Source: Gizmodo | 17 Mar 2009 | 12:30 pm

The Dell Adamo is finally official

Dell has been teasing us with shots of the thin Adamo ever since CES, but the notebook is finally here. We spied the thin notebook yesterday at SXSW and it looked great, but a spec card was nowhere to be seen. Thankfully, Dell has finally released all the info about the “Thinnest Notebook Available.”

The 13.4-inch Adamo will be the first in the series and comes in a oh-so-sexy aluminum package. The whole thing weighs a pound more than the Apple MacBook Air, but manages to measure in at .65-inches. Sadly it seems that this guy doesn’t pack the goods where it counts to justify the $1999 price though.

Within the ultra thin body is a 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo U9300 with integrated Intel X4500 graphics, 2GB of memory, with a 128GB SSD and optional mobile broadband. This notebook might even pack a five hour battery life. Just like the Air and other ultra thin notebooks, the optical drive will be external but available in both the standard CD/DVD or Blu-ray flavor.

Those keeping track will note that while this notebook comes with a 128GB SSD, which Apple charges $500 for on top of the $1,799 base price, everything else within this Windows Vista machine is sub-standard for that pricepoint. Besides that SSD, the $1799 base price of the Air nets you a faster CPU, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics, and an OS that isn’t Windows Vista. Or, the Voodoo Envy which has similar specs and size, but is a tad less expensive.

Maybe the next incarnation of the Adamo will come packing the with something other than just good looks. And maybe some modern specs to justify the very high price. As it stand right now, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to purchase this notebook when it launches on March 26th over the equally sexy Voodoo Envy or OS X-running MacBook Air.

ROUND ROCK, Texas, March 17, 2009 - Style-minded people who place a premium on precision craftsmanship and design can now add Adamo to their list of must-have items for 2009. Dell today unveiled the world’s thinnest laptop as a kick off to the new Adamo by Dell brand.

Adamo, derived from the Latin word meaning “to fall in love,” will serve as a flagship in a line of products created to disrupt the personal computing space with the combination of new design, aesthetics, personalization choices and sought-after technologies.

The News:

Adamo is the pinnacle of craftsmanship and design and features:

· A chassis milled from a single piece of aluminum featuring precision detailing and a scalloped backlit keyboard

· Striking high definition edge-to-edge glass display

· Fully connected with WiFi, Bluetooth(tm) and optional integrated mobile broadband* and full complement of connectivity ports with no compromises

· Cool, quiet and robust solid state drives

· Available in Onyx and Pearl colors with a broad range of complementary accessories

· Price starting at $1999

Quotes:

“Great design needs to be timeless and evoke emotion in people”, said Alex Gruzen, senior vice president of Dell’s consumer products. “While a premium computing experience was assumed for Adamo, the intent was for people to see, touch and explore Adamo and be rewarded by the select materials and craftsmanship you would expect in a fine watch.”

“Dell continues to signal a commitment to design and personalization across its entire product line and has made significant strides forward in the past year,” said Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst, Enderle Group. “The Adamo laptop is a showcase for this commitment and a flagship product that will draw buyers to the brand.”

People who choose Adamo will be offered a unique color matched collection of Adamo by Dell branded peripherals and accessories including, in the U.S. an exclusive line of bags from TUMI. Choices will include:

· External storage option with 250GB** or 500GB** external hard drive.

· External DVD+/-RW or Blu-ray disc drive.

· 8GB** USB drive.

· Connectors and cables including DisplayPort to HDMI, DVI, and VGA.

· Adamo Premium Service (US Only):

o 24/7 access to Dell’s best trained technicians

o Consistent communication with a dedicated personal team

The Adamo by Dell brand is being supported by innovative and new approaches to marketing and promotion for Dell. Designed to challenge people’s perceptions of what a computer is, the Adamo by Dell brand was inspired by fashion, luxury brands and timeless design.

Dell has looked beyond traditional approaches to reaching computer shoppers and launched a provocative campaign featuring:

· A stylish worldwide print campaign shot by acclaimed British-based photographer Nadav Kandar and featuring high-fashion models that reinforces the “fall in love” positioning. Kander, whose work is celebrated in galleries worldwide, also shot the moving portfolio, “Obama’s People,” which appeared in The New York Times Magazine earlier this year.

· AdamoByDell.com , the centerpiece of the campaign and a highly stylized site where viewers can learn about Adamo, register for updates and, beginning today, place orders. Since its launch last month, AdamoByDell.com has attracted nearly 800,000 unique visitors from around the world and more than 1 million page views.

· Artful packaging in which the product arrives “floating” in a clear box with minimal clutter - a beautiful experience for a sophisticated product.

Product Specifications:

· Intel® Core 2 Duo processors with Intel® Centrino ® technology

· DDR3 system memory

· 13.4-inch 16:9 HD display

· Draft-Wireless N

· High-performance solid state drives standard

· Bluetooth 2.1

· Mobile Broadband* option

· Up to 5+ hours of battery life (preliminary)***

· 2 USB ports, 1 USB/eSATA combo port, Display Port, RJ-45 port

· Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-bit

Available for pre-order today at www.adamobydell.com and shipping worldwide starting March 26, 2009, Adamo will be available online for purchase in 24 countries including U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, U.K. France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, ANZ, China, Honk Kong, India, Korea, Malaysia/Singapore, Japan, and Indonesia.

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Mar 2009 | 12:23 pm

EFF Unveils Search Tool for FOIA Results

The EFF has released a beta version of a new search tool that lets you mine the documents the EFF has unearthed using FOIA requests and lawsuits over the years. Quoting: "In celebration of Sunshine Week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today launched a sophisticated search tool that allows the public to closely examine thousands of pages of documents the organization has pried loose from secretive government agencies. The documents relate to a wide range of cutting-edge technology issues and government policies that affect civil liberties and personal privacy." I tried a search for "border" among the documents relating to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and turned up 21 results and fascinating reading.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 17 Mar 2009 | 12:11 pm

How British cops are criminalising peaceful protest

Citizen K sez,

Last week Lib Dem MP David Howarth held a meeting in Westminster to present a highly disturbing and potentially explosive report on the way police in the UK are criminalising legitimate protest. The report, produced by the Climate Camp's legal support team and entitled Policing of the Kingsnorth Climate Camp: Preventing Disorder or Preventing Protest?, documents a concerted campaign by police to deter, smear, intimidate, harass, and criminalise UK citizens who did nothing more than attempt to exercise their right to peaceful protest.

As well as documenting the alarming police tactics at Kingsnorth, the report also highlights a deliberate attempt to deflect criticism through misinformation. Government justified the heavy-handed approach by revealing that 70 police officers had been injured policing the protest; but a freedom of information request revealed that these 'injuries to police' included such things as heatstroke, toothache and insect bites. Vernon Coaker, the Home Office minister who had made the claim about police injuries, was later forced to apolgise to the House and admit that "there were no recorded injuries to police officers sustained as a result of direct contact with the protestors

A 10-minute video showing the heavy-handed policing was also presented at the launch of the report.

Kingsnorth report reveals shocking police campaign of intimidation against protesters (Thanks, Citizen K!)


Source: Boing Boing | 17 Mar 2009 | 12:09 pm

Weight-Revealing Billboard Shames Fatties into Joining Gym

Here we see the results of an ad campaign for the gym chain Fitness First. The bus stop seat has a scale inside, hooked up to a readout on the billboard. The idea is to shame overweight bus-goers into signing up, and we love it. The campaign was designed by Amsterdam based agency N=5, and ran in the Netherlands.

That last part is probably the most relevant. Can you imagine something like this running in the US? The company responsible would be sued out of existence in about five seconds, a class action lawsuit citing "psychological damage" or some such nonsense. Hell, I'll probably catch a slew of hate mail just for using the word fatties in the title of this post (if you must, you can reach me here. Put the word "fat" in the subject line).

Worse, though, would be the result if this ad were to run in England. I can (quite seriously) imagine children (who should be in school) lying in wait with bags of cream cakes, ready to throw them at anyone over 200lbs who has the naivete to sit on the scale.

Fitness First "Bus Stop" [Direct Daily via Kottke]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Mar 2009 | 12:05 pm

Dell Adamo

Dell's Adamo is .65-inches thick at its thickest point, weighs four pounds, has a 13.4" 1,366 x 768 display, 2GB of RAM, and Intel GMX4500 video. Dell claims 5 hours of battery life, and it has 2 USB ports and a USB/eSata combo port. It has a 1.2 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU and comes in black or white.

At $2,000 to start, it makes the MacBook Air look cheap. For $2,700, you get WWAN, a faster processor, and 4GB of RAM. It's available for pre-order now.

CNET is getting the exclusive and has posted its unboxing. Early this morning, Blogee.net spotted the Adamo 9 on a compatibility list: a netbook version! Netbook choice has more information.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Mar 2009 | 12:05 pm

iPhone 3.0 Rumors Most Likely to Come True (PC World)

PC World - The iPhone 3.0 event is only hours away, and I'm more interested than I've been before any recent Apple trade show or presentation. Rumors are flying about the software update roadmap; here are a few of my favorite predictions.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 17 Mar 2009 | 12:00 pm

Apture Raises $4.1 Million Round For Contextual Rich Media Overlays

Apture, the startup that lets online publishers enhance content with pop-ups that carry rich media from a variety of sources based on the context of linked words and terms, has scored a healthy $4.1 million in Series A financing from Clearstone Venture Partners and a number of angel investors including Paul Maritz (CEO of VMware) and Steve Taylor (former Executive VP of the Boston Globe). The service was first launched in June 2008 and has much improved since then.

Online publishers can use Apture by simply inserting a line of Javascript code after creating an account, which allows them to link words and phrases to a HTML-based overlay that acts like a minitiature browser that enables readers to find and explore related multimedia content without leaving the original page. Note that this only works when you’re actually on the equipped page, not in the RSS feed, and that the functionality is not supported by Wordpress.com.

Contextual content is fetched from sources like Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, Amazon, etc. but also Twitter and FriendFeed (more on that below). They’ve also added CrunchBase to the mix, which we wrote about here.

You can see Apture in action by clicking through to this Washington Post article. Just hover over the names of U.S. Senators with a little icon next to them, and the widget should pop out automatically. I only wish it wouldn’t scroll the article up or down when it opens a pop-up, but I find it surprisingly non-intrusive besides that.

New is that Apture now also supports adding rich media links to content that hasn’t yet been published (something that wasn’t possible before and probably slowed down its adoption a bit) thanks to the addition of plugins for Blogger, TypePad, WordPress and MovableType.

They’ve also just released a neat integration with Twitter, so that you can easily link @username or #hashtags to Twitter streams in blog post or news articles, which is an excellent feature if you ask me. Read more about it here and hover over the account of Sen. John McCain in the blog post to see how it works.

Apture is free of charge for bloggers and online publishers with less than five million page views per month. More pageviews means you have to pay to use the service, but that’s not the core of Apture’s business model, which is centered around charging publishers for premium features, integration of custom content sources, customizations, and priority support. On top of that, Apture runs its own advertising sales with display opportunities across its entire publisher network, and splits that revenue with those publishers.

Apture has already been tested by BBC, Reuters and the Washington Post, and The New York Times is also said to be experimenting with the service.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Mar 2009 | 11:57 am

Peek Now Available in Cheap Packs of Five

In “These Troubled Times™", a business could be forgiven for saving some cash. Peek is hoping that a little of that money will come its way and has released its poor man’s Blackberry in a five-pack for just $150, saving $100 on the usual $50 apiece.

Anxious accountants might still balk at the $20 a month fee for the e-mail only device, but its still a lot cheaper than a cellphone plan, and is immune to extra charges (the Peek has an all-you-can-eat plan). Still, we can’t help thinking that, if given one of these in place of a real Blackberry, your average besuited businessman might be a little disappointed, much like a child who opens his Christmas gift and finds not a real Darth Vader playset but a cheaper “Dark Lord Play Hat".

Looking at the Peek again (one of Wired mag’s favorite gadgets of last year), it strikes me how similar this thing is to the Kindle 2. And this in turn sets me a-speculatin’. Shouldn’t the Kindle, with its long battery life, great text display and always-on cell connection, be loaded with a simple but great e-mail client? An Amazon branded Gmail, for instance. I'd buy that.

Peek’s offer is valid until April 3rd.

Product page [Peek]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Mar 2009 | 11:45 am

Soviet-Era Accessories Make Digicams Usable

The one thing stopping from buying a Lumix LX3 is the lack of a proper optical viewfinder. Well, that and the fact that I love my Canon G9, which also lacks a proper optical viewfinder (Canon opted to put a glass-filled pinhole in its place).

Panasonic does sell an accessory finder, but it costs from $200 to $300, the price of another camera. Its not surprising, then that some have decided to roll their own solutions using old ‘finders, originally used on rangefinder cameras. Rob over at Boing Boing Gadgets pointed us to one but, because I couldn’t find where the picture came from, I searched Flickr and found a wealth of hackery. Keep reading to see some great home-grown solutions.

The shot above is from Dave Kee and is notable not just for the old Zeitar viewfinder slotted into the hotshoe but for the black tape clothing in which the LX3 is wrapped.

Photo [Dave Kee/Flickr]

Below we have pictures from Sam Venn (the cool, out-of-focus one), vickie_s (the round one in the garden). Joining them is the rather steampunkish viewfinder from aphovasse, although it doesn’t appear in his photostream. Here’s what he says:

 

Not wanting to spend 300 dollars for the Lumix LX3 viewfinder, I found this one on one of old Russian cameras I got in Moscow many years ago. The wide angle setting works perfectly for the 16:9 aspect ratio. Upon seeing it, my daughter (who inherited the LX2) rolled her eyes and accused me of being a complete photard, but at least now I have a viewfinder.

A great find. I actually had one of the simpler circular finders on an old Fed (a Russian Leica clone) but I gave it away. Sigh.

Old Russian analog viewfinder gives Lumix LX3 Red zazz [BBG]

Photo: vickie_s/Flickr

Photo: Sam Ven/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Mar 2009 | 11:25 am

Father Jack wishes you a happy St Paddy's day!

Joe sez,

A group of seven Irish comics artists - Stephen Mooney, Stephen Thompson, PJ Holden, Nick Roche, Will Sliney, Bob Byrne and Declan Shalvey - recently set up their own collective comics sketching blog, Eclectic Micks. As Declan put it, they were trying to raise the profile of Irish comics creators and make readers as aware of them as they are of the great talent we have in the UK.

With seven artists the guys are effectively taking a day each to post sketches - for today Declan has posted up a piece that isn't actually comics related but dammit, it's so good it has to be shared: St Patrick's Day greetings from the always charming and deeply pious Father Jack Hackett from Graham Linehan's brilliant Father Ted series (surely one of THE stand out comedy series of the last couple of decades). If you're getting ODed on dyed green rivers and people donning ginger beards and green hats here's a St Pat's Day antidote for you. Now where's my drink, you feckers? DRINK!!!

HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY FROM FATHER JACK HACKETT! (Thanks, Joe!)



Source: Gizmodo | 17 Mar 2009 | 10:58 am

Pointless P-Hooks Hook Your Books

The P-Hook might sound like something to help handless pirates to use the bathroom, but it isn't. Instead, it's a combination bookmark and erm, book grabber device.

The genius behind the little ring-pull is that it obviates the tiresome and time consuming act of actually grabbing hold of the book to remove it from the shelf. I'm kidding. A quick push of the book on either side to get access to the target spine is all that is needed (it is also the Official Bookshop Method). The P-Hook looks like it would do more harm that carelessly fingering the corners of the book with your dirty paws. It also ruins the line of books on the shelf, a big problem for an OCD organizer like me, who files his books by cover color.

The one saving feature is that they'll work as bookmarks. You know, like a torn piece of paper or the folded corner of the page itself. $7 for a 12-pack. Or spend just $5 more and use the dollar bills to mark your place.

Product page [Black Ink via Dvice]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Mar 2009 | 10:47 am

Zombie cake topper

Etsy seller BellaSmiles -- whose store is chock-a-block with delightful, gruesome desiderata -- is selling this lovely zombie wedding cake topper, perfect for your zombie wedding. We had a steampunk robot topper (natch!), but this would have been a strong contender.

Custom Zombie Wedding Cake Topper (Thanks, @bonniegrrl!)

Update: Candice sez, "I saw Cory's post about cake toppers and it reminded me of the robot cake topper my husband and I made for our wedding. It was a great collaborative project because it made us slow down and concentrate on something less volatile than, say, the seating chart in the weeks before the event. I highly recommend this kind of a project to any crafty folk out there about to get married -- or in the case of my husband, software engineers about to marry crafty folk."

Source: Boing Boing | 17 Mar 2009 | 10:37 am

QOTD [Digital Daily]

QOTD [Digital Daily]

I compete with HP, I compete with IBM, and I compete with Sun. And I am perfectly able, willing and ready to compete with Cisco in the server space.

– Rick Becker, Dell’s vice president of software and solutions, says he’s not worried by Cisco’s new push into the server market

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Mar 2009 | 10:00 am

Alltop Launches Personalized Feed Reader That Can Hardly Be Personalized

Alltop, the “online magazine rack” that offers visitors a clean overview of RSS-feed enabled sources categorized by topic, is launching version 3.0 today with the addition of a custom feed reader that’s supposed to make it easier for users to personalize their user experience when browsing for online news. But how personalized is it really?

The feature, dubbed MyAlltop, lets users create a custom page with a so-called vanity URL (e.g. my.alltop.com/techcrunch) where they can add feeds from a variety of topics and display all the widgets on one page, which can then be shared with others. All users need to do is register and add feeds to their public pages by clicking a small plus sign displayed next to feed widgets.

I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right. Personalized start pages like Netvibes, iGoogle, PageFlakes, etc. have been around for years, and they pretty much all offer the above and much more. MyAlltop only lets you grab feeds that are already on Alltop, so no custom widgets for you (tough luck if you wanted to insert your mom’s blog). Furthermore, Alltop doesn’t have a decent search function, which makes it very hard to look for sources to add unless I’m 100% certain they will be in a specific category. With 31,000 sources in 550 topics, they’re hurting themselves not to make search a priority instead of launching new features like MyAlltop.

For example, I can’t find our sister site MobileCrunch anywhere on Alltop (not even in the Mobile category), so that pretty much blocks me from creating a public TechCrunch presence on Alltop with all our feeds in it. All I could do at this point is notify Alltop that there’s a great resource on all things mobile missing in the pre-defined category list of feeds and hope that they add it. Personalization it ain’t.

You could of course claim that Alltop takes the hassle out of having to locate the RSS feeds of your favorite sources and go through a few steps in order to add them to any personalized feed reader, but how much of a problem is this really? I think it’s a bit of a stretch to claim MyAlltop simplifies creating a custom feed reader because it already has been dead simple for many years. In my opinion, anyone who thinks the process of personalizing your RSS feed reading experience with Netvibes or iGoogle is cumbersome will probably feel the same way after trying MyAlltop.

Here’s a video about Alltop (the new feature is explained a bit in the end):

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Mar 2009 | 9:48 am

Nextar Launches Sears- and Drugstore-bound iPod Touch Clone

If you want to know your options the next time you drop into a Sears or a random drugstore and need to buy a cheapie media player, we have an answer. You may not want to hear it, though.

Low-budget gadget-maker Nextar has come up with an iPod Touch clone, the MA809, but the quality screen, design advantage, and overall quality of the real Touch is so far above the other, that the $80 difference between the 8GB versions seems ludicrous. 

At a first glance, the $150 8GB MA809 media player doesn't look too bad. It's slim at .25 inches, has a 2.8-inch TFT screen (at 400x240 pixel resolution), and supports different video and audio files, including MP4s, and AVI/WMA videos. And the battery claims are fine, at eight hours of continuous audio playing.

But compare it to other media players and it underwhelms. The iPod Touch has a larger LCD (320x480 pixels) that is multi-touch, and has the facility of hundreds of useful applications. And forget about comparing that screen with any of the bright, colorful options from Archos or Sony.

Nextar has actually come up with some interesting GPS devices recently, including the competitively priced ME GPS system. But this player is not in that class and it won't make much noise in the PMP market.

There's a potentially better MA809 option at $100 but it only has room for an unimpressive 2GB of media. Boost that to 8 GB at that price, fill me up with sugary drinks from the local Kwik-E-Mart and roll me up to the counter after two full days weeks lacking sleep and I'd be happy to take it.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Mar 2009 | 9:23 am

Office Depot Employee — "We Changed Prices Too"

Avram Piltch writes "Last week, LAPTOP reported that Office Depot employees were routinely lying to customers about notebook inventory, telling them that systems were out of stock if they didn't want to buy extended warranties or tech services. Now LAPTOP has spoken to more Office Depot associates, one of whom goes by the name Alex and reports widespread altering of prices in his region. He says he even Photoshops higher price tags on clearance notebooks so that associates can tell customers that they're getting a free warranty or tech service, when the price has been raised to cover it. LAPTOP also talked to a representative from the FTC, who would not comment on Office Depot specifically, but said that the sales practices described by LAPTOP clearly violate federal law."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Gizmodo | 17 Mar 2009 | 9:15 am

Punk shed anthem

The delightfully named middle-aged British punk band PUNKS NOT DAD have released a high-energy anthem devoted to the delights of the humble garden shed, entitled: "In Me Shed."

There’s a place where I wanna go
be on my own when I’m feeling low
Only place that I wanna be – ONLY PLACE WHERE A DAD CAN BE FREE!
If you want me - you know where to find me If you need me - you’ll know where to look – I’ll be…
In me shed - reading the paper
In me shed - stirring up some paint
In me shed - sorting out me jam jars
In me shed in me shed
In me shed - fixing a puncture
In me shed - oiling the lawnmower
In me shed - having a quiet fag
In me shed in me shed in me shed

Like Punk rock, like sheds, then this is for you. (Thanks, Uncle Wilco!)


Source: Boing Boing | 17 Mar 2009 | 8:51 am

Review: A month with Ooma, the lifetime free VoIP system

Ooma is the VOIP system for people who think long-term and hate bills. $250 up-front gets a lifetime subscription, an attractive space-age unit with integrated answering machine, and an additional "scout" extension unit. Plug the base station in to your router, plug in your old phone, choose a new phone number, and you're ready.

The maths here are extremely simple. Call quality is fine, so if Ooma can last even a few years without going tits-up, you'll save a bucket of money using its system. It seeks to prove that phone service is just another set of bits on the pipe, no different to any other internet-based subscription service you'd never pay more than peanuts for.

So it comes down to whether you like the hardware implementation and other standard-issue VoIP foibles like delay-tastic international calls, buggered-up faxes, and always being vaguely nervous about the e911 system.

A premium feature package, offered for $13 a month or $100 a year, includes a second line, three-way conferencing, call forwarding, call screening, caller blocking, ringtones, and a do-not-disturb mode that routs all calls silently to voicemail. There's even an Akismet-style option to block calls from numbers other Ooma users flag as telemarketers. Porting over your old number is $40.

Local and long-distance calls are free, but international calls are pre-paid at 1c-4c a minute for countries with a modern infrastructure. Nauru is $1.40 a minute. You can top up your account just like a pay-as-you-go cellphone or Skype. Like any VoIP, if your internet goes away, it stops working. Calls are logged, if you like, and can be reviewed online. It does not, however, record the actual calls.

You can plug the base unit directly into your router and it will try and self-configure; putting it between modem and router is the just-works path recommended in the manual, as it guarantees quality of service. Note, you filthy pirates, that this will double-NAT your network unless you put your existing router in bridge mode.

Call quality was good, though there was a delay on international calls that took a few minutes' getting used to. Faxing and home alarm systems are unsupported. Ooma plans FoIP, which will improve matters for analog data transmissions. Some users report that it works just fine if you plug the fax machine directly into the base unit. I didn't test faxing because I live in the 21st century.

The scout is a remote extension unit that hooks up to the base via the phone wiring in your house. Its principal uses are to check voicemail, and to allow you to use the second line from a specific location.

Ooma loves to answer the question, "How do you make money?" This is because wholesale bandwidth is cheap, phone calls don't use any, and you've already paid for it with the initial $250. It also lets them segue into plans for world domination: since the Ooma is a little computer running a tightly-tailored cut of Linux PBX software, future versions will allow up to 10 lines, serving small businesses on more profitable recurring subscription plans.

Future editions will also let it do neat things like net-nannying, integrating with home automation systems, and notifying you if your ISP isn't supplying the bandwidth it sold you. I, for one, look forward to using the headline, "Ooma punches Comcast in the dick."

This is irrelevant, though, to the phone experience facilitated by the current consumer-oriented wedge product, which is good enough to satisfy anyone who has a stable, fast internet connection, doesn't do faxing or alarm systems, and is happy with yet another machine on the home network.

Try it, you cowards: it's currently on special at Amazon for just $200, with free shipping.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Mar 2009 | 8:50 am

Today on Offworld

Today on Offworld we got the official announcement of Game Over/Continue? (above) -- Giant Robot and Attract Mode's previously mentioned upcoming art exhibit, and the first 'artxgame' collaboration that promises to bring together more indie developers and outside designers/illustrators than we'll see at the show. We also got a double hip-hop dose with The Ocarina of Rhyme, a free album that mashes the Zelda 64 soundtrack with Clipse, Dre, Aesop Rock and MF Doom, and the first full release of the DOOM/Ghostface collaboration put together for Rockstar's DS debut Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Elsewhere we saw a NES emulator hack that brings drag and drop mouse control to Super Mario Bros, DIY customizable LittleBigPlanet Sackboy toys, urban toy progenitor Michael Lau's Metal Gear crossover toy revealed, more footage of retro-game mashup "compilation album" No Quarter, and the first pack of free bonus levels for iPhone fave Rolando. Finally, we saw Aquaria and World of Goo creators contributing to a cancer charity CD, played the fantastic new web game Transmover which mixes Lode Runner with Portal-like logic play, and highly recommended upstart gaming podcast A Life Well Wasted, a must-listen graduate of the This American Life school of production that sets the bar incredibly high for all others.


Source: Boing Boing | 17 Mar 2009 | 7:31 am

Today on Offworld

Today on Offworld we got the official announcement of Game Over/Continue? (above) -- Giant Robot and Attract Mode's previously mentioned upcoming art exhibit, and the first 'artxgame' collaboration that promises to bring together more indie developers and outside designers/illustrators than we'll see at the show.

We also got a double hip-hop dose with The Ocarina of Rhyme, a free album that mashes the Zelda 64 soundtrack with Clipse, Dre, Aesop Rock and MF Doom, and the first full release of the DOOM/Ghostface collaboration put together for Rockstar's DS debut Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

Elsewhere we saw a NES emulator hack that brings drag and drop mouse control to Super Mario Bros, DIY customizable LittleBigPlanet Sackboy toys, urban toy progenitor Michael Lau's Metal Gear crossover toy revealed, more footage of retro-game mashup "compilation album" No Quarter, and the first pack of free bonus levels for iPhone fave Rolando.

Finally, we saw Aquaria and World of Goo creators contributing to a cancer charity CD, played the fantastic new web game Transmover which mixes Lode Runner with Portal-like logic play, and highly recommended upstart gaming podcast A Life Well Wasted, a must-listen graduate of the This American Life school of production that sets the bar incredibly high for all others.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Mar 2009 | 7:08 am

SXSW: Objectified Teaches Us ‘You Are What You Own’ [Voices]

The hurricane is coming. You have 20 minutes to grab the objects in your house that are most important to you. What do you reach for first?

That’s a question asked by Rob Walker, who writes the Consumed column for The New York Times (NYT), at the very end of Objectified, director Gary Hustwit’s brilliant documentary about industrial design. The film, which premiered here at South by Southwest to a packed house Saturday, is an examination of the objects that surround us — the gadgets, furniture, cars, appliances and everyday things that we collect, consume and, ultimately, throw away.

You may not ever think about what kind of planning goes into designing simple, everyday things like toothbrushes, wastebaskets or hedge trimmers, but after seeing this movie, you will never look at any one of those objects the same way again.

Consider the lowly vegetable peeler — in the film, we hear a story of the designer’s wife who was complaining that the handle of her metal potato skinner was hurting her hands as she struggled to grip it tightly. He saw this as a golden opportunity to redesign the kitchen tool, and he set about designing dozens of handles of different sizes using different materials. In the end, a bicycle handlebar grip provided a flash of brilliance — he slid the rubber grip onto the peeler’s metal frame and he had his new, ergonomic design.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Mar 2009 | 7:05 am

Darkly Shining: Ars Speaks With Vin Diesel…Game Developer [Voices]

Tie-ins—games based on movies—have earned a well-deserved reputation for shoddy quality. As a result, such games are seen as little more than attempts to separate fans of the films from some extra cash. But one title stands out among the masses of inferior games: The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay.

Butcher Bay was one of those games that took us all by surprise when it came out in 2004. Not only did it have a great story, but it also featured some of the most intense action we’d seen in a long while and some mighty-fine stealth sequences to boot. The high quality of the game was, needless to say, a delight, far better than the film version of The Chronicles of Riddick.

Five years later, it looks like lightning might strike twice, thanks to The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. Playing the recently released demo reveals a game that is just as tense and thrilling as its predecessor.

Wanting to know more about it, Ars sat down recently with Vin Diesel, Tigon’s Head of Production Ian Stevens, and lead writer John Platten. Our conversation revealed something that most gamers don’t know: Assault on Dark Athena is the fruition of a love story between its designers and the source material.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Mar 2009 | 7:04 am

Despite Recession, More Than 50 Percent of Marketers Increase Spending on Social Media [Voices]

In a recession, budgets are tightened, jobs are cut, and those who remain are expected to do more with less. Given this type of economic reality, it’s surprising to hear of an industry reporting an increase in spending on anything, much less on something as new as social media. Yet that’s exactly what’s occurring. According to a new Forrester Research survey of 145 global interactive marketers in both B2B and B2C companies with more than 250 employees, the use of social media as a marketing tool is on the rise. What’s more, Forrester reports that over 50 percent of marketers said they will be increasing their spending on social media marketing in the coming months.

Part of the reason for this increased spending is the low cost of social media tools. Compared with larger expenditures like advertising, social media requires much less investment. In fact, three-quarters of those surveyed who knew their budgets said they allowed for $100,000 or less for social media tools over a 12-month period.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Mar 2009 | 7:03 am

Miraculous portable computers, ca 1982

I remember the first generation of portable computers -- the luggables -- and the intense, burning desire they aroused in my breast. Now I routinely carry four or five devices that are more powerful than the ones depicted in this 1982 (between phones, cameras, watches, laptop, etc), in a package that weighs less than the power-adapter on one of these behemoths. But I still yearn for one.

Just what is the difference between a pocket computer and some of the more sophisticated hand-held programmable calculators?

From a practical standpoint, it all depends on the type of information (data, if you will) that you manipulate. For many problems, numbers and mathematical formulas are all that are involved. And if number crunching is your game, either product may be suitable. (Astronauts, in fact, have often used programmable calculators to determine the data to be entered into on-board spacecraft computers.) Pocket or hand-held computers, however, not only allow you to crunch numbers (and in greater quantity), but to save them. You’ll also be able to save and manipulate letters and, in some cases, graphic symbols. This opens up problem solving to other-than-strictly-mathematical areas. In fact, it opens up the whole field of information storage and retrieval for virtually any purpose, from nuclear physics to household recipes.

Among the machines currently making their way to the marketplace, the two that most amply fit the criterion of pocketable are the Radio Shack TRS-80 Pocket Computer (manufactured by Sharp and also sold as the Sharp PC-1211) and the Quasar/Panasonic HHC (developed jointly by Matsushita of Japan and Friends Amis of San Francisco—those wonderful people in Silicon Valley who originally brought you the Atari video games and the Craig/Quasar/Panasonic language translator).

COMPUTERS THAT ARE REALLY PORTABLE (Mar, 1982)


Source: Boing Boing | 17 Mar 2009 | 6:41 am

National day of protest for banking reform instead of bailouts

Tiffiniy sez, "AIG bonuses are maddening! It's time to break the power of the bankers. On April 11, national US protests will be organized to demand for a new way forward on the economy, a systematic restructuring of the financial institutions. Nationalize, Reorganize, Decentralize. Protests are organized through Facebook, Twitter, and message board forums by people all over the US. So, who's going to jump the gun and organize one for their city?"

It’s time to stop giving huge handouts to banks and start creating systemic change that helps everyone. We demand a new way forward now.

We are sick of bailouts that are enriching bankers without restructuring a broken industry. Join us on April 11, 2009 as we rally for systematic change based in fairness and intelligent economics. Nationalize, Reorganize, Decentralize. If you don’t see your city or town listed on the right, please sign up your city to get it going.

A New Way Forward (Thanks, Tiffiniy!)


Source: Boing Boing | 17 Mar 2009 | 6:31 am

Update — No DRM In New iPod Shuffle

An anonymous reader writes "BoingBoing Gadgets has updated their story from yesterday on DRM contained in the new iPod Shuffle. (We also discussed this rumor last week.) It's a false alarm. There is a chip in the headphone controls but it is just an encoder chip. There is no DRM and no reason to believe that third party headphones wouldn't work with the new Shuffle. (Apple would still prefer you to license the encoder under the Made for iPod program, but with no DRM, there is no DMCA risk to a manufacturer reverse engineering it.) The money quote: 'For the record, we do not believe that the new iPod headphones with in-line remote use DRM that affects audio playback in any way.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 17 Mar 2009 | 6:28 am

Jasper Morello: stunning steampunk short animated film

The Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello, a stunning, award-winning short animated film, is available in full, free, on YouTube.

Nominated for an Oscar and for a BAFTA award, Jasper Morello is a short feature made in a unique style of silhouette animation developed by director Anthony Lucas and inspired by the work of authors Edgar Alan Poe and Jules Verne. In the frontier city of Carpathia, Jasper Morello discovers that his former adversary Doctor Claude Belgon has returned from the grave. When Claude reveals that he knows the location of the ancient city of Alto Mea where the secrets of life have been discovered, Jasper cannot resist the temptation to bring his own dead wife Amelia back. But they are captured by Armand Forgette, leader of the radical Horizontalist anti-technology movement, who is determined to reanimate his terrorist father Vasco. As lightning energises the arcane machineries of life in the floating castle of Alto Mea, Jasper must choose between having his beloved restored or seeing the government of Gothia destroyed. Set in a world of iron dirigibles and steam powered computers, this gothic horror mystery tells the story of Jasper Morello, a disgraced aerial navigator who flees his Plague-ridden home on a desperate voyage to redeem himself.

The Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello (Thanks, Quiet Earth)


Source: Boing Boing | 17 Mar 2009 | 6:22 am

The iPhone OS 3.0 Announcement Scorecard

Tomorrow morning the sun will rise, and tech writers from near and far will descend upon Cupertino. The steady rattle of fingers flying across laptop keys will sound like rain on a windshield, drowned out only by the endless assault of cameras firing at the stage. All that typing, all those photos, all with just one subject: the 3rd iteration of the iPhone OS. Guys in button up shirts and blue jeans will talk, slides will slide - and in the end, the masses will turn to their Twitter accounts with 140-characters of pure adoration or utter abhorrence. It’s just the way Apple events tend to go; for those who care enough to pay attention, there isn’t often much of a middle ground.

But what if, rather than attempting to gobble up all of the information and form an opinion on the raw, we were to go about it with predetermined and set-in-stone criteria in mind? What if we ignored Apple’s flashy presentation and entrancing ways, instead looking solely at the fruits of their labor and comparing it to what users have been clamoring for for over 2 years? For that purpose, we present: the iPhone OS 3.0 Announcement Scorecard.

The idea is simple: We’ve assembled a list of the most common complaints we’ve seen that we feel have even a remote chance of seeing a resolution tomorrow, and assigned each a value. This value was derived from how frequently the complaint arises online and in personal discussion. Some items may seem low to some, while others seem too high - every item’s worth is relative to the person keeping score, so feel free to shuffle points around if the values don’t seem appropriate.

Print it out and play along!

The Criteria:

• Background Applications: This one’s a bit confusing, as many folks don’t understand that there are two possible interpretations of “Background Applications”. Last June, Apple announced that the iPhone would be getting “Background Notifications” by September of that year. Background Notifications allow for developers to send alerts to the handset, even when an application is closed - but data from the handset (such as its current location) could not be sent back unless the App was opened. A one way street, so to speak. September came and went, and Background Notifications were no where to be seen, leading many to hope that Apple had ditched Background Notifications for a more two-way solution, be it full background processing or something else. If Apple clears the air about Background Applications, they get 20 points - but if it’s still push only, they only get 10. Consider it a penalty for missing their own deadline by half a year.
• Copy and Paste: You know it, and you’re probably sick of hearing people whine about it. Some don’t care at all - for others, it’s the deal breaker that keeps them away from the phone. Kevin Rose says its a sure thing, and he’s always right. Sort of. 20 points.
• MMS: Picture messaging. The go-to item for highlighting the iPhone’s shortcomings. How it has yet to make its way into an update still bewilders us. 15 points.
• Video Recording: 10 points? What!? It loses a few points in our books (well, our list) for not being quite as useful as everyone pretends it is. Outside of the few high-end cameraphones where the camera bit is a major selling point, cell phone video tends to be absolute garbage that clogs up the (You)tubes. Jailbreak-only apps have already demonstrated the video quality as being rather meh. Apple might be able to do it better on the software end, but there’s really not that much you can do to a crummy camera sensor. It’s nice for catching that awkward moment at the bar, but it tends to devolve into a toy for many users.
• Bluetooth Profile Upgrades: It’s a three-fer! There are a number of Bluetooth profiles that may be useful, but these are the three that seem to be on everyone’s mind. The Bluetooth Human Input Device profie, or HID, would allow for Bluetooth keyboards and mice (though the latter would be a no go) to be hooked up. This would be tough for Apple to pull off elegantly, as all of the Apps in the App Store are written for the on-screen keyboard. Wireless Sync would allow for the wireless transfer of data to-and-from a Bluetooth-enabled computer, though what sort of data that includes would be at Apple’s discretion. Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) would allow people to wireless enjoy their media with both ears. 5 points for each Bluetooth enhancement.
• Flash in Safari: With the iPhone having one of the best mobile implementations of Youtube, we’re not 100% sure why the clamor for this is so strong - but it’s pretty deafening. Banner ads may be a nuisance and most games would work a bit strangely (if at all) due to screen size and input methods, but Flash has intertwined its way into the web in an almost unavoidable way. 15 points.
• Landscape Keyboard in all default apps: Go start a new SMS. Turn the iPhone on its side to try to bring up the landscape keyboard. Won’t work. Try it in notes. Same deal. Email? Same. Apple may not be able to force every developer in the App Store to enable the landscape keyboard in their applications, but they can do it in their own apps. 10 points.
• Tethering: We know it’s coming at some point - we just don’t know the nitty gritty details. Getting this to work in an officially endorsed and carrier-manageable way would presumably take a good amount of tweaking on the software end, so there’s no better time than now. 15 points.
• Any of the 8 things we can’t stand: Last month, we wrote an article on 8 Little Things We Still Can’t Stand About The iPhone. As the title of the story implies, these things are quite little. Though trivial, they allow us to measure something we otherwise couldn’t: attention to detail. If Apple resolve any of our nit-pick issues, we can assume they’ve fixed plenty of other little things that don’t justify time during the presentation. Cumulatively, these little things matter to the experience just as much as some of the big ones. Chances are these things wont be touched on during the presentation - but if they are, that’s 5 bonus points for Apple for each one.

The Score:

120+: The perfect announcement. The untouchable debut. Apples will rain from the sky, the energy crisis will be solved, and cats will stop being jerks.
90-115: Not technically perfect, but we’re still mighty impressed. No more Copy and Paste jokes! Hurray!
70-85: If Apple manages to squeak into this range, there probably won’t be much naysaying around the internet. (Just kidding. Everyone will still complain, because that’s what people on the internet do.)
45-65:: If we were the bettin’ type, we’d put our money on Apple landing somewhere in this range tomorrow. Of course, this would also require a mystical gambling hall where they bet on Apple events. Most will walk away satisfied, others will feel burned that their must-have feature is still not at hand.
20-40:: Meh. One or two significant features, but is that enough to warrant the big jump from 2.2 all the way up to 3.0?
0-15: Event got canceled.

Of course, there’s one item that no scorecard could ever take in to consideration: the good ol’ “One more thing..” If Apple comes out and blows our minds with some feature we never knew we wanted considered (”By the way, your iPhone? It’s now also a love-powered jet pack. Enjoy.”), there’s no way for us to assign it a value. If something mindbogglingly amazing happens, consider the scorecard nullified - or just give the new goods a value and pretend it was on the scorecard the whole time.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Mar 2009 | 5:42 am

Is Apple ready to show us the rumored Tablet at iPhone 3.0 event?

FROM APPLETELL - Seth Weintraub, from Computerworld Blogs has numerous reasons to believe the rumored Apple tablet is in fact very closely related to the iPhone. MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Mar 2009 | 5:27 am

Dell Launches Lightweight Super Expensive Adamo Laptop

Dell's much awaited new notebook called Adamo is out. The company has launched the ultra-portable sleek notebook for road warriors that like a fashionable yet powerful machine.

"We wanted something that is thin, elegant and offers quality that beat competitors," John New, Dell's executive for consumer marketing told Wired.com.

The Adamo is a beautifully designed notebook computer that in its basic model comes with a 1.2 GHz Intel Core2Duo processor, 2 GB memory and 128GB solid state drive. It also offers two USB ports, one USB/eSATA port and a display port. But all of that carries a stiff price tag. The basic version of the Adamo will cost $2000, while a more expensive model costs $2700.

The Adamo has brought more buzz to Dell recently than any of its other products. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January Dell showed a prototype of the machine. The company hired a model to show off the notebook, but did not turn it on, offer any specifications or allow anyone to touch it.

Still it was enough to get bloggers excited about the product. During a hands-on session with the product, New explained to Wired.com how Dell has pulled out all the stops when it comes to design.

The Adamo's scalloped keys on the keyboard make touch typing easier and the sleek polished finish gives it a nice glow, says New. The notebook also comes with a gloss screen, which can throw off some users because of the reflections in a brightly lit room. The Adamo will be available in two colors: a black onyx and a white Pearl.

But unlike Apple's Macbook Air presented with a dramatic flourish by stuffing it into an office manila envelope, Dell's Adamo is a tad bigger.

The Macbook Air is 12.8 inches wide, 8.94 inches deep and has a thicknes of 0.16 to 0.76 inches. In comparison, the Adamo will be 13.03 inches wide,  9.5 inches deep and a uniform 0.65 inches thick.

Rather than Apple's Macbook Air, the Adamo is closer to HP's Voodoo Envy 13.3-inch screen laptop in its styling.

What's surprising about the Adamo though is that the laptop is not as light as I had expected. The Adamo weighs four pounds compared to the Macbook Air's three pounds and that extra heft does make itself felt.

The idea with the Adamo was not to make the light laptop possible as it was to offer one that would give users the right balance between weight, design and technical specs, says New.

"If it is just about weight, we have ultra thin 2-pounds laptops from the Latitude line," he says. "But we wanted something that would have full size ports and options such as external Blu-ray drive."

What's also interesting about Adamo is how Dell is trying to position it as a lifestyle product. The Adamo comes with some very nice clear plastic box-like packaging. Optional accessories include covers designed by Tumi, a very stylish laptop tote for women and a more rugged laptop bag for me.

Dell says there's more to come under the Adamo brand. "The Adamo brand is new to us," says New, "and it is just the first product that will be in this line."

More pictures of the Adamo and its accessories

 

See also:
Dell's New Notebooks Take Design Seriously
Dell's Mystery Notebook: Thinner, Lighter Than Air

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Mar 2009 | 5:05 am

Dish subscribers can now buy Fandango movie tickets off their TV

Section: Video, Content, HDTV, Video Providers, Gadgets / Other, Household, Lifestyle

People are becoming lazier and lazier, while companies are trying to become more and more efficient - but I’m not complaining.  Fandango and Dish partnered up to offer the ability to purchase movie tickets right off of your TV.  It’s kind of like how you can order pizza online. 

As soon as you tune into channel 100 on the Dish service, the OpenTV middleware powered Fandango application will search for nearby theaters and showtimes using your zip code.  If it finds matches, it will display them to you, allowing you to select a movie and purchase a ticket.  As long as you have your phone connected to the set top box, purchasing a ticket using your credit card is as easy as 1-2-3.  Just enter in your number with their secure connection, and congratulations, you have successfully purchased a movie ticket without moving anything but a finger.

On the day the movie is playing, you have to show the employees at the theater your credit card as proof of purchase and you are good to go.  If there is a popular movie playing at the local theater, it is beneficial to order tickets from home, rather than waiting in line. 

Read [Twice]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Mar 2009 | 4:05 am

Burning Question: Is There Really a Green Gadget?

You recycle, bike to work, and growl at coworkers who don't compost their lunch scraps. But how can you ride your high horse with that mercury-filled cell phone ringing in your pocket? It's not like you have an option, right? Wrong. Green gadgets do exist.

There are three factors that can transform accessories into planet-slayers: the energy they use, the toxic materials they contain (lead, mercury, cadmium, and chromium), and the way they pile up in landfills with every fulfillment of Moore's law. But with a bit of research, you can find products that address all three of these concerns.

Power use is the easiest target to hit, thanks to Energy Star's 17-year-long publicity and branding offensive. The Star logo certifies the most energy-efficient gadgets in every class, and it can make a real difference. An anointed flat-panel TV may be up to 30 percent more efficient than its uncertified cousins. Keep a lookout for the label (usually prominently displayed in these green-happy days), or check EnergyStar.gov for a list of eco-blessed gear.

Meanwhile, manufacturers are actually doing a pretty good job of getting the toxins out. Amazingly, few of them brag about it. But last fall, Apple began trumpeting its accomplishments in the Epeat program, a sort of ecofriendliness report card. Products are rated on 51 parameters, from component toxicity to packing materials. If they meet the first 23 criteria, they get a bronze certification; those that do better can earn silver or gold. Apple's new aluminum-unibody laptops are all gold-certified, but Dell, HP, LG, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and others also offer dozens of Gaia-lovin' gadgets. Find them on Epeat.net.

The Epeat list includes end-of-life considerations, but some critics say they're inadequate. And American ewaste laws are slipshod compared with those in Europe and Japan. Too bad, because disposal is arguably the most pressing issue: In the US alone, 200 tons of consumer gadgets are improperly binned every year. The situation is improving, though. HP set up recycling programs for their products years ago, and other forward-thinking manufacturers are following suit. Several cell phone makers, like Nokia, will take back and properly dispose of old gear. But even if your phone was born of negligent parents, there are several third-party options. Companies like GreenPhone.com will even pay the postage for you to send them your mobile. They understand—and exploit—recycling's dirty little secret: It's cheaper to mine gold from a gadget's connectors and circuit boards than to dig it out of the ground.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 17 Mar 2009 | 4:00 am

Clive Thompson on the Revolution in Micromanufacturing

Last summer I spent weeks shopping for an anniversary present for my wife. I searched all my usual retail sources but couldn't find anything that hit just the right note. Then I went to Etsy—an ecommerce site where artisans sell unique handmade goods—and found the microstore of ClockworkZero, a woman who turns old electronics gear into steampunk accessories. Presto: ClockworkZero's stuff was both gorgeous and geeky, precisely the vibe I craved. I came away with a necklace made from a vintage vacuum tube.

It turns out that I'm not alone in my search for that perfect one-off treasure. Judging from the explosive growth of Etsy and other online boutiques, the Web is spawning a curious new trend: micro-manufacturing. Consider the numbers. Etsy has 2 million users buying nearly $90 million worth of stuff annually. Its sales have increased twentyfold in the past two years. I was aware of the site but had dismissed it as some sort of urban-hipster thing—until I started seeing chatter about it on discussion boards for wealthy professionals and stay-at-home moms.

The economy may be cratering, but people are stampeding to handmade goods. Why? Part of it is a supply-side phenomenon: Thanks to the Web-fueled boom in DIY culture, there are more one-of-a-kind products being made. With sites like Instructables.com, Makezine.com, and Knithappens.com, it's now feasible to train yourself in a marketable craft using nothing but online guides. You can learn even derangedly complex knitting patterns or skills like circuit-soldering when you've got a YouTube video walking you through each step.

And if you're making awesome stuff in your spare time, pretty soon you'll start thinking: Hey, I could sell this, couldn't I? Not a bad way to recession-proof your household.

The other side of the equation is demand. The Etsy guys attribute their success in part to customers tiring of cookie-cutter products. "The '90s were the period of wearing big-box names on your chest," says Adam Brown, who heads up Etsy's cooperative advertising program. The site's popularity may also be a reaction to the slightly sour, rummage-sale feel that taints eBay, progenitor of the modern microbusiness.

But I believe our craving for one-off goods goes deeper yet. Digital culture has always been about customization and individuality: blogging your thoughts, designing monster houses in The Sims, Flickring your life, crafting unviewable MySpace backgrounds. It's all about creating a personalized aesthetic. After years of molding the digital world to suit our style, is it any wonder we want to do the same to the physical realm?

As Virginia Postrel wrote in her superb book The Substance of Style, Americans have become more discriminating over the past few decades. In the '60s and '70s, we worried about getting good-quality stuff, she says, because mass-market manufacturing was often of such poor quality. But most products these days are decent: the bargain-basement TV you get at Best Buy will last 15 years. So now we're focusing more on aesthetics, beauty, and uniqueness.

Indeed, as this market evolves, the physical world is going to be increasingly customized—built to your specs by craftspeople. Etsy now runs a service that lets you describe something you want—a pair of pants, a shoulder bag, a table—and how much you'll pay, then artisans can offer to make it for you. (Ponoko.com has a similar setup.) And as high-end atom-hacking tools like 3-D milling and laser cutting become cheaper, those folks on Etsy will be able to quickly deliver you customized versions of a huge array of personal products: Laptops, bicycles, even robots. The Age of Bespoke Everything, as it were.

Oh, and for the record: My wife loved the necklace.

Email clive@clivethompson.net.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Mar 2009 | 4:00 am

March 17, 1948: William Gibson, Father of Cyberspace

1948: William Gibson is born in Conway, South Carolina. He later blossoms into legend with the prize-winning fiction that gives the world the term cyberspace.

The death of his father and a move to rural Wytheville, Virginia, propelled Gibson at age 6 to withdraw into his books, especially science fiction. In the 2000 documentary No Maps for These Territories he called this his "native literary culture."

The speculative, experimental novels of William S. Burroughs in particular changed Gibson's perception of what sci-fi could achieve. Through dissatisfaction with his remote environs, he was already attempting to replicate artificial ones more suitable to his hungry mind and heavy heart.

After the sudden death of his mother, Gibson dropped out of his boarding school in Arizona at 18 and set off in search of solace in a 1960s awash in counterculture. Haunting California and Europe, he eventually landed in Canada to avoid a Vietnam draft call that never came — probably because he admitted at his draft hearing that he was interested in taking every drug on Earth.

With the expired '60s behind him, Gibson married, fathered a child and, in 1977, earned a B.A. in English from the University of British Columbia. There, he widened his literary spectrum beyond sci-fi, turned on to postmodernity, and wrote his first short story, "Fragments of Hologram Rose," which would later appear in his seminal 1982 short-story collection Burning Chrome.

The stories of Burning Chrome — particularly the title narrative, first published in Omni— married the noir and experimental aesthetics of Raymond Chandler and William S. Burroughs, among many others. He also mixed in a hefty dose of stylistic swagger inherent to the exploding punk and post-punk scenes of the late '70s and early '80s.

The stories prompted like-minded authors like Bruce Sterling, John Shirley, Lewis Shiner, Rudy Rucker and more to form a loose coalition known as the cyberpunk movement. That coalition would go on to renovate not just sci-fi, but speculative literature, science and even journalism, birthing such publications as Wired and others.

Most importantly, the story "Burning Chrome" marked the first appearance of the term cyberspace — which Gibson would later describe in No Maps for These Territories as an "evocative and essentially meaningless" buzzword that could serve as a cipher for all of his cybernetic musings.

It did that and more, going supernova in his foundational, award-winning debut novel of 1984, Neuromancer. Gibson's networked artificial environment anticipated the globally internetworked technoculture (and its surveillance) in which we now find ourselves.

The term has gone on to revolutionize popular culture and popular science, heralding the power and ubiquity of the information age we now regard as common as iPhones. Since its invention, "cyberspace" has come to represent everything from computers and information technology to the internet and "consensual hallucinations" as different as The Matrix, Total Information Awareness, and reality TV.

From his pioneering Sprawl trilogy to his later Bridge trilogy and beyond into film, television, art and music, Gibson has been variously described as a prophet and a profiteer. He's even ventured into politics: He and Sterling addressed the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Convocation on Technology and Education in 1993.

In the 21st century that he immeasurably shaped, Gibson remains the planet's most influential postmodernist revolutionary. The best part? He irrevocably changed culture and technology, indeed the world, without knowing anything about computers. He wrote Neuromancer on a 1927 Hermes portable typewriter.

Lost, lonely bookworms, take heed: You too can change the world, one meaningless buzzword at a time.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Mar 2009 | 4:00 am

Burning Question: Is There Really a Green Gadget?

You recycle, bike to work, and growl at coworkers who don't compost their lunch scraps. But how can you ride your high horse with that mercury-filled cell phone ringing in your pocket? It's not like you have an option, right? Wrong. Green gadgets do exist.

There are three factors that can transform accessories into planet-slayers: the energy they use, the toxic materials they contain (lead, mercury, cadmium, and chromium), and the way they pile up in landfills with every fulfillment of Moore's law. But with a bit of research, you can find products that address all three of these concerns.

Power use is the easiest target to hit, thanks to Energy Star's 17-year-long publicity and branding offensive. The Star logo certifies the most energy-efficient gadgets in every class, and it can make a real difference. An anointed flat-panel TV may be up to 30 percent more efficient than its uncertified cousins. Keep a lookout for the label (usually prominently displayed in these green-happy days), or check EnergyStar.gov for a list of eco-blessed gear.

Meanwhile, manufacturers are actually doing a pretty good job of getting the toxins out. Amazingly, few of them brag about it. But last fall, Apple began trumpeting its accomplishments in the Epeat program, a sort of ecofriendliness report card. Products are rated on 51 parameters, from component toxicity to packing materials. If they meet the first 23 criteria, they get a bronze certification; those that do better can earn silver or gold. Apple's new aluminum-unibody laptops are all gold-certified, but Dell, HP, LG, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and others also offer dozens of Gaia-lovin' gadgets. Find them on Epeat.net.

The Epeat list includes end-of-life considerations, but some critics say they're inadequate. And American ewaste laws are slipshod compared with those in Europe and Japan. Too bad, because disposal is arguably the most pressing issue: In the US alone, 200 tons of consumer gadgets are improperly binned every year. The situation is improving, though. HP set up recycling programs for their products years ago, and other forward-thinking manufacturers are following suit. Several cell phone makers, like Nokia, will take back and properly dispose of old gear. But even if your phone was born of negligent parents, there are several third-party options. Companies like GreenPhone.com will even pay the postage for you to send them your mobile. They understand—and exploit—recycling's dirty little secret: It's cheaper to mine gold from a gadget's connectors and circuit boards than to dig it out of the ground.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Mar 2009 | 4:00 am

Loudcrowd Marries Gaming And Music In A Virtual World

Startup Conduit Labs has launched Loudcrowd, a online community that integrates a virtual world with social gaming and music. Loudcrowd users can create their own virtual world with avatars and access music playlists while playing a series of music-themed games with friends. Loudcrowd is launching with 50 artists and over 250 songs featured on the platform, including music from the Indie rock bands Justice, Phoenix, Santigold, and Friendly Fires.

Loudcrowd wants to create the feel of an online concert or dance club for users. The site will feature social games that will be played simultaneously with music tracks as well as daily playlists from guest DJs. Loudcrowd’s feature Dance game is similar to the popular game Dance, Dance Revolution and is pretty innovative. Loudcrowd says that the dance game has been played more than one million times since they entered private beta, with over 25 percent of users visiting the site more than 100 times a month. The games are all built on Flash and the animation is disarmingly good.

Loudcrowd has partnered with Indie rock record labels including the Beggars Group, DFA, Domino, Downtown Records, and Modular to provide exclusive music to users. In an attempt to monetize the site through a music-related virtual goods model, Loudcrowd charges users for music tracks and extra gaming and avatar features. Prices will range from micropayments for certain features to rare music tracks that could be in the triple digits. We reported on Conduit Lab’s $5.5 million Series A funding round from Charles River Ventures and Prism VentureWorks for Loudcrowd back in 2007 but the plan didn’t seem to include an online music community at that point.

While imeem and Last.fm also build social networks around music, Loudcrowd seems to be doing something unique by combining gaming and music all within a virtual world. While Loudcrowd is trying to be part social network, it certainly doesn’t want to reinvent the wheel, says Conduit CEO and co-founder Nabeel Hyatt. Conduit will be using Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect to bring in users from Facebook and other social networking sites like Last.Fm, MySpace and others. Hyatt says that Loudcrowd could actually sit inside a social network but he’s hoping to be able to integrate the standalone unique experience of the site with larger social networks at the moment.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Mar 2009 | 3:58 am

The Men Who Fix the Internet

An anonymous reader writes "Remember all those undersea cables breaking? PopSci.com introduces John Rennie, who '... has braved the towering waves of the North Atlantic Ocean to keep your e-mail coming to you. As chief submersible engineer aboard the Wave Sentinel, part of the fleet operated by UK-based undersea installation and maintenance firm Global Marine Systems, Rennie — a congenial, 6'4", 57-year-old Scotsman — patrols the seas, dispatching a remotely operated submarine deep below the surface to repair undersea cables.' The article goes on to outline the physical infrastructure of the Internet, including some of its points of vulnerability."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 17 Mar 2009 | 3:36 am

The Ultra-thin Dell Adamo Spotted At SXSW

Brian Solis, the "next-gen" PR dude, just got some hot shots of the Dell Adamo. Color us impressed. His photos show a laptop with the sex of a MacBook Air with a little more of the hard edged aesthetic familiar to those who enjoy cheese graters and shipping containers.

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Mar 2009 | 3:27 am

Is Obama Finally Pushing Back on the Wall Street Barons' Supreme Arrogance?

So President Obama is finally waking up to the damage being done to his credibility and authority by AIG, a company that is for all practical purposes now an arm of the government but whose leaders are acting as if the reverse were true. Obama called the hundreds of millions of dollars in new bonuses an outrage and said he'd do what he could to block the payments.

But this still misses part of the point, and Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo cut to the heart of why in a piece yesterday:

I don't believe the bonuses themselves are the heart of the matter, nor the fact that they're going to the very executives who caused AIG's implosion or even the galling reality that, since all money is fungible, they're being paid with taxpayer dollars. What's really driving this forward -- and what makes it such a dangerous moment for the White House -- is the jarring image of the administration's impotence.

Secretary Geithner found out about the bonuses. He told AIG CEO Edward Liddy it wouldn't fly. And Liddy, in a curiously imperial letter, tells Geithner that much as he is pained by the situation -- to blow it out his ass. Which he apparently proceeded to do.

Congress, as usual, is merely whining. Here's what it might do: Enact legislation that imposes a 100 percent income tax on bonuses or whatever the financial wizards want to call them at the companies receiving our tax dollars for their, and the economy's, survival. Congress will continue to whine.

I'm still not certain that Obama gets how bad the situation is -- a ward of the state looting the taxpayers' pockets and telling the president to shove it, and, until today, the president and his people meekly saying okay. In less stable nations, revolutions get started with less cause.

The Wall Street crowd -- AIG is hardly the only culprit in looting from the rest of us -- remains deliberately oblivious and supremely arrogant. In less stable nations, this kind of stuff leads to vigilantism.

Source: Boing Boing | 17 Mar 2009 | 2:53 am

Old Russian analog viewfinder gives Lumix LX3 Red zazz

Aaphovasse tells us:

Not wanting to spend 300 dollars for the Lumix LX3 viewfinder, I found this one on one of old Russian cameras I got in Moscow many years ago. The wide angle setting works perfectly for the 16:9 aspect ratio. Upon seeing it, my daughter (who inherited the LX2) rolled her eyes and accused me of being a complete photard, but at least now I have a viewfinder. The LX2, and now the LX3 are the first cameras I ever owned without one. Though I am well used to using the digital screen by now, there is great comfort in being able to frame your image close to your eye.

For some reason this makes me want to listen to "Hell March."

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Mar 2009 | 2:36 am

Review: An afternoon with Autonet

Autonet is a 3G-enabled cellular router intended for use on the road: a mobile hotspot that provides Wi-Fi coverage for your car and anyone tailgating it.

It roams seamlessly on CDMA networks, including Evdo Rev. A: in testing, speeds generally hovered around 500 kbps, fast enough for YouTube and general web use, but not for HD streaming.

Pros:
+ It worked, without fail and without drops, throughout hilly Pittsburgh.
+ $30 a month for 3G data is cheap, though it's capped at a gig of transfer a month. If you want more, it's $60 a month, just like a normal 3G modem.
+ If you get the standalone unit (it can also be installed inside vehicles) and your needs are light, it can come inside the house, too.
+ 1 year contract short by U.S. standards for CDMA carriers.

Cons:
- Takes a minute or two to activate when you turn the engine on, and has no internal battery. So it's great for road trips, but not so much for keeping the kids busy while you zip around town.
- It's nearly as big as the smallest desktop computers, and much uglier.
- There's a splash page every time you hook up to it, like the free Wifi in hotels and malls.
- $400 for the machine: pricey.

Product Page [Autonetmobile]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Mar 2009 | 2:23 am

FCC says TV stations must alert viewers about reception problems

Section: Video, Content

Welcome back to your favorite soap opera, “As the Digital Transition Turns.”  So what’s in this latest installment?  No, not another delay.  This time, it’s all about notice.

Analog and digital signals may not reach the same area.  If that is the case, then television stations must tell their viewers about this problem.  Here’s how this works: analog signals use VHF and those signals are able to go around hills and mountains.  Digital signals use UHF and they can’t get around those kinds of obstacles. 

So, if you were receiving over the air signals thanks to the fantastic elastic VHF signal, you may no longer get a signal via UHF.

Additionally, the television stations must tell their viewers if the viewer needs a new antenna.  Now, don’t expect to have a local NBC-affiliate show up at your door to check your antenna.  Expect ads explaining antennas which I am sure will grab everyone’s attention.

Once again, if you know anyone who could be affected by this digital transition and they are unaware about the transition, tell them what’s going on.  The easiest way may be to say, “Hey, can I mess with your TV for about 5 minutes?”  The transition is planned for June 12th, 2009. 

Read: [Nola.com]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Mar 2009 | 2:07 am

Twitter’s OAuth Support Now In Public Beta

Twitter API Lead Alex Payne has just tweeted that OAuth support for third party applications is now in public beta. Support for the authentication protocol has been frequently requested for many months, and was finally made available to a limited number of developers last month.

OAuth allows developers to create third party apps that can access a user’s account information without requiring them to hand over their login credentials. Before now, Twitter applications have required users to enter their usernames and passwords. This typically hasn’t been a problem (and most users haven’t seemed to mind given the vast number of popular apps using the Twitter API). But handing third party developers login credentials, and in turn full authorization to access and store a user’s account information does open the door to abuse, should something happen down the line that exposes user data. OAuth removes some of this risk, though users are still potentially open to phishing attacks.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Mar 2009 | 2:07 am

Review: An hour with the Acoustibuds

Acoustibuds are little rubber things that one wraps around standard earbuds to make them more comfortable. A series of concentric fins means they snuggle nicely in your ears: great for joggers or anyone else fond of the form, but not the feeling, of buds.

They cost $15 a pack, and for that, you get two pairs in two sizes.

The downside is somewhat obvious: by putting 1/2" rubber tubes between your ears and the buds, the audio is just a smidge off. This is marketed as an improvement in quality by Acoustibuds, and it does beef up the perceived quality of cheap, tinny buds. Remember, kids, you can't magically recreate data that's already gone, you can just polish it up so it doesn't sound so bad.

On decent ones it makes it a little more muffled, a little distant, but really, if you're using earbuds, you're not going to be that bothered. Buy them for comfort, if you buy them at all.

For basic iPod pairs, I can't decide if I like it more: the feel is nice, but I think it might be less danceable.

Product Page [Acoustibuds]
Buy [Amazon]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Mar 2009 | 2:06 am

Numerous illegitimate app stores steal Apple’s thunder

FROM APPLETELL - Should Apple care about the various App Stores popping up that promise to offer iPhone applications in a way other than through the actual iTunes App Store? MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Mar 2009 | 1:53 am

Deliberately buried. Huh!

Photo: Jase Wells via Gadget Lab. Here's Jase's website.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Mar 2009 | 1:44 am

New Form of "Mobius" Carbon Predicted

KentuckyFC writes "We've seen carbon nanotubes, buckyballs, and chickenwire. Now materials scientists have created a computer model of a Mobius strip fashioned from strips of graphene — a molecule that would have a single surface and only one edge. (Other groups have made Mobius-like organic molecules but never out of carbon sheets.) The model allows the researchers to determine the physical and chemical properties of the molecules and how these depend on the number of twists in the strip. The team says, for example, that 'Mobius carbon' should be stable to temperatures of at least 500 Kelvin (abstract). But the most exciting prediction is that strips with an odd number of half twists should have a dipole moment that would cause them to self-organize into a crystal. That implies that there's a new type of carbon made entirely of Mobius strips ready to be made by any chemists with a good supply of graphene (maybe these guys)."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 17 Mar 2009 | 1:41 am

Facebook: Privacy Now Optional

A big difference between Facebook and MySpace has always been how the two companies approach the privacy of user data. At MySpace your profile is public by default and users can choose to make it private (except under 18 users, who default to private). At Facebook, your profile information has always been private and shared with your friends and, optionally your network (your school, company or geographic location).

Starting today, though, users can change their privacy settings to make virtually all of their profile information public. That’s good news for users like me who don’t mind sharing all that data with the world. And it also makes my profile more interesting to point to, since everyone can now view it.

Some users, though, are complaining, although I have no idea why since the privacy settings are optional. In a blog post announcing the change, most comments said they wanted the old Facebook back, whatever that means (Facebook has changed so much over the last couple of years there really is no defined “old Facebook” any more). As usual, everyone will settle down in a week and find something new to complain about.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Mar 2009 | 1:26 am

Use Cloudkick To Manage Amazon Web Services’ EC2

Cloudkick, a Y Combinator startup, offers a free, easy server management system to businesses whose web infrastructure is maintained by Amazon's EC2 or Slicehost cloud-based servers. Built off of Amazon Web Services' API, Cloudkick gives users a single control panel where you can manage all of your servers (or instances) through various platforms. Cloudkick's dashboard allows you to easily add or remove EC2 or Slicehost servers with a click and then monitor an unlimited amount of instances. You can see all the servers in one place, and color-code and label each server. Cloudkick will check whether servers are alive and functioning and then alert you, via email or voicemail, if servers go down. Cloudkick also provides data on bandwith and other metrics on servers in easy to use graphs and tables, allowing you a visual snapshot of server activity. You can also access servers straight from web and can run commands through your web browser remotely, which is handy when you are trying to manage servers from another computer.

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Mar 2009 | 1:20 am

Liveblog: Apple's iPhone 3.0 Media Event

Apple on Tuesday is hosting a media event to give a sneak peek on the iPhone 3.0 operating system as well as its software development kit. The conference kicks off at 10 a.m. PDT, so check back here then for Wired.com's liveblog coverage straight from Cupertino!

See Also:

• What Apple Needs to Fix to Keep the iPhone Competitive
• Apple to Preview iPhone 3.0 Next Week
• Kevin Rose: Apple to Cure Pre-Ness Envy with Cut and Paste
• Rumor: iPhone to Get a Premium App Store
• Apple's Next iPhone Will Rule at Gaming

Photo: Michael J/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Mar 2009 | 12:57 am

SuperHeadz Plamodel, a snap-together DIY 35mm camera

If you can stomach giving money to Urban Outfitters, they're selling a charming "SuperHeadz Plamodel DIY 35mm camera" kit that snaps together using parts cast using the age-old technique seen in model airplanes and cars. (What's the plastic framework that's left over called? Surely hobbyists have given that a name by now.)

$28, available exclusively on the web. [via Uncrate]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Mar 2009 | 12:49 am

Twitter Experimenting With Text Advertising

Twitter, the subject of endless business model speculation, added another weapon to the arsenal today - house advertisements on the home page when you’re logged in, and some search results.

The advertisements currently only link internally to Twitter Search or the Twitter Widget. But it isn’t much of a stretch to assume they’re testing the units for possible third party advertisements in the future. Twitter Japan, which launched a year ago, has included display ads from the beginning.

Last summer Twitter CEO Evan Williams said he thought Twitter’s strongest revenue potential would come from charging for commercial use by brands. But it’s clear that the company will experiment with a number of different potential streams - we think Twitter search has tremendous revenue opportunity.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Mar 2009 | 12:46 am

iPhone 3.0 Event Revives Tablet Rumors

Apple's upcoming iPhone event is re-igniting speculation of an Apple tablet launching soon.

ComputerWorld's Seth Weintraub on Monday laid out his solid argument for why he thinks a Mac tablet will be announced tomorrow. He points to a job listing from last year seeking an engineer to help develop a platform that will run on various devices including the iPhone. And he also cites three different reports from China claiming Apple is developing a 9- or 10- inch touchscreen.

We agree that it seems inevitable that Apple will release a Mac tablet — but whether that announcement will be made at the Tuesday iPhone event is anyone's guess. (We're going to bet "No.") In December, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington claimed three independent sources told him a Mac tablet was coming Fall 2009. 

See Also:

• Apple Hints Drive Speculation of New Notebooks, Mac Tablets ...
• Rumor: Apple to Launch MacBook Touch?

Apple iPhone 3.0 event tomorrow might reveal a tablet [ComputerWorld]

Illustration of a fake, large-screen iPhone: vernhart/Flickr

 

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Mar 2009 | 12:14 am

Labels say future of music isn’t free

Section: Audio, Portable Audio, Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Web, Downloads, Web Apps, Online Music/Video

It seems like a never ending story doesn’t it?  People are downloading music and not paying for it.  Naughty, naughty.  The industry has their panties in a bunch over the fact people are downloading music illegally.  Threats ensue.  “We’re gonna get you all.“  “Oh no you won’t, pirating will live forever!“  Yawn.  Be real guys, you’re never gonna “get them all.“  And times are changing when it comes to music.  Even many of the artists recognize this fact, the labels are starting to, now we just need the Music Cops to see it as well.

Let’s Sell Recorded Music

There is a new report out called “Let’s Sell Recorded Music!“ which goes over the possible highs and the lows of creating a legal service that uses a blanket licensing scheme to download music.  They want to come up with one that would actually be able to compete with free services and still make some money.  Sounds like a hard task.

The Subscription Model

This report all began with a bunch of meetings that MusicTank held last fall in the UK.  All sorts of folks joined up to talk not only about P2P enforcement and the whole copyright infringement/education bruhaha, but also about what kind of legal alternatives could they come up with.  Ones that held a major draw.  There were people there from record labels, ISPs and collecting societies, all wanting to see change.  And what did they come up with?  Subscriptions.

Yeah, it’s been done before.  And they pretty much bombed.  In a big part due to DRM, although that certainly is no barrier to the motivated.  So, as a result, free services like Last.fm keep people from wanting to pay for streaming music at other, bigger subscription sites.  And, lots of people get their music the way they are not “supposed to.“ 

A license to listen

It seems though the music industry is coming to think that a more open subscription model is the way to go in the future.  Exactly how this is going to work still remains to be seen and worked out.  The idea in general is that there will be a flat fee for access to (almost) all recorded music.  The (almost) is because what about the small indie groups that don’t join in?  Or the mixes? Or the mashups?  This is where it all gets hairy.

One idea of the payment model is that there would be some kind of payment made monthly.  Users would then have legal access to any ISP and any P2P network to share music.  The money would then be split up between artists depending on the popularity of their music.

However, using this method, the ISPs aren’t really motivated to join in.  They want a way to set themselves a part from their rivals.  Their preference would probably go the route of that with a service like this, a charge would be plunked on your Internet bill each month, but you would only have access though that ISP (which would probably come out with a special service of its own to give you your music).

Could this work?

But as you can image, tons of problems could set in with this “download what you want legally” plan as well.  Like I mentioned, how the heck are we sure of what exactly is covered under this license?  Unless it is an absolute across the board mandated requisite for all artists, there are bound to be small labels that don’t join. 

Big Brother

So, guess what?  You download their song and it’s a crime.  Or unreleased albums, or studio outtakes, or concert bootlegs, etc.  All found on P2P networks.  Even if they got every single label on the planet on board with the plan, it could still be a mess.  When users are told that they are allowed to download “whatever they want” legally, that wouldn’t really be the case.  Because P2P networks are chock-full of stuff that labels don’t have the permission to license.  And how exactly by the way are they gonna divvy up the money from a mashup to the different artists?

And, Johnny might download a song, listen to it and decide it’s garbage and delete it, then download another by a different artist, love it and play it over and over and over.  Should both artists cash in on the same cash kick back just because Johnny downloaded their song initially?  There is no good metrics to this system about what is actually being listened to.  Unless there is going to be embedded software in players or on the users’ machines, that is not going to be able to be tracked.  I’m sure folks are gonna want Big Music Brother coming in and keeping track of what they are listening to.

10:80:10

Even with all these difficulties, the MusicTank report remains insistent on making money right from recorded music in the days ahead.  “Indeed, the fact that despite all this, so many people do pay for downloads is heartening and suggests that by experimenting with different types of services and pricing structures and making more content available in a wider range of formats and quality—as iTunes has begun to do—the recordings business can guarantee itself a healthy future,“ it says.

According to a consultancy called Deltica, there is a principle that holds true when it comes to music and downloading and users.  It is called the 10:80:10.  It means that “10 percent of all consumers will always opt for the legal, licensed option, and 10 percent will always prefer the unlicensed alternative. That leaves the vast majority up for grabs—if they can just be presented with a compelling alternative.“

I’m sure MusicTank is hoping to be able to sway that 80% their way.

The artists themselves are apparently even sick of the whole suing fans business and want to come up with a better alternative.  At a meeting in London, the Featured Artists Coalition’s group leaders came before the labels asking them to stop suing fans.  They demanded more control over their own works and how they can be used.  They do however, want more money from places like YouTube or MySpace that use their music—-companies that use their music.  Not individuals using a P2P.

But until it all goes through, if it all goes through…the music police will still be out there. 

Via: arstechnica

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Mar 2009 | 12:09 am

uTest Bug Battle: Which Social Network Is The Buggiest?

uTest, a startup that allows companies to outsource their QA testing to ‘the cloud’ has just concluded its latest quarterly bug battle, during which it put some of the world’s largest social networks to the test. Hundreds of participants (many of which have been involved in product testing for over a year) did their best to uncover flaws across Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, with $3,000 up for grabs for the testers who identified the most crucial bugs.

Below are the final results for the number of bugs found. It’s worth noting that this data is prone to bias and may well overstate the number of ’showstopping bugs’ (testers probably had a strong incentive to rate their bugs as ’showstopper’ so as to have a better chance at the prize). But it also meshes fairly well with anecdotal experience.

• Facebook: 416 uTesters found 243 bugs (.58 bugs/tester), including 14.40% that were deemed
  showstoppers by the tester
• LinkedIn: 399 uTesters found 250 bugs (.63 bugs/tester), including 9.78% that were deemed
  showstoppers by the tester.
• MySpace: 304 uTesters found 225 bugs (.74 bugs/tester), including 10.80% that were deemed
  showstoppers by the tester

Aside from logging each bug that they found, testers were also asked to rate each social network in a handful of categories and to detail some of the most apparent issues. Overall, the contest deemed Facebook to have the most complete feature set, but the social network was criticized for not having a high enough default security level (the options to keep things private are there, but are not always set by default).

LinkedIn took the title of “Best in Overall Quality”, but testers had issues syncing data with Outlook, which they considered “problematic for the ’professional social network’”

MySpace didn’t take the top prize in any of the bug testing categories, but was considered to have “a loyal following”, as it drew consistently high marks from a subset of users. Common complaints included “Overlapping images, backgrounds, titles, etc.” and slow page load times.

Testers’ choice for best overall quality: 
1.  LinkedIn (45%) 
2.  Facebook (37%)   
3.  MySpace (17%) 
 
Testers’ choice for best usability:  
1.  Facebook (39%) 
2.  LinkedIn (38%) 
3.  MySpace (17%) 
 
Testers’ choice for best feature set: 
1.  Facebook (46%) 
2.  LinkedIn (36%) 
3.  MySpace (18%)

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Mar 2009 | 12:01 am

Cisco Barges Into the Server Market

mikesd81 was one of several readers to write in about Cisco's announcement of what has been called Project California — a system comprising servers made from 64-bit Intel Nehalem EP Xeon processors, storage, and networking in a single rack, glued together with software from VMWare and BMC. Coverage of this announcement is everywhere. Business Week said: "The new device, dubbed Project California, takes servers into new territory by cramming computer power into the very box that contains storage capacity and the networking tools that are Cisco's specialty. Cisco's approach could help companies use fewer machines — saving money not only on hardware, but also on power and IT staffing — in building data centers. ... Cisco is well-girded to take this step. It has more than $30 billion in cash, more than any other tech company. The company is moving into no fewer than 28 different markets, including digital music in the home and public surveillance systems." The Register provides more analysis: "Microsoft is, of course, a partner on the California system, since you can't ignore Windows in the data center, and presumably, Hyper-V will be supported alongside ESX Server on the hypervisors. (No one at the Cisco launch answered that and many other questions seeking details). ... The one thing that Cisco is clear on is who is signing off on these deals: the CIO. Cisco and its partners are going right to the top to push the California systems, right over the heads of server, storage, and network managers who want to protect their own fiefdoms."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Mar 2009 | 11:45 pm

MRI Lie Detection to Get First Day in Court

For the first time, defense attorneys will attempt to use fMRI lie detection in court. The company that performed the scans claims over 90 percent accuracy, but experts disagree on whether the technology is ready for court, and scientists say more research is needed before it can be trusted.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Mar 2009 | 11:41 pm

SanDisk stocks jump as buyout rumors circle the company

Section: Business News, Computers

SanDisk saw their stocks take a huge leap recently as a result of rumors of a possible buyout from either Samsung or Toshiba.  Their shares jumped 12.5 percent and as of this morning were over $10.

Samsung has had a long standing interest in the company and tried to obtain it last year unsuccessfully.  Their bid of $5.85 billion was rejected with SanDisk’s reasoning being that $26 per share was inadequate.  Toshiba is a joint manufacturing company with SanDisk and also has expressed an interest in purchasing the popular flash memory card producer. 

However, analysts have found that it is unlikely that Toshiba will have the ability to come up with the financial resources to complete the purchase.  As of right now, no deals have been officially put on the table.  Earlier this week, SanDisk experienced another stock jump when it was announced that they would be raising their retail prices an estimated 10 percent

Read: [Barron’s]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 16 Mar 2009 | 10:12 pm

Study Finds Planet Undergoing Natural Climate Shift

Strong winters with bitter cold and record snowfall during the last two years have led some to doubt whether the global climate is truly warming.  Meanwhile, a new study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee could turn the climate change world upside down.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Mar 2009 | 9:35 pm

Motion Computing shows off sturdy tablet

Section: Computers, Mobile Computers

There’s been a lot of mobile computers released in the past few months.  Although, most have ultimately been rather unexciting as they were netbooks with the same specs and similar screen sizes.  Sure, there have been a few interesting ones, but nothing really stands out as different.  Motion Computing’s new tablet PC is finally something different, even if it it is completely unaffordable for most of us.

The new tablet, dubbed the J3400 has a netbook-esque size with a 12.1-inch screen, but that’s where the familiarity stops.  The big claim to fame for this tablet is how sturdy it is.  According to Motion Computing it can handle a 3 foot drop onto plywood over concrete, or anything that would give a lesser shock.  The 1.8-inch 80 or 120 GB HDD and screen are both shock-mounted to make that possible.  There’s also an option for a 64 GB SSD, which would be even safer than the HDD with accelerometer that sense when it’s falling.

The other specs include a 1.2 or 1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB of RAM (able to go up to 4 GB), draft-N Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, a 2 MP webcam and various ports.  It comes standard with Vista Business, though there is an XP downgrade option.  Motion Computing claims it can get 7.4 hours of battery life off a single charge, which is pretty impressive.  Even more impressive is the Qualcomm Gobi module for 3G connectivity.

The J3400 sounds like a pretty good tablet PC with all those features.  That is until you see the $2,299 price tag.  Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Read [Electronista]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 16 Mar 2009 | 9:13 pm

Cisco announces its first servers, riling rivals (AP)

AP - Cisco Systems Inc. wants a bigger chunk of the corporate computing market, and plans to start selling servers in competition with old partners like Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM Corp.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 16 Mar 2009 | 9:07 pm

Cloudera Floats Linux Distro for Cloud Computing (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - The same cloud-computing technology used by Facebook, Google, Yahoo and other Web giants is poised to land in regular enterprise data centers, courtesy of a free software distribution from Silicon Valley startup Cloudera.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 16 Mar 2009 | 9:07 pm

Climate 'Tipping Points' Weighed for Likelihood

Will Earth's climate pass the point of no return in the coming years? Scientists weigh in.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Mar 2009 | 9:00 pm

AT&T Tunes Cell Towers to Help SXSW Geeks

Thousands of iPhone users at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, ate up AT&T's 3G bandwidth, forcing the company to tune towers over the weekend to a different frequency. But even the extra capacity does not seem to be enough for the techie avant-garde.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Mar 2009 | 8:55 pm

Liquid-Liquid Phase Transition In Silicon Confirmed

Using rigorous computer calculations, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Institution of Washington have established evidence that supercooled silicon experiences a liquid-liquid phase transition, where at a certain temperature two different states of liquid silicon exist.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Mar 2009 | 8:54 pm

Reminder: We’ll be liveblogging the iPhone OS 3.0 event tomorrow!

As if the Crunch folk have missed an opportunity to cover an Apple event any time in the recent past, a surprising number of people have been asking whether or not we’ll be liveblogging tomorrow’s preview of iPhone OS 3.0. The answer? Of course we are.

We’ll be at the Apple campus bright and early tomorrow morning, and we’ll be blogging away as soon as the WiFi juices start flowing. The event officially starts at 10 am PST, but we’ll probably start pushing stuff over a bit earlier to set the mood. We’ll do our best to make sure you feel like you’re there, but you’ll have to provide the smell of 50+ sweaty writers packed into a tiny theater for yourself.

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Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Mar 2009 | 8:54 pm

Electric Scooters for Everyone!

An Australian design student applies the bike sharing model to electric scooters and hopes to see Sydney adopt it.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Mar 2009 | 8:40 pm

World Water Forum Launches In Istanbul

The 5th World Water Forum kicked off on Monday in Istanbul, Turkey to discuss the current and future state of the Earth’s water supply.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Mar 2009 | 8:37 pm

Despite Rumors, Shuffle Headphones Are DRM-Free

The new iPod Shuffle's headphones do not contain a copy-protection chip, Apple and other manufacturers say. Tests by Wired.com show that any headphone will work with the Shuffle, with limitations.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Mar 2009 | 8:37 pm

Despite Rumors, Shuffle Headphones Are DRM-Free

The new iPod Shuffle's headphones do not contain a copy-protection chip, Apple and other manufacturers say. Tests by Wired.com show that any headphone will work with the Shuffle, with limitations.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 16 Mar 2009 | 8:37 pm

Climate Scientists Struggle To Convince Public Of Urgency

Climate scientists are continuing to uncover new revelations about the impact of man-made global warming on the Earth’s future, but many face frustration when it comes to informing the world’s population of the urgency of such findings."Science is exciting when you make such findings," Konrad Steffen, who heads the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) in Boulder, Colorado, told AFP."But if you stop and look at the implications of what is coming down the road for humanity, it is rather scary.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Mar 2009 | 8:25 pm

Memory Switch Could Enable Brain Hacks

By peering into the brain as it learns, scientists have found that the presence of a specific brain wave pattern predicts your ability to remember something. If it's there, you'll remember. If it's not, then, uh, you'll forget.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Mar 2009 | 8:05 pm

Hearst hopes Web-only Seattle P-I will turn profit (AP)

AP - When the Seattle Post-Intelligencer transforms into an Internet-only operation Wednesday, it will try to do something it failed to accomplish for years as a traditional newspaper: make money.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 16 Mar 2009 | 7:31 pm

What Apple Needs to Fix to Keep the iPhone Competitive

The iPhone is currently one of the most successful cellphones in the world, but it must adopt several key features to retain its edge. Enthusiasts share their thoughts on what the next iPhone needs.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Mar 2009 | 7:30 pm

What Apple Needs to Fix to Keep the iPhone Competitive

The iPhone is currently one of the most successful cellphones in the world, but it must adopt several key features to retain its edge. Enthusiasts share their thoughts on what the next iPhone needs.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 16 Mar 2009 | 7:30 pm

Despite Browser Bug, Clear Channel 'Hearts' the iPhone

In an app store largely dominated by the little guy, Clear Channel's 'iheartradio' app has made impressive inroads with iPhone users, even though it includes FM radio ads and crashes due to a bug Clear Channel says is Apple's fault.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 16 Mar 2009 | 7:30 pm

Despite Browser Bug, Clear Channel 'Hearts' the iPhone

In an app store largely dominated by the little guy, Clear Channel's 'iheartradio' app has made impressive inroads with iPhone users, even though it includes FM radio ads and crashes due to a bug Clear Channel says is Apple's fault.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Mar 2009 | 7:30 pm

Sprint’s device lineup for Q1-Q3 leaks

Secrets, Secrets, are no fun. Well, unless said secrets have to do with a ridiculous number of unannounced devices and details, and said secrets leak all over the internet. Then they’re a blast.

PhoneNews managed to get their hands on Sprint’s entire device roadmap for Q1 through Q3 of 2009, and each page packs a bit of fun - so be sure to look through them all.

Update: We didn’t see any reason to doubt the slides as legit, but we’ve gone ahead and confirmed with a few sources that at least some the details below are accurate. Doesn’t mean things can’t change, but the fact that a handful of the details below can be confirmed lends credence to the slide deck as a whole.

Some of the highlights:

• “Palm, BlackBerry, and Palm with Android/Google Android device in Q4 09″.
• Confirms BlackBerry Niagara for Q3
• Confirms HTC Rhodium for Q3
• Confirms Instinct 2/Instinct Mini/Samsung “Dash” for Q3

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Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Mar 2009 | 7:17 pm

Clean Up Kills More Fish Than Oil Spills Themselves

A new Queen's University study shows that detergents used to clean up spills of diesel oil actually increase its toxicity to fish, making it more harmful."The detergents may be the best way to treat spills in the long term because the dispersed oil is diluted and degraded," says Biology professor Peter Hodson.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Mar 2009 | 7:00 pm

Cupcake in April? Maybe not. But probably.

Uh oh, folks - looks like the “Cupcake” Android update for the G1 might not be coming out of the oven as soon as we’d heard. Last week, the folks over at PocketLink declared that they’d managed to get a T-Mobile spokesperson on the record saying that the G1 would be getting the Cupcake update in April - but now another T-Mobile spokesperson is calling shenanigans

According to Betanews, T-Mobile USA Rep Erica Gordon has dismissed the April Cupcake launch as “”just a rumor.” Now we’ve got two reputable outlets both hearing different things - so what’s up?

If we had to guess - and this is pure conjecture - we’d blame miscommunication. When asked if T-Mobile International had confirmed a release date, Gordon responded “”Not as far as I know.” In other words, she hadn’t asked.

Her answer is the Rep School 101 textbook answer: when you get backed into a corner on the matter of something unannounced, just call it a rumor and move on. It sounds like another T-Mobile rep, authorized or not, disclosed the April target window, and the second rep either didn’t know the cat had been let out of the bag or, if it wasn’t an authorized disclosure in the first place, didn’t want to double up on the mistake.

With reasonably functional builds of Cupcake already up and running on reflashed handsets and the HTC Magic launching in April, we’re still betting that we’ll see it by the end of next month.

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Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Mar 2009 | 6:50 pm

Melting Ice Threatens Future Of Arctic Polar Bears

Norway’s Environment and Development Minister warned on Monday that melting Arctic ice is threatening the habitat of polar bears."If the ice is disintegrating in the Arctic, it will have enormous impact on polar bears," Erik Solheim told Reuters a day ahead of a meeting to discuss the future of polar bears.The meeting will bring together nations that are home to the large white carnivores – Canada, Norway, the U.S., Russia and Danish-administered Greenland.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Mar 2009 | 6:41 pm

Economic Crisis Hits Wood Industry

A new U.N.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Mar 2009 | 5:40 pm

NASA Reaching Out to Youth One Tweet at a Time

NASA turns to social networking tools like Twitter to try and appeal to younger generations.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Mar 2009 | 5:04 pm

This Is Not an iPod, It's a Choking Hazard

No buttons. Seriously. The new Shuffle shucks the scroll-wheel control set and moves it up to the earbuds. It's a bold move, but Apple loves to drop legacy features (like the scroll wheel) and add new ones (like VoiceOver) at a moment's notice.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 16 Mar 2009 | 5:00 pm

Researchers In China Create Nearly Unsinkable Mini-Boats

Chinese researchers have used copper float to build what they claim are some of the most buoyant boats ever made, BBC News reported.The vessels were treated with copper mesh to make their surface extremely water-repellent and are barely the size of a postage stamp, researchers said.The scientists said the material is so efficient at repelling water that they are still able to float even when the upper edges of the boats are below the surface.The team used a two-stage system to treat the copper.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Mar 2009 | 4:28 pm

NASA Eyes Debris as Shuttle Nears Space Station

To dodge space debris, the International Space Station may have to fire its engines.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Mar 2009 | 3:10 pm

Was Cleopatra Part African?

A new documentary claims Cleopatra was not entirely Greek.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Mar 2009 | 3:00 pm

Ozone Linked to Deadly Lung Disease

Long-term exposure to ozone raises the risk of dying from lung disease by 30 percent.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Mar 2009 | 2:15 pm

Sea Level Rise to Affect NYC, Northeast Most

New York's coasts will experience twice the sea level rise as the rest of the world.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Mar 2009 | 2:10 pm

Hippo Sweat Offers Key to Natural Sunscreen

An oily secretion keeps hippos safe from the sun. Can scientists put it in a bottle?
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Mar 2009 | 2:09 pm

Daily News Habit Doubles Among U.S. Mobile Users

Mobile Web usage is still a nascent activity, but comScore put out some data on the information-consumption habits of consumers in the U.S. The number of people who access news and information daily on their mobile phones doubled from 10.8 million in January, 2008 to 22.4 million in January, 2009. The second most popular mobile activity was social networking, with 9.3 million daily mobile users (although for some reason this number also includes blog access). While social networking is only half as popular as reading news, it is growing four times as fast, up from 1.8 million users a year ago.

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Mar 2009 | 2:07 pm

Venezuela shows off their $14 phone

Last week, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez spilled the beans on the country’s plans to offer a $14 cell phone they’d call El Vergatario. Curiously absent at the time were any shots of the handset itself. Two things have since changed:

• Commenters have decided the name either means something along the lines of “Awesome!”, or something along the lines of, well, man bits. We’ll go ahead and assume its the first one.
• They’ve shown the thing.

It’s not going to win any beauty contests - but at $14, no one’s expecting it to. Coming out of the box with MP3 playback, FM radio, and a camera, it seems like a pretty solid deal for just under a Hamilton and a half. Venezuelans can expect to see these everywhere come May 11th.

[Via EngadgetMobile]

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Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Mar 2009 | 2:04 pm

Video: First look at the BlackBerry 9630

If the Internet rumors are correct, and when are they not, the BlackBerry Niagara 9630 should be hitting VZW stores sometime this Spring. After the break is the first video we can find of the hardware in action. Word to the wise though, the OS is an early build and is a little buggy. In fact, it never starts up. But the hardware, oh the hardware. It looks great.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Mar 2009 | 2:00 pm

New Model Shows How Proteins Find The Right DNA Sequences

Researchers at Uppsala University and Harvard University have collaboratively developed a new theoretical model to explain how proteins can rapidly find specific DNA sequences, even though there are many obstacles in the way on the chromosomes.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Mar 2009 | 1:53 pm

BeeJive IM for iPhone to see an update “any time now”

At $16 greenbacks, Beejive IM for iPhone is one of the App Store’s swankier offerings. Fortunately, Beejive makes up for the steep entry fee with regular updates, each with at least a few notable features. According to our friends at Beejive, one of these updates should be hitting Apple’s e-shelves at any time now. The update has just been submitted for approval, so it’ll hit your handset whenever Apple gets done giving it the rundown.

Along with the standard performance enhancements and bug-mashings, this next build brings support for Facebook IM (and status updates) and “Wallpaper Selection within the application” - though we’re not really sure what that last bit entails. Keep your eyes peeled, and let us know if you see the update come down the pipes.

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Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Mar 2009 | 1:33 pm