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Hate replying to emails? Google launches GMail AutopilotSection: Web, Web Apps, Websites, Google  GMail users logging into their mail this morning are the first to find out about the new Autopilot feature. Autopilot will craft the perfect response to your emails based on preferences you set. This product comes straight out of Google’s CADIE, an artificial intelligence project. Google touts Autopilot as the “easiest email ever” and offers the service not just for mail but also for chats. Autopilot allows users to set preferences, controlling things like capitalization, typos, brevity, and even emoticon use. Autopilot only needs to scan about 100 of your emails to mirror your style. Reportedly, the quality of responses via chats declines after three messages. The feature page shows off some of Autopilots best features such as responding to business inquiries. As you see, Autopilot can be helpful in capitalizing quickly on business deals, like this one with a Nigerian Prince:  Or even utilizing advanced artificial intelligence to offer suggestions on your relationships, like this one:  Best of all is I am sure you can only get GMail Autopilot today, you know, April Fools’ Day. Product Page: [Google] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 1 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm Samsung, Sprint officially unveil the Instinct S30, available beginning April 19Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Mobile, Trade Shows, CTIA
The official announcement comes less than a full day since we saw the first official image of the Instinct S30 leak yesterday morning. Sprint has released an official press release confirming the release, and Samsung has already begun to show it off on the floor at CTIA. The Instinct S30, which was also known as the Instinct mini features 3.2-inch display with a 240 x 432 resolution, a virtual keyboard, a 2.0-megapixel camera, GPS, Sprint Navigation and Stereo Bluetooth. Additionally, the Instinct S30 offers Visual Voicemail and comes with Opera Mini 4.2 pre-installed as well as Microsoft Live Search and access to Sprint TV and the Sprint Music Store. The Instinct S30 will retail for $129.99, which comes after a $100 mail-in-rebate and along with a 2-year agreement. It will be available beginning April 19 and come in either Cobalt Metal or Touch of Copper. Product [Sprint] Read [Sprint] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 1 Apr 2009 | 4:00 pm iPhone OS 3.0 beta 2 build 7A259 releasedFROM APPLETELL - The new iPhone 3.0 build opens up push notifications to developers in the SDK, allowing them to write code for in-game purchases, and obviously push notifications. Apple has also reportedly fixed several bugs and made the OS more stable… MORE » Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 1 Apr 2009 | 3:47 pm Super Rewards Launches Virtual Currency PlatformSuper Rewards, a monetization solution for online games and social networks, announced that developers can now implement its virtual currency platform on any social network, virtual world, or online games...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 1 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm Lazy DogGrubbing docks, thistles and established ragwort out of grassland is a backbreaking task, but it can be the quickest way to keep these invasive weeds under control. However, anyone who's tried...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 1 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm Squeez Bacon actually not a bad ideaA ketchup-like bottle filled with bacon paste may never hit the market in real life, but perhaps it should. It’d go perfect with Batter Blaster pancakes and there’d be very little cleanup involved. Plus if you use bacon bits already, bacon paste is pretty much a lateral move. Squeez Bacon comes to us on April 1st from ThinkGeek.com:
Priced at just $7.99 per bottle? Make it for real! Other April Fool’s Day gems from ThinkGeek include: T-Shirts with built-in pinhole cameras that “simulate teleportation portals from the game Portal” by sending images from one shirt to another. Unicorn Chaser, “a drink shot specially formulated to cleanse your mind and soul” after you see something disgusting on the internet. USB Pet Rock – an updated version of the 1970’s phenomenon. This version plugs into your USB port but draws no power and is compatible with any OS. There’s also the Shocking Speech-Recognition Wristband that jolts you when you use too many corporate buzzwords like “low-hanging fruit,” “bleeding edge,” and “synergies.”
And the Star Wars Tauntaun carcass sleeping bag could very easily be a real product.
Finally, there’s the assassin’s dagger ice tray mold – perfect for making a murder weapon that melts away without a trace. Source: CrunchGear | 1 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm BlackBerry maker launches application store (AP)AP - Research in Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry phones, launched its awaited one-stop shop for add-on applications on Wednesday.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:51 pm ReadMyBlogToMe.com: New Service Reads Blog or Twitter Comments Over the Phone ReadMyBlogToMe.com is a new service from Accross Media Limited that reads selected comments to you in MP3 format or over the phone. The service will cost $10 per month for blog posts and $50 per month for a complete feed of your Twitter conversations.
Read on for a demo of the service and a free beta key.
Source: TechCrunch | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:50 pm Sun Confirms Another Round of Layoffs - Channel Insider
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:49 pm ReadMyBlogToMe.com reads blog comments over the phone
Marginally inspired by xkcd, the service will call your phone and read aloud to you the contents of comments, so that you don’t need to revisit our site or muck around with an RSS reader. Advanced filtering controls will allow you to subscribe to just those comments in which you’re actually interested, so you don’t get 300 phone calls a day on the never-ending Linux-vs-Windows debate when all you’re interested in are more wacky USB gizmos. As the service matures, the company will fine-tune the system to suggest additional comments that might be of interest to you. Here is an example of the service in action using a recent post: Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. We’ve partnered with Accross Media Limited, creators of ReadMyBlogToMe.com, to bring this exciting new service to you. The first 100 people to comment here will receive a beta key. For this beta test, the number of readers is limited. You can select from Ranjit in New Delhi, or Igor in Kiev. As we build out the infrastructure, we’ll add additional readers so that the blog comments sound as great as their contents! Please indicate which reader you would prefer in your comment. Source: CrunchGear | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:45 pm Google April Fool's Day gags - Computerworld
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:42 pm Opera Launches Facial Gesture Capabilitycstrep writes "Eight years ago, Opera introduced Mouse Gestures as a way to speed up your interaction with the browser, and focus on what's important: Content. In 2005, Voice Navigation was introduced, and more recently we've worked with Nintendo to create a browser that takes full advantage of the 'Wiimote' and later, the touchscreen in the DSi. Today Opera introduces Face Gestures, a revolutionary technology designed to make interacting with Opera easier on computers with cameras. Face Gestures lets you perform frequent browsing operations with natural and easy to make face gestures. By using an internal technology dubbed 'Face Observation Opera Language', we are able to recognize pre-determined facial expressions and match them to commands on the Opera browser."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:42 pm Quickplay to offer popular TV shows on BlackBerry (Reuters)Reuters - Privately-held QuickPlay Media Inc plans to deliver full length popular television shows to BlackBerry smartphone screens via Research In Motion's applications store after forging agreements with TV networks, including NBC, CBS Corp and MTV.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:34 pm RIM Debuts App Store for BlackBerry - eWeek
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 1 Apr 2009 | 12:33 pm Computer experts brace for "Conficker" worm
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 Unwired View | mocoNews - Nokia Bits: Nokia Point & Find Beta Out; Nokia ... Washington Post Aside from announcing that the Ovi Store would offer content, including some original and especially created for the mobile phone, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) released a slew of other product news. Nokia Messaging, now Available With Windows(TM) Live Hotmail(R) Nokia Messaging coming to S60 touch; Adds Windows Live Hotmail support |
As just about any other gaijin living in Japan, I came to love Japanese toilets. They have multiple buttons and functions to play around with, keep your bottom warm during cold days and are generally totally over-engineered. While this is pretty cool and fine with me, Japan’s Inax has now overdone it with a very interesting online feature.
The nation’s No. 2 manufacturer of “sanitary fixtures” has developed a toilet terminal that informs you about the structure of your stool via a personalized URL (now consider another big problem for mankind solved). The FKF-20M [JP] (pictured below) is a remote control stand that’s compatible with a number of Inax high-tech toilets.
This is how it works:
After the job is done and the toilet analyzes your excreta (amount of bacteria, body fat etc.), a URL containing information about the results of the analysis is created and automatically sent to your cell phone via an infrared connection (there are infrared panels serving as no-touch flush sensors in most modern toilets in Japan). Users can then open the corresponding page on their mobile browser and check their health. It’s magical.
The FKF-20M is of course Japan-only and costs $560. It goes on sale within this month. I will test the thing personally when I find one, promised.
TechCrunch reported on the Mozilla Labs Personas work, allowing you to theme your Firefox web browser. I share Robin's opinion that Mozilla should maybe, just maybe, focus on making Firefox a kick ass web browser, and leave the doodads and geegaws for other folks. Enter Brand Thunder, a company in Columbus, OH looking to "offer companies a compelling, patent-pending solution for creating a more persistent presence with their internet consumer."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Startup Nomee aggregates social networks and websites into a free Adobe Air powered desktop application that helps you manage these networks and sites into a single interface. The nomee personal all-in-one dashboard aggregates all your favorite social networking sites (you can manage profiles from up to 100 networks including Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and Digg ) and RSS feeds, giving you one place to organize your online relationships, share your information, follow newsmakers, and even publish your own news.
Nomee is designed to simplify social networking by organizing all of your online relationships in a single location, making it easy to focus on who you want to connect with, when you want to connect. With the help of Adobe Air, Nomee also brings news updates to users in a pretty simple interface. In addition, Nomee lets you customize the information you want to share, pointing your contacts to the web sites you want them to see. It also alerts your contacts when you post updates or new content, including providing custom updates to different friends and business associates.
Nomee also allows you to follow your favorite celebrities, sports teams and other interest areas through downloading its exclusive nomee newsmaker cards. You can become your own nomee newsmaker by collecting links on your nomee card and posting it for download from your blog or website, so your fans can track you.
Managing all of your social networks, celebrity obsessions and RSS feeds in one place is not a new idea. FriendFeed aggregates all of this information into a website. But the adoption of Adobe Air into the application gives it a different twist. Nomee, which can be run on a PC or a Mac, isn’t your conventional website, its actually a rich internet application separate from your browser.
Here’s a screenshot:
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The problem: You are a telco, and you give away netbooks in order to lock customers into lengthy 3G internet contracts. The customer does a runner and stops paying his bills. With a cellphone, simply cutting the service from afar would make the handset useless. But with a netbook? The customer still has a fully working computer.
The solution: Fit a kill switch that can disable the netbook from afar. This is exactly what Ericsson has done, and it even has a catchy name for the tech: "We call it a 'kill pill," Ericsson VP Mats Norin told the Associated Press.
The mobile broadband card, called the F3607gw, has other features, such as low power consumption and wake-on-wireless capability, but its the remote control that is the most interesting. By sending an SMS to the unit, the card speaks to Intel's ATT (Anti-Theft Technology) inside the machine. This not only locks down the hard drive but the actual computer itself. Even swapping in a new drive wouldn't wake the computer from its deathly slumber.
Morally, we're confused on this one. When you sign a contract, you are agreeing to honor an agreement. Break it and the injured party has a right to redress, and to repossess its property. On the other hand, handing life or death control of our equipment over to somebody else is always a chilling thought. Our advice? Buy your own machine and stick a 3G USB dongle in the side. But then, we're control freaks. In fact, give us the handle of the kill switch so we disable our machines if they are stolen.
New laptop modems would let wireless carrier send 'kill pill' to freeze a deadbeat's computer [AP]
Ericsson to enable wireless kill switch for laptops [Ars]
Photo: włodi/Flickr
No one wants to pay for music on the Internet. But running a free music service on the Web takes a whole lot of cash. Just ask the folks at Seeqpod, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week.
Seeqpod, founded in 2005, has raised either $5 million or $7 million since then (I can’t vouch for either number). But its Chapter 11 filing lists assets of just $2 million, and debts of $1.6 million.
I’m used to seeing bankruptcy filings where the debt number is much bigger than the asset number. But as Seeqpod bankruptcy attorney Scott L. Goodsell patiently explained to me last night, companies frequently seek Chapter 11 specifically so they can stay pending litigation.
In this case, Seeqpod is trying to get a breather from lawsuits filed by Warner Music Group (WMG), and, more recently, EMI Music Group. Both music labels say the search engine violates their copyright by offering users streaming music it hasn’t licensed.
Seeqpod says it’s protected by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, but at this point Seeqpod’s legal arguments don’t matter nearly as much as its bank account.
It already owes Farella Braun + Martel, its lawyers in the copyright cases, $424,235.06, according to the filing. That’s four times more than what it owes Level 3 Communications (LVLT), its bandwidth provider.
Meanwhile, as battered as the big music companies are, they can certainly afford to keep paying their lawyers. Warner’s stock price is hovering in the $2 range, but it threw off $160 million in free cash flow in the last quarter.
Yahoo has launched an Adobe AIR-powered desktop application called Sideline yesterday, once again validating the power of Twitter for real-time search. After taking it for a spin, I have to say it looks and feels really nice, but other than that there’s no real incentive for me to keep using it on a regular basis.
So what does it do?
Sideline is a straight-forward Twitter monitoring tool, giving you the opportunity to stay on top of the latest trends on the microsharing service and/or keywords you feed into the application. It has an auto-refresh feature (which you can tweak to have the search results reload between 1 minute and 1 hour), a notification system that alerts you of new keyword mentions in an overlay that appears whatever you’re doing and the ability to only look for favorited tweets containing the keywords you’re tracking.
So far, nothing special, but what’s nice about Sideline is that it enables you to create so-called Search Groups which pull together multiple keywords for tracking purposes. This basically allows anyone to create e.g. a TechCrunch group and track different keywords and phrases like ‘techcrunch’, ‘crunchgear’, ‘michael arrington’, etc. Also really nice is the advanced search function, which lets you filter results down extensively, for instance by person, hashtag, ‘asking a question’, by negative or positive connotation (determined with smilies), and so on. Update: this is actually a layer over Twitter’s advanced search functionality, as a commentor points out.
It’s slick and useful, but nothing major any way you look at it, especially since it’s not a functional client that lets you actually send direct or public Twitter messages. I wonder how many people will effectively keep using it after trying it out, but I doubt it will be many.
The desktop application comes from Yahoo’s User Interface (YUI) group, who explained in detail what inspired them to build it and how they did it. Sideline was developed with the Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI) and HTML/JS/CSS. The code is open source under the terms of the BSD license and hosted on GitHub.
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FSI International (FSII) is now a company that almost no one follows. But the latest results from the tiny Minneapolis-based semiconductor equipment firm offers a sobering snapshot of conditions in the industry.
For its fiscal second quarter ended February 28, FSI posted revenue of $8.6 million, which is down 60 percent - 60 percent! - from the $21.4 million reported in the year-earlier quarter. That brings total first half revenues to $20.9 million, down 52 percent from $43.9 million a year ago. For the quarter, the company lost $9.4 million, or 30 cents a share, including $2.8 million in severance costs and a $500,000 increase in its reserve for inventory obsolescence.
In a statement, CEO Don Mitchell gives the explanation you’d expect: “the global economic downturn is continuing to adversely impact credit availability, consumer confidence and technology spending,” which in turn has caused “low factory utilization levels” at most semiconductor manufacturing companies, resulting in reduced or delayed capital spending.
And despite some optimism on the Street, Mitchell does not see any early recovery. “Even though it is reported that several device producers have recently started to experience improved utilization levels, we anticipate that this situation will persist until at least early calendar 2010,” he says.
 TopNews United States | Sony Cuts Price of Wrong PlayStation Wired News By Charlie Sorrel April 01, 2009 | 6:05:58 AMCategories: Games Great news! Sony will drop the price of the PlayStation console today by almost a quarter. Sony Taunts PS3 Customers with PS2 Price Cut Sony PS2 Price Cut Signals PS3 Price Cut: Analysts |
To put it gently, the Celio REDFLY didn’t launch without criticism. Essentially a mono-purposed netbook which is fueled by and acts as an extension of a Windows Mobile smartphone, the REDFLY pulls your WinMo handset’s display onto its own, and pushes all keyboard/touchpad input back to the handset. The main issue people seemed to have is that they simply didn’t understand why it was necessary; they already carried a laptop, and they already carried a phone - why bring more hardware into the mix?
A few months ago, Celio announced that they were working on a fix for this fault. Rather than requiring users to add more gear to their kit, they would release an application which more or less replicated the functionality of the REDFLY on any Windows computer.
Later today, Celio will be releasing the first public beta of this app, which they’re now calling the REDFLY Mobile Viewer. The application will be free throughout the beta once it’s made available on Celio’s site, but will go for $39.95 once the beta has come to an end.
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Great news! Sony will drop the price of the PlayStation console today by almost a quarter. The catch? It's the PS2, not the PS3 -- the big brother will remain at a customer-repelling $400.
The PS2 will, from today, sell for $100, down from the current price of $130, a 23% drop. This is, according to Reuters, to "woo budget-minded families," although the price reduction has been made possible by increased efficiency in making the console -- squeezing more components onto less chips, for example. This means that Sony will still be making plenty of cash selling the PS2.
Speculation has therefore turned to an imminent PS3 price-reduction. The difference, we think, is that Sony is making little on the machines, or even still losing money trying to get the white-elephant Blu-ray player into homes. While this continues, don't expect any price cuts.
In fact, one thing really confirms Sony's plans to keep the PS3 cost high -- when asked for comment, the company gave none. As soon as a Sony executive denies the rumor, we'll know it's true.
Sony cuts price of PlayStation 2, not PS3 [Reuters]
Sony cuts PlayStation 2 price by 25 percent [Network World]
I’m almost 34. I was four years old when they started working on this whisky. It took us about an hour to finish about half the bottle.
This $200 whisky from Canadian Club - you know, the guys from Canada who make blended whisky - have made some of the best stuff on earth. This is a limited edition version - 3,000 of these were made - and it’s as smooth as a slip and slide and makes you feel like a advertising executive on an expense account dinner.
The bottle we got was number 75 of 150 which made us feel special. We drank it neat at first and then we had it with a little bit of ice. It was late when we started and later when we finished. I brought the bottle to share with the dad-in-law and brother-in-law and they seemed to enjoy it as well. Johnny Walker tasted like ditchwater after this stuff. Unless we were just drunk.
Generally the 30-year is quite easy to drink. Nothing you’re familiar with appears here. Even the tones you’d expect from good whisky are undercut by this liquor, ensuring that you can sip this for a long time and never get tired of the taste.
Because it’s a limited edition it’s a bit expensive. However, I would pay $200 for this bottle, especially for a special occasion or as a gift for a father-in-law. Being able to one-up your buddies on poker night with an 18-year whisky is one thing. Being able to offer a little bit of history is entirely another.
Bottom Line: Try it if you can find it.
Samsung didn’t officially have the Instinct S30 available for hands-on demos after yesterday night’s announcement - but, well, you know how we roll. We spent a good chunk of time poking at the device - so what do we think?
Read the rest of this entry at MobileCrunch >>
Samsung didn’t officially have the Instinct S30 available for hands-on demos after yesterday night’s announcement - but, well, you know how we roll. We spent a good chunk of time poking at the device - so what do we think?
It is, by just about every count, the original Instinct. A rounder, slightly polished Instinct - but still the Instinct. The UI felt nearly identical, albeit slightly polished and with a (perhaps imagined) more responsive touchscreen. When asked about what the new model had to offer over the original, even Samsung only had one hardware-oriented bit to offer: It now supports 32GB SDHC external memory cards, whereas the original could only handle 16GB. I can count all the people I know with 32GB SDHC cards on zero hands.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much more we can say about the handset from a pre-release hands-on standpoint, because there just isn’t much that can be said. If you loved the original Instinct, you’ll love this one - seeing as it’s, you know, the same phone. It’s just slightly prettier and has an extra 16GB added to its external memory limit.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
 BBC News | Wikipedia founder abandons search BBC News Wikia Search, a project created by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales with the aim of creating a community-led search engine, has been ditched. Social search doesn't pan out for Jimmy Wales, Wikia Search Another Google Killer Dies |
Fabian Nauroy’s concept design for Nokia is killer. The slider not only manages to match Nokia’s design cues (is it the square navigation button, or the empanada shape, or both?) but also look gorgeous.
It’s on the inside, though, that things get interesting. The E97 Envelop Concept has an extra screen which not only slides out but actually detaches, like a photo sliding from an envelope (hence the punny name). The idea is that you can remove the screen, which has its own power and memory, and pass around either photos, movies or music.
Sleek stylings aside, the basic idea here is a good one. As we use our phones for more and more, we use them to share media, too. A small cellphone screen is a poor medium for a slideshow, as everyone has to crane their heads around to see anything. Passing pics around old-school makes a lot of sense. Or you could, of course, just make the phone’s screen big enough to begin with. You know, like the iPhone.
Product page [Coroflot via Core77]
Asus will this month further muddy the netbook waters by releasing an Eee PC with an optical drive. The E1004DN will have the usual Atom N280 CPU, a 120GB hard drive and the HD-capable GN40 graphics chipset. Presumably it will also have the usual complement of SD card reader, triple-USB ports and six-cell battery.
We’re stumped. Why would Asus stick a battery-sucking, space-eating optical drive in such a tiny machine? With an optical drive, is this even a netbook anymore? And, most urgent of all, where will Asus put the drive? We guess that the machine will become a lot thicker to accommodate the spindle, therefore breaking the purse-ability (yes, we made that one up) of the netbook.
The price, too, is a little steep — NT$18,000 to 20,000, or $530 to $590. That’s a lot more than a netbook. In fact, it’s close to cheap notebook territory. We understand why many people want an optical drive inside a full-sized notebook — it doesn’t make my MacBook too big, for instance, and it’s useful for ripping CDs and DVDs. But in a netbook? We’d say that if you need an optical drive, it’s more practical to just buy and external USB burner. Cheaper, too.
Asustek to launch new Eee PC with built-in ODD in mid-April [Digitimes vis MSI Wind Forums]
Photo: Matt Biddulph/Flickr
Direct TV released its own iPhone app this week, and just like competing apps from set-top boxes like Vudu, it allows customers already paying for an in-home video service to schedule programs remotely.
The free app works with the latest DVR and HD DVR boxes from DirectTV (models R15, R16, R22, HR20, HR21, and HR23), as well TiVo Series 2 boxes with the DirectTV registered software update.
You can browse TV schedules two weeks in advance through your phone, record single episodes (or set up a full-season recording schedule), and of course, can check out detailed descriptions and ratings of every show.
But the best reason to download the Direct TV app is that you can also use it to schedule Pay Per View recordings ahead of time. I think that will be the favorite option of a few people who will inevitably borrow their friends' iPhone 'for a quick call' only to have them find out later that a few interesting movies have shown up on the TV and the monthly bill.
Wait, today is April Fool's isn't it? I think this crispy new app needs to be broken in, if you know I mean.
 Telegraph.co.uk | 4 Ways to Make Skype on the iPhone Even Better CNNMoney.com By Om Malik (gigaom.com) -- By now you know that I think the Skype-for-iPhone app is simply awesome. After spending some more time with it, I’ve come up with four things that would make the app not only better, but nearly indispensable. Skype Coming to BlackBerry Smartphones in May Skype for iPhone: An iTunes App Store hit |
Seagate manager Pete Steege tried to store his Seagate Go 320GB hard drive in ice for 100 days in order to prove that Seagate drives can withstand all manner of torture. Sadly, it didn’t quite make it. When he cut the drive out of his ice rink (!!) he cut the bag which wet the drive.
Plugging it in resulted in a device failure and absolute proof that you shouldn’t drop your drives into freezing pond in early November.
Like the current Inspiron mini-towers, you’ll be offered an almost endless list of configuration options. Here are the choices for the CPU alone:
Intel® Celeron®, Intel Core™ 2 Duo and Intel Core 2 Quad options or AMD Sempron™, Athlon™ X2 and Phenom™ X4 processor options
It’s pretty much up to you to spec your ideal machine, but the bottom line is that they start at $300, and rise from there. We love the colors, but we wonder just who is buying a desktop PC for the home these days. Isn’t it all netbooks? Still, I wish those netbooks would also come in Flamingo Pink. China only until May.
Press release [Dell]
Photo: Dell/Flickr
I don’t know what made Tokyo-based tech company Greenhouse announce (or even produce) these gadgets in early April but they did anyway. For some reason, the company will start selling USB memory cards shaped like beach sandals and surf boards later this month.
The so-called PicoDrive Beach and PicoDrive Surf have 4GB memory each. Both the sandals and the boards are available in three different colors and cost $40 each (MSRP). If you live outside and are really interested in buying the memory cards, I suggest you contact Japan Trend Shop, Gizmine, Geek Stuff 4 U or Rinkya.
In an unprecedented move, Palm has revealed its heretofore ultra-secret WebOS-based smartphone - the Palm Post - at CTIA 2009.
While the mobile world has been patiently waiting for the Pre since it was first teased back in January, Palm has apparently been hard at work on the (clandestine) Post as well.
According to Palm’s press release:
We’ve put an enormous amount of time, energy, and resources into the development and production of our new flagship device - the Palm Post. Rather than rush our highly anticipated Palm Pre to the market, we thought it was in the best interest of both our customers and our company to perform extended R&D on our new hardware and software.
Not only does this ensure that consumers will receive the highest quality mobile device possible, but by moving our top engineers to a new facility - The Orchid - we’ve been able to do what no other company has been able to achieve until now…we’ve preemptively included all of the features and technologies that our customers (and Sprint) will want come 2011 in the Post! In other words, thanks to the DHARMA Intiative, we no longer have to wait for months of testing and feedback, but instead can rely on the needs and desires consumers will develop in the not to distant future. This enables us to provide the best, most comprehensive smartphones available anywhere on planet Earth.
The Post’s most spectacular features include:
That’s right folks. You heard it here first. Palm, by utilizing nontraditional means, has developed and will soon release a mobile device - the Post - with features that you didn’t and couldn’t even know that you wanted! The Post is expected to be available online and in Sprint brick-and-mortar stores by April 10 for the fantastically low price of $49.99 w/2yr contract.
In other related news, Palm still plans to release its pending Pre smartphone by April 30 in an effort to beat out iPhone 3.0 / other new Android devices to the market…if anyone still cares in light of this incredible announcement.
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According to several sources, News Corp. (NWS) will officially announce its shaken-but-not-stirred digital lineup this morning, as former AOL head Jon Miller takes over as the media giant’s new chief digital officer.
And Peter Levinsohn–his predecessor at Fox Interactive Media, which Miller will inherit in a new form, along with a larger portfolio, all based in New York–will also officially take up his new post as the key digital exec at News Corp.’s film and television studios in California.
I will post the press release on the appointments, when it comes out later today, below.
Last Friday, BoomTown and others outlined the moves, part of New Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch efforts to make significant changes related to how the company’s digital efforts are managed.
The shifts come in the wake of the previously announced upcoming departure of COO Peter Chernin, who was in charge of digital efforts at News Corp.
Miller (pictured here), whose noncompete agreement with Time Warner (TWX) from his AOL stint just ran out, will report directly to Murdoch. Besides the chief digital officer title, he will also be chairman and CEO of the newly created News Digital Media group.
Levinsohn, a longtime News Corp. exec, is also getting a significant new job as president of new media and digital distribution at the Fox studios, coordinating delivery of its film and television assets on all mobile and digital platforms.
It will be his task to create sustainable advertising and other business models in this fast-moving arena, as well as create innovative new content for those platforms.
He will also be the likely candidate get a seat on the board of Hulu, the News Corp. premium video service joint venture with NBC Universal, which has gotten a lot of traction lately.
In his new post, Levinsohn (pictured here) will report to Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman, co-chairmen and CEOs of Fox Filmed Entertainment.
It’s definitely a complex, challenging job–although a big opportunity–for the affable Levinsohn, who never sought the limelight as some who worked for him have, most especially MySpace CEO and co-Founder Chris DeWolfe.
Both previous FIM heads, Ross Levinsohn and Peter Levinsohn, many sources said, had to deal with DeWolfe’s own sphere of influence within News Corp., especially his close ties to Murdoch. Both FIM and MySpace are located in Beverly Hills, Calif.
As I previously wrote, relations between DeWolfe and both those execs could be described, at best, as tense.
Miller now inherits that relationship at the social networking site. And he must also navigate the complexities of the global media giant, as well as figure out ongoing relationships with digital companies, such as Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo (YHOO) and his former company, Time Warner (TWX) unit AOL.
The same, of course, goes for Levinsohn.
And, especially with the weak economy, which often slows innovation at large companies, it is likely the pair will end up having to work together closely if News Corp. is to have a cohesive and successful digital strategy under the new set-up going forward.
(News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this Web site.)
 SlashGear | Wi-Fi hotspot extends Clearwire's WiMax service CNET News by Marguerite Reardon LAS VEGAS - On the eve of the CTIA Wireless 2009 tradeshow here Clearwire has announced a new portable Wi-Fi router that will use Wi-Fi to connect consumer electronics devices, like smartphones and cameras, to its new 4G wireless ... Clearwire Offers iPhone WiMax Hot Spot Clearwire Transforms Wi-Fi Devices with the CLEAR(TM) Spot ... |
Let’s face it. Microsoft is one of the most lucrative companies in the country. They could have easily funded this out of pocket change. This is really about getting while the getting is good. Uncle Sam has a big wallet that’s there for the taking, and Redmond wanted to take it — and Microsoft was happy to let them pick up that part of the tab.
– Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, on the $11 million in federal stimulus money allocated to a bridge connecting two campuses at Microsoft’s headquarters
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
I probably should have gone to Basel this year. I never go. It always seemed so daunting: Switzerland is a closed country and I don’t have lederhosen and it just never worked. Anyway, Wired has a great round-up of watches including this striking Hamilton with no buttons, just a rotating bezel that starts and resets the chronograph, and this new T-Touch diver called the Sea Touch.
If we can say anything about this year’s crop of watches it’s that these things are getting bigger and uglier every year. I’m honestly expecting a backlash and the companies like Zenith and Concord who threw their entire R&D budget into building pie plates with gears will get nipped.
Then you see something like the Oris Bob Dylan, complete with Harmonica, and you kind of get all warm inside. Am I bad for wanting to pay $2K for this thing?
On behalf of Kendall J. Powell and the entire General Mills team I'm proud to announce that CrunchGear, TechCrunch's former tech blog, is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Mills and will feature both tech news as well as local news relating to our consumption of Big G cereal products including, but in no way limited to, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Boo Berry, Buc-Wheats, and Reese's Puffs.
TechCrunch received $15,000 for the site as part of a trademark infringement lawsuit against the entire Crunch Network which will be renamed at a later date. All of the writers including Peter Ha, Devin, and Nicholas will remain and Doug has been made head of cereal testing.
It’s important to brush after every meal and the Brush & Rinse toothbrush makes it easy! Whether you’ve just finished a bowl of Chex or a mug of Total, brushing your teeth makes you feel better and makes your gums healthier. Best of all the Brush & Rinse shoots a stream of water up at your face so you can grab a rinse after brushing.
We wrote about this thing way back in 2007 but it appears that the product is finally going to be available. To get the low, low price of $1.18, the creators have to pre-sell 50,000 pieces. They’re at 12,201 right now, so let’s get cracking! Buy one for every member of your family! Buy one for your dog! Eat Golden Grahams.
Oh horror of horrors–Steve Wozniak got sent home last night on the ABC celebrity hoofer-fest, “Dancing with the Stars.”
Whatever will BoomTown do without the peculiar gyrations of the Apple (AAPL) co-founder to praise effusively and mock relentlessly at the very same time?
But with a truly terrible Tango and the lowest judges’ score (12 out of 30) of the remaining 11 contestants from his Monday night outing, Woz’s only chance was the voters at home.
That had worked the week before.
But, sadly, the tally this week was not enough to save him and his partner, Karina Smirnoff, as well as “The Girls Next Door” star Holly Madison and her partner Dmitry Chaplin. Both couples were dinged at the same time.
Said Woz about his experience, which included a hamstring injury and a foot fracture, as well as allegations of voting hijinks:
“I will dance wherever I am. I will take ballroom lessons. I’ll make it a part of my life. I hope there are a lot of other people like me that never danced their entire lives. [People] sitting at a computer terminal all day long, who are afraid to [dance]. You can actually go out there and dance and have fun.”
Well said.
And to show you what he means, here are the four videos of his clumsy but adorkable dancing efforts on “DWTS,” in reverse order:
Fans of 1960s mopefolk rejoice! Activision is releasing a new version of Guitar Hero featuring Leonard Cohen’s entire oeuvre including Suzanne, Bird on the Wire, and that one song that you listened to over and over again on your roommate’s turntable before he moved out and left you stuck with a $700 rent until you brought in that weird frat kid who ate Ramen and played Madden all day until you were like “Dude” and you found out he got kicked out of DTD because everyone hated him.
Leonard Cohen edition will be considerably slower than recent Metallica and the upcoming Katrina and the Waves edition, allowing older gamers to enter the world of casual gaming. The game will include a special Martin-styled guitar with real strings, allowing for actual arpeggio and endless stoned noodling.
The new kit will cost $49 and should be available in June.
Wow. April Fools Is In full swing.
The Guardian goes all Twitter, ditching the printed version and the website. “Experts say any story can be told in 140 characters.”
Amazon launches a brand new cloud computing service called Floating Amazon Cloud Environment, or FACE. “The FACE uses durable, unmanned helium-filled blimps with a capacity of 65,536 small EC2 instances, or a proportionate number of larger instances. The top of each blimp is coated in polycrystalline solar cells which supply approximately 40% of the power needed by the servers and the on-board navigation, communication, and defense systems. “The government will have absolutely no chance of acting against them, because they will be too busy trying to decide which Federal Air Regulation (FAR) was violated, not to mention scheduling news conferences. “
Meanwhile, Google masters artificial intelligence in a post and description that’s way too geeky for me.
But they’ve created the world’s first Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity (CADIE), which is a computer that’s come alive and is making changes at Google. “Earlier today, for instance, CADIE deduced from a quick scan of the visual segment of the social web a set of online design principles from which she derived this intriguing homepage.”
Another early project for Cadie: making a 3D version of Google Chrome, since “81% of households had red/blue 3D glasses lying around.”
There’s no gentle way of putting this, but YouTube just flails with upside down video viewing.
Gmail now has AutoPilot.
Google Brain Search uses CADIE technology to index your brain.
Google Books is in on it too. See this monograph signed by the CADIE team for example.
Google Australia introduces the gBall, which will change Australian rules football as we know it.
There is also a featured YouTube video of a panda by the user ‘cadiesingularity’ with a profile stating “Cadie - the world’s first Cognitive Auto-Heuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity”.
When browsing Street View in Google Maps, a panda is shown in the bottom right map instead of the yellow person usually shown.
CADIE even has its own blog on Blogger.
There is also a “CADIE’s recommended places for humans” link in Google Maps, which leads to the “Panda Mapplet” and includes several marked locations with “CADIE’s” commentary. Under Redmond WA a link is listed which will rick roll the viewer.
Meanwhile, Identi.ca has acquired Twitter. A Twitter executive was quoted afterwards saying: “I was worried we were going to have to make a business out of that whole Twitter thing! I’m really glad it’s someone else’s problem now.”
Google is apparently also building a new $100 laptop together with Alienware (Dell). It will have a built-in brain wave reading chip, with sensors that need to be applied onto the user’s skull.
Scientists at CERN have found the cell that basically triggered the Big Bang.
The Pirate Bay sells out to Warner Bros.
There’s a new social network for your nose, a friendspace for your fragrance, a place to share your opinions on perfumes and vote for your favorite smells. They call it smellr and it’s online now.
Opera has moved on from Mouse Gestures and comes out of the closet with Face Gestures.
The entire Internet is being rebooted. (SitePoint)
Expedia is offering flights to Mars from $99. In related news, Hotels.com offers rooms on the Moon.
Add a bit of shine to your website with Laminatr.
This new Landmark jQuery plugin will alter the face of the internet.
Yahoo debuts Ideological Search.
Social Media Use Decreases Customer Satisfaction.
This brand new mobile phone works as either a coin-operated or credit/debit card mobile.
BBC’s Top Gear show comes to Hulu.
Woopra takes its Web Analytics suite up a notch and launches a webcam spy-feature for websites.
Woot is selling crap.
Reddit now looks competely like Digg (good one).
Wired: Twitter plans to make money. I’m gonna order that TW-900.
TweetDoubler gives you twice the bird.
Topify got sued by Fedex. “Fedex claims they have a registered patent for delivering faster and better email notifications and they claim we have infringed it.”
Fark now has its own social network. It looks vaguely familiar.
SocialBlade cracked Digg’s algorithm.
Epistolary Aardvark for Offline Access! “Until now, Aardvark could only be used via instant messenger or email to get answers to your questions within minutes. Through Aair Mail, you’ll be able to send questions via regular postal mail, just like you’d send a letter to a friend.”
Seacom has wired the entire African continent, which now has the fastest internet connection in the world.
LiveJournal has a Friends Page redesign project.
Microsoft added support for automatic mood detection in Windows Live Messenger. “We’re happy to announce that due to the great breakthroughs from Microsoft Research, we have an alpha version working that monitors your real-time physiological state and translates that into a mood (happy, sad, anxious, etc), such that you would never have to enter an emoticon again.”
Web celebrities (including Michael Arrington) are spotted dancing together, and they got the video to prove it.
The BDFL, having shepherded Python development for 20 years, officially announces his retirement, effective immediately. Following a unanimous vote, his replacement is named (Barry Warsaw).
Google is rumored to be acquiring Palm.
Ford, GM announce the Android Car. It looks cool.
Privacy campaigners throughout the UK have unanimously decided to support Phorm.
Daily Candy is doing their annual April Fools routine too.
How did we miss this one? CrunchGear was acquired by General Mills.
J.K. Rowling publishes Harry Potter eBooks on SmashWords.
A new mobile phone application has launched that promises to let you see where you are going while you are looking at your phone. “Called TXT’N'WALK, the application, which is available on the iPhone, Blackberry, S60 and Android operating systems will use the camera found on the back of your phone to show you the pavement in front of you while you access your email or the web on your phone.”
Qualcomm has outdone itself with the Wireless Convergence project. This one is really good.
Twitter limits tweets to one a day.
There’s also a secret government plan to tax Twitter. “Mumbrella understands that the government is planning to tax Twitter users by the number of messages they send, at a rate of 1c per tweet. This will then be multiplied by the number of followers they have.”
We think this is for April Fools, but we’re not sure: ThinkGeek is selling some cool stuff, including a ‘Unicorn Chaser’.
As of today all the newspapers, magazines and TV-channels using Twingly to link back to blogs also will show trackbacks to all emails containing links to their articles.
Funny too: Bugmenot.com now requires registration for their services. Considering the fact their tagline is “Bypass Compulsory Registration”, that’s a good one.
CafePress introduces the CafePress-o-Pedia.
Get vocal with the new Voice URL fring Add-on.
MooTools is now called jTools.
Well executed hoax: MOO.com announces the SUPER ECO FRIENDLY Business Card.
The purpose of the Conficker worm has been revealed: the network of compromised hosts will begin a massive denial-of-service attack on Web sites that do not pass validation as being fully standards-compliant.
Bigfoot discovered in Windows 7.
iPods get heavier with more music.
Google News Drone: unmanned aircrafts will cover breaking news as it happens.
EA and Gameloft’s battle of the iPhone boobs.
Kanye West gives up music for full-time blogging. Oh noes.
MassiveClouding is a new startup making internet surfers’s computers’ free memory and idle processing power leasable.
FuelMyBlog will have to be sub-divided into categories separating EU Bloggers from the rest of the world and probably sub-sub-categories so that, for instance Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland, North and South England will have their own niches, due to language and cultural differences. “Apparently sub-divisions of other member states aren’t that important.”
The British government has announced plans to provide children and teenagers living in the United Kingdom with a free customised version of the Nintendo Wii together with two games and the Wii Fit accessories.
Amiando has launched a dedicated Bavaria version of its ticketing service, complete with background music from the Munich Oktoberfest.
This company’s mission is to track down software pirates who share video games illegally. They’re looking for new bounty hunters to join their team. “If you can’t beat your enemies, beat your friends”
Just spotted on Digg: overlays featuring The Dude from the movie The Big Lebowski and many more.
Google South-Africa is opening a theme park dubbed GOOG TOWN.
Hehe. Packed3D is capable of taking an existing compiled flash game, and turn it into a fully functional 3D game. The video actually looks quite cool.
All French-made and French language films will shortly be removed from the LOVEFiLM service.
Boris from TheNextWeb has launched a TwitterFax service. “Fax any text (max 140 chars) to +31877848484 including Twitter username+password and it will post. Test it now!”
We think this is a joke: Shouttr, currently in an alpha-development stage, is a program that lets you post and read tweets others much like any other Twitter client. But it will also read aloud tweets for you as they arrive.
Newgrounds has been taken over by the Chinese government.
eBay put Skype on iPhone ‘to boost price of NSA backdoor’
Breaking: Internet Explorer 8.1 Eagle Eyes Leaked
Facebook announced yesterday an innovative partnership with telecom operators to reward heavy users with free bandwidth upgrades.
The Grama Eco Vehicle Comes With A Green Roof!
XIHA Life has acquired an island.
The BBC’s iPlayer is now available on a toaster.
From Google Maps Mania: “Top of the latest additions to the Queen’s website is this Corgi Tracker. The Queen owns five Corgis and now her loyal subjects can view their every movement thanks to this Google Map real-time tracker.”
SlideShare is faking the number of views for slideshows uploaded to the service.
The Google Sightseeing website morphed into the Ordnance Survey Sightseeing site.
Cadyou.com is proud to announce its first, free Sketchup plugin “Scanr”. In development for the 3 months, this plugin will allow you to use any optical mouse as a simple 3d scanner, enabling small objects to be scanned directly into the Sketchup software.
“When print publications started to lose circulation, we saw a golden opportunity to marry investors interested in saving newspapers with unused time on presses to bring you a new edition: TheDigitel.print.”
Google has acquired Mark8t.
NerdyShirts has an invisible T-shirt on sale. “It uses a fabric which bends light to render it virtually invisible. Get the warmth and comfort of a shirt without having to see it.”
ServiceSideKick has a new CEO.
WhiteLabelDating.com has debuted a new dog dating site today. The site already has 20,000 adult dogs registered and expects strong continued growth.
Washington Post: Conficker Worm Strike Reports Start Rolling In
MyWebDownload lets you download the WWW.
HowStuffWorks is running some funny articles. Example: Chew On This: Rechargeable Gum
istopover.com has a bailout special: stay in the White House for $49 a night.
More as they come in. Let us know what you’re finding out there in the comments.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
In an unprecedented move, Palm has revealed its heretofore ultra-secret WebOS-based smartphone - the Palm Post - at CTIA 2009.
While the mobile world has been patiently waiting for the Pre since it was first teased back in January, Palm has apparently been hard at work on the (clandestine) Post as well.
According to Palm’s press release:
We’ve put an enormous amount of time, energy, and resources into the development and production of our new flagship device - the Palm Post. Rather than rush our highly anticipated Palm Pre to the market, we thought it was in the best interest of both our customers and our company to perform extended R&D on our new hardware and software.
Not only does this ensure that consumers will receive the highest quality mobile device possible, but by moving our top engineers to a new facility - The Orchid - we’ve been able to do what no other company has been able to achieve until now…we’ve preemptively included all of the features and technologies that our customers (and Sprint) will want come 2011 in the Post! In other words, thanks to the DHARMA Intiative, we no longer have to wait for months of testing and feedback, but instead can rely on the needs and desires consumers will develop in the not to distant future. This enables us to provide the best, most comprehensive smartphones available anywhere on planet Earth.
The Post’s most spectacular features include:
That’s right folks. You heard it here first. Palm, by utilizing nontraditional means, has developed and will soon release a mobile device - the Post - with features that you didn’t and couldn’t even know that you wanted! The Post is expected to be available online and in Sprint brick-and-mortar stores by April 10 for the fantastically low price of $49.99 w/2yr contract.
In other related news, Palm still plans to release its pending Pre smartphone by April 30 in an effort to beat out iPhone 3.0 / other new Android devices to the market…if anyone still cares in light of this incredible announcement.
Crunch Network: TechCrunch obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies
 Product Reviews | Samsung to add connected apps to TouchWiz; opens UI to developers CNET News by Bonnie Cha In addition to the Samsung Mondi and Instinct s30, Samsung announced its plans to add mobile connected applications to future TouchWiz cell phones and smartphones at CTIA 2009. Samsung Debuts WiMAX Handset, Updates TouchWiz Interface Samsung unveils Mondi WiMax device for Clearwire |
Section: Imaging, Digital Cameras
There were two unreleased cameras at Samsung’s 2009 Spring Fever Showcase today. On display were the HZ15W and the TL320. According to representatives at Samsung, both cameras will be available in May.
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The TL320 is the top dog of Samsung’s TL line. The 3-inch AMOLED display on the TL320 had an incredible viewing angle and a great contrast ratio as you would expect from such a display. When you are reaching to take a picture or just taking pics outside, lots of LCDs just can’t handle the extreme viewing angle or the light. The AMOLED screen can take care of that problem.
Additionally, Samsung put some extra flair into its design of the TL320. It has a very slick looking set of analog gauges on the top of the device. The dials show battery life and the amount of free space on your memory card. While there are plenty of cameras that can show you this information, these gauges are a nice way of displaying the information. It is reminiscent of analog clocks in luxury cars and adds a bit of class to the camera.
As for the rest of the stats for this camera:
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The HZ15W is the bigger brother to the HZ10W. Both cameras can record 720P HD video, have 10x optical zoom, and optical and digital image stabilization. The differences? The HZ15W has a larger screen at 3-inches compared to the HZ10W’s 2.7-inches. Plus, the HZ15W has an HDMI out so you can watch your videos on your television with a standard HDMI cable. The HZ10W requires a cradle. The HZ10W costs $299.99 and the HZ15W costs $329.99. That extra $30 will also get you more megapixels. The HZ15W can handle 12.2 MP pictures while the HZ10W does 10.2 MP. The HZ15W may be out in April or May of this year.
There were plenty of other point and shoot cameras from Samsung at the event. For the most part, digital point and shoot cameras have become very homogenous. Samsung is trying several methods to keep their products in the forefront of the consumer’s mind. Apart from the standard smile-detection, red eye detection, and lots of megapixels, Samsung has something called “Beauty Shot.“ Beauty Shot is a feature that processes images and evens out skin tones. Applying the effect is done through the camera and doesn’t require you to hook up to a computer to alter the photos.
Full Story » | Written by Iyaz Akhtar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Toronto-based Quickplay is set to stream full length TV shows from networks, including CBS, MTV, and NBC. The PrimeTime2Go package will be offered for $7.99/month and will only stream over Wi-Fi to the Bold and 8900. Sorry, Storm owners, but Verizon hates you and crippled Wi-Fi, so you won’t be getting 30 Rock, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory or Nitro Circus. I have no idea if those shows will be apart of the package, but they’re some of my favorites. No word on when Quickplay will go live, though.
via Reuters
Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Times Are a-Changing: Watches From Baselworld 2009
 Guantanamo Bay is one of the world's controversial prisons. This may be its final chapter. With unprecedented access, National Geographic has the story you haven't heard. Both sides, told from the inside, before its doors close forever. Click to learn more and go Inside Guantanamo >> natgeotv.com/guantanamo |
Twitter has exploded in popularity like a monkey navigated rocket ship, but the question on everyone's mind is: how will the fledgling startup make money? A lot of theories have been bandies about: software solutions, premium accounts, advertising. Turns out all these hypothesis are wrong.
Twitter is getting into hardware.
About a week prior to CTIA Twitter execs invited Steven Leckart and I to get a hands on with their newest product: a piece of hardware they've dubbed the Wingman. it's essentially a device that's dedicated to one thing: twittering. lbeit with some very cool extras. The product we tested was in deep, deep BETA — many of the hardware flourishes that will be found on the finished product were not integrated yet. Still it was impressive.
When it's launched in June 2009 (probably against the new iPhone) the Wingman will feature the following:
The WIRED Gadget Lab Podcast is produced by Analiza Savage, edited by Fernando Cardoso, with camerawork by Michael Lennon and still photography by Jonathan Snyder.
Billy and Principal Andrew Alty went all the way back to kindergarten, when Billy had convinced Mitchell McCoy that the green fingerpaint was Shamrock Shake, and watched with glee as the little babyface had scarfed it all down. Billy knew that Andrew Alty knew his style: refined, controlled, and above all, personal. Billy never would've dropped a dozen M-80s down the girls' toilet. His stuff was always one-on-one, and possessed of a degree of charm and subtlety.To Market, To Market: The Branding of Billy Bailey by Cory DoctorowBut nevertheless, here was Billy, along with the sixth-grade bumper-crop of nasty-come-latelies, called on the carpet in front of Andrew Alty's massive desk. Andrew Alty was an athletic forty, a babyface true-and-through, and a charismatic thought-leader in his demographic.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Here's tween band Gary and the Hornets performing the Oscar Mayer jingle. Man, those kids sure loved hot dogs.
GARY & THE HORNETS - Classic Commercial Jingle
(Thanks, Sean!)
Source: Boing Boing | 1 Apr 2009 | 5:42 am
And the most downloaded app at the moment is Shazam. Mankind is doomed.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
I dig the design of this Boing t-shirt from Vurtego, makers of high-performance pogo sticks! Section: Business News, Communications, Email / IM, Smartphones, Web
In today’s fast paced society, being connected means everything. Whenever you travel, for business or vacation, the plane used to be the one place where Internet connection was, essentially impossible to access. In the past year or so, many airlines have been experimenting with Wi-Fi on their planes in order to make a little more money from their passengers. Just today, American Airlines announced that they will be equipping over 300 planes with high speed Wi-Fi.
If you typically fly on Delta Air Lines, then you may already know that they will roll out their own Wi-Fi by the end of this year. American Airlines made this announcement today as they wish to try and pull ahead of Delta, as they are second to them in terms of popularity. Basically, this is how it would play out. For laptop users on flights longer than three hours, it would cost one fee of $12.95. For laptop users on a flight less than three hours, it would only cost $9.95. Now, American Airlines was fair in the sense that people who have smartphones or PDAs, they will only have to pay $7.95, and the length of their trip does not matter.
Also, Wi-Fi will only start when the plane reaches an altitude of 10,000 feet so the Wi-Fi will not affect communications between air traffic control and the pilot. Even though airlines are steadily rolling out Wi-Fi, don’t expect cell phone service to be available anytime soon as it poses a few problems. However, this is great news for Americans who are flying in domestic flights and need to check their emails or conference with their office.
Read [USA Today]
RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis is slated to take the stage later today in Las Vegas at the CTIA show and all eyes will be focused on RIM’s answer to Apple’s App Store. While we wished that RIM had held off on the launch of BlackBerry App World until Lazaridis’ little talk, there’s nothing that could have prevented this announcement from hitting at midnight. So, ladies and germs, I present to you BlackBerry App World. Please ensure that you have a PayPal account, OS 4.2 or higher and a trackball or SurePress touch screen (aka Storm) BlackBerry before proceeding.
RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis is slated to take the stage later today in Las Vegas at the CTIA show and all eyes will be focused on RIM’s answer to Apple’s App Store. While we wished that RIM had held off on the launch of BlackBerry App World until Lazaridis’ little talk, there’s nothing that could have prevented this announcement from hitting at midnight. So, ladies and germs, I present to you BlackBerry App World. Please ensure that you have a PayPal account, OS 4.2 or higher and a trackball or SurePress touch screen (aka Storm) BlackBerry before proceeding.
I must say that BAW is laid out much better than the initial screen shots that RIM released many months ago. But before we dive into it, you should probably download the BAW storefront. Simply navigate here or here from your BlackBerry Browser and experience the awesomeness that is BAW. A circle icon with the BlackBerry emblem will appear on your desktop.
The BAW homescreen features four icons across the bottom and “Featured Items” which can be navigated through by scrolling left or right. The first icon – a set of folders with a blue tab - is your Categories folder where you can search for apps by genres such as Games, Music and Video, or Personal Health and Wellness. Next to the Categories icon is the Top Downloads section (25) – denoted by a starred folder - of BAW that tells you which apps you are most popular. You can also search for applications by clicking on the magnifying glass icon; search works within categories as well.
The download process is simple and straightforward, but we still hate the fact that RIM wasn’t able to implement a backend payment structure of their own. I just don’t trust PayPal and I know lots of folks (besides myself) who have had issues with them over the years. Anyway, clicking on any app that tickles your fancy will present you with the following options: Download, Reviews or Screenshots. I don’t think I need to go into detail or describe what each of these entail, but I will tell you that when you purchase a free application you’ll be taken directly to My World (we’ll get to this in a second), but if it’s a paid app you’ll be asked to sign into PayPal before proceeding.
Now that we’ve searched through apps and purchased a couple or downloaded all the free apps, you’ll want to hit up that last icon with the outline of a person or My World. In My World you can keep tabs on all the apps that you’ve downloaded, write reviews, recommend or uninstall apps. A nice feature about My World is that you can virtually host apps that you might not use all the time without actually having the app downloaded to the device. If you want to reinstall an app that you previously deleted, you just need to log back into PayPal and voila.
We’ll update this post once BAW goes live with a full list of available apps, which might not happen until later today. Please refresh every few minutes as we continue to add apps.
Featured Apps (11)
Viigo for BlackBerry - Free
Yahoo Messenger - Free
Facebook - Free
Bloomberg - Free
Texas Hold’em King 3 - $5.99
MySpace - Free
AOL Instant Messenger - Free
Brain Challenge 2: Stress Management - $4.99
New York Times Crosswords - Classics Vol 1 - $4.99
Google Talk - Free
ICQ - Free
Entertainment (9)
PhoneyFart - $2.99
Fart Storm - $2.99
Mobile Bartender - $4.99
ELLE – Free
ELLEgirl – Free
ELLEgirl Latina- Free
People Mobile – Free
Premiere – Free
Woman’s Day - Free
Games (126)
Arcade & Action (37)
Card & Casino (29)
Puzzles & Mind Teasers (32)
Sports (10)
Strategy & Board (18)
Maps & Navigation (8)
Text2C – Free
ConnectorLocal – Free
GPS Tracker – Free
Geocache Navigator Free Trial – Free
SOS-GPS - $2.99
Telmap Navigator – Free
Trimble Outdoors Free Trial – Free
e-Mobile GPS Companion - $19.99
NIM Gokivo Navigator - $9.99
TeleNav GPS Navigator - $99.99 (1-year unlimited service for the Storm, 8330, 8130 and 8830)
Music & Video (10)
Shazam – Free (Enhanced version is $4.99 after May 31)
Relaxing Sounds - $2.99
FlipSide MP3 Player - $19.99
Flycast – Free
Hip Hop Official by GoTV - $4.99
MP3 Ringtone Creator - $4.99
MajiPlayer - $9.99
Nobex Radio Companion – Free
Pandora – Free
Slacker Radio for BlackBerry – Free
News & Weather (17)
Viigo for BlackBerry – Free
AP News - $2.99
Boston News Web Shortcut – Free
CBS News – Free
ELLE Canada Mobile – Free
Fox Business Bookmark – Free
Fox News Alert – Free
Fox News Bookmark – Free
Handy Weather for BlackBerry - $17.99
Maclean’s – Free
Newsweek – Free
Noticias de AP - $2.99
Slate Magazine – Free
The New York Times Politics News Notifier – Free
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Update: One problem that I think a lot of folks will encounter is the lack of on-board memory on most BlackBerry devices. Compared to the iPhone, you don’t have 8GB or 16GB of memory to work with on your BlackBerry. I’m adding as many free apps now to see what happens when the memory on my 8900 gets full. It’d be nice if RIM allowed you to store apps on external memory cards, but you might have to uninstall apps and store virtually as you go.
Update 2: It appears that some developers are allowing trials for paid apps and not just lite versions. Also, you can’t move the BlackBerry App World icon from your homepage.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
: Photo: Mark McCluskyEvery year in Switzerland, watchmakers and jewelers from around the planet congregate in the city of Basel for a trade show where they can flaunt their wares to journalists, industry analysts and anyone else who can score a ticket.
Precious gems? Meh. We're all about the watches. And the geekier the better. What follows is an account of the coolest, tech-heavy timepieces, watches and chronometers we found at the show. Batteries may not always be included, but awesomeness always is.
Left: Concord Quantum Gravity
The craziest watch of the day: a tourbillion that rotates both vertically and horizontally, a power reserve that uses liquid expanding and contracting to indicate levels, and a suspension bridge linking all of it together.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyOris' $2150 special-edition watch honoring rock icon Bob Dylan comes packaged with a Hohner Marine Band Harmonica. Godlike songwriting talent not included.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThis chronograph includes two second hands to measure intermediate split times at a price: $24,500. You know, about the same as the sticker tag on new car. Just not a Porsche.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThe latest version of the Madison includes a viewing window to see the ceramic bearings that parts of the movement revolve on.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThis version of the Series 800 features a strap crafted out of "XtremeResin," a Kevlar-reinforced material. It's available for an extreme price tag of $1,200.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThis limited-edition model celebrates the watchmaker's 125th year of operation. There will be 2,009 made in steel for $6,450; 125 red-gold versions will cost $29,340.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyA new model features a house-made mechanical movement. The Chronomat B01 will debut globally on May 28 with 16 versions ranging from $6,550 to $44,000.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyTissot's diving watch senses when it's submerged under four feet of water and starts the diving timer. It also logs 150 dives and their lengths in its memory.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyHello, Dave. This model is inspired by a prop watch the company created for Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyInstead of the standard pressers on the side, the Hamilton uses a turn of the bezel to start, stop and reset the chronometer.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyForty years ago, NASA selected the Omega Speedmaster as the watch for the Apollo astronauts on lunar missions. To commemorate the event, the company has issued a special edition.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThe boutique maker, which produces only 2,500 pieces a year, bases many of its designs on historical pieces created by its namesake. Case in point: This old-timey piece looks like it might belong on the wrist of Sherlock Holmes.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyAn integrated radio receiver captures the signal from the official time signals in the United States, Europe and Japan to set the time on this model.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyAlpinist Conrad Anker helped test Timex' new adventure watch, which displays time, temperature, a compass and altitude at the same time.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThis massive $755 leviathan lets those with obsessive chrono-disorder (we're pretty sure that's a real disease) track the time in five separate zones.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThe Pilot stood out from the crowd at Basel by bleeding all color from the watch, leaving the face, hands and case a pure black.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyOakley's first automatic model will be released in November to celebrate the company's 10th anniversary in the watch business.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyBranded on the face as "Heuer" just like the original worn by the ultimate man, Steve McQueen, the anniversary edition is limited to 1,000 worldwide.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyA collaboration between the knife craftsmen and watchmakers at Victorinox, this little dandy features a toothpick and tweezers, as well as the familiar closing action of a Swiss Army knife. No nail file, though.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThe $950 model borrows its styling from the military vehicles abandoned by the U.S. Army after World War II.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyEvery year in Switzerland, watchmakers and jewelers from around the planet congregate in the city of Basel for a trade show where they can flaunt their wares to journalists, industry analysts and anyone else who can score a ticket.
Precious gems? Meh. We're all about the watches. And the geekier the better. What follows is an account of the coolest, tech-heavy timepieces, watches and chronometers we found at the show. Batteries may not always be included, but awesomeness always is.
Left: Concord Quantum Gravity
The craziest watch of the day: a tourbillion that rotates both vertically and horizontally, a power reserve that uses liquid expanding and contracting to indicate levels, and a suspension bridge linking all of it together.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyOris' $2150 special-edition watch honoring rock icon Bob Dylan comes packaged with a Hohner Marine Band Harmonica. Godlike songwriting talent not included.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThis chronograph includes two second hands to measure intermediate split times at a price: $24,500. You know, about the same as the sticker tag on new car. Just not a Porsche.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThe latest version of the Madison includes a viewing window to see the ceramic bearings that parts of the movement revolve on.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThis version of the Series 800 features a strap crafted out of "XtremeResin," a Kevlar-reinforced material. It's available for an extreme price tag of $1,200.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThis limited-edition model celebrates the watchmaker's 125th year of operation. There will be 2,009 made in steel for $6,450; 125 red-gold versions will cost $29,340.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyA new model features a house-made mechanical movement. The Chronomat B01 will debut globally on May 28 with 16 versions ranging from $6,550 to $44,000.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyTissot's diving watch senses when it's submerged under four feet of water and starts the diving timer. It also logs 150 dives and their lengths in its memory.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyHello, Dave. This model is inspired by a prop watch the company created for Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyInstead of the standard pressers on the side, the Hamilton uses a turn of the bezel to start, stop and reset the chronometer.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyForty years ago, NASA selected the Omega Speedmaster as the watch for the Apollo astronauts on lunar missions. To commemorate the event, the company has issued a special edition.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThe boutique maker, which produces only 2,500 pieces a year, bases many of its designs on historical pieces created by its namesake. Case in point: This old-timey piece looks like it might belong on the wrist of Sherlock Holmes.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyAn integrated radio receiver captures the signal from the official time signals in the United States, Europe and Japan to set the time on this model.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyAlpinist Conrad Anker helped test Timex' new adventure watch, which displays time, temperature, a compass and altitude at the same time.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThis massive $755 leviathan lets those with obsessive chrono-disorder (we're pretty sure that's a real disease) track the time in five separate zones.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThe Pilot stood out from the crowd at Basel by bleeding all color from the watch, leaving the face, hands and case a pure black.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyOakley's first automatic model will be released in November to celebrate the company's 10th anniversary in the watch business.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyBranded on the face as "Heuer" just like the original worn by the ultimate man, Steve McQueen, the anniversary edition is limited to 1,000 worldwide.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyA collaboration between the knife craftsmen and watchmakers at Victorinox, this little dandy features a toothpick and tweezers, as well as the familiar closing action of a Swiss Army knife. No nail file, though.
: Photo: Mark McCluskyThe $950 model borrows its styling from the military vehicles abandoned by the U.S. Army after World War II.
These scary economic times have a lot of us looking to trim our tech budgets. But before you lose the premium cable channels, upgraded broadband, and unlimited international calling plan, you may want to try a little price negotiation. You might be worried, but your service providers are crapping bricks. The recession has actually increased your leverage. By articulating their worst fear (losing customers), you can wangle huge savings.
"The business climate is changing, and we continuously adjust for that," says Robyn Watson, PR director at Time Warner Cable. That's code for "Let's talk." Operators are standing by, and they're trained to cycle through a script that's dripping with juicy options. Negotiate well and you'll tease out the goodies they tried to withhold at first.
Going in, it helps to know the competition your service provider faces. If you have satellite TV and broadband from the phone company, be familiar with the most recent cable bargain bundle. Or vice versa: Has the à la carte crowd been pimping price drops to entice switching? Work it. If you're willing to take your business elsewhere, that's even better. In addition to introductory honeymoon rates, they probably have unadvertised sweeteners. If you do switch, though, mark your calendar and call back in six months or a year when the rate adjusts. Savvy consumers know that this little dance is a recurring affair.
But be careful of stepping on toes. Don't just call up and immediately threaten to leave. Herb Cohen, who helped set up the FBI's hostage negotiation program, cautions against acting too smart. "Intellect is an asset, but only if it's concealed," he says. "Dumb is better than smart." You want to be saying, "Can you explain this to me? I heard from a friend who got such-and-such a deal." That'll switch the rep into deal-making mode. Eventually, try to flip your opponent to your point of view by involving them in your decisionmaking, with questions like "If you were me, what would you do?"
Some operators will be quick with a brush-off, so don't be afraid to hang up and try again. If you're not having any luck, you can always ask for the retention department (the folks with beaucoup bargaining power) right out of the chute. Just remember to never be rude—angrily demanding a manager isn't going to make anyone want to do you any favors. And never be afraid to walk. If nothing else, a history of fickleness might lend extra credibility to your tough talk in the future.
2004: Google unveils Gmail. It will change webmail ... and a few other things as well.
Five years ago, if we wanted to talk to somebody halfway around the world, we'd open up Outlook, Eudora or some other bulky piece of software on our desktops and type an e-mail.
Most of us had webmail, which was a convenience on the road since we could access it from any computer, but it wasn't enjoyable. Web inboxes were slow and cumbersome, messy with checkboxes and radio buttons, and often so riddled with spam they had to be emptied frequently lest they reach capacity.
Gmail changed all that. It was fast and elegant just like a desktop app. There was so much storage, you never had to delete anything. In fact, you couldn't — there wasn't even a Delete button! And you didn't miss the Delete button since it was almost entirely spam-free.
Gmail was so slick and easy to use, many of us switched to it full-time and have never gone back.
On its fifth birthday, it's difficult to ignore the enormous influence Gmail has had not only on web-based e-mail services, but on rich web applications in general. Several of the concepts introduced by Gmail, which were at the time on the bleeding edge of application design, have since been adopted by the web's mainstream.
The biggest was the use of Ajax, a technique for building web interfaces that gave Gmail that extra snappiness, more closely matching the desktop applications it eventually lured us away from.
Before Ajax, users would click a link or a button on a webpage, and then they'd have to wait for the entire page to reload in order to see the result. Using Ajax, web programmers could build an application that redrew pieces of the page on the fly without having to reload the whole thing. A user could see new elements appearing and disappearing on the page as they clicked, minus all the waiting.
The programming technique, which uses JavaScript and had been showing up on smaller, experimental sites for a couple of years, was still untested on major websites. Gmail wasn't the first Ajax website, but it was one of the first to prove it could work on a mass scale.
"When Gmail was written, the term Ajax didn't really exist," says Gmail product manager Keith Coleman.
There was skepticism even within Google, Coleman says. Ajax interfaces were fast, but they required a much larger initial download. Broadband wasn't widespread, so asking users to download a big chunk of JavaScript code over a dial-up connection when they first visited a site was considered a gamble.
But given that Google's audience was rich with web-savvy early adopters, the Gmail team had faith that an Ajax user interface could work.
"The idea of a heavyweight page wasn't so popular, but we decided that the web's most active users already had broadband, and most would in the future," he says. "So we decided it was the right choice for our long-term architecture approach."
Google launched Gmail as a beta product on April 1, 2004, and those early adopters ate it up. The site was invitation-only at first, and you had to know somebody with a Gmail address who had invitations to spare in order to get in. Frantic requests went out over e-mail lists and in web forums. A gmail.com e-mail address soon became a badge of honor among the web's elite.
Also, within months, dozens of other Ajax-driven sites sprung up. The effects also trickled over into Google's other web apps. First, Google Maps, then the Orkut social network, and later Calendar and Google Reader all relied on Ajax-heavy interfaces.
It wasn't long before Ajax became the de facto standard for every other webmail product — Yahoo Mail and Microsoft Hotmail, the other giants of webmail, were later redesigned using Ajax — and for web applications in general.
Productivity apps began to move into the browser, and the only way to urge people to start using them instead of their desktop equivalents was to give these web apps a suitably rich, desktop-like look and feel. Other techniques like Flash and Java had tried and failed, mostly because they were sluggish and required plug-ins. But Ajax was just JavaScript — simple and fast with no plug-in required.
Since then, the bulk of the web has been rewritten for the Ajax age.
Ajax wasn't the only new idea. At launch, every Gmail user got 1 GB of free storage, at the time an unusually large amount — most webmail services offered between 5 and 50 megabytes. Competing webmail providers quickly followed suit, upping their storage amounts to try to match Gmail.
Gmail users also got free auto-forwarding from other accounts and free POP access, which enabled people to check their Gmail accounts from their favorite desktop or mobile client if they wanted to.
The launch wasn't all roses and rainbows, however. Privacy advocates objected to the advertising model, which involves Google's robot eyes scanning every e-mail for keywords and displaying contextual advertisements alongside a user's inbox.
Most users didn't seem to mind, however. After Gmail opened up to everyone in February 2007, its user base ballooned to tens of millions.
Since then, Gmail has grown into a full-fledged platform. There's a contact manager and fully integrated text, video and SMS chat. Users can plug in widgets that help manage tasks, set reminders or just show pictures of their kids.
All the while, the service has remained in beta. Some even contend Google has left the "beta" tag on the Gmail logo as a joke, a nod to its prankish birthday.
"It's not a joke," says Coleman, who insists that Gmail will leave the beta phase once the product reaches some specific milestones as a business.
But what those milestones are, or when it could happen, Coleman wouldn't say.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Section: Video, Content, DVD/DVR/Blu-ray
Over at the Official Netflix Blog, plenty of people have voiced their opinion on the recent increase in pricing for Blu-ray movies. Taking a look at some of the over 500 comments on the post, there is an overwhelmingly negative response.
Some commenters have mentioned several points like:
- ”Blockbuster does not charge more for Blu-Ray rental.”
- ”Will my extra money GUARANTEE that I wont wait days/weeks for a New Release blue-ray? (like I do now?) You mention the 30% more for blue ray disks, that make up, what…..5% of your library? How about the 1.99 bin DVD’s in Netflix’s library?”
- ”Did Netflix think of how much revenue they’d be losing when they have all these people CANCEL their blu-ray option?”
- ”Wouldn’t a per disc surcharge make more sense.”
- ”All I can say Netflix, is f**k you.”
For the most part, the comments make sense. Netflix has enjoyed a relatively smooth ride with consumers. Many people, including myself, paid extra to stay with Netflix even when Blockbuster came out with a lower priced alternative. They are the little company that could.
Now, it appears that many people are seeing Netflix as a profit hungry machine that no longer cares about its customers. One of the problems with the increase is that you will be charged the Blu-ray preference fee even if you don’t rent a single Blu-ray disc that month.
Another opinion that is all over the comments is perhaps this increase is for more than just Blu-ray. Perhaps this increase covers the streaming costs of Netflix’s Watch Instantly. With so many devices supporting Netflix Watch Instantly, maybe Netflix’s server fees are the problem.
Will Netflix reconsider its price increase? Is this just one big publicity stunt? We’ll see.
Read: [Netflix Blog]
Full Story » | Written by Iyaz Akhtar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
This guest post is written by Larry Chiang, a co-founder of Duck9 who also regularly blogs for for BusinessWeek. In this post, he discusses some of the pros of organizing events as a means to increase your own exposure and make connections.
My party mentor, Susan Roane, the author of ‘How to Work a Room‘, once told me, “Larry, there are two types of people in this world: hosts and guests”. She argues that hosting gets you more influence and adds value at a party. I believe her.
I took it a couple steps further because partying and social engineering intrigue me. I see how people in positions of power use parties to further grow their influence. In this post, I boil down my knowledge and reveal how hosting and producing events can boost your visibility, increase your deal flow and help you sway people.
Multiple Party Agenda Fulfillment.
Getting a bunch of groups together to agree on ONE single deal is very hard because everyone has different agendas. This is a technique where you listen so well that you can extrapolate what they want to say and what they are afraid to say. We do this to better guestimate their agenda.
I know Congressmen who do this so well that they know everyone’s agenda better than they do. Win-wins and ‘best alternative to a negotiated agreement”are what is taught in business school. In the real world, this approach is cloudy and messy.
Learning this technique is essential to producing a party or getting a deal done.
Take Two Down The Aisle.
Venue locations and the people that manage them can be smarmy. By smarmie, I mean they want to monetize you in any way possible. They don’t have enough Friday and Saturday nights in a year and will change your deal the last minute to squeeze you for more money. Solve this by booking TWO venues for the same time.
By taking two venues down the aisle you’re buying a real insurance policy against a deal changing. Your cost is losing the deposit. For example, when I hosted the TechCrunch after party, I chose the Four Seasons. My back-up location was the Three Seasons in downtown Palo Alto. (You can find more countermeasures in my post, “The Art of Changing the Deal“)
Back on topic, “taking two down the aisle”, I do this with mortgage bankers where I bring TWO down the wire, right to the closing. Yes, your FICO score remains barely affected. The maneuver is outlined here.
Party Karma is Real.
Actively love those that love you at the party.
Reciprocate the givers. Avoid karmic black holes. Character compass your guests like a seasoned front desk manager at the Four Seasons in Austin. Character compassing is the skill in determining which direction their soul is pointed. Failing to take this into account can result in a poor experience for your guests.
Building party karma gets you real ROI.
Set Aside Your Need to Make Money.
“Money delayed is not missed money,” said MC Hammer (Hip Hop Schools Silicon Valley should be required reading for MBAs). Delayed money gratification is a common trait among rich people I know.
Cut and Paste a Theme
Parties without themes are like companies that don’t solve problems. Having a theme unifies the experience and gives direction to an event. The best theme is a time-tested one. I cut and pasted the party theme, “Launch Party 2.0″ by changing one word from a hit party in December, “Holiday Party 2.0″.
Get a Celebrity Co-Host.
If you want to attract prominent co-hosts, you have to know their agenda better than they do. If you are not an expert character compasser, then at least yearn to want to know what their agenda is. There’s a secret method to doing this: You listen (and read the material they’ve written). Also, listen to what they tell you to read because it affected them.
Promotion is the Dirtiest Work
A Hollywood agent once told me, “They don’t pay big bucks to act, they pay you to promote”. It was eye opening when I realized that promotion of products or services (or a party) is the hardest work. If you can have your party promote something else, you will curry favor.
Flirt with Illegitimacy
Consider being the “Unofficial, Unauthorized Party” and embrace your illegitimacy. I am the writer and primary promoter for the scandalous sequel to “What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School“. Yeah, it is a sequel to a book I did not write. By writing the sequel, “What They Don’t Teach You At Stanford Business School”, it in effect turns Harvard into a friend.
You can use the same technique when it comes to parties. Don’t be afraid to be the unofficial party, or the after-party.
Simultaneous Close
In business, there are often catch-22s. I can’t get funding until have a working website. I can’t get financing for my film until I have a tier one actor. Producing a party is no different.
To battle the chicken or the egg, catch-22 syndrome, I say get a simultaneous close by combining any two or three (or all) of the above seven previous tips.
I was able to be the official Web 2.0 Expo After Party by combining all eight. Now I’m going to offer a chance to win a sponsorship to the Official Web 2.0 AfterParty on Wednesday April 1st. The theme is “Launch Party 2.0. Don’t be Asse9 on April Fools”. Enter by posting in the comments what and how your start-up can benefit from winning a sponsorship. Deadline is 11:11am, 04-01-09. No this isn’t an April Fools joke.
Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Google AdSense is eliminating its video units feature, which allows publishers to show YouTube content and video ads on their pages. Google says that by the end of April, the feature will be fully eliminated for existing AdSense clients and that new clients of the revenue sharing ad program will no longer be given the option to place video ads on their pages through the program. Publishers can still display video content on their pages by pulling embed codes directly from YouTube.
Unsurprisingly, Google says it eliminated the video ads because of poor performance. It is difficult to figure out a sustainable ad model for video, which is why pre-rolls remain more common. But the problem with video ads may not be the ad unit itself but but the underlying content. Brand advertisers don’t want their names associated with random words spoken in videos. You simply cannot efficiently and consistently target ads based on three words in a video. For instance, if someone is watching a clip of “Snakes on a Plane,” it’s probably not the best place to put a travel ad. And search marketers can find better places to put contextual ads.
It seems this latest announcement is part of a growing trend of Google axing programs in AdSense. Google recently pulled the plug on its Google Radio Ads and was looking to sell off its Google Radio Automation software business. That news came less than a month after Google decided to bail on selling print ads. We hate to say we told you so but we saw the writing on the wall about adding video ads to AdSense awhile ago.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Samsung just unleashed the powerhouse that is the Mondi. This massive handset comes packing with speedy WiMAX support in a big daddy slider form factor. Winmo 6.1 powers the device and it seems that Samsung has big hopes for the huge device as it’s got just about everything possible in a mobile computing platform. Check it: MS Office, WiFi, BT 2.1, GPS with preloaded maps, 4 GB of internal memory, support for push email, instant messaging support, 3.0 MP camera and camcorder, Opera 9.5 browser, HDMI out, and a huge range of supported video and audio player formats.
Judging by the vague press release, Samsung might have even loaded their own skin on top of the Windows Mobile 6.1 core. Apparently there are widgets - cause everything must have widgets these days - that users can drag and drop on the 4.3-inch touch screen. So far pricing and availability hasn’t been released, but chances are the price will be higher than you’re willing to pay. Expect to find the Mondi into the hands of corporate Jack Bauer types anyway.
Samsung Mobile Launches First WiMAX-Enabled Mobile Internet Device
Samsung Mondi™ Provides Full Broadband Speeds, HTML Web Experience
and Mobile WiMAX/WiFi Access in Compact Touch Screen DeviceLAS VEGAS – March 31, 2008 – Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) today announced the upcoming availability of the Samsung Mondi™, the most advanced mobile WiMAX enabled handheld device in the U.S. The touch screen Mondi, which takes its name from the Latin word for “world”, is designed for use with the Clear™ mobile WiMAX service from Clearwire.
The Mondi carries many of the powerful features and uses of a laptop computer or netbook, but its compact slider form factor easily fits into the hand or pocket. GPS Navigation provided by Route 66 adds to the Mondi’s versatility. Available in a solid black finish, this device extends horizontally to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard and optical mouse. The Mondi™ is packed with multimedia features that offer instant access to E-mail, Internet, video content and business applications.
Mondi packs a full -featured web browser, powered by Opera 9.5, which takes full advantage of the device’s 4.3-inch touch screen. To keep connected while on-the-go, Mondi offers best-in-class location based services and instant access to social networking websites. It also supports various services including Fring™, Gypsii™, and MS Live Messenger.
The Mondi is completely customizable, thanks to a set of widgets that can be dragged and dropped anywhere on the display screen for easy viewing and use. Mondi is also an excellent device for work or for play. WiFi connectivity offers the business user fast and simple connections to Outlook Email / Calendars, Microsoft Office and many other vertical business applications outside the Clear service area. For the multimedia user, this device offers the ability to download and watch movies, listen to music or play games.
The Samsung Mondi includes the following features:
Windows Mobile 6.1
Microsoft Outlook and Windows Mobile Office
WiMAX Mobile Internet Access
WiFi Access (BTv2.1+EDR)
GPS: Route 66 Navigation with Preloaded Maps
4GB of Internal Memory
Direct Push/Mobile Email (POP3, IMAP, SMTP)
Supports Instant Messaging and MMS
3.0 Megapixel Camera and Camcorder
Bluetooth ® 2.0
Opera 9.5 Web Browser
HDMI TV Out
Supports Multiple Video and Audio Player Formats
“The Samsung Mondi is an important step toward our goal of bringing 4G network speeds and connectivity to people across the U.S.,” said Bill Ogle, Chief Marketing Officer for Samsung Mobile. “The Mondi™ is a great match for people who want immediate access to the Web without having to sacrifice download speed and portability.”“The mobile broadband experience that the Mondi offers to Clear customers places the power of the open Internet in the palm of the hand,” said Atish Gude, Chief Marketing Officer for Clearwire. “As our network grows across the US, we will continue to work with innovative device manufacturers to expand the mobile WiMAX device ecosystem and leverage the value that a 4G wireless Internet connection delivers.”
Samsung is the global leader in delivering mobile WiMAX technologies and offers an end-to-end solution including chipsets, infrastructure, mobile devices and consumer electronics, including devices capable of accessing both mobile WiMAX and other wireless technologies. UQ Communications in Japan and Scartel LLC., in Russia are examples of other Mondi ™ing operators preparing for significant commercial deployment of national-wide service using Samsung’s mobile WiMAX total solution.
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While many are in a tizzy over the Conficker worm and it’s rumored April 1st attack, experts say most have nothing to worry about, and that the hype around it is likely to do more harm than the worm itself, which is simply scheduled to contact its control servers and update itself.
Here’s the deal. If you’ve already got the worm, it will perform the update above. If you don’t, you won’t miraculously wind up with it tomorrow. Not sure? Here’s an easy way to figure out if you have it:
Fire up your browser towards and try to load f-secure.com, secureworks.com, microsoft.com, norton, or any other security site. If you get a “page cannot be displayed” error for all the sites, you’ve probably got Conficker or similar malware on your computer.
Sure, there is a very, very slim chance the update could tell the worm to say, wipe your boot record or corrupt your registry, but it doesn’t make sense. Conficker’s main purpose is to add as many computers to its botnet as possible. The more zombies it creates, the more spam it can send out, which sad to say, means more money in the cyber criminals’ pockets. It’s all about the money, so disabling computers is the last thing they want to do.
Most malware is created for two specific purposes: to spy (check out yesterday’s article on the Chinese cyberspy ring) and/or to make money, either by creating a botnet to send spam or by stealing people’s financial information. Stolen financial info is either used by the scammer to clean out bank accounts or make fraudulent purchases, or sold for big bucks to other scammers looking to indulge in a little identity theft. The botnets themselves can be very lucrative, too. Many botnet creators lease them out to spammers and scammers for a nice fee.
If you don’t have the worm, just keep doing what you’re doing, and make sure your anti-virus software is up to date. If you do have it, here’s a list of sites that can help you clean up your system:
Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool: http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx
F-Secure removal utility: ftp://193.110.109.53/anti-virus/tools/beta/f-downadup.zip
McAfee’s removal tool: http://67.97.80.71/vil/conficker_stinger/Stinger_Coficker.exe
The bottom line is tomorrow is not likely to bring any catastrophic cyber events. The Internet will not be kicked off the air and your computers will not self destruct. Promise! (Ed. note: we can’t really promise, sorry)
Read[PCWorld]
Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
LAS VEGAS — Samsung announced one of its worst kept secrets, the Mondi, in a press conference this afternoon at Steve Wynn's kitschy lovely Encore hotel.
Most important thing to remember for this device? It's got WiMax and Wi-Fi MID that work with Samsung's TouchWiz UI along with the Opera 9.5 browser. OS? Surprise! It's Win-Mo 6.1. The device also has a 4.3-inch touchscreen that's accompanied by a slide out keyboard.
There's also 4-gigs of storage, a 3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and HDMI out. Also expect support for various A/V codecs and several instant messenger clients.
Some have claimed the Mondi is trying to hang with Netbooks in terms of performance and feature sets. I don't think that's the case here. If anything, Samsung is making an attempt to ressurect the much maligned UMPC segment with the Mondi. Why I can't say; there are other, better smart phones about to hit market (especially ones that are not anchored by Win-Mo) and in terms of performance, the Mondi can't really hang with any netbook.
Samsung's marketing spiel comes after the jump.
Photo by Samsung.
LAS VEGAS – March 31, 2008 – Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) today announced the upcoming availability of the Samsung Mondi™, the most advanced mobile WiMAX enabled handheld device in the U.S. The touch screen Mondi, which takes its name from the Latin word for "world", is designed for use with the Clear™ mobile WiMAX service from Clearwire.
The Mondi carries many of the powerful features and uses of a laptop computer or netbook, but its compact slider form factor easily fits into the hand or pocket. GPS Navigation provided by Route 66 adds to the Mondi's versatility. Available in a solid black finish, this device extends horizontally to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard and optical mouse. The Mondi™ is packed with multimedia features that offer instant access to E-mail, Internet, video content and business applications.
Mondi packs a full -featured web browser, powered by Opera 9.5, which takes full advantage of the device's 4.3-inch touch screen. To keep connected while on-the-go, Mondi offers best-in-class location based services and instant access to social networking websites. It also supports various services including Fring™, Gypsii™, and MS Live Messenger.
The Mondi is completely customizable, thanks to a set of widgets that can be dragged and dropped anywhere on the display screen for easy viewing and use. Mondi is also an excellent device for work or for play. WiFi connectivity offers the business user fast and simple connections to Outlook Email / Calendars, Microsoft Office and many other vertical business applications outside the Clear service area. For the multimedia user, this device offers the ability to download and watch movies, listen to music or play games.
The Samsung Mondi includes the following features:
Windows Mobile 6.1
Microsoft Outlook and Windows Mobile Office
WiMAX Mobile Internet Access
WiFi Access (BTv2.1+EDR)
GPS: Route 66 Navigation with Preloaded Maps
4GB of Internal Memory
Direct Push/Mobile Email (POP3, IMAP, SMTP)
Supports Instant Messaging and MMS
3.0 Megapixel Camera and Camcorder
Bluetooth ® 2.0
Opera 9.5 Web Browser
HDMI TV Out
Supports Multiple Video and Audio Player Formats
"The Samsung Mondi is an important step toward our goal of bringing 4G network speeds and connectivity to people across the U.S.," said Bill Ogle, Chief Marketing Officer for Samsung Mobile. "The Mondi™ is a great match for people who want immediate access to the Web without having to sacrifice download speed and portability."
"The mobile broadband experience that the Mondi offers to Clear customers places the power of the open Internet in the palm of the hand," said Atish Gude, Chief Marketing Officer for Clearwire. "As our network grows across the US, we will continue to work with innovative device manufacturers to expand the mobile WiMAX device ecosystem and leverage the value that a 4G wireless Internet connection delivers."
Samsung is the global leader in delivering mobile WiMAX technologies and offers an end-to-end solution including chipsets, infrastructure, mobile devices and consumer electronics, including devices capable of accessing both mobile WiMAX and other wireless technologies. UQ Communications in Japan and Scartel LLC., in Russia are examples of other Mondi (tm)ing operators preparing for significant commercial deployment of national-wide service using Samsung's mobile WiMAX total solution.
Clearwire currently provides mobile WiMAX service in Portland, Ore. and Baltimore, MD.. The company expects to bring the service to more than 80 markets by 2010. Some of the major markets expected to launch Clear service this year include Atlanta, Las Vegas, Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Philadelphia, and Seattle.
In a back-to-the-future move, former Netscape CFO Peter Currie will be the key adviser to Facebook about financial matters, until a new search for a CFO is found, sources said.
The temporary move puts a well-known and well-liked Silicon Valley figure in place at the company at what is surely a tumultuous moment. Currie has most recently been a venture investor.
Today, Facebook parted ways with its CFO Gideon Yu, saying it was prepping for an eventual IPO.
But others sources at the company said Yu and Facebook CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg had had intensifying differences in recent weeks, over a range of issues.
In Currie, Zuckerberg gets a seasoned tech exec, with deep ties in the sector. He serves on the board of Sun Microsystems (JAVA), one of many such seats he has held at tech companies.
And, perhaps most significant of all, Currie is very close with Facebook board member and Netscape Communications Co-Founder Marc Andreessen. Sources said Andreessen was also influential in the decision related to Yu leaving his job.
Sprint and Samsung have just taken the wraps off the Instinct s30 aka Mini Instinct at CTIA. It launches on Sprint April 19th in two colors – Cobalt Metal or Touch of Copper. The s30 doesn’t deviate too much from the original Instinct, but developers can now jump on the s30 with open access to core Java APIs like, Multimedia, Messaging, Bluetooth, Contacts/Calendar and File Access. The Instinct s30 will cost $130 with a two-year contract extension. You can preregister now at the Sprint Instinct s30 page.
• Expansive touch screen featuring localized haptic feedback giving users a gentle vibration as they use the virtual QWERTY keypad
• Live Search for Sprint, powered by Microsoft, provides easy access to directory information on-the-go, GPS-enabled directions, interactive maps and one-touch click to call access
• Visual Voicemail, allowing users to listen to messages in their order of preference and manage them with a simple tap of the screen
• Sprint TV® with an extensive selection of channels and on-demand programming
• Sprint Music Store allowing users to browse and wirelessly download full-length songs directly to their phone for just 99 cents each
• Advanced stereo Bluetooth® 2.0
• SMS voice and text messaging with threaded text
• True HTML Web experience from both the enhanced embedded browser and the addition of Opera Mini 4.2 with a desktop-like browsing experience
• 2.0 megapixel camera with camcorder
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The idea for tending to a garden without human hands came from work done by Nikolaus Correll, a postdoctoral assistant working in MIT Professor Daniela Rus’ Distributed Robotics Lab. Correll saw the possible applications of swarm robotics to an agricultural environment and thus the idea grew into a course in which students created robots capable of tending a small garden of tomatoes. Each robot is outfitted with a robotic arm and a watering pump, while the plants themselves are equipped with local soil sensing, networking and computation. This affords them the ability to communicate: plants can request water or nutrients and keep track of their conditions, including fruit produced; robots are able to minister to their charges, locate and pick a specific tomato, and even pollinate the plants.MIT's robot garden
I just saw this app the other day, and now — it’s gone! How shocking! It looks like “Wifi tether for root users” was in violation of T-Mobile’s terms of service, and Google has shown its cards by removing it. No one really thought the Android Marketplace was going to be a Wild West of G1 apps, but it’s a little disappointing to see just how locked-down it really is.
The question raised is this: will apps have to comply with all carriers’ terms of service once Android is on AT&T, Sprint and the like? That could lead to a lot of confusion. At the moment it’s hard to say since only T-Mobile’s terms apply, but it had better get hashed out soon or developers are going to get antsy.
If you’re savvy, you can still get the app and code here.
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Laptops save space, can be ported anywhere, and aren’t nearly as expensive as they used to be. But many tend to run hot, making them uncomfortable and sometimes painful to use on your lap, even after a short time.
In an effort to make laptop computing as painless as possible, many companies have designed trays and pads on which you can easily rest your laptop while you work. This week, I’ve been testing a few laptop trays that are designed specifically to cool hot laptops and, in turn, cool laps.
I tried out trays from Logitech (LOGI), Microsoft (MSFT) and Belkin that cost $30 each and use fans to cool the underside of the laptop, as well as a larger $50 Belkin tray that has a fan and some extra features. I tried a $20 tray from Kensington that doesn’t include a fan, but elevates the laptop to allow air to circulate under it and keep the hot computer off your lap. None of the trays had cushions for comfort.
Of the trays with fans, Logitech’s Cooling Pad N100 ran the quietest — so quiet that it was hard to tell if it was on, aside from the fact that my lap was cooler. The trays with fans kept my lap cool, but the Kensington tray didn’t work quite as well and left my lap feeling a bit warmer than the others. All the trays raise the laptop higher and closer to eye level, a feature that keeps you from hunching over while reading the screen. I liked the $50 Belkin Laptop Cooling Lounge for its generous size, sturdy feel and three adjustable heights.
Even though these trays help to keep your laptop cooler, they don’t do anything about your keyboard, which, on some laptops, also can get hot — especially where your wrists rest. I noticed that my Lenovo ThinkPad X60’s wrist rest area was still warm when I used this laptop with each tray.
Of the $30 trays, the Logitech Cooling Pad N100 (Logitech.com) was the widest, measuring 14.4 inches across. Its gray and green colors are a welcome switch from the bland white used on most trays. The fan on this and the other trays is powered by a short USB cable that plugs into a USB port on your laptop. An indent in the Logitech tray holds the cable flush against the bottom of the tray when not in use.
Logitech says its tray’s single fan has a minimal drain on your laptop’s battery — draining five minutes of total battery time while using a Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) laptop playing a DVD in one company test. I don’t think many people will use these cooling trays on-the-go and will, instead, use them at home where their laptop can easily plug into a wall socket and power isn’t a problem.
Microsoft’s $30 Notebook Cooling Base (Microsoft.com/hardware) will come in white and black when it’s available early this summer (Amazon is accepting orders now). Compared with the Logitech, its fan was a little noisy. But the Microsoft tray was considerably smaller and thinner, making it more portable.
The tray has a fold-away stand that raises it up about two inches on one end. Its USB cable has a clip on its end so that it can loop around and attach to itself, rather than tuck neatly into the tray. Microsoft says that based on an 18 Ampere per hour battery, the Notebook Cooling Base will lessen battery life by only about 4%.
Belkin’s $30 Laptop Cooling Pad (Belkin.com) reminded me of Microsoft’s offering in shape and size. Both are square, unlike the rectangular Logitech tray, and both have flip-out stands and a wave-like shape that leaves open space under the laptop. Belkin says that its Laptop Cooling Pad uses no more than 5% of a laptop’s battery. But the Belkin fan was slightly louder than Microsoft’s and considerably louder than Logitech’s. It also seemed to be a bit stronger, blowing more air than the others.
Belkin’s Laptop Cooling Lounge (available at OfficeMax.com) was the largest tray I tested, wider and deeper than the Logitech tray by a few inches in width and depth. A piece under the tray can be adjusted to raise it to one of three heights, allowing it to rest comfortably on a lap because it raises up or down using a roll of plastic rather than a stand that might dig into your thighs. This tray’s fan was louder than the Microsoft and Logitech fans, but I ignored the noise because it was so comfortable.
When closed, the $20 Kensington LiftOff Portable Notebook Cooling Stand (Kensington.com) resembles a one-inch thick plastic briefcase with handles. Once the stand is opened, one piece lies flat while the other piece is raised to one of two heights, elevating the laptop. The top raised piece supports the laptop and has a hole in the center, designed to allow air to pass under the laptop, thus cooling it off without a fan. However, this no-fan method left my lap feeling a bit warm. When you’re done with the Kensington LiftOff, you can close it shut and carry it using its built-in handles. But its plastic parts felt flimsy and unstable, especially compared with the Belkin Laptop Cooling Lounge.
Of course, you could always just use a regular laptop tray without a built-in fan. It won’t cool your laptop, but if it’s thick enough, it at least could prevent your lap from feeling the computer’s direct heat. Just be aware that hot wrist rests won’t be cooled by these trays.
Edited By Walter S. Mossberg
"Mark Ryden's YHWH & behind the scenes photoshoot"It is a gorgeous product produced in a rich pink, with high quality blue doll eyes rimmed in a deeper rose. There is an additional “special edition” that will be of 80 run in black and 80 in white, that will be signed by Ryden. The box itself is a piece of graphic confectionary itself, like a magical curio from a time gone by. Looking similar to a Chinese firework box, the box is embossed with gold leaf, and features hand wrapped paper. “ We really wanted to make this look like it was an artifact from a long time ago, like something that had just been sitting on a shelf for ages” John says. “We really made an effort to make it look not contemporary as much as we could.”
We’re in good ol’ Sin City, fresh out of a pre-CTIA 2009 meeting with HTC. While most of the hardware they brought to the party were things we’d seen at Mobile World Congress last month, they had one thing on the software end that was just out of the oven: the latest build of the Android “Cupcake” release.
The firmware build number we were playing with was 1.5/CRA79. We didn’t spot any major new features in this build - but we did see a good number of things we’d heard about previously get their first implementations. Oddly, we also noticed at least one thing missing since last time.
Orientation animation:
While the currently publicly available Android build already supports orientation detection and switching, it’s a bit of a hack to get it to work. When we saw a Cupcake build at MWC, it had it enabled by default - but it was a bit slow. They’ve optimized it a good amount since, but have added an orientation switch animation to make any delays less obvious. It now zooms out and then visibly “Wobbles” - see demonstration in the video above.
Emoticon key:
When we did our initial run through of the Cupcake build back in January, we noticed that certain text emoticons suddenly had graphical replacements. Which ones had replacements, however, was impossible to determine. In this latest build, emoticons have a key of their own on the virtual keyboard. Press it briefly, and it inputs a standard smiley. Hold it, and it brings up the entire array. It replaces the enter/carriage return key.
Slide-out drawer background:
This change seems a bit odd to us. On the G1 and all previous Android builds, the slide out drawer (where applications are kept) had a semi-translucent grey background. In this build of Cupcake, this has been changed to an opaque checkered background. It sort of looks like carbon fiber.
“Add to Home Screen” changes:
“Add to Home Screen” is a pop-up window that appears when you hold your finger on the desktop. It’s essentially the same as it was on the G1, with a few trivial changes: All labels now have graphical icons, and the “Application” shortcut list has been placed within “Shortcuts” rather than being immediately available from the initial list.
As we mentioned, one thing is missing from builds prior; at MWC, we noticed that YouTube was getting some love from Google with a Live Shortcut of its own. This is now gone.
On-screen Keyboard Auto-correct/Suggestions:
We knew it was coming, but it was curiously absent in the build we played with last. When Android thinks you may have made a mistake, it highlights the word it thinks you meant in orange above the input box - but unlike the iPhone, it also offers other not-as-common options as alternative suggestions. There are two Auto-correct options: Basic and Advanced. We’re not sure what the difference is.
Other notes:
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BOSTON (Reuters) - A malicious software program that has infected millions of computers could enter a more menacing phase on Wednesday, from an outright attack to a quiet mutation that would further its spread.
Computer security experts who have analyzed the Conficker worm's code say it is designed to begin a new phase on April 1, and while it's unclear whether it will unleash havoc or remain dormant, its stubborn presence is rattling businesses with multimillion-dollar budgets to fight cyber crime.
Conficker, believed to reside on 2 million to 12 million computers worldwide, is designed to turn an infected PC into a slave that responds to commands sent from a remote server that controls an army of slave computers known as a botnet.
"It can be used to attack as well as to spy. It can destroy files, it can connect to addresses on the Internet and it can forward your e-mail," said Gadi Evron, an expert on botnets who helps governments protect against cyber crime.
But like many security experts, he doubts Wednesday will see a big attack.
The virus has been powerful enough to attack infected computers for months by exploiting weaknesses in Microsoft's Windows operating system. Evron and several other analysts said Wednesday's change could simply give Conficker enhanced functionality, possibly making it more dangerous.
"This is the electronic equivalent of being told there is a major storm that has a 20 percent chance of hitting," said Mark Rasch, an executive at Secure IT Experts who spent 25 years prosecuting computer crimes at the U.S. Department of Justice.
"It's not time to hide in the bunker. But it might be prudent to look out the window," he added.
In February, Microsoft announced it was offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for creating Conficker, saying the worm constituted a "criminal attack."
FEARS OF ID THEFT
Botnets are a major worry because they can surreptitiously steal identities, log sensitive corporate information, credit card numbers, online banking passwords or other key data users of infected PCs type on their keyboards.
The information is often sold to criminal rings.
"Most malware we see in this day and age is very concerned with stealing information and making money for the author," said Dave Marcus, a researcher with security-software maker McAfee Inc's Avert Labs.
Experts said Conficker's authors might gradually change the way it communicates to avoid attention and to prevent companies from putting in place safeguards such as those used to fight the worm since it first surfaced last year.
Microsoft released a patch to protect against the worm late last year, while anti-virus software companies offer software to sniff it out and destroy it. Such tools can be expensive.
Technology research firm Gartner Inc estimates businesses will spend $13.6 billion on security software this year excluding costs for related labor, services and hardware. While some consumer anti-virus software packages are available for free, others run as high as $80 each.
Security experts suspect Conficker originated in the Ukraine, based on its code. The FBI is working to shut it down but a spokesman declined to comment on its investigation.
"The public is once again reminded to employ strong security measures on their computers," said Shawn Henry, assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's cybercrimes division.
Independent security firms such as McAfee, Symantec Corp and Trend Micro Inc say they will closely monitor cyberspace on Wednesday to see how the worm mutates but will also watch closely over coming weeks as the hype fades.
"I don't expect much to happen on April 1st. That's the one day I would not do it. That's the one day everybody is watching for something to drop," said Joe Stewart, director of malware research at SecureWorks. "It's just another small step in whatever the end game is."
(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Jason Szep, Gary Hill)
See Also:Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Forget leaving notes on the fridge or carrying a laptop to the kitchen as you attempt to make scallops for dinner. PC makers are betting that consumers will spring for a sleek, new touchscreen desktop instead — a machine perfect for web surfing, leaving notes and checking internet videos.
Four major PC makers including Dell, HP, Asus and now MSI have launched 'kitchen PCs' — inexpensive all-in-one systems with touchscreens instead of keyboards.
MSI Wind, a Taiwanese manufacturer better known for its netbooks, became the latest entrant to a new category with its 19-inch touchscreen PC on Tuesday called the Wind Top AE 1900. Pricing and availability weren't disclosed.
The move to touchscreen desktops is a trend that's expected to be big with consumers, say analysts. "It's the convenience factor and the design," says Richard Shim, an analyst with research firm IDC, "especially at the current price points."
At about $600 to $800, kitchen PCs could be to desktops what netbooks have become to notebooks today: cheap, cheerful alternatives to overpriced, overpowered machines.
Kitchen PCs offer a stylish form factor, a touchscreen interface to get to e-mail, weather forecasts, calendars, news or recipes — all wrapped up with an attractive price tag.
HP kicked off the touchscreen desktop business with its TouchSmart PC nearly two years ago. But since then companies such as Asus, Dell and now MSI Wind have rushed in to offer a similar product at lower prices.
All-in-one systems cram the computer's guts (the CPU, hard drive and memory) into the display, much like Apple's iMac. What sets them apart though is the touchscreen display at a price that's easy on the pocket.
An Asus Eee Top kitchen PC costs just $600, while Dell offers its Studio One 19 PC at $800.
In the last few years, desktops have been steadily giving ground to notebooks in terms of sales. Increasingly craving mobility, consumers are steadily passing over desktops in a bid to get laptops and netbooks.
PC manufacturers hope 'kitchen PCs' is a way to revive the desktop computer.
"The traditional desktop is not in an explosive growth stage anymore," says Ian Lao, senior analyst with research firm In-Stat. "The combination of the touchscreen and desktop seems like a hit for now."
Most consumers will find kitchen PCs easy on the eye. Asus and MSI offer an iMac-like aesthetic, while Dell gives users the option of having fabric panels framing the display in colors, such as blue, red, black and pink. The idea is to make the desktop feel less like a consumer electronics product and more a home decor accessory, John New, marketing executive for Dell told Wired.com recently.
Meanwhile, home users are no longer that concerned about the raw computing power of their home desktops, says Lao. Most users simply want to watch YouTube and Hulu, play with Facebook and upload photos. A kitchen PC is better suited to these activities than a Dell Inspiron tower.
Shim, who owns an all-in-one system himself, says he uses his to stream online radio and watch YouTube while he's in the kitchen. "All-in-one systems aren't expected to be the primary systems," he says. "And its not just one killer app on them. It's the idea of doing many different small things from one easy location in the home."
Here's a round-up of the newest 'kitchen PCs' to hit the market:
Asus Eee Top
Specs: Intel Atom N270 processor, 1 GB memory, 160 GB hard disk drive, Wi-fi, 15.6-inch display. Read Wired.com review of the Asus Eee Top PC here.
Price: $600
Availability: Currently available
Dell Studio One 19
Specs: Choice of Intel's Celeron, Dual Core Celeron, Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad Core processors. Choice of Nvidia's GeForce 9200 or 9400 graphics, up to 4 GB of memory, 750 GB of hard disk drive, six USB ports, web camera and optional Blu-ray disc player. Has 18.5-inch display.
Price: $700 for a non-touchscreen model and at $800 for a touchscreen version
Availability: Currently available in Japan. Expected to start retailing in the United States in a few weeks.
MSI Wind Top AE 1900
Specs: Intel Atom 230 processor, 160 GB hard disk drive, upto 2 GB RAM, Wi-fi, DVD drive, Windows XP operating system. More details here.
Price and availability: Unknown.
See also:
Dell Joins 'Kitchen PC' Trend
MSI Introduces the 'NetTop'
Global information technology spending will fare worse in 2009 than it did during the dotcom bust of 2001. That’s the grim news from Gartner, which Tuesday predicted worldwide IT spending will slip to $3.2 trillion this year from $3.4 trillion in 2008. If that should happen, the drop will be the greatest decline in IT spending in nearly a decade. “IT organizations worldwide are being asked to trim budgets, and consumers are cutting back on discretionary spending,” said analyst Richard Gordon. “The speed and severity of the response by businesses and consumers alike to these economic circumstances will result in an IT market slowdown in 2009 that will be worse than the 2.1% decline in IT spending in 2001, when the Internet bubble burst.” No area of technology will be immune to the decline. Hardest hit: the computer hardware sector which is expected to see spending fall 15 percent to $324.3 billion. Seems even the promise of government stimulus packages won’t be enough to offset this ugly near-term outlook. Said Gordon, “Economic conditions have continued to erode business confidence in all regions. There is a continued general sense of uncertainty in the market and a lack of clarity of actual amount of toxic debt out there. IT organizations will look for ways to shift spending from capital expenditures to operational efficiencies.”
FROM GAMERTELL - Sony has announced that on April 1, 2009, the PlayStation 2 price will drop to $99 in North America. Previously, a new PS2 unit would cost $129.99. MORE »
Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
AFP - Sony is cutting the price of its older generation PlayStation 2 (PS2) videogame consoles to 100 dollars (US) in a move prompted by tough economic times and a desire to lure fans to the platform.
The Internet Crime Complaint Center has reported that online crimes have risen over 33 percent and that more than $265 million in 2008 have been stolen through online scams. This figure reflects $25 million more than the previous year. Figures also showed that an estimated 275,000 complaints were filed with the agency compared to 207,000 in 2007.
Most of the complaints reported to the agency had to do with non-payment or non-delivery of goods or services sold online. Following these complaints, auction fraud, and credit card fraud were also commonly reported. Another interesting statistic was that men lost more money than women to online scams. For every $1 a woman lost, a man lost $1.69. Often, the Internet Crime Complaint Center will forward these reports to other law enforcement agencies to investigate further.
The Internet Crime Center is partnered with the FBI and has numerous helpful tools on their website, including Internet scam alerts and online crime prevention tips.
Site: [Internet Crime Complaint Center]
Full Story » | Written by Heather Wood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Section: Computers, Hardware, Netbooks
New netbook announcements can tend to be fairly boring. Most of them hold pretty much the same form factor and specs, just with slightly varying designs and company logos slapped on the lid. When OCZ announced their Neutrino netbook it seemed like just another netbook with nothing special about it. Turns out OCZ is actually trying something a bit different.
OCZ is normally known for creating memory and other PC components, not actual machines. To go along with this, the Neutrino is being released as part of the company’s Do-It-Yourself program. Anyone can purchase the most barebones of the netbook, including everything aside from the RAM, hard drive, card reader and installed OS. The idea is the buyer will be able to find the best prices for those aspects of the netbook, and customize it to their wants/needs. The obvious market would be for hardcore techies who build their own machines already, but OCZ is packing in full instructions so anyone should be able to build the netbook themselves.
The idea of building hardware usually results in some higher end, yet ultimately cheaper desktop machines. The bones of the Neutrino started out at $279, with the rest of the parts also requiring purchase, which could lead to cheaper prices than most netbooks. Assuming you already have the OS disc, or plan on using Ubuntu or Ubuntu-based Linux distros, a quick Newegg search results in a $60 2.5” 250GB HDD, and $20 for one 2GB RAM stick. Without tax and shipping, that would bring the Neturtino total cost to $359 without a card reader. So you’d be saving a few dollars for the opportunity to build the machine yourself, and finally know what the inside of a netbook looks like without ripping it all apart. Seems a decent deal to me.
Read [OCZ Press Release]
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Facebook CFO Gideon Yu (pictured here) is leaving Facebook, as the company announced internally today that it was replacing him and searching for a new CFO on the path to an eventual IPO.
The Wall Street Journal also reported the news, noting that the huge social-networking start-up was looking for a CFO with “public company experience.”
But several sources within the company said the departure was more due to an increasingly strained relationship between Yu and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg over strategic disagreements about a wide range of issues, from increasing advertising revenue to fund-raising discussions with investors.
“At Facebook, you’re either with Mark or you’re not,” said one source at the 800-person company, located in Palo Alto, Calif., and founded five years ago. “And, if you’re not, you leave.”
As a sign of that, Yu was out of the company HQ immediately today after a meeting, said several sources.
Facebook confirmed the move in a statement, focusing instead on its hope for an IPO sometime in the future:
“Facebook confirms that CFO Gideon Yu will be leaving the company. Gideon has played an important role in helping us achieve our financial success, building a strong finance team and establishing the core financial operations of our company. We are grateful to Gideon for his contributions to Facebook and what we are trying to accomplish. Despite the poor economic climate, we are pleased that our financial performance is strong and we are well positioned for the next stage of our growth. We have retained Spencer Stuart to lead our search for a new CFO and will be looking for someone with public company experience.”
In addition, trying to stanch the rumors of its financial weakness and need to raise more funds, Facebook said in its internal memo to staff that it was on the path toward a public offering soon, with revenue growth up 70 percent in 2009 and EBITDA profitability this year, and that it would be cash-flow positive in 2010.
The memo also painted Yu’s departure as another step toward its much anticipated IPO, although it is clearly an ouster of much more complex internal reasons about how Facebook is run.
Facebook has had a lot of those in its short history.
From come-and-then-gone Google tech exec Ben Ling to former COO Owen Van Natta to the pair who started Facebook with Zuckerberg, the fast-growing start-up has seen more executive turnover and turmoil than most big companies.
In fact, Yu–who was an exec at both Yahoo (YHOO) and YouTube and integral to its sale to Google–replaced former CFO Mike Sheridan in 2007, in another case of a key exec being replaced.
Some inside and outside the company were quick to blame COO Sheryl Sandberg for Yu’s departure–probably due to the fact that the pair’s relationship was initially tense when the well-known Google exec arrived a year ago. That has been much less so of late, sources said.
And while Facebook can be a highly political place, with an unusual level of passive-aggressive infighting among execs, it is also a place where Zuckerberg and his wishes firmly hold sway.
And those wishes included the fact that Zuckerberg has long and publicly maintained that Facebook’s growth was paramount over a focus on monetization of the service.
Yu is known internally to be more conservative fiscally, pushing on Zuckerberg to ramp ad revenue more quickly and to consider a range of options outside of IPO, including selling the company.
Many current and former execs had hoped the company would IPO, a process that has been dragged out due to the weaker economy. But–barring that–many had also hoped it would sell to a larger company like Google (GOOG) or Microsoft (MSFT).
In fact, Microsoft has expressed interest in buying Facebook many times, and it was Yu and Van Natta who were key to getting the software giant to outbid Google to invest in the company at an astounding $15 billion valuation.
After raising more than $500 million previously, Yu has more recently been busy working with top execs on the best way to raise more funds for Facebook, in order to allow it grow faster and give it a deeper financial cushion.
High user growth has blown past Facebook’s internal projections, which is both an audience blessing and a cost curse.
But that fund raising has been at a much lower valuation and in a very weak economic climate, adding to stress internally at Facebook, many said.
Yu has held a number of meetings with investors, many of whom have told me they have asked him consistently about the monetization issues at Facebook and exactly when Zuckerberg would turn on the ad spigot at the service.
Yu has also has been involved in some recent debt financing of equipment, which is not as unusual for a fast-growing company as some recent reports have portrayed it, although that might also have been a source of tensions.
How to answer prospective new investors has probably been at the heart of his problems with Zuckerberg, who has been known to run hot and cold on top managers, especially with those who disagree with him too much.
That was clearly the case with Yu.
But, said many execs at the company, Zuckerberg’s conviction that growth is key over all other concerns–about which the company today is taking the edge off by noting sunnier financial results in the internal document–has been the correct one.
Currently, Facebook is veering in on 200 million users, which represents an astounding accomplishment.
But how it is going to take those numbers and make Facebook into a revenue-rich company on par with its increasing power on the Web is the question it will face until, of course, it does.
Besides the current drama over Yu today, Facebook has also recently been embroiled in unhappiness about its recent redesign and separately, about onerous changes to its Terms of Service.
Facebook has since backtracked on both issues, likely adding to the level of pressure on Zuckerberg and top execs.
And that is not even mentioning the curse of the Winklevii–it seems the fun never stops at Facebook HQ!
On an actually more amusing note, I once nicknamed Yu “Death Cat.”
“Like that cat named Oscar who can detect death, Yu seems to have an amazing ability to get a sweet job at the hot Web company of the moment at just the right time. Case in point: He left Yahoo as its treasurer and went to YouTube as its CFO just a month before it sold to Google for $1.6 billion, a deal in which Yu apparently played a key role. Then, on his way to a spot as a junior partner at also-hot VC firm Sequoia Capital, he grabbed the Facebook CFO job in July. I say we watch where Yu goes and follow stealthily behind so as not to be detected.”
It’s more than likely Yu will pop up again soon in Silicon Valley in another prominent CFO job or as a venture investor. Although, after today’s events, this digital cat has definitely lost one life.
Rob and I are both under the weather today, so pardon if we're not up to our usual military-grade precision. Swiss watches we are, of normal. But today our clockworks are busy churning up phlegm.
Gross! Why am I...
So anyway, what do you guys know about Royal Enfield motorcycles? I have been toying with the idea of getting a motorcycle for a while, and I'll probably just try to pick up an old Honda or BMW or Yamaha or Suzuki or whatever since I haven't ridden since I was a kid on the farm, and even then not much. But then I saw this Bullet 500 and it's a real looker, plus it's MSRP is only $5,500, which may be about $4k more than I intended to spend, but it's certainly not wildly expensive. And it's apparently got a modern engine, too, and isn't just a cast-for-cast recreation like those Russian BMW clones—Urals, right?—so you don't have to deal with weird stuff like paper air filters and the like. [via Uncrate]
Probably a stupid idea. Parts are probably a bear to get. I really should just get an old Magna or something and call it a day.
The Nyko Metal Pedal, an aftermarket upgrade for your Rock Band or Guitar Hero drums with metal plating and "hard rock design", is now hitting stores for $20.
I've finally upgraded fully to Rock Band 2 gear, but I'm more concerned with my drums sliding all around my hardwood floors than I am breaking the kick pedal. I think I need to add some rubber—and get a proper drum throne.
Behold! Dell's new Inspirons come in a range of colors, again reminding the world that its days of gray 'n' beige are slipping into history for good. But are they the right colors? To my eye, almost all of them are a shade too clever by far, reminding me of odd names seen on paint swatches at Home Depot. Dell at least gave them relatively plain names (Piano Black, Pure White, True Blue, Formula Red, Tangerine Orange, Spring Green, Plum Purple and Promise Pink), sparing us the likes of "cognac" and "palm frond."
I would have picked these for my summer correction:
Dell's press release, with specs, is after the jump.
· Dell’s new Inspiron desktop lets people express themselves through choices of color (eight options), size (slim or mini-tower) and configuration.· Vivid color palette to express your personal style: Piano Black, Pure White, True Blue, Formula Red, Tangerine Orange, Spring Green, Plum Purple and Promise Pink.
· Dell becomes the only major consumer desktop manufacturer to offer color options for the entire front of the machine.
· Customizable options to meet individual’s budget, lifestyle and usage needs.
· Ideal for common tasks including email, Internet, blogging, entertainment (movies, music and casual gaming) and productivity.
· Features available on the new Inspiron desktops include:
o Intel® Celeron®, Intel Core™ 2 Duo and Intel Core 2 Quad options or AMD Sempron™, Athlon™ X2 and Phenom™ X4 processor options
o Integrated Intel or ATI Radeon™ graphics* on select systems with discrete graphics options available
o Up to 8GB* memory on select systems
o Up to 750GB* storage (slim tower) or up to 1TB* storage (mini-tower)
o Optional 19-in-1 media card reader and optional HDMI connectivity
o 6 USB ports (2 front, 4 back)
o Dual optical options (mini-tower only) including Blu-ray Disc™ drive
o Small form factor with its versatile horizontal or vertical placement is designed to easily fit into your home media center (slim tower only)
Both kettle and pitcher, the One from Vessel Ideation can be set on a gas hob, its blue porcelain-like print becoming apparent when the water is at the right temperature for tea. Then place the pot on a trivet that attaches magnetically to the bottom and keep it on the table next to you. Neat, pretty, and nonexistent. (My apologies for posting a concept device, but I'm a sucker for housewares. As are others, apparently, as the One won an award at a recent Tea-Off design competition.) [via Cool Hunting]
It plays Sega Megadrive, NES, SNES and Gameboy games, has a wimpy camera, and can do the tunes. Chinagrabber's Game-800 even reads plain text files out loud, perfect for those upset by Amazon's kill-switched Kindle 2.
You bring your own games to the machine via SD card ("You can freely expand your library of emulated games by downloading new ones," the sellers naughtily declare) and there's a TV-out function, too. The display is 320x240, perfect for the old raster stuff from the 1980s. It's offered in a bunch of virulent colors.
The only downer would be those controls—I can't imagine beating any high scores with 'em, even if it is just $70!
Product Page [China Grabber via technabob and Nexus 404]
Update: Here's what you want, Rob:
Doug Aamoth says it can play "NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy Advance, Neo-Geo, and certain Capcom arcade systems", plus it's just under a hundred bucks shipped. (Which actually seems a bit spendy and the 340 x 240 pixel screen is probably junk, but at least it has a proper D-pad.)
James Randi's YouTube account got suspended. A dollar says it's another specious DMCA takedown.
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