Previously:

• South Korea prepares to nuke its technological competitiveness ...
• New Zealand's stupid copyright law dies - Boing Boing
• Three strikes you're out - Boing Boing
• Three false copyright accusations and we'll cut off your Internet ...
• French Parliament Say Non to Sarkozy-style "Three Strikes ...
• Coalition of 90 Euro-parliamentarians block record industry's 3 ...
• EU ready to screw up European Internet with Telcoms Package ...
• Irish ISP will disconnect Internet users after three ...

Previously:

• Secret super-copyright treaty MEMO leaked - Boing Boing
• Anti-counterfeiting treaty turns into maximum copyright free-for ...
• Partial list of corporate lickspittles who are allowed to know ...

Can't see the video? Click here

Previously:

• Saul Griffith wins MacArthur "genius" grant - Boing Boing
• Slides from wonderful "engineering climate change" talk - Boing Boing
• Engineering approach to global climate change - Boing Boing

Source: Gizmodo | 9 Apr 2009 | 10:17 am

If Yahoo’s Going Social, Is Demand Media Back on Its Dance List? [BoomTown]

Last year, Yahoo EVP Hilary Schneider and then Media Group head Scott Moore had a summery seaside dinner with Demand Media Co-founder and CEO Richard Rosenblatt (pictured here) in Santa Monica, Calif., right around the corner from the online publishing company’s HQ.

While many speculated that Yahoo could be doing some friendly kibitzing to get a sense of where the eclectic network of general and special interest sites was headed for a possible acquisition, nothing came of it.

That’s because, at the time, Rosenblatt insisted that he was aiming to eventually take his company public and Yahoo was in the midst of ongoing corporate turmoil.

“There is a lot of potential here and I want to build a big company for the long-term,” said Rosenblatt in an interview with BoomTown last July (see video below).

But, as my post noted: “Still, at some point when Yahoo is not in the free fall it is currently in, Demand might make a great purchase for Yahoo.”

And now, a year later, as new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz works to stop that slide, several sources close to the company tell me another look-see at Demand is likelier than ever.

That’s underscored with recent indications that a major strategy will finally follow through on making Yahoo’s massive but disparate service more social, especially its content offerings.

But would Bartz go as far as making a big buy now or would she be more likely to strike a massive partnership with Demand, from which Yahoo could learn a lot?

Such an acquisition could cost anywhere from $1.5 billion to–as was floated last year in better times–$3 billion.

As costly as that is, some sort of link-up with Demand is an interesting idea, especially since Yahoo could use a bold and definitive move to signal social goals that play to its strengths and is not a copycat of more powerful social networking sites now in place.

At a Morgan Stanley conference last month, Bartz said, for example, that “I do not believe we can invent the next Facebook,” while noting Yahoo still needed to be more social throughout the service, especially in its content.

And, just yesterday, a Reuters article about that focus was titled: “Yahoo’s Plan: Create Community from Isolated Sites.”

Said the article: “If [Yahoo Co-founder David] Filo and new CEO Carol Bartz have their way, the kinds of social networking features available on Facebook will become part of many Yahoo websites and allow their users to network with each other without using Facebook. The company hopes the strategy will help link its disparate properties, bringing more advertising dollars and growth.”

And that’s just at the heart of Demand Media, which dubs itself the “leader in social media.”

Demand was founded in 2006 by Rosenblatt and Shawn Colo, who raised a giant pool of funding–$355 million–from gold-plated investors like Goldman Sachs (GS), Oak Investment Partners and even a private investment from major Yahoo investor Gordon Crawford.

Getting that kind of backing was due to Rosenblatt’s entrepreneirial track record.

As founder, chairman and CEO, he sold iMALL to Excite@Home for $425 million in a 1999 stock swap.

And, perhaps most famously, as CEO of Intermix Media, Rosenblatt sold it with the company’s crown jewel, MySpace, to News Corp. for $580 million in cash.

Then, Rosenblatt started Demand, which takes user-generated content of all kinds and on all kinds of topics–especially via video–from an army of freelancers and leverages it into massive traffic that it monetizes.

Demand is also the one of the bigger suppliers of video to YouTube, which it also monetizes.

And, through the acquisition of Pluck, the company also laces social networking tools throughout the sites, as well as for many well-known third parties.

All this has given Demand upwards of 70 million of unique visitors per month, at sites like eHow and GolfLink.com, with about $150 million in annual revenue.

And–drum roll please–it is reportedly profitable.

While he has long maintained a public offering was on the horizon, despite the weak economy, Rosenblatt has also been interested in the idea of how to revive major players like Yahoo and also Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL.

Both have been struggling, but still have massive traffic and brand recognition, along with large advertising businesses.

And, in many ways, the energetic Rosenblatt is just the kind of product-centric and visionary exec that Yahoo lacks, despite Bartz’s clear ability to get the company’s management ducks in order.

What could be even more interesting, said one source, would be to marry Yahoo and Demand with a lot of what is going on with the publishing of niche sites at AOL’s MediaGlow content unit, in a giant publishing network.

Ironically, AOL was another acquisition target of Yahoo, in yet another deal that did not pan out last year.

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Apr 2009 | 10:10 am

QOTD [Digital Daily]

QOTD [Digital Daily]

Growing rapidly to 200 million users is a really good start, but we’ve always known that in order for Facebook to help people represent everything that is happening in their world, everyone needs to have a voice. This is why we are working hard to build a service that everyone, everywhere can use, whether they are a person, a company, a president or an organization working for change.

– Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says you’re one in 200 million, baby

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Apr 2009 | 10:09 am

On the Net: College too expensive? Try YouTube (AP)

AP - College too expensive? Try YouTube.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 9 Apr 2009 | 10:08 am

Zooming In On ClosR And Zoomorama

To be perfectly honest, I’d never heard of Zoomorama until they commented on this post about the upcoming Web Trend Map from Information Architects. I was planning on doing a review of the web application soon, but now a new, similar online tool called ClosR landed in our inbox, giving me the perfect excuse to test both at the same time.

Both ClosR and Zoomorama enable you to upload images and transform them into zoomable widgets, which comes in handy when you need to embed or share very large, high-resolution images. The difference between both services is that ClosR is quite rudimentary while Zoomorama has added some nice additional features to the mix that complement the experience well.

Essential for this type of service is the speed: the time it takes to properly load an image when you zoom in or out should be down to an absolute minimum. I found that both applications perform well in that regard, although ClosR did feel a tad faster at times (note that the difference is negligible). Both apps enable you to zoom in on images using your mouse wheel or an unintrusive overlay, and allow you to switch to full-screen mode with just one click. Dedicated URLs for uploaded images are available for both, and there are plenty of sharing options available (ClosR uses ClearSpring, while Zoomorama seems to have developed this in-house).

But ClosR is quite basic, although it does what it has to do pretty well. Zoomorama on the other hand offers lots of bells and whistles, like for instance the ability to comment, favorite and rate images. Its interface is also a bit more intuitive and I find that the company made the right choice by using dark backgrounds for the website. Finally, Zoomorama also comes with a desktop application called Zoomcreator that I wish I’d known about before, since it allows you to create full resolution photo albums on your PC (Mac version coming soon) and enables you to publish them to the Web straight away. You can choose the lay-out, add captions and even insert videos from your computer or from YouTube. Definitely worth trying out!

To conclude: if you need a basic app that allows you to upload large images and make them zoomable, ClosR would be the first one you should try, but if you need more features and /or are a sucker for great UIs and social elements, Zoomorama takes the top prize by a long shot.

Web Trend Map 4 on ClosR:

Web Trend Map 4 on Zoomorama:

I’m sure there are more web applications that allow you to generate zoomable, embeddable widgets for images, and I’m happy to learn about them in the comment section. (Zoomify is one of them)

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

Source: TechCrunch | 9 Apr 2009 | 9:41 am

Five Ways to Save Online

Tricks for Cutting Costs and Saving Time ATLANTA, April 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Internet is full of great information -- but it's also a useful cost-savings resource.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Apr 2009 | 9:20 am

Rumor: Barnes and Noble eReader Coming Soon? Could It Be Called the BNindle?

TheStreet has a juicy rumor that Barnes & Noble, a store where physical "books" in "paper" form are sold to "customers" who stand in line to pay with "cash" or "forms of credit" is working on an eBook reader, possibly in partnership with Verizon. The rumor has all the makings of a real live product. They may offer book downloads over the air and come in a sexier format than the already smokin' hot Kindle 2. All I can say to B&N is "Good luck, Sally, because you're going to need it." You will agree that Amazon doesn't have a first-mover advantage, a concept I believe is bogus. There have been ebook readers since the dawn of time. Instead, it has a first-winner advantage. Just as Twitter>Plurk>Yammer and iPod>Creative>Sony, Kindle will always do better than a BNindle and will, in all ways, do better then the unconnected ereaders that are bound to populate the stores in benighted areas. Amazon wrapped easy ordering in with a huge selection to create a package that the average consumer - and the average computer nerd - could easily understand. Sure, it has some fussiness about it - emailing PDFs to yourself to get them sent to your Kindle a huge pet peeve - but no matter what Barnes & Noble does, the Kindle still stands out as the ur-ereader.

Source: TechCrunch | 9 Apr 2009 | 9:00 am

Seattle Company Builds Revenues and Client Contact Through Social Networking

SEATTLE, April 9 /PRNewswire/ -- A Seattle company is finding new ways to reach clients through social networking sites.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Apr 2009 | 9:00 am

Barnes and Noble eReader coming soon? Could it be called the BNindle?

TheStreet has a juicy rumor that Barnes & Noble, a store where physical “books” in “paper” form are sold to “customers” who stand in line to pay with “cash” or “forms of credit” is working on an eBook reader, possibly in partnership with Verizon.

The rumor has all the makings of a real live product. They may offer book downloads over the air and come in a sexier format than the already smokin’ hot Kindle 2. All I can say to B&N is “Good luck, Sally, because you’re going to need it.”

You will agree that Amazon doesn’t have a first-mover advantage, a concept I believe is bogus. There have been ebook readers since the dawn of time. Instead, it has a first-winner advantage. Just as Twitter>Plurk>Yammer and iPod>Creative>Sony, Kindle will always do better than a BNindle and will, in all ways, do better then the unconnected ereaders that are bound to populate the stores in benighted areas. Amazon wrapped easy ordering in with a huge selection to create a package that the average consumer - and the average computer nerd - could easily understand. Sure, it has some fussiness about it - emailing PDFs to yourself to get them sent to your Kindle a huge pet peeve - but no matter what Barnes & Noble does, the Kindle still stands out as the ur-ereader.

Sony has tried to enter this space with multiple partners for years and while I agree that their products are fine if you’re a big old pirate, I doubt many of us have PDF version of the latest bestseller lying around. Just as iTunes changed the way the average consumer gets music onto their music player, the Kindle changes the way people interact with ereaders. Whereas the old music/book paradigm was, essentially:

1. Find a service that isn’t full of spyware
2. Search for songs/books of dubious quality
3. Worry the police will arrest your unborn babies
4. Download music/book for free
5. Install drivers
6. Reinstall Windows
7. Plug in MP3 player/reader
8. Drag music to player/reader
9. Eject player
10. Discover the music is ten minutes of a twenty second loop of Gwen Stefani singing about Harajuku Girls/Discover that the book is written in German
11. Repeat

The iTunes/Kindle paradigm is:
1. Buy device
2. Buy music, maybe rip a CD, download a book, whatever! Drink a nice glass of brandy, maybe?
3. Play music/Read book
4. Repeat

Which process do you think is more lucrative? This is not the say the BNindle won’t have an incredible ordering system with great hardware and amazing vibrate feature, but there can only be so many sheriffs in town, as Microsoft learned with the Zune, and the second paradigm isn’t easily copied once you’ve bought into a system - and most of the consumers of note, the guys who bought the Kindle 2 just so they could use their perfectly-working Kindle 1 to hold open the back door when they brought in the groceries, are already Kindle-men.

Amazon is a winner here. The BNindle will probably be an also-ran.

Source: CrunchGear | 9 Apr 2009 | 8:59 am

Nokia to Publish First Quarter 2009 Results on April 16, 2009

ESPOO, Finland, April 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nokia (NYSE:NOK) will publish its first quarter 2009 results on Thursday, April 16, 2009 at approximately 1 pm Helsinki time (CET+1).
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Apr 2009 | 8:21 am

Microsoft Ordered To Pay $388 Million In Patent Case

jeffmeden writes "BusinessWeek reports today that Microsoft suffered a loss in federal court Monday. The judge rendering the verdict ordered Microsoft to pay $388 Million in damages for violating a patent held by Uniloc, a California maker of software that prevents people from illegally installing software on multiple computers. Uniloc claims Microsoft's Windows XP and some Office programs infringe on a related patent they hold. It's hard to take sides on this one, but one thing is certain: should the verdict hold up, it will be heavily ironic if the extra copies of XP and Office sold due to crafty copy protection end up not being worth $388 million."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 9 Apr 2009 | 8:13 am

A Balance of Manned Guards and Improved Technology Will Support the Growth of the European Manned Guarding Market, Says Frost & Sullivan

LONDON, April 9 /PRNewswire/ -- As the ever-escalating threat of terrorism continues to push security issues to the foreground, optimisation of security solutions is assuming great importance.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Apr 2009 | 8:00 am

Adoption Barriers to Industrial Wireless Solutions - How Critical is Interoperability?

Frost & Sullivan to Host Analyst Briefing on Industrial Wireless Solutions on Thursday, 16 April 2009 at 15.00 BST LONDON, April 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan will host a live briefing open to all on Thursday, 16 April 2009 at 15.00 BST, to provide industry participants with an overview of Industrial Wireless Solutions. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081117/FSLOGO) Wireless solutions are the next big technology wave in industrial automation with numerous benefits that this technology promises to offer for process and discrete industries.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Apr 2009 | 8:00 am

Nintendo says Wii losing lustre but no price cut (AFP)

AFP - Nintendo admitted that its hit Wii video game console was going through its toughest time yet in the competitive Japanese market, but it said there was no plan to cut the price.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 9 Apr 2009 | 7:06 am

Mixed Answers to “Is It OK for a Library To Lend a Kindle?” [Voices]

As a few more libraries begin lending the Kindle, the ebook reading device from Amazon, the company continues to offer ambiguous messages regarding its policies. Asked by the Howe Library, Hanover, NH, if it was OK to lend a Kindle, an Amazon support staffer said yes—and the library has proceeded to do so, with much positive response.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Apr 2009 | 7:05 am

Former Yahoo Biz Ops SVP McCombs to Tumri as CFO [BoomTown]

Yahoo’s ranks keep fanning out all over the tech scene.

This time it is former top-ranking Yahoo exec Jeff McCombs (pictured here), who has signed on to be CFO of Tumri, an online advertising start-up.

Backed by Accel Partners and others, the Mountain View, Calif.-based Tumri is trying to crack into the online ad space with what it calls “dynamic and intelligent display advertising solutions.”

Essentially, using a product called AdPod, that means display ads that are delivered more easily and automatically with a relevant marketing message, depending on the consumer.

McCombs, 37, is a big hire for a small company like Tumri. He was SVP of Business Operations at Yahoo (YHOO), managing all financial activities, including financial planning and analysis, accounting, investor relations and corporate development. He is also responsible for overseeing business development, human resources and legal.

Said Calvin Lui, Tumri president and CEO: “Jeff’s wide spectrum of experience will be instrumental in helping guide our explosive growth and will help solidify our innovation and leadership position. We are excited that Tumri’s transformative mission is attracting this high caliber of talent.”

Indeed, at Yahoo, McCombs had also served as chief of staff to former President Sue Decker.

Previous to that, he worked at a number of investment banking, corporate development and private equity firms.

As CFO, McCombs will also be a key exec at Tumri, said Lui, helping steer its strategy.

“Making display ads performs better is the next great opportunity,” said McCombs, in an interview yesterday, noting that the sector needs to have similar ability to measure effectiveness as search ads do. “You need to be able to completely understand why one ad performs better than another online.”

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Apr 2009 | 7:04 am

Why Is Gmail Still in Beta? [Voices]

Gmail turned five on Wednesday, April 1. Launched in 2004 as an invitation-only e-mail service, the Google product now has more than 100 million users. Yet it’s still in “beta”—a term of art traditionally reserved for prototype software that’s ready for testing. What gives?

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Apr 2009 | 7:04 am

YouTube Moving the Needle on Ad Sales [Voices]

YouTube is still Google’s toughest sell to advertisers, but the video site is doing better by one measure than most people think: YouTube is selling ads against about 9% of its video views in the U.S., up from just 6% a year ago.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Apr 2009 | 7:03 am

Wolfram|Alpha: Searching for Truth [Voices]

Stephen Wolfram has warped my life three times, and now here comes a fourth.

When I first interviewed him in 1984, he converted me to his belief that everything in the world resembles a certain kind of parallel computation called a cellular automaton, (or a CA for short). I became obsessed with studying CAs—which produce hypnotic computer graphical outputs akin to light shows.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Apr 2009 | 7:02 am

Who the Hell Is Enrolling in Journalism School Right Now? [Voices]

A little more than ten years ago, I stumbled out of a liberal arts college with a mediocre GPA into a job with a weekly business journal with a smallish circulation in my hometown of Memphis, Tenn. I’d never studied business or journalism, and I came from a family of academics. I didn’t even really understand what a stock was. But there was something I loved about it.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Apr 2009 | 7:01 am

Daily Crunch: Toddler-Proof Desktop Edition

Bumptop: A better Windows desktop
Facebank 2: The creepiest piggy bank ever?
LightPot is a light and… a pot. For flowers.
She’s a brick - dananaaana - mouse (that’s gold)
The ultimate Wall-E case mod
DIY: Create a toddler-proof remote control

Source: CrunchGear | 9 Apr 2009 | 7:00 am

VASCO to Release Q1 2009 Results on April 23, 2009

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill., and ZURICH, April 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VASCO Data Security International, Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Apr 2009 | 7:00 am

Nintendo not planning price cuts for hit machines

Source: Gizmodo | 9 Apr 2009 | 6:30 am

DocsCorp Releases Strong Q3 Revenues in All Regions

SYDNEY, Australia April 9 /PRNewswire/ -- DocsCorp (www.docscorp.com), a global leader in content and information management and workflow, today reported financial results for its third quarter ended March 31, which was 50% above last year's figures.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Apr 2009 | 6:26 am

Game Developers Conference Europe 2009 Assembles Prominent Advisory Board to Set Content Agenda

BERLIN, April 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The Game Developers Conference(R) Europe has appointed an advisory board comprised of industry executives from leading developer studios, technology and consultancy firms to help guide the conference program and ensure the event meets the needs of the European audience.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Apr 2009 | 6:00 am

Wii Sports Resort in June - that means MotionPlus in June

According to this astonishingly brief article, Nintendo has announced that Wii Sports Resort is definitely coming out in June (in Japan at least, US in July) — which suggests the hotly anticipated MotionPlus accessory will be coming out too. That’s about what we expected; hopefully they’ve worked out the hiccups.

To be honest, though, I couldn’t care less about the frisbee game or the increased sensitivity. It’s the jetski game I’m all about. Wave Race 64 has needed a successor for a long time. That and Kid Icarus. And Strider.

Source: CrunchGear | 9 Apr 2009 | 5:59 am

EFF attorney explains Obama DOJ's radical authoritarian position on wiretapping immunity to Olbermann

Here's the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Kevin Bankston doing a kick ass job on Keith Olbermann's show, discussing the Obama DOJ's radical interpretation of the PATRIOT Act that says that the president can't be sued for anything he does, even if it's illegal.

EFF's Kevin Bankston on MSNBC's "Countdown With Keith Olbermann"

Source: Boing Boing | 9 Apr 2009 | 5:33 am

Design the Hugo Award logo, win $500 and a ticket to WorldCon

The Hugo Awards -- one of science fiction's leading honors -- have a beautiful trophy, a silver, streamlined rocket-ship. What they don't have is a logo that can be used on things like anthologies of Hugo-winning fiction, the spines of Hugo-winning books, and so on.

So they're holding a contest to design a Hugo logo. You have to use the rocket-ship, and you get $500, a ticket to the Worldcon and a signed Neil Gaiman book if you win. Judges are Neil Gaiman (3 time Hugo Award-winning author), Chip Kidd (graphic designer, author, editor), Geri Sullivan (SF Fan and graphic designer pro) and Irene Gallo (art-director for Tor).

Hugo Awards Logo Contest Official Rules (via Tor)



Source: Boing Boing | 9 Apr 2009 | 5:29 am

Now what could Apple want with 100 million 8Gb NAND flash chips?

So Apple’s just placed a huge order with Samsung. What could it mean? Well, NAND chips are like the basic unit of flash memory. If you have an iPod Touch, baby Zune or something like that, chances are it’s got a couple of them in there. 8Gb is handy for making 8, 16, and 32GB size devices, so it’s no surprise when Apple orders some — they go through a lot. But 100 million? What could it mean? We’ve got two guesses.

#1: 64GB iPod Touch. Uhh, no. Go home to your momma. The iPod Touch will be getting some other improvements, but raising the capacity that much would probably put the price over $500. Even for a sexy little device, $500 is the kind of price most people just stare at in disbelief.

#2: 32GB iPhone. Why not? With video-taking ability on the iPhone among other things coming in 3.0, you might want that extra space. With SD capability putting other phones ahead of Apples in the space race (so to speak), Apple would do well to embiggen their coolest product.

100 million 8GB chips would make 25 million 32GB iphones, which seems a little high, so probably they’ll be making 10 million or so and spreading the rest around for their usual products.

Source: CrunchGear | 9 Apr 2009 | 5:25 am

Associated Press threatens AP affiliate over YouTube channel

The Associated Press, in its zeal to keep the news a secret, has begun to send legal threats to itself. WTNQ-FM, an AP affiliate in Tennessee, received the legal threat over its YouTube channel, through which it makes its/AP's material available to its listeners. When WTNQ-FM's Frank Strovel called up the AP exec in charge of the anti-YouTube campaign to discuss this, he discovered that "nobody told the A.P. executive that the august news organization even has a YouTube channel which the A.P. itself controls, and that someone at the A.P. decided that it is probably a good idea to turn on the video embedding function on so that its videos can spread virally across the Web, along with the ads in the videos."

Strovel: And we're an A.P. affiliate for crying out loud! I stumped him on that one. . . . What is really shocking is that they were shocked that they've got a YouTube channel that people are embedding on their Websites. He seemed shocked by that. 'Oh, I am going to have to look into that" is what he told me.

Grantham: What an idiot!

Strovel: I know, I know.

A.P. Exec Doesn't Know It Has A YouTube Channel: Threatens Affiliate For Embedding Videos (via Memex 1.1)


Source: Boing Boing | 9 Apr 2009 | 5:24 am

Report from protest for blind rights at Authors Guild yesterday

Tim from the Electronic Frontier Foundation sez,

Yesterday, hundreds of people gathered in front of the headquarters of The Authors Guild in New York City to protest the removal of text-to-speech capabilities in Amazon's new Kindle 2 ebook device.

You may remember a few months ago, when The Authors Guild claimed (falsely) that the text-to-speech feature violated copyright law, and forced Amazon to disable it.

Now, the people who would have benefited most from the new feature -- the blind, and others with reading disabilities -- have made it clear that they're not going to stand for it.

We've got photos and more on EFF's Deeplinks blog.

Disability Access Activists Gather to Protest Kindle DRM (Thanks, Tim!)









Source: Gizmodo | 9 Apr 2009 | 5:15 am

CodeCon: biohacks and running code, San Francisco, Apr 17-19

Ben "OpenSSL" Laurie sez, "Wonder if Codecon might be of interest to your readers - always a fun conference, the basis has always been 'bring working code', though not necessarily open source. This year adds a new twist with 'or bring working biohacks' which I think is going to be fascinating - if only I didn't have to be somewhere else! Anyway, I was on the program committee and I think we have a pretty interesting lineup this year. Cheap ($82.50)! Only guaranteed to get in if you buy in advance!"

CodeCon 2009
San Francisco
April 17-19, 2009
Cellspace
2050 Bryant Street

...

15:15 BioHack! - Homebrew Genetic Testing - Read your own source code - at home!
15:45 Q&A
16:00 Helios Voting - The first and only web-based voting system that enables voters to verify their vote and the overall tally with cryptographic certainty.
16:30 Q&A
16:45 Switzerland - a semi-P2P system for detecting forged and modified IP packets between clients

...

CodeCon 2009 (Thanks, Ben!)


Source: Boing Boing | 9 Apr 2009 | 5:14 am

Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11

Over at Dinosaurs and Robots, Todd Lappin reviews Brian Floca's stunning kids' book Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11, "a vivid retelling of mankind's first mission to the moon."

Floca says:

I researched Moonshot by reading books, flight plans, NASA photographs and charts; watching NASA footage, and basically absorbing everything I could get my hands on about the Apollo 11 mission. That probably sounds excessive for a book with so few words, but in a visual book an incredible amount of information — some of it obscure — can go into any given picture. There's always a tug of war between the big themes of space travel on the one hand, and the temptations of toggle switches and ignition sequence codes and elapsed mission times. I want all those details in the book, and I want to get them right, but I can't overwhelm the story.

There was a large service structure that was part of launch preparation for the Saturn V rockets, called the Mobile Service Structure. It was positioned right up against the rocket during much of the launch preparation and then, of course, it was moved out of the way. But moved to where? A Douglas Aircraft Saturn V Payload Planners Guide finally revealed where the thing was parked at liftoff; if you look for it on the page in Moonshot that shows the long view of the rocket lifting off, you can find it, though there’s not a word about it in the book.

Source: Boing Boing | 9 Apr 2009 | 5:10 am

South Park Creators Given Signed Photo of Saddam Hussein

Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park, were given a very special gift by US marines: a signed photo of Saddam Hussein. During his captivity, the marines forced Saddam to repeatedly watch the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut, which shows him as the boyfriend of Satan. Stone said, "We're very proud of our signed Saddam picture and what it means. It's one of our biggest highlights."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 9 Apr 2009 | 4:55 am

Orchestrate: SaaS Task Management For Service And Maintenance Businesses

Orchestrate is a new management platform built for service and maintenance companies that allows businesses to collaboratively create and use schedules, projects, and tasks. While similar SaaS solutions have existed for some time, Orchestrate tries to separate itself from the pack by offering location-specific tasks. This distinction makes it ideal for service companies that frequently have to visit different locations on a regular basis.

Each employee can have their own profile, which includes their contact information, qualifications, and a list of their upcoming events and active projects. There are also group-oriented calendars which can be viewed by multiple employees. The interface is clean (if a bit spartan), and is easy to set up without any prior experience using other SaaS offerings.

Orchestrate offers five different types of accounts, including a free option (which supports two projects and up to five users), Small (5 projects and unlimited users for $19/month), and Max, which offers unlimited projects and users for $200/month. The higher tiers also offer secure SSL encryption, which makes them more appealing to larger companies where security is a concern.

Orchestrate Tour from Andy Wright on Vimeo.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 9 Apr 2009 | 4:53 am

Can Mobile Broadband Solve the UK Digital Divide?

MJackson writes "Lord Carter's interim Digital Britain report recently proposed a new Universal Service Obligation (USO), which would effectively make it mandatory for every household in the UK to have access to a broadband service capable of 2Mbps by 2012. Since then there has been much talk about Mobile Broadband (3G, 4G) services being used to bridge the UK Digital Divide, but is that realistic? The technology has all sorts of problems from slow speeds and high latency to blocking VoIP, MSN Instant Messaging and aggressive image compression ... not to mention connection stability."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Gizmodo | 9 Apr 2009 | 4:40 am

Raccoons with bird flu antibodies found

Japanese researchers say they've found 10 raccoons that show signs of having fought off previous bird flu infections. The discovery marks the first time anyone in Japan has seen mammals with bird flu virus antibodies, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported Wednesday.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 9 Apr 2009 | 4:33 am

Conjoined twins separated in Nashville

Doctors at Vanderbilt's children's hospital in Nashville successfully separated conjoined twins Keylee and and Zoey Miller, the hospital said.

Source: Gizmodo | 9 Apr 2009 | 4:20 am

Contactless Smart Card Market Expected to Weather the Storm Caused by Economic Uncertainties, Finds Frost & Sullivan

SINGAPORE, April 9 /PRNewswire/ -- With Asia Pacific being a highly diverse geographic region with dissimilar market conditions, participants in the contactless smart card market should be prepared for varied reactions to the economic downturn.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Apr 2009 | 4:19 am

Virgin Mobile joins prepaid price war (AP)

AP - Virgin Mobile USA Inc. is set to announce Thursday that it is slashing the price of its unlimited calling plan to $50 from $80 per month, a result of fierce competition and price-cutting among second-tier cellular carriers.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 9 Apr 2009 | 4:02 am

Wired.com Readers' Best iPhone Dongleware Inventions

Apple's iPhone 3.0 will prompt a new breed of accessories that work with iPhone apps -- we call 'em "dongleware." Wired.com readers have some brilliant ideas for app-accessory combos, from a universal remote to a barcode scanner.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 9 Apr 2009 | 4:00 am

Lost in Space? New Gym Equipment Saves Muscle Mass

Staying in shape and keeping muscle mass has always been a problem for astronauts on long space missions. Earlier workout equipment helped a little, but not a lot, so NASA goes off in search of a next-gen gym.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 9 Apr 2009 | 4:00 am

Wired.com Readers' Best iPhone Dongleware Inventions

Apple's iPhone 3.0 will prompt a new breed of accessories that work with iPhone apps -- we call 'em "dongleware." Wired.com readers have some brilliant ideas for app-accessory combos, from a universal remote to a barcode scanner.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 9 Apr 2009 | 4:00 am

April 9, 1865: War Ends, But the Horror's Just Beginning

1865: Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the first war of the modern era.

The American Civil War was different from all the wars that preceded it, mainly because it coincided with the flowering of the industrial age. Mass production, the advent of the railroad and telegraph, aerial observation and the appearance of even more terrible weapons made the tactics of all previous wars obsolete.

The generals were slow to grasp this reality, and the soldiers paid the cost of it.

Although disease killed more men than actual fighting, technological advances in small-arms weaponry and artillery resulted in casualty figures disproportionately high for the numbers of troops engaged.

The introduction of the Henry and Spencer repeating rifles, which allowed sustained, rapid and accurate fire from much farther distances than before, reduced the classic infantry charge to a virtual suicide attack. Pickett's desperate charge at Gettysburg is probably the most memorable example, but the futility continued to the end of the war.

(It's telling of the hidebound nature of the military mindset that a half-century later, the major combatants in World War I were still hurling infantry across open fields into the teeth of even more devastating firepower.)

The Gatling gun, the precursor to the machine gun, became operational during the Civil War, too. Its inventor, Richard Gatling, meant to create a weapon so terrible that people would shrink from the very idea of war. Gatling may have been a clever inventor, but he was clearly no judge of human character.

Improvements in manufacturing capabilities led both to the introduction of rifled artillery and its mass production. Prior to the Civil War, most ordnance was smooth-bore cannon. Rifled artillery provided for both greater accuracy and longer range.

The next big advance in big-gun technology — the cast-steel, breech-loading cannon — would come from Krupp, the German munitions maker, and not see action until the Franco-Prussian war several years later. But the sheer number of field pieces available to the Union and Confederate armies made accurate, concentrated bombardment possible for the first time.

Cavalry remained the chief method of reconnaissance throughout the war and for the rest of the 19th century, but the Civil War did see the first widespread use of observation balloons to determine enemy positions. In the 20th century, however, the airplane would put an end to the balloons, and the cavalry's scout role was eventually supplanted by the plane, the tank and the armored car.

At sea, two major weapons changed naval warfare overnight. The first armored ships, or ironclads, clashed off Hampton Roads, Virginia, in 1862, and in an instant every fleet in the world was made obsolete. No wooden warship, no matter how heavily gunned, was capable of slugging it out with an ironclad.

The Civil War also marked the first time a ship was sunk using a torpedo. It was a long way from Das Boot: The invention of compressed-air propulsion was still in the future, so the submarine speared its target rather than firing the missile from a tube. Unfortunately, this led to the loss of the sub, too.

Two major innovations that changed warfare had to do with logistics, not weaponry: the railroad and the telegraph. The railroad may no longer have been in its infancy by 1861, but it was certainly still in early adolescence. It had been used during the Mexican War to move troops, but the nation's rail network had grown a lot since then, and both sides were able to use trains to move large numbers of troops long distances.

For the first time, the telegraph also played an important role in warfare. Both sides used it to speed military communications — by war's end, some additional 15,000 miles of telegraph wire had been laid — and war correspondents used it to ship their stories quickly to newspaper offices all over the country.

Then there was medicine. As happens in every war, new weapons mean new types of battlefield wounds and the development of new ways in treating them. The minie ball, a conical bullet that shattered even the thickest human bones on impact, resulted in terrible wounds that could often be treated in only one way. A lot of army doctors became pretty good at amputating limbs.

Another victim of this technologically advanced warfare — soon to be known simply as "total war" — was the civilian.

While noncombatants have suffered for centuries at the hands of marauding armies, the Civil War marked the first time that civilians were deliberately targeted as a means of undermining the enemy's infrastructure and breaking his will to resist.

One reason for this lay in the emergence of a viable war industry, which depended heavily on civilian labor. To the soldier in the field, the enemy forging the weapons of war behind the lines was engaged in the moral equivalent of joining the fighting. This alone provided the justification for attacking the civilian in his home.

Source: Various

Source: Wired Top Stories | 9 Apr 2009 | 4:00 am

Gallery: How to Map Neural Circuits With an Electron Microscope

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Coders and neuroscientists have teamed up to make a 20-terabyte map of every cell in the back of a rabbit's eye. By comparing healthy samples with pictures of damaged retinas, these researchers can make sense of the diseases that cause blindness, and perhaps find ways to repair injured eyes.

This giant, and potentially revolutionary, task requires custom software, electron microscopes and an incredibly sharp knife. If everything goes right, the team may be the first to create a circuit diagram that explains how mammals see.

The scientists, led by Robert Marc, want to share their tricks. In the current issue of PLoS Biology, they laid out a procedure for mapping sensory organs and crunching the data with a suite of special tools. That software is free, and eventually the massive dataset will make it to the web.

Here are the tools these ocular explorers use and the oddly stunning images they collect.

Left: Marc's team is working with rabbit eyes, but previous work has included experiments with mice. This mouse retina has more than 70 types of neurons. Researchers stained it with three antibodies to identify each set of cells and get a sense of what they do.

Credit: Marc Lab / Moran Eye Institute

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To prepare each tissue sample for the electron microscope, the neuroscientists soak them in a preservative called glutaraldehyde and then replace any water with a solid resin. That procedure is quite similar to embalming process that is used to make macabre sculptures for Body Worlds exhibits.

Once the resin has set, the researchers slice the pickled flesh into sheets that are only 70 nanometers thick with a Leica ultramicrotome. It is a remarkably sharp knife that can cut things into segments thinner than the narrowest wavelengths of visible light.

Credit: Bryan William Jones / Moran Eye Institute

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James Anderson, a Microsoft engineer turned neuroscience grad student, wrote a script that allows this transmission electron microscope to take up to 3,000 high-magnification pictures per day. Three of Anderson's colleagues hail from Texas, so the instrument is decorated with a Longhorns sticker.

Credit: Bryan William Jones / Moran Eye Institute

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Three tissue samples rest on the pedestal of the electron microscope. Each one has been imaged more than a thousand times to create a set of 30-GB images. After hours of exposure to the electron beam, the flesh turns yellow, which can be seen in the circular burn marks on the slide. Those marks indicate what will be the center of the 30GB image.

Credit: Bryan William Jones / Moran Eye Institute

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Beneath the tissue samples, the imaging chamber emits a green glow. In older microscopes, researchers would use a special type of photographic film in its place. This JEOL instrument uses an electronic detector which helps automate the imaging process.

Credit: Bryan William Jones / Moran Eye Institute

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The first images of each tissue sample are taken at low magnification. This one shows a profile view of a rabbit retina. It gives an overview of the area that will be divided into a thousand tiny patches, which will later be scanned at high resolution.

Credit: Marc Lab / Moran Eye Institute

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After a quick overview, the microscope automatically zooms in and takes a thousand images at 5,500X magnification. The edges of each picture are distorted by an effect called magnification astigmatism. In other words, the microscope gives each tile a warped appearance, which makes stitching them together tricky.

To fix that problem researchers at the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute, or SCI, developed custom software that corrects the distortion and joins the images together into a massive mosaic.

Credit: Marc Lab / Moran Eye Institute

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An individual tile from the mosaic shows a set of bipolar cells at 5,500X magnification. On the right is an example of the ubiquitous-but-still-mysterious amacrine cell, which looks brighter than the others.

The dark circles in each cell are vesicles, little bubbles packed with signal-sending chemicals. Each vesicle is a warehouse for messenger chemicals called neurotransmitters, and it stores them until the cell is ready to send signals to its neighbors.

Image: James Anderson / Moran Eye Institute

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Researchers can browse the retinal mosaic on a 24-screen display at the computing institute, which is a short walk from their microscope lab. Their remote control is an iPhone, and they can zoom in or slide around with all of the standard gestures.

On the massive set of panels, it's easy to spot every synapse — the tiny junctions where signals pass from one nerve cell to the next. Those nooks and crannies are the most important parts of each map, and even the best software can't spot all of them. For now the researchers are stuck tagging them manually.

Credit: Bryan William Jones / Moran Eye Institute

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The average desktop computer can't load even a single 30-GB section of the map into its memory — let alone the whole thing. So the researchers at SCI wrote a browser that uses similar pyramidal processing tricks and browsing interface to Google Earth. It lets them zip through the data and tag synapses or other interesting spots without any lag.

Credit: Bryan William Jones / Moran Eye Institute

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With a black-and-white electron microscope researchers can easily identify cells, but staining them can reveal far more information. The vivid colors of this abstract image can give researchers a sense of what the cells are doing -- or what they're not doing.

Electron microscopes can't see colors, so the Marc lab developed a workaround. They tag each cell with antibodies attached to tiny silver particles to highlight the location of a particular chemical -- such as the amino acid glutamine. Each silver particle shows up as a bright spot in the microscope image, and a computer can easily colorize those spots. The intensity of each color can tell the scientists how much of that signal-sending chemical these amacrine cells are making.

This particular image shows part of an unhealthy rabbit eye. If the color pattern is unusual, that could give researchers a clue to what caused its disease. Marc and his team call their trick computational molecular phenotyping.

Credit: Marc Lab / Moran Eye Institute

See Also:

• Mapping the Most Complex Structure in the Universe: Your Brain
• Creating an Atlas of the Human Mind
• Scientists Map the Brain, Gene by Gene

Source: Wired Top Stories | 9 Apr 2009 | 4:00 am

Tiny Flower Turns Pig Poop Into Fuel

A petite flowering plant has a serious appetite for industrial hog farm waste, and could also be a superior source for ethanol, thus tackling two environmental problems at once.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 9 Apr 2009 | 4:00 am

It’s Watching: Gmail Can Now Tell Which Of Your Contacts Are Awake

Gmail Labs continues to make an awesome product even better. Tonight the site has introduced ‘Sender time zone’, a feature that allows users to quickly tell if their contact is likely awake or sound asleep, based on the time zone their Emails are being sent from.

The feature takes advantage of the time zone data often included in Email headers, showing a green light for contacts that are probably awake and a red one for those that are asleep.

For those of us who live and die by our inboxes, it can be tough to keep track of the contacts that are abroad, which can lead to some awkward phone calls (I’ve accidentally called CEOs of startups located in the UK at around 4 in the morning, their time). The feature is also helpful for determining how quickly you can expect an Emailed response from your contact (again, I’ve sent urgent messages to PR representatives who were based abroad).

As with all Google Labs features (other notables include a Panic Button and Multi-Pane Viewing) users can access the feature by enabling Google Labs through their Gmail settings, then selecting ‘Sender Time Zone’.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 9 Apr 2009 | 3:46 am

Wooden CD box with iPod storage insert

Clark from Kellogg Furniture writes:

This was a box I built as a commission to hold "an IPod and 32 CDs." The outer box is walnut, the inner three are pearwood. All four boxes are dovetailed, and the lid is frame-and-panel. I made the insert for the iPod itself removable. You know, just in case Apple ever changes the design. Not that it ever will.

Source: Gizmodo | 9 Apr 2009 | 3:40 am

DorkYearbook.com

Due to the surprise success of Dork Yearbook, I have rolled it out into its own site. I moved over all the pictures from the post on BBG to DorkYearbook.com. If you don't want your picture over there let me know!

As a special treat, Dork Yearbook got its first celebrity dork submission this evening: two pictures from a young Mr. Steve Wozniak. I think he founded Oracle or something.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 9 Apr 2009 | 3:19 am

Climate Engineering As US Policy?

EricTheGreen writes "The Associated Press has an article featuring Obama administration science advisor John Holdren discussing potential climate engineering responses to global warming. Among the possible approaches? His own version of Operation Dark Storm — shooting micro-particulate pollution high into the atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays. I'm sure the rest of the world would have no issue with that at all, of course. Yikes ..."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 9 Apr 2009 | 2:42 am

Downloading Video Files [Mossberg's Mailbox]

Here are a few questions I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.

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Is it possible to download a YouTube or similar file to my computer?

Yes. One program that does this is TubeSock. It works on Mac and Windows, and creates a file you can keep for offline viewing on your computer. It creates the necessary formats for use on your iPhone or iPod, your Sony PSP or Palm Treo. The program works not only with videos on YouTube, but with those on some other sites. It’s available at stinkbot.com/Tubesock/, for $15. But while the makers of TubeSock believe their product is legal, as long as videos aren’t used for commercial distribution, Google (which owns YouTube) may not agree. A quick scan of YouTube’s terms of service reveals that the company sees most of its videos as intended solely for online streaming.

I have this thumb drive which I used to copy of the info from my old computer. I want to transfer all these files to my new computer. I want to transfer my 2007 Microsoft Outlook contacts and emails, and the My Documents folder. When I insert the drive into my new computer everything pops up, but how do I get it to transfer to the hard disk?

Your computer sees the portable drive just as it would an internal drive or folder, so you would just drag the folder or file icons from the portable drive into the folders of your choice on the hard disk. It’s just like copying folders and files from different places on your internal hard disk. Then, you can remove the portable drive, and the files and folders will be on your new computer. For the Outlook files, there’s one extra step, if you want them to actually appear in Outlook. You will have to use Outlook’s import function, found on the File menu, to incorporate them into Outlook’s own Mail and Contacts section.

Does the My Book World Edition networked hard disk you reviewed last week work with Apple’s built-in Time Machine backup software?

No. Western Digital, which makes the My Book, said it doesn’t, and, in my tests, Time Machine didn’t recognize the My Book as a possible backup drive. That’s one reason the company supplies its own backup software for the Mac, as well as for Windows. It’s likely that there is, or will be, some technical workaround, but, out of the box, this drive doesn’t work with Time Machine.

• You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Apr 2009 | 1:32 am

Leena And Mike Take The Tesla Model S For A Test Drive

Michael and TechCrunch writer Leena Rao are currently at Tesla’s showroom in Menlo Park, CA for a special event showcasing Tesla’s new Model S sedan, which was unveiled last month. They’re streaming live using Qik. They took a brief test drive - the first, the company says, with any press.

Because the Model S is not currently street legal (something about no front air bags and no seatbelts in the back seat), the company won’t allow the car to leave its parking lot and only employees can actually drive it. But they managed to get up to 80 or so in the parking lot, and the video shows the interior computer and touch screen fairly well.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 9 Apr 2009 | 1:15 am

Chimpanzees Exchange Meat For Sex

the_therapist writes "A team from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, studied chimps in the Tai Forest reserve in Ivory Coast and discovered that chimpanzees enter into 'deals' whereby they exchange meat for sex. Among the findings are that 'male chimps that are willing to share the proceeds of their hunting expeditions mate twice as often as their more selfish counterparts.' They also found this to be 'a long-term exchange, so males continue to share their catch with females when they are not fertile, copulating with them when they are.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 9 Apr 2009 | 12:48 am

Study shows chimps exchange meat for sex

Wild female chimpanzees have been found to be more likely to have sex with males that give them meat on a regular basis, German researchers say. The researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, said that although male chimps have been shown to share meat extensively with females, there had not been much direct evidence to support the meat-for-sex hypothesis before this study. But the German researchers said 22 months they learned female chimps copulated more frequently with males who shared meat with them.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 9 Apr 2009 | 12:47 am

Pentagon Cyber Defense Bill Comes To $100M For 6 Months

coondoggie writes "Protecting defense departments networks cost taxpayers more than $100 million over the past six months, US Strategic Command officials said yesterday. The motives of those attacking the networks go from just plain vandalism to theft of money or information to espionage. Protecting the networks is a huge challenge for the command, Air Force Gen. Kevin P. Chilton told a cyber security conference in Omaha, Neb., this week. 'Pay me now or pay me later,' Davis said. 'In the last six months, we spent more than $100 million reacting to things on our networks after the fact. It would be nice to spend that money proactively to put things in place so we'd be more active and proactive in posture rather than cleaning up after the fact.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 9 Apr 2009 | 12:33 am

Trend Micro Discovers New Variant of Conficker

Criminals behind the Conficker worm finally showing signs of activity that may indicate something larger brewing at bay.  CUPERTINO, Calif., April 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Trend Micro discovered a new file sourced by a known Conficker P2P IP node - a new variant of Conficker now known as WORM_DOWNAD.E, indicating that cybercriminals behind the notorious Conficker worm may finally be gearing up for more serious attacks.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Apr 2009 | 12:15 am

Deal of the Day: Get Star Ocean 4 for Xbox 360 for $40

FROM GAMERTELL - If you’ve been waiting for a sign from the stars regarding when to pick up Star Ocean 4 for the Xbox 360, consider this Amazon deal of the day what you’ve been looking for.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 9 Apr 2009 | 12:14 am

Ztail Launches Innovative eBay Guarantee For Worry-Free Shopping

Today Ztail is introducing an innovative new service that may be exactly what online stores need to bolster sales during the recession. The service revolves around eBay, acting as a pseduo-insurance policy that guarantees that customers will be able to resell the items they are purchasing right now for a substantial amount a year down the line. Even better, the service is totally free for the customer. It’s a bit confusing at first, but it also has a chance to really take off.

Here’s how it works (see the video below if you’re still confused):

• Visitors go to the Ztail store, where they can browse a variety of items including electronics, sports, and baby gear. They’re presented with the item’s normal price from a number of partner retailers, as well as its ‘Ztail price’
• When you purchase an item through Ztail, the site will guarantee that a year down the line it will retain its value and you’ll be able to resell it on eBay for a certain amount. For example, Ztail will guarantee that a $900 stroller sold through Giggle will sell for at least $359.60 on eBay.
• After purchasing the item, Ztail will Email you a link that you click whenever you’re ready to sell it (you can also access it through your Ztail account).
• Using an eBay auction wizard that was part of Ztail’s previous products, Ztail will post your item on eBay, auto-configuring all of the auction settings to maximize your return (you basically just need to enter your account information and ship the item once the auction ends)
• If the auction ends with a final selling price below the Ztail guarantee, Ztail will refund the difference. If it ends higher than the guaranteed selling price, you get to keep the extra money.

It’s a great idea because it makes it that much easier for customers to justify their new purchases, which in turn makes the system appealing to online retailers. Customers don’t have to pay anything extra for it either, as Ztail earns its money through affiliate programs with each partner store.

The system is ideally suited for goods that you know you won’t need forever, like baby carriages or the latest smartphone. Right now Ztail has a maximum time limit of one year for its eBay guarantee, which seems a bit on the low side (even the consistently-upgraded iPhone only comes out once a year). Ztail will likely offer longer time limits in the future after it affirms the viability of service.

But the current user experience needs work. For now Ztail is operating its own online storefront, with links to products on external retailers that are eligible for the guarantee. This means that you have to pick the item out through Ztail, which then directs you to the retailer’s site where you complete the purchase. Then you receive an Email a few days later confirming that everything worked and that the Ztail guarantee is enabled. In short, it’s pretty clunky.

In the future, Ztail hopes that retailers will integrate the service directly into their sites (eligible products will display a ‘Ztail badge’). Ztail says that retailers are excited about the service, but that they want to make sure it works before building it into their sites.

There are other systems in place that allow customers to swap their old items for cash, like Gazelle and Venjuvo. These services don’t require users to conduct their own auctions on eBay - instead, users ship their goods to the service, get their money, and let Gazelle or Venjuvo worry about selling it in a marketplace. But these services only can pay the user part of the item’s true market value (something around 60%) because they have to pay for handling and the auctions themselves. Ztail doesn’t deal with any of the items physically, so users can get paid the item’s true market value, which can work out to quite a bit more depending on the item.

Last year Ztail launched as a Kelley Blue Book For Everything, allowing users to appraise each other’s possesions and giving them an easy way to sell them online through eBay. Ztail has sidelined this functionality for now, with plans to re-introduce it in the next few weeks.

Ztail - How it works from Ztail on Vimeo.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 8 Apr 2009 | 11:57 pm

Wired.com Readers' Best iPhone Dongleware Inventions

When iPhone 3.0 comes out later this year, we'll see iPhone apps tied to special-purpose accessories.

Imagine a universal remote that lets you use your iPhone to control every box in your home-entertainment system. Or a portable RFID- and barcode-scanning module that turns your iPhone into a tiny store clerk — or comparison shopper — letting you find and buy stuff just by waving your phone at it.

These are just two suggestions from Wired.com readers for accessory-powered iPhone 3.0 applications -- or, to use the term we coined, dongleware. We put up a call for suggestions, and you responded with loads of great ideas. We figured, what better way to give wannabe-millionaire developers ideas — and get what consumers want in return? Win-win.

iPhone 3.0 won't be launching until summer, but developers can get plenty done in two or three months. To help speed up the process, here are your top-voted ideas in a nice and tidy list. Drum roll, please.

Barcode/RFID/Magnetic-Stripe Reader
This idea got the most votes — an accessory that acts as a barcode scanner and maybe triples as a magnetic-card and RFID tag reader.

Here's how it could be useful: It would essentially turn the iPhone into a miniature checkout stand. The barcode scanner would register a product's price, and then customers can simply swipe their credit card into the magnetic card reader. Similarly, the radio-frequency identifier would scan products containing RFID tags, such as library books, and send that information to the iPhone. In theory, the iPhone app transfers the data via the internet to complete the transaction.

Wouldn't it be interesting (and a little weird) to see iPhones or iPod Touches at the checkout counter of every store?

This could also make a great tool for consumers to do on-the-fly comparison shopping while they browse brick-and-mortar stores.

(Thanks, Jason, for submitting this suggestion!)

Bluetooth Stereo Headphones
This suggestion isn't mindblowing, but it's clearly a product consumers demand: Some wireless Bluetooth headphones for the iPhone so we can finally ditch those crappy earbuds. This should be easy, because Apple says iPhone 3.0 will support stereo Bluetooth accessories.

(A hat tip to, er, "Anonymous" for submitting this idea.)

Keyboard
Another predictable gadget in demand: Wired.com readers want an iPhone-compatible external keyboard. This will be extremely useful for business users to speed up writing e-mails or documents. This might even come in handy for the procrastinating student, who needs to finish up that essay while riding the bus to class.

(Kudos to Keyboard Guy!)

Bluetooth Universal Remote
This is one of our favorites. Wired.com readers are really into the idea of clearing out the e-clutter on their coffee tables and relying solely on the iPhone as a universal remote. Better yet would be a super-sophisticated universal remote that pairs up with a receiver using Bluetooth. The receiver would contain infrared blasters to send the signals necessary to control your home entertainment equipment. Wow! Quite clever.

(Thanks, Allen!)

Automobile Diagnostics
This idea would make life a lot easier for automobile repair workers or car hobbyists. The accessory would hook your iPhone up to your car engine's OBD-II port (which every car sold in the U.S. since 1996 has) and communicate with an app that performs a full engine diagnosis. Sounds intense. Anyone up for the challenge?

(Nice one, Steve Dy!)

Light Switch Controller
Hmmm — dongleware to control the lights in your house? Z-Wave already has a similar product, but it requires owning electronics  embedded with Z-Wave's wireless technology. This suggestion is an iPhone accessory that simply communicates with your lights, but it would require installing receivers on the lighting systems throughout your home. For the time being, we don't view this as a very practical product.

(Thanks, ROCKERIMANMANAIFJ!)

See Also:

• iPhone 3.0 Wish List: Accessory-Powered Apps We Want
• Apple Bestows Cut-and-Paste, MMS on iPhone Users
• iPhone 3.0: Will the Gold Rush Continue?
• Pictures: iPhone 3.0 USB Tethering Already Activated
• Screenshot Hints at Video Recorder in iPhone 3.0
• Gadget Lab Video: Masked Developer Demos iPhone 3.0 Beta
• iPhone 3.0 Takes the Sheen off Palm Pre

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 Apr 2009 | 11:37 pm

News Flash: Amie Street Swallowed Songza Six Months Ago

For months, popular music store Amie Street has kept a deal it forged with Songza, a media streaming service, under wraps. But this tweet (and a fair amount of research on our part) has uncovered the news: Amie Street acquired Songza back in October 2008, and planned to keep the deal under wraps until they were ready to announce whatever it is they have in store for the product.

Amie Street co-founders Elias Roman and Joshua Boltuch confirm that the acquisition definitely took place, and Songza co-founder Scott Robbin has since become part of the 20-headed team based in New York. Songza’s other co-founder, Aza Raskin, had earlier left to join Mozilla.

It’s not exactly the best of times to be in the digital music space right now, particularly if you’re a startup trying to build a legitimate business around an ad-supported music streaming service (look at what happened to Ruckus and SpiralFrog), but that’s exactly where Amie Street is planning on taking Songza. Currently, the service is merely an admittedly great-looking front-end for an engine that leverages the YouTube and imeem APIs and lets people intuitively play and share music and generate custom playlists, but Amie Street says it has a much bigger vision for Songza and will release a revamped version of the service by this Summer.

Amie Street thinks it can make ad-supported, licensed music streaming work, and there’s no reason to doubt that for now. After all, the company has managed to build a nice, sustainable business with a great conceptual model (where the user community dynamically decides on the pricing of music tracks) and this in partnership with music labels.

So why did they buy Songza? Roman tells me the service had long been an affiliate partner for Amie Street, and apart from a decent revenue generator for them, they were impressed with its marketing potential, design, active and committed user base as well as the fact that the small company went out of its way not to stream copyrighted content (which sounds nice, but seems virtually impossible to avoid since it depends on third-party services for locating music). Either way, the company is now a part of Amie Street, and according to Roman and Boltuch the aggregate traffic currently exceeds 1 million uniques on a monthly basis, the bulk of which comes from Songza, since it is completely free and requires no registration for searching and playing music.

Here’s another thing I learned during my conversation with Amie Street’s co-founders: the company is currently finalizing a Series B round of funding, which it expects to close pretty soon. They had earlier raised an undisclosed round of investment from Amazon.com.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 8 Apr 2009 | 11:24 pm

Will Wright Leaves EA/Maxis For Stupid Fun Club

Dave Knott writes "Gamasutra reports that SimCity, Sims and Spore game creator Will Wright is leaving EA/Maxis. He will now be acting as head of Stupid Fun Club, an 'entertainment think tank' that he was previously funding out of his own pocket. From the article: 'The club has focused mainly on designing and building robots, as well as creating video productions based on them. Wright and EA will co-own Stupid Fun Club, which will focus on developing new cross-media IP for games, movies, TV and toys. EA has the right to develop game concepts that emerge from the think tank, and both the company and Wright have an equal stake.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 8 Apr 2009 | 11:23 pm

Garmin expanding to offer in-dash GPS for Chrysler’s Grand Cherokee

Section: Gadgets / Other, GPS/Navigation, Transportation

A GPS company has many options in order to effectively promote their products.  To get ahead in the global economy, a GPS company needs to analyze all of their options and decide the best path to follow.  Some of these options are standalone units (the most common option), phone GPS, watch GPS, and in-dash GPS for major car manufacturers.  Today, at the New York Auto Show, Garmin announced that they will be equipping the Chrysler Grand Cherokee with a 6.5 inch touchscreen display with quality GPS maps.

Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and chief operating officer, claimed that adding GPS to the Grand Cherokee will still keep the car affordable.  Also, he says “being a navigation provider for Chrysler is a significant and long sought-after achievement for our company” and this just goes to show how they were eagerly searching for a buyer in the auto department. 

In terms of GPS features, the system is set to offer Navteq maps of North America, Lane Assist, Speed Limit information, and 6 million POIs.  With a large database of POIs, it will be easy for users to find popular tourist destinations when on vacation in North America.  In addition, it comes with a unique feature aptly named “Where Am I?” and basically this feature gives you the exact latitude and longitude, as well as nearby places such as the hospital.  This could definitely be useful if you become lost.  It also gives you turn-by-turn voice directions, and junction view, which displays signs and exits in 3D. 

Unfortunately, the Grand Cherokee will only contain the special GPS feature in the 2011 model, which was on display today.

Via [BusinessWire]
Image [AutoBlog]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 8 Apr 2009 | 11:19 pm

Disassembling the US Nintendo DSi

An anonymous reader writes "Yesterday iFixit tore apart the Nintendo DSi and found several internal upgrades from the outgoing DS Lite. It seems that an experienced hand can completely disassemble the DSi in less than ten minutes using standard tools, especially since the job does not require a tri-wing screwdriver. This should make repairing and tinkering with the DSi substantially easier. The DSi now includes two integrated cameras that, unfortunately, have only 0.3 megapixel resolutions. This is certainly a bit underwhelming considering most mainstream phones have cameras of at least 1.3 megapixels. On the chip side of things, Nintendo is using a Samsung MoviNAND integrated 256 MB Flash memory / MMC controller chip, as well as a custom ARM CPU + GPU is stamped with the revision code 'TWL.' The DSi's chips all had manufacture dates around September 2008, indicating that Nintendo has been stockpiling these devices for quite a while prior to the North American release."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 8 Apr 2009 | 10:33 pm

Spotify Is Coming to a Device Near (Some of) You

Spotify, already the best music app on the planet, is coming to a device near you. We're talking XBoxes, PlayStations, Slingbox, mobile phones, networked audio players, SlimDevices — any place developers want to put it.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Apr 2009 | 10:00 pm

Shamwow Vince prefers netbooks

From the police-photographed aftermath of his alleged punch-up with a cannibal lady of the night:

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 8 Apr 2009 | 9:57 pm

Review: 'Peggle Dual Shot' Proves Nearly Perfect on DS

It's the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of casual gaming: Highly addictive time-killer Peggle gets ported to Nintendo's popular handheld.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Apr 2009 | 9:45 pm

Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg Preaches That The Stream Will Bring Us Closer Together

Facebook’s members may have initially reacted with horror at the new homepage redesign which introduces a Twitter-like stream as the main interface. But Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg thinks that advertisers are going to love it. In a speech today at a digital advertising conference, and a subsequent blog post, she preached the many benefits of the stream and even had some data to back it up.

The average Facebook user has 120 “friends,” but not all friends are equal. Facebook engineers are able to group your friends by the way you communicate with them. There is reciprocal communication in which you both send messages back and forth to each other either privately or on each others’ Walls. There is direct communication, which is one-way and doesn’t always get a response. It is unrequited. And then there is the stream, the magical stream, where communication occurs simply by sharing things in a broadcast fashion, liking or commenting on those items, or even just clicking on them. This forms what Facebook calls your “active network.”

It turns out you communicate actively with a lot more people through your stream than directly. A Facebook member with 150 friends, for instance, engages in reciprocal conversation with only 5 people, in direct communication with 9 people, and in “stream communication” with 20 people.

Sanberg writes in her post:

When our Data Team measured active networks for users on Facebook, it found that, in any given month, users keep up with between 2 times and 4 times more people than through more traditional communication.

The other impact of the active network is that it leads to greater connectedness between the people in someone’s network.

The implication for advertisers is that the new design is going to be great for spreading their messages far and wide—reaching two to four times as many people! No doubt, that is true. Monitoring a stream of constant updates encourages communication because there is always something new to talk about and it has a feeling of immediacy. It does lower the barrier for interactions and makes it easier to connect with people one or two degrees sway from you, but who are brought to your attention because someone in your immediate circle just reacted to something they did or said online.

It is not only Facebook who has come to the realization that forcing the stream on people forces them to communicate more broadly. That is the whole appeal of Twitter. FreindFeed just did its redesign which turned the stream into a deluge, and even AOL has gotten the lifestreaming religion.

But whether or not this will lead to more opportunities for advertisers to reach consumers is still a big unknown.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 8 Apr 2009 | 9:40 pm

SDC Will Strengthen Google’s Position In The Enterprise Cloud

Google announced yesterday that they are going to strengthen Google Apps security by adding a Secure Data Connector (SDC) to its engine. SDC is built around having an agent inside the firewall, which connects to servers inside of Google. This gives Google servers policy-controlled access to data businesses have chosen to expose. Basically, SDC allows secure access to data behind firewall for use in cloud based apps hosted on App Engine. And Google also says that SDC and Oracle's Siebel customer care and CRM software will be connected to the engine, showing an example of using the SDC to build an app behind a firewall. Oracle also announced that its Oracle Gadget Wizard, which lets users construct simple gadgets easily, will have support for Google Apps and can be integrated into Oracle's CRM. SDC seems to be representative of Google's intentions to be a serious player in the enterprise cloud computing space. With SDC and a partnership with Oracle, Google can now compete with Sun Microsystems, Salesforce and Microsoft, offering enterprises a cloud-based application that can combine the Apps engine with secure data behind a firewall.

Source: TechCrunch | 8 Apr 2009 | 9:39 pm

Hollywood: Piracy Fosters Child Porn, Slavery

Two decades of Hollywood anti-piracy advertisements conclude that piracy fosters organized crime, slavery and child pornography. Here's nine anti-piracy videos dating to the 1990s.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Apr 2009 | 9:30 pm

Hackers hit U.S. power grid - could disrupt electricity, water, and sewage

Section: Computers, Security

This is big folks.  The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the U.S. power grid has been hit by cyber spies who planted software within it that could be used to disrupt it.  The espionage was discovered by national security officials and doesn’t seem to be targeted at one specific power company, just the grid in general.  Officials say the hackers are from China and Russia and while there is no evidence that they intended to damage the gird, the software left behind could be evidence of intent to do so.  What’s more is that our water, sewage, and other infrastructure systems were also at risk.

“Over the past several years, we have seen cyberattacks against critical infrastructures abroad, and many of our own infrastructures are as vulnerable as their foreign counterparts,” Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair recently told lawmakers. “A number of nations, including Russia and China, can disrupt elements of the U.S. information infrastructure.”

While there is no immediate danger, this is not something to be taken lightly.  Last year a cyberattack took out power equipment in multiple regions outside the U.S and was followed by extortion demands, and in 2000, a disgruntled employee at an Australian water treatment plant hacked its computer system, resulting in 20,000 gallons of sewage being released into parks, rivers, and a hotel.

What’s really disturbing is that none of the three electric networks that make up the grid had any idea they’d been attacked.  Security in this area needs to be beefed up and fast, and the Obama administration pledges to make that happen.

Naturally both China and Russia angrily deny any wrongdoing, but security officials say the sophistication of the attacks means it wasn’t an amateur job.  The discovery of this attack follows the discovery of a Chinese cyber spy ring that had infiltrated thousands of computers across the globe, including those of several embassies and government offices.  It really seems that in this day and age the new battlefield is the net and that we all need to be very very careful.

Read [Wall Street Journal]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 8 Apr 2009 | 9:29 pm

FDA announces more pistachio recalls

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced more pistachio recalls Wednesday due to possible salmonella contamination. Setton Farms Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Apr 2009 | 9:08 pm

Researchers Train Computers To Analyze Fruit-Fly Behavior

Program will make it possible to link genes to behaviors, scientists sayScientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have trained computers to automatically analyze aggression and courtship in fruit flies, opening the way for researchers to perform large-scale, high-throughput screens for genes that control these innate behaviors.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Apr 2009 | 8:54 pm

Trailer expands into five-room mobile apartment

French product designer Stephanie Bellanger came up with this ingenious trailer prototype--the entire thing expands into a 252°, five-room apartment when stationary, and then folds into itself like a Tetris game or a Japanese wooden fan when you're on-the-go. [via Yanko Design]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 8 Apr 2009 | 8:49 pm

Taiwanese Company Slaps Apple With Touchscreen Lawsuit

A Taiwanese company on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging the corporation infringed its touchscreen patents.

Chip design company Elan filed the suit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The suit alleges that Apple's MacBook, iPhone and iPod Touch feature technologies infringing on two of Elan's patents.

"We couldn’t find a common viewpoint with Apple, so we decided we had to take action," Elan spokesman Dennis Liu told New York Times.

The patents describe a "multiple fingers contact sensing method for emulating mouse buttons and mouse operations on a touch sensor pad." The lawsuit alleges the multi-touch trackpads in the latest MacBooks violate the patents, as do the touchscreens seen on the iPod Touch and iPhone models.

Elan may indeed pose a challenge to Apple's famously powerful legal team. Elan said in the past it won a preliminary court injunction against Synaptics, disputing over the same patents. Synaptics countersued, and ultimately both actions were dismissed when both companies reached a cross-licensing agreement.

The legal battle over touchscreen technology is beginning to heat up. In January, Apple hinted at taking legal action against smartphone manufacturer Palm, whose upcoming Palm Pre smartphone appears to closely mimic the touchscreen interface of the iPhone.

"We are ready to suit up and go against anyone," Apple chief operating officer (and acting CEO) Tim Cook said in response to a reporter's question about the Palm Pre. "However, we will not stand for having our [intellectual property] ripped off and will use whatever weapons we have at our disposal."

Looks like Apple — and maybe Palm, too — will have to aim their "weapons" at Elan first.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 Apr 2009 | 8:23 pm

Palm Pre demo shows off features Apple doesn’t allow

FROM APPLETELL - Palm showed off many features of their yet to be released Pre this week at the CTIA Wireless Association’s annual event. Many of the features appear to be direct arguments towards getting a Palm Pre over Apple’s iPhone.
MORE »

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Source: Gadgetell | 8 Apr 2009 | 8:15 pm

FCC confirms that a 3G Sidekick is on the way

At this point, it’s not really a secret that a new Sidekick is on the way. The rumors have long indicated that the next ‘Kick would be 3G-enabled, and no one really doubted it - but the FCC has gone ahead and confirmed it anyway. Smack dab in the middle of their approval lays mention of 1700 Mhz AWS support, perfectly suited for T-Mobile’s budding 3G network.

There’s not a whole lot to see outside of the standard mind numbing charts and SAR test results, but it does confirm that the Sidekick 2009 will be manufactured by Sharp - you know, if anyone was curious.

Feel free to ship your test unit our way, FCC-folks. We won’t tell.

[via Phonescoop]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 8 Apr 2009 | 8:12 pm

Could Oxidation Event Have Been Caused By Nickel Famine?

The Earth's original atmosphere held very little oxygen.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Apr 2009 | 8:11 pm

Deep sea mud volcano microbes studied

U.S. scientists say they've completed the first study of microbes living in deep sea volcanoes, where conditions may resemble extraterrestrial environments. The Gulf of Mexico study was led by Professor Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Apr 2009 | 8:10 pm

Video: Easy Star All-Stars Reinvent Reggae

The Easy Star All-Stars are upgrading classic tracks by the Beatles and others into reggae beats. Radiohead and Pink Floyd are fans of the new versions.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Apr 2009 | 8:00 pm

Delicious, Cross-Bred Corn -- Now With Lasers!

Mapping desirable genes in a crop like corn used to require farming and, therefore, time. You'd plant a big field with seeds, wait for them to germinate, collect samples, and escort them back to the lab for further analysis. Then scientists started probing seeds before planting. Using dog toenail clippers and eventually larger, metal-blade "chippers," they slice off a chunk of seed, using one little portion for DNA analysis and saving the rest for potential planting. The idea is that if you can decipher up front which seeds contain the most desirable genes, then you can plant only those to see which sprouts lives up to their genetic expectations. From there, you move forward with cross-breeding the best specimens to try manufacturing that perfect, "golden seed."

Neat and pretty efficient, but nothing compared to the next phase: lasers!

When DuPont/Pioneer's "Laser-Assisted Seed Selection" rigs were unveiled last summer, I got fairly obsessed. Featuring basic 120-watt carbon-dioxide lasers (like the ones used for cosmetic surgery), the fully-automated rigs are said to score up to 96 seeds all in one pass, within a matter of minutes. When I spoke with folks from Pioneer a while back they made some pretty big claims: 1) using lasers instead of force-exerting blade chippers reduces the risk of sample contamination (fair enough); 2) ramping up the throughput and applying the results to conventional breeding techniques could increase corn yields by 40% within the next decade (whoa momma!).

Whether you find such figures hyperbolic or not is somewhat besides the point. The take-away here is that sometimes the most elegant solution to a problem is a combination of high and low -- in this case, lasers... and spray paint?

Before getting zapped, corn cobs are literally coated in a magnetically-active, iron-based paint (not unlike Krylon's magnetic spray paint). Individual seeds are then inserted into metal plates with magnetized walls.

When each seed enters its appropriate slot, it's held in place, precisely-aligned so the laser can shave off a clean, 10mg portion. Done and done.

There are other aspects of this process that are smart: the rigs can run 24 hours a day (meaning millions of seeds can be scored and analyzed per year); since the rigs weigh about 250-lbs, they can be easily transported. The amount of potential acreage saved alone is nifty.

But using magnetic spray paint along with the type of laser wielded by dermatologists? That's just awesome.

On a related note, here's an assortment of projects you can do around the house with magnetic spray paint. If you've got a particularly fun one to add, please let us know.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 8 Apr 2009 | 7:58 pm

Are you a twit if you don't want to Twitter? (AP)

AP - Eily Toyama gave in after friends pestered her to join Facebook. But she used her cat's name instead of her own so she could avoid networking requests from people she didn't really want to connect to. And don't even ask her about Twitter unless you want to get an eye roll.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Apr 2009 | 7:53 pm

Stockart.com founder lists sources of disputed logos

If you've been following recent stories about designer Jon Engle, you'll know that he's involved in a dispute with Stockart.com over a number of logos available at the site. Stockart.com believes that Engle's misappropriated its art, and has billed him $18,000 for the use. Engle claims these works were his original creations, wrongly added to stockart.com in the first place.

Engle's account of the situation was last weekend's internet explosion, tearing up Digg and bringing his own site down under the traffic generated. Here's the google cache of his post, "Accused!"

Stockart.com's Richard Askew, after quietly asserting that Engle was mistaken a few days ago, has now published a list of the logos in question and how they came to be at Stockart.com. Critically, he offers the names of the artists who put them there, meaning that it'll now be possible to find out who created which logo. Askew writes:

I have been fighting for artists rights for over 11 years to the point where it has devastated both my business and the livelihoods of my artist alliance . I'm guessing we only license 1 image these days to every 50 which are stolen and profited from. I personally have uncovered over 500 for- profit companies whom have stolen over 8,000 images from my artists!!!! I can not expose this story to the point which will soon be shared, but please know one thing about this irony! I have fought this matter with my own personal investments to a point of bankruptcy. I love my artists and their right to earn money from their unique, artistic, intellectual property! If anyone is interested in the entire story of my experience, please contact me personally ... I do want to personally thank you for your concern. I understand your concern! Stockart.com is proud to advocate and represent the copyrights and works of the many award-winning and talented artists who have provided their work to Stockart.com for rights managed licensing for over a decade.

The list of lost logos follows after the jump. Since the intermob turned this tale into such a shitstorm, perhaps it can civilly and respectfully help unravel it!

Patricia Dalbey
Image #PD1P0138 (Stoplight Image)
Image #PD1A0213 (Chef Hat Image)
Image #PD1A0087 (Grape Image)

Phill Bliss
Image PB#2A0244 (Sun and Moon Image)

Cindy Lindgren
Image #CL1A0083 (Feather Image)
Image #CL1X0181 (Feather Pen Image)
Image #CL1A0102 (Peapod Image)
Image #CL1X0216 (Hand Image)

Scott Greer
Image #SG1A0094 (Shoe Image)
=0 A

Dave Winter
Image #DW0V0054 (Sombrero Image)

Larry Milam
Image #LM1A0041 (Rose Image)
Image #LM1A0043 (Mountain Image)
Image #LM1A0434 (Plate Image)

Mary Ross
Image #MR4P0041 (Star Image)
A 0
Rita Lascaro
Image #RL1A0061 (Rope Image)

Robert L. Prince
Image #RP0X0123 (Coffee Cup Image)

Peter Buttecali
Image #PB1A0004 (Rooster Image)
Image #PB1A0030 (Skunk Image)
Image #PB1A0034 (Lioness Image)
Image #PB1A0080 (Truck Image)
Image #PB1X0231 (Horse Image)
Image #PB1X0337 (Door Image)
Image #PB1X0346 (Building Image)
Image #PB1X0535 (Crown Image)
Image #PB1X0536 (Crown Image 2)
Image #PB1X0614 (Mountain Image)
Image #PB1X0714 (Mountain Image 2)

Michael Rowley
Image #MR1X0058 (Cow Image)
Image #MR1V0088 (King Image)
Image #MR1X0168 (Jester Image) 20
Image #MR1X0189 (Donkey Image)
Image #MR1V0219 (Jester Image- Color)
Image #MR10227 (Waiter Image)
Image #MR1X0257 (Cat and Dog Image)

Elizabeth Burrill
Image #EB1X0079 (Pig Image)

Paul Dolan
Image #PD0A0046 (Stork Image)
Image #PD0A0145 (Snake Image)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 8 Apr 2009 | 7:46 pm

First Webb mirror segment is tested

The U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Apr 2009 | 7:43 pm

Welcome to Twitter, Apple!

Apple has officially claimed the @Applecare account on Twitter. I know this because for the last year I had the @Applecare account.

I spent the first few days trying to help people troubleshoot their Mac problems (usually just referring them to the Apple customer service helpline), but quickly became overwhelmed with the amount of work it takes to track down all the support issues, especially when I would scan through the Twitter search and proactively try to help people with their problems. It made for a fun few nights, but I knew it couldn't last.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Apple does with the account! (If you were following @Applecare before, it looks like you've been removed and will want to refollow.)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 8 Apr 2009 | 7:36 pm

RIM Sales Manager acknowledges Wi-Fi equipped BlackBerry Storm 2

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

Although I would not say this adds any official confirmation, it looks like there may be some credibility to yesterday’s rumors on the BlackBerry Storm 2.  During the TeleVisie 2009 conference, Alain Segond von Banchet, who is a Channel Sales Manager for RIM stated that the follow up device was due to launch sometime around the end of 2009 or early in 2010.

Additionally, he also stated that it will indeed have an improved text input method, however RIM has not decided on just what that new method would be called.  Unfortunately, he did not offer any other specifics on how it would be better than the current version, of course, with the numerous complaints that we have seen, it stands to reason that it should be easy to improve upon.  As for the other rumored feature, the inclusion of Wi-Fi, that was not mentioned at all by the rep.

Read [tweakers]  Via [unwired view]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 8 Apr 2009 | 7:09 pm

Scorpion-Like Hermits First to Scurry to Land

The world's first land animals likely crammed their scorpion-like bodies into snail shells.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Apr 2009 | 7:00 pm

New prostate cancer drugs show promise

U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Apr 2009 | 6:51 pm

Obama Advisor Says US Must Consider Geoengineering

President Barack Obama’s science and technology director told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the controversial use of geoengineering needs to be considered an option for combating global climate change."It's got to be looked at," said Holdren in his first interview since being confirmed.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Apr 2009 | 6:40 pm

The Tech War on Tornadogenesis

A team of 100 scientists and 40 tech-laden vehicles is set to start the most ambitious study of how tornadoes form ever attempted. The team hopes to track 20 tornado-generating storms and test hypotheses about their formation.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 Apr 2009 | 6:30 pm

The Samsung Formally Known as OmniaHD gets thumbs up from FCC

Just yesterday we learned that Samsung had dropped the Omnia moniker from its upcoming HD-capable smartphone. Despite this last minute name change, the Samsung currently known as i8910 has just received approval from the phone-reviewing folks down at the FCC.

According to its official Certificate of Compliance, the US-bound i8910 will include the following radios: 850/1900 GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 1900 WCDMA, Bluetooth, WLAN and HSPA.

Still no word on pricing or availability. But hey, at least we know its closer to an official release than not.

[FCC via Engadget Mobile]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 8 Apr 2009 | 6:27 pm

GameStop’s Game Days sale begins - let’s see the bargains

FROM GAMERTELL - The GameStop Game Days ‘09 sale has officially begun, and Gamertell has a full, alphabetical list of all the games, UMDs and accessories that have been discounted.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 8 Apr 2009 | 6:25 pm

T-Mobile Customer Survey hints at alternative HTC Magic names

With T-Mobile-branded Dreams making accidental appearances and FCC filings abound, it’s pretty much inarguable that the HTC Magic is coming to ol’ Magenta. Seeing as it’s the second T-Mo Android phone and borrows much of its aesthetics from the G1, you might assume that T-Mobile would be branding it the G2; call the HTC Magic the “G2″ around an HTC rep, however, and they’ll probably chew your head off.

With good reason, it seems. If the customer survey slides a tipster sent into TmoNews are legit, “G2″ might not even be a name option - but “G3″ could be, along with “T-Mobile Genius 3G”, “T-Mobile myTouch 3G with Google”, and “Prism 3G with Google”. “Prism” doesn’t strike us as being even remotely relevant, and “myTouch” is about cheesy as names comes. If they’re going to stray away from the sequential G naming scheme, “Genius” isn’t too shabby.

We do wonder, though: What happened to the G2?

[Via Phonedog]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 8 Apr 2009 | 6:06 pm

LED Scoreboard Is Tiny Green Monster for Your Desk

Love baseball stats, but can't be bothered to look up scores online? Try the Vroop liveboard. This $200 gizmo sits atop your desktop and elegantly disperses scores, outs and who's on first for your favorite MLB team.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 8 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm

Smartphone War Heats Up, Google Phones Still MIA

Google's mobile phone operating system, Android, made a big splash last year with the promise of many nifty phones from a slew of handset makers. But six months later, only one Android phone is on the market: the HTC G1. Other than that, Google phones are scarcer than cabinet nominees who pay their taxes.

Several major handset makers have claimed they have Android devices in the works, but phones running the OS were largely missing at last week's CTIA wireless trade show in Vegas and at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona last month. Apart from a handful a new models this year, it appears the majority of models won't be out until 2010.

"There is some loss of momentum in terms of perceived value, especially from a media and public perception point of view," says Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research.

So what's holding the Google phones back? Time to development, the lack of support from major U.S. carriers Verizon and AT&T, and some fears about how reliable Android is, say analysts.

Android is Google's attempt to enter the packed — but presumably lucrative — market for smartphone operating systems. Currently, that market is dominated by Apple's iPhone, Nokia's Symbian Series 60, Research in Motion's BlackBerry and Microsoft's Windows Mobile. Despite the economic slowdown, smartphones sales are expected to outpace the overall mobile industry growth and post double-digit annual revenue growth by 2011.

Getting a chunk of this market is important for Google because it allows the company to play in a market that will potentially be even bigger than the PC-centric web. With Android, Google is betting on an ambitious open source strategy that will put software written by it at the center of this business and help drive mobile access to its own apps.

This year, three or four new Android-based phones are likely to be on the market, including the HTC-manufactured Vodafone Magic. The touchscreen Magic will be similar to the G1 in looks, prompting some to dub it the "G2," though it lacks the G1's full keyboard.

Samsung will be the other major company to offer Android phones in 2009, launching an Android phone outside the United States in June and another one in the works for later this year. The company did not share any specific details about the devices. Struggling cellphone maker Motorola has also promised an Android phone toward the end of the year.

"I think the bulk of Android devices will come next year," says Chetan Sharma, a telecom analyst who has his own consulting firm.

The biggest promise of Android has been that it is a free and open platform that device manufacturers could take and customize to suit their own needs. Since its launch, a number of major handset manufacturers, including LG, Samsung, Motorola and Garmin, have said they are working on Android devices, hoping to slap the inexpensive OS onto their devices. The move could bring down their costs in the long run and offer smaller companies a chance to fight larger rivals such as Nokia and Research In Motion.

"Android is all about the long term payoff in terms of simplification of the platform and operating system for manufacturers," says Golvin. "But it you look at the G1, it is a very good device for a first effort. But it has some rough edges, which is a reflection of the software."

Compare that to Apple's iPhone OS, a closed and proprietary system that is about to go into its third version. The iPhone 3.0 OS is expected to be available this summer along with a new version of the device. The new iPhone will offer several interesting new features for users and developers, including global search and the ability to sell additional content through third party applications. The iPhone OS is also the de facto standard — because of its place in popular perception — for other manufacturers to better.

The longer it takes for Android devices to come to market, the more likely it is that developers and users will shift to competitors such as Apple, Research In Motion or even Palm. That's where Android faces the real threat.

One reason for the delay in new Android phones could be that it takes time for companies to customize a new platform to their needs.

"It's a completely new platform and it takes time to customize it to the hardware," says Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy for Los Angeles-based analytics firm Interpret.

To get the first Android phone out, Google appears to have focused on working with one handset maker, HTC, says Tim Bass, senior manager of strategy for Samsung Telecom America. "That created a bit of a gap for other companies," says Bass. "Now we are seeing equal support from Google for all devices."

LG, meanwhile, says it is looking at the Android platform, but the company says it has its hands full with new hardware that showcases its proprietary S-class 3-D user interface. "We are exploring Android but nothing's locked down yet," says Tim O'Brien senior director of marketing for LG Electronics Mobile U.S.

For other handset makers, such as Garmin and Asus, finding telecom carriers to pick up their Android devices won't be easy.

Major U.S. carriers — Verizon and AT&T in particular — aren't exactly clamoring for Android phones. The duo are not a part of the Open Handset Alliance, the group that advocates Android. And AT&T already has a runaway smartphone hit with the iPhone, while Verizon's BlackBerry Storm is a respectable success, too.

"The big carriers are worried that if they launch something that is not fully baked, they will have to risk an expensive recall of the devices," says Sharma. "It takes time to work out the kinks with any new operating systems, so it would be fair to say the major carriers are adopting a wait-and-watch attitude."

The next Android devices in the United States will be on T-Mobile and Sprint, the only two carriers that are part of the Open Handset Alliance. And Sprint's hands are pretty full for now with the upcoming Palm Pre phone. The Pre is expected to launch exclusively on the Sprint network by the end of June.

"Right now Sprint is very focused on Palm as a partner and has put most of its marketing dollars around it," says Golvin. "Even if there were an Android device waiting to be activated on the Sprint network, Sprint would probably say, 'let's hold off so we can get full bang for the buck from the Pre.'"

Still, all this is no reason to write off the Android, say analysts. "In the grand scheme of things, small delays are not going to take away from Android's attractiveness as a platform for handset makers," says Golvin.

Photo: HTC Magic/G. Photo Credit: Priya Ganapati/Wired.com.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 Apr 2009 | 5:56 pm

Neeris worm, a Conficker copycat, gaining momentum

Section: Computers, Security

Since the Conficker worm has been garnering all of the attention lately, its copycat version has remained virtually unnoticed.  However, the Neeris worm is taking advantage of the same flaws that has spread Conficker to so many PCs worldwide.  Neeris has been around since 2005, but the authors have released a new version this week that attacks the system in the same way as Conficker by taking advantage of Windows vulnerabilities.

Neeris is being spread mainly through the MSN Messenger system by users sending bad links.  Additional methods used to spread Neeris include an IRC bot and SQL server with weak passwords. It is currently being detected on systems as “Worm:Win32/Neeris.gen!C” and has also exploited the MS08-067 Windows flaw.  The authors took advantage of the April 1st attention placed on Conficker in order to launch the newest copycat version of Neeris.

You should use the same methods of protection for Neeris as for the Conficker worm.  Go to Microsoft and make sure that all of your patches are updated.

Read: [Internet News]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 8 Apr 2009 | 5:23 pm

iBone App: Sounds Lewd, But It's Not

Not to be confused with the other iBone iPhone app, this iBone simulates a trombone so you can groove out with your tube out (or maybe jazz out with your brass out?).

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 8 Apr 2009 | 4:56 pm

Rube Goldberg-esque art installation takes inspiration from Daft Punk

What happens when you combine the quirky craft room skills of a Japanese artist with the sensibilities of a UK film director? Animatic is a Rube Goldberg-esque moving art piece inspired in part by Daft Punk's Around the World music video (which, btw, was directed by Michel Gondry). Creators Yuri Suzuki, George Wu, and Sarah Gottlieb call it "craft punk"--think of it as a physically tangible promo video-esque installation, something that reformats digital video into an analog 3D art piece. Suzuki, a Tokyo native who now lives in London, used to work at the amazing Maywa Denki, which explains his penchant for creating nonsensical entertainment machines.

You can't tell by looking at a still photo, but a combo of a working turntable, animation techniques, and kinetics will take visitors on a crazy journey accompanied by the Silicon Teens singing Memphis Tennessee. First showing is on the 22nd of this month in Milan.

Previously, the team worked on Book of Orchestra, a bound hardcover that you can cut out real playable flutes from.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 8 Apr 2009 | 4:05 pm

Intel Atom celebrates birthday with two new brothers

Section: Computers, Hardware, Netbooks

The Intel Atom, the little netbook processor that could just celebrated its one year birthday.  As is standard in the tech industry, its one year birthday means the chip is going to be overshadowed by its newer, fancier brethren.  The current chip won’t be discontinued or anything, but there’s a good chance that the next class of netbooks will use the new Atom chips rather than the current one.

There were actually two additions to the Atom line introduced, the Z550 and Z515.  The Z550 is the one that we’ll see more often.  It runs at 2 GHz with Intel’s Hyperthreading Technology (its been a while since that was a major feature on a processor), and uses less than 3-watts of power.  The upgrade in speed is a nice surprise, though all it really needed was less power consumption for longer battery life which the Z550 does.

The Z515 is a strange chip, that will most likely be found in MIDs (mobile internet devices) somewhere down the line.  It will typically run at an under-clocked rate to save power and provide longer battery life.  However, it uses what Intel is calling Burst Performance Technology to run at 1.2 GHz when it is needed to.  Sounds like an interesting idea, though its hard to imagine anyone running into this chip as often as the Z550.

Intel is the obvious leader in processors for netbooks, and the new Atoms are just furthering their lead.  NVIDIA, ARM, AMD and Via are still working on their chips, which may prove more interesting than the Atom chips, but it might take a lot of work for anyone to take the netbook crown from Intel and the Atom.

Read [Wired]
Read [Intel Press Release]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 8 Apr 2009 | 3:17 pm

Stalagmites Reveal Rapid Sea Level Rise

Ancient stalagmites from a submerged cave show sea levels rise faster than expected.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Apr 2009 | 2:44 pm

Space Tourist Returns to Earth, Gets Long Kiss

A crew of three, including a U.S. space tourist, touch down safely in Kazakhstan.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Apr 2009 | 2:37 pm

Strong Sonar Causes Deafness in Dolphins

Blasts of sonar can cause a dolphin to temporarily lose its hearing, research shows.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Apr 2009 | 2:08 pm

Wild Chimps Exchange Meat for Sex

Female chimps are more likely to copulate with males if they are given meaty meals.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Apr 2009 | 2:00 pm

Leaked images hint at final iPhone OS 3.0 features. Video?

FROM APPLETELL - The final version of iPhone OS 3.0 may support OpenGL ES v2.0.  You likely don’t care or know what that means, so how about video?
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 8 Apr 2009 | 1:57 pm

Hands-On With Stanza Update: iPhone E-Books Get Even Better

Our favorite e-book reader for the iPhone, Stanza, has been updated. Already the best reader for the iPhone, the new version has had a major overhaul and gets a whole new look and feel. That the version number has only jumped to 1.8 is a surprise: The new Stanza feels like a v2.0 application.

There’s not really one standout change in Lexcycle’s update. Instead, a lot of small tweaks add together to make Stanza even better. We’ll take a quick tour of the screenshots and I’ll point out what is new.

First, and probably the most requested new feature is a book-wide search. Previously you could only search within a chapter. That had its uses, we guess, but full book search means that you can store copies of heavy textbooks in your pocket and fully explore and annotate them.

Annotate? Yes. Stanza already had a robust bookmarking system, allowing you to not just bookmark multiple positions but also to name those bookmarks. You can still do that, but now you can also just touch the corner of the page to set a mark. That’s it, and it will appear in the bookmark list. It’s as easy as turning the corner down on a real book, only it doesn’t leave a crease when you straighten it out again.

Stanza now has a dictionary, although you’ll need a network connection to use it. And while the implementation is good, the dictionary pages themselves are a little clunky. You can either go straight in from the main Stanza page, or press and hold a word in a book. You’ll then see this screen:

Tap “Define” and you’ll see this:

Actually, you won’t. The word “agrees” came back as non-existent, so I truncated it to the singular, which worked.

If you take a look at these pictures again, you’ll see another subtle new tweak. The bar the bottom shows how far you are through the book. This makes a big difference. With paper books this is easy, as you can feel and see how many pages you have left. This new bar brings that to the e-book.

There is also more info on progress when you tap the screen once:

Next, screen controls. You can, as ever, set the font size from within the app, but now you can also control brightness — another oft-requested feature. Stanza can’t actually set the system screen brightness, which is a shame, but it offers a neat workaround — it changes the font color to make things appear darker. The shot below shows the difference.

The best part is the way you control this: put one finger on the screen and drag up or down to brighten or darken the screen. Top marks.

There are seemingly hundreds more tweaks, from the all-new home screen with redesigned icons to cover art icons which cartoonishly pop into view with a squeezy animation, to the online cover art lookup, allowing you to browse for covers.

Even the cover flow view has been redesigned. It now looks and works much like the one in iTunes, and although it’s still not quite as smooth, its actually useful now. That’s it at the top of the post.

If you have never used Stanza, go download it now. If you are a user already, I imagine you rushed to the App Store as soon as you read the headline of this post. Stanza is hands-down the best e-book reader for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and its free. Go. Get it now.

Product page [iTunes]

See Also:

• Stanza Updated With Cover Flow, Online Libraries
• iPhone Beats Kindle in E-Reader Popularity Contest
• Interview: Stanza Brings Online Bookstore to the iPhone
• Free Software Turns the iPhone Into an E-Book Reader

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 Apr 2009 | 1:42 pm

Robot Gardener Plants, Tends and Harvests

Fruit without the fuss is the promise of a new robot being developed at MIT.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Apr 2009 | 1:17 pm

Rumor Redux: Storm 2 has Wi-Fi, better text input

So now some Dutch guy who seems to represent RIM in some vague sense now says that the Storm 2 will have an improved text input system, which seems to suggest a slide-out keyboard.

The new model will appear this or next year. We wrote about the rumor two days ago, so RIM must be hungry for press or this Dutch guy is clueless.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 8 Apr 2009 | 12:59 pm

E-Books for iPhone Get Even Better With Stanza Upgrade

Already Wired.com's favorite e-book reader for the iPhone, Stanza 1.8 gets even better with improved search, annotation, a dictionary and more.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 8 Apr 2009 | 12:42 pm

Hands-On With Stanza Update: iPhone E-Books Get Even Better

Our favorite e-book reader for the iPhone, Stanza, has been updated. Already the best reader for the iPhone, the new version has had a major overhaul and gets a whole new look and feel. That the version number has only jumped to 1.8 is a surprise: The new Stanza feels like a v2.0 application.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 8 Apr 2009 | 12:42 pm

Contraband-Carrying Cufflinks Neutered by Mawkish Hokum

These “Secret Message Cufflinks” unscrew to reveal two tiny scrolls, with “inspirational words” inside. What you don’t see in the picture is what is written all over them: “Lame, lame, lame.”

Seriously. What kind of wuss would wear a pair of cufflinks with these words inside?

“Born to be wild. Live to outgrow it” by Lao Tzu and “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do is in harmony,” by Mahatma Gandhi.

There are, at least, a couple of extra scrolls (read: small pieces of paper) included for you to add your own, manlier slogans. But what you should really be doing with these cufflinks, into which you could slip almost any small item, is carrying contraband. The obvious candidate is illicit substances, but anything would do. I’m actually considering getting some of these and keeping salt and pepper in there, but anything (anything!) would be better than the default options.

Actually, one thing would be worse: inspirational photos. Imagine a tiny picture of a cat dangling from a tree with the caption “Hang in there.” Sob. $50.

Product page [Red Envelope via Uncrate]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 Apr 2009 | 12:26 pm