Have you ever dreamt of sleeping with Steve Jobs?

Palm may have more Touchstone where that came from

Call the president! A Palm marketing manager let slip that Touchstone is a full family of near-field induction products and that the little Touchstone charger for the Palm Pre - basically that magnetic charger thing that you stick the Pre to in order to grab some juice - is just one of many products.

PreThinking posits that the Touchstone line could allow for inductive charging, data transfer, reasoning, and, in the future, pregnancy. They write:

Here’re a few accessories/things I can think of right now:

1) You know those stereo speakers where you plug the iPod/iPhone in and leave it there? For the Pre, you just leave it on top of these made for pre stereo speakers.

2) Touchstone USB dock, where you have this Touchstone charging dock lookalike. And basically have it plugged into your computer’s usb hub which acts as the connection between the Pre and your PC.

3) Have your Pre touch back to back with another pre, where it will transfer contact info and other data.

4) Walk into a Sprint store and place your Pre on this table, where it will give the Sprint reps some useful info to help better serve you.

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

Palm may have more Touchstone where that came from

Call the president! A Palm marketing manager let slip that Touchstone is a full family of near-field induction products and that the little Touchstone charger for the Palm Pre - basically that magnetic charger thing that you stick the Pre to in order to grab some juice - is just one of many products.

PreThinking posits that the Touchstone line could allow for inductive charging, data transfer, reasoning, and, in the future, pregnancy. They write:

Here’re a few accessories/things I can think of right now:

1) You know those stereo speakers where you plug the iPod/iPhone in and leave it there? For the Pre, you just leave it on top of these made for pre stereo speakers.

2) Touchstone USB dock, where you have this Touchstone charging dock lookalike. And basically have it plugged into your computer’s usb hub which acts as the connection between the Pre and your PC.

3) Have your Pre touch back to back with another pre, where it will transfer contact info and other data.

4) Walk into a Sprint store and place your Pre on this table, where it will give the Sprint reps some useful info to help better serve you.

MySpace To Launch Featured Apps Directory Next Week

Windows 7: 83% Of Businesses Won't Deploy Next Year - InformationWeek

UberGizmo

Windows 7: 83% Of Businesses Won't Deploy Next Year InformationWeek New data shows that the vast majority of corporate IT departments won't touch Microsoft's next OS until at least 2011. By Paul McDougall Microsoft may need to keep its Windows XP operating system around a little longer—at least for its deep-pocketed ... 84% of IT pros don't plan to upgrade to Windows 7 this year ZDNet Enterprises Not Scrambling for Microsoft Windows 7 Channel Insider Computerworld - eWeek - Microsoft Watch - Bizjournals.com all 32 news articles

Google Disables Uploads, Comments on YouTube Korea (PC World)

Google in the Middle [Voices]

Three truths:

1. Google is a middleman made of software. It’s a very, very large middleman made of software. Think of what Goliath or the Cyclops or Godzilla would look like if they were made of software. That’s Google.

Read the rest of this post

Does Google Really Control The News? [Voices]

Once again, Google is the favorite bogeyman responsible for the rapid deterioration in the health of the news industry. This time it is Nick Carr doing the finger-pointing, describing Google as the most powerful middleman in news:

Read the rest of this post

YouTube Riddled With Drug Cartel Videos, Messages [Voices]

The violence among Mexican drug cartels is not filling just the streets of Mexican border towns: It’s also spilling into gruesome online videos and chat rooms.

The videos on YouTube and Mexican-based sites are polished — professional singers croon about cartel leaders while images of murdered victims fade one into the next.

Read the rest of this post

Yet Another Reminder That Users Are in Charge: The DiggBar Backlash [Voices]

If you needed any further proof that this is an age driven by users much more than publishers, look no further than what’s happening right now with Digg.com, a site you probably think of as a stand-in for all that is user-generated, unedited and anarchic.

Read the rest of this post

IPhone Changes Dynamics of Game Software Industry [Voices]

Reporting from San Francisco — Only a few years ago, bigger guns, badder enemies and louder explosives mattered most in video games.

Now, small is beautiful, and Apple Inc.’s iPhone is largely responsible.

Read the rest of this post

Game Developers On Gold Selling

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Jill Sobule’s Internet-Funded Album “California Years” Debuts Tomorrow [BoomTown]

We consider Jill Sobule to be the musical muse of ATD–which we desperately need since we are obviously way, way too jacked into the matrix.

That’s precisely why we have the gifted singer-songwriter appear annually at our D: All Things Digital conference–to kick off each day’s sessions with one of her songs and, more to the point, add a lot of much-needed levity and non-techie soul to the proceedings.

And, tomorrow, Sobule’s Internet-funded alblum, “California Years,” produced by the legendary Don Was, debuts. I urge everyone to click the link here and get a copy–online, of course.

And by Internet-funded, I mean the $75,000 needed to produce the album was raised entirely through an innovative Web initiative Sobule ginned up in late 2007 via a site called Jill’s Next Record.

Sobule wrote about the effort several times in our Voices section, where you can read her asking for ideas here, about launching her fundraising site here and, finally, Sobule talking about the result here.

Sobule (pictured here in cartoon form)–whose big mainstream hit a few years ago was a much-better-than-hopelessly-dopey-Katy-Perry “I Kissed a Girl”–had worked her way through four record labels (she was dropped by two and two went belly-up) with six CDs.

Sick and tired of the way musical artists had their work funded, she essentially asked her fans to become her record label, writing on her site: “It would be a sort of patronage thing, where you guys are the Medici family, except I give you prizes for donations of certain amounts.”

The $1,000 “platinum” level, for example, got the donor a theme song and the $5,000 “diamond” level got a house concert by Sobule.

And what her fans are getting now in the completed album is superb–a sometimes funny, sometimes sad and always moving work. (My young sons cannot stop singing her perfect song, “San Francisco,” for example.)

As Sobule writes:

“‘California Years’ was written over the last three years, following my move to the West Coast. It was influenced by the sights and sounds of the Golden State, especially the seductive, but not always sunny Los Angeles. Maybe the next record will be ”The Utah Month” or “Back to Brooklyn.”

The whole thing was made possible by a small but mighty fan base. They gave me the love, encouragement and the dough to do this. I was truly surprised and so very grateful. This record is for them.”

Let’s cheer on efforts like Sobule’s and hope for a hit. Because hers is indeed a small but mighty effort, as all kinds of content creators try to figure out businesses in the new digital age, unafraid of the changes inevitably coming (AP might want to take notes about this).

Here is Sobule in a long interview on NPR last week (which you cannot embed, bad NPR!) and another video below on CNN about her digital project:

Embedded video from CNN Video

And here are two videos I did with her about the effort. The first has one of the songs on the new album called “Nothing to Prove” and the other an update on what she wants to do next, digitally and musically speaking:

Power On Self Test: God ★ Jesus

CrunchGear Week in Review: Robot Slide Edition

Ultimate staircase features built-in slide
Photo report: Japan’s KDDI au presents new designer brand for cell phones (iida)
Former Apple designer turns to grills
See Me, feel me, touch me, little robot
Adorable lost robots get where they’re going with human help

Conficker gotcha? Here's what you can do - Indianapolis Star

CTV.ca

Conficker gotcha? Here's what you can do Indianapolis Star It's the sleeping computer worm that was widely expected to wake up April 1 and mount some sort of an attack on the world -- or at the very least, an attack on the Internet that we all hold so dear. Conficker worm hits University of Utah computers The Associated Press Conficker Bug Hits University Of Utah Computers AHN TopNews United States - IT Business Edge - Tech Jackal - Post Chronicle all 158 news articles

Attunity Commences Rights Offering

"Star Wars: Musical Journey" out of this world

Source: Gizmodo | 13 Apr 2009 | 4:22 am

You Will Be Using FriendFeed In The Future — But It May Be Called Facebook

Last week, we wrote that FriendFeed was in danger of becoming “the coolest app that no one uses.” The thought was that while FriendFeed is doing some great things both in terms of its technology and feature-wise, it has failed to capture the growth of the hot micro-messaging service, Twitter. But I think that misses the real key comparison. If you look at it, FriendFeed is actually a lot closer to Facebook these days. You know, that service that 200 million plus people use. They’re doing a lot of similar things — only FriendFeed is doing them better.

Go ahead, take a look at the newly launched beta version of FriendFeed side-by-side with the recently redesigned Facebook. Sure, both also look a lot like Twitter, but look deeper, beyond the appearance and into the functionality. Both of the services’ main pages offer a stream of information, including information piped in from other services. Both have filters on the sidebar (though FriendFeed recently moved its from the left side — where Facebook’s are — to the right side). Both offer the ability to comment and “like” elements within the stream. And both offer the ability to hide information within the stream.

Now, use both services. Immediately, you’ll see what Facebook is trying to do: Show you an up-to-date look at what your friends are doing both on Facebook and around the web. But it’s not actually live — it’s static. You need to refresh the feed to get more information. FriendFeed, on the other hand, is updating in real-time.

At first, there was some backlash against this real-time updating on FriendFeed, with users complaining that there was too much information coming in, too quickly. But that talk has quieted down quite a bit in the week since its launch. And the real-time aspect has so far proven to be a boon for activity on the site. I’m looking at my FriendFeed stream right now compared to my Facebook stream — my FriendFeed stream has a lot more activity on it, despite Facebook having over 200 million users and FriendFeed likely having something south of a million users.

At a glance, FriendFeed feels alive, while Facebook feels, well, static.

Facebook plans to turn on real-time updates as well. But when it does, it could well be looking at another major backlash from users. If we saw a backlash against real-time on FriendFeed — which not only has much fewer users, but also has a user base that is considered to be full of “power” web users — just imagine what the backlash will be like on Facebook. It will be ugly.

And that’s why filters are so important. These allow you to show only certain updates from certain people on your stream. But again, FriendFeed has done a better job on them than Facebook has. Facebook has made it fairly easy to edit who is in what filter, but it’s still not obvious as to how to do that from a friend’s actual profile page. On FriendFeed, it’s obvious.

More importantly, FriendFeed has always made it easy to filter the stream not just by user, but by type of feed element. Facebook recently added this functionality, but it is much less tailored. For example, I can hide YouTube videos, but it will hide all YouTube videos. On FriendFeed, you can hide just YouTube videos from a certain user (but still get other updates from that user). And it’s easy to change those settings as any time. On Facebook, I have no idea how to do that.

And with these weaker filters (and a user base who isn’t accustomed to using them), when Facebook implements its real-time stream, a lot of information is going to go by without being noticed. That’s because while FriendFeed smartly brings elements back up to the top of the stream when a friend comments on or “likes” them, Facebook keeps them moving right on down the stream. This means that we’re not likely to see an 800+ comment stream below items like we saw the other day on FriendFeed during a live recording of the Gillmor Gang (yes, it was talking about FriendFeed, but still).

Obviously, Facebook is a lot more than just a stream of information — it’s the largest social network, with rich profiles, a robust application community, among many other things. But it’s also clear that Facebook wants to be the center of sharing information on the web. And right now, both Twitter and yes, FriendFeed are kicking its ass at that, in terms of execution.

Let’s jump back to Twitter for a second. A lot of people are caught up with the whole Facebook/Twitter comparison — and that probably includes those high up at Facebook (which failed in a bid to buy Twitter at the end of last year). It’s obvious that Facebook’s recent emphasis on status updates comes directly as a result in the surge in popularity of Twitter. It’s also clear that the large icons in the stream come from Twitter as well — something which I think is actually a mistake for Facebook, because the icons are far too large and make information intake even more difficult.

But I think it’s FriendFeed that Facebook should be more closely following, given what it wants to do with its service. That’s especially true when even more information starts coming into the site by way of Facebook Connect. Twitter has exploded in popularity because it’s so simple — but it’s far too simple for everything that Facebook want to do. But FriendFeed seems to be morphing into exactly what Facebook wants to be.

So the question I have now, is whether or not Facebook will copy these better features from FriendFeed? I think it will. After all, it had no problem borrowing the “like” feature, the importing of third-party stream elements, or the commenting functionality. (Sure, FriendFeed didn’t invent all of these, but they’ve been implemented on Facebook in nearly the exact same way they’ve been used on FriendFeed.) And if Facebook is able to follow that lead, 200 million plus users will essentially be using FriendFeed — just under the moniker of Facebook.

Unlike a lot of people out there, I believe Facebook is on the right track with its recent moves to centralize sharing on the web. But the redesign, in many ways, is half-baked. It needs to be executed better — it needs to be like FriendFeed.

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

Grad Student Project Uses Wikis To Stash Data, Miffs Admins

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New Cooliris Wall Application Enables Visual Navigation of Content From the Web and Desktop

Cooliris Nabs $15.5 Million in Funding, As It Upgrades Its 3D Wall [BoomTown]

Internet navigation browser plug-in maker Cooliris, which lets users “see” media on the Web in a more visual manner, has gotten $15.5 million in additional funding from its investors.

The new round includes Kleiner Perkins, Cooliris’ initial investor, as well as DAG Ventures, the Westly Group and T-Mobile’s T-Ventures.

Cooliris had already received $3 million two years ago from Kleiner.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based start-up is also releasing the latest upgrade to its 3D “wall” software out of beta, which adds more online content from around the Web, including from social networking sites like Facebook and from a user’s own hard drive.

The trend making the Web browser looks like a television screen and navigating information more visually is increasing all over the Internet, from video services like Boxee to visually-oriented search services like Searchme.

“We’re trying to discover, navigate and consumer more of the Web in the same amount of time, using visual means, than people do now through text links,” said Austin Shoemaker, Cooliris co-founder and CTO in an interview last week with BoomTown.

Launched last year with a plug-in called PicLens, Cooliris said that its software had been downloaded 10 million times and it had three million active daily users. It also has a popular iPhone version of its software.

Here are two more Cooliris screenshots, such as the one above (click on any of them to make them larger):

HP MediaSmart Server update streams your video to your iPhone

Section: Video, Portable Video, Communications, Mobile, Computers, Hardware, Software / Applications

HP’s MediaSmart Server is getting a software upgrade that will allow it to stream video to your iPhone or iPod touch.  The server will be able to take your DVDs and transcode them to a format that will play on portable devices like the iPhone and the PSP.  There’s one caveat—DVDs must not have copy protection.  If your DVDs are copied to your HP MediaSmart Server and they don’t have copy protection, the server will transcode those files for streaming. 

The sever will also handle other videos formats such as Dvix, DVR-MS (Windows Media Center recorded files), WMV, and more.  Also, original files will also be preserved.  The best thing is HP is not charging for this software update.  The iPhone and iPod touch app will also be free. 

The app is called the “iStream” and lets you stream your videos from your HP MediaSmart Server without syncing up.  You will also have access to your music and pictures.

The HP MediaSmart Server is available now for $599 (with 750GB of hard drive space) and for $749 (with 1.5TB of space). 

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

$20,000 for Mini-Golf With Rock Stars Is 'Totally Worth It'

Steven Levy on the Promise and Perils of Divorcing Your Cable Company

Now, I don't want to wind up in hell. But if that fate befalls me, I anticipate finding my cable provider roasting alongside me. In fact, cable television service in general has a reek of Hades about it. Consumers typically have only one cable company available to them, and that company often chooses its channel lineup based on business relationships instead of on what people want to watch. The customer service would shame Stalin. Plus, cable costs too much—and the price keeps rising.

So why not replace it with all the free video available on the Internet? After all, you can get new and old TV shows on the networks' Web sites, movies on Netflix (all-you-can-eat for subscribers), and everything else on YouTube. The problem is that television is really best watched on, well, a television. The canonical viewing position—horizontal—requires balancing a laptop on your belly.

Enter Boxee, an open source application that, according to CEO Avner Ronen, strives to be the Firefox of video. The global browser funnels all that Internet content, as well as media you've downloaded, to your television. Though Boxee is still in its early stages, a couple hundred thousand head-firsters have already checked it out, most of them using the otherwise superfluous Apple TV box as the conduit for getting online content to the boob tube.

I wanted in.

Installing Boxee on a computer is straightforward. But running it on an Apple TV requires a bit of perseverance. You have to copy the software to a flash drive that can boot up the Apple TV. After a restart, Boxee pops up in the menu choices. But when I selected it, my screen briefly displayed an Apple logo sliced in half, then went black. The fallback method uses a laptop to access the Apple TV's operating system and paste in code to reprogram the device.

To my astonishment, this worked.

Boxee is alpha software, so it's hard to assess its features fairly. The social networking that's built in, which lets you see what your friends have watched, looks promising. And the clean interface lets you surf through not only your own media collection but also online video sources like CBS.com, CNN.com, and Hulu, as well as audio providers like NPR.org. What I really wanted to do was watch 30 Rock, so I selected Hulu from the Internet Videos menu, then chose the most recent episode. Too bad you can't do this anymore. Hulu has since asked Boxee to remove its service, much to the chagrin of couch potatoes everywhere. Thankfully, other video purveyors aren't so short-sighted.

If services like Boxee are to live up to our hi-def dreams, they won't just need content providers to let them grow. They will also require broadband access with more speed and reliability than most people have now. Unfortunately, most of us connect to the Internet via cable or telecom companies that are also in the business of selling video.

It's hard to imagine these companies cutting themselves off by making it easy to get broadband without television. "At the end, I don't think cable is going away," admits Boxee's Ronen, even as his service shows how easy it would be for cable to disappear. It makes sense to use the Internet as another way to distribute ad-supported content for free while letting users subscribe to premium services separately. Platforms like Boxee would allow anyone to distribute a TV channel, without begging or buying permission from the cable, telecom, and satellite czars.

Sounds good to me. And if the monopolists use their power to stave off progress, you know where I'll see them.

Email steven_levy@wired.com.

Digital Tools Reshape Colombian Farming Town

Berlín, Colombia, is an onion town; the pungent aroma hangs over the surrounding fields. Almost as pervasive as the green stalks shooting up from the ground are the mobile phones found in the hands of its almost 1,000 residents.

The town is removed from modern life, but wireless communications and media introduced by outside companies are haphazardly thrusting the campesinos into the present, and on to the future.

Wired.com photographer Bryan Derballa reports from an isolated farming community coming to terms with videogames, the internet and global communication.

Left: Most of Berlín's residents survive on growing and harvesting green onions. Farmers tend the fields by hand, as they have for generations — farming green onions requires little equipment, which means the practical demand for technology in the village has been low.

Recently, various forms of electronic entertainment and digital diversions have sprouted in Berlín. Compartel, a telecommunications company funded by the Colombian government, established hundreds of broadband internet centers in rural areas of the country, including Berlín.

The town's internet center uses eMacs with the first incarnation of OS X. They are all equipped with Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera, as well as games for those who can't get their hands on an Xbox controller. Computer usage costs 1500 pesos (60 cents) an hour. The center uses two small satellite dishes to obtain Wi-Fi for its eight computers.

Berlín sits on a bumpy highway that winds through the eastern countryside from Bogotá to the Venezuelan border at Cúcuta.

Mostly a checkpoint for military police to look for cars trafficking cocaine, the town is hours away from any city of considerable size — just a blip along Highway 66. Like many rural towns around the world, the village struggles to maintain an identity for itself in the 21st century.

A farmer wearing a traditional wool poncho composes a text message. He works the same land as his father and grandfather, but communicates instantly on a global network.

Every boy 13 and under in Berlín is preceded by the clinking sound of smooth glass in his pockets. As soon as school lets out, multiple games emerge in the dirt roads surrounding the town square.

The biggest attractions in the internet center are easily the Xbox and Playstation 2. Kids pay 1,000 pesos (40 cents) an hour to play. Many of these boys can move seamlessly from marbles to Halo 3.

A stall selling mobile phones also deals bootleg DVDs. Many of the films for sale were playing concurrently in theaters in the United States, like Gran Torino and Australia. For 2,000 pesos or 80 cents, one can buy a burned DVD with an elaborately inkjet-printed insert, complete with unofficial DVD cover and blurb in Spanish.

Like the films sold in Berlín, most games are bootlegs as well. Titles scribbled in permanent marker on popular discs include GTA: San Andreas, Conflicto: Global Terror, FIFA 2007 and WWE Smackdown.

Two of the main tiendas in town house video poker and other gambling games. Men feed the machines their pesos, watch the spinning icons on the screen and tap light-up buttons with hopes of doubling their money. In addition to billiards and an exploding version of horseshoes, video poker is one of the few diversions available to men in Berlín.

Although it's primarily young people that use the computers, a number of adults log on to communicate with family living abroad. Some are beginning to get on Facebook, but most sign onto Hotmail and chat using MSN Messenger.

Cars light up the highway that passes through Berlín after spiraling up lush green hills and cutting across smooth yellow fields.

April 13, 1953: Bond Starts Shaking Things Up, Stirring His Fans

1953: British publishing house Jonathan Cape publishes Ian Fleming’s first novel, Casino Royale, introducing the world to literature's most famous spy: James Bond, 007.

The son of a parliamentary minister and grandson of a Scottish financier, Fleming grew up in a wealthy London family. Educated at Eton and prestigious military schools, Fleming worked as a journalist and junior editor for Reuters and was stationed in pre–World War II Moscow.

Fleming then returned to London to work as a stockbroker. But global conflict loomed and the director of naval intelligence, Rear Adm. John Godfrey, recruited Fleming to serve as his personal assistant. During his intelligence carer, Fleming would rise to the rank of commander, planning operations for an elite team of British commandos, the 30 Assault Unit.

Though his desk-bound duties laid the foundation for his espionage fiction, they kept Fleming out of the field. When he turned to writing after the war, he poured that frustration into his fictional alter ego — making sure Bond was always in on the action. Searching for a moniker that seemed British without sounding too dramatic, Fleming chose his MI6 hero's name from the author of the book, Bond's Birds of the West Indies.

It was not the first spy novel, but Casino Royale would elevate the espionage genre into the elite levels of popular culture. Arthur Conan Doyle, William Le Queux and Joseph Conrad were only some of the accomplished authors who took a shot at spy fiction in decades previous . But, Fleming was the first to combine style and sexiness with the dangerous world of espionage.

(Spoiler alert: Plot summary follows.)
Casino Royale sends Bond to France on an assignment to confront master gambler Le Chiffre. The Soviet agent embezzled Soviet money to start a failed chain of brothels, and he needs to win a high-stakes baccarat game to repay his Russian bosses. If Bond can defeat Le Chiffre on the tables, his superiors in London hope Smert' Shpionam (SMERSH, the KGB's revenge division — literally "Death to Spies") will kill Le Chiffre.

Aided by the beautiful Vesper Lynd (secretly a Soviet agent herself), Bond beats the villain at cards. But, Le Chiffre captures 007, torturing and almost castrating him before a SMERSH assassin finally kills Le Chiffre. Bond recovers with Lynd and plans to quit Her Majesty's Secret Service and live happily ever after with Lynd. That's a big change for the all-business literary Bond, as he has no time for women when introduced.

When Lynd thinks SMERSH has targeted her for assassination, the double agent commits suicide — leaving Bond a heartfelt love note to explain her betrayal. His romantic illusions shattered, Bond returns to duty with MI6. His short report into London is also one of the great closing lines of any novel: "The bitch is dead now."
(Spoilers end here.)

Compared to later Bond novels and especially to the films, Casino Royale is not gadgetcentric.

After the book’s successful British launch, American Popular Library retitled Casino Royale in the United States as You Asked For It. The novel (and Fleming's sequels) were not successful stateside until President John F. Kennedy included From Russia with Love (Fleming's sixth novel) on his list of favorite books.

The book inspired two movies (a comedy in 1967 and 2006's reboot with Daniel Craig) and a bleak television production in 1954.

Fleming would go on to pen 12 Bond novels and nine short stories overall, in addition to the children's classic, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. After witnessing the early stages of Bond's emergence into movies, he died of a heart attack in 1964 at the age of 56.

Last year marked Fleming's 100th birthday, which was celebrated with a series of special events throughout the U.K.

Source: Ian Fleming: The Man Behind James Bond, by Andrew Lycett

Ask a Flowchart: Which Blowhard Am I?

Winer: AP; Godin: John Abbott; Anderson: Gabriela Husbun; Carr: William Taylor; All Other Images: Getty Images

Did Amazon Really Fail This Weekend? The Twittersphere Says Yes, Online Retailer Says “Glitch” [MediaMemo]

Last fall, a small but vocal group of Twitterers managed to shame Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) into apologizing for one of its Motrin ads.

This weekend’s replay: A howl of outrage, amplified and directed via Twitter at Amazon (AMZN), which may or may not have instituted a boneheaded policy  regarding “adult” books on its site. Or “adult” books aimed at gay and lesbian readers. Or something.

What happened? It’s not clear. But search for “#amazonfail” on Twitter and you’ll find that many Twitterers believe that Amazon has stripped the sales rankings from all manner of books that deal with gay and lesbian, and/or “adult” topics, making them less likely to appear on the site. In essence, the Twittersphere charges Amazon of trying to hide material it finds distasteful, or that it thinks some of its customers will find distasteful.

Example: Amazon’s listing for Annie Proloux’s “Brokeback Mountain” doesn’t have a sales rank. But the author’s newest book does have one.

From what I can tell, the meme started up on Saturday, but didn’t start building steam until Sunday afternoon, when I noticed mild-mannered types like New Yorker writer Susan Orlean railing about Amazon on Twitter.

And it’s still going. As I type this, after 10pm eastern, on Sunday night, the “amazonfail” keyword is generating a dozen hits on Twitter’s search page every couple of seconds.

Amazon hasn’t helped its case by remaining more or less mute throughout the weekend. But, by Sunday evening, the retailer had issued the same line to me and several other reporters: “We recently discovered a glitch to our Amazon sales rank feature that is in the process of being fixed.  We’re working to correct the problem as quickly as possible.”

Not a terribly illuminating response, and I’ve asked for more information. But no matter what really happened, Amazon now has real problem on its hands: A vocal group of people believe the retailer has discriminated in some way against gays and lesbians.

When Johnson & Johnson got caught in the Twitterstorm last fall, it had a relatively easy way out: A profuse apology to people it had offended. But Motrin has a very specific customer base, and Amazon has a much broader one, and anything it says or does regarding gays, lesbians and “adult” material of any stripe is bound to upset some people.

But it should do the right thing and clear the air, anyway.

MySpace To Launch Featured Apps Directory Next Week

MySpace has announced that it is planning to launch a new “Editor’s Pick” category in its application directory next week, allowing members to quickly sift through the platform’s best apps. MySpace had previously shown a handful of featured apps as users browsed its Apps Directory, but these rotated and there was no way to browse through them. Now, users will be able to access a stable list of the best apps as determined by a team of MySpace employees who work with the applications on a daily basis (all apps will be chosen by merit, not through paid sponsorships).

MySpace is beginning to accept submissions from developers today, which can be sent in by following these instructions:

If you’d like to be considered for this category, please send an email to developerrelations(at)myspace dot com. Include “Editor’s Pick Category” in the subject line, and provide a reason why you feel your application should be in the spotlight and why your application stands above the rest. Be sure to include the a 200 character description and an 128×128 icon image.

Since social networks began to offer support for third party applications (a trend that began with the launch Facebook Platform in May 2007), one of the biggest issues facing users has been weeding out the best applications from the countless spammy and useless apps available. Last summer Facebook announced that it was going to launch a Verified Apps program that would offer approved applications extra exposure and benefits not afforded to standard apps.

We’re still waiting. In November Facebook announced that it would charge a $375 fee for developers to apply - a fee that we likened to a protection racket. To make matters worse, Facebook is running behind on the program (which was supposed to launch ‘early this year’), and developers are getting antsy.

At this point it’s unclear how similar MySpace’s Editor’s Picks will be to Facebook’s Verified Apps program - the MySpace program is certainly less structured that Facebook’s, and I suspect it won’t be nearly as comprehensive. But it’s still something that lets members know that the applications they’re using can be trusted.

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

Platform Computing to Open Cloud Computing Innovation Centre in Singapore

Volunteers Recover Lunar Orbiter 1 Photographs

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ad Network Collective Media Secures $20 million In Series B Funding

Online ad network Collective Media has secured $20 million in Series B funding led by Accel Partners and iNovia Capital. Collective Media offers publishers an ad network management platform to create their own branded, vertical ad networks. The company raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding, led by Greycroft Partners and iNovia Capital, in October 2007.

Launched in 2005, the company provides technology products that let publishers use advance audience targeting, manage ad networks, and access analytics. Collective Media says it will utilize the new funds to grow its network, develop new technology, expand internationally and explore acquisitions. Last year, Collective purchased contextual ad targeting company Personifi for an undisclosed amount (though there were reports that they paid “eight figures” for the Personifi).

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

Source: Gizmodo | 13 Apr 2009 | 12:18 am

Welcome To TechCrunch, MG Siegler

Tomorrow TechCrunch welcomes MG Siegler as a full time writer and our newest hire (pictured to the right of Marshall Kirkpatrick, a former TechCrunch writer). He joins us from VentureBeat, where he created quite a following for himself by writing interesting, timely posts on the current technology trends. In fact, in just two years of solid blogging he’s become one of the top twenty most productive tech bloggers. Obviously, we are pleased as punch to add him to our team.

MG is a hard worker, and writes both quickly and well (a rare combination). Combine that with a certain level of competitiveness and you’ve got a winner. He’s also very much a part of the startup and technology community here in Silicon Valley.

He maintains a personal blog at ParisLemon, where frankly I think some of his best articles have been posted. He’ll continue to write on ParisLemon, but I’ve asked him to bring more of that personal style and opinions into his TechCrunch writing as well. I think you’ll like what you see.

MG joins Erick Schonfeld, Sarah Lacy, Jason Kincaid, Robin Wauters and Leena Rao (and myself) as the team writing most of the content you see here on TechCrunch. Look for his first posts soon.

You can read VentureBeat’s sendoff here, and get MG’s take on his new job here. Welcome, MG!

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

Source: TechCrunch | 13 Apr 2009 | 12:17 am

Amazon Culls "Offensive" Books From Search System

Miracle Jones writes "Amazon has instituted an overnight policy that removes books that may be deemed offensive from their search system, despite the sales rank of the book and also irrespective of any complaints. Bloggers such as Ed Champion are calling for a 'link and book boycott,' asking people to remove links to Amazon from their web pages and stop buying books from them until the policy is reversed. Will this be bad business for Amazon, or will their new policies keep them out of trouble as they continue to grow and replace bookstores?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2009 | 11:53 pm

The Low-Intensity, Brute-Force Zombies Are Back

Peter N. M. Hansteen writes "In real life, zombies feed off both weak minds and the weak passwords they choose. When the distributed brute-force attempts stopped abruptly after a couple of months of futile pounding on ssh servers, most of us thought they had seen sense and given up. Now, it seems that they have not; they are back. 'This can only mean that there were enough successful attempts at guessing people's weak passwords in the last round that our unknown perpetrators found it worthwhile to start another round. For all I know they may have been at it all along, probing other parts of the Internet ...' The article has some analysis and links to fresh log data."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Gizmodo | 12 Apr 2009 | 9:19 pm

Time Warner Transfer Caps May Inspire Fair-Price Legislation

Time Warner's recently announced plan to expand their broadband transfer caps to new markets drew heavy criticism, which prompted their attempt to smooth things over with a ridiculously expensive "unlimited" plan. That wasn't enough for New York Representative Eric Massa, who now says he will draft legislation to "curb tiers, particularly in areas where a broadband provider owns a monopoly on service." Massa said, "Time Warner believes they can do this in Rochester, NY; Greensboro, NC; and Austin and San Antonio, Texas, and it's almost certainly just a matter of time before they attempt to overcharge all of their customers," adding, "I believe safeguards must be put in place when a business has a monopoly on a specific region."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Gizmodo | 12 Apr 2009 | 9:00 pm

Apple hosts 1 Biliion App Countdown

FROM APPLETELL - It’s no surprise that Apple will soon sell their one billionth application through the iTunes App Store. However, the way they are celebrating it is sort of neat, and something we don’t often see from Apple.
MORE »

Source: Gizmodo | 12 Apr 2009 | 8:30 pm

Would you like an "OpenBar?"

DiggBar is a useful toolbar that Digg puts on top of sites linked to from its index, to make it easy to Digg them. Unfortunately, it also manipulates the web to Digg's advantage, because it's also a frame that wraps the real site, hiding the URL and encouraging visitors to stay at Digg.

People have figured out how to block it, and John Gruber's keeping track of anti-DiggBar plug-ins for each major blogging and content management system. This is excellent work, but wouldn't it be cool to use this as an opportunity for site owners to turn these framing games to their own advantage?

OpenBar is just an idea, but I think it would be easy to implement. This is what it does:

• Detects incoming referrers from major social bookmarking sites like Digg, especially attempts to frame your site.
• Blocks the bar or frame, just like current anti-DiggBar scripts.
• Replaces it with its own inline toolbar, which replicates the functionality of the DiggBar in a friendlier form.

For example, it would be inserted into the real web-page as a HTML < div > instead of wrapping it in a frame; allow the site owner choose what social networking buttons to use; and provide automatically-generated links to encourage visitors to visit more stuff at your site.

A good idea, or should the world just block the damn thing and have done with it?

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 12 Apr 2009 | 8:12 pm

Gaming Industry Seeks Big Returns From Micro Payments

Micro payments are playing an increasingly important role in generating revenue for the gaming industry amid a downturn in advertising profits.Indeed, a recent poll at the GamesBeat conference in San Francisco found that 66% of those surveyed "were excited about this growing trend," something typically seen in so-called 'free to play' games.In free to play games, developers instead sell items or different levels within the gaming experience."Micro payments have been proven to work very well in the far east, Korea and China," said Dean Takahashi from VentureBeat, which organized the GamesBeat conference, told BBC News."Initially they took off there because there is such a big problem with piracy and with a micro transaction, you can always verify the credit card transaction or the payment system so you are assured people will pay up.”"The big test is whether North American gamers, the biggest market, are really going to go for this or not," Mr.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 12 Apr 2009 | 8:11 pm

Can rev="canonical" Replace URL-Shortening Services?

Chris Shiflett writes "There's a new proposal ('URL shortening that doesn't hurt the Internet') floating around for using rev="canonical" to help put a stop to the URL-shortening madness. In order to avoid the great linkrot apocalypse, we can opt to specify short URLs for our own pages, so that compliant services (adoption is still low, because the idea is pretty fresh) will use our short URLs instead of TinyURL.com (or some other third-party alternative) replacements."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2009 | 7:40 pm

Zune HD: Is now the right time for Microsoft?

Section: Audio, Portable Audio, Video, HDTV, Portable Video, Video Providers, Gadgets / Other, Features, Originals

We all know that Apple is the obvious leader and a pioneer in MP3 player innovations.  They have enjoyed that seat for many years now, meeting limited competition.  No matter what other companies such as Samsung, Microsoft, SanDisk, Sony, Archos and others create, Apple is still the favored brand in the eyes of the consumer.  A few days ago, Engadget had received some artwork claiming to be the newest member of the Microsoft Zune lineup, the Zune HD.  Without specs, all we had to go on was the name and pictures.  Many are claiming that the Zune HD is the real deal and not just some person playing around with Photoshop and coming out with something that looks good.

Just by the name of it, the newest Zune would obviously come with HD playback.  With today’s advanced technology, it does make sense for a player to come with HD playback, but of course, there are many factors that dictate the success of such a player.  I’ll admit it right now, I like to support the underdog so in this case I would want the Zune HD to succeed, but I have to think about the timing.  Is now the right time for the Zune HD? 

Why they should launch the Zune HD as soon as possible

No matter what type of device Microsoft creates, they never seem to hit the magic formula Apple is able to consistently hit.  Don’t get me wrong, they create some respectable products, but Apple has always been one above them.  Microsoft has long enjoyed the popularity of Windows, but even that is coming back down fast.  Microsoft needs to bolster their reputation in the MP3 player department, otherwise the Zune can be considered a waste.  The only way to do better than Apple is to design a product that meets the public’s needs in an affordable manner.  The device they release should contain features that the leading iPod does not.  For instance, if Microsoft were to launch a Zune HD, it would already contain features that the iPod does not, HD playback. 

In addition, rumor has it that it will be a touch device, with only one button, and it will be smaller than the iPod Touch in terms of size, but right up there in capacity.  I imagine there to be Wi-Fi connectivity as well as a built-in browser, again, similar to the iPod Touch.  In terms of availability, word is floating around that it will be available sometime in September-October.  A Fall release would mean it after all the Palm Pre hype as well as iPhone 3.0 software hype, and the hype of the T-Mobile launch event.  However, the timing could conflict with something, which I will get to in the next part. 

Why Microsoft should hold off on the launch of the Zune HD

The main concern here is with the launch of all the phones, Microsoft making Windows 7 available and ready to go, as well as the possibility of there being a new iPod in September, a Zune HD could get lost in the shuffle.  The whole idea is to go head-to-head with Apple, but if the Zune HD will not be ready in time due to Microsoft’s focus being divided among other products, then there is no point in producing a product that is not game-ready.  Microsoft needs to product the best Zune they can, containing all of the necessary components that make a superb MP3 player. 

Now, you have to consider that with the emergence of the Palm Pre sometime soon, the iPhone 3.0 software, and the T-Mobile private launch event, consumers are going to be purchasing either a Pre, an iPhone, or a new T-Mobile G2.  Would they want a Zune HD on top of it all?  Especially if they have a good working iPod/Zune already?  The worst thing Microsoft can do is release the Zune HD right after Apple either releases a totally new iPod or upgrades an old one.  If Apple chooses not to create a new device, or upgrade an old one heavily, then the timing would be right for Microsoft to go ahead.  However, the summer looks to be an interesting one with all these new gadgets in a slumping economy.  Companies, especially Microsoft, are going to have to play their cards exceptionally well in order for their respective products to succeed. 

I, for one, can’t wait to see what Microsoft will do with the Zune HD, hopefully they release some details soon, because they really have started getting people excited.  It may just be the ticket Microsoft has been looking for all these years. 

Read [Engadget]
Read [Technologizer]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Apr 2009 | 7:08 pm

The Perils of Pointless Innovation In Games

Negative Gamer is running a story discussing the need felt by the major game developers to create the next huge blockbuster, which often leads to innovation and change for their own sake rather than simply focusing on what makes a game fun. Quoting: "There seems to be this invisible pressure to create something that is highly 'intuitive' and incorporates the highest level of innovation that we have ever seen. The problem is that the newest ideas put into games are either gimmicky, terrible in execution, or blatantly ripping off another title. On the other hand there are series that feel the need to completely revamp a game that played perfectly fine before into something completely new that falls flat on its face. ... There's a critical problem with popular, mainstream video games that isn't as large with other mediums; they are expensive to make and require a lot of time and effort put in to create something masterful. With that, games must take cautious paths. I fully understand the risks, but adding unneeded material to certain games is not justifiable."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2009 | 6:11 pm

Startup embeds Web photos with shopping links (AP)

AP - Inspiration comes in many forms, and in the case of James Everingham, it appeared as a pair of knockoff Christian Dior shoes.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 12 Apr 2009 | 5:11 pm

Microsoft and Yahoo once again in talks

Section: Business News, Web, Google

Back in 2008 it seemed we couldn’t do anything about hearing something about Microsoft buying up Yahoo.  The deal never worked, possibly because of then Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang who seemed to dislike the idea.  But, Yahoo now has a new CEO, Carol Bartz, and it seems she might be more open to the idea of being bought by Microsoft.

According to unnamed sources in both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, Microsoft and Yahoo are once again in talks.  The talks may not be for a full buyout as the earlier ones were, but for a potential partial buyout.  Microsoft could potentially just end up turning over its Internet display functions to Yahoo, and let Yahoo take control of both its and Microsoft’s online ad display.  It could potentially make Microsoft and Yahoo a stronger opponent to Google in the Internet search advertising market, which is owned and dominated by Google.

Even if the ideas being floated now are for partial buyouts or partnerships, both companies may need them to compete.  Google has such a commanding lead in Internet search and advertising, that just trying to improve on what Google does isn’t working out too well for Microsoft and Yahoo.  The two might need these possible ideas to work out if they want to really compete.  Even if the two do combine their efforts, it remains to be seen if they could still compete with Google.  With so many services that Google offers, its sometimes just easier to use Google because its right there at the top of the page when using all of them.  Although, maybe Microsoft and Yahoo can work on some cloud computing to compete with Google, which might draw some users away from Google.

Read [Information Week]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Apr 2009 | 5:08 pm

Easter Sunday

Above, the song I listen to every year on this day, from the great Patti Smith. The video quality of this fan-shot live footage is horrible, but the sound is tolerable, and it's the only embeddable version of this beautiful track I could find online. Here's the album, one of the five I'd pack on a spaceship if I were headed to the offworld colonies: Patti Smith / EASTER. (CD + MP3 via Amazon)

Source: Boing Boing | 12 Apr 2009 | 4:52 pm

So Hot Right Now: Top 10 Gadgetell posts for the week of April 05, 2009

Section:

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

• Gadgetell Guide: The best ways to get HD television over the air
  “A downright awful economy probably means some cutbacks in your own home.  Plenty of folks have suggested dropping your cable or satellite television service.  I totally agree. Can you cut the cable? First take…” MORE »
• Microsoft confirms that Windows 7 users will be able to downgrade to XP
  “Microsoft has confirmed that users of the new Windows 7 will be able to downgrade to either Vista or XP. Downgrade rights will be open through the company’s PC partners, including HP.  This will allow users that are more comfortable with Vista or…” MORE »
• Amazon starts selling Archos 2, Archos leaks Archos 4
  “Recently, Archos silently made a new PMP, the Archos 2 available on Amazon, and they leaked some information about another PMP, the Archos 4.  The Archos 2 is available for pre-order on Amazon in the United States, while it…” MORE »
• Pogoplug now shipping
  “The Pogoplug, a device that lets you get to the stuff on your hard drive through the internet, and one of Gadgetell’s favorite things at CES, is now shipping to US customers. So, if you pre-ordered it, your wait is finally over.…” MORE »
• Microsoft to drop mainstream support for Office 2003 April 14th
  “Microsoft has announced that as of April 14th, it will no longer offer mainstream support for Office 2003.  This means users of the application will no longer receive free non-security hotfixes or other support.  However, Office 2003 users will still continue to receive security…” MORE »
• Palm Pre stars in Sprint TV spot: But is it ready for its close up?
  “Last night, Sprint aired a new commercial touting its “Now Network”: the most dependable 3G and the new 4G network.  The spot used humor, was well done and featured…” MORE »
• Twitter without all that annoying typing: TweetCall
  ” 140 characters got you down?  Need to tweet while driving around and don’t feel like causing an accident?  Here’s a solution: TweetCall. TweetCall bridges the gap from your life on Twitter, the social…” MORE »
• Rumor: Wi-Fi equipped BlackBerry Storm 2 set for September release
  “Assuming the rumors are accurate, then it looks like we will be able to check off one of the biggest complaints that mobile phone users geeks have had about the BlackBerry Storm—the lack of Wi-Fi.  This information is reported to have come from a source that is…” MORE »
• Microsoft to reportedly keep XP alive for another year
  “Interestingly enough, XP was supposed to die by May 30 of this year, yet reports indicate that Microsoft is going to allow HP to continue using XP in their computers until April 30, 2010. …” MORE »
• Convertible-style Asus Eee PC T91 tablet shows up at the FCC
  “We first got a good look at the Eee PC T91 tablet back at CES, however since then any release information has remained a…” MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Apr 2009 | 4:32 pm

DXG goes after sporty types with the DXG-125V

Section: Imaging, Camcorders

There are plenty of little pocket camcorders these days.  DXG is trying some things to differentiate themselves from the competition.  Take a look a the DXG-125V.  This is a HD camcorder that is meant for sporty types.  DXG did some research and found out that their users are very active people. 

The 125V is meant for those people.  The device has the words “Weather Proof” emblazoned on it because it is resistant to water and dust proof.  The exterior is also coated in rubber so it won’t slip out of your hands. 

When I got a chance to mess with the camera, it was very light and definitely felt like something you could just throw in your backpack.  It is not going to replace a full fledged camcorder, but it definitely seems up to shooting quick clips or B roll.  DXG has also thrown in an MP3 player and voice recorder in the 125V.  Watching video on your TV is also simple since the device has an HDMI out that works with an included cable. 

It records at 720P resolution at 30 fps and will be available in 3 colors: red, olive green, and ice camouflage.  The DXG-125V will cost $99.99 and will be out in July, 2009.  Expect to see the device in the usual retail chains and also in places like Dick’s Sporting Goods since DXG is going after active folks. 

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Apr 2009 | 3:29 pm

Machinima and copyright law conference at Stanford, Apr 24-25

Lauren sez,

PLAY MACHINIMA LAW

DATE: April 24-25, 2009
LOCATION: Stanford Law School

Register now.

Machinima.
...It has been hailed as the art form of the 21st century.
...It is redefining music videos.
...And reinventing the videogame.
...It might be the future of cinema.

But there's a catch: if you make machinima, you might be breaking the law.

Or are you?

Find out at Stanford University. "Play Machinima Law" from April 24-25, 2009. This two-day conference will cover key issues associated with player-generated, computer animated cinema that is based on 3D game and virtual world environments. Speakers include machinima artists/players, legal experts, commercial game developers, theorists, and more. Topics include: game art, game hacking, open source and "modding," player/consumer-driven innovation, cultural/technology studies, fan culture, legal and business issues, transgressive play, game preservation, and notions of collaborative co-creation drawn from virtual worlds and online games. Films will be shown throughout the conference, including: Douglas Grayeton's Molotov Alva and His Search for the Creator and Joshua Diltz' Mercy of the Sea.

REGISTER NOW: Play Machinima Law (Thanks, Lauren!)


Source: Boing Boing | 12 Apr 2009 | 2:41 pm

Appletell giveaway: PhotoSpot and Droste Effect for iPhone, iPod touch

FROM APPLETELL - This week, Appletell is giving away five copies of each of two photo related apps: Photo Spot by Nexx Studio, and Droste Effect by Gabe Jacobs Productions.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Apr 2009 | 2:22 pm

Germany to allow new thalidomide claims

Thalidomide victims once snubbed by the German government are being offered compensation for birth defects caused by the drug, officials say. The German family ministry has announced it will temporarily waive a 26-year-old ban on considering thalidomide relief claims from foreign countries until the end of 2010, thus enabling victims from around the world to collect damages on the drug formerly made by the German company Grunenthal, The Sunday Times of London reported. Germany since 1983 has rejected at least 100 thalidomide claims for being out of time, since Grunenthal stopped making the morning sickness drug in the 1960s when it was found to cause birth defects.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 12 Apr 2009 | 1:50 pm

Packard Bell unveils the 10.1, 11.6-inch Dot netbooks

Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Laptops, Netbooks

Despite pulling the 8.9-inch Dot netbook a few months back, it seems that Packard Bell is going to continue expanding in the netbook market.  Just recently they have announced two new models in the Dot lineup.  They have unveiled the 10.1-inch Dot S and the 11.6-inch Dot M.

Aside from the display size, both models have fairly similar specs which include 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and also multi-touch trackpads.  Additionally, they also have a built-in webcam and a 5-in1 card reader.  The Dot M will be powered by a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 processor which is slightly slower than the “default netbook” processor, but at the same time it should help to improve the battery life just a little.

As for pricing and availability, the Dot S is expected to hit the stores this week with the Dot M following later this month.  The Dot S is going to retail for 299 Euros (about $393 US) and the Dot M will come in a bit higher at 399 Euros (about $524 US), and judging from the pricing it does not look like we are going to see any US availability.

Overall, there seems to be nothing overly exciting about either of these models, except maybe for a slight bit of nostalgia.  I can remember having a Packard Bell way back when I thought a 486 was about as good as it could be, and yes I realize that may date me just a little.

Read [blogeee]  Via [Liliputing]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Apr 2009 | 1:23 pm

Volcano Erupts In The Galapagos

Officials announced on Saturday that the La Cumbre volcano in the Galapagos Islands is erupting again and could threaten the Islands' unique wildlife.The volcano, which has been quiet for 4 years, began spewing lava, gas and smoke on the island of Fernandina, which is uninhabited by humans.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 12 Apr 2009 | 12:37 pm

Hot gaming news for the week of 4-05-2009

Section:

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

• GameStop’s Game Days sale begins, let’s see the bargains
• Awesome Idea: Aeria’s Fun or Refund promotion
• Deal of the Day: Get Star Ocean 4 for Xbox 360 for $40
• Apple App Store gaming update for the week of March 30 - April 5, 2009
• Gamertell Review: Heileen for PC

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Apr 2009 | 12:16 pm

Conficker worm hits University of Utah computers (AP)

AP - University of Utah officials say a computer virus has infected more than 700 campus computers, including those at the school's three hospitals.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 12 Apr 2009 | 12:11 pm

HP Appeals Patent Ruling

On Friday, Hewlett-Packard announced that it has appealed a court decision in a patent dispute with Cornell University, and it expects to take a charge of one or two cents in the second quarter.The computer maker said it would appeal a March 30th ruling by a U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 12 Apr 2009 | 11:47 am

Germany Pushes For Greater US Emissions Decline

On Saturday, Germany's environmental minister warned that if Washington does not go beyond its current greenhouse gas cutting commitments, agreements on a new climate pact this year will prove difficult.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 12 Apr 2009 | 11:45 am

Rotting WWII junk in the jungles of Peleliu

Alex sez, "I recently had the chance to visit Peleliu island - a tiny 14 square miles of coral limestone in the middle of the Pacific. In 1944 it was the scene of one of the most ferocious battles in the Pacific War. Tons of the war stuff (tanks, guns, ruined buildings) lies out in the jungle, and I took a tour round, snapping some interesting photos and listening to stories (and weirdly, I discovered during writing the post that the battle was the origin of the phrase 'thousand yard stare')."

Unlike previous battles in the Pacific, the Japanese didn't place the entire emphasis of their strategy on defending the beaches - they fortified the island, in particular a mountain called Umurbrogol. The Japanese riddled Umurbrogol with a huge network of caves and tunnels from which to operate (this image shows a plan of one complex). Once they had completed their work, they evacuated the civilians, and waited for the Americans.

Below you scan see the entrance to one of the Japanese caves, and beneath that, a shot from inside, looking back to the entrance. The entrance itself probably isn't more than 3 or 4 foot high; inside the cave ceilings are slightly higher, although very uneven - but it's not a great place to be when, like me, you're 6 foot 2. It was a horrible place to spend 15 minutes, but caves like these were where the Japanese forces lived for the two month duration of the battle of Peleliu. Inside, you can still see discarded boots, bottles and bullets.

Thousand Yard Stares: Ruins and Ghosts of the Battle of Peleliu, 1944, 2008 (Thanks, Alex!)


Source: Boing Boing | 12 Apr 2009 | 11:34 am

drmfree tag for items on Amazon

David Rothman sez, "Fed up with DRM, Stephen Windwalker and I are tagging our books "drmfree" (no quotes in the actual tag). We're both authors of newspaper-related novels among other works, and in a TeleRead.org post we're encouraging writers of all kinds to do the same at Amazon's Kindle Store and elsewhere. Care to join in, Cory? What's more, we suggest that readers tag DRMless books on their own, when they find them at stores. The suggested tagging standard is 'drmfree' without any hyphen to muck things up. One reason for the tag is to make it harder for Amazon to take away your Kindle books, as happened to a customer who supposedly returned too many NONbook items. With DRM, you simply cannot own books for real. Lessen the threat by buying 'drmfree' books when possible. Again--no quotes on the actual tag."

I'm with David on this -- I wish I understood more about the DRM on the Kindle. I've been trying to find out for weeks, for example, what the story is with the "DRM-free" option for Kindle means -- is there a patent or contractual term that prohibits owners of Kindle DRM-free books from moving them to competing devices, or patents or other claims that prevents competitors from creating readers or converters for these books?

And, what, exactly, what the mechanism by which Amazon removes the "read-aloud" feature to comply with requests from the Authors Guild's members? Is that a firmware update to the device? A flag in the file-format? If the former, can users refuse the updates? If the latter, what other flags are there, and does buying a DRM-free Kindle file mean that they can't be switched on for you?

drmfree tag campaign starts on Amazon: Help identify safer-to-own books and other items! (Thanks, David!)


Source: Boing Boing | 12 Apr 2009 | 11:27 am

Billboards versus the attention economy: critical essay from 1960

Here's Howard Gossage's February 1960 Harpers essay, "How to Look at Billboards," in which he argues for the impending demise of billboard advertising due to zoning rules. Gossage, an advertising exec has some well-thought-through tactical advice for the paleo-adbusters of the 1960s:

Do you see why it is a mistake to attack outdoor advertising on aesthetic grounds? The row then becomes a matter of comparative beauty and one can go on haggling about that forever. In a sense the garden clubs have led us down the garden path. For when the girls insist that they shall never see a billboard as lovely as a tree it then becomes legitimate to consider all the things a billboard is lovely as. There are quite a few: ramshackle barns, flophouses, poolrooms, cheap lodgings for ancient ladies with orange-tinted hair. Since the world is absolutely stiff with arguably uglier objects it may be some time before the billboards come down; presumably the last billboard will stand on top of the last shack.

The other thing wrong with the aesthetic line of attack is its utter irrelevancy. It is like arguing that mice should be kept out of the kitchen because they don't match the Formica. What a billboard looks like has nothing to do with whether it ought to be there. Nor does the fact that it carries advertising have anything to do with it, either. It would be the same thing if it were devoted exclusively to reproductions of the old masters; just as the open range would have been the same thing if they had only run peacocks on it. The real question is: has outdoor advertising the right to exist at all?

...

Outdoor advertising is peddling a commodity it does not own and without the owner's permission: your field of vision. Possibly you have never thought to consider your rights in the matter. Nations put the utmost importance on unintentional violations of their air space. The individual's air space is intentionally violated by billboards every day of the year.

Got other citations to proto-manifestos about the attention economy?

How to look at billboards (via Kottke)

Previously:

• Billboard Liberation Front vs. ATT + NSA - Boing Boing
• Billboard Liberation Front and Wachovia Bank - Boing Boing
• Murakami takes graffitied Murakami billboard - Boing Boing
• Billboard alterations by "The Decapitator" - Boing Boing
• Billboard alterations by "The Decapitator" - Boing Boing
• Berkeley: Billboard Liberation Front at appropriation conference ...
• Ron English billboard mods in L.A. - Boing Boing
• Billboards measure decibel levels - Boing Boing
• Skullphone image inserted into ClearChannel digital billboard ads ...

Can't see the video? Click here

Source: Boing Boing | 12 Apr 2009 | 11:17 am

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