Contra Costa Times

New York Times

Critics light into DWP solar plan Contra Costa Times By Rick Orlov, Staff Writer The process used to place a solar initiative on next week's ballot came under scrutiny Tuesday, with opponents arguing that Measure B needed further study before it was put to a vote. LA County seeks review of solar plant project San Jose Mercury News A Solar Controversy Heats Up in LA New York Times Los Angeles Times - La Opinión - Fast Company - Business Green all 50 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 25 Feb 2009 | 9:18 am

iPhone apps round-up: The iPhone goes supernatural (Macworld.com)

Macworld.com - The iPhone helps you manage your e-mail, listen to your music, stay connected, and—every now again—make a phone call or two. Now, with the assistance of two recent arrivals at the App Store, it can also help you master the dark arts.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Feb 2009 | 9:16 am

PopCap acquires Small Arms dev - CVG Online

Destructoid

PopCap acquires Small Arms dev CVG Online Top casual game studio PopCap has bought Gastronaut Studios, the fellow Seattle-based game maker best known for the Xbox Live Arcade game Small Arms. PopCap Games buys Gastronaut Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) Bizjournals.com PopCap Buys Small Arms Maker Shacknews Seattle Post Intelligencer - GamersDailyNews - Gamers Hell - Digitaltrends.com all 33 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 25 Feb 2009 | 8:43 am

Amazon's Kindle 2: From the Inside Out (PC World)

PC World - Call them crazy, but let nobody doubt iFixit's devotion to their disassembling. The online, well, fix-it store has gotten its hands on one of Amazon's Kindle 2 devices, much like all the other enthusiasts and reviewers as of late. Only, here's the difference -- instead of using their Kindle 2 to catch up on their Twilight reading, they've decided to rip it apart to show you all the electronic glitz and glamour of this popular e-book reader.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Feb 2009 | 8:36 am

Bank of Hawaii Enhances Trade Finance Service to its Customers With Misys Trade Portal

LONDON, February 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- - E-Business System Gives Bank of Hawaii's Customers Optimal Front-End Support Misys, a global leader in banking application software and services, today announces that Bank of Hawaii has gone live with Misys' front-end corporate initiation solution for trade finance, Misys Trade Portal. This means that it is now using the complete front-to-back trade finance solution, Misys Trade Portal and Trade Innovation.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Feb 2009 | 8:28 am

Google App Engine Offers Pricing Plan Beyond Quotas; Grab A Free I/O Ticket To Celebrate

Google has released a new upgrade for its popular App Engine service that allows developers to pay to extend their application’s resource quotas beyond those that have historically been offered by the free service. According to Google this has been the platform’s most oft-requested feature, as developers with rapidly growing applications have been unable to expand beyond the set thresholds to meet demand. Developers will be able to set aside a specified amount of money each day, which will be distributed across fees related to CPU usage, bandwidth, storage space, and email (you keep any money that isn’t spent that day). For more details, check out the company’s blog post here.

To coincide with today’s announcement, we’re giving away three more tickets to Google’s upcoming I/O event this May. If you’d like one, leave a comment below telling us how you’re going to use Google’s new premium quota extensions, and we’ll pick out the best ones. Be sure to use your real Email address so we can contact you directly.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Feb 2009 | 8:11 am

Recipe for Disaster: The Formula That Killed Wall Street [Voices]

A year ago, it was hardly unthinkable that a math wizard like David X. Li might someday earn a Nobel Prize. After all, financial economists—even Wall Street quants—have received the Nobel in economics before, and Li’s work on measuring risk has had more impact, more quickly, than previous Nobel Prize-winning contributions to the field. Today, though, as dazed bankers, politicians, regulators, and investors survey the wreckage of the biggest financial meltdown since the Great Depression, Li is probably thankful he still has a job in finance at all. Not that his achievement should be dismissed. He took a notoriously tough nut—determining correlation, or how seemingly disparate events are related—and cracked it wide open with a simple and elegant mathematical formula, one that would become ubiquitous in finance worldwide.

For five years, Li’s formula, known as a Gaussian copula function, looked like an unambiguously positive breakthrough, a piece of financial technology that allowed hugely complex risks to be modeled with more ease and accuracy than ever before. With his brilliant spark of mathematical legerdemain, Li made it possible for traders to sell vast quantities of new securities, expanding financial markets to unimaginable levels.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 25 Feb 2009 | 8:05 am

It’s Not Newspapers in Peril; It’s Their Owners [Voices]

For all the apocalyptic news about newspapers, there’s a distinction worth making: Newspaper owners are far more endangered than the medium itself.

Even as they take blow after blow from recession and digital media, newspapers themselves still earn decent profits. They do even better outside big cities, which tend to get all the attention.

“Not a lot of papers are operating at a loss,” said John Morton, the veteran industry analyst. “There are roughly 1,400 daily newspapers. We only hear about the top markets. That leaves at least 1,300 papers out there.”

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 25 Feb 2009 | 8:04 am

iPhone App Prices Tanking [Voices]

Apple (AAPL) is famous for keeping its gadget pricing steady. But the iPhone app store is a much different market: App developers have cut prices significantly in the last few months. And the market for $10 premium apps seems to have evaporated.

The top 100 paid apps in the iPhone app store have dropped 19% in average price over the last two months, according to AppShopper sales charts we analyzed. Today, the average top-100 app sells for $2.55. A month ago, it was $2.78. Two months ago, it was $3.15. (The 50 most popular apps have dropped in price even faster: The average top-50 app now sells for $2.39, down 34% from $3.63 two months ago.)

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 25 Feb 2009 | 8:03 am

Microsoft’s Ballmer Outlines His Seven Big Bets for 2009 [Voices]

For the past few Februaries, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer makes the trek to Wall Street to provide analysts with an annual “Strategic Update” overview, in which he covers the areas where Microsoft plans to invest and why.

This year, during his February 24 update, Ballmer was more about circling the wagons than staking out new, far-flung territories Microsoft planned to conquer in the next 10 years.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 25 Feb 2009 | 8:02 am

How Cable & Satellite Can Save the Newspaper Business [Voices]

Here is a hard cold fact of the internet age. Any content creator whose sole business is selling their content a la carte will have a hard time surviving. In a world of unlimited digital choice, the cost of creating and marketing content that generates a profit is expensive and difficult. Which is exactly why the successful sites have been aggregators.

It’s also exactly why newspapers are having a hard time making it. They sell papers one at a time. They sell home subscriptions one at a time. When they charge for monthly subscriptions online, they sell them one at a time. That’s a tough business.

It’s not that the newspaper content is not worth it. The problem is that it requires prospective buyers to first value the content, then decide whether they want to go through the hassle of going to a newsstand, calling the home delivery department of the paper, or putting in their credit card information to buy online. This may be beyond a solvable problem when much of the same content is available online for free.

So what to do?

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 25 Feb 2009 | 8:01 am

Daily Crunch: Gift Box Edition

Exclusive: CrunchGear’s Kindle 2 unboxing
We are proud to report our readers won flashlights
A micro microSD card reader
iPhone app review: Fieldrunners
Safari 4: Finally a reason to come back

Source: CrunchGear | 25 Feb 2009 | 8:00 am

Appreciate and Acknowledge Women Who Inspired You This International Women's Day With Free Ecards

Choose from over 100 free International Women's Day ecards at 123Greetings and savor your bond with the special women in your life. NEW YORK, Feb.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Feb 2009 | 7:44 am

People are buying up mobile apps

Section: Apple, Communications, Mobile

Mobile applications are now proving to be a big moneymaker with reports showing that the 17 percent of mobile users spend approximately $100 a year each on downloads.  ABI Research surveyed 235 Smartphone users and 16.5 percent responded that they spend between $100 and $499 last year on mobile apps.

This number is particularly significant since many mobile applications cost as little as $1 and usually no more than $25.  This means that a substantial amount of applications needed to be downloaded in order to reach this figure.  Apple still brings in the most downloaded mobile applications due to its low pricing model.  Apple’s App Store offers a huge range of mobile applications, including games, navigational tools, dictionaries and much more.  The store even offers a selection of free applications for their iPhone and iPod Touch users.

This year, several other mobile phone manufacturers will release new storefronts in order to retail more mobile applications.  Look for offerings from Samsung, Palm and Nokia in the coming months.

Site: [SmartBrief]

Source: Gizmodo | 25 Feb 2009 | 7:30 am

EMC Has Highest Percentage of Networked Storage in Virtual Server Environments, According to New Survey From Leading Independent Analyst Firm

EMC Networked Storage Platforms Used in 48% of Virtual Server Environments in 2008 HOPKINTON, Mass., Feb.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Feb 2009 | 7:30 am

New Social Product Networking Site Transforms E-Commerce to We-Commerce Allowing Shoppers to Earn Cash by Recommending Top Products

Tibesti Unveils Unique Business Model Which Allows Users to Earn 50 Percent of the Proceeds from their Favorite Products and Enjoy Unbiased, Third-Party Expert Reviews LOS ANGELES, Feb.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Feb 2009 | 7:01 am

Alpha Networks Introduces One-Stop Shop for Digital Home and Broadband Products at 2009 CeBIT

HANNOVER, Germany, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- Alpha Networks Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Feb 2009 | 7:00 am

EMC Provides Operational Efficiencies With Expanded Portfolio of VMware Solutions

Infrastructure and Backup Solutions Enable Customers to Effectively Leverage the Value of EMC and VMware to Lower Costs

Source: Gizmodo | 25 Feb 2009 | 6:50 am

Appletell reviews the Western Flyer laptop bag from Tom Bihn

FROM APPLETELL - The Western Flyer is a very sharp looking, very sturdy laptop bag—available in black, crimson and steel—that’s built to be upgraded. This is both good and bad… MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Feb 2009 | 6:40 am

Whither the 19th IOCCC?

dazedNconfuzed writes "Whatever happened to the 19th IOCCC? The opening thereof was announced over two years ago and the winners' names were posted, but the source code was never released — leaving the results of the 2006 contest unknown as we get well into 2009. Emails to questions@ioccc.org just bounce. Surely the quiet absence of a high point of geekdom becomes news at some point!"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Feb 2009 | 6:15 am

Amazon Kindle 2 now shipping, also remains in stock

Section: Gadgets / Other, Miscellaneous

As of yesterday, the Kindle 2 began shipping out, which should come as good news to those customers who pre-ordered the device.  But what seems a little more interesting is the fact that Amazon is still listing the Kindle 2 as being in stock.  If you remember back, the original Kindle quickly sold out and was back-ordered for quite some time.  It is nice to see that Amazon was able to handle all of the pre-orders and still manage to keep them available for new customers. 

Of course, the fact that the Kindle 2 is still available could simply mean that nobody is buying it.  Personally, I am sticking with the original as it seems to be just fine for my needs.  Not to mention, the Kindle 2, which is the same price, is lacking some of the original accessories, such as the leather case.  Kindle 2 customers will have to shell out an additional $29.99 for the case.  Anyway, if you are interested (as of this posting), the Kindle 2 is available and retailing for $359. 

Product [Amazon]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Feb 2009 | 6:01 am

Endace and Correlix Deliver First Integrated Network Monitoring Solution for Latency Intelligence

Solution provides complete monitoring of complex multi-vendor trading infrastructures

Source: Gizmodo | 25 Feb 2009 | 5:00 am

Toyota Wants to Build Car From Seaweed

As Toyota looks towards a greener future, it is exploring ways of using plastic derived from plants such as seaweed. They think it's only a matter of time before automakers use bioplastics to build ultralight cars that take less petroleum to make, and less petroleum to drive.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Feb 2009 | 5:00 am

Build Your Own Kindle-Killer for $3K

Hobbyists and engineers are using a $3000 prototype kit from E Ink to create their own versions of e-readers that come loaded with a full fledged browser, maps and other applications.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Feb 2009 | 5:00 am

Artifacts From the Future: Truck Stops

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A typical truck stop in 2021.

We'll continue to create a new Artifacts From the Future in each upcoming issue of Wired magazine, but we'd like to see your prognostications, too. What do you think our world will look like in 10, 20, or 100 years? Each month, we'll propose a scenario and ask for your help. Sketch out your vision, then return here to upload your ideas, see other submissions, and vote for your favorites. Check out this month's challenge.

The concept for this Found came from creative director Scott Dadich. Contributing Wired magazine designer Walter Baumann, contributor Steven Leckart, deputy photo editor Anna Goldman Alexander, senior editor Chris Baker, and production director Jeff Lysgaard helped create the image. Kudos go to readers evestecks222, ryanp, and Seppo, who contributed to this Found Photoshop contest.

Photo: Daniel Salo

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The year is 2021, and Joe's Travel Plaza offers such a wide array of fuel options that it promises a free ultrasonic car wash if it can't top off your tank. If that's not enticement enough, Joe’s also stocks prescription-strength Red Bull.

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The truck stop of the future still offers unleaded and diesel. (Prices might be a bit higher, though.)

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Willie Nelson is devoted to, um, many types of green technology. This truck stop sells biodiesel from his personal stash.

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As battery technology improves, we should see better hybrids and more vehicles powered by electricity alone.

:

As reader ryanp points out, e. coli bacteria could become a viable fuel source.

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Cellulosic and corn-based ethanol are promising fuels. In this fanciful Found, we predict that the makers of the infamous grain alcohol Everclear will want in on this business.

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One downside of hydrogen fuel cells is the risk of explosion. Joe’s Travel Plaza offers a free inspection with a top-up.

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Livestock methane could be an alternate source of revenue for Oscar Mayer.

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Want some scrapple and hash browns with your venti double mochaccino? Mosey on over to Starbucks Diner and chow down.

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The onerous regulations imposed by the Western Hemisphere Free Trade Agreement strike fear in the hearts of future truckers.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Feb 2009 | 5:00 am

TicketMaster, Live Nation Face the Music in Congress

Music industry giants TicketMaster and Live Nation tried to convince key lawmakers Tuesday that their merger would lower ticket prices and "convenience fees." But their CEOs' performance won no encores from powerful senators.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Feb 2009 | 5:00 am

Feb. 25, 1919: Oregon Taxes Gas by the Gallon

1919: Oregon passes the nation's first per-gallon tax on gasoline. It's only a penny, and it's only one state, but you know where things go from here.

New York City started collecting registration fees on those new-fangled motor vehicles in 1901, and the state of Missouri took that road two years later. By 1914, every state collected registration fees (.pdf), and approximately 90 percent of the dough was going to road construction and maintenance.

Still, horseless carriages had a greater need for pavement than horses hauling carriages, and the long-distance capabilities of automobiles and trucks suggested a network of well-built intercity highways to rival the railroads. In Oregon, the state highway commission (created in 1913) started a "Get Oregon Out of the Mud" campaign for better roads in 1917.

Republican state legislator Loyal Graham (.pdf) sponsored the measure that made Oregon the first state in the nation to make road users pay at the pump to build and maintain those roads. Early projects included the Pacific Highway from the Washington state line to California and the Columbia River Highway along that mighty river.

The first gasoline tax was one cent a gallon (12 cents in today's money). Gasoline in those days sold for about 25 cents a gallon, which would be a bit more than $3 these days.

Colorado and New Mexico followed Oregon within six weeks to initiate per-gallon taxes. North Dakota followed later in the year. When New York finally joined the procession 10 years later, all 48 states had imposed taxes of 1, 2 or 3 cents per gallon. The federal government levied its first gasoline tax in 1932: a penny a gallon (15 cents today).

Ninety years after its inception, the Oregon gasoline tax is 25 cents imposed by the state, with up to 8 cents more in city and county taxes, and 18.4 cents for the feds. That could add up to 51.4 cents, depending on where you buy. The U.S. average is 45 cents a gallon, including the federal levy.

Oregon is still a leader in new ways to tax vehicle use. It ran a 300-car pilot program from 2006 to 2007 to test the idea of equipping all new vehicles with GPS and then taxing them by miles driven. The idea also been bandied about in Washington state, Idaho, Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and — until President Obama nixed it last Friday — the federal government.

The future will undoubtedly be interesting.

Source: Various

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Feb 2009 | 5:00 am

Alt Text Video 21 -- Accept the Truth: Everyone Else Is an Idiot

Have you ever suspected you're the only intelligent person on the planet? If only there were some way of proving it so that you can get the adulation and free beers you deserve.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Feb 2009 | 5:00 am

Found Photoshop Contest: The Future of Chewing Gum

For six years, Wired magazine's Found page has shown our best guess at what lies over the horizon, from touchscreen windshields to organ farming. Now, we're inviting readers to help create Found pages: What do you think our world will look like in 10, 20 or 100 years?

Each month, we'll propose a scenario, and present some initial ideas and concepts. Then it's up you: Sketch out your vision, and upload your ideas (below). We'll use the best suggestions as inspiration for a future Found page, giving kudos to contributors. We'll add our favorite submission to this story.

This week's assignment: Imagine the future of chewing gum. Incredibly sour gums are all the rage today. What sort of exotic lab-grown flavor sensations will our descendants sink their teeth into?

You can write your ideas, but we're keen on getting visual entries. Some CC-licensed photos of chewing gum on Flickr may fire your imagination, and give you some fodder for remixing your own chewing gum predictions:

Sour apple
Rocketeer's favorite
Big red
Mmmmm Mentos
Pomegranate
Ultimate bubble
Hubba bubba
Big red stack
Free your teeth

Use the Reddit widget below to submit your best idea on the future of chewing gum, and vote for your favorite. The image must be your own — submitting it gives us permission to use it on Wired.com and in Wired magazine. Please submit relatively large images (ideal size is 800 to 1,200 pixels, or larger on the longest side). Include a description of your idea and how you made it. Name that chewing gum!

We don't host the images, so upload it somewhere else and submit a link to it. If you're using Flickr, Picasa or another photo-sharing site to host your image, provide a link to the image, not to the photo page where it's displayed. If your photo doesn't show up, it's because the URL you have entered is incorrect. Make sure it ends with the image file name (xxxxxxx.jpg).

Check this page over the next few weeks to vote on new submissions, and look for an update announcing our favorite.

Vote on Found ideas submitted by other readers.

Show entries that are: hot | new | top-rated. Submit your found idea.

Submit your Found image.

(No more than one every 30 minutes. No HTML allowed.)

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Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Feb 2009 | 5:00 am

Build Your Own Kindle-Killer for $3K

Hobbyists and engineers are using a $3000 prototype kit from E Ink to create their own versions of e-readers that come loaded with a full fledged browser, maps and other applications.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 25 Feb 2009 | 5:00 am

1,000 fewer jobs at Nokia

Section: Business News, Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers

A common trend within the past year is the laying off of employees.  Even though many companies are trying to cut costs by being more efficient, some still have to resort to lay offs.  Today, Nokia announced that they are planning to cut 1,000 jobs globally as a means to save some money. 

Nokia has undergone a new restructuring process, which requires 1,000 job cuts in order to make their plan effective.  Nokia is trying to be as fair as possible with this by letting their employees volunteer to quit.  Hopefully, people who don’t need a job at Nokia take the time to quit, while those who really need their Nokia job to provide for their family doesn’t lose their job.  Starting March 1, the applications for the Voluntary Resignation Package will be available, and will run until 1,000 employees have submitted an application.  The deadline is May 31, 2009. 

I imagine that if Nokia does not receive 1,000 applications by May 31, they will start laying off workers, although they did not say what happens then.  A month ago, Nokia announced that profits were down 69% due to failing handsets.  With their new restructuring plan, they hope to gain profits and provide some financial stability.  Yearly, they hope to save around $890 million.

Read [IndustryWeek]

Source: Gizmodo | 25 Feb 2009 | 4:40 am

MySpace Inches Closer To Offering Full-Fledged Webmail Service

Last month we reported that MySpace was planning to launch a webmail service - a move that could instantly make it one of the web’s largest Email providers (provided a substantial portion of its users took advantage of the feature). Today we’ve received a number of tips that MySpace has introduced some new messaging features that indicate that the transition is well underway. Most notably, the site now allows users to send a message to multiple friends at once, as seen in the shot below.

The feature works as advertised: as users begin typing their friends’ names, an autocomplete window opens with a list of matches. Each picture in the ‘To’ line is a link to that user’s MySpace profile, which makes it easier to confirm that you’re messaging the right friend.

While the company wouldn’t comment on its webmail plans, MySpace has confirmed that the new feature launched today, and also detailed some of the other upgrades to the site’s messaging functionality. The site now offers an at-a-glance view of your sent messages so you can see if your friends have read them (frankly I find this feature to be a little creepy, but it’s not uncommon in standard Email clients). Users will also be able to attach video files to their outgoing messages.

Of course, while the site’s interface may be gradually moving towards that of most webmail clients, it is still missing one key feature: users don’t have a dedicated name@myspace.com Email address yet, so they can’t receive incoming mail. But as we noted last month, the company has started moving its corporate Email addresses from name@MySpace.com to the domain MySpace-inc.com, paving the way for users to occupy the name@MySpace.com addresses.

We should note that Facebook has also been slowly adding features to its messaging platform. While we haven’t heard anything directly related to a Facebook webmail application, the site clearly strives to be a central hub for social communication on the web, so it wouldn’t be surprising if it has similar aspirations (especially if MySpace’s experiment goes well).

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

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Feb 2009 | 4:24 am

Lost Cellphone? Your Carrier Has Your Backup [The Mossberg Solution]

By the time you’ve left your cellphone in a taxi or dropped it into a pot of soup, it’s too late. All those phone numbers you had at your finger tips — your best friend, your boss, your mom — are gone. (Well, maybe you’ll remember Mom’s.)

Some companies have tried to soothe backup concerns with gadgets like the $50 Backup-Pal from Advanced Wireless Solutions LLC, or wireless services like Skydeck. But for many for people, it’s just as easy to ignore the risk.

Cellphone carriers caught on to this problem, and all of them now offer solutions that make it a cinch for you to automatically back up your cellphone contacts. It doesn’t hurt these companies to know that if your contacts are saved with one of them, you might be deterred from switching to another. Indeed, whenever a customer replaces his or her cellphone with one from the same carrier, a backed-up address book can be wirelessly loaded onto it in minutes.

But the details on how each carrier handles or transfers contacts can be a little dicey. This week I spoke to Verizon Wireless (VZ), T-Mobile, AT&T (T) and Sprint (S) to get the lowdown on how these cellphone backup services work. Is a phone’s address book backed up free of charge, or do users pay a monthly fee? Can people access and edit their stored contacts, and can they transfer these contacts to new cellphones or different carriers, entirely? Will carriers charge users to move contacts to a new phone? How often is the cellphone’s address book synchronized, and can someone specifically set what time this occurs? The responses yielded some interesting information that customers may not know.

Each carrier has a different name for its service, though they all do roughly the same thing: wirelessly tap into the phone’s address book on a regularly set schedule to back up its contents. This backed-up data can be accessed online via each carrier’s Web site, and there, content can be typed in at a PC and pushed to the phone, a much easier option than using numeric keypads to enter names.

Verizon uses Backup Assistant, a free service as long as users are registered online at My Verizon (MyVerizon.com); otherwise it costs $1.99 a month. T-Mobile’s service (my.t-mobile.com) is also free, and works on the majority of phones currently sold by the company, but not all older models. Its service was originally called T-Mobile Address Book, but is now called Mobile Backup, the same name used by AT&T for its service (mobilebackup.att.com).

AT&T charges customers $2 a month for backup. Sprint’s backup offering (sprint.com/services) is a bit more confusing in that it has three types of service depending on your phone type: Wireless Backup is the name of its $2 monthly service that applies to a majority of the carrier’s phones; for six of its newest phones, Sprint Mobile Sync, a free service, will work; for Nextel phones, MyNextel Address Book is available, and it costs $5 a month.

Wireless synchronization occurs according to a set schedule that users can determine. Verizon backs up data daily and lets people choose between the morning, afternoon, evening or late night. AT&T lets its customers set Mobile Backup to work daily or once a week, and they can set the specific syncing time down to the minute. T-Mobile’s Mobile Backup and Sprint’s three backup services work automatically: Every time a phone’s address book changes, a sync is initiated.

These syncs occur unobtrusively, and don’t require any action on the part of the user after the initial setup, nor do syncs incur any extra fees like text-messaging charges.

However, if you’re planning to switch from one carrier to another and you’d like to take your contacts with you, these carriers — unsurprisingly — don’t make it easy. Verizon suggests printing out contacts prior to disconnecting your line with them. T-Mobile says its service is exclusive to its users and doesn’t give people a way to export their data. Sprint allows users of Sprint Mobile Sync and MyNextel Address Book to export their contacts into a common type of format called a .CSV data file, which allows the data to be imported into an application like Microsoft Outlook. AT&T doesn’t currently allow exporting of contacts, but says it will enable exports to .CSV sometime this summer.

All carriers will help you synchronize your old phone’s saved address book onto a new phone — as long as you’re buying the new phone from them and your old phone was from the same carrier. Verizon will help you with this free if you use Backup Assistant; if not, they’ll charge $10 to move your contacts over from an old phone. T-Mobile and AT&T say they will move a customer’s contacts from one phone to another for free, even using older phones that weren’t originally synced to Mobile Backup. Sprint says it supports migration between phones using Wireless Backup and Sprint Mobile Sync at no additional cost.

So instead of keeping your fingers crossed that you never lose your cellphone and all the numbers stored on it, talk to your carrier about what it offers in the way of backup services. You might be pleasantly surprised to learn about a free or low-cost service that works automatically and will pay you back in spades should you need to replace your cellphone. But, if you want to make your data portable across carriers, you may be out of luck.

Edited By Walter S. Mossberg

• Email us at mossbergsolution@wsj.com. Find this and other columns and videos online free at the All Things Digital Web site: http://walt.allthingsd.com

Source: All Things Digital | 25 Feb 2009 | 4:22 am

Canada targets heart disease risk

Canadian officials say a government plan aimed at preventing heart disease and strokes could cost $700 million to implement over seven years. Medical experts, however, said it could result in billions of dollars in savings for the country's healthcare system, Canwest News Service reported
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Feb 2009 | 4:21 am

Attackers Infect Ads With Old Adobe Vulnerability

thethibs writes "eWeek is reporting that just as everyone is buzzing about the latest Adobe vulnerability, someone poisoned ads hosted by Ziff-Davis with an older Adobe exploit (affecting versions 8.12 and earlier, and long since patched). Z-D fixed the problem less than 24 hours after its first appearance. The interesting bit of this is that a bunch of people probably got hit with the old Trojan when they browsed to a story about the new one."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Gizmodo | 25 Feb 2009 | 4:00 am

Inmates testing ways to stop MRSA

Dallas County Jail inmates are using medicated washcloths in an attempt to stop the spread of drug-resistant staph infections, officials said.

Source: Gizmodo | 25 Feb 2009 | 3:40 am

Coming Attractions: Mini Projector Could Be a One-Eyed Monster

Mini projectors are growing so much in popularity that even a manufacturer best known for making niche toys is getting into the act.

Earlier today, Jakks Pacific announced its first mini projector, the EyeClops, following a year when it released the EyeClops Infrared Stealth goggles for night vision. The LED projector will come with built-in speakers and the company is promising up to ten hours of operation on an undetermined number of D batteries.

The black design definitely seems to follow the EyeClops aesthetic -- make it durable, fun to look at, and easy to play with. Just like the LG mini projector that was released late last month, the EyeClops is palm-sized but looks thick and unpocketable.

No technical details were released but if it comes anywhere near the specs from the LG HS102 (800 x 600 resolution, 160 ANSI lumen-brightness, and a 2,000:1 contrast ratio) for the expected price ($100), I'll be lining up to get one for my little cousins. For the money, that's quite unlikely, so I'll lower my expectations to 10-80 lumens, and an 800:1 ratio.

And that means I won't be buying anyone anything, so stop begging, you crazy kids.

Like we noted previously, players at this size are allowing companies to increase their image quality to such an extent that they're pushing out the need for regular projectors and might even squeeze out the burgeoning Pico projector market. I think most people would trade off a bit on size if they could get a projector with better picture quality.

We'll see if this projector is one of them. The EyeClops will be available in the Fall.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Feb 2009 | 3:38 am

Gmail broke down today, did you notice?

Section: Communications, Email / IM

Gmail service crashed today, causing outages across the globe, including users in the United Kingdom, Australia, India and other parts of Europe.  Web based Gmail was affected and users still had access to their email server through mobile applications.  Gmail went offline at approximately 10:30 GMT this morning.  Gmail is usually problem free, so bloggers were quick to note that the service was unavailable.  Also, most users in the United States did not suffer the same outages as those experienced in other parts of the world. 

Google posted on their Gmail blog that they have resolved the problem but did not mention what exactly happened.  They also said if you were affected you may have to fill out a CAPTCHA form to access your Gmail since you probably repeatedly tried to access your account. 

Read: [Telegraph]
Read: [Official Gmail Blog]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Feb 2009 | 3:17 am

Vietnam battling hoof-and-mouth outbreak

Vietnamese agriculture officials say hoof-and-mouth disease has been detected in nine provinces during the past three weeks The latest outbreak was reported in central Quang Ngai province, where 19 cows were found to be infected, the Voice of Vietnam radio reported Tuesday.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Feb 2009 | 3:06 am

Microsoft TechFest: ‘Surface’ Upgrade Projects Images Beyond The Screen

We're big fans of of Microsoft Surface, the interactive multitouch tabletop that acts a bit like an iPhone on a much larger scale (though the technology used is completely different). In fact, we like the Surface so much that we're one of the few private organizations to actually have one. So today when I saw some new technology may well work itself into a future version of the innovative product, I was more than a little enthused. The new technology showcased today allows Surface-like devices to effectively project two different images in the same space. One of these projections is shown on the display as it normally would be, while the other is projected through it, so that it appears on anything that is held above the Surface (watch the video if this doesn't make sense - it's very cool). The technology works by rapidly alternating which of the images are projected at a speed that makes the transition undetectable to the human eye. The technology can also be applied to a basic hand held electronic viewfinder that can shift the user's perspective of the Surface image in real-time (again, see the video).

Source: CrunchGear | 25 Feb 2009 | 2:55 am

Microsoft TechFest: Qik Meets Photosynth With Impressive Panoramic Mobile Movies

I'm here in Redmond, Washington at Microsoft TechFest 2009, where Microsoft is showcasing many of the projects its researchers around the world. The event is filled with impressive demos covering diverse topics ranging from advanced user interfaces to improving computer-based learning in developing countries. We'll be posting videos throughout the day, the first of which is a demonstration that essentially combines the mobile video broadcasting of services like Qik with Microsoft's image and video stitching technology that can be seen in its impressive Photosynth product. The technology can take multiple live video streams focusing on the same subject (as you might find at a concert), and stitches them together to create one large panoramic video. For a full demo, see the video below.

Source: CrunchGear | 25 Feb 2009 | 2:36 am

Hearst Threatens to Close the San Francisco Chronicle [Voices]

Hearst Corp. this afternoon said it may sell or close the San Francisco Chronicle if a new round of cost-saving measures cannot be accomplished in the coming weeks. Hearst said it will undertake “critical cost-saving measures including a significant reduction in the number of its unionized and non-union employees.”

Hearst said the Chron lost more than $50 million last year and that “this year’s losses to date are worse.” The company said the paper has had “major losses” each year since 2001.

The statement is basically a warning to the Chronicle’s unions that they can either play ball or watch the paper go up in flames.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 25 Feb 2009 | 2:33 am

Microsoft TechFest: ‘Surface’ Upgrade Projects Images Beyond The Screen

We’re big fans of of Microsoft Surface, the interactive multitouch tabletop that acts a bit like an iPhone on a much larger scale (though the technology used is completely different). In fact, we like the Surface so much that we’re one of the few private organizations to actually have one. So today when I saw some new technology may well work itself into a future version of the innovative product, I was more than a little enthused.

The new technology showcased today allows Surface-like devices to effectively project two different images in the same space. One of these projections is shown on the display as it normally would be, while the other is projected through it, so that it appears on anything that is held above the Surface (watch the video if this doesn’t make sense - it’s very cool). The technology works by rapidly alternating which of the images are projected at a speed that makes the transition undetectable to the human eye. The technology can also be applied to a basic hand held electronic viewfinder that can shift the user’s perspective of the Surface image in real-time (again, see the video).

Note: It is tough to see the projected images in the standard-def YouTube video, so make sure to click on the ‘HD’ button to watch the high definition version.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Feb 2009 | 2:14 am

Red Xbox 360 bundle a reality

FROM GAMERTELL - The red Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 Elite bundle has been confirmed by Microsoft. It will be out on March 13, 2009, cost $399.99 and come with both Resident Evil 5 and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Feb 2009 | 2:04 am

Terry Childs Case Puts All Admins In Danger

snydeq writes "Paul Venezia analyzes the four counts San Francisco has levied against Terry Childs, a case that curiously omits the charge of computer tampering, the very allegation that has kept Childs in jail for seven months and now appears too weak to present in court. Count 1 — 'disrupting or denying computer services' — is moot, according to Venezia, as the city's FiberWAN did not go down due to Childs' actions. Venezia writes, 'Childs' refusal to give up the passwords for several days in no way caused a disruption of the normal operation of the FiberWAN. In fact, it could be argued that his refusal actually prevented the disruption of normal network operation.' Counts 2 through 4 pertain to modems Childs had under his control, 'providing a means of accessing a computer, computer system, or computer network in violation of section 502,' according to case documents. As Venezia sees it, these counts too are spurious, as such devices are essential to the fulfillment of admin job requirements. 'If Childs is convicted on the modem charges, then just about every network administrator in the world could be charged with the same "crime,"' Venezia writes. All the authorities would have to do is 'point out that you have a modem or two, and suddenly you're wearing pinstripes of the jailhouse variety.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Feb 2009 | 2:02 am

MacBook Pro Sales Spike Suggests Slow February for Apple

As the economy continues to spiral downward, Apple customers are proving to be as unpredictable as Apple: The MacBook Pro has been the top-selling Mac at several Apple stores in the past week.

Ten out of 15 surveyed Apple retail stores reported the MacBook Pro as its top seller, according to The Channel Checkers. That's surprising, because MacBook Pros range from $2,000 to $2,800.

What gives? My guess is that there was a sales spike because the 17-inch MacBook Pro just started shipping last week; I'd imagine many were eagerly awaiting that particular model.

Here's what I find more interesting: The MacBook is typically Apple's biggest seller. If the MacBook Pro was able to surpass the MacBook in sales, it suggests February is shaping up to be another slow month for Mac sales overall. In January, Mac sales were off 6 percent compared to a year ago.

Apple Computer Sales Slowing, No Discounting on Mac Books, Yet [ChannelCheckers via AppleInsider]

Photo: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Feb 2009 | 1:18 am

Dell Mini 10 netbook limited to 1GB of RAM, no upgrading possible

Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Laptops, Netbooks

According to the Direct2Dell blog, the Dell Mini 10 “packs a punch” but that is not going to be in terms of maximum allowed RAM.  It turns out that the Mini 10 will ship with “1GB fixed RAM” which means that you cannot decide to upgrade it at a later time.  The reason behind the 1GB upon shipping is due to the netbook licensing requirements that they have with Microsoft.  That part is understood, however they are not required to have the RAM fixed.

Granted, Windows XP, or Ubuntu for that matter will run (in most cases) just fine with 1GB of RAM, but why limit yourself when you don’t have to, especially when a RAM upgrade is so inexpensive nowadays.  I upgraded my Eee PC 1000H to 2GB of RAM for under $30.  Personally, if you are considering a 10-inch netbook purchase, this is great reason to avoid the Mini 10 and look towards another manufacturer such as Asus or Acer.

Read [Direct2Dell]  Via [Boing Boing]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Feb 2009 | 1:18 am

Google: Pig Pile on Microsoft! [Digital Daily]

Oh, they’re all piling on now.

Google (GOOG) has thrown its backing behind European antitrust regulators’ latest complaint against Microsoft (MSFT), which accuses the software behemoth of illegally bundling its Internet Explorer Web browser and Windows operating system. Like Mozilla before it, the company is applying to become a “third party” in the European proceeding.

“Google believes that the browser market is still largely uncompetitive, which holds back innovation for users,” Sundar Pichai, a vice president for product management, wrote in a post to the Google Public Policy Blog. “This is because Internet Explorer is tied to Microsoft’s dominant computer operating system, giving it an unfair advantage over other browsers.”

Really? Then how does one explain the 20 percent share of the the world-wide browser market and 31 percent of its European segment that Mozilla’s Firefox browser holds today? Or the fact that Google’s own Chrome browser has exceeded Opera in market share less than a year after its debut? Clearly, IE is not immune to free-market competition. So why bother getting involved at all? Perhaps to ensure that if the EU does force Microsoft to bundle alternative browsers with Windows, Chrome is among those chosen for inclusion.

Source: All Things Digital | 25 Feb 2009 | 12:42 am

Browser-based ‘Quake Live’ public beta today [UPDATE]

Previously invite-only, the public beta of Quake Live – Quake III in your browser! – will open today. A countdown timer on the website indicates that we’ll all be able to “frag” each other, as you kids say, at around 11:00 PM Eastern tonight. Let’s all go fragging together, shall we? 

UPDATE: The countdown clock seems to be ticking down faster than normal. I initially had it pegged at 11:00 but now (at 3:30 Eastern) it appears to be closer to 9:00 and I’d expect that the actual time will keep getting earlier and earlier. Either that or I’m trapped in a wormhole. Whatever the case it looks like we can play sooner rather than later, so that’s good.

UPDATE 2: Quake Live is up! Also, we got the following info from reader Steve Jabs…

Hey guys… Im in line waiting on their queue to download Quake Live.

Yes, you do have to download it. And no… It does not work on a Mac.

It is live though and I would suggest people get in line soon so they aren’t behind about a million and a half people.

So there you have it. You DO have to download it and it doesn’t work on Macs. And now to get in line — ooh, only 9400 people ahead of me. Thanks for sending this in, Steve.

Quake Live [QuakeLive.com]

Source: CrunchGear | 25 Feb 2009 | 12:36 am

For $3K, You Can Build Your Own Kindle Killer

Like many people, Jaya Kumar wanted an e-book reader that was a little more capable than Amazon.com's Kindle. So he built one.

Kumar's custom-built e-book reader has a fully capable web browser — it can even handle Google Maps — and the same "electronic ink" display used by the Kindle and the Sony Reader.

"It offers an opportunity to get involved with a disruptive technology that is at the tipping point of having a huge impact in the real world," says Kumar, an embedded Linux developer who lives in Malaysia. "It is also exciting to be using something that's cutting-edge but accessible in an open way so that a hobbyist can take the kit and manipulate it."

Kumar is one of a community of developers building e-book readers using prototype kits from E Ink, whose paperlike displays power both Amazon's and Sony's e-book readers. E Ink's kits allow do-it-yourself hackers and engineers to create their own applications and products.

It may not be as pretty as the neatly packaged Amazon Kindle or the Sony Reader. And at a whopping $3,000, the E Ink kit isn't going to threaten Amazon's market share (the Kindle 2 costs $350). But for the Lego-minded, the kits can offer an experience that pre-packaged e-readers will find difficult to beat.

E Ink launched the prototype kits about eight months ago targeted at product designers and hobbyists who want hands-on access to its display technology. The company's lower power, sunlight-readable, thin displays already power the Kindle and Sony Reader.

The prototype kit offers buyers a production sample of a glass-based display, a display controller and all the hardware and software necessary to produce a fully functional e-reader. The kit supports 5", 6", 8" and 9.7" displays.

"The primary advantage is you can take it apart and look at each individual piece, like a block diagram," says Sri Peruvemba, vice president of marketing for E Ink. "You can do your own design and put together your own device or applications based on our technology."

For e-book enthusiasts, it offers what a Kindle or a Sony Reader can't. "If you buy one of those units you won't be won’t be able to reprogram it to your satisfaction," he says. "You can't copy the electronics or change the chipset or use a different software."

The kit is based around the open source Gumstix single-board computer, which combines a 400-MHz Marvell processor with a Bluetooth transceiver, USB, a serial port and a card reader. (In contrast, the Kindle 2 has a 532-MHz processor and no ports, but does include a built-in wireless access card.) The board comes installed with Linux. E Ink also offers software display drivers that are open source and sample applications to help developers and hobbyists get started.

The prototype kits are pre-configured to operate as a simple e-book reader. So out of the box, users can download page images from their PC to the included multimedia card and view them on the display with no further programming or assembly.

But the ability to hack and tweak has made it a dream gadget for developers like Kumar.  Kumar has written several drivers for the kit that would make typical Linux applications run transparently on it. "It's more than just an e-book reader then," says Kumar.

Kumar's programming efforts allow Fennec, an Mozilla Firefox web browser for mobile phones and smaller non-PC devices, to run on the kit. (See video here.) Kumar can even have Google maps on his e-reader.

So far most of the applications are Linux-based, but there are users trying to run Windows CE and other operating systems on the kits, says E Ink's Peruvemba.

Earlier this month, product development firm Moto Development Group showed off the first E Ink display powered by the Google Android operating system. (See video here)

The community of DIYers keep the buzz alive on the prototype kits but companies also use them to create new products.

"A number of people are building the next-generation browsing device, tablet PC or handheld," says Peruvemba. "Those devices could run our display and companies want to experiment with it."

Photo: E Ink Prototype Kit Runs Wired Blog/Jaya Kumar

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Feb 2009 | 12:27 am

Review: Argosy HV675 MediaPlay

Short Version: The HV675 walks the line between ease of use and speed when it comes to getting video content from your computer onto your TV. There’s no complicated networking to set up, no CDs or DVDs to burn, and most readily-available file formats will work just fine.

Overview and Features:

• Slim, portable design
• Video upscaling to 1080i
• Supports full DVD menu
• Coaxial, Composite (RCA), Component (YPbPr), HDMI connections

Supported Media Types:

• DVD folders, VCDs
• MPEG1/MPEG2
• DivX/XviD (AVI) movie files
• MP3, WAV, AC3
• JPEG

Maximum Content Resolution:

• Video: 720 x 576 pixels
• JPEG: 5120 x 3840 pixels
• MP3: 320 kbps

Setup

The time it takes you to open the box and plug the thing in is basically all you’ll invest with as far as setup is concerned. Geeks.com was kind enough to send out a review unit and it took longer for me to walk downstairs and sign for the device than it did to get it up and running.

It’s literally two steps: plug the device into the wall and then connect it to your TV. Once that’s done, you simply drop your files onto a USB thumb drive or external hard drive and plug the drive into the HV675’s USB port.

Interface

Visually, the UI is nothing to write home about but it’s about as easy and straightforward as they get from a usability standpoint. You turn the HV675 on and you’re presented with a list of your files alphabetically by file name. Select the file you want to play and that’s that.

Videos can be paused, rewound, fast forwarded, skipped forwards and backwards in thirty second intervals, and slow-mo’d. There’s also volume control, which is something these media boxes are often missing. So that’s a nice touch that allows you to put your TV remote away.

Video Quality

Playback is smooth and quick without any jitters or hesitation whatsoever. I was pleasantly surprised at how responsive everything was. I see a lot of these off-brand media players and this one handled just about everything without throwing a digital temper tantrum whereas most of the other ones I’ve tried are either slow, lock up, or only handle very specific files.

The max video resolution is 720×576 (basically 720×480 – DVD quality — for those of us here in the US), which looks more than acceptable. The whole “upscaling to 1080i” feature seems to simply be blowing up the videos to fill the screen but after watching several episodes of Psych in XviD format at (only) 624×352, I’m happy to report that everything looked just fine.

Again, I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth everything was. Big points where it counts: actually watching videos.

Remote Control

It’s your standard credit-card style remote that has way too many buttons. You’ll use less than ten of them, though, and they’re laid out pretty intuitively. The remote works well from a distance and doesn’t have to be pointed directly at the box, which is nice. The buttons are easy to press and the system responds quickly.

Drawbacks

Currently at $67.99, the price is likely too high for most people given the device’s relatively simple purpose. Don’t get me wrong, it does what it sets out to do and it does it well, it could just do it in a lot more homes if it were priced at, say, $39.99 or so.

Being able to handle HD files would be nice, too, as more and more content is being distributed that way nowadays. I have some movies that I won’t be able to watch unless I convert them first and the ability to use an external hard drive kind of negates the need to stick to smaller file sizes. Windows Media support would be a welcome addition as well, but it’s rare to find inexpensive WMV-compatible media players due to licensing costs.

Conclusion

All in all, I’m very happy with the HV675. It makes getting most video files from my computer to the TV a matter of transferring them to a USB drive. And once they’re playing, the responsiveness of the UI and the above-average video quality make the overall experience about as easy as it gets.

Argosy HV675 MediaPlay w-HDMI [Geeks.com]

Source: CrunchGear | 25 Feb 2009 | 12:20 am

A good looking Android phone?

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers

Looking forward to new Android phones in 2009 for the U.S. market can be disappointing.  We have the G1, and maybe the HTC Magic if it ever comes around here.  Other than that, there’s not too much that we know about.  What we can know is that Huawei, a Chinese mobile manufacturer, is making a new Android phone that will come to T-Mobile in Q3 2009.

The phone actually looks really good.  The G1 is a phone that has to grow on you.  Looking at it now, there’s nothing wrong with it, but when it was first introduced, it was hard to say that the G1 was actually a good looking phone.  The Huawei phone looks almost iPhone-like, which would make it possibly the best looking Android phone so far.  It’s hard to say how well it will actually work with Android, but it will be a new option.

Despite the depressingly low amount of Android phones at MWC last week, it looks as if there will be more off them coming this year.  More options will always be a good thing.  It would be nice to see more phones come out even if they aren’t as nice as the G1 whe it comes to functionality.

Read [ubergizmo]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Feb 2009 | 12:04 am

Without Tears, Is There Still Sadness?

A new study finds that photoshopping the tears out of pictures of crying people transforms how viewers interpret what they see. The emotional read of the pictured faces changes considerably.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Feb 2009 | 12:00 am

Google Debunks Maps Atlantis Myth

prxi writes "Recently speculation spread that Atlantis may have been located on Google Ocean. Now Google has posted a blog entry, written by two oceanographers, explaining what exactly caused the strange markings off the coast of Africa. The authors also note that we have better maps of the surface of Mars than we do of our own oceans, and go into detail on what would be required to obtain a fine-grained map of the ocean floor. Apparently it's only 200 ship years of work, or around the cost of a modern stadium, give or take."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 24 Feb 2009 | 11:57 pm

Review: Belkin Powerline AV+ Starter Kit

My Problem: I needed internet connectivity in my garage, which is the only thing on the first level of my house. Thing is, my garage seems to be built like a friggin’ faraday cage - the wireless signals just don’t survive the journey through whatever freaky space age insulation they used during construction. The router and modem are on the second level, and running ethernet cables across hallways and a flight of stairs seemed like a quick way to end up with someone busting their noggin. The Solution: the Belkin Powerline AV+ Starter Kit.

What’s in the box:

• Two adapters (One for transmitting, one for receiving)
• Two ethernet cables
• Two power cords
• Two power cord wall adapters (For plugging the boxes in wall-wart style.)
• CD with installation software/manual

The idea of the Powerline AV+ is simple: plug an ethernet cable with internet connectivity (from your router, for example) into one end of the first box, then plug the box into an electrical outlet. Bam - your electrical wiring now doubles as networking wiring. Take the second box and plug it in to any other outlet anywhere in your house, and you’ve now got three ethernet ports juiced up and ready to go. It sounds simple, right?

And it is. Seriously - it’s dead friggin’ simple. No configuration screens, no nonsense. It’s as plug-and-play as possible. Going from unboxing to up-and-running took me less than 5 minutes. The only snag I ran into was a classic case of RTFM; I’d plugged the receiver box into a power strip, which the manual specifically says is a no-go.

My internet connection is a paltry 5 megabits per second, and the Powerline AV touts a theoretical cap of 200 megabits per second. Still, I expected some slowdown or latency increase - but there was none. I ran three speed tests at each location: straight out of the router, and on the other end of the Powerline AV+. Results were nearly identical, considering fluctuations in the incoming pipe. The images below are from two of these back-to-back tests.

Straight from the router (Modem > Router > Wired to laptop):

Through the Powerline AV+ (Modem > Router > Powerline AV > Wired to laptop):

As you can see, the speeds through the Powerline AV+ were actually slightly faster than those through the router; this doesn’t mean that the Powerline AV+ is some magical accelerator, however - there was just some fluctuation on my ISP’s end. It does show, though, that we don’t have to worry about it choking internet connectivity speed.

With most home internet connections being in the 5-15 megabit per second range, the only time you’re likely to ever get anywhere near the 200 Mbps cap is when you’re transferring stuff over the local network. Even then, 200 Mbps should be more than enough for most, especially with a significant chunk of people still on 10/100 LAN routers (which top out at 100Mbps for wired connections). Compared to wireless, it’s faster than 802.11g (54Mbps), but a bit slower than 802.11n (around 248Mbps). A couple of quick transfers across our network were clocking in at around 165Mbps.

The goods:

• Setup is so, so, so incredibly simple.
• One ethernet port in, three ethernet ports out. (As compared to the AV Starter Kit, which has one in and one out - note the lack of a plus sign behind AV)
• 128-bit DES encryption if you’re worried about someone jacking into your internets and stealing your daterbytes with a coat hanger in an outlet.

The bads:

• At an MSRP of $179 ($149 on Amazon), the price of entry is quite high for a somewhat niche product - especially with wireless router prices plummeting.

The bottom line:

If you’ve got a use for it, you’ll love it. It’s easy to install, it’s plenty fast for the vast majority of users, and it’s rock solid. We’ve been using it with out home media server and an Xbox 360 on Live for a few weeks now, and we’ve had no hiccups whatsoever. If wireless isn’t an option but you don’t want to booby trap your house with hundreds of feet of ethernet cable, we’d solidly recommend the Belkin Powerline AV+.

Source: CrunchGear | 24 Feb 2009 | 11:50 pm

Enterprise architecture groups merge (InfoWorld)

InfoWorld - Two industry organizations focused on enterprise architecture have merged.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 24 Feb 2009 | 11:45 pm

Kindle 2 Stripped Naked; Chip Is Faster Than iPhone's

A teardown of Amazon's Kindle 2 reveals the book reader is thinner and faster than the iPhone 3G (which is, oddly enough, considered a competitor).

Hardware repair company iFixIt disassembled the reader and found a 532 MHz processor — faster than the iPhone 3G's 412 MHz ARM chip. IFixIt also found the Kindle 2 is thinner than the iPhone 3G, but a hair thicker than the iPod Touch. 

From the looks of it, the Kindle 2 is fairly easy to disassemble. There were only 26 screws and four connectors holding the reader together. Perhaps modders and hackers who are done tweaking their netbooks will move on to the Kindle 2?

See Also:

• Amazon's Kindle 2 Slims Down, Adds Audio
• Showdown: Kindle 2 vs. Sony Reader
• Amazon's Kindle 2 Available Now
• A Reader the Kindle Should Fear: Plastic Logic

Photo: iFixIt

(Thanks, Kyle!)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 24 Feb 2009 | 11:22 pm

Court Upholds AP "Quasi-Property" Rights On Hot News

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "A federal court ruled that the AP can sue competitors for 'quasi-property' rights on hot news, as well as for copyright infringement and several other claims. The so-called 'hot news' doctrine was created by a judge 90 years ago in another case, where the AP sued a competitor for copying wartime reporting and bribing its employees to send them a copy of unreleased news. The courts' solution was to make hot news a form of 'quasi-property' distinct from copyright, in part because facts cannot be copyrighted. But now the AP is making use of the precedent again, going after AHN which competes with the AP, alleging that they're somehow copying the AP's news. The AP has been rather busy with lawsuits lately, so even though the AP has a story about their own lawsuit, we won't link to it."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 24 Feb 2009 | 11:14 pm

Safari 4 Top Sites first look

FROM APPLETELL - One of the coolest features revealed in today’s Safari 4 beta release from Apple is Top Sites. Aside from being helpful, it’s always frighteningly revealing…do I really spend that much time on Facebook? MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 24 Feb 2009 | 11:08 pm

Ballmer Says Microsoft Will Focus on R&D Amid Gloom (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - The news last month that Microsoft was issuing its first large-scale layoffs was a clear sign that the economic downturn is being felt even in Redmond, Wash. In a conference call with financial analysts Tuesday, CEO Steve Ballmer made it clear that the software giant doesn't expect things to improve anytime soon.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 24 Feb 2009 | 11:07 pm

Ginx Helps You Find And Follow The Experts on Twitter

Ginx, the third-party interface for Twitter that makes it easier to share news with friends, has added a new feature that organizes experts into groups so you follow their ongoing commentary on your favorite topics.

Each group on Ginx is created and administered by a single owner who determines who the experts are in a particular field or category. For example, here’s a group of journalists who are focused on covering Apple news. It’s run by the user mirthlab and members include John Gruber and Arnold Kim.

Currently there are 11 groups in total on Ginx, and all of them are listed in this simple directory. The others include one about China and another about Arizona politics.

If you’re interested in hearing what the experts in a particular group have to say, you can become a follower of that group with a single click. All of the tweets from the group’s members will then show up in your Ginx timeline, regardless of whether their tweets are related to the group’s topic or not. When asked about whether it would be better to just show followers those tweets that are relevant to a group’s topic, co-founder Pierre Omidyar insisted that getting the whole stream of tweets from group members actually lets you learn more about who the members are as people. And in turn, this makes the news and commentary you get from them more personal.

This new groups feature is a natural addition to Ginx’s core functionality, since it advances the notion that Twitter should be used to learn and educate others about the world. It does pose the risk of information overload, however, since by joining just a few groups, you’re expanding the number of people who contribute to your timeline considerably. In anticipation of this problem, there are checkboxes next to the timeline that let you temporarily remove all tweets from a particular group. But something tells me that most users will still want to be part of only one or two groups at a time, lest they have trouble separating the wheat from the chaff.

Only select users have the power to create groups, although I’m told that this will change soon so that anyone can set up their own. Everyone can start following the existing groups today, and if you’re not already a Ginx user, the first 100 users to sign up with this code will get in: 842A11AC93EA.

Update: We’ve created a group with TechCrunch employees that you can follow.

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Source: TechCrunch | 24 Feb 2009 | 11:00 pm

Study: Veterinarians suffer psych stress

German scientists say they've determined veterinarians frequently suffer psychosocial stress and demoralization associated with heavy workloads. The researchers, led by Melanie Harling from the Institution for Statutory Accident Insurance and Prevention in Hamburg, Germany, said their analysis
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Feb 2009 | 11:00 pm

Prosecution Alters Pirate Bay Charges in Bid to Win Conviction

The second week of the Pirate Bay trial continues in Sweden on. Hollywood investigators have testified how easily they obtained copyright material using the BitTorrent tracker. And the prosecutor altered the charges making it easier to convict.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 24 Feb 2009 | 11:00 pm

Details on the Sidekick 2009’s camera revealed

Details and specs on the Sidekick 2009 are slowly emerging and today we’ve got some info on the camera. It’s getting a bump up to 3.2-megapixels for a max resolution of 2038×1536. Danger and Sharp (assuming they’ll manufacture the 2009) have finally included a flash.

Source: CrunchGear | 24 Feb 2009 | 10:33 pm

Google backs Europe case against Microsoft browser (AP)

AP - Google Inc. is joining forces with European regulators in an attack on Microsoft Corp.'s dominance of the Web browser market, injecting more bad blood between two of computing's richest and most powerful companies.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 24 Feb 2009 | 10:26 pm

The Hard Upgrade Path From XP To Vista To Win 7

An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft executives have been telling the tech industry that if hardware supports Windows Vista, it will support Windows 7, but it now looks like that may not entirely be the case. According to CRN: 'But after a series of tests on older and newer hardware, a number of noteworthy issues emerged: Microsoft's statement that if hardware works with Windows Vista it will work with Windows 7 appears to be, at best, misleading; hardware that is older, but not near the end of most business life cycles, could be impossible to upgrade; and the addition of an extra step in the upgrade process does add complexity and more time not needed in previous upgrade cycles.' And here is CRN's overview of the difficulties Microsoft faces in asking enterprise users to walk this upgrade path: 'Across the XP-Vista-Windows 7 landscape, Microsoft has fostered an ecosystem that now holds out the prospect of a mind-numbing number of incompatible drivers, unsupported devices, unsupported applications, unsupported data, patches, updates, upgrades, 'known issues' and unknown issues. Sound familiar? That's what people used to say about Linux.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 24 Feb 2009 | 10:26 pm

Microsoft TechFest: Qik Meets Photosynth With Impressive Panoramic Mobile Movies

I’m here in Redmond, Washington at Microsoft TechFest 2009, where Microsoft is showcasing many of the projects its researchers around the world. The event is filled with impressive demos covering diverse topics ranging from advanced user interfaces to improving computer-based learning in developing countries. We’ll be posting videos throughout the day, the first of which is a demonstration that essentially combines the mobile video broadcasting of services like Qik with Microsoft’s image and video stitching technology that can be seen in its impressive Photosynth product. The technology can take multiple live video streams focusing on the same subject (as you might find at a concert), and stitches them together to create one large panoramic video. For a full demo, see the video below.

It’s important to note that while many of these technologies are extremely impressive, they may not be seen in consumer devices for quite some time (if ever). Still, given the fact that products like Microsoft’s Surface emerged from similar research projects, these may well be a window into the future what our gadgets will soon be able to pull off.

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Source: TechCrunch | 24 Feb 2009 | 10:19 pm

Cable companies want a way to win with online TV (AP)

AP - HBO on your PC? It could happen sooner than you think.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 24 Feb 2009 | 9:52 pm

Paid Search Just Got Visual: SearchMe Launches AdView Beta (Free Ads For First 500 Signups)

What happens when you make paid search ads both relevant and visual? Searchme, the search engine startup which presents results as a stack of full-page previews that you can flip through, is hoping to find out with the beta launch of AdView. Its first foray into advertising, AdView is SearchMe’s version of AdWords, except that instead of selling of paid text links it will be interspersing into its results clickable previews of entire Webpages, videos, or other visual advertising.

If you are an advertiser and want to try it out, SearchMe is giving a free trial to the first 500 companies or individuals that sign up here. That’s right, you get to run a free ad campaign on SearchMe for 30 days.

To see how this works, search for “Ralph Lauren” and if you flip through to the third result, it will be an ad that shows a landing page for its fall collection. In other words, the Website becomes the ad itself. This approach is similar to what StumbleUpon does, with ads placed in every 20 or so Stumbles. But the ad unit can also be a YouTube video which can be played without leaving SearchMe. For instance, check out the third result when you search for “Mac” (SearchMe inserted one of the “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads for demonstration purposes).

This could potentially be a very effective form of advertising. It is almost like a magazine ad where the ad is a Website. Advertisers who create visually appealing landing pages I suspect will do better. And it is also a potentially powerful way to target video ads, combining keyword targeting with a TV-like viewing experience. (Check out SearchMe’s own video commercial embedded below, which it plans to run as a TV spot)

SearchMe is not huge by any means, but it provides a nice sandbox to experiment with new types of advertising. Quantcast shows some decent growth over the past six months to about 3 million visitors in the U.S. That is certainly large enough to test the ROI for visual paid search. And its organic growth suggests that the idea could catch on. Certainly, it doesn’t hurt that Apple is training consumers to become comfortbale with the page-flipping metaphor. One of the key features of its just-released version of the Safari browser is a similar Coverflow-like treatment of bookmarked pages and browsing history.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 24 Feb 2009 | 9:45 pm

VeriSign Will Support DNSSEC In .com By 2011

alphadogg writes "VeriSign has promised to deploy DNS Security Extensions, known as DNSSEC, across all of its top-level domains within two years. DNSSEC is viewed as the best way to bolster the DNS against vulnerabilities such as the Kaminsky bug discovered last year. (Yesterday we discussed the workarounds coming into place until the US government signs the Internet's root zone.) DNSSEC has been deployed on top-level domains operated by Sweden, Puerto Rico, Bulgaria, Brazil, and the Czech Republic. Two larger domains — .org operated by the Public Interest Registry and .gov operated by the US government — are deploying DNSSEC this year."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 24 Feb 2009 | 9:43 pm

Can’t Get 1password to Work With the Safari 4 Beta? Here’s the Fix.

After weeks of dealing with Firefox running like a pile of hot garbage on both of my Macs, I made the jump over to the Safari 4 Beta as soon as word of it broke this morning. All was well until I went to log in to pay my gas bill, when I suddenly realized that I had no idea what the passwords were for my less frequently used services. 1password keeps track of all that junk for me, and suddenly 1password was no where to be found. I was password-less and alone. Fortunately, it's a pretty easy fix.

Source: TechCrunch | 24 Feb 2009 | 9:40 pm

Rubik's 360, a Next-Gen Handheld Mind-Bender (PC World)

PC World - It's a brain teaser, requires precision dexterity, has better 3D visuals than Crysis, and here's the kicker — it's not a video game.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 24 Feb 2009 | 9:38 pm

Google pays for e-mail outage with 15-day credit (AP)

AP - Google Inc. is making amends for an e-mail outage by giving 15 days of free service to businesses, government agencies and other subscribers who pay for an expanded version of the product.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 24 Feb 2009 | 9:26 pm

Details on the Sidekick 2009’s camera revealed

Details and specs on the Sidekick 2009 are slowly emerging and today we’ve got some info on the camera. It’s getting a bump up to 3.2-megapixels for a max resolution of 2038×1536. Danger and Sharp (assuming they’ll manufacture the 2009) have finally included a flash. Direct uploading to MySpace, Photobucket (What about Flickr?) and YouTube have been enabled and video recording could is set for 15fps, but could be bumped up. Oh, there’s a new AF mechanism and geotagging is supported. In other words, the Sidekick’s camera has finally caught up to the rest of the pack.

via hiptop3

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 24 Feb 2009 | 9:23 pm

Why Some MacBooks Are Becoming CrackBooks

A large number of MacBook owners have reported cracks appearing in their notebook cases.

The cracks are mostly occurring in the palm-rest corners of the earlier generation, plastic MacBooks. The defect has occurred in enough MacBooks that a Flickr gallery is documenting the problem with over 180 photos to date.

Though the issue only appears to be affecting a small percentage of MacBook users, it's still a questionable defect coming from Apple — a company most famous for its meticulous, premium design.

iFixIt's Luke Soules, who performs repairs and disassemblies of Apple products, pointed at the design of the MacBook as the root of the problem. For MacBooks, the bottom part of the notebook is the box that holds the guts of the computer; the top part, where the cracks are occurring, is just a flat sheet.

Soules noted that cracks weren't an issue with the older iBooks, because the design was flip-flopped: The top part had sides, so it was essentially an inverted box; the bottom part was a flat sheet. 

Affected MacBook users might view this as a design flaw on Apple's part. Some users have reported the defect is fully covered by Apple warranty. Of course, the new unibody MacBooks aren't experiencing this issue (since metal doesn't crack).

MacBook cases still cracking up [Macworld]

Photo: Robplusjessie/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 24 Feb 2009 | 9:05 pm

Frankenstein Photoshop Job Reveals Tesla's Sexy New Sedan

Tired of Tesla's teases for its new Model S, Wired.com unveils the electric sedan in all its glory — what Wired.com thinks it's like, anyway.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 24 Feb 2009 | 9:00 pm

Cold-War Era Naval Vessels Up For Grabs

mcleland lets us in on a Wall Street Journal story about two cold-war era, formerly top-secret vessels the US Navy is trying to give away. At issue are the Sea Shadow (the ancestor of all modern naval radar-evading technology) and the Hughes Mining Barge (a floating dry-dock and more-or-less base for the Sea Shadow). While the ships are being 'given away,' there are multiple regulations involved, making the gift a very costly one. "A Naval Museum is 'a bloodthirsty, paper-work ridden, permit-infested, money-sucking hole,' warns the Historic Naval Ships Association. Because the Navy won't pay for anything — not rust-scraping or curating — to keep museums afloat, survival depends on big crowds."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 24 Feb 2009 | 8:59 pm

Saving Wheat Crops Worldwide

Image Caption: Field site in Mexico. The four rows on the left are wheat plants with the Lr34 gene which have clearly been protected from the severe effects of leaf rust infection in contrast to the plants in the four rows on the right, which lack the Lr34 gene. Photo by: RP Singh, CIMMYT Mexico
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Feb 2009 | 8:55 pm

Marvell Plans $100 Computer Inside a Wall Plug

The incredible shrinking computer is about to reach a lower limit in size, with a new computer that's contained entirely within a wall-wart. Any smaller than this, and the computer would disappear inside the electrical outlet.

Called plug computers, Marvell's new gadgets will resemble cellphone chargers but pack a hefty punch.

Plug computers would draw just about 5W of power, come with a 1.2 GHz CPU, a USB port and offer internet connectivity. They won't have a display but the devices can be used as a home server or a network attached storage for those vacation photos and music downloads.

The wall-wart form factor allows companies and consumers to get a low cost computing system, says Marvell. As a plus, the unassuming-looking plugs would likely remain plugged in long after thieves cleared out other, more valuable-looking electronics.

The plug computer will be based on Marvell's SheevaPlug platform, which has an embedded 1.2GHz CPU. It would also come with 512 MB of flash memory and and 512 MB of DRAM. The device would connect to the home network via Ethernet and will have a USB 2.0 port.

The platform will support Linux distributions allowing PC makers to create Linux based systems off them. And the entire device has been designed to draw less than one tenth of the power of a typical PC being used as a home server, says Marvell.

Marvell will offer the development kits for plug computers at $100 through its website and with enough demand, prices could drop further, it says. It will also include design details and software needed to develop applications for the platform.

Already some startups are using Marvell's platform to launch new devices. At the Consumer Electronics Show last month, Cloud Engines debuted the Pogoplug. The $100 box connects a user's external hard drive to the internet so they can easily share and access their files from anywhere.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 24 Feb 2009 | 8:26 pm

Marvell Plans $100 Computer Inside a Wall Plug

Marvell is planning a new category of computers called plug computers that resemble cellphone chargers but pack a hefty punch. They won't have a display but can be used as a home server or a network-attached storage device.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 24 Feb 2009 | 8:26 pm

Colleges Prepare To Spend Stimulus Money

University administrators were urged on Wednesday to avoid even applying for stimulus money unless they planned to hire people almost immediately, the New York Times reported.Dr. Raynard S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Feb 2009 | 8:25 pm

Anger Can Cause Electrical Changes in Heart

How the heart reacts to anger can predict who is at risk for irregular heartbeats.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 24 Feb 2009 | 8:15 pm

iPhone App Spanks Your Frenemies

Worst iPhone app ever.

Of all the strange, quirky stuff we've seen in the iPhone's App Store, this one takes the cake: An application that enables you to virtually spank your friends, family or coworkers.

The design of the app is shockingly stupid: You snap a photo of a person, then it displays a bubble above him or her that says "Spank." Then when you shake the iPhone you hear the sound of a spank, followed by a man yelping.

The app costs $1. (Please don't buy it.) There's a similar one in the App Store called Spank the Monkey, which does the same thing, only it costs $5 and you're spanking cartoon monkeys rather than humans.

A hat tip to iPhone app review site Krapps for stumbling upon this.

My question of the day: How the hell did this get approved in the App Store?

Download Link [iTunes]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 24 Feb 2009 | 8:03 pm

Maintenance Workers Find Ancient Statue

The culture ministry said on Tuesday, that maintenance workers at Egypt's Giza Pyramids have found an ancient quartzite statue of a seated man buried close to the surface of the desert.The ministry said in a statement, that the statue was found north of the smallest of Giza's three main pyramids,
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Feb 2009 | 7:56 pm

French Farmers Adding Solar Panels For Supplemental Income

Apart from his duties as a farmer to produce eggs and grains, Jean-Luc Westphal has decided to take on the task of supplying solar power for fellow citizens.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Feb 2009 | 7:53 pm

Gresso Skeleton Gold costs $4,400 ridiculous dollars

Hah! And we thought the LG watch phone was expensive at the paltry price of $1,400. Showing how absurd pricing should really be done, Gresso has announced the Skeleton Gold, a sub-par spec’d candybar they’re looking to peddle for a cool $4,400.

The primary selling point is right in the name: gold. The keypad is trimmed out with 18k gold, with 42k sapphire glass covering the screen and serving as a window to the back of the handset.

But surely, a $4,400 phone brings more to the table than a bit of gold and some fancy glass, right? Nope. The specs are about as standard as they come: QVGA screen, Win Mo 6.0 Standard, Bluetooth, 2 gigs of internal storage, and a 2MP camera. Come on, guys - if you’re going to charge the equivalent of a down payment on a Honda, at least spec it to the teeth.

The run is limited to 50 phones - unfortunately, I’m absolutely positive there are 50+ chumps out there with the change to buy this.

[Via UnwiredView]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 24 Feb 2009 | 6:56 pm

Coral Evades Identification

The evolutionary tendency of corals to alter their skeletal structure makes it difficult to assign them to different species.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 24 Feb 2009 | 6:48 pm

Climate Change Panel Issues New Warning

Is it possible that the consequences of global warming have been underestimated?
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 24 Feb 2009 | 6:08 pm

Party like its 1992 (by installing Win 3.1 on your Nokia N95)!

One thousand nine hundred ninety-two - what a year: Bush, Sr. booted in the Japanese Prime Minister’s lap; Boris Yeltsin announced that Russia would no longer (publicly) target the United States with nuclear weapons; the Washington Redskins (Go Hogs!) beat the sad Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI;  Microsoft released Windows 3.1, complete with Minesweeper; EuroDisney opened in France; Wayne’s World and Basic Instinct hit the silver screen (among other “classics“); the Mall of America was built; William Jefferson Clinton was elected 42nd POTUS; and, last but not least, Dr. Dre released The Chronic.

If this (selective) recount of 1992 has you feeling a bit nostalgic, and you happen to own a Nokia N95, then you my friend, are in luck! Thanks to Polish hacker developer Marcin-PRV (and the DOSBox app), your heretofore pipe dream of dual booting Win3.1 and Symbian on your N95 has now become a reality! Lots o’ pix after the break.

[FrazPC via Daily Mobile]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 24 Feb 2009 | 6:02 pm

Rumor: I won’t be able to afford the LG watch phone.

(This is the picture we use when we talk about the LG watch phone, because LG staffers made things difficult.)

Would you want a watch phone? Of course you would. It’s a little tiny wrist worn box of the future. It’s a childhood sci-fi idea made real. Oh, but do you have over $1,400 bucks to drop on one? Anyone? Hello?

We haven’t seen any confirmation from LG or Orange yet (so don’t come running with the pitchforks if this turns out to be shenanigans), but Mobility Today is reporting that the LG watch phone will launch at an unsubsidized priced of £1,000 ($1,442 USD). Yeah, maybe they could have pulled that off a year ago, but with the econo.. wait, no. That would have been ridiculous a year ago, too.

They’ll take a bit of the sting off if you’re willing to lock into a $60 dollar a month contract, bringing it down to a bargain bin price of just £500 ($721 USD). Sorry, LG - I’m going to stick with yelling into my normal watch while wearing a bluetooth headset for now.

[Via IntoMobile]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 24 Feb 2009 | 5:36 pm

Men, Women Admire Beauty Differently in Brain

Men process beauty using the right side of their brains while women use their whole brains.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 24 Feb 2009 | 5:08 pm

Memphis police purchase and deploy 1,200 REDFLY units

The REDFLY Mobile Companion embiggens even the smallest of compatible Windows Mobile smartphones and PDAs. In light of this, the Memphis police department just threw down for 1,200 of the devices and deployed them in their cruisers, saying, “The REDFLYs save hardware costs while increasing productivity and also improving the quality and accuracy of the officers’ field reports.”

Read the rest of this entry >>

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 24 Feb 2009 | 4:20 pm

Pentagon Funds Cyber Range For Web Warriors

The DOD invests in a virtual training ground for America's cyber warriors.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 24 Feb 2009 | 3:20 pm

iPhone app review: Fieldrunners

The iPhone is a wonderful little gaming device. It can play computer games, like the classic SimCity as well as classic arcade games like PacMan. It's also breeding a whole class of new games, like the inimitable DuckDuckDuck. But I'm not going to talk about any of those now. Instead, I'm going to talk about Fieldrunners!

Source: MobileCrunch | 24 Feb 2009 | 3:10 pm

NASA Launch Fails, Lands in Ocean

A rocket carrying a NASA global warming satellite lands in the ocean after a failed launch.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 24 Feb 2009 | 2:45 pm

Kindle "Good before, Better Now"

The Kindle 2 is much-improved over the original, writes David Pogue in the NYT.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 24 Feb 2009 | 2:30 pm

Household Chemicals Linked to Infertility

Exposure to common chemicals may contribute to infertility, suggests a new study.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 24 Feb 2009 | 2:09 pm

Hidden government cameras in digital converter boxes? No.

Wired's Kevin Poulsen explores a strange and clever hoax: the claim that DTV converter boxes contain a hidden camera and a microphone, to enable companies and the state to watch you in your homes. The buzz surrounds a brilliant YouTube video (below).

Here's another video busting the hoax. It's awful quality, but there if you need it to sleep.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 24 Feb 2009 | 2:04 pm

Today at Boing Boing Gadgets

• Mat Honan has a geocaching quest for you. What's in the bag? Hint: it isn't at the bottom of the sea near Pyongyang.
• Want a 1.4-pound Mac? Here's OSX installed on the Vaio P! Maybe!
• We got a look at the Sigma DP2 point 'n' shoot.
• Ritz Camera is bankrupt.
• Circuit City's liquidators are scamming customers and refusing to let investigators in.
• We discovered why you shouldn't buy Dell's Mini 10 laptop.
• Agile gents played Netbook Capoeira.
• We gazed upon the pretty (and pretty strange) Taplamp.
• Samsung put analog dials its TL320 camera.
• Walt Mossberg reviewed Sony's not-a-netbook. The verdict? Screw Vista.
• Casio's new high-end "vacation watch" gets a good write-up.
• You can Share internet over USB: an easy hardware solution to an annoying software problem.

Source: Boing Boing | 24 Feb 2009 | 1:57 pm

Samsung Armani Winmo 6.5 device coming this fall?

Samsung wants to make waves in the high-end mobile market that’s filled with dreams of extreme mark-up and high profits. Burried deep in an interview with the president of Samsung Electronics’ Taiwin, there is a brief mention of a Giorgio Armani phone powered by Windows Mobile which is enough to get our imagination crank’n.

Expect to see a sleek, high priced smartphone. The current Samsung Armani P520 is a great looking device but is powered by an OS that’s just O.K. If Samsung can indeed produce a similar-looking but better functioning smartphone, those dreams of extreme profit should follow as gadget freaks and celebs snatch up the phone.

TaipeTimes via Unwired View

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 24 Feb 2009 | 1:52 pm

The Craziest Home Made Bike Mods

Bikes, unlike bigger means of transport, are pretty easy to modify to fit the will and needs of the owner, for carrying strange cargoes or perhaps to just look more awesomer. Sometimes, though, there are some chop-jobs which are quite inexplicable. Here we'll look at a few, and try to decode the more unusual.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 24 Feb 2009 | 1:39 pm

Climate Change Can Supercharge Plant Growth

For plants in temperate regions, global warming brings good news and bad.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 24 Feb 2009 | 1:20 pm