Source: Gizmodo | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:45 am

Dell Eyes Acquisitions In Server, Data Center Markets - Wall Street Journal

Emirates Business 24/7

Dell Eyes Acquisitions In Server, Data Center Markets Wall Street Journal (Adds CEO comments on acquisitions strategy, competition with Cisco Systems, public sector demand for products.) By Aaron Back Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES BEIJING (Dow Jones)--Dell Inc. (DELL) Chief Executive Michael Dell said Thursday the company is eyeing ... Dell Challenges HP, IBM With New Offerings PC World Dell Eyes Acquisitions Services, Data Center and Storage Channel Insider ChannelWeb - InformationWeek - Register - eWeek all 172 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:41 am

Indie game awards showcase future - BBC News

Gamasutra

Indie game awards showcase future BBC News By Maggie Shiels A topless game developer and games about nature and paint spattering were the big winners at the Independent Games Festival Awards. 'LittleBigPlanet' wins big at video game awards The Associated Press GDC: Fallout 3 Takes Game of the Year Edge CVG Online - VentureBeat - New York Times - FOXBusiness all 91 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:25 am

'LittleBigPlanet' wins big at video game awards (AP)

AP - "LittleBigPlanet" sacked the competition to win four trophies at the Game Developers Choice Awards.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:22 am

iPhone apps cupcakes

Spotted on Shiny Shiny and stuff. Related: -- iPhone cake -- iPhone cupcakes
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:22 am

Ekahau Refines Wi-Fi RTLS Performance With New Location Beacon

RESTON, Virginia, March 26 /PRNewswire/ -- - Ekahau's Patented Wi-Fi Methodologies Now Exceed Performance Criteria Traditionally Only Available With Expensive Proprietary Technologies (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081014/324879-a ) Ekahau Inc., the leading provider of Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location Systems (RTLS), announced that it will make available a family of a small mobile battery-powered transmitters, called Ekahau location beacons, to further increase the location accuracy of its award-winning Wi-Fi RTLS solution.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:15 am

Crystal Cathedral: OMG! Poser tweets as Schuller (AP)

AP - Televangelist Robert H. Schuller has reached millions worldwide with his weekly "Hour of Power" TV broadcasts, but when it comes to the Internet, he had a high-tech headache: an online impostor.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:13 am

Charmin sponsors iPhone toilet finder app

Proctor & Gamble's Charmin toilet paper brand will launch a global sponsorship for the SitOrSquat website and its accompanying iPhone and BlackBerry app, designed to identify the world's cleanest...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:09 am

Quantum Leap in the Financial Year 2008 Following debitel Consolidation

BUEDELSDORF, Germany, March 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- - The Acquisition of the Debitel Group has Resulted in the Biggest Network-Independent Telecommunications Provider for Mobile Communications and Fixed-Line Products - Revenue Increased by Over 1 Billion Euros to 2.87 Billion Euros - More Than 23 Million Total Customers in the Freenet Group - Group Result From Continued Operations Rises to 148.4 Million Euros

Source: Gizmodo | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:02 am

Drop-Top Auto Design Fusion - Audi TT-RS Roadster Takes Aesthetic Cues From the R8 (VIDEO)

(TrendHunter.com) This delicious automobile is the Audi TT-RS Roadster, which will be revealed at the upcoming Leipzig Motor Show. It features the familiar Audi TT rounded silhouette with a few mean...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:00 am

Autonomy to Unveil Innovations to Interwoven Products at GearUp 2009 Executive Briefing Roadshow

CAMBRIDGE, England and SAN FRANCISCO, March 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Autonomy Corporation plc (LSE: AU.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Mar 2009 | 9:00 am

@BarackObama Updates His Twitter!

Barack Obama, Twitters second most popular user (CNN has passed him), updated his Twitter account today for the first time since taking office, according to Mashable. The update is to promote the Presidents...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Mar 2009 | 8:53 am

Companies Waste $2.8 Billion Per Year Powering Unused PCs

snydeq writes "Unused PCs — computers that are powered on but not in use — are expected to emit approximately 20 million tons of CO2 this year, roughly equivalent to the impact of 4 million cars, according to report by 1E and the Alliance to Save Energy. All told, U.S. organizations will waste $2.8 billion to power 108 million unused machines this year. The notion that power used turning on PCs negates any benefits of turning them off has been discussed recently as one of five PC power myths. By turning off unused machines and practicing proper PC power management, companies stand to save more than $36 per desktop PC per year."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 26 Mar 2009 | 8:44 am

Appletell reviews the Celesta and Ci70 PhotoSync keyboards: fashion vs. function

FROM APPLETELL - The bulk of my interaction with the computer is through the keyboard, so it’s very important that I find one that’s functional and comfortable. To that end, I take a look at two very different models for the Mac and PC in this review. MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:11 am

Asteroid sheds light on dawning of solar system - San Francisco Chronicle

WA today

Asteroid sheds light on dawning of solar system San Francisco Chronicle An asteroid exploded over Sudan's Nubian Desert last year with the force of a small atom bomb and sent a Mountain View astronomer racing into the rock-strewn sandy wilderness to recover tiny fragments of a space rock. Tracked asteroid debris collected BBC News Hunting asteroids before they hunt earth The Takeaway SkyandTelescope.com - Science News - National Geographic - Wired News all 268 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:10 am

A Dell Smartphone Would Face Big Hurdles [Voices]

Dell CEO Michael Dell has done little to dispel rumors that his company is working on a mobile computing device. In fact, he all but confirmed them while traveling in Japan on Mar. 24 when he said: “It is true that we are exploring smaller-screen devices.” What form those devices will take remains a matter of heated debate. Talk is that Dell plans a smartphone that would compete with Research In Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry, Apple’s iPhone, and the various devices running software from Microsoft, Nokia, or the Google-backed Open Handset Alliance. Prototypes of a Dell-made smartphone are being circulated in the wild and, according to Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu, got a cool reception from mobile-phone carriers including AT&T and Sprint Nextel.

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Source: All Things Digital | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:01 am

Washington State's Brightest Tech Stars Honored at WTIA's Industry Achievement Awards

The Washington Technology Industry Association recognizes local technology innovators, celebrates 25th anniversary at annual celebration SEATTLE, March 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) (http://www.washingtontechnology.org), North America's largest statewide association of technology companies, IT departments and individual technology professionals, honored the winners of its 14th annual Industry Achievement Awards (IAAs) last night during an awards ceremony at the Paramount Theater.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:01 am

Ambient Insight Releases U.S. Learning Technology Market Forecast

Revenues reached $30 billion in 2008 SEATTLE, March 26 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report by Ambient Insight, the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:01 am

Life After Google [Voices]

There is life after Google–though the increasing number of search alternatives popping up around the U.S. are careful not to take the search giant head-on. With three-quarters of all search traffic, Google might seem unassailable. But potential competitors are busy developing new ways of finding information and hunting down the investors they need to support them. Last year, more than 50 new search companies raised $330 million in venture financing, according to MoneyTree.

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Source: All Things Digital | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am

Daily Crunch: Paper Trail Edition

Teaser for new Zelda: Spirit Tracks for DS
They now try to produce hydrogen with leftover food
Gloves-on with Punch-Out!!! for the Wii
Adult footed pajamas offered as ultimate answer to exorbitant heating bills
Show everyone how green you are with this hand crank paper shredder
Contest: Win our pre-release copy of Rhythm Heaven for the DS

Source: CrunchGear | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am

There’s Twitter the Company, and Twitter the Medium [Voices]

Last year, Leo Laporte became a Twitter quitter. The host of one of Silicon Valley’s most popular podcasts was none too excited that of all the names in the world, the burgeoning message service had picked one that hit piercingly close to home. The online broadcasting network that Laporte owns and runs a short walk from his house in Petaluma is called TWiT.tv, after his company’s flagship show, “This Week in Tech.”

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Source: All Things Digital | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am

Web Video’s Savior May Be ‘Product Placement’ [Voices]

While the very phrase “product placement” elicits jeers and hisses in the TV and movie worlds, on the web something surprising has been happening: Branded content is emerging as not just a promising way to make money, but as creatively viable as well. Take Ashton Kutcher’s “Blah Girls,” which features sassy teen celebrity-bloggers who pause occasionally to quaff VitaminWater as they chase celebrity dirt.

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Source: All Things Digital | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am

Power to the People: 7 Ways to Fix the Grid, Now [Voices]

Filthy coal-fired power plants spew carbon into the air. A mish-mash of 9,200 generators streams vital electrons along 300,000 miles of aging, inefficient transmission lines and one untrimmed tree in the wrong place could plunge a quarter of the country into darkness. This is our electric grid. A whopping 40 percent of all the energy used in the US—be it oil, gas, wind, or solar—is converted into electrons that travel over these wires. Any attempt at energy reform must begin here.

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Source: All Things Digital | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am

Jeppesen Enhances eLearning Strategy by Implementing Enterprise Knowledge Platform LMS

AUSTIN, Texas, March 26 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- NetDimensions (London Stock Exchange, AIM: NETD), a global provider of performance, knowledge and learning management systems and its partner Intelladon, a premier provider of learning solutions, combining software and services announced today that Jeppesen has implemented the Enterprise Knowledge Platform (EKP) learning management system (LMS) to deliver aviation training and courses to individual and corporate clients. Customer satisfaction is very important to Jeppesen, a subsidiary of the Boeing Company.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am

Sitting in the Dark All for a Good Cause - Washington Post

Sydney Morning Herald

Sitting in the Dark All for a Good Cause Washington Post The World Wildlife Fund hopes that you'll be sitting in the dark, observing Earth Hour. What is Earth Hour? It's an attempt by the environmental group to get people, businesses, governments and organizations to turn off the lights for an hour to make a ... World Wildlife Fund turns off lights in DC Bizjournals.com Con Edison Joins Earth Hour Movement FOXBusiness Bernama - Northumberland Today - Toronto Star - msnbc.com all 722 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Mar 2009 | 6:20 am

YouTube Music Content Takedown Continued

pregnantfridge writes "In the ongoing conflict between PRS for Music and YouTube over the takedown of all music related content in the UK, PRS for Music have created a new site, fairplayforcreators.com , exposing the views of the music writers impacted by the YouTube decision. I am not certain if these views have been editorially compromised but by reading a few pages, its clear to me that Music writers represented by PRS for Music are largely clueless about what the Internet and YouTube means to the music industry. Kind of explains why the music industry is in as much decline — and also why so much litigation takes place on the music writers behalf."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 26 Mar 2009 | 6:18 am

Will Garmin, Navigon, or TomTom be on the iPhone?  Gadgetell investigates

Section: Apple, Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Gadgets / Other, GPS/Navigation, Features, Originals

The iPhone, especially with its new 3.0 software, has a lot of nifty features.  One primary and popular feature of the iPhone is its vast app store that is home to many innovative and creative apps.  Within the app store, it is possible to find software for nearly anything you can imagine, ranging from free to slightly expensive ones.  With the 3.0 software, turn by turn GPS apps will be a possibility. 

Even if you don’t own an iPhone, you might know that it already has its own form of GPS platform by Google Maps.  While it is sufficient enough for some, not everyone relies on their iPhone to navigate to work, on a trip, or in unfamiliar territory.  My question is, why can’t the iPhone take the place of a standalone or car GPS?  Many users already rely on the iPhone for their on-the-go music, obviously phone capabilities, on-the-go web access, and I believe GPS should be another advanced feature.  Telenav announced they would have GPS on the phone almost a year ago. 

But what the three major players in the GPS market?  I recently got in contact with Garmin, Navigon, and TomTom.  I wanted to see if they had any plans for creating a solid GPS app for the iPhone. 

Garmin and their (lack of) Plans

Here was the response I got when asking if they had any plans to create a GPS app for the iPhone:

We’re always looking at new opportunities, but we don’t have any plans to do an iPhone application in the immediate future.

This says a few things, they are probably busy focusing on standalone units and probably their Nuviphone.  In addition, they probably think that it is not worth it for them to create and market an app for the iPhone, unless they know 100% that it will be popular and they will be making a profit.  In our current economic state, it would be a stupid decision by Garmin to waste personnel and research on something that will not take off.  They always do well in the standalone GPS field so they should stick with their strengths before taking a big gamble. 

Navigon and their “potential” plans

When I checked up on Navigon to see if anything was doing, here was the response I received:

NAVIGON has a strong record of providing navigation software for cell phones in Europe and Samsung has already launched phones in Europe with our navigation software on board. We also recently announced a new partnership with LG in Europe. We are always looking into new business models and the smartphone market is one such opportunity that we’re examining. We would put the IPhone into the category of ‘potential opportunity.’

It is very official-like and straightforward.  Navigon seems to have some good experience with mobile GPS especially in Europe and working with Samsung.  Becoming partners with LG in Europe is a step in the right direction if they wish to bolster profits and generate more revenue to keep their company afloat.  As with any GPS company, they are looking to keep their options open and the fact that they didn’t come out and say no about creating an app for the iPhone gives me some hope. 

They want to compete with the likes of Garmin and TomTom, so by creating a good, solid app for the iPhone could be interesting.  If it costs too much, people might be content with Google Maps and their standalone unit if they have one.  However, I wouldn’t be surprised if they gained a lot of recognition from creating an iPhone app.  I’m not going to spread a rumor by saying Navigon will develop an iPhone app, but it doesn’t look like it’s out of the realm of possibility. 

TomTom and their lack of announced plans

The response I received back from TomTom was short and right to the point.  Their PR said, “We haven’t made any formal announcements thus far, but I will let you know if anything should change.“  Perhaps they didn’t want to disclose any confidential information to me, but I would put them into the same category as Garmin.  They certainly have their priorities, and I imagine standalone GPS units are at the top, while mobile applications are near the bottom.  Maybe it is possible that they will create something for the iPhone, but at this time I doubt it.

Will my iPhone be stuck with only Google Maps?

At this point in time, my answer would be yes.  Unless some major company signs an exclusive deal with Apple that a piece of GPS software they create is the main GPS software on the device instead of Google Maps, then I think you are stuck with the current GPS.  I think a GPS company such as the ones I contacted, or even a different company, were to create an app, that would definitely be interesting and could become popular as long as the price isn’t too high. 

GPS companies have to remember that nowadays, most people who own an iPhone probably have some sort of GPS, whether it be standalone unit or car GPS.  So the app they create would have to be better than a standalone or car GPS. 

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 26 Mar 2009 | 6:08 am

Janet Klein plays "Tonight You Belong To Me" on ukulele

My friend Janet Klein made an instructional video to teach you how to play "Tonight You Belong To Me" on the ukulele.

Source: Gizmodo | 26 Mar 2009 | 5:30 am

Visible Measures Raises $10 Million Series C Funding To Track Viral Videos

Viral video tracking and measurement firm Visible Measures has closed a $10 million series C round of funding, led by Northgate Capital. Existing investors Mohr Davidow and General Catalyst also participated, bringing the total capital the company has raised since launch to $29 million. The last time it raised money was in January, 2008.

Visible Measures lets both ad agencies and big video publishing sites on the Web track viewership and engagement with videos across the Web. Ad agencies can measure the effectiveness of specific video ad campaigns, and publishers can see which of their videos are being played and passed around the most.

The company is currently tracking more than 200 million different online videos and video ads. Each day it measures the equivalent of 100 years worth of collective online video viewing consumption. It is trying to bring the types of metrics normally associated with direct response ads to brand awareness.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 26 Mar 2009 | 5:27 am

Satyam Wins Corporate University Xchange Awards

- Satyam recognized for excellence in Leadership Development, Marketing & Communications of Brand Value of Learning, and Strategic Alignment of Learning to Business Strategies HYDERABAD, India, March 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Satyam Computer Services Ltd.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:47 am

G20 Welcoming Committee Gets Ready

Richard Metzger is the current Boing Boing guest blogger

It's sure gonna be a long, hot FUN summer...

G20 Meltdown

Class War G20 issue

Summit police fear attacks on hotels used by the G20 leaders

G20 to be most expensive police operation in British history

Storm the Banks

Britain at risk of serious social unrest, report warns

G20 Protests Twitter Feed

UK IndyMedia

Mahalo G20 Protests round-up (frequently updated)

Source: Boing Boing | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:42 am

Meebo Turns Into One Big Ad, But Users Seem To Like It

Web chat service Meebo, always innovative with advertising, is trying out something fairly aggressive: full takeover ads that show a persistent advertisement in the background.

The company says that they already got 1% or higher click throughs on existing ads units on the site, which included rollovers at the bottom of the screen and another unit right in the middle. But the new units actually take over the entire background of the site, meaning users are literally slammed with the messaging. They are presented with an option of removing the add with a click.

And the users don’t seem to mind at all.

Founder/CEO Seth Sternberg wrote a blog post today on the new ads and asked for user feedback. Most of the 100+ comments to the post are very positive. Example comments:

“Awesome…Black is a really nice look for Meebo…The ad is really subtle, too — not all up in your face…“Did we strike a good balance between not disturbing your use of Meebo, while acknowledging the need to run ads?”…Hell to the yes!”

“I read your message about why the background changed and everything, and I definitely agree with what you’re saying. (Especially the sucky, flashy ads that cover your page you’re trying to view). With that said, nice work! I actually really like the way the ad is incorporated into the background, and slightly opaque. It’s not too distracting, and if the ads are helping you guys out, by all means, keep doing it this way! : )”

“I think this is a brilliant way to put ads up without being obtrusive and annoying. No one likes banner ads or popups. This does look like a good balance. I hate ads as much as the next guy, but know the need for them to support your business, and the fact that you concidered your clientell in your design means a lot. It means my willingness not to click the ‘backtoblue’ button and get rid of it because it simply being there and me not clicking is paying you for a job well done.”

YouTube, ESPN, MySpace and others have tried similar ads in the past, and these things command great fees. If Meebo really has gotten the users to buy into this, we may be seeing similar stuff all over the place, and soon.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:40 am

IBM among 8 shortlisted for Satyam bidding: report (Reuters)

Reuters - The board of Satyam Computer Services has shortlisted about eight bidders, including IBM and private equity firm Apax Partners, for buying the fraud-hit outsourcer, the Economic Times said on Thursday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:37 am

IBM to lay off more workers in their US based operations

Section: Business News, Computers

According to the Wall Street Journal, IBM will be sending out another slew of pink slips, this time targeting their global business services department.  The IBM employees’ union sent out a warning to workers that the layoffs are expected to be handed down as early as tomorrow. 

This latest round of layoffs comes only a few short months after over four thousand employees lost their jobs in January.  Those cuts affected their software, sales, semiconductor and finance departments.  IBM is expected to outsource many of the positions to India in an effort to save money on salaries.  This is not due to financial turmoil since IBM reported a strong fourth quarter and has recently been rumored to be in talks in order to acquire Sun Microsystems, a popular manufacturer of storage solutions.

As of right now, an official number has yet to be released on the expected number of employees that will lose their job.  Some unions have found with offense with IBM and the way that they tend to dodge layoff notification laws.

Read: [ZDNet]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:32 am

The Ultimate iphone Home Screens - PC Magazine

Cult of Mac

The Ultimate iphone Home Screens PC Magazine We've assembled the perfect collections of iphone apps for TV junkies, travelers, sports fans, and bloggers. by Kyle Monson For iphone users like me, the iphone home screen is one of the most-used resources in my life. The Apps Battle Heats Up BusinessWeek How to Make an iPhone App: Part Three Popular Science TMC Net - ChannelWeb - Ars Technica - Mediapost.com all 51 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:28 am

New titles set for Wii, DS platforms - San Francisco Chronicle

BBC News

New titles set for Wii, DS platforms San Francisco Chronicle Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata took the stage at the Game Developers Conference on Wednesday to encourage developers, talk about the new DSi handheld and introduce some titles for the Wii and DS platforms. Nintendo's secret sauce BBC News Nintendo Tips 'Zelda' Railroad Game, Wii Storage PC Magazine CNET News - PC World - Ars Technica - Reuters all 235 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:12 am

Cotton Swabs Prime Suspect In 8 Year Phantom Chase

matt4077 writes "For eight years, several hundred police officers across several European countries have been chasing a phantom woman whose DNA had been found in almost 20 crimes (including two murders) across central Europe. It now turns out that contaminated cotton swabs might be responsible for this highly unusual investigation. After being puzzled by the apparent randomness of the crimes, investigator noticed that all cotton swabs had been sourced from the same company. They also noted that the DNA was never found in crimes in Bavaria, a German state located at the center of the crimes' locations. It turns out that Bavaria buys its swabs from a different supplier."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:10 am

AT&T's 2009 Investment Will Enhance Mobile Broadband Network Throughout Pennsylvania

AT&T Continues to Expand Nation's Fastest 3G Wireless Network Across State, Builds on $775 million investment over past three years HARRISBURG, Pa., March 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As people's lives become increasingly mobile and fast-paced, and to address the growing demand for advanced wireless data products and services, AT&T* today announced its wireless network expansion plans for 2009, which will further enhance its third generation (3G) mobile broadband network in Pennsylvania. AT&T plans to roll out its 3G network in new communities in the Keystone State, including many areas in Berks, Lancaster, Lebanon, York and Adams Counties in Central and Eastern Pennsylvania.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:01 am

Video: Lars Ulrich Downloads Leaked Album With BitTorrent

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich sits down with Wired to talk about twittering, playing secret shows at small venues, and gives pointers to aspiring rock stars.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:00 am

March 26, 1850: Birth of a Socialist Sci-Fi Writer

1850: Edward Bellamy is born. He's the American socialist and visionary author best known for penning the forward-looking utopian novel, Looking Backward.

Bellamy grew up in western Massachusetts, a desultory law student who knew he wanted to be a writer. He soon ditched law for journalism and worked for a couple of newspapers — the Springfield Union and New York Post — before turning to fiction.

He wrote short stories and several popular Victorian novels — The Duke of Stockbridge (1879), Dr. Heidenhoff's Process (1880) and Miss Ludington's Sister (1884) — but attained fame with the publication in 1888 of Looking Backward, the story of a young man who falls into a hypnotic sleep in 1887, only to wake up in 2000 when the world has evolved into a great socialist paradise.

Bellamy embraced a central pillar of socialism, that cooperation among humans is healthier than cutthroat competition. This conviction formed the basis of Looking Backward and emerged as its central theme. Boston in the year 2000, Bellamy's setting for the novel, is indeed a world where socialism has emerged triumphant and the world is harmonious because of it.

Bellamy predicted a revolution in retail, with something like today's warehouse clubs and big-box stores. Transactions would be handled by a card system much like a modern debit card. People could use enhanced telephone lines to listen to sermons and classical music.

The book was a hit, selling over a million copies and ranking behind only Uncle Tom's Cabin and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ as the top best-seller of the era.

Bellamy's success led to a slew of other utopian-themed novels, although none reached Looking Backward's level of popularity. The book also spawned experiments in communal living and fed the Nationalist movement, which urged the nationalization of all industry and the elimination of class distinctions.

Socialism, of course, had different connotations in the 19th century when it rose, principally as a backlash to the brutalities of industrialization and the exploitation of the workers by the ruling class. (Were he alive today, Bellamy might note, with interest, that while the worst excesses of the industrial age are gone, the exploitation continues.)

Had Bellamy lived to the ripe old age of 150, he no doubt would have been disappointed to find capitalism running amok, and his fellow man no less greedy and self-serving than in his own time.

But he didn't live to be 150. In fact, Bellamy was still a relatively young man when he died of tuberculosis in 1898.

Source: Wikipedia, Bowling Green University

Source: Wired Top Stories | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:00 am

Fixing the Grid: Make Conservation Simple (and Easy)

Problem  A smart grid requires smart electric meters that let households track and manage their power consumption in real time. The Obama administration wants 40 million homes to have technology like this installed within the next three years. But smart meters require smart consumers—or at least attentive ones—and most people don't think about their energy use until it's time to pay the bill or until the lights go out.

Smart Grid Customers

1 Average Consumer Most customers simply replace their old meter with a smart one. Then they enter some basic preferences—do you care more about cost or reliability?—and input data on their house size and appliances. The system tracks usage and will eventually be able to suggest changes to help users achieve their energy goals. Special vacation settings can be programmed in. Call centers will be ready to help the tech-averse.

2 Energy Donor Some homes with solar panels on the roof—or a plugged-in hybrid in the garage—will be able to funnel power back into the system, choosing when and how much they send. A homeowner could, for example, arrange to shoot solar power to the grid, instead of to their air conditioner, when the price rises above a certain threshold. That would boost the system's supply precisely when it's most needed.

3 Electricity Geek By inserting special plugs into their electrical outlets, creative consumers can turn almost anything into a smart appliance—even mundane stuff like hall lights, pool pumps, and garage doors. With a bit of tinkering on the grid program's Web site, savvy users can then manage the power flowing to each appliance and rank them according to the order they should be shut down when prices rise.

Solution  Make the meters as easy to use as a TiVo. Then, make them interesting—and worth real money—to folks who like to fiddle. For the $100 million SmartGridCity project in Boulder, Colorado, Xcel Energy and a group of partners are building a system that lets customers manage home electricity use through a Web page that shows energy burned, carbon footprint, and ways to save cash.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 26 Mar 2009 | 4:00 am

Linda Stone profiled for Ada Lovelace Day

Eileen sez, "For Lovelace Day, I chatted with geek-grrl guru and virtual-worlds visionary Linda Stone, who tells how she introduced Apple-like compassion to Microsoft's rough-and-ready corporate culture. Wish I'd been there to see that!"

Linda's one of my favorite people of all time -- what a great appreciation of a deserving subject!

I brought in interesting speakers when I was in Microsoft Research, and then started the Visiting Speaker Series in 2000, which is still around today. I brought in thought leaders and critics like Eric Raymond, Larry Lessig, and David Farber, to talk and meet with people. I brought in Jane Goodall, Malcolm Gladwell, and John Lasseter. These are people who inspire all of us, who open our minds and stimulate our thinking. The series gave employees access to these people and their ideas, and that proved to be a very powerful way of keeping dialog flowing. Many other companies have now instituted their own series, and Kim Ricketts, a bookseller in Seattle who supported my efforts at Microsoft when she was at the University Bookstore, has now created a business around organizing and hosting book signings and author tours in corporations. While I worked for Ballmer, I managed and significantly improved Microsoft’s relationship with the World Economic Forum. At conferences, in the Valley, in NYC and elsewhere, I was visible and accessible, so that people could talk to me and I would be aware, as much as possible, of problems as they arose and before they became serious. I also helped nurture dialogs on important topics like open source, and followed up on them. I wanted to encourage a general curiosity in the Microsoft community, and to encourage Microsoft employees to develop relationships with the larger community outside of the company.

Welcome to Ada Lovelace Day! :: An interview with Linda Stone (Thanks, Eileen!)


Source: Boing Boing | 26 Mar 2009 | 3:55 am

Project Playlist to Add EMI Music Catalog to Online Music Service - FOXBusiness

AFP

Project Playlist to Add EMI Music Catalog to Online Music Service FOXBusiness PALO ALTO, Calif., March 25, 2009 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ ----Project Playlist, the leading social media network where music fans discover, create and share playlists, has entered into an agreement with EMI Music to add EMI's well-known and expansive ... EMI Allows Content on Project Playlist, Drops Suit PC Magazine EMI's catalog comes to Project Playlist CNET News Mediapost.com - Washington Post - Digital Media Wire - VentureBeat all 28 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 26 Mar 2009 | 3:51 am

OnLive Gaming to stream current-gen games to your computer, TV

FROM GAMERTELL - OnLive Gaming is about to offer next-gen gaming experiences at a fraction of the cost of PCs and Consoles. MORE »

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Source: Gadgetell | 26 Mar 2009 | 3:46 am

Upside of squatters

Slate's got an article on the upside -- to a city -- of having squatters move into empty buildings. The beautiful, gigantic Victorian brick office-building next to my flat in east London was recently squatted by what seem like nice enough people (except for that one Sunday morning they got drunk, stood on the roof, and had a shouted coversation with someone on the street below, right outside the bedroom window!). I tell myself that at least they're not junkies or arsonists -- and it's better than living on a street with no neighbors.

Squatting, or unlawfully occupying and making use of land that belongs to someone else, tends to emerge when poverty and homelessness intersect with absentee ownership. It was widespread on the frontier of the 19th-century West, where settlers who couldn't afford to purchase land at market prices often simply occupied land owned by Eastern speculators (as well as land owned by the federal government and by Native American tribes).

From the point of view of local officials, this was a win-win, of a sort. Far-away owners were more interested in free-riding on rising property values, and flipping their land, than in developing it productively. So they resisted paying property taxes or investing in infrastructure. As a result, governments in the West were happy to lend squatters a hand in their efforts to get property out of the speculators' hands. Local governments frequently made it easier for squatters to obtain title through the legal doctrine of adverse possession (sometimes colloquially called "squatters rights")—for example, by shortening the time period required for squatting to mature into ownership. Ultimately, even the federal government joined in. After years of using the Army to chase squatters off its lands, Congress decided to create a legal avenue for settlers without money to become landowners: the 1862 Homestead Act.

Homesteaders in the Hood (Thanks, Eduardo!)


Source: Boing Boing | 26 Mar 2009 | 3:43 am

Scientists watch asteroid hit atmosphere

U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 26 Mar 2009 | 3:32 am

Zimride: A Carpooling Startup That Actually Makes Money

Zimride - a startup with a tagline that reads “A Carpool Community” - sounds exactly like the sort of benevolent Web 2.0 service that will never make a cent. As it turns out, since launching in 2007 and winning fbFund last summer, the company has managed to carve out a nice niche for itself that saves its users money, helps the environment, and actually manages to generate revenue. And, unlike some of its carpooling competitors, it has also managed to avoid getting sued by Canada.

Zimride offers an application on Facebook Platform, inviting users on the same network to meet eachother and share a car trip. Users can also visit the service on its website at Zimride.com and find trusted users through Facebook Connect. After entering their current location and their destination, Zimride will generate a list of potential matches arranged by how far out of the way each one wants to travel. Users can also post a destination they’d like to travel to some time down the line, and receive alerts through Email when a match pops up.

The service is offered for free for up to 50 members per school or company network, but once it crosses that threshold Zimride seeks out the network owner and asks them to pay a subscription fee if it wants to continue allowing its students or employees to use the service. While this sounds a bit risky (Zimride stands a chance at pissing off students if their school decides not to join), COO John Zimmer says that institutions have generally been very receptive to the idea.

The company works with transporation departments and student governments at universities and large companies, and charges universities $9500 a year for the service (they can pay month-to-month). So far, the company has managed to sign up 20 instutitions, including Stanford which has seen over 14,00 new users share 300 rides in three weeks. And aside from earning money as a carpooling company (which is impressive in itself), Zimride is also notable for being a Facebook application that generates revenue through something other than advertising.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 26 Mar 2009 | 3:24 am

T-Mobile’s My Account app hits Android Market

Guess what G1 users? T-Mobile has released its first Android app - My Account - to the Android Market. Now you have the ability to check pertinent account information right from the ‘droid in your hand.

According to Android and Me, T-Mo’s free My Account app provides “current activity, bill summary, plan information, online payment, help guides, forums, battery info, storage info, and more.”

While there’s nothing terribly groundbreaking here, it is nice to see a mobile carrier develop a native application for its own (current) flagship device instead of leaving it up to third party developers.

Sure, all the info included in My Account is readily available on the Net, in store, or over the phone, but why not take advantage of Android while also making customers a drop happier in the process? Nice work, guys.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 26 Mar 2009 | 3:17 am

iPhone external keyboard without hacking, but on iPhone 2.0 SDK

FROM APPLETELL - Two PerceptDev engineers by the names of Zack Gainsforth and George Dean have been able to get an infrared keyboard working with their iPhone. This hack simply uses less that $20 worth of hardware and an audio port modem. MORE »

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Source: Gadgetell | 26 Mar 2009 | 3:03 am

Free DSi points when you purchase a Nintendo DSi

A few things went unannounced during Nintendo’s GDC keynote this morning and the biggest news on the DSi front is the confirmation of 1000 free DSi points if you purchase the third generation DS within the first six months of launch. That’s quite a bit of free swag considering DSiWare games and apps will be divvied up into four price tiers: free, 200 points, 500 points and 800+ points. The DSi point to $ ratio is 100 to 1, so 1000 points is a considerable amount of free booty. So be sure to pick up your DSi between April 5th and October 5th if you want to cash in.

Source: CrunchGear | 26 Mar 2009 | 3:00 am

A new baby can spell trouble for marriage

Having a baby can damage a marriage in ways new parents never anticipate, Texas A&M researchers warned Wednesday

Source: Gizmodo | 26 Mar 2009 | 2:54 am

Western Digital expands My Book line to 2TB

Today, WD announced that their entire My Book line of external hard drives has been bumped up to 2TB of storage. The line is vast and caters to young and old, PC or Mac. The revamped line of 2TB drives includes: My Book Studio Edition, My Book Mac Edition, My Book Home Edition and My Book Essential Edition. Prices range from $329.99 to $379.99.

WD

Source: CrunchGear | 26 Mar 2009 | 2:30 am

Mortgage Recommender Home-Account Secures $1 Million In Seed Funding

Home-Account, a recently launched mortgage search and counseling service, has secured $1 million in seed and angel funding. The largest investor is Charles River Ventures, which gave the startup $300,000 through its QuickStart Seed Funding Program (the program usually only gives startups $250,000 but saw promise in Home-Account). Additional investors include many well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and investors: Marc Benioff, Ron Conway, Mark Pincus, Jeff Clavier, Arjun Gupta, and Gigi Brisson.

Home-Account offers a compelling service for those who are looking for mortgage or to re-finance. In the current economy where credit is difficult to access, Home-Account helps consumers find the right mortgage for their needs and credit histories. Here’s how it works. Consumers fill out a free online mortgage profile to determine if their credit history qualifies them for a mortgage and what interest rates they could qualify for. Once Home-Account determines that a consumer qualifies for a mortgage, the startup will get mortgage offers from its partner lenders (this service costs users $10 per month).

With credit standards tightening for mortgages, many consumers may not qualify for a mortgage in the current climate. Home-Account offers a second service (also $10 per month) which will help consumers with poor credit history improve their credit scores and get their financial history in order to become more desirable applicants for mortgage lenders.

CEO Mark Goldstein says that he wants Home-Account to be the Kayak.com of mortgages. He says that Home-Account creates a better, more transparent way to get a mortgage. A good mortgage broker should do a lot of hand holding, says Goldstein, and recently, mortgage brokers haven’t been doing their jobs correctly. Home-Account doesn’t make commissions from the buyers or the lenders, like some online mortgage services like LendingTree.com and LowerMyBills.com. It makes money solely from the consumer subscriptions.

Goldstein formerly co-founded BlueLight.com, which was Kmart’s foray into e-commerce during the first dotcom bubble. The Home-Account team is partly made up of mortgage technology experts from Washington Mutual. Since the startup’s launch, 25,000 consumers have used the mortgage evaluator and several hundred have signed up for the paid mortgage finder service. For a subscription service, however, there is sure to be a lot of turnover. Once a consumer finds a mortgage, they won’t need the service anymore. Only people with the worst credit will have any incentive to keep their subscriptions going, and Home-Account will have the perverse economic incentive of keeping their hope alive as long as possible.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 26 Mar 2009 | 2:21 am

New worm sets sights on Cable and DSL modems

Section: Computers, Security

Researchers have discovered a frightening new worm that targets routers and DSL/Cable modems rather than PCs themselves.  Called psyb0t or Bluepill, it is believed to have come from Australia and is armed with over 6,000 common usernames and 13,0000 passwords for 55 popular routers and modems, including the two most popular brands, Netgear and Linksys.

Since routers and modems are on 24/7 and allow unlimited attempts at logging on, they make ideal targets for hackers.  The worm is hard to detect and people with infected equipment would never know they had it.

The good news is the worm’s botnet functions appear to have been disabled, but not before infecting nearly 100,000 machines, and it still may be stealing personal information from the machines it infects.  It’s possible the initial infection was an experiment to see how well the new worm worked.

To protect yourself, make sure the usernames and passwords of your router and modems are hard to crack by using a combination of letters and numbers.  Too many people never change the default log in information (usually something like “admin” for username and “password” for the password, and in some cases the username is the brand name of the device, such as Linksys), and that leaves them wide open to hackers and scammers of all types.  Once someone is able to log on to your router they can disable its firewall and security and poke through your personal info, use your internet connection to send spam, and more. 

So change those passwords and usernames ASAP!

Read [PCWorld]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 26 Mar 2009 | 2:05 am

Mindbending indie game Fez has a new trailer

Like Portal, Fez will be forcing you to wrap your mind around a completely different way of navigating the world. I’m losing it just watching this trailer, and I’ve been following its development for some time now. Whatever system this ends up coming out on, that’s the one I’m going to buy. Hopefully it’s all three plus the PC.

If you’re interested, there’s more information over at Polytron’s site.

[via TIGSource]

Source: CrunchGear | 26 Mar 2009 | 2:00 am

Japan astronaut tests 'stink-free' briefs

Space, the final frontier, is where the Japanese have gone to try out their new odor-free underwear. Japanese astronaut Takao Doi is at the International Space Station testing underwear made of a special nanotech fabric that purportedly makes them stink-free even after several consecutive
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 26 Mar 2009 | 1:52 am

Google Voice Fixes Security Flaw, Almost

gardel writes "Google appears to have fixed a significant security hole in its two-week-old Voice calling service though some vulnerabilities remain. Until about 7pm PDT Tuesday, an unauthorized party could use a SIP device to spoof a phone number attached to a Google Voice account to call the Google Voice number, giviing the spoofer access to greetings and voicemail, and the ability to make outbound calls, including expensive international calls. Though spoofing via SIP is no longer possible, continued existence of some vulnerability was still apparent Tuesday night. Voxilla was able to set the caller ID of a PBX extension to a mobile number attached to Google Voice account and call in, using a business VoIP trunk, to gain access."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Gizmodo | 26 Mar 2009 | 1:43 am

Insane "Tim and Eric" moment

Richard Metzger is the current Boing Boing guest blogger

The new series of "Tim and Eric Awesome Show --great job!" has been, well, awesome, as this far out clip shows...

Thanks Tara McGinley!


Source: Boing Boing | 26 Mar 2009 | 1:36 am

Contest: Win our pre-release copy of Rhythm Heaven for the DS

Nintendo was generous enough to provide everyone at their press conference with a copy of Rhythm Heaven (Rizumu Tengoku), a game which is already very popular in Japan and they’re hoping will take off here, presumably with word of mouth from us folks. Of course, I don’t have a DS (I’m still working through the Dreamcast library), so one of you lucky ducks gets to keep my copy of this game — which I should mention isn’t due out for another 11 days.

All you have to do is leave a comment! Rhythm Heaven is all about minigames that let you demonstrate your rhythm or lack thereof — for most of us it’ll be a learning experience rather than a way to show off. So tell us why you need more rhythm. For example: I need more rhythm because when I walk, I get out of step with the song I’m listening to in my head. This is true, and I probably need Rizumu Tengoku more than any of you jokers.

You’ve got until Friday to share your story, at which point we’ll pick the best and ship you your sweet new DS game — plus maybe a shirt.

But if Fitbit's founders can get their product out to market, they hope to leverage the worldwide community of gadget blogs and online forums to carry it forward. Hardware-obsessed gadget heads offer powerful word-of-mouth marketing and they can turn unknown products into mainstream hits inexpensively, says Krikorian, pointing to Sling's strategy of courting bloggers and online enthusiasts.

If Fitbit can carve a successful niche for itself, there could be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Last week Cisco acquired Pure Digital, makers of the Flip video camera, for $590 million.

"An acquisition in consumer electronics is not like winning a lottery," says Park, ever hopeful. "If you build a good business with strong cash flows, there are enough big companies out there interested in you."

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 26 Mar 2009 | 12:17 am

Antony and the Johnsons: Epilepsy is Dancing

Richard Metzger is the current Boing Boing guest blogger

Gorgeous music video for "Epilepsy is Dancing" (<-- larger version) by the wonderful Antony and the Johnsons.

Source: Boing Boing | 26 Mar 2009 | 12:09 am

Fear the Timely Reaper: Pioneer Sets Up Final Schedule to Kill the Kuro TV

A month after Pioneer announced it was ending its Plasma business by early 2010, the company has now released the exact date of execution for its beloved line of Kuro plasma TVs.   

Four new models of Pioneer's Kuro plasma HDTVs will be released on April 1st, but only 3,000 total units will be made. The two 50-inch Kuros, the KRP-500A and KRP-500M, will be priced around $3,500-$4,000 (based on previous estimates) and 2,500 of them will be available. The 60-inch Kuros, KRP-600A and KRP-600M, will be the most hard to find, with only 500 sets, likely nearing $6,000.

As the earlier announcement noted, Pioneer will service the needs of older Plasma TVs until 2017. By that time, though, we'll likely be on our second autostereoscopic 3D TV and will have likely forgotten about any 'Kuro secret sauce.'      

Ever since they came out in 2007, the Pioneer Kuro TVs have been known for years for their great contrast ratio and overall excellent picture quality. Last month ago, I wrote on NewTeeVee that the end of the Kuro TV would come fast, but I didn't expect the final release would be this small.

Among several reasons, the economic recession and the presence of improved LCDs tipped over all of the plasmas, but they also never really had a huge volume of sales because they were so expensive. Other TVs with good picture quality at lower prices unfortunately lessened the value of the Kuro, despite its best-in-class quality position.    

According to Pioneer, 2.8 million Kuros were sold worldwide. Once the latest versions are sold out, they'll be gone for good.

For those interested in buying one of the last Kuros, there is currently no word on how the company will distribute them to stores or whether they'll sell them online only.    

They should probably just put them up on eBay so that Plasma-loving customers can boost the price and the company can then give the extra profits to employees who lost their jobs in the closing of the Kuro plasma plants. But something tells me they won't do that.

Photo: Pioneer, NTV, MGM

Follow Jose Fermoso on Twitter at http://twitter.com/fermoso

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 26 Mar 2009 | 12:07 am

Pwn2Own 2009 Winner Charlie Miller Interviewed

crazipper writes "Tom's Hardware interviewed Charlie Miller, winner of this year's Pwn2Own contest and formerly with the NSA. He discusses the effort it took before the contest to be able to take down a MacBook within seconds, sandboxing, and the effectiveness of the NX bit and ASLR. His outlook on end-users protecting themselves against attacks? 'Users are at the mercy of the products they buy.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Mar 2009 | 11:51 pm

The Big Takeover: A Must-Read from Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi

Richard Metzger is the current Boing Boing guest blogger

I've always admired Matt Taibbi's writing and I've followed his byline from his hilarious early efforts at The eXile, a Moscow-based free paper for ex-pat Americans to his stint at The NY Press, and now at Rolling Stone, where he's been published for some time. Jann Wenner's smart patronage of a fine writer like Taibbi is ample proof of Rolling Stone's continuing relevance in a world of 24/7 news cycles and instant internet publishing.

This article is Taibbi at his best. It takes no prisoners!

It's over — we're officially, royally fucked. No empire can survive being rendered a permanent laughingstock, which is what happened as of a few weeks ago, when the buffoons who have been running things in this country finally went one step too far. It happened when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was forced to admit that he was once again going to have to stuff billions of taxpayer dollars into a dying insurance giant called AIG, itself a profound symbol of our national decline — a corporation that got rich insuring the concrete and steel of American industry in the country's heyday, only to destroy itself chasing phantom fortunes at the Wall Street card tables, like a dissolute nobleman gambling away the family estate in the waning days of the British Empire.

The latest bailout came as AIG admitted to having just posted the largest quarterly loss in American corporate history — some $61.7 billion. In the final three months of last year, the company lost more than $27 million every hour. That's $465,000 a minute, a yearly income for a median American household every six seconds, roughly $7,750 a second. And all this happened at the end of eight straight years that America devoted to frantically chasing the shadow of a terrorist threat to no avail, eight years spent stopping every citizen at every airport to search every purse, bag, crotch and briefcase for juice boxes and explosive tubes of toothpaste. Yet in the end, our government had no mechanism for searching the balance sheets of companies that held life-or-death power over our society and was unable to spot holes in the national economy the size of Libya (whose entire GDP last year was smaller than AIG's 2008 losses).

So it's time to admit it: We're fools, protagonists in a kind of gruesome comedy about the marriage of greed and stupidity. And the worst part about it is that we're still in denial — we still think this is some kind of unfortunate accident, not something that was created by the group of psychopaths on Wall Street whom we allowed to gang-rape the American Dream."

The Big Takeover: How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution.

Thanks, Mike Backes!


Source: Boing Boing | 25 Mar 2009 | 11:42 pm

GDC Video: Nintendo Goes After Hard-Core Crowd

Nintendo's GDC keynote this year featured a slathering of new announcements, including the release of Virtual Console Arcade and new hard-core titles for WiiWare.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Mar 2009 | 11:30 pm

Poll: What Would You Do With a 12-Million-Node Botnet?

Speculation is mounting about the ultimate purpose of the Conficker botnet, which will fall under human control on April 1. Is it cyber Armageddon? Here's your chance to make your own prediction about the worm that's being called an "unthinkable disaster" in the making.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Mar 2009 | 11:00 pm

Internet Archive Gets 4.5PB Data Center Upgrade

Lucas123 writes "The Internet Archive, the non-profit organization that scrapes the Web every two months in order to archive web page images, just cut the ribbon on a new 4.5 petabyte data center housed in a metal shipping container that sits outside. The data center supports the Wayback Machine, the Web site that offers the public a view of the 151 billion Web page images collected since 1997. The new data center houses 63 Sun Fire servers, each with 48 1TB hard drives running in parallel to support both the web crawling application and the 200,000 visitors to the site each day."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Mar 2009 | 10:47 pm

Bankrate: Mortgage Rates Fall to 52-Year Lows

NEW YORK, March 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mortgage rates moved to levels most have never seen, with the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropping to 5.19 percent.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Mar 2009 | 10:35 pm

BlackBerry Media Sync updated with Windows Media Player support

Research in Motion has released an update for its BlackBerry Media Sync app this afternoon. The new version adds Windows Media Player support (PC only) to accompany its existing iTunes syncing tool.

If you’ve already got Media Sync installed on your BlackBerry, you should have received a notification that an upgrade is available. Otherwise, you can grab Media Sync for free over at blackberry.com/mediasync.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 25 Mar 2009 | 10:25 pm

Technology Leaders Listen to Top Concerns of U.S. Policy Makers: Bring Strong Commitment to Partner on the Economy and Job Creation Through Innovation and Investment in the United States

WASHINGTON, March 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Technology executives from TechNet, the bipartisan political network of CEOs that promotes the growth of the innovation economy, today are meeting with Obama Administration officials and Congressional leaders to listen to top concerns of policy makers and share support and commitment around innovation and investment to continue support for American innovation as an essential component to lifting the nation out of the current economic downturn.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Mar 2009 | 10:23 pm

Tiny Tim Takes Over AOL–But Does He Have Big Plans? [BoomTown]

This is just too cute to pass up. Apparently, some staffers at AOL are using a teeny-weeny cartoon–seen here–of new CEO Tim Armstrong as the icon on their instant messaging program.

It was apparently made for Armstrong by AOL’s owner, Time Warner (TWX).

Sorry it’s so little, but the picture gets blurry if made larger.

The strapping-in-real-life former Google (GOOG) advertising head took over AOL unexpectedly two weeks ago, after its two leaders, CEO Randy Falco and President Ron Grant, were shown the door.

Since he got the job, the big version of Armstrong has been busy making the rounds, even though he does not officially start until April 7.

But Armstrong (pictured here in non-superhero form), many sources said, has been talking up many current and former AOLers–many from its glory days–to learn as much as he can about what he needs to do to force the once-mighty online icon back to relevance.

He’ll likely start with a spinoff of the service, and sooner than later, especially if the stock market continues to not tank so much.

Of course, to make the most of that, it’ll take a bolder strategy from Armstrong than just selling more advertising, getting a better search deal, adding more content and creating new social-networking widgets.

In fact, here’s a free tip for Armstrong from someone who has watched the slow-moving AOL train wreck for far too long: Think much, much bigger than a tiny Tim does.

More on that, soon…

Source: All Things Digital | 25 Mar 2009 | 10:22 pm

AT&T to be first ISP to start combating piracy

Section: Web, Online Music/Video

Media companies have realized the near impossibility of attempting to sue each individual that downloads illegal music and other media.  Instead, their new anti-piracy plan involves enlisting the help of Internet service providers to combat the issue.  AT&T will be the first ISP to work alongside the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to stop online piracy.

AT&T is now in the process of sending takedown notices to subscribers accused of pirating music.  This is still in the testing phase and AT&T has not yet determined how the process of dealing with offenders will work.  Currently, the letter will mention the severity of downloading illegal content, but not threaten to discontinue services.

The RIAA had announced a couple of months ago that they have reached agreements with multiple ISPs, but have yet to release an official list of names.  They have stated their goal is to have repeat offenders lose internet service, at the very least on a temporary basis.  However, ISPs have been wary of following through with this plan, especially since this would mean a lost of income for them.   

Read: [CNET]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Mar 2009 | 10:19 pm

The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500 [Voices]

The experience of growing up online will profoundly shape the workplace expectations of “Generation F”–the Facebook Generation. At a minimum, they’ll expect the social environment of work to reflect the social context of the Web, rather than as is currently the case, a mid-20th-century Weberian bureaucracy.

If your company hopes to attract the most creative and energetic members of Gen F, it will need to understand these Internet-derived expectations, and then reinvent its management practices accordingly. Sure, it’s a buyer’s market for talent right now, but that won’t always be the case–and in the future, any company that lacks a vital core of Gen F employees will soon find itself stuck in the mud.

With that in mind, I compiled a list of 12 work-relevant characteristics of online life. These are the post-bureaucratic realities that tomorrow’s employees will use as yardsticks in determining whether your company is “with it” or “past it.” In assembling this short list, I haven’t tried to catalog every salient feature of the Web’s social milieu, only those that are most at odds with the legacy practices found in large companies.

1. All ideas compete on an equal footing.
On the Web, every idea has the chance to gain a following–or not, and no one has the power to kill off a subversive idea or squelch an embarrassing debate. Ideas gain traction based on their perceived merits, rather than on the political power of their sponsors.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 25 Mar 2009 | 10:14 pm

Red Hat tops Street view with 4Q earnings (AP)

AP - Red Hat Inc. posted a smaller profit for the fourth quarter Wednesday but topped Wall Street forecasts, boosting shares in after-hours trading.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Mar 2009 | 10:06 pm

Want A Free, Cheesy Wedding Planned By Millions Of Strangers? Head to MySpace.

If you have ever wanted a cheesy, media-sponsored wedding like those on reality TV shows or on the Today Show, perhaps you should look to your social network. MySpace is now accepting submissions for “Married on MySpace,” an online reality TV series that will let couples receive the “wedding of their dreams” planned by and shared with the entire social network . Engaged couples can enter their video submissions here. MySpace is partnering with The Knot to provide editorial content and wedding planning expertise and the contest is co-sponsored by Disney, who is releasing “The Proposal” soon with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. And MySpace is partnering with Endemol, a European reality television production company that has created classy reality tv shows like FearFactor, Extreme Makeover and Big Brother.

After submissions have ended, MySpace members can chose their favorite couples from a group of finalists. Once a finalist has been selected, members will continue to vote on elements of the wedding, including what the bride and groom will wear, where the couple will celebrate their bachelor and bachelorette parties, the wedding location, and more. The series will debut on MySpace in May with the announcement of the chosen couple and conclude in early August with the wedding ceremony. “Married on MySpace” will consist of 13 webisodes that document the wedding planning process the same way that wedding reality shows like “Whose Wedding Is It Anyway” profile weddings.

I have no doubt that MySpace will be able to enlist plenty of attention-hungry couples who want their few moments of reality web TV fame. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that News Corp. will foot the bill for your wedding. I’m just curious as to how many MySpace executives would allow the social network’s millions of members to plan their dream weddings.

Here’s the publicity video for the series:

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

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Mar 2009 | 10:06 pm

Government Agencies Make Friends With New Media

Goverment agencies are now clear to start using Web 2.0 tools, thanks to recent agreements that clear up legal issues. That means the stodgy old .gov sites will soon be sharing videos and Tweeting their every move, just like all the rest of us.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Mar 2009 | 10:00 pm

id Releases Open Source Wolfenstein 3D for the iPhone

An anonymous reader writes "id Software has released a port of the classic Wolfenstein FPS to the iPhone. Some of the coding was done by John Carmack himself, who also used original code combined with new code from Wolf3D Redux. The original code was open sourced years ago, and enthusiasts have been updating it, which made the port considerably easier for id. It's available in the iTunes App Store, but the source is available for free at id's website." Carmack also posted a detailed writeup about the decision to bring Wolf3D to the iPhone, including design notes and a few snippets of code. At the end, he says, "I'm going back to Rage for a while, but I do expect Classic Doom to come fairly soon for the iPhone." Kotaku got a chance to try the game at GDC: "It's not just a good reproduction of the original, it seems better."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Mar 2009 | 9:58 pm

E-Book Reader Roundup: Samsung's Papyrus Joins the Crowd

Samsung's announcement that it plans to release an e-book reader called Papyrus means it is at least the seventh company to hop on the digital-book bandwagon.

With touchscreen capability and an e-ink screen, the Papyrus will cost just $300, Samsung says, making it even cheaper than the Sony Reader and the Amazon Kindle.

Papyrus, when it becomes available, will join an increasingly crowded field that includes the Kindle, Sony Reader, Fujitsu FLEPia, Hanlin eReader, Foxit eSlick Reader and the yet-to-be-released Plastic Logic reader. All of them are based on low-power electronic displays made by Cambridge, Massachusetts, company E Ink.

The Papyrus launch is still a few months away. Samsung is first expected to make Papyrus available in Korea this summer, says the Pocket-Lint website, with a later launch date in the United States and Britain. The device will come with a stylus for the touch screen, 512 MB of memory but no SD card slot, says Pocket-Lint.

But the Papyrus will have to struggle to stand out. Here's what the competition looks like:

Amazon Kindle

The most successful e-book reader to date, the first version of the Amazon Kindle launched in November 2007 and sold an estimated 500,000 units by the end of 2008. The Kindle got a makeover in February 2009 with a new sleeker, slimmer device that sports iPod-like curves and a metal back.

The Kindle 2 has a 6-inch display but no touchscreen. It comes with 2-GB memory that can store about 1,500 books. Other features include text-to-speech for books to be read aloud, and a basic web browser. Kindle supports text, images, mp3, doc and HTML formats. Transfer of PDF files to Kindle costs an additional 10 cents per file.

Price: $360

WIRED Good-looking design is easy on the eyes. The wireless connectivity, provided by Sprint in the U.S., makes downloading books easy — no syncing with your PC required. Amazon's retail clout ensures a wide selection of books, blogs and periodicals.

TIRED Some users have complained about the low-contrast text. The book content is shackled by DRM that makes it impossible to use on any other device you own, unless you use Amazon's Kindle application. Will display PDF files, but Amazon charges a conversion fee of 10 cents per file. No touchscreen, and keyboard-based typing can be tedious. Available in one color only.

Wired.com product review of Amazon Kindle 2.

Sony Reader

The Sony Reader was one of the earliest e-book readers, with the first version launched almost a year before Amazon Kindle 1.0 was released. So far, Sony has three versions of the Reader including one touchscreen-based model and two with keyboards.

The latest model, the Sony Reader PRS 700-BC, comes with a touchscreen and a 6-inch display. It offers 512 MB standard storage that supports about 350 books with scope for expansion using memory cards.

Price: $350 for touchscreen model

WIRED  Sleek, attractive design. Choice of colors including silver, black and red. No extra charge to access or convert PDF files. Partnership with Google gives users access to about 500,000 public titles from Google Books.

TIRED  No wireless connectivity requires users to be tethered to their computers to download a new book. The proprietary software used to download books from the Sony store is clunky. No browser available.

Comparison: Kindle 2 vs. Sony Reader

iRex iLiad

iRex Technologies, a spinoff from Phillips, first launched its e-book reader in 2006 and now has a second generation version of the device. Larger than the Amazon Kindle or Sony Reader, the iLiad Book Edition has an 8.1-inch screen. And at 15.3 ounces it is also about 5 ounces heavier than its peers.

But the iLiad has built in Wi-Fi capability with an option for external ethernet networking. It comes with 256 MB internal flash memory, of which 128 MB is accessible to the user, and supports text, PDF, images and HTML format.

Price: $600 for iLiad Book Edition

WIRED  Wi-Fi capability and USB/ethernet connectivity makes it easy to download books. Allows users to add notes and sketches to existing documents. Runs a Linux operating system that allows third-party applications to be created and run on the iLiad.

TIRED  More expensive than the Kindle and the Sony Reader. Access to pulp fiction and best-sellers is limited, as the iLiad cannot download files from the Sony or Amazon book stores — for commercial books, it only supports Mobipocket files.

Ars Technica review of the iLiad

Fujitsu Flepia

The Fujitsu FLEPia is the first e-book reader to sport a color e-ink screen. It has an 8-inch display capable of showing up to 60,000 colors in high definition. And yet the battery life can extend up to 40 hours, says the company.

Even better, it comes with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support. Other features include storage via a 4-GB SD card, touchscreen and a stylus. Right now the FLEPia is on sale only in Japan, with shipping scheduled to begi April 20. Japanese FLEPia users can purchase e-books from the largest e-book online retailer in the country, says the company.

We hope it won't be long before this device comes to the U.S. and British markets.

Price: $1,025 approx. (99,750 Japanese yen)

WIRED  Color screen. Wireless capability. Includes a browser and Windows Windows CE 5.0 (Japanese version) that allows email and use of Microsoft Word, Powerpoint and other Office applications.

TIRED  Super expensive! You probably need to get a third job to support your reading habit if this is your e-book reader.

Hanlin eReader

The e-book reader from Chinese company Tianjin Jinke Electronics was released in 2007. Featurewise there may not be much to differentiate it from its peers. It has all the basics: a 6-inch display, 32-MB SDRAM and support for the usual text, docs and images. It runs Linux OS but has no wireless capability. The Hanlin eReader is available under different brand names, such as BeBook in Netherlands.

Price: $300

WIRED  Runs a Linux-based operating system and offers an SDK so functionality can be extended.

TIRED  Zero points for looks. No wireless capability to download books. Not clear how compatible it is with the Amazon or Sony e-book stores. 

Foxit eSlick Reader

Foxit's eSlick's price tag is probably the best thing going for it right now. The device offers features similar to the Kindle and the Sony Reader. But at 6.4 ounces, eSlick is among the lightest readers on the market and comes with internal memory of 128 MB and a 2-GB SD card, and the standard 6-inch screen.

Price: $260 promotional price. Shipping starts April 10.

WIRED   Excellent PDF support — to be expected from a company that has its roots in PDF software development. Built-in MP3 player. Low price.

TIRED   Yet another e-reader! Doesn't support popular e-book formats. Requires  USB connection to your PC to download new titles.

Plastic Logic

Probably the most distinct of all the e-readers, Plastic Logic is closer to a digital tabloid than a Danielle Steel paperback in its looks.

The reader is expected to measure 8.5 by 11 inches. It will be thinner than a pad of paper, but better than many of the electronic readers available currently, claims the company.

The Plastic Logic reader will support Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Adobe PDFs, newspapers, periodicals and books. It will have a gesture-based user interface and wireless capability, says the company.

The catch? The device isn't released yet.

Price: Unknown. Trials are expected to begin in the second half of the year.

Photos: Samsung Papyrus/Pocket-Lint, Amazon Kindle/Jim Merithew, iRex iLiad (xmacex/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Mar 2009 | 9:57 pm

Adventures in Piracy: A look back at some memorable anti-piracy measures

FROM GAMERTELL - Gamertell looks back at some of the more effective and ironic anti-piracy measures included in video games in an attempt to thwart video game pirates. MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Mar 2009 | 9:54 pm

AT&T, Comcast Deny RIAA 'Three-Strikes' Participation

Comcast and AT&T deny participating in a Recording Industry Association of America proposal to terminate internet access of repeat copyright offenders. The ISPs want to keep customers in tough times, but they all have customer service agreements that internet access can be cut off for illegal online activity.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Mar 2009 | 9:48 pm

Idle Farmland Could Become Nation’s Largest Carbon Sink

Officials with the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Mar 2009 | 9:45 pm

Atlanta Gets Its Own Y Combinator In Shotput Ventures

Silicon Valley has Y Combinator. Boulder, Colorado (and now Boston) has TechStars. Boston also as of today has Start@Spark. Washington, D.C. has LaunchBox Digital. Philadelphia has DreamIT Ventures. And now Atlanta is joining the seed incubator movement with Shotput Ventures.

Started by a group of Atlanta tech entrepreneurs who want to attract and keep startup talent in the Southeast, Shotput Ventures is accepting applications from young, first-time founders for its summer program. The deadline is April 10.

Mitch Free, the founder of industrial marketplace MFG.com, is one of the backers. He explains in an email:

We are looking for “capital light” web startups. We think there is so much open source software, web services and cheap cloud computing capacity (like Amazon S3) that web business can be prototyped and launched very inexpensively.

Ideally we are looking for a small team of co-founders, most likely still in college. We will pick 8 to 10 teams and give them $25k each so they don’t have to get summer jobs and can work on the product full time. We (all seasoned entrepreneurs) will mentor them through the summer. We will take a 5% to 10% equity stake. At the end of the summer we will pick some to further fund and/or help raise capital and some we will probably kill.

There has been nothing like this in the Southeast. We have lots of great breeding grounds such as Georgia Tech but the people with the next big idea have had to reach out to the Northeast or West Coast to find seed capital and support. Our goal is to create an eco-system in the Southeast to encourage and support web startups. And once they are up and running we don’t want them having to relocate to Boston or San Jose

The first summer round is funded with $300,000. Who needs a summer job, when you can create a startup instead?

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

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Mar 2009 | 9:35 pm

NASA tests Orion recovery procedures

A full-scale mockup of the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Mar 2009 | 9:28 pm

Entrepreneurs Find Gold in Gadget Startups

Consumer electronics startups are the new frontier for enterprising geeks like James Park and Eric Friedman. Their $100 gadget is Fitbit, a physical well-being tracker they hope hits the market this summer. The company has only three employees and $2.5 million in funding.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 25 Mar 2009 | 9:15 pm

Entrepreneurs Find Gold in Gadget Startups

Consumer electronics startups are the new frontier for enterprising geeks like James Park and Eric Friedman. Their $100 gadget is Fitbit, a physical well-being tracker they hope hits the market this summer. The company has only three employees and $2.5 million in funding.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Mar 2009 | 9:15 pm

Tornado-like Rotation Key To Understanding Volcanic Plumes

Sea captain's historic report, modern photographs, lead scientists to new conclusionsA 200-year-old report by a sea captain and photographs of the 2008 eruption of Mount Chaiten are helping scientists better understand strong volcanic plumes.In a paper published this week in the journal Nature, the scientists show that the spontaneous formation of a "volcanic mesocyclone"--a rotating, column-shaped vortex--causes the volcanic plume to rotate on its axis.The rotation, in turn, triggers a sheath of lightning and creates waterspouts or dust devils. The origins of these volcanic phenomena were previously unexplained."These results solve a long-standing mystery about the relationship between volcanic plumes and associated tornadoes, waterspouts and lightning, showing for the first time that rotation of a volcanic plume may be the primary cause of these effects," said Sonia Esperanca, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) geosciences directorate.The research is supported by NSF, via three directorates: geosciences; mathematical and physical sciences; and engineering."Rotation is an essential element of a strong volcanic plume," said Pinaki Chakraborty, a computational scientist and engineer at the University of Illinois and the paper's lead author. "By taking into account the rotation, we can better predict the effects of volcanic eruptions."In 2008, a photograph of the Mount Chaiten eruption in southern Chile showed what appeared to be a volcanic plume wrapped in a sheath of lightning.A search for references to other occurrences of lightning sheaths led Chakraborty, mechanical engineer Gustavo Gioia and geologist Susan Kieffer to an obscure paper by a sea captain, published in 1811.In that paper, the sea captain reported his observations of a volcanic vent that emerged from the sea in the Azores archipelago and formed a large volcanic plume.According to the captain, the plume rotated on the water "like an (sic) horizontal wheel" and was accompanied by continuous "flashes of lightning" and a "quantity of waterspouts."This conjunction of rotation, lightning and waterspouts (or dust devils on land) is characteristic of a familiar meteorological phenomenon seemingly unrelated to volcanic plumes: a tornadic thunderstorm.The same process that creates a mesocyclone in a tornadic thunderstorm also creates a volcanic mesocyclone in a strong volcanic plume, Chakraborty said. "What happens in tornadic thunderstorms is analogous to what happens in strong volcanic plumes."A strong volcanic plume consists of a vertical column of hot gases and dust topped with a horizontal "umbrella." A volcanic mesocyclone sets the entire plume rotating on its axis.The mesocyclone spawns waterspouts or dust devils, and groups the electric charges in the plume to form a sheath of lightning, as was so prominently displayed in the eruption of Mount Chaiten.On June 15, 1991, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines was recorded by a satellite snapping hourly images. The images show that the edge of Pinatubo's umbrella was rotating about its center, consistent with the presence of a volcanic mesocyclone, say the scientists.Satellite images of future volcanic plumes taken at intervals of a few minutes would make it possible to trace the evolution of umbrellas in detail, Gioia said.In addition, some of the tools commonly used in the study of thunderstorms could be deployed for the study of volcanic eruptions."The structure and dynamics of volcanic mesocyclones, as well as the presence of lightning sheaths, might be verified with Doppler radar and lightning mapping arrays, two technologies that have been scarcely used in volcanology," Gioia said.---Image Caption: Two mechanisms for generating rotation in a volcanic plume have been shown. As the plume shoots up at an astounding 200 to 600 meters a second--winds from the environment surrounding the volcano can come into the picture as a horizontal vortex tube that is tilted and stretched as it travels up. This mechanism is similar to what is seen in thunderstorms. Additionally, eddies and vortices from the volcanic environment itself can form creating a horizontal vortex ring. This is what causes the lumpy-looking profile of the plume. Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation, after Chakraborty et al., Volcanic mesocyclones, Nature, 3/26/09
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Mar 2009 | 9:14 pm

Enterprise FOSS Adoption Beyond Linux Servers?

An anonymous reader writes "I am working with a couple of large companies that are purchasing web and collaboration software stacks from Microsoft, IBM and others. These are for thousands of end users and are (supposedly) ready for multiple data center deployment and other big-corp requirements. I have suggested some open source alternatives such as Liferay and Drupal, and the technical people are interested but management types are not. They have given a few reasons, such as concerns over supportability and enterprise-readiness, but my feeling is that they are being won over by FUD from large vendors and the fact that most corps do not have significant deployments of FOSS technologies beyond Linux yet. All this seems to be in line with a survey on Web-app servers by OpenLogic. So my questions are: How have you persuaded larger enterprises to adopt server-side OSS, beyond server-room Linux and a couple of demo JBoss boxes under someone's desk? And which products are truly ready for enterprise-scale deployment?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Mar 2009 | 9:06 pm

E-Book Reader Roundup: Samsung's Papyrus Joins the Crowd

Samsung is a few months from launching a new e-book reader called Papyrus. The device, when it becomes available, will join an increasingly crowded field that includes six other readers. Here's a roundup.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Mar 2009 | 9:00 pm

Lone Star Scientists Posse Up to Defend Evolution in Schools

The Texas Board of Education votes Thursday and Friday on proposed amendments to the science curriculum that undermine evolution and could end up affecting classrooms throughout the southern United States.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Mar 2009 | 9:00 pm

E-Book Reader Roundup: Samsung's Papyrus Joins the Crowd

Samsung is a few months from launching a new e-book reader called Papyrus. The device, when it becomes available, will join an increasingly crowded field that includes six other readers. Here's a roundup.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 25 Mar 2009 | 9:00 pm

Ill. rest areas not good for wind power

Scientists say they assessed more than 50 Illinois highway rest areas and weigh stations as possible sites for wind turbines and found none acceptable. University of Illinois Professor Patrick Chapman and graduate student Piotr Wiczkowski performed the study for state officials who wanted to determine the feasibility of using wind to provide electricity at the sites. Wiczkowski and Chapman said what they were looking for was grid parity. They determined what the cost would be to install and maintain wind turbines at each site for 20 years versus the cost of the energy generated during that time.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Mar 2009 | 8:56 pm

T-Mobile Dongles 3G USB for Laptops

Now that T-Mobile has invested all that money to get its 3G network going, the company is churning out new products to get users on that network.

The latest from the telecom carrier is the webConnect USB dongle for laptops. The portable modem lets users connect their notebooks to T-Mobile's 3G network and other Wi-Fi networks.

T-Mobile's rivals already offer Verizon and AT&T offer similar services at comparable prices.

T-Mobile's 3G USB stick is being manufactured by Huawei Technologies and comes with built-in access to T-Mobile connection manager software.

In areas with no 3G coverage, the software will seek out GPRS/EDGE networks. The device currently works with Windows XP and Vista and Mac support is expected soon.

The 3G USB laptop stick will be available starting March 25 and is priced at $50 with a two-year contract after rebate and $100 with an one-year contract. Without a contract it will cost $250.

Service plans for the device will start at $60 a month for up to 5GB of wireless data.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Mar 2009 | 8:45 pm

Congress considers inventory of spectrum use in America

A new bill before Congress calls on the NTIA and FCC to inventory the spectrum use in America. Previous work on this by the likes of the New America Foundation found that the vast majority of US broadcast spectrum was sitting fallow -- either squatted on by members of the National Association of Broadcasters (who get their spectrum for free but are theoretically required to put programming in it and use it in the public interest) or reserved from allocation to keep from interfering with licensed users (many of whom were not using their spectrum at all).

Three tiny slices of open spectrum, at 900Mhz, 2.5Ghz and 5.7Ghz, have created a massive economic and technological revolution through WiFi and other unlicensed uses of the public airwaves. The potential for new economic and technological gains from more open spectrum is unimaginable. Getting that spectrum into use is damned good policy, and long overdue.

My only concern is that the FCC will look for short-term cash gains by auctioning off all or most of the fallow spectrum for exclusive use, as has been done with 3G licenses. But this short-sighted approach trades the immediate gains from an auction for the perpetual income stream that arises from the commerce and activity that's enabled by open spectrum. Think, for example, of the total economic benefits that the nation and the world have derived from WiFi -- from cards and base-stations to hotspots to all the gains in efficiency and new opportunities created by wireless networking, and compare this to the paltry sums extracted by a few phone companies selling crippled, metered, filtered 3G network access.

The bill, entitled the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act, was introduced last week by John Kerry (D-MA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Roger Wicker (R-MS). It amends part of the Communications Act by adding a requirement for a national survey of what's being broadcast into our radio airwaves. The survey will cover everything from 200MHz to 3.5GHz, and will be run by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission, with input as needed from the Office of Science and Technology.

New bill calls for inventory of US spectrum


Source: Boing Boing | 25 Mar 2009 | 8:44 pm

Live notes and streams from the FTC's hearing on DRM in Seattle

Chris sez, "I'm following the live video stream, and the live #ftcdrm twitter coverage of the FTC DRM town hall meeting in Seattle. Very fascinating stuff, with people discussing the harms and benefits of DRM. In the link I've submitted, I've aggregated such links to live coverage and video streams of it that I can, including a direct link to the video stream (some people, such as me, have problems getting by the wrapper that the FTC has on the video feed)."

FTC DRM town hall meeting now in session (Thanks, Chris!)


Source: Boing Boing | 25 Mar 2009 | 8:43 pm

'Green' pesticides created to battle fungi

Canadian scientists say they've created a new class of green fungicides to provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to conventional fungicides. The University of Saskatchewan researchers led by Professor Soledade Pedras say their new fungicides -- called paldoxins -- can duplicate the work of conventional pesticides in helping protect corn, wheat and other crops that are used for food and biofuel production.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Mar 2009 | 8:23 pm

How Google Routes Around Outages

1sockchuck writes "Making changes to Google's search infrastructure is akin to 'changing the tires on a car while you're going at 60 down the freeway,' according to Urs Holzle, who oversees the company's massive data center operations. In a Q-and-A with Data Center Knowledge, Holzle discusses Google's infrastructure, how it has engineered its system to route around hardware failures, and how it responds when something goes awry. These updates usually go unnoticed, but during system maintenance last month a software bug triggered an outage for Gmail."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Mar 2009 | 8:20 pm

iPhone 3.0 Wish List: Accessory-Powered Apps We Want

Forget copy-and-paste. The real seed of innovation planted in the upcoming iPhone 3.0 upgrade is the OS's ability to interact with special accessories via Bluetooth and the dock connector.

Here's why you should care: There are endless possibilities for app-accessory combos — so many, in fact, that we're going out on a limb and coining a phrase to describe the field: dongleware.

Here's a good example from Apple's recent iPhone 3.0 event: an insulin meter that communicates with a diabetes application for the iPhone. Now, with an iPhone in her pocket hooked to the meter, a diabetes patient can check her glucose levels and plan out her meals and insulin injections using live data. Tell us that isn't intriguing — and that's just scratching the surface.

With the App Store burgeoning into a billion-dollar industry, and the iPod and iPhone accessory market also surpassing a billion dollars a year, you can be assured iPhone developers will leap on this opportunity to push innovation to new heights. IPhone 3.0 could open doors to significant advancements in home entertainment, the medical field and even the military.

IPhone 3.0's huge potential fired up our imaginations, dreaming up a list of accessory-powered apps we'd like to see. It's not long, as we'd like you readers to submit and vote on suggestions, too. What better way to tell developers which apps will help them strike it rich in the App Store?

Without further ado, here's our dongleware wish list. But this is just the beginning. Below our suggestions, you'll find a widget where you can vote for your favorite ideas and submit your own.

Universal Remote Adapter
Picture this: a dongle you stick in the iPhone that turns it into a truly universal remote. On the iPhone screen, you could hit the DVD Player button and bring up a DVD control panel. Hit the TV button and it brings up TV controls. Same applies for controlling your TiVo, PS3 and receiver system.   

Live Heart-Rate Monitor
While you're jogging or hitting a punching bag, you could wear a chest strap that hooks up to the iPhone. The iPhone exercise app monitors your heart and tells you to slow down once you've surpassed your target heart rate. And beyond that, the software could even use audio instructions to guide you through different workout routines while it listens to your heart. 

Game Controllers
The accelerometer and touchscreen introduced fresh forms of gameplay, but game-controller accessories would give the iPhone a real edge over competing handheld consoles. Picture this: a two-piece accessory — one half containing the directional pad and the other with the buttons — that slips onto the iPhone. Then you could play a game using the controller for button mashing while tilting the screen or shaking the phone to trigger special moves. Or you could tap the screen to select objects and control the menu. You get the picture.

Musical Effects Controller
Music apps have been extremely impressive on the iPhone, but why not see what the phone can do with real instruments? We're thinking an accessory that acts the same way as an electric-guitar effects pedal. The software could hold a huge library of effects, and you could choose among a large variety of electric instruments to manipulate — anything from guitars to pianos and violins.

Your Ideas
What sorts of accessory-powered apps would you like to see in iPhone 3.0? Here's your chance to tell iPhone developers what sorts of accessory-powered iPhone apps you want. Submit and vote on the suggestions in the Reddit-powered widget below!

Show dongleware ideas that are: hot | new | top-rated or submit your own

 

Submit a Suggestion

While you can submit as many suggestions as you want, you can only submit one every 30 minutes. No HTML allowed. Remember, we're looking for good iPhone 3.0 app-accessory combinations.

Back to top

See Also:

• Apple Bestows Cut-and-Paste, MMS on iPhone Users
• Screenshot Hints at Video Recorder in iPhone 3.0
• Pictures: iPhone 3.0 USB Tethering Already Activated

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Mar 2009 | 7:45 pm

3rd chick born to Virginia eagle pair

A third bald eagle chick broke out of its shell Wednesday at a Virginia botanical garden. Biologists watching the eagles and chicks at the Norfolk Botanical Garden had been worried about the vitality of the third chick because it poked its first hole on Sunday, The Virginian-Pilot reported.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Mar 2009 | 7:30 pm

Chadwick Tyler's decadence on film

Photographer Chadwick Tyler creates magnificent, decadent photographs. I saw a reference that his latest exhibition, titled Tiberius, has been extended at New York City's Honey Space Gallery for a few more days. No telephone number listed for the gallery to confirm though. Chadwick Tyler's Tiberius and Tiberius II (Thanks, Kirsten Anderson!)


Source: Boing Boing | 25 Mar 2009 | 7:27 pm

Some Mexican-style cheeses are recalled

The U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Mar 2009 | 6:47 pm

BSQUARE reportedly porting Flash technology to Android devices

Let’s be honest. When companies talk about providing “complete” Internet access on their mobile devices, they are really only speaking a half-truth. That is, at least until Adobe Flash comes to mobile browsers.

Love it or hate it, Flash has become an integral website component, be it for video playback, games, or interactive animations. Its absence is very noticeable while surfing the Net on iPhones, WinMo / Symbian handsets, and Android-powered devices alike.

While Adobe continues to work on an official mobile Flash version (except for the iPhone), that hasn’t stopped other third parties from jumping the gun.

According to CNET, self-proclaimed “mobile & embedded systems experts” - BSQUARE - sent a message to reporters earlier today stating that it “has been tapped by a global tier 1 carrier to port the Adobe Flash technology to the Android platform.”

The brief article goes on to say that BSQUARE has already “ported Flash to more than 100 embedded devices.” I guess that’s suppose to give us some hope that Flash is on its way to Android, with or without Adobe. At this point, we’ll just have to wait and see…

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 25 Mar 2009 | 6:24 pm

TOP 10: Parts of a Smart Highway

Is the road of the future already here? In some ways, yes.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 25 Mar 2009 | 5:42 pm

Shooting Star Hunt Yields Meteorite

Scientists find a meteorite linked to a recently tracked asteroid's plunge to Earth.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 25 Mar 2009 | 5:42 pm

Last.fm to charge for streaming, cuts off third-party mobile streaming apps

And so it goes. Last.fm, which just went to a pay-to-play model, is shutting down mobile streaming due to “licensing agreements.” This means unofficial Last.fm scrobbling and streaming apps will now be verboten - although for how long and to what degree are not clear.

The service will now cost 3 euros per month to users outside of the UK, US, and Germany and current subscribers will receive a 30-track trial.

Interestingly, the mobile changes actually address some non-public API calls that allowed software makers to stream Last.fm content relatively unpreturbed. The company said in a blog posting that these APIs will be closed.

The Future of Last.fm Radio APIs
As you may have seen on our blog, we’re making some changes to the way we structure our radio services.

Last.fm has never had a public radio API, although we’ve tolerated third-party clients using the undocumented calls that our client uses. This is finally about to change - we’re going to make a public, documented streaming API available to everyone who has an API account. There are a few limitations:

1. Only subscribers will be allowed to stream using API applications unless you negotiate a separate deal with us - we need to get the money to cover royalties.
2. You won’t be allowed to use our API to stream to mobile phones. This is unfortunately a limitation of some of our licensing agreements. Again, we may be able to make an exception to this if you talk to us directly.

These changes should be made by the end of next week. Alongside this, we’ll be shutting down the remainder of the old, undocumented streaming APIs over the next couple of weeks.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 25 Mar 2009 | 5:34 pm

iPhone 3.0 Wish List: Accessory-Powered Apps We Want

The most innovative feature in iPhone 3.0 is the OS's ability to interact with special accessories. Here's a wish list of possible app-accessory combos we'd like to see made for the iPhone.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 25 Mar 2009 | 5:25 pm

iPhone app developers gripe about payment delays and dismal customer service

Are iPhone app developers getting paid on time from Apple? Not all of them. On this iPhone developer forum, there are numerous threads from developers who are complaining about delays in payments for January and not being paid the amount of money the developers are in fact due from sales. And we've received one complaint directly from an iPhone app developer that Apple is late on its payments for January. Apple's contract, which is embedded below, says that payment will be made to developers within 45 days of the end of the month. That would have been a week ago. Developers are expressing a number of gripes with Apple that extend beyond just being paid on time. We also hear (and read) that reaching Apple by phone is a complete nightmare. Emails to Apple go unanswered and customer service reps put developers on hold for 30 minutes to an hour and sometimes hang up on callers after they've waited to speak to an agent. Email seems to work best.

Source: MobileCrunch | 25 Mar 2009 | 5:21 pm

Hands-on: T-Mobile webConnect USB laptop stick

T-Mobile’s long awaited USB dongle is available starting today and we’ve had the pleasure of tinkering with the webConnect USB laptop stick for the day. T-Mobile hooked up with Huawei for their first foray into the mobile arena with a slim and stylish device. Considering how young and fertile T-Mobile’s 3G network, I was surprised by the speeds this little dongle could muster up. I’m currently in Redwood City, CA, and my parent’s house is a bit of a dead zone, but I managed to get 337kbps up and 841kbps down. We'll see how she does when I get back to NYC where I'm sure the 3G network is a bit more robust. Sadly, it only works with Windows, but T-Mobile promises Mac OS X support this summer.

Source: MobileCrunch | 25 Mar 2009 | 5:16 pm

Sprint rolling out Clearwire slowly but surely

DSLReports is reporting (HA!) that Sprint’s 4G WiMax service, called Clearwire, to Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Honolulu, Vegas, Philly, Portland and Seattle this year. Then, in 2010, expect Boston, Houston, NY, SF, and DC. Chicago is currently live but you cannot purchase subscriptions in that market.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 25 Mar 2009 | 5:10 pm

Drugs Found in Fish Near Treatment Plants

Fish caught near water treatment plants are found to carry residues of pharmaceuticals.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 25 Mar 2009 | 4:55 pm

At 2009 Iditarod, Dog Deaths Stir Controversy

Were six Iditarod dog deaths a statistical fluke or the result of animal cruelty?
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 25 Mar 2009 | 4:20 pm

Radar Tech Takes Aim at Fruit Frost

A technology originally developed to detect aircraft is applied to keep fruit from freezing.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 25 Mar 2009 | 3:40 pm

Should DSLRs Shoot Video?

Canon’s new DSLR, the 500D, is the latest in a line of hybrid still/video DSLRs, joining Canon’s own 5DMkII, Nikon’s less capable D90 and Panasonic’s GH1. This trend is obviously set to continue, but do we want it?

Our rather easy-to-make prediction is that every newly announced DSLR this year will have some kind of video capability. Pretty much every mid-range DSLR already has live view, which gives a compact camera-style live image on the rear screen. All that is needed to capture video is to actually put that information onto the memory card, something that Canon’s Digic and Nikon’s Expeed processors already do in both compacts and SLRs. It’s clear that, technologically, there is no barrier to HD video on every camera.

But like rising pixel-counts, the feature is there whether we want it or not. Are SLRs the best tools to shoot video, or is this just a gimmick to sell a few more cameras?

Let’s first look at the advantages. Capturing video from an SLR means that you have access to a pretty big sensor. Even crop-framed DX sensors beat out many camcorder sensors in size, and this in turn means good low-light performance and a shallow depth-of-field. This last is what the fuss has been about — witness the jaw-droppingly filmic videos shot on the 5DMkII. This is due to the high-quality, wide-aperture lenses you can put on these cameras. Beter still, they are – compared to pro video kit at least – dirt cheap.

Another advantage is that you only have to carry one camera. You can always use it as a still camera and then, if needed, switch into video mode. This is probably the most compelling argument for video in DSLRs — there really is no downside to having one more mode in there — it’s all in the programming after all.

On the other hand, these cameras don’t shoot video all that well. The Nikon D90, as has been mentioned before, doesn’t shoot true 1080p HD and what it does shoot it records in Motion JPG, literally a succession of individual, compressed jpeg images.

The Canons do better, recording in .mov format, but there are still problems. None of these cameras will shoot full HD for very long. The times vary, but you’ll max out at around ten minutes. This isn’t necessarily a problem (how many movies do you see with single, ten minute takes?) but it shows a limitation.

Another concern has been heat. Running power through them and reading data constantly is not what these still sensors were designed for. Again, not a big deal for the odd grab-shot, but hardly ideal in a full-time video environment.

None of this will stop video making its way into every camera made, and for the times you might need it (and even just for playing around) every extra feature will be useful. In the end it will end up like auto-exposure and auto-focus. At the beginning, camera nerds moaned (I may or may not have been one of them). Now, though, you would never dream of buying a camera without them.

HD Video Shot With Canon 5D MKII Looks Stellar

More Stunning Video Shot With Canon 5D MKII DSLR

Nikon D90: First SLR With Hi-Def Movie Mode

Panasonic's New Micro Four Thirds Camera Shoots Video

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Mar 2009 | 3:30 pm

SLIDE SHOW: New Species From Papua New Guinea

A trove of new species are found in a remote region of Papua New Guinea.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 25 Mar 2009 | 2:00 pm

Mass Grave of 19th Century Immigrants Found

The grave of five dozen 19th century cholera victims is unearthed in Pennsylvania.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 25 Mar 2009 | 2:00 pm

Pesticide Lingers in Atmosphere, Trapping Heat

A common anti-termite pesticide is a potent greenhouse gas, new research shows.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 25 Mar 2009 | 1:10 pm

Canon 500D: Hi-Def Video for Under a Grand

Canon announces the 15.1 megapixel Rebel T1i, a response to Nikon’s D90. The high-end consumer model shoots HD video and some nifty features, like 'Creative Auto' which lets the camera handle all the main settings while letting you make small adjustments.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 25 Mar 2009 | 10:49 am