It’s Time To Start Thinking Of Twitter As A Search Engine

At a dinner tonight with a friend the conversation turned to Twitter. He just didn’t get it, and he’s certainly not the first person to tell me that. Specifically, my friend didn’t understand the massive valuation ($250 million or more) that Twitter won in its recent funding. I told him why I thought it was more than justified: Twitter is, more than anything, a search engine.

I told him what I thought of Twitter as a micro-blogging service: it’s a collection of emotional grunts. But it’s wonderful nonetheless. And enough people are hooked on it that Twitter has reached critical mass. If something big is going on in the world, you can get information about it from Twitter.

Twitter also gathers other information, like people’s experiences with products and services as they interact with them. A couple of months ago, for example, I was stuck in the airport and received extremely poor service from Lufthansa. I twittered my displeasure, which made me feel better - at least I was doing something besides wait in an endless line. I’ve also Twittered complaints about the W Hotel (no Internet, cold room) and Comcast (the usual Internet gripes).

More and more people are starting to use Twitter to talk about brands in real time as they interact with them. And those brands want to know all about it, whether to respond individually (The W Hotel pestered me until I told them to just leave me alone), or simply gather the information to see what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong.

And all of it is discoverable at search.twitter.com, the search engine that Twitter acquired last summer.

People searching for news. Brands searching for feedback. That’s valuable stuff.

Twitter knows it, too. They’re going to build their business model on it. Forget small time payments from users for pro accounts and other features, all they have to do is keep growing the base and gather more and more of those emotional grunts. In aggregate it’s extremely valuable. And as Google has shown, search is vastly monetizable - somewhere around 40% of all online advertising revenue goes to ads on search listings today.

And as John Battelle says, its not clear that Google or anyone else can compete with Twitter at this point (Facebook’s giving it a solid try, though).

And it’s not just ads that can bring in the money. Brands need tools to make sense of all this data that Twitter doesn’t yet supply. Third parties like Scout Labs are going to be mining this data themselves, I’m sure. But there are lots of other ways Twitter can tax the utility they are bringing to brands. If they manage to turn down the acquisition offers like Facebook did a couple of years ago, there’s no reason Twitter can’t find revenue streams that will support them as a standalone company. Possibly even a public one.

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Atmel Offers Complete Embedded System Protection through Introduction of Next Generation CryptoCompanion IC

Setting the iPhone Free From AT&T [Voices]

As the exclusive U.S. carrier for the Apple (AAPL) iPhone, AT&T has had a lot to celebrate. Rivals hope to crash the party.

A growing number of public interest groups want an end to the partnership that forces buyers of Apple’s iPhone to buy their mobile-phone service only from AT&T (T). And they’re taking their case to the highest levels of government.

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A Google Search of a Distinctly Retro Kind [Voices]

Last month an e-mail message washed up at the offices of The Cook Islands News in the South Pacific. It was a request to place a half-page advertisement in the newspaper, which has a circulation of 2,500. The cost was $370.

“We were amazed — it came from out of nowhere,” the newspaper’s editor, John Woods, said in a telephone interview. “We are very skeptical of ads like that.”

Even more surprising was who was paying for it: Google.

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Broadband Speeds Our Economy [Voices]

Now that President Obama has signed the $787 billion economic stimulus package into law, the real hard work begins: using that money to create jobs. If spent wisely, this package has a chance at fundamentally reforming the U.S. health-care system, making our economy energy efficient and providing Americans with the training and skills required to succeed in a 21st century global marketplace.

But the country can’t accomplish these goals unless it has the infrastructure to support them. That’s why the funding for broadband was so vital. Broadband is the ticket for entry to participate in the world economy. It is a fundamental technology upon which other things are built. It enables collaboration, innovation and operational excellence, and positions the U.S. to compete on a global basis.

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Blockbuster and How I Almost Became the Kingpin of Cable [Voices]

There was an article about Blockbuster (BBI) on Venture Beat yesterday. The trading of the stock was halted after it dropped 77 percent because apparently the company is seeking to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

I worked for Blockbuster for a brief period of time after Bankers Trust (another defunct company - now part of Deutsche Bank) and before CRV. I was the President of BBI responsible for new media. I got there right before their second IPO as it spun out of Viacom and left right before the now infamous Enron deal.

It was an excellent career move for me and despite my short time there I learned a lot, got to do a lot and almost became the kingpin of cable!

Here is the story of what almost happened:

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ZillionTV, the Next Generation of Video On Demand [Voices]

During a long career as a television and technology executive, Mitch Berman has tried to sell several different iterations of TV, often in their formative stages. These included premium cable networks (at HBO), original cable programming (E! Entertainment Television), satellite TV (Sky and Foxtel), interactivity (OpenTV), and video on demand (Arris). Now, Berman is onto the next new thing, delivering TV through the Internet. His company, ZillionTV, faces long odds but has at least three advantages over the increasingly crowded field of online TV players: It brings DVD-quality programming straight to the TV set. It has a remote control that sets a new standard for ease of use. And its advertising model actually encourages people to watch commercials, rather than undermining their value to advertisers and programmers. Berman is positioning it as a service that offers unique benefits to consumers, advertisers, content companies and broadband providers. Here’s hoping the Hollywood studios that own a piece of Zillion don’t strangle it in its crib, which they could easily do….

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Daily Crunch: The Trouble with Kindles Edition

Kindle for iPhone walkthrough
Free stuff Wednesday: Funkeys Computer Speakers
Slimstick: Seiko’s walking aid gadget gets an update
Poll: Do people actually like 3D movies and games?
The Virtual Cocoon: Why leave the house when you can put on a helmet and ‘go’ places, right?
Win a trip to the Star Trek movie premiere - plus, a contest

Strong Demand for Public to Private Transactions

EFF Launches Surveillance Self-Defense Site

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

AU Optronics Corp. Reports February 2009 Consolidated Revenue

WiNetworks Secures $8 Million in Financing

IBM's Antique Attick

Global Warming May Get Its Very Own Top Level Domain

I’m deadpooling this .ECO top level domain right now. Not because it’s global warming/eco related, there’s plenty of money being thrown around to support just about every crazy green idea out there. I just don’t think the world needs another top level domain, and certainly not one that is designed for “individuals to express their support for environmental causes, for companies to promote their environmental initiatives, and for environmental organizations to maintain their websites.”

People like .COM domains, or alternatively country level domains. These other ones are little more than traps to force brands to protect their trademarks during expensive pre-sale periods. The company behind the domain gets the most of the money, and ICANN, the quasi-governmental, quasi-mafia organization that oversees this mess gets their cut as well. The more domain names that get registered, the more money ICANN makes, which lets them hire more staff to stick their noses into more things. Meanwhile, they’re making a mess of the Internet.

Al Gore is partnering with the company to help secure ICANN approval and then promote the domain. Which goes without saying. Fred Kreuger, previously the founder of Tagworld (now Social Project), is one of the founders.

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Australian Police Given Covert Search and Hacking Powers

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Y Combinator’s Airbed And Breakfast Casts A Wider Net For Housing Rentals As AirBnB

AirBed and Breakfast, an online portal for renting space on a stranger’s airbed or couch, has re-launched its website to AirBnB, an eBay-like marketplace for all accommodations. Now a Y-Combinator start-up (the startup is currently in the winter session of the incubator), AirBnB, which launched as AirBed and Breakfast last August, found that users wanted to use the site for more than just renting space in someone’s house and were actively posting rental listings for apartments, houses and vacation rentals. The founders, San Francisco designers Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, and software engineer Nathan Blecharczyk, quickly realized that increased and varied choice is more appealing for consumers and are now re-branding their site to incorporate a variety of local accommodation options.

There is also a monetary benefit to opening up the site, says Chesky. For each rental, AirBnB takes a 7 to 10 percent cut of the traveler’s payment (as the rental price of the accommodation goes up, AirBnB will take less of a cut) and also takes a flat 3 percent cut of what the seller receives. With an increase in number of listings and a greater amount of pricier listings, AirBnB has had a jump in the number of transactions and seen a 50 percent jump in revenue plus created a profit. Vacation rentals can be a big business. Recently, HomeAway, a popular vacation rental site, raised $250 million in a venture round and was valued at more than $1 billion.

The site still allows users to post airbed and couch listings, which continues to be popular amongst consumers. But with a wider market, AirBnB has 2500 listings and close to 10,000 registered users. While AirBnB has no plans to follow eBay’s auction site model, the start-up would eventually like to post listings directly from the enterprise world (in this case, hotels and property managers), which eBay has been able to do with its marketplace.

Now that AirBnB is diversifying its accommodations, it will also face a fair amount of competitors in the rental space. Vacationrentals.com and Free-rental.com are just a few of the many short-term rental property listing hubs available for consumers. But AirBnB maintains that the combination of its former business of renting couches and the apartment and vacation rentals, all at relatively inexpensive price points, will make the start-up popular.

With the downturn in the economy wreaking havoc on expensive travel plans, inexpensive home rentals may become more popular amongst consumers. AirBnB provides relatively cost-effective alternatives to staying in a hotel. For example, I saw a listing for a nicely-furnished one bedroom apartment in Midtown for $160 per night. That’s not a bad deal for an entire apartment. And AirBnB offers rooms and couches in cities like Washington D.C. and Paris for under $20 per night.

And for of our readers who are looking for a place to crash or a vacation rental, AirBnB is offering $50 off any trip that is booked from now until Monday, March 9th. All you have to do is type in “TECHCRUNCH” when booking.

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DonateDTV provides free DTV converter boxes for those in need

Section: Video, Content, HDTV, Communications, Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle, Web, Websites

Since the DTV saga has finally come to an end, the new transition seems like it’s far off, but June 12 is only 3 months away.  Before you know it, it will be May, and don’t be a procrastinator who puts off getting a DTV converter box to the last minute.  As President Obama noted, when he urged Congress to change the date of transition, not enough Americans are ready for the date and this is possibly due to not only financial problems, but language barriers and lack of awareness. 

Fortunately for those who need help getting ready for the all digital transition, a few organizations based in Minnesota launched a DonateDTV.com website.  A website that allows people to donate their non-expired coupons so people can use them at FreeDTVShop.com.  That website allows you to purchase a variety of DTV converter boxes by simply using a coupon code.  Best of all, it is government approved, so you can order a converter box with the peace of mind knowing you won’t be scammed. 

Hopefully, these two services, especially DonateDTV, will help Americans who need a coupon in order to purchase a converter box.  If you have a coupon that you don’t need, and hasn’t expired, you can donate it by using the link below. 

Donate it today [DonateDTV] Purchase one [FreeDTVShop] Via [PR Newswire]

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

Researchers Want to Add Touch, Taste and Smell to Virtual Reality

Doc in a Box — New Surgery Bot Prepares for Battle

Nobody wants to have surgery on a battlefield; the idea of having it performed by a robot spider probably doesn't make it sound any less harrowing. But as far as Peter Berkelman is concerned, a robot is better than nothing. A roboticist at the University of Hawaii, Berkelman studies haptics, the science of simulating touch and feel. "Force feedback is just fascinating to me," Berkelman says, teeing up a pun. "I like to work on technologies that offer resistance."

One of those resistant technologies is robot-assisted surgery. Robots are good at precise, less-invasive work and can be controlled remotely, but high-end surgery droids can cost upwards of $1 million, take up half an operating room, and require an hour to boot up and sterilize. Berkelman's version may not be able to handle the same level of fine detail, but it's good enough—and it's built from mostly off-the-shelf parts for just $75,000. His unnamed prototype fits in a backpack, which means a medic could actually carry it into battle and clamp it onto a gurney at a triage station. And it's small enough to be sterilized in a normal hospital autoclave. "You probably won't see it used for open-heart surgeries," Berkelman says. "But for simpler procedures—like removing shrapnel—it could be very cost-effective."

Two of the robot's articulated arms can take tool attachments like scalpels or cautery pens. The third holds an endoscope—usually a job for a human nurse. Berkelman says his robot is ready for testing on human cadavers; he might move to live human subjects next year. "We'd rather work on dead people first," Berkelman says. "It's a bit safer."

Video: 'Halo Wars' -- 5 Ways to Steamroll Your Enemies

March 5, 1975: A Whiff of Homebrew Excites the Valley

1975: The pioneering computer-hobbyist group, The Homebrew Computer Club, holds its first meeting in a Silicon Valley garage. From its ranks will emerge industry pioneers like Apple co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and hacker John Draper, aka Captain Crunch.

It started with a flyer just for geeks posted on bulletin boards (the cork kind). "Are you building your own computer? Terminal? TV Typewriter? I/O device? Or some other digital black-magic box? If so, you might like to come to a gathering."

Those few sentences launched the first meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club, also called the Amateur Computer Users Group. It was a place for tech hobbyists to gather and share tips on supply sources and exchange programming information.

The Homebrew Club first met in the garage of Gordon French in Menlo Park, California. It was a time when there was just one personal computer on the market: the Altair 8800, based on the Intel 8080 microprocessor. Some 32 people showed up for the first meeting. Two months later the ranks had swelled to more than a hundred.

The first meeting itself was rather mundane. There was the usual talk about standards, input ports and the need for better operating code for the 8080. It was all in a day’s work for the engineers and software programmers gathered there.

The big question was what would people do with a computer in their home? And there was no shortage of potential applications thrown up: text editing, storage, games, educational uses, and even using the system to control home utilities such as the alarm, heating and sprinkler system. Pretty radical considering that just about 2,000 personal computers were in use then.

The Homebrew Club’s story, however, will be forever entwined with the tale of how Apple got its start. Club member Steve Wozniak at age 24 had completed the basic design for what would become the Apple I and II personal computers. He started showing the schematics at club meetings, asking for feedback.

Feedback he got, from fellow club member and high school friend Steve Jobs: Don't give your ideas away for free. Wozniak listened. The duo soon collaborated to found Apple.

The Homebrew Computer Club met regularly for two years until 1977, and then it faded away. But its legacy to Silicon Valley continues.

Source: Various

Scott Brown on Dark Superheroes and Childish Action Figures

In 1986, when DC released Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller's bleak, brutal reclamation of Batman's id, I had no use for revisionist superheroes and iconoclastic countermyth. I was 10 and doing some deconstructing of my own, putting my G.I. Joes through tortures that would make even Dick Cheney's atomic heart skip a beat. The Joe "team leader," Duke, with his corn-fed, all-American good looks, was an especially attractive target. (He was dishonorably discharged by a cluster of M-80s, if memory serves.) In some 3¾-inch alternate universe, I am a war criminal.

Flash forward a couple of decades. I no longer take out my misanthropy on action figures (that's what YouTube talkbacks are for). But the bilious, '80s po-mo funk pioneered by Miller and Alan Moore—cocreator of the ultimate post-superhero superhero story, Watchmen—has seeped into several "all-ages" comic book properties and various pop-culture salients, most notably the blockbuster film The Dark Knight. And Watchmen itself has gone mainstream: There's a movie coming out (see our article "Behind the Scenes of the Watchmen Movie,") that supposedly faithfully follows the original antiheroic exploits of Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan, and their traumatized, Nietzsche-haunted, not-so superfriendly cohorts.

And like any movie that boasts men in latex, with its release come the action figures.

The trouble is, these new angsty comics flicks aren't for kids, so why are the toys they spawn? I mean, what could the savage 10-year-old me do to a Rorschach figurine that the beautiful lunatic hasn't already done to himself?

Toy manufacturers keep churning them out, however. Last Christmas, Wal-Mart hawked "unique, poseable action figures that bring home all the fun and excitement of The Dark Knight." (Whoever wrote that copy either never saw the film or lacks a functioning amygdala.) Yet astonishingly, in a year when the Caped Crusader broke box-office records, Bat baubles got trounced by sunnier licenses like perennial champ Star Wars.

The reason, besides the slim possibility that parents did some actual parenting and steered their kids away from The Dark Knight, might be psychological: Deeply damaged characters in figurine form deny youngsters those first tender forays into cruelty—that compulsive subconscious release so critical to the concept of "play"—by arriving already effed-up. Children are adept at defacing, even deconstructing, the fantasies McPackaged for them. Adults, on the other hand, need help. Maybe that's why the Watchmen wizards have cooked up a mobile game starring the Comedian, a shockingly unfunny US superpatriot and ultracynic modeled in part on G. Gordon Liddy: Playing as this "hero," you can grease waves of Vietcong with gleeful Rambosity.

Hardcore? Sure. But it's also therapeutic. Given the right toys, we adults can recapture our childlike barbarism—with a touch of sophistication. So allow me to propose the Damaged Goods Collection: an interactive Hulk doll we can pretend to befriend but then subtly torment by leveraging "body issues," or an insecure ThunderCat we can destroy by conducting a very public affair with Dynomutt.

As for me, the Butcher of Hasbro? I'm old-school (or maybe just middle-school). Yes, I'm stocking up on cherry bombs for the inevitable battalion of schwag soldiers deployed with this summer's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Good Ol' Duke (played by hunky homunculus Channing Tatum) will still be begging for a bottle-rocket test flight, I suspect. But Joseph Gordon-Levitt, it seems, will be playing a different kind of fighter—a dude with serious baggage, sporting jet-black Rorschach blots of his own. Maybe there'll be one action figure out there for the kids who instinctively supply their own darkness and another for the adults who need the battery included.

Email scott_brown@wired.com.

Driven (Finally): Tesla Roadster

'Watchmen' World Springs From 'Dr. Strangelove,' 'Taxi Driver'

Tesla's Roadster Is Sex on Wheels

The Tesla Roadster is a technological marvel and a damn sexy car that's quicker than a General Motors exec scrambling for a bailout. We finally got a chance to take one for a spin, and although the Roadster isn't perfect, it's fast, nimble and a lot of fun. Check out our impressions over at Autopia and enjoy a little EV motoporn.

Left: Although based on the Lotus Elise, the two cars share fewer than 7 percent of their parts, and most of those are in the dashboard. Everything else was redesigned to accommodate the electric drivetrain. As sexy as the car is in pictures, it's even better in person. Like all proper sports cars, it looks best in red.

The engine and battery are in the middle of the car, leaving just enough room in the trunk for a set of golf clubs — but not a spare tire. Don't worry, though. The $109,000 price tag includes the can of Fix-a-Flat you see tucked into the left underside of hood.

With 276 foot-pounds of torque pushing the car from zero to 60 in 3.9 seconds, the license plate is all most people will see when you stomp on the accelerator.

The interior is all business, with few amenities beyond A/C, a stereo/navi system and power windows — but, oddly, no power mirrors. Electronic nannies include anti-lock brakes and traction control.

There's no power steering, so turning the tiny Momo wheel is a bear until you're up to speed. The heated leather seats are supportive and reasonably comfortable, but getting over those wi-i-i-i-ide doorsills requires the grace of an Olympic gymnast.

Carbon-fiber bodywork makes the Roadster exceptionally light with a curb weight of 2,723 pounds. Impressive, considering the Elise weights 1,984 pounds, and the Roadster is burdened with 6,831 lithium-ion cells in a battery pack that weighs 992 pounds. To give you an idea how light the carbon is, the hood of the Roadster weighs 8½ pounds.

Yes, that's a radiator. The Roadster doesn't have an engine, but anyone with a laptop computer knows lithium-ion batteries get mighty hot. A cooling system ensures the 53-kilowatt-hour battery will stay cooler than James Dean and Steve McQueen combined.

The Roadster comes with a 120-volt, 15-amp charger that recharges the 53-kWh battery in — get this — 37 hours. An optional 240-volt, 70-amp "high power" charger cuts that to about three hours, but it costs $3,000.

Still, Tesla says the regular charger is sufficient because the battery rarely gets drained. "With an EV, you're constantly topping it off," says spokeswoman Rachel Konrad. "You aren't charging it up from empty."

There's just enough room under the front bonnet for, well, nothing, really. Every inch is packed with the radiator that keeps the liquid-cooled battery from overheating, various brake system components, and a power controller that reduces the battery's 700-volt output to a more system-friendly 12 volts.

The air ducts on the side aren't there for show — although they look pretty freakin' sweet. They help cool the power-electronics module, the massive computer that controls the car.

The PEM translates commands like acceleration and braking into precisely timed voltages that regulate the speed and direction of the electric motor. It also controls motor torque and regenerative braking, and it keeps tabs on the battery voltage. Think of it as the car's frontal cortex. Tesla says the PEM controls more than 200 kW of electric power under peak acceleration. That’s enough power to illuminate 2,000 100-watt light bulbs.

The Roadster draws more stares than Bar Refaeli at a nude beach, something we found almost as appealing as the car's impressive acceleration.

Pizza joint gives staff t-shirts with the text of 1-star Yelp reviews

Instead of simply bitching about Yelp, they've made Yelp their bitch and taken quotes from one-star reviews posted on Yelp about the pizzeria and made them into T-shirts for their staff to wear. (They also have one that simply says, "This place sucks," a quote from yet another typically eloquent and insightful Yelp review.)

Y Combinator’s Divvyshot Launches Dead Simple Group Photo Sharing

Divvyshot, a new Y Combinator company that makes sharing photos between groups very easy, has just launched in private alpha. The site allows groups of users to share full-resolution photos collaboratively both through online galleries and using native clients that will launch in the next few weeks. There are currently 700 invites available, which you can grab here.

Divvyshot albums can be edited by multiple users, and can be set as private (only allowing designated friends to upload photos) or public, which lets anyone upload their photos to the album. All photos are presented at a fairly high resolution on the site, and are also available at their original quality for download (you can also download entire albums at a time as .zip files).

Once the site’s native clients are released (they’re coming for both Mac and Windows), users will be able to simply drag their photos into a designated folder on their desktop, and they’ll be automatically uploaded to the online group albums and to every other group member’s native client.

Founder Sam Odio says that he hasn’t settled on a monetization plan, explaining that he has considered going the SmugMug route and charging for bandwidth/storage. But he’s also thinking of trying to generate revenue by appealing to certain target demographics and then selling them highly relevant customized goods. For example, he believes that Divvyshot will likely appeal to Sorority girls, who may be eager to share their photos between close friends but not on social networks like Facebook. Divvyshot could capitalize on this demographic by selling personalized items (perhaps branded with the sorority’s logo) that featured their photos.

Divvyshot looks nice and seems to work well, but it’s going to have no shortage of competition. There are already quite a few photo sharing sites that allow for group collaboration, and services like Apple’s MobileMe allow for photo sharing through desktop clients (you could even conceivably use something like Dropbox). That said, if it can effectively separate itself by offering a more intuitive (or cheaper) service, it may be able to carve out a niche.

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280 North’s Atlas Bridges The Gap Between Web Apps And Native iPhone Applications

Back when the iPhone first launched and the App Store was still a twinkle in Apple’s eye, the only way to get your goods onto the platform was to develop them as an iPhone-optimized web page - otherwise known as an iPhone Web App. Unable to make use of much of iPhone’s functionality (like the GPS, camera, etc.), Web Apps were quickly considered the inferior option when Apple unshackled the iPhone SDK, opening the doors for the standalone Objective-C apps which have since flooded through the App Store. It was great news for Objective-C developers and consumers looking for rich applications - but not so much for those who’d grown accustomed to developing for the web.

At the recent Future of Web Apps conference in Miami, Y-Combinator-backed 280 North announced Atlas, a drag-and-drop visual editor for building desktop web applications with Cappuccino, 280 North’s Javascript-based framework. Near the tail end of the presentation, 280 North co-founder Francisco Tolmasky gave the audience a sneak peek of one of Atlas’ best features: iPhone support. The real trick? Atlas can wrap up iPhone Web Apps like native applications, granting them access to a significant portion of the iPhone API and allowing them to be sold through the App Store.

This lowers the barrier of entry for iPhone development substantially, allowing those with Javascript knowledge to create fully functional applications on the platform without requiring them to learn a whole new language. The same limitations that apply to Javascript apply here, presumably - in other words, don’t expect to be throwing down ultra-rich OpenGL-based 3D games, but mid-range apps (such as Twitter clients, RSS readers, etc.) should be completely doable.

How the API-related stuff works is still a bit of a mystery. 280 North is keeping mum on their methods for the time being - not only for the sake of maximum impact when Atlas launches in the coming months, but also because they’re still determining which of a handful of approaches will work best. I’d assumed that Atlas compiled the user’s code within a wrapper which served as a middle man, passing API calls to the iPhone and returning the results, but a quick chat with Tolmasky indicated that this wasn’t necessarily the case.

If it works as demonstrated, it’s a wonderful idea. We’ll have to keep an eye on this one.

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

280 North’s Atlas bridges the gap between Web Apps and native iPhone applications

Back when the iPhone first launched and the App Store was still a twinkle in Apple’s eye, the only way to get your goods onto the platform was to develop them as an iPhone-optimized web page - otherwise known as an iPhone Web App. Unable to make use of much of iPhone’s functionality (like the GPS, camera, etc.), Web Apps were quickly considered the inferior option when Apple unshackled the iPhone SDK, opening the doors for the standalone Objective-C apps which have since flooded through the App Store. It was great news for Objective-C developers and consumers looking for rich applications - but not so much for those who’d grown accustomed to developing for the web.

At the recent Future of Web Apps conference in Miami, Y-Combinator-backed 280 North announced Atlas, a drag-and-drop visual editor for building desktop web applications with Cappuccino, 280 North’s Javascript-based framework. Near the tail end of the presentation, 280 North co-founder Francisco Tolmasky gave the audience a sneak peek of one of Atlas’ best features: iPhone support. The real trick? Atlas can wrap up iPhone Web Apps like native applications, granting them access to a significant portion of the iPhone API and allowing them to be sold through the App Store.

This lowers the barrier of entry for iPhone development substantially, allowing those with Javascript knowledge to create fully functional applications on the platform without requiring them to learn a whole new language. The same limitations that apply to Javascript apply here, presumably - in other words, don’t expect to be throwing down ultra-rich OpenGL-based 3D games, but mid-range apps (such as Twitter clients, RSS readers, etc.) should be completely doable.

How the API-related stuff works is still a bit of a mystery. 280 North is keeping mum on their methods for the time being - not only for the sake of maximum impact when Atlas launches in the coming months, but also because they’re still determining which of a handful of approaches will work best. I’d assumed that Atlas compiled the user’s code within a wrapper which served as a middle man, passing API calls to the iPhone and returning the results, but a quick chat with Tolmasky indicated that this wasn’t necessarily the case.

If it works as demonstrated, it’s a wonderful idea. We’ll have to keep an eye on this one.

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

DNA-radio, Tune In To Your Chromosomes

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Amazon introduces Kindle app for iPhone

Section: Apple, Web, Web Apps, Websites

Amazon has rolled out its Kindle app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  The app allows users to read Kindle books on the devices.  You can buy the books on your computer and send them to your iPhone or Touch via Wi-Fi, or via the device itself.  If you are a Kindle owner, you can download all your purchased books for free. The iPhone supports the Kindle’s Whispersync service so you can go from reading a book on your device to reading it on your Kindle without losing your place.

Kindle for iPhone looks to give both Google and existing iPhone e-readers such as Stanza a serious run for their money now that iPhone users have access to Amazon’s library of over 240,000 titles - and that number grows everyday.  Kindle for iPhone requires an iPhone or iPod Touch with the 2.1 software update and is available for free from the App Store.

During the Kindle 2 unveiling, the Amazon reps mentioned that Kindle books would work with multiple devices other than Kindle.  Don’t be surprised to see Kindle apps for Palm and BlackBerries once those app stores get started. 

Read [PCWorld]

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

Wii MotionPlus coming out mid-June?

According to a kind of shaky trail of evidence, it looks like Wii’s much-awaited MotionPlus accessory will be coming out ahead of Grand Slam Tennis, which itself is slated for June 18th. Now, keep in mind that no one has actually said this. But like so many things, that doesn’t not mean it’s not not true.

If the add-on is supposed to come out before the Tennis game (according to Nintendo Power), and the Tennis game comes out on June 18th, the conclusions are obvious, Watson. Of course, if that Nintendo Power article is just nonsense written by Nintendo months ago before the delay of the MotionPlus, everything changes. But that couldn’t be!

Ballmer Promises Faster Windows Mobile Development (PC World)

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Section: Features, Gadgetell Announcements

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

Windows 7 Lets You Uninstall IE8

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Neckwarmer modded with lights+LilyPad Arduino

[Caution: loud music, starts instantly]
Since neckwarmers can’t just be neckwarmers, this guy put together a LilyPad Arduino neckwarmer. A simple neckwarmer was modified with lights, a LilyPad Arduino, and a light sensor to make the lights blink when it’s dark. The maker claims that it will keep you warm in the winter while biking, at the same time keeping you visible to drivers. I guess reflectors and simple blinking lights aren’t good enough anymore.

Google announces winners of video Symphony Orchestra contest

Section: Web, Websites, Google

Google has assembled the first ever YouTube Symphony Orchestra by selecting candidates based on video only auditions.  Winners are part of the YouTube Orchestra, which is made up of classical musicians and will get the chance to come together in New York City on April 12.

Starting on the 12th, the winners will take a variety of master classes by some of the best classical musicians in the world.  Then, on April 15, a live performance of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra will be given at New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall.  Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas will lead the orchestra for the concert event.  A main highlight of the concert will be a video montage of each winning contestant playing their audition piece composed by Tan Dun.

The winning videos are now available to view on YouTube.  Simply, select one of the orchestra’s icons on the Symphony Orchestra page and it will automatically start playing that person’s audition video.

Site: [YouTube Symphony Orchestra]

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

Bionic eyes let blind man sort socks

A man fitted with bionic eyes can see light for the first time in 30 years. From the BBC:

Ron, 73, had the experimental surgery seven months ago at London's Moorfield's eye hospital.

He says he can now follow white lines on the road, and even sort socks, using the bionic eye, known as Argus II.

It uses a camera and video processor mounted on sunglasses to send captured images wirelessly to a tiny receiver on the outside of the eye.

Doom + Diablo = kiss the next 10 minutes goodbye

This little fanmade “Doomablo” game hasn’t been updated in a long time, and it’s pretty much just a tech demo, but who cares? It’s totally awesome for the few minutes it’ll take you to beat the three levels that are included. I doubt that there will ever be more, but let us have a moment of silence in honor of what might have been. Update is being worked on! In the forum the creator has said he is actively developing it and hoping for a release perhaps within a month. Thanks to our commenter for keeping us honest.

There we go, now you can go play Shadowgrounds or Crimsonland to get the isometric shoot-em-up nostalgia out of your system.

[via Rock Paper Shotgun]

How Do You Love the Mac Mini? Let Us Count the Ways

One thing is clear: A lot of Wired.com readers like the Mac Mini.

Apple's puny PC is an impressively designed computer, but it's also a bit of a mystery: Just who uses this thing, and what for?

Yesterday, we put the question to you. And your responses came flooding in -- to the tune of 150 comments and counting. It's clear that there are a lot of Mac Mini users out there, and that you are -- for the most part -- very happy with your Minis.

It also proves that those who have predicted the death of the Mac Mini were quite mistaken.

I pulled all the comments we received up to about 2:30pm today and tabulated them in a spreadsheet (click to view it in Google Docs, and email me if you want to update it -- I'll send you a Google Docs invitation). Here's the breakdown:

• 38 of you said you (or your parents) use the Mac Mini as your primary computer, either at home or at work. Many cited the machine's low cost ($600 and up) as a major advantage.
• 31 of you use the Mac Mini as a home theater PC, connecting it directly to a TV or HD monitor to watch TV, downloaded videos, Hulu, etc. Several of you mentioned that you ran EyeTV or the Plex Media Server software on your Minis.
• 24 of you use the Mac Mini as a second computer (or third or fourth), either for guests to use, for ad-hoc use in the living room our lounge, or for the kids to use.
• 22 of you use it as some kind of server: web server, development server, or file server.
• 17 of you use it as an audio/video server, streaming multimedia across your home network to other devices (in some cases, Apple TVs) connected to stereos or TVs elsewhere in your homes.
• 12 of you bought the Mac Mini as your first Mac, or as a way of trying out OS X.
• 1 person installed his Mac Mini in his car, using it to deliver audio to the car stereo and to drive a GPS system.
• 2 people reported other uses that I couldn't categorize: one set up a Mac Mini "as a client computer on our LCS audio network" and another commenter reported setting them up in classrooms and educational labs.

A surprising number of you recommended or bought Mac Minis for your parents or grandparents. A few reported that your companies had installed dozens as employees' primary PCs. Quite a few of you own more than one.

And one of you is just crazy for the things, with five Mac Minis at home: three attached to various TVs, one as a web server for development work, and one as a fax machine. Frank, when you say "I love my minis," we believe you, man.

Photo: Flickr/flickrich

See Also:

• The Mac Mini: Apple's Red-Headed Stepchild
• New, Faster iMacs, Mac Pros and Mac Minis Now Official

Emergency (MC) Hammer

How to ply yarn (video)

On Craft, Becky Stern presents a video of how to ply yarn.


Source: Boing Boing | 5 Mar 2009 | 12:38 am

U.N. World Report Picks Up Massive Growth in Mobile Phone Ownership

According to a report this week from the United Nations, the number of mobile phone subscriptions throughout the world has quadrupled in the last seven years, from 1 billion in 2002 to 4.1 billion by December 2008.

That means that about 60% of the world's population has signed up for a phone and had to endure the laborious task of listening to a telcom worker up-sell unnecessary features and extra plans. Hey it's One World, right? We all get to feel the pain.

In the report, the U.N. notes that the majority of this growth is directly attributed to people in developing countries, who use phones as a more of a survival/functional tool. One of the big mobile applications during this time has been the use of money transfers services through phones, for people who don't have bank accounts. For example, Nigerian and Kenyan companies recently announced they'd be expanding these services over the next year.

There are a few other interesting techy trends of note in the report. Internet use has more than doubled throughout the world, from 11% in 2002 to 23%, but that in developing countries, only one person out of twenty has access to the internet on average.

The report also found that despite the fact that 'fixed' or broadband internet connections offer the fastest web access, their generally more expensive rate has priced out, for now, about 80% of people who have internet access in developed countries. In developing countries, only 5% of people have broadband access to the net.

Another interesting note to take from the report is that the huge growth in mobile phone use shows that higher-speed web access for mobiles is growing at a faster rate than regular high-speed access for anything else, like businesses or homes. What this means is that the device most people will likely use and rely on in the future will be the cell phone, above all else.

Lead Photo: MarkKelly/flickr

CrunchArcade roundup

Here’s what went down today in the world of gaming.

The other week we told you about Atari’s Riddick title coming in April and today they’ve let loose the demo for Xbox Live. No word on when the demo for PS3 will drop, though.

Featuring the Athena Main Decks level, the demo showcases the evocative art style and breadth of gameplay contained in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, including brutal melee combat, nerve-rattling stealth, and high-powered gunplay. Among other gameplay elements, the demo also lets players try one of the game’s unique features, controlling a Drone, while classic Riddick cut-scenes bring the harsh Riddick universe into sharp focus.

• BB Video: WATCHMEN movie CG tech with Zack Snyder (director), Des Jardin (VFX)
• Canadian prime minister Harper gets the Hitler/Untergang remix ...
• Hitler plans Burning Man - Boing Boing
• Canadian prime minister Harper gets the Hitler/Untergang remix ...
• The Downfall of HD-DVD (video) - Boing Boing
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• If Stan Lee wrote Watchmen - Boing Boing
• Watchmen comic remixes - Boing Boing