Source: Gizmodo | 30 Mar 2009 | 4:00 am

March 30, 240 B.C.: Comet Cometh to Cathay

240 B.C. Chinese astronomers observe a new broom-shaped "star" in the sky. It's the first confirmed sighting of Halley's Comet.

Some have made the case that a sighting in 2467 B.C. is responsible for the alignment of the Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza. Interesting. Even a supposed Chinese sighting in 613 B.C. would be seven years later than the calculated 620 B.C. for a Halley's passage. Was that a record-keeping error or a different comet?

The 240 B.C. observation coincides with Halley's computed orbit, but its exact date is a matter of some imprecision. The existing Chinese record is the Records of the Grand Historian, or Shiji (or Shi Chi), written more than a century later around 100 B.C. What the Chinese called a "broom star," because of its bristly tail, appeared first in the east and then later in the north.

The text adds that it was also seen in the west during the lunar month of May 24 to June 23. Several astronomers calculated in the 1980s that the comet's closest approach to the sun was between March 22 and May 25 of 240 B.C. Those calculations also confirmed its apparent motion from east to north to west. March 30 is frequently given as the likely date for its first, though not necessarily the brightest, sighting.

Every subsequent passage of the comet was observed and recorded by astronomers in the Middle East, Asia and, eventually Europe. The 1066 appearance coincided with the Battle of Hastings, and an image of the comet was woven into the Bayeux Tapestry. Contemporary accounts say the comet looked to be four times bigger than Venus.

So, Halley: How did this guy get his name on what's probably the world's most famous comet? Edmond Halley was the British astronomer who first realized that some of history's recorded comets were in fact the same darn comet periodically returning to visibility from Earth.

Halley was using a newly discovered mathematical tool: Newton's calculus. He computed the parabolic orbits in 1705 for 24 comets that had been seen from 1337 until 1698. Hmm. The comets of 1531, 1607 (observed by Johannes Kepler) and 1682 moved in almost identical orbits, about 75 years apart.

Halley tried to account for variations in the orbit that would be caused by the comet passing the large outer planets, and then he predicted its return in 1758. He was right, but just barely, with the comet first seen on Christmas of that year.

Other astronomers took up the cudgels and discovered the same comet had in fact been seen and recorded on most of its 26 previous visits since 240 B.C., every 75 to 76 years. It reappeared in 1835, 1910 and 1986.

So, Halley: How do you pronounce that name, anyway? The conventional pronunciation rhymes with valley. Many Americans rhyme it with daily, thanks largely to the classic 1950s rockers, Bill Haley and the Comets. But if you really want to rock around the orbital clock, linguists and the dude's descendants agree it's pronounced Hawley, rhymes with folly.

See you in 2061.

Source: So various, so beautiful, so new

Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Mar 2009 | 4:00 am

DIY Freaks Flock to 'Hacker Spaces' Worldwide

SAN FRANCISCO — R. Miloh Alexander and Seth Schoen are hunched over an old pay phone whose innards are being grafted onto the guts of a Walmart telephone and a voice-over-IP modem.

Right now, the Frankensteinish hybrid looks like a pile of tangled wires. Somewhere in the mess, an alligator clip has popped loose. Schoen frowns.

"We really need to solder these down," he says.

The two are working on a recent Monday evening at Noisebridge, a collectively operated hacker space in San Francisco. Across the table, Noisebridge member Molly Boynoff is typing on a sticker-covered MacBook, learning to program in Python. Next to her, Noisebridge co-founder Mitch Altman is showing two newcomers how to solder resistors and LEDs onto a circuit board.

"There are zillions of people around the world doing this," says Altman, referring to the swell of interest in do-it-yourself projects and hacking. "It's a worldwide community."

At the center of this community are hacker spaces like Noisebridge, where like-minded geeks gather to work on personal projects, learn from each other and hang out in a nerd-friendly atmosphere. Like artist collectives in the '60s and '70s, hacker spaces are springing up all over.

There are now 96 known active hacker spaces worldwide, with 29 in the United States,  according to Hackerspaces.org. Another 27 U.S. spaces are in the planning or building stage.

Located in rented studios, lofts or semi-commercial spaces, hacker spaces tend to be loosely organized, governed by consensus, and infused with an almost utopian spirit of cooperation and sharing.

"It's almost a Fight Club for nerds," says Nick Bilton of his hacker space, NYC Resistor in Brooklyn, New York. Bilton is an editor in The New York Times R&D lab and a board member of NYC Resistor. Bilton says NYC Resistor has attracted "a pretty wide variety of people, but definitely all geeks. Not Dungeons & Dragons–type geeks, but more professional, working-type geeks."

For many members, the spaces have become a major focus of their evening and weekend social lives.

Since it was formed last November, Noisebridge has attracted 56 members, who each pay $80 per month (or $40 per month on the "starving hacker rate") to cover the space's rent and insurance. In return, they have a place to work on whatever they're interested in, from vests with embedded sonar proximity sensors to web-optimized database software.

Altman wears a black Dorkbot T-shirt, a black zip-up hoody and olive khakis with large side pockets. His long gray hair features vibrant blue and red stripes, and he's nearly always smiling. His enthusiasm for hacker spaces is infectious.

"In our society there's a real dearth of community," Altman says. "The internet is a way for people to key in to that need, but it's so inadequate. [At hacker spaces], people get a little taste of that community and they just want more."

Noisebridge is located behind a nondescript black door on a filthy alley in San Francisco's Mission District. It is a small space, only about 1,000 square feet, consisting primarily of one big room and a loft. But members have crammed it with an impressive variety of tools, furniture and sub-spaces, including kitchen, darkroom, bike rack, bathroom (with shower), circuit-building and testing area, a small "chill space" with couches and  whiteboard, and machine shop.

The main part of the room is dominated by a battered work table. A pair of ethernet cables snakes down into the middle of the table, suspended overhead by a plastic track. Cheap metal shelves stand against the walls, crowded with spare parts and projects in progress.

The drawers of a parts cabinet carry labels reflecting the eclecticism of the space: Altoids Tins, Crapulence, Actuators, DVDs, Straps/Buckles, Anchors/Hoisting, and Fasteners.

Almost everything in the room has been donated or built by members — including a drill press, oscilloscopes, logic testers and a sack of stick-on googly eyes.

While many movements begin in obscurity, hackers are unanimous about the birth of U.S. hacker spaces: August, 2007 when U.S. hackers Bre Pettis, Nicholas Farr, Mitch Altman and others visited Germany on a geeky field trip called Hackers on a Plane.

German and Austrian hackers have been organizing into hacker collectives for years, including Metalab in Vienna, c-base in Berlin and the Chaos Computer Club in Hannover, Germany. Hackers on a Plane was a delegation of American hackers who visited the Chaos Communications Camp — "Burning Man for hackers," says Metalab founder Paul "Enki" Boehm — and their trip included a tour of these hacker spaces. They were immediately inspired, Altman says.

On returning to the United States, Pettis quickly recruited others to the idea and set up NYC Resistor in New York, while Farr instigated a hacker space called HacDC in Washington, D.C. Both were open by late 2007. Noisebridge followed some months later, opening its doors in fall 2008.

It couldn't have happened at a better time. Make magazine, which started in January, 2005, had found an eager audience of do-it-yourself enthusiasts. (The magazine's circulation now numbers 125,000.) Projects involving complex circuitry and microcontrollers were easier than ever for nonexperts to undertake, thanks to open source platforms like Arduino and the easy availability of how-to guides on the internet.

The idea spread quickly to other cities as visitors came to existing hacker spaces and saw how cool they were.

"People just have this wide-eyed look of, 'I want this in my city.' It's almost primal," says Rose White, a sociology graduate student and NYC Resistor member.

In Noisebridge's case, the community had a boost thanks to Altman's geek cred (he's the inventor of the TV-B-Gone) and his connections to existing geek societies, such as Dorkbot, a monthly gathering of San Francisco techies. Other cooperative arts-and-technology spaces in the San Francisco area — such as NIMBY, The Crucible and CELLspace — also helped prepare the ground. And of course it helps that San Francisco is already receptive to geeks, anarchists and other square pegs.

The recent crop of hacker spaces has followed a rough blueprint prepared by Jens Ohlig called "Building a Hacker Space" (.pdf). Ohlig's presentation is a collection of design patterns, or solutions to common problems, and outlines some of the best practices used by German and Austrian hacker spaces.

Many are governed by consensus. Noisebridge and Vienna's Metalab have boards, but they are structured to keep board members accountable to the desires of the members. NYC Resistor is similarly democratic. Most of the space — and the tools — are shared by all members, with small spaces set aside for each member to store items and projects for their own use.

"The way hacker spaces are organized seems to be a reaction against American individualism — the idea that we all need to be in our separate single-family homes with a garage," says White. "Choosing to organize collectives where you're sharing a space and sharing tools with people who are not your family and not your co-workers — that feels different to me."

Noisebridge even welcomes non-members to come use the space, and Altman says non-members can do everything that members can (except block the consensus process). The community governs itself according to the guiding principle expressed on a large poster of Keanu Reeves hanging from the loft: "Be excellent to each other, dudes."

"It sounds hokey, but it works," says Altman.

Hacker spaces aren't just growing up in isolation: They're forming networks and linking up with one another in a decentralized, worldwide network. The hackerspaces.org website collects information about current and emerging hacker spaces, and provides information about creating and managing new spaces. There's also lots of information exchanged via IRC and a weekly telephone conference. They even enable extramural exchanges.

"It's like an embassy for hackers," says Metalab's Boehm, who has been spending a lot of time at Noisebridge lately while here on a tourist visa. "If you are a member of a hacker space, you can go anywhere in the world. It's like instant family."

That welcoming attitude is proving powerfully attractive to many geeks.

"I can go to any hacker space anywhere in the world and be welcome there," says Altman. "You could too."

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Mar 2009 | 3:59 am

Researchers develop microscopy technique

University of Illinois scientists say they have created a simple technique for studying what happens to small molecules when they are stretched or compressed. The researchers said with stiff stilbene as a molecular force probe to generate well-defined forces on various molecules, atom by atom, they can observe what is widely otherwise observed only by using expensive atomic force microscopes. By pulling on different pairs of atoms, we can explore what happens when we stretch a molecule in different ways, chemistry Professor Roman Boulatov said in a statement.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 30 Mar 2009 | 3:52 am

The future of television and offensive programming

Section: Audio, Video, Content, Portable Video, Video Providers, Features, Originals

Part of the reason young kids these days are, for lack of a better word, stupider and socially awkward than previous generations of kids is due to the increased popularity of television and poor quality shows.  Especially in America, where I see little kids who have been brainwashed by the media and are drowned in technology.  Moreover, is it me or do kids these days seem to have no respect for their elders?  For this, I solely blame the television, but it is the parents responsibility to limit the type of programs a child takes in.

Over at LGenius, a website where people can submit their ideas for changes/improvements in television sponsored by LG, the winning idea was a rather interesting one.  At first, I thought it would actually work, but then I realized how stupid of an idea it truly was.  The winning idea contained three parts to it: a profanity filter, a “happy time” feature, and a cartooner.  Let’s see how practical, or stupid each idea is and why I hope each idea never comes to fruition. 

Baby Laughter is the new Bleep

If you take a look at the YouTube video embedded below, the first item the speaker announces is their profanity filter.  Whenever curse words such as f*** are mentioned, it is instantaneously blocked out and replaced with what they claim to be most innocent sound, baby laughter.  I agree wholeheartedly that kids these days take in a heck of a lot of profanity from the television.  Part of me thinks that swear words are good because they toughen you up as a person, as long as you know the true meaning of each word.  I don’t see anything wrong with the occasional “hell” or “damn,“ but when a five year old flipped me off the other day, something is wrong. 

Now, do I believe all swear words should be replaced with baby laughter?  Absolutely not, it is the parents’ responsibility to dictate what their children are allowed to watch and what is off limits.  In case something does come on, the parent should change the channel or something along those lines.  If a parent feels the need to enable this setting when their child is watching TV, perhaps said child shouldn’t even be watching that show in the first place.

Hey LG, while you are at it, maybe you should try to replace swear words in rap songs with baby laughter also.  Seriously…maybe you can limit swear words on LG brand TVs, but kids will find other ways to hear these profane words such as the radio or maybe other people.

Who doesn’t love seeing kittens to cheer them up?  Me.

LG’s next item in their keynote is something called “Happy Time.“  Basically, whenever something depressing is taking place on the show, the viewer has the option to display kittens in a basket with cheerful music playing in the background.  The presenter adds also available in puppies to the crowd’s delight.  I don’t know about you, but this feature might be even more stupid than the last one.  I mean kittens or puppies in a basket is not going to cheer me up when I am depressed from something on the television.  (Insert baby laughter), the only thing depressing these days on the television is the news and the economy, maybe then would I consider using this feature.  But if I’m watching a movie or a TV show and the point of it is to have a sad moment, then why would I want to feel happiness if the producer intended for their audience to feel sad? 

Although, I do see this feature being useful if you have babies at home who you want to entertain with kittens in a basket.  Sorry LG, but when watching TV, people want to feel a certain way and what’s the point in trying to change that emotion? 

Cartoon adult scenes instead of normal adult scenes?

The last item noted by the LG presenter is one that I could see being a little useful, but I can think of many substitutes and would, therefore, not buy a LG TV just to receive this feature.  If you aren’t a teenager, think back to when you were one, and whenever there would be a kissing/makeout scene on the TV and your parents were right there.  Wasn’t it a little bit awkward?  The presenter wanted to stress the fact that not many TV shows are suited for families these days due to the occasional vulgar scene.  The solution, you ask?  LG says why not cartoon-ify the scene to make it all age appropriate?

Interesting concept, but if you would only use this feature to protect your child’s innocent eyes, then why not simply change the channel?  If you are a parent and you are watching cartooner-appropriate content, then maybe your child shouldn’t be in the same room in the first place. 

Final Thoughts

I applaud whoever sent this idea to LG for trying to make the TV safer for all of us, but I mean with a little common sense, there is no need for these features.  Most TV sets these days come with v-chips and other parental controls, so parents can easily pick and choose what their children can and can’t watch.  If I found two TVs with the same specs, one from LG coming with these features for a slightly higher cost, and the other TV without these features for a slightly lower price, I would definitely choose the lower priced TV just because there is no point for these extra features. 

I hope LG doesn’t actually manufacture TVs with these added settings, because I don’t really see the purpose.  I hope this is not in store for the future of television.  Am I crazy?  That’s up for you to decide, just thought I’d share my two cents. 

Read [LGenius]

Check out the keynote presentation:

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Source: Gadgetell | 30 Mar 2009 | 3:30 am

Skype Announces Service for iPhone, BlackBerry

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Skype is planning to launch its service for iPhone users on Tuesday and for BlackBerry in May as part of its effort to expand beyond desktop computers.

Skype has been pushing to make its service work on the most popular advanced phones with an aim to expending its more than 400 million users who were mostly lured by the promise of cheap and sometimes free calls made using its computer application.

Skype Chief Operating Officer Scott Durchslag said he has high hopes for the application's success on Apple's popular iPhone as he expects Skype's most feature-rich mobile offering to appeal to new and existing customers.

"The No. 1 request we get from customers is to make Skype available on iPhone. There's a pent-up demand," Durchslag said in an interview before the CTIA annual mobile showcase in Las Vegas, where Skype plans to launch the service on Tuesday.

In May it will launch Skype for Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices, which popularized mobile email. It has already announced Skype for Nokia phones and for phones based on Android, Google Inc's mobile system, and Windows Mobile, from Microsoft Corp.

CCS Insight analyst Ben Wood said the new applications give Skype a chance to boost its mobile phone position, which has been weaker than that of social sites such as Facebook, Twitter or News Corp's MySpace.

One of Skype's unusual iPhone features is the fact that it allows subscribers use to the phone numbers in their existing iPhone address book so they do not need duplicate lists.

"Whether you're Twitter, MySpace or Facebook you want to be embedded in the address book," said Wood. "This puts Skype firmly into the game."

Skype's iPhone application will be free to download and will allow free calls between Skype users. As with Skype on the desktop, fees will be charged for calls to traditional phones.

The service will also work on later versions of Apple's latest iPod Touch device, which has Wi-Fi links but no cellular connection. The iPod Touch launched September 2008 has a microphone, unlike the first iPod Touch launched in 2007.

While Skype video is very popular with desktop customers, Durchslag said that the company is still considering whether it will offer video for the iPhone or other phones.

"We're considering video carefully but we have a really high bar on the quality," and how the user interaction will work with other applications on iPhone, he said. "If we do it we will have to do it incredibly well."

CCS's Wood said that if Skype can replicate the popularity of its desktop video feature on the cellphone it would help a mobile category that has been slow to take off, as well as boost its own status in cellphones.

"I'm firmly convinced that if Skype could find a way to bridge all those cellphone cameras and laptop cameras it might kick start a video telephony opportunity," he said.

While mobile Skype has been available for some time in other countries such as the United Kingdom, it has been slow to catch on in the United States partly due to carrier concern that it would cannibalize their phone call revenue.

In the United States for example, AT&T Inc has had a monopoly on calls made from iPhones, as it is the exclusive carrier here.

But Wood said that Skype has actually shown that it can boost consumer spending on cellphones as it encourages use of the phones for other services such as data.

For example he said that its success on networks such as 3 UK, owned by Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, suggests that carrier fears have been unfounded.

"The only area where I think there are some question mark is that it could erode roaming revenues," he said, noting that some consumers particularly in Europe hesitate to use their phones while outside of their carrier territory because of notoriously high roaming fees.

"The carriers will be suspicious of this service but what we've learned from other markets is that (Skype) did not have the detrimental effect feared," he said.

(Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Source: Wired Top Stories | 30 Mar 2009 | 2:56 am

Skype announces service for iPhone, BlackBerry (Reuters)

Reuters - Skype, the Internet telephone unit of eBay Inc, is planning to launch its service for iPhone users on Tuesday and for BlackBerry in May as part of its effort to expand beyond desktop computers.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Mar 2009 | 2:54 am

Mixed Outcome of Texas Textbook Vote

The Texas Board of Education — as discussed here last week — has voted on the guidelines for textbooks in that state, which represents a large enough market to have influence nationwide. The good news is that the board dropped a 20-year-old requirement that both "strengths and weaknesses" of all scientific theories be taught; score one for the teaching of evolution. The not-so-good news is that in a "compromise," the board also voted to require that students "in all fields of science, analyze, evaluate and critique scientific explanations ... including examining all sides of scientific evidence of those scientific explanations, so as to encourage critical thinking by the student." Score one for the Discovery Institute. A Republican board member explained that the words "strengths and weaknesses" have become "code for creationism and [the similar theory of] intelligent design. So by being more clear in the language and using words that aren't seen as code words, we were able to get all of the 15 board members to agree that this is how we'll teach all sides of scientific explanation, using scientific evidence." Reporting on the Texas vote is all over the map, as a US Today blog summarizes. Some reports claim that an amendment was passed that preserves a requirement that students study the "sufficiency or insufficiency" of common ancestry and natural selection. Other reports claim that the board also adopted language that would have students study the "different views on the existence of global warming."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 30 Mar 2009 | 2:46 am

Developers and waiting, are we just going to have to deal with it?

FROM APPLETELL - The App Store acceptance process is a problem that Apple really needs to address to calm the storm. Many developers are becoming very frustrated with the numerous things they must wait for with their apps. MORE »

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Source: Gadgetell | 30 Mar 2009 | 1:55 am

Mark Cuban’s Twitter Bill: $510 a Word [MediaMemo]

Mark Cuban has owned the Dallas Mavericks for more than 9 years, and during that time he’s racked up more than $1.5 million in fines from the National Basketball Association for various transgressions. But he’s still finding ways to plow new ground.

The latest: A $25,000 bill from the league for two messages, totaling 49 words, that he posted via Twitter on Friday night. Both tweets complained about the officiating in that night’s Mavericks-Denver Nuggets game. Cuban has had a

Cuban’s response? This tweet, posted Sunday afternoon: “just found out got fined25k by nba.) nice”. And then, upon further reflection, he penned this beauty:

Cuban is now wondering aloud, via Twitter (of course) and his blog, whether his tweets ought to be considered copyrighted — that is, whether blogs and other publications need his permission to reproduce the stuff he posts. I don’t think so, obviously.

But for what it’s worth, I did check Twitter’s terms of service, and was a little surprised to see that the micro-blogging service doesn’t exert any claim on its users’ work. That’s a refreshing change of pace compared to Twitter’s Web 2.0 peers.

Source: All Things Digital | 30 Mar 2009 | 12:46 am

Violent Video Games Can Improve Vision

Ponca City, We love you writes "According to a new study, people who played fighting games on their PCs became up to a 58 percent better at perceiving fine contrast differences, an important aspect of eyesight. The breakthrough is significant because it was previously thought that the ability to notice even very small changes in shades of grey against a uniform background could not be improved. Contrast sensitivity is the primary limiting factor in how well one sees. Volunteers in the study played intensively for 50 hours over nine weeks with either Unreal Tournament 2004 and Call of Duty 2, and the results were compared with another group who played The Sims 2, which is richly visual but does not require as much hand-eye coordination. The improvements lasted for months after game play stopped. The new finding suggests action video games could be used as training devices as a useful complement to eye-correction techniques, since gaming may teach the brain's visual cortex to make better use of the information it receives."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 30 Mar 2009 | 12:35 am

So Hot Right Now: Top 10 Gadgetell posts for the week of March 22, 2009

Section:

Haven’t caught all of the Gadgetell news this week?  Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles!

• Take our readership survey, win an Xbox 360
  “Here at Gadgetell we are committed to bringing you great content day after day, allowing you to stay in the know with everything electronic, web, and technology related. We have opted to offer you all this information for free, by serving various banner ads (and sometimes video ads)…“ MORE »
• App Stores are doomed, except Apple’s
  “It is easy to get excited about application stores for mobile phones.  The applications can add new features, find ways to keep you entertained or just make R2D2 sounds (best $0.99 I spent yesterday).  In the past six months,…“ MORE »
• Best Buy employees not honoring price matches and getting paid for it
  “ A week ago, you may recall an article I wrote about Best Buy employees not honoring price matches.  They gave some pretty bogus reasons such as the competitor store was running a…“ MORE »
• Microsoft flooded with complaints after IE 8 release
  “ Internet Explorer 8 was released at noon on Thursday and users have already flooded the pages of Microsoft’s feedback pages with complaints.  It hasn’t done too hot with Pwn2Own and got hacked easily.  Although many problems…“ MORE »
• Chrome shines compared to Safari, IE, and Firefox in a hacking test
  “ Wednesday was day one of the CanSecWest Pwn2Own hacking contest, and the results are in.  Using fully patched copies of Safari, IE8, and Firefox, hackers broke them all.  They each failed to what is called hacker “Nils.“ The Pwn2Own contest challenges experts…“ MORE »
• Thomson unveils MP3HD
  “The current sound formats have been around for quite a while.  It seems we’ve been dealing in MP3 and AAC forever.  Neither are perfect when it comes to representing the original sound recording, though most consumers tend not to worry too much about…“ MORE »
• Would you pay $10 to get Netflix on your Wii?
  “ $10 for all you can stream Netflix movies and TV shows is what Netflix is testing the water with via a new survey questions according to Joystiq.  The survey suggests Netflix found a way to…“ MORE »
• President Obama to answer questions live via Internet
  “ I’ll admit it, I was a bad American Tuesday night.  I was far too busy with my homework to bother watching President Barack Obama talk about the economy, as I’m sure a lot of other people had their own reasons…“ MORE »
• Recession-O-Rama: $400 off HP laptops, 20% off PS3 or Xbox 360, 13” Dell for $399
  “ We’ve partnered up with LogicBuy.com to bring you today’s Recession-O-Rama deals.  What do we have for you today?  You can grab a HP Pavilion dv6t or HP dv3z for $400 off, a HP HDX 16t 1080p laptop for $450 off,…“ MORE »
• 1.7 million users protest new Facebook layout
  “So far 1.7 million Facebook users have signed a petition to show their displeasure with the site’s new layout.  Facebook says the redesign, which is the second one in 6 months, was done to help them compete with other…“ MORE »

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Source: Gadgetell | 30 Mar 2009 | 12:32 am

The 10 Worst Microsoft Product Names of All Time (PC World)

PC World - If Microsoft had invented the iPod, it would have been called the Microsoft I-pod Pro 2005 Human Ear Professional Edition. The cult-hit video that makes that assertion may have been a joke, but it rings true. And when word emerged that the video was a self-parody produced within Microsoft, the point was even clearer: The world's largest software developer just isn't very good at naming stuff.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am

Hot gaming news for the week of 3-22-2009

Section:

No need to scour the interwebs for hot gaming news, Gamertell‘s already done that for you!  Here’s a look at this week’s top stories…

• Take our survey, win an Xbox 360
• It’s on! Play-Asia’s Lucky Spring Sale begins
• Adventures in Piracy: A look back at some memorable anti-piracy measures
• Target product listing breaks the news: Buy a DSi and get 1,000 DSi points
• OnLive Gaming to stream current-gen games to your computer, TV

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Mar 2009 | 11:42 pm

Fake Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin

Richard Metzger is the current Boing Boing guest blogger

Have you ever been walking around a 99 Cents store and seen a bottle of cheap cologne with a sticker on the box that reads: "If you like "Calvin" you'll love "Kevin!"? Apparently the same sort of thing applied to crooner/goofball double acts in the 1950s. Ladies and gentlemen, meet ersatz Martin and Lewis, Sammy Petrillo and 'Duke' Mitchell. There is not very much information about these guys online, but these four links, to the Wikipedia entries for Sammy Petrillo, Duke Mitchell, an interview with Sammy Petrillo, and an interview with "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla" director Herman Cohen are probably all you'll need. Thanks Tara McGinley!


Source: Boing Boing | 29 Mar 2009 | 11:30 pm

Google may soon allow you to port your existing number into Google Voice

Section: Communications, Web, Web Apps, Google

For anyone that missed the earlier news, Google has recently announced the rebranding of GrandCentral which is now Google Voice.  Unfortunately, the service is still in a closed beta with no sight of invites, but that is not stopping the talk of potential new features.

Currently Google Voice will allow the user to take their number with them should they decide to leave the service, however Google is now also considering allowing users to port their existing number in.  Sadly, as of now, this is a feature that may or may not end up making the cut.  The details of the plans are coming courtesy of a Google Voice help page titled “Porting your number” which simply reads:

“Although you can’t currently port your existing number to Google Voice, we hope to offer this option in the near future. Please tell us if this is a feature you’d like to see in Google Voice. “

Personally, I am not sure I would want to port my existing number into Google Voice, but that said, I can imagine that plenty of people would love to use the service and not have to get a new phone number.  If you happen to be one of them, you may want to let Google know, after all they are asking our opinion when it comes to this feature.

Read [Google Voice]  Via [Lifehacker]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Mar 2009 | 10:25 pm

The Pirate Bay Comes To Facebook

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "According to a report I just read in Mashable, Pirate Bay is coming to Facebook. Writer Ben Parr says that The Pirate Bay site now includes links under torrents to 'Share on Facebook.' Once posted to a profile, the Facebook member's friends can click the link on Facebook to begin the download right away, provided he or she already has a torrenting client installed. I just hope people do not use this feature to download copyrighted materials which are not authorized to be downloaded, or at least not materials copyrighted to litigation-happy RIAA Big 4 record labels. No doubt, if their song files were downloaded through this method, the record companies would sit back for awhile, derive profit from the promotional excitement generated for their dying industry, and then — armed with Facebook's data — sue the pants off all the hapless Facebook users who fell for it."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Gizmodo | 29 Mar 2009 | 10:20 pm

Study: Action games improve vision

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who ever sniped in Tribes, or got good enough at Street Fighter II to see kicks coming after a single frame. But to those who think there are no benefits to playing games, one study suggests at least one: improved eyesight.

Now, we’re not talking about going from 20/80 to 20/40 or something, but the study showed that people who had played 50 hours of action games (as opposed to casual games) over the course of 9 weeks showed increased contrast and luminosity detection. Speaking as someone who could (though not at first) bulls-eye a light armor flying through the air from across the map on Broadside, I think that’s the least of our abilities.

Source: CrunchGear | 29 Mar 2009 | 10:00 pm

Infinite Radio from Acoustic Research now shipping

The standard alarm clock radio I owned as a kid is an archaic POS compared to Acoustic Research’s Infinite Radio. The ARIR200 connects wirelessly to your home network to stream music from Slacker Personal Radio, blurp weather reports from WeatherBug and stream my own collection of hits from MP3tunes. Oh, and it streams regular AM/FM stations and stores up to 10 hours of recorded content from whatever it is that you’re streaming. A USB and Ethernet port are also available in case you don’t have a Wi-Fi router or you want to hook up your MP3 player. It packs a lot of great features into a small package for $130, but it sure is ugly.

Source: CrunchGear | 29 Mar 2009 | 10:00 pm

Rumor: Palm Pre to be available on April 30 and sell for $299?

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Web, Web 2.0, Websites

Well this is quite an interesting rumor we have here, the only thing more interesting is how it broke.  No, it wasn’t released by Sprint or Palm, no it wasn’t released by a high ranking official, rather it was announced through Twitter.  Is it just me or does Twitter seem to be the way news gets out and spreads like wildfire? 

This all started when a beta tester for the Palm Pre received some information from sources he claims reliable about a certain release date for the Pre.  The man you ask who started this rumor?  One Jim Van, CEO of Logicomm, received the information from an “acct mgr there [Sprint]“ who is usually “right on” (for this Tweet, check out the picture below).  Since he is the CEO of a company and a beta tester, he seems likely that he would have inside connections so the release date could be right on.  Of course, he could be tricking all of us, a scenario I would like to assume won’t happen. 

The plot thickens after he releases another tweet, which claims to know the price of the Pre when it becomes available.  “BTW - heard frm source (not Sprint) that Pre price tag 2 be $299 with 2 year ctrct…bet it’s $100 or so after all the hype wears off”  Now, if the Pre really is available on April 30, and does, in fact, sell for $299 with a two-year contract, won’t that be something? 

Since this was released over the weekend, Palm and Sprint probably have not been reached for comment at this time.  If anything should happen during the work week, we will be sure to let you folks know. 

Read [PalmwebOS] Read [CrunchGear] Check out his private account [Twitter]

Source: Gizmodo | 29 Mar 2009 | 9:20 pm

Experimental MacRuby Branch Is 3x Faster

An anonymous reader writes "Zen and the Art of Programming published an article about MacRuby's new experimental 0.5 branch (project blog entry here). According to the included benchmarks, Apple's version of Ruby could already, at this early stage of its development, be about three times as fast as the fastest Ruby implementation available elsewhere."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 29 Mar 2009 | 9:06 pm

Video: Footage of Mass Effect 2 gameplay

Looks like Devin and I missed BioWare at GDC, but that’s what the Internet is for, right? Following the jump are two videos of the same footage taken at a GDC presentation with the second video being a bit longer from a different perspective. Nothing is really given away, but it looks like ME2 is humming right along.