For example, one of many online now, here’s the 47-year-old Scottish woman–who bowled over everyone watching the TV show, “Britain’s Got Talent,” with an astonishing rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables”–in an interview on “The Early Show” on CBS (CBS) yesterday morning.
Try to ignore the cloying discomfort of the interviewers, who don’t know what to make of the anti-media stylings of Boyle, who can nonetheless sing like nothing else.
She does just that in the first clip, aiming to please to dopey CBS talking heads in a song she is going to have to sing a zillion times from now on.
And then, in the second, got to chat via phone with Broadway legend Patty LuPone, who first sang “I Dreamed a Dream.”
Of course, LuPone watched Boyle’s rendition via Google (GOOG) video service YouTube, and Boyle was genuinely thrilled to be talking to LuPone.
The YouTube official version of the original TV performance is now at 15.6 million views.
By Andrew Liszewski While the CellScope looks like a monstrous cameraphone zoom lens that you could only order from a website like Brando, it’s actually a clinical-quality microscope with a magnification... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 17 Apr 2009 | 12:28 pm
This trio of beauties shows China's forward-thinking vision of the iPhone Nano. Named the "HiPhone Nano", this mongrel knock-off combines the worst of all worlds.
The HiPhone Nano is a tri-band GSM clam-shell which actually packs a few features that the full-sized, authentic model doesn't. You get a sub-sized 1.3MP camera, but it does record video. There is also support for MMS (something Apple will have taken three iterations of iPhone to get right), a microSD card slot, handwriting recognition (yes, it has a touch screen when opened, below), an MP3 player (and recorder) and a stylus.
The price? A fantastically optimistic $400, with an instant reduction to a still rather steep $125. Available now in red, gold or silver.
Newspaper publisher and TV station owner Media General is reporting a wider first-quarter loss on a deepening slide in advertising revenue. The Richmond, Va., company also says it cut... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 17 Apr 2009 | 12:19 pm
Reuters - A Swedish court handed down a guilty verdict and a year in prison on Friday to all four defendants in a copyright test case involving The Pirate Bay, one of the world's biggest free file-sharing websites.
NEW YORK, April 17 (Reuters) - Specialty drugmaker Sepracor Inc said on Friday it is claiming patent rights on Wyeth's Pristiq antidepressant. Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 17 Apr 2009 | 12:15 pm
An anonymous reader writes "A sophisticated FBI-produced spyware program has played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in federal investigations into extortion plots, terrorist threats and hacker attacks in cases stretching back at least seven years, according to newly declassified documents obtained by Wired.com. The so-called 'computer and internet protocol address verifier,' or CIPAV, is delivered through links to websites controlled by the FBI, and it silently reports back to a government server in Virginia. Among other cases, the FBI used it to track a Swedish hacker responsible for cracking thousands of computers at national labs and NASA's JPL in 2005."
Initial reports are describing the verdict as a landmark victory for big media, since the Pirate Bay has essentially inherited the file-sharing/stealing crown once worn by the likes of Napster (1.0) and Kazaa. And if the Pirate guys don’t win their appeal, they will end up having to hand over some cash to the likes of Sony (SNE) and Time Warner (TWX) and News Corp (NWS) — which might cover a portion of the media conglomerates’ legal fees.
But after watching a decade of this stuff, it’s hard to believe the ruling puts a dent in file-sharing, even if it really does end up shutting the Pirate Bay down.
Per usual, the Pirate Bay guys are treating the entire thing as a sideshow, at least in their public communications. “So, the dice courts judgement is here. It was lol to read and hear, crazy verdict,” reads a statement on the site. “But as in all good movies, the heroes lose in the beginning but have an epic victory in the end anyhow. That’s the only thing hollywood ever taught us.”
Adds Pirate Bay ringleader Peter S Kolmisoppi, who Twittered much of the trial: “Stay calm - Nothing will happen to TPB, us personally or file sharing what so ever. This is just a theater for the media.”
Here’s a post-trial press/Twitter conference the site hosted:
PALO ALTO, Calif., April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Pageonce, creator of the leading Personal Assistant Application for the iPhone, today released Cell Minute Tracker, an application that... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 17 Apr 2009 | 12:00 pm
Recent Campaign for Nicaragua Embedded on 7,910 Web Pages BOSTON, April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent search for "Travel Video" on Google revealed... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 17 Apr 2009 | 12:00 pm
This is the Tactical Bail Out Gear Bag, and everyone should have one. The bag, originally designed for (and still in use by) the LAPD and US military, is now at v5.0, adding such niceties as polyester lining in the pockets to keep your iPod scratch-free, a wider strap and a few new colors (they’re all still black or drab, but at least there’s a choice of which dirty brown you buy).
Look at this thing. It has a pocket for everything, although you should probably write a list of what you put where so it doesn’t take you a half hour to relocate your keys. The bag also gets a little more civilian-friendly, with the long flashlight pocket being swapped out for one that will take “your emergency shaving kit and toothbrush”.
The wussification isn’t complete, though. You’ll still find a “hidden full size gun pocket”, a “Stinger/Surefire pocket” and “four accessory pockets for gun magazines, etc”.
The really great part is the price — just $20, down from $60. Forgive my enthusiasm, but I have a known weakness for bags, especially ones that look as useful as this. Will it work as a camera bag? I will be finding out…
(TrendHunter.com) The folks at F.B. Fogg are up to good with their paper crafted menagerie. Foggs colorful paper pets and whimsical figures arent painted. Their hue is dependent upon the paper used to... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 17 Apr 2009 | 11:36 am
AP - Google Inc.'s YouTube said Thursday it is vastly expanding its library of full-length movies and TV shows it offers online, while also launching a new advertising service and adding about a dozen new content partners.
AP - Four men behind popular file-sharing site The Pirate Bay were convicted Friday of breaking Sweden's copyright law by helping millions of users freely download music, movies and computer games on the Internet.
Tokyo-based chemical company Asahi Kasei, a corporate giant with 25,000 employees, has announced an environmentally friendly product of the very special kind: swimsuits [JP]. The lovely ladies you can see on the picture (Ayumi Kura, 20, on the left and eighteen-year-old Shi Weng Lu on the right) are wearing bikinis made of polyethylene tephthalate. Polyethylene tephthalate (PET) is the stuff they use to make plastic bottles.
Asahi Kasei claims the swimsuits they make from PET (marketed under the brand name Sunplay ECO) are very quick to dry and offer a high level of elasticity. I bet they do. The company also says that compared to conventional swimwear, Sunplay products have a better environmental footprint by using less oil and releasing less carbon dioxide in the production process.
Unfortunately, Asahi Kasei hasn’t said yet when the new swimwear will be sold and if it will find its way outside Japan, too.
Four men connected to The Pirate Bay, the world's most notorious file sharing site, were convicted by a Swedish court Friday of contributory copyright infringement, and each sentenced to a year in prison.
(TrendHunter.com) Tribal leaders and exotic divas around the world will envy MACs upcoming Colour Craft lineup.In this new collection, which will debut in the US this July, MAC Lipglass intertwines three... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 17 Apr 2009 | 11:16 am
That Microsoft’s new PC ads are misleading is clear — comparing a fat, heavy, low-resolution HP laptop to a MacBook Pro just because it has the same 17” screen-size is obvious bunk. It’s like comparing me to Muhammad Ali because we have the same height (6’3”, if you care).
But we’re used to this sort of nonsense, usually when Steve Ballmer (the Prince Philip of the computer world) opens his mouth. What is surprising is that Apple has actually gone public with a rare reply. Speaking to Business Week, Apple’s Bill Evans said:
A PC is no bargain when it doesn’t do what you want. The one thing that both Apple and Microsoft can agree on is that everyone thinks the Mac is cool. With its great designs and advanced software, nothing matches it at any price.
Ouch! Ouch? Not quite. Considering the strength of the argument, this is one lame reply. It starts strong, but then slips into rather wishy-washy talk of being “cool”, exactly the same point that Microsoft is trying to make in the ads.
Still, something must have stung Apple to provoke a single word being uttered to the press, which means that it a) hates Macs being called expensive or b) hates it when Microsoft plays the same game as Apple, directly insulting the competition (as in the Mac vs. PC ads, which have curiously dried up).
To be sure, this is of minor importance in the real world, but watching the two heavyweights of the consumer computer industry bitch-slapping each other in public is hugely entertaining. Forget Woz on Dancing with the Stars — I vote for Jobs and Ballmer to both be contestants on the next series of Survivor.
myvirtualid writes "The Globe and Mail reports that the Pirate Bay defendants were each sentenced Friday to one year in jail. According to the article, 'Judge Tomas Norstrom told reporters that the court took into account that the site was "commercially driven" when it made the ruling. The defendants have denied any commercial motives behind the site.' The defendants said before the verdict that they would appeal if they were found guilty. 'Stay calm — Nothing will happen to TPB, us personally or file sharing whatsoever. This is just a theater for the media,' Mr. Sunde said Friday in a posting on social networking site Twitter." Update: 04/17 12:16 GMT by T : Several updates, below.
In an announcement that comes with very little surprise, T-Mobile has officially unveiled the latest Sidekick—the LX. Of course, we have already seen a Sidekick LX, but to differentiate, this is the Sidekick LX 2009 and it is also noted for being the first Sidekick to have 3G support. Overall the design of the new Sidekick is similar to the previous models in that it has the flip out screen with hidden QWERTY keyboard, however it does have an overall sleeker appearance. Just for reference, the Sidekick LX 2009 measures in at 5.2 x 2.4 x 0.64-inches and weighs in at 5.82-ounces.
To begin with, the Sidekick LX 2009 features a 3.2-inch display with an 854 x 480 resolution, built-in GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash and it also ships with a 1GB microSD card. Additionally, the new Sidekick also features Twitter integration along with improved support for Facebook and MySpace. Overall, the Sidekick still remains tightly integrated with social media, which includes the ability to record, play and share videos on sites such as MySpace and YouTube. Additionally, T-Mobile also plans to offer Exchange Active Sync support however that will not be available at the time of launch. According to T-Mobile customers will be able to download that support “shortly following” the launch.
The Sidekick LX 2009 will be available in either Carbon or Orchid and will set you back $199 which comes along with the standard two-year agreement and after a mail-in-rebate. Customers can begin pre-ordering the device as of today (April 17) with regular availability beginning on May 13.
(TrendHunter.com) Barneys New York has planned to set the gold standard for ultra-green luxury boutiques with its upcoming LEED-certified Chicago location. The superstore will feature 7 floors and 90,000... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:56 am
FROM APPLETELL - Another massive days of updates and announcements. On the iPhone side of things, we’ve got freaky anime cheerleaders shouting about your Reversi skills, a free app to help you choose expensive wine, a frog’s tongue, and plenty more. Enjoy. MORE »
Reuters - Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said on Friday it plans to cut one in five jobs this year in its battle to return to profit as a sluggish market brought a hefty first-quarter loss, as expected. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:53 am
The four defendants in the Swedish trial of The Pirate Bay have been found guilty and sentenced to a year in prison and $3.6m fine. I don't know much about Swedish copyright law -- and the defense rested on the technical boundaries what constitutes an infringement -- so I have no idea if this is the kind of judgment that is likely to survive the inevitable appeal.
A more interesting question is whether The Pirate Bay will disappear now. After the illegal seizure of its servers in 2006, The Pirate Bay supposedly adopted a distributed architecture with failover servers in other jurisdictions that were unlikely to cooperate with EU orders. If The Pirate Bay shuts down, it's certain that something else will spring up in its wake, of course -- just as The Pirate Bay appeared in the wake of the closure of other, more "moderate" services.
With each successive takedown, the entertainment industry forces these services into architectures that are harder to police and harder to shut down. And with each takedown, the industry creates martyrs who inspire their users into an ideological opposition to the entertainment industry, turning them into people who actively dislike these companies and wish them ill (as opposed to opportunists who supplemented their legal acquisition of copyrighted materials with infringing downloads).
It's a race to turn a relatively benign symbiote (the original Napster, which offered to pay for its downloads if it could get a license) into vicious, antibiotic resistant bacteria that's dedicated to their destruction.
Throughout the trial, the Pirate Bay defendants have played up their image as rebellious outsiders, arriving at court in a slogan-daubed party bus and insisting that their position was to defend a popular technology rather than illegal filesharing.
Prosecutors made a major slip-up on the second day of the trial after failing to convince the judge that illegally copied files had been distributed by the site.
They were forced to drop the charge of "assisting copyright infringement" and focus on the lesser charge of "assisting making available copyrighted content". They had been seeking SKr115m (£101m) in compensation for loss of earnings due to the millions of illegal downloads facilitated by the site.
The four defendants in the Swedish trial of The Pirate Bay have been found guilty and sentenced to a year in prison and $3.6m fine. I don't know much about Swedish copyright law -- and the defense rested... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:43 am
PC World - Chinese online game firm NetEase.com will buy all-new servers to start operating World of Warcraft in China this year, potentially leaving masses of unused computing clusters in the hands of the current Chinese operator. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:40 am
(TrendHunter.com) We all want a cell phone that is small enough to travel in our pocket but has the largest screen possible. These two desires are somewhat conflicting, but the Kyocera EOS cell phone... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:36 am
AP - U.S. video game sales slumped more than expected in March and were flat in the first quarter when compared with a year earlier hurt by the recession, a shift in the Easter calendar and fewer big game launches. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:34 am
Reuters - Phishing scams have grown up from the unsophisticated swindles of the past in which fake Nigerian princes e-mailed victims, who would get a big windfall if they just provide their bank account number. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 17 Apr 2009 | 9:46 am
If you’re looking to put an inline remote on your iPod, Griffin has one new way to do it — and it adds that oldest of old-school wireless music sources, FM radio.
Griffin’s Navigate plugs into the dock connector, bypassing the pesky requirement for chips that may or may not be DRM for headphones. This has another advantage — aside from piping the music, hot and steaming, to your headphones, the Navigate can also display track info in the OLED screen and give access to EQ, playlists and shuffle modes. And did we mention it has an FM radio? Try to stay awake at the back.
You might scoff — after all, this thing is bigger than an iPod Shuffle and it’s just a remote. But Griffin makes some good points, especially about restoring the tactile feedback of the clickwheel iPods to the Touch and iPhone. Apple has gone some way to addressing this with the clicky inline remote on the latest earbuds, but then you are limited to those same crappy earbuds. With Griffin’s widget you can plug in any cans you like.
All this and an FM radio for listening to ads interspersed with the occasional hits from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Available now, works with any recent iPod that has a dock connector, $60.
The Microsoft antitrust trial seems like a distant memory, doesn’t it?
Not quite yet to the Justice Department, it seems, which asked the federal judge overseeing the 2002 settlement with federal and state regulators yesterday to extend her oversight of some of the judgment another 18 months.
The Justice Department said it wants that extended to make sure Microsoft fully complies with the requirement that technical documentation to licensees is crackerjack.
And Microsoft (MSFT) has agreed to be under the watch until May, 2011.
U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly’s oversight of the software giant was supposed to run out this November. She must approve the extension.
Here’s the U.S. Department of Justice’s press release on the issue:
Justice Department Requests Extension of Microsoft Final Judgment
Microsoft Agrees to 18-Month Extension, Subject to Court Approval
WASHINGTON, April 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/–The Department of Justice told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today that it is necessary to extend the term of certain portions of the Microsoft final judgment by at least 18 months. The Department said that an extension is necessary to ensure the quality of the technical documentation Microsoft provides to licensees.
The Department’s Antitrust Division made its views known today as part of its Joint Status Report to Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Antitrust Division enforces the final judgment in conjunction with antitrust enforcers from 17 states and the District of Columbia, which along with Microsoft joined in today’s filing with the court.
In 2006, Microsoft agreed to a two-year extension of the communications protocol licensing program contained in Section III.E of the final judgment, along with all of the final judgment’s enforcement provisions. Microsoft also agreed that the Department and state antitrust enforcement agencies may, at their discretion, apply to the court for an additional extension of all or part of the extended provisions of the final judgment for a period of up to three additional years, through November 2012. The United States is exercising its right under this provision to seek an extension of Section III.E and its supporting provisions through May 12, 2011. Without this action, the final judgment would have expired on Nov. 12, 2009.
Section III.E of the final judgment requires that Microsoft make available to competing server software developers, on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, certain technology used by Microsoft to make its server operating systems interoperate with client PCs running the Windows operating system. Microsoft must provide licensees with technical documentation that is designed to enable them to use this technology in their own server products so that those products work better with Windows.
In past status reports, the Department reported to the court its concerns with the quality of the technical documentation Microsoft provides to licensees under this program and with the length of time it is taking Microsoft to improve that documentation.
MEYLAN, France and SHANGHAI, April 17 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Semiconductor
Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC"; NYSE: SMI; SEHK: 0981.HK),
one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world and the most advanced
in China, and Dolphin Integration, a leader in virtual components for high
resolution audio applications, announced today their partnership for the
release of the latest generation of digital-to-analog audio converters that,
utilizing Dolphin's expertise, feature ultra-low power consumption.
Through this strategic alliance, the two companies affirm their
willingness to ally their abilities in both design and fabrication in order to
offer state-of-the-art solutions to their common customers in mature processes.
"We are enthusiastic about this alliance," declared Henry Liu, SMIC Senior
Director of Design Services. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:00 am
Sony took part at the 5th International FPD Expo that ended today in Tokyo, showcasing for the first time in their home market of Japan a 21-inch OLED that almost doubles the size of the XEL-1 (11 inches). Unlike the XEL-1, however, the 21-incher is still in prototype stage.
The new OLED boasts a resolution of 1,366×768 pixels and an incredible contrast ratio of 1 million to 1. Sony says the display isn’t even 1cm thick and did away with the navigation system style of the XEL-1 by integrating the stand and the bezel. While the screen itself produces gorgeous images, the whole apparatus still isn’t quite as sexy.
Take a look at the OLED prototype in the video below.
AFP - Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson on Friday said it would cut 2,000 more jobs after it swung to a loss of 293 million euros (384 million dollars) in the first quarter of the year.
This happened a bit with Google early this decade and it was certainly part of their decision to go public (reluctantly). Now it is happening to Facebook, and has been happening for some time.
You can’t get more meta than a site that micro-blogs trends in micro-blogging. But we’re through the looking glass anyway, so here goes: Tinker.com, part of the distinguished Glam Media Network, is live streaming the Twitter race to a million followers between Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) and CNN (@cnnbrk).
As Mark Gimein noted last week in The Big Money, the media giants have put the Web’s journalistic “parasites”—blogs, aggregators, Google—on notice that they will no longer allow them to pinch their copy without reimbursement. The Associated Press has threatened legal action against thieves of its intellectual property, MediaNews executive (and AP Chairman) Dean Singleton has seconded that threat, and News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch and Robert Thomson, the top editor of News Corp.’s Wall Street Journal, growl in harmony.
Is all this talk about getting consumers to pay for the news they read online really a front for something else?
Steve Brill, Gordon Crovitz and Leo Hindery say their new company, Journalism Online, is first and foremost about giving newspapers an easy way to start charging for subscriptions or soliciting micropayments for individual pieces of content.
When two Domino’s Pizza employees filmed a prank in the restaurant’s kitchen, they decided to post it online. In a few days, thanks to the power of social media, they ended up with felony charges, more than a million disgusted viewers, and a major company facing a public relations crisis.
This morning, April 17, 2009 at around 2AM, Ashton Kutcher has beat CNN to 1 million Twitter followers. Plenty of things were riding on this. Larry King said that one guy couldn’t be an entire network like CNN. I guess that wasn’t true.
Kutcher was using this as a means to promote a cure for malaria. CNN announced that Kutcher defeated them while Kutcher was on UStream.TV streaming about the victory. Kutcher thanked several people including Kevin Rose for getting him the win.
What did he say during his UStream victory party? Here are some quotes and paraphrasing from the video (Thanks to Gadgetell writer Shawn Ingram for getting them).
“CNN went on full blast on live TV, what are they afraid of?”
far more relevant than the web, but what happens when the tide changes
“This is a media revolution,” when talking about Anderson Cooper talking about it on TV
[Re: malaria] “Why not focus on one thing, wipe it out, and move on to the next?”
“You can’t watch the establishment right now, you have to be with we the people”
“We’re gonna change the world” -p.diddy
It’s a new generation, and they’re speaking, and they’re loud.
Today we have done something extraordinarily special. We have shown the world the new way is here.
What was riding on this? Kutcher said he would punk Ted Turner if he won and Electronic Arts said that if Kutcher won that the one millionth follower would end up in one of EA’s games. Additionally, Kutcher said he would donate $100,000 to a charity to aid in cure for malaria if he won.
What does this mean for the rest of us? Well, Twitter’s already pretty mainstream and there’s supposed to be a big announcement today. Is this the “jump the shark” moment or does this legitimize Twitter a bit?
PC World - Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Thursday predicted good times ahead for Android, the company's mobile phone OS and software. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 17 Apr 2009 | 6:20 am
The first man in space. The first man on the moon. The first man with a million Twitter followers. Yes, this is one of those great achievements in human history. Congratulations Ashton Kutcher.
His upbringing on Twitter was a humble one. The hugely popular actor started with just a handful of followers when he signed up a few months ago. But soon, he and his famous actress wife, Demi Moore, were adding thousands of followers a day. They would talk about nothing, like everyone else on Twitter, and sometimes they would talk about each other. It’s a true web success story.
Seriously though, I, like the rest of you, am glad this is over. A million users is significant only in that it means Twitter is hugely popular — which we already knew. And that it’s getting taken over by celebrities — which a lot of us saw coming. Much more interesting will be when some non-celebrity feed passes a million followers. But it may be a long time before that happens. The name of the game on Twitter is self promotion, and celebrities have a huge advantage in that department over regular folks.
It’s nice that Kutcher will be donating 10,000 bed nets to fight malaria in Afria. Hopefully we’ll hear about that more tomorrow when he’s on Oprah (and she starts tweeting). We’ll see if Kutcher also follows through on his initial promise to ding dong ditch Ted Turner.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
The Mac is finally getting some seriously awesome, native clients. Say what you want about TweetDeck or Seesmic Desktop - these are all based on Adobe’s AIR platform, which is notorious for eating up memory and CPU cycles, along with weird window placement quirks. Earlier this month Nambu got a huge upgrade, and has quickly become my Twitter client of choice. But that might change next Monday, when Tweetie - easily one of the best Twitter clients on the iPhone - comes to the Mac desktop.
Less than an hour ago atebits, the one-man company behind Tweetie, posted a demo video of their new Twitter client, which we’ve embedded below. We’ve also managed to get our hands on an early build of the product, and it doesn’t fail to impress. We’ll reserve our full review for Monday, but here are some of my initial impressions:
The app deals with photos from sites like TwitPic perfectly - images pop up quickly in lightweight windows, without having to open a browser
Sending images is also perfectly executed. Just drag and drop the image from your desktop to Tweetie’s new message field, and it does the rest.
While there isn’t currently a way to get a Column view similar to TweetDeck’s, you can break out as many search panes as you’d like, each of which is treated as its own window (this is perfect for when you only need to keep track of a search term temporarily).
As with Tweetie on the iPhone, it just feels so perfectly Mac. The icons do what you think they should, and there aren’t any extraneous text fields or buttons
Global Hotkeys. Awesome.
Tweetie will offer a free version that will be ad supported, as well as a paid ad-free version app for $14.95. Stay tuned.
Main window, with popup TinyPic image at left New message window in the foreground (activated with a global hotkey). Search and main windows in the background
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Los Angeles tech companies may not be able to stand up to their northern California neighbors when it comes to technology clout, but they sure do seem to have a more interesting and varied work life. While Silicon Valley based Facebook is busy getting users to vote on new terms of use (wake me up when it’s over), cross-state rival MySpace employees learn of an employee arrest over stolen confidential information and get a day off from work from a power outage.
All of it is chronicled by emails to employees, of course, which are promptly forwarded to us. The information theft and arrest is the more serious matter - confidential employee information, including “at least” name, social security numbers and compensation, was taken by an employee in the company’s benefit’s department without authorization, beginning in June 2008 or earlier. The information was used to “annoy selected individuals” and the now former employee was arrested and is being prosecuted by the High Tech Crimes Division of the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office. The interesting details were left out of the email, but employees are urged to “remain vigilant for incidents of fraud or identity theft.”
No need to worry, though, because for some reason Southern California Edison decided to shut down the power to Fox and MySpace’s Beverly Hills office on Thursday from 9 am to 6 pm. and employees were told to stay home. “Employees…are expected to work from home” said the memo. My guess is that more than a few of them went to the beach, which is just down the road.
Emails are below.
From: Fox Entertainment Group
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 8:27 AM
To:
Subject: IMPORTANT NOTICE CONCERNING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
Dear Fox Employee,
An unfortunate situation has recently been brought to our attention. Certain confidential employee information (including at least your name, social security number, and certain compensation information) was acquired by an employee of the Company’s Benefits Department (whose employment has since ended) without the Company’s authorization. At this point, we do not have any information to suggest that bank account, beneficiary, or personal medical information was also improperly acquired. We are of course obligated to alert you to this situation, and we apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.
From what we have just learned, it appears the former employee first acquired the information in June 2008 (or possibly earlier). The investigation suggests that the confidential data was used to annoy selected individuals (whom we have already separately notified). However, we have no evidence to suggest that your confidential information was disseminated by the former employee to any third party or otherwise misused, and we will notify you immediately if we learn otherwise.
The Company reported the former employee to law enforcement and is fully cooperating with them. In that regard, we have been informed that law enforcement arrested the former employee and that the individual remains in police custody. Law enforcement also executed a search warrant at the former employee’s house at the time of the arrest and successfully retrieved data that had been acquired. The case is being prosecuted by the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office, High Tech Crime Division. We will continue to work with the D.A.’s office and law enforcement as the case proceeds.
We are also analyzing our systems to reduce the possibility of any future breaches. In addition, there are a number of precautions you may wish to take, which we have included on the next page.
If you are a current employee and have any questions, please contact a manager in your Human Resources Department. If you are a former employee of the Company and have questions, please contact Lisa Klinger, Vice President of Compliance in the Benefits Department. Lisa’s number is 310-369-8031 (x 3-8031 if you are connected to the Company’s telephone network). You can also call Lisa toll free at 877-369-1369.
Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this incident may cause you.
From: FIM Human Resources
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 6:28 PM
To: FIM Maple All
Subject: Special Alert — 407 Maple Building Closed for Work Thursday 4/16
Power Shutdown at Maple Thursday, 4/16
Due to a Southern California Edison power shutdown scheduled in the area between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 16, the 407 Maple Building will not be accessible for work on Thursday. Employees located at 407 are expected to work from home, as no computer or phone service will be available.
If you have a laptop, please take it home with you this evening. VPN service will be available, and blackberries will also be in service. (If you have already left for the day and not taken home your laptop, the building will be accessible by badge before 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, 4/17.) Please note that Shared Drives will not be available, even through VPN, as they are hosted from the Maple office. If you have meetings scheduled to take place at 407, please arrange to conduct them via conference call or reschedule them for another day. Managers please contact employees by phone who have either left for the day or who do not have a Blackberry.
Employees should check with their manager about any mission critical projects that must be completed while they are away from the office. If you are on an urgent project which must be completed by 4/17 and you do not have VPN access, please contact IT by writing the FIM Help Desk: fimhelpdesk@fox.com. If you need to arrange to work from another FIM location, please contact Facilities – facops@fox.com
Unfortunately, we were just notified of the impending power shutdown. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for your cooperation.
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Adam sez, "Time Warner will no longer be implementing download caps in all
markets. I can't thank you enough. As you know, BB is read by a lot of
mass-media outlets and other national organizations. I have it on good
authority that Senator Chuck Schumer's office was notified of the
impending protest through the Boing Boing post, and it spurred them to
take the issue seriously."
Time Warner's climbdown on this one is hilarious -- they say that they have to abandon caps until they can "educate" their customers (presumably it takes a lot of education to convince people to let your ISP clobber your participation in digital life to turn a buck).
The excellent SF in SF free science fiction reading series will host Peter S Beagle and Richard Lupoff at their next event, tomorrow (Saturday):
Our April reading takes place on Saturday, April 18. Doors and cash bar open at 6:00 PM. Readings begin at 7:00 PM.
The guests will be Richard Lupoff and Peter S. Beagle. Each author will read a selection from their works, followed by Q & A with the audience moderated by author Terry Bisson. Books will be available for sale courtesy of Borderlands Books.
The Variety Preview Theatre, The Hobart Bldg., 582 Market St. @ 2nd/Montgomery, San Francisco. Take MUNI/BART! The Montgomery St. stop is steps from our front door.
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has overturned a lower court order permitting webcast of an oral argument in an RIAA case, SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, in Boston. As one commentator put it, the decision gives the RIAA permission to 'cower behind the same legal system they're using to pillory innocent people.' Ironically, the appeals court's own hearing had been webcast, via an mp3 file. The court admitted that this was not an appropriate case for a 'prerogative writ' of 'mandamus,' but claimed to have authority to issue a writ of 'advisory mandamus.' The opinion came as a bit of a surprise to me because the judges appeared, during the oral argument, to have a handle on the issues. The decision gave me no such impression. From where I sit, the decision was wrong in a number of respects, among them: (a) it contradicted the plain wording of the district court rule, (b) it ignored the First Amendment implications, and (c) there is no such thing as 'advisory' mandamus or 'advisory' anything — our federal courts are specifically precluded from giving advisory opinions."
Actor Ashton Kutcher crossed the million-follower-on-Twitter line at 11:12 pm PST, beating CNN.
Kutcher simply tweeted: “Victory is ours!!!!!!!!
The CNN cable news channel went over the million mark soon after, but still a clear second.
Here is a pix below from Twitter HQ of the Kutcher win, on its database (courtesy of Twitter’s Jessica Verrilli).
The race was getting close as midnight neared on the West coast.
Not a real race, but a race of the Twits.
That would be Kutcher vs. CNN.
CNN was all over the issue on airwaves tonight touting its Twitter feed, because–you know–there is no more important news to cover like the weak economy or anything.
And at Twitter’s offices in San Francisco, staff was up monitoring the race to one million “followers,” those who sign up to receive a person or organization’s tweets on the hot microblogging service.
Kutcher is scheduled to be the Oprah Winfrey show later today, along with Twitter’s CEO and Co-founder Evan Williams, when the talk show host will do her first tweet.
Oprah, of course, will get to one million users in 4.67 seconds. which is making everyone on Twitter worry about the looming Fail Whale of all time.
(Oprah Friend-in-Chief Gayle King is already up and tweeting via @kinggayle–with her first one going over 140 characters, oops, just like we all did.)
In a moment of temporary insanity, BoomTown actually clicked the follow button for Kutcher.
What can I say? I like “Punk’d” and want Larry King to go down like ton of bricks.
Now, I am officially worried about what Kutcher–whose Twitter handle is aplusk–will do with his one million minions. Order us all to play idiotic practical jokes on people? Rent Demi Moore movies, even the unwatchable ones (”G.I. Jane” anyone?), over and over? Get 1970s mullets?
If you are so inclined, here’s a chart of the situation now from chartbeat, with the numbers ticking up like a clock, which you can track here (click on the chart to make it larger):
While we wait, here is a video of the famous hair-cutting scene from “G.I. Jane”:
H1kar1 sez, "We're throwing the first US hacker camp in a decommissioned Titan-1 Missile Silo. A bunch of awesome pictures of the site have just been posted from our visits over the past couple weeks. CFP and campsite organizer sign up form still open and looking for people to participate!"
Submissions are still open for Viable Paradise, the intensive science-fiction writers' boot-camp held on Martha's Vineyard every autumn. I've taught VP several times and always been impressed with the format, the setting, and the caliber of the students and the instructors. Viable Paradise lasts for a single week, and involves a dawn-to-dinner relentless set of tutorials, personal meetings, critiques, and exercises that aim to impart a career's worth of wisdom in a single week. You can become a successful science fiction writer without attending a workshop like this, and attending is no guarantee of success, but for the right writer, this can be the event that gets you from promising to published.
Muji has opened a US mail-order store. Muji is a Japanese chain that makes extremely high-quality stationery, clothes, furnishings, and other stuff, all with a very clean line and none of it with any sort of label. I use tons of Muji stationery, our DVDs are organized in Muji DVD boxes, and three of my favorite shirts are Muji shirts. The baby's room has a Muji CD player in it. Our house is filled with useful Muji tools. It's all long-wearing, reasonably priced, and extremely polished.
That said, my experience with their UK web-store has been pretty awful. Slow delivery, awkward packaging, and a decidedly second-rate website all make me more apt to walk down to Covent Garden and shop in person at my nearest Muji than to go online. But if the web-store were all that there were, I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at it. Unfortunately, the US range seems pretty limited -- again, it's better than nothing!
An update from Shepard Fairey, following this recently-Boinged update on the acclaimed artist's legal battle with the AP:
My lawyers filed my response to The AP’s claims against me on Tuesday (CLICK HERE FOR SHEPARD’S RESPONSE). It includes a dozen examples of AP photographs that consist almost entirely of copyrighted artwork from me and other artists. Today, The AP issued a statement accusing me of “making attacks” on them. I don’t feel the need to respond to that in detail, because my lawyer already has (CLICK HERE FOR LAWYER’S RESPONSE).
As I have stated before I am fighting the AP to protect the rights of all artists but I do want to emphasize one other important point. I’m not accusing the AP of infringing anybody’s rights. I’m saying everyone should have the same broad rights of fair use and free expression, and that includes The AP. I’m not questioning The AP’s legal right to do what it does. But I am saying they have to be consistent. They can’t have it both ways. If AP photographs that do nothing but depict other artists’ work are protected by fair use, then my work has to be, too, because it’s at least as transformative, creative and expressive as The AP photos we identify in my response, if not much more so. If the AP has the right to do what it’s done, then so do I.
Bart sends us this Instructable for a Legway: "A self balancing, human powered, steampunk styled, Segway. All you need is a brave self balancing human. This is the ultimate green vehicle for all you eco conscious steampunkers."
When Ford unveiled the Mustang 45 years ago today, company execs figured they’d sell maybe 100,000 a year.
They sold 22,000 on the first day.
The Mustang was more than a success. It was a phenomenon. Ford sold 1 million in the first 18 months, making the Mustang its most successful launch since the Model A.
"When the Mustang was unveiled, the reaction was so positive that there was no doubt it was going to be a success," chief designer Joe Oros said recently.
The Mustang created an entirely new genre called the pony car. Relatively small, relatively light and often absurdly powerful, pony cars were uniquely American. By 1967, everyone in Detroit offered one.
Pony cars like the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger have come and gone and come back again, but only the Mustang has galloped along uninterrupted since its introduction.
Ford has sold more than 9 million Mustangs. Here’s a look at some of the best and a few of the worst.
Left: 1964½ Coupe
The shot that started the pony-car revolution. The Mustang sold for a dirt-cheap $2,368 (about $16,000 in today's moolah), which bought you a hardtop coupe with a straight-six and a three-speed manual. But with the longest list of options Detroit had ever offered, you could get yours pretty much any way you wanted.
: Photo: Ford Motor Co.
Ford joined legendary gearhead Carroll Shelby to develop the high-performance Shelby GT models. Shelby, in turn, struck a deal with Hertz to build 1,000 rental cars based on the GT350. The GT350-H became known as the "rent-a-racer," because they often appeared in Sports Car Club of America events. So many of them came back with burned out clutches that Shelby ditched the four-speed manual transmission for an automatic.
: Photo: Ford Motor Co.
The Mustang became a pop cultural icon when it appeared in one of the first – and one of the best – movie car chases ever: Steve McQueen’s dash through San Francisco in Bullitt. The car (actually, Ford provided two) was a 1968 GT with a 390-cubic-inch engine and beefed-up suspension and brakes. It topped 110 mph during filming, which took more than three weeks and yielded 9 minutes, 42 seconds of automotive awesomeness.
: Photo: Ford Motor Co.
Mustangs grew bigger and heavier every year, and the '71 to '73 models were the biggest of the lot. Ford introduced the Boss performance package in 1969, creating the Boss 302 to compete in the Trans Am Series, and the Boss 429 for NASCAR. The 351 sort of split the difference in 1971, and some consider it Ford’s muscle-car masterpiece.
: Photo: Ford Motor Co.
The oil embargo, skyrocketing insurance costs and ever-tighter emissions controls forced Ford to radically rework the Mustang. The result was a gelding based on the Pinto. Although much-maligned over the years by purists, Ford sold nearly 386,000 of them in 1974 alone, and Motor Trend named it car of the year.
: Photo: Ford Motor Co.
Hoping to boost sales, Ford slathered the Mustang II with a fake hood scoop, useless spoilers and more stripes than a prison chain gang. Ford called it the Cobra II, but it had less bite than a garter snake.
: Photo: Ford Motor Co.
Ford gave the third-gen Mustang a sleeker, more European look in 1979 to create a car that was bigger – but lighter – than the model that preceded it. Ford sold 370,000 of them in the first year, and the Mustang served as the pace car for the Indianapolis 500. Ford commemorated the honor with a run of about 11,000 “Pace Car” editions.
Ford didn't tell us these guys are, but they could pass for the Brooks Brothers racing team.
: Photo: Ford Motor Co.
Ford launched the Special Vehicle Operations Department in 1981 to oversee racing and build limited-edition, high-performance cars. The first was the 1984 Mustang SVO, a four-cylinder turbocharged model with nimble handling and decent power. It would smoke the Mustang GT in the curves, but it cost several grand more and didn’t sell well. Ford retired it after the 1986 model year.
: Photo: Ford Motor Co.
The third-generation Mustang got a serious face lift in 1987, trading sharp angles for rounded edges and a more aerodynamic look. The cars grew increasingly powerful, but by 1990 Ford was looking ahead to the next generation and made few changes before retiring the third-gen 'stang in 1993 after an unprecedented 15-year run.
: Photo: Ford Motor Co.
By the early 1990s, some at Ford felt the Mustang should be put out to pasture. Instead, the company updated the original’s styling. The car was a hit, and Ford couldn’t build 'em fast enough. The car got a minor restyling that gave it a more aggressive look. Performance climbed as well, topping out at 390 horsepower for the 2004 Cobra.
: Photo: Ford Motor Co.
Ford had a long history of building insanely powerful Mustangs, and the Shelbys of the early '60s are among the best. Ford paid homage to them in 2007 with the Shelby GT500, and then upped the ante a year later with the GT500-KR. The supercharged beast produced 540 horsepower, making it the most powerful Mustang ever. With a list price just shy of $80,000, it was also the most expensive.
: Photo: Ford Motor Co.
Ford, like Chevrolet with the new Camaro and Dodge with the new Challenger, went back to the future for the latest iteration of its venerable pony car. The 2010 Mustang draws styling cues from the classic models of the 1960s. The Shelby GT500 draws even more deeply from that well, proving that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
1964: Ford introduces the Mustang at the New York World’s Fair. It becomes an instant hit and an icon that alters the automotive landscape, giving rise to one of the most successful — and most uniquely American — automobile genres: the pony car.
The Ford Mustang was born of the simple idea that putting a back seat in a sports car would be a great idea.
The idea came to Lee Iacocca and Donald Frey in the early 1960s as the country was being overrun by European sports cars. Everywhere you looked you saw Alfa Romeos and MGs and Triumphs that dripped oil. Even French cars that would draw peals of laughter today were popular back then.
The two Ford execs saw a vast market literally rolling before their eyes, and, according to legend, the notion of a sports car with a back seat was one of those "ah-hah" moments. If Ford could dilute the European ethos just a bit by making the cars a bit more practical and a lot more affordable, Iacocca figured, the company would sell a few thousand.
He was right, but boy was he wrong. Ford didn't sell thousands of them. It sold millions of them.
The pony car is easy to define. It was small by Detroit standards, with sporty styling. It had a back seat for your kids and a usable trunk for your stuff. And the rear wheels were driven by an engine — ideally a big V-8 — mounted up front where God and Henry Ford intended.
Pony cars may not have had the finesse of a European sports car, but they made up for it with brute force. A small-block V-8 can make up for a multitude of handling deficiencies.
The Mustang was successful like the Beatles were popular. Ford figured it would sell around 100,000 in the first 12 months of production. It sold 10 times that number in the first 18.
That success was not lost on the rest of Detroit, and everyone was cranking out pony cars by 1967. General Motors introduced the Chevrolet Camaro and its kissing cousin, the Pontiac Firebird. Ford offered the more upscale Mercury Cougar. Chrysler released the Challenger. Even AMC — google it, we'll wait — got into the act with the Javelin.
Everyone had a favorite, and even now loyalists occasionally come to blows over which one was best. Countless bets have been made and races staged in displays of testosterone and bravado that would make Dr. Freud sit down for a cigar and a good long think.
And that was just in the parking lots and streets. Things really got wild when the automakers got in on the act, bringing in drivers like Dan Gurney and George Follmer and Mark Donohue to show who built the best car. The contest grew so heated it gave rise to a pony-car–specific racing series called Trans Am. (The car was named after the series, not the other way around.)
We’re inclined to give the award to the Mustang, if only because Steve McQueen drove a '68 fastback in the most famous chase scene in cinematic history, that amazing dash through the streets of San Francisco in Bullitt.
The Mustang also gets the nod for sheer longevity. Oh sure, you can get a new Camaro that looks like a vintage Camaro, or a new Dodge Challenger that looks like a vintage Dodge Challenger.
But the Mustang is the only pony car to remain in continuous production since its introduction 45 years ago.
Ford has sold more than 9 million worldwide. What's next?
How do you follow up a camcorder as kick-ass as the Zi6? How about slapping on a rugged Tron-inspired chassis, adding an HDMI port, and calling it Zx1?
Blu-ray discs don't seem to hold up in the mail as well as standard-definition DVDs, according to some subscribers who complain about receiving cracked discs. The company palms off complaints on the post office and says most discs are fine.
Using the Wiimote as a flashlight is just the beginning. Konami works to boost the goose-bump factor as it re-imagines survival horror's long-in-the-tooth gameplay mechanisms.
How do you follow up a camcorder as kick-ass as the Zi6? How about slapping on a rugged Tron-inspired chassis, adding an HDMI port, and calling it Zx1?
Blu-ray discs don't seem to hold up in the mail as well as standard-definition DVDs, according to some subscribers who complain about receiving cracked discs. The company palms off complaints on the post office and says most discs are fine.
HONG KONG, April 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nam Tai Electronics, Inc. ("Nam Tai" or the "Company") (NYSE: NTE) today announced the following corporate updates:
1. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Apr 2009 | 3:56 am
Well, well. Looks like someone launched the new Sidekick LX page a little too early. The oft rumored 2009 model of the Sidekick LX is now 100% official.
As far as we can tell, all the stuff we’ve seen leak out over the past few months was spot on, from the 3G, to the 3.2 megapixel camera, to the heavy social networking focus.
Form-factor wise, it’s.. well, it’s a Sidekick. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; it may not be the slimmest phone of the lot, but its always been an outstanding handset to type on. Beyond the 3G, Facebook/Myspace/Twitter home screen support, and all of the other new features (see the big list below, along with a bunch of shots), we’re probably most excited about the new 3.2 inch 800×480 (WVGA) screen. Low resolution screens have always plagued the Sidekick series, a trend which started to fade with the 2008 LX’s 400×280 screen - but this one oughtta blow them all out of the water. We’re talking razor sharp.
Only bummers? No Wi-Fi, and the microSD card T-Mobile throws in is only 1GB. Come on, guys: when you’re competing with phones that carry 8 or 16 gigs of memory, you should spend a few bucks on a bigger card.
An integrated social networking experience bringing Facebook, MySpace and Twitter directly to the customer via customized applications that update automatically and put notifications directly on the Sidekick home screen. Today 3 out of 4 Sidekick customers access social networking sites at least once per week from their Sidekick and we expect this trend will take off even more with the integrated experience on the Sidekick LX.
GPS-enabled Live Search lets Sidekick LX customers map their current location and search for a nearby coffee shop or café, share favorite spots with friends via integration with Sidekick’s messaging capabilities, or view additional search tabs to quickly check real time traffic, gas prices or movie showtimes.
An improved multimedia experience with a 3.2 megapixel camera and enhanced video capabilities make it easy for customers to record and upload pictures and videos to popular social networking sites. Support for audio and video streaming lets users view and listen to YouTube clips and other content online.
The largest, brightest screen ever on a T-Mobile device. A 3.2-inch F-WVGA screen with high-definition LCD technology with 854×480 resolution
High-speed Web browsing with support for T-Mobile’s 3G (HSDPA) network
Future support for Microsoft Exchange: Following retail availability, Microsoft Exchange e-mail support will be available via the Sidekick’s Download Catalog.
New personalization options including the ability to record your own ringtone or receive and save them via e-mail
Specifications:
Dimensions: 5.20 x 2.40 x 0.64 inches
Weight: 5.82 ounces
External Display: 3.2″ F-WVGA 854 x 480 pixels
Frequency Bands: 850/900/1800/1900 GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 1700/2100/85/2100 UMTS
M3 rated for hearing aids
And now the important stuff. Beginning today, existing T-Mobile customers can pre-order the Sidekick LX from Sidekick.com. Everyone else will have to wait until May 13. The new Sidekick LX will be available in “Orchid” or “Carbon” for $200 with a 2-year contract and MIR.
Well, well. Looks like someone launched the new Sidekick LX page a little too early.
We’ve known about the upcoming Sidekick for months and yesterday’s leaked memo hinted at an announcement for today, which turned out to be true after all. I’m excited for this new Sidekick because it’s finally on par with every other device out on the market. However, it doesn’t have Wi-Fi but I’m okay with that because it’s 3G and I only use Wi-Fi on my BlackBerry 8900 when I’m overseas.
All the other features have been leaked, but here’s a quick rundown of the new Sidekick LX.
But if you’re wondering what’s really important about the new Sidekick LX then peep this:
Click for high-res
And now the important stuff. Beginning today, existing T-Mobile customers can pre-order the Sidekick LX from Sidekick.com. Everyone else will have to wait until May 13. The new Sidekick LX will be available in “orchid” or “carbon” for $200 with a 2-year contract and MIR.
The latest layer to be turned on in Google Maps is one for webcams. Just click on the “More” button on the top right of each map right next to the “Traffic” button. When you do that, it shows you thumbnails from different public Webcams around the world as tracked by Webcams.travel.
You don’t see an actual video, just the most recent still image captured by the Webcam. But this can come in handy when you want to actually see the traffic on a major highway yourself, or how the waves look like at the beach. While you are at it, you can also click on the other layers, such as Wikipedia entries,, photos Youtube videos, and public transit.
What other Google Map layers do we need?
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When it comes to building a website, one of the key factors in establishing a sizable user base is your site’s ability to ‘go viral’. While there isn’t any magic secret to accomplishing this, there are a few things that can help - namely, making it as easy as possible for your users to sign up, and helping them invite their friends. But this is easier said than done, and determining exactly how to implement these seemingly obvious steps can play a huge role in a site’s success.
Product Planner, a new site that launched this week, is looking to help companies tackle this issue. The site has visually mapped out over 100 ‘flows’ that visually depict exactly how many of the web’s most popular services operate. For example, Gmail’s signup flow consists of inviting a vistitor to first click ‘Sign Up for Gmail’, followed by a form asking for information, and finally a confirmation button that says ’show me my account’. It may sound simple, but being able to see each of these side by side can be invaluable when it comes to actually building your site.
Flows are represented as a series of screenshots, arranged in either a circular or linear fashion, depending on how they work (hint: the key to going viral is to create a circular loop). And while many of these ‘flows’ are focused on the site’s all-important signup and invite processes, other flows are more site-specific, like Vimeo’s Video Embed Loop.
The site looks great, with an intutive interface and clean navigation. Users can grab embed codes for Flows that they’d like to share elsewhere, and can also submit their own, though the site already features many of the web’s most popular sites.
That said, the site isn’t perfect. My biggest issue with Product Planner is that there are really no explanations to speak of - you’d never know why one ‘flow’ was better than the others. Granted, you can always pay attention to flows from large companies like Google and Facebook with the expectation that they’ve put a lot of thought into these things, but it’s still tough to figure out exactly why something is working. There aren’t any comments either, which could have also helped users make sense of what they’re looking at (of course, there’s always the risk that people who don’t know what they’re talking about would leave incorrect information).
Product Planner is a product of KISSmetrics, an analytics service that will be launching later this year.
Disclosure: Neil Patel, one of the founders of KISSmetrics, does consulting for TechCrunch through Quick Sprout.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
What if there was a Billboard Charts for the music people really listened to and talked about on the Web. We Are Hunted wants to be that definitive online music chart. The service monitors the most popular songs on iLike, BitTorrent, Last.fm, MySpace Music, and other Web music services, as well as discussions on Twitter, blogs, and press sites. A collaboration between Australian news aggregation site WotNews and digital music marketers Native Digital, We Are Hunted uses a whole bunch of sentiment and semantic analysis, along with clustering algorithms to come up with the top 99 songs of the day. It then presents these in a 3 X 3 grid of album art for each song, which can be played in its entirety on the site. (The songs are streamed from YouTube or the artists’ sites).
The songs themselves are pretty catchy for the most part. Here are the top nine:
“Corner” by Embarrassing
“Life In The Future_M…” by Voxtrot
“Whispering Your Name” by Alison Moyet
“Tunisia Bambaata (mercury Remix)” by DJ Mehdi
“Cat State Comity” by Mazes
“This Tainted Love” by DJ Zebra
“Whoa Billy” by Lucky Soul
“Saddle Up” by the Boy Least
“The Strangers” by St. Vincent
You won’t find these names on the Billboard 100, but people are listening to them on the Web.
My initial reaction to We Are Hunted is that it delivers on what it is intended to be: a a discovery mechanism for new music. Where it falls short is in its features and UI. It forces you to click on each song to play it, instead of letting you listen to an entire grid or the entire chart as a play list. You can log in via Facebook Connect and leave a comment on a song, and buy each song on iTunes, but you can’t do much else. And sometimes a song won’t play. But if you like the Hype Machine, then you might want to check out We Are Hunted when the songs in your iPod begin to seem old.
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Tesladownunder writes "This huge LED is on steroids and then some. It is intended for use as a streetlight. It has a 7000 lumen output at 100W and will burn a hole in a CD case without focusing. And that's without the infrared that a halogen or discharge lamp has. Very efficient and low maintenance. Stronger than HID car headlights or a 500W halogen. Hit the site for lots of data and pics of it in action including burning and irresponsible bicycle luminosity. You'll want one to attach to your keyring, too."
Oh MAN. I can’t wait for this Burnout Paradise expansion pack. The teaser video showed a few cars, but this 6:50 podcast shows a bunch. Still no word on the game play differences, but who cares! The cars are f’n sweet!
Here’s something I think we could all use from time to time — especially those of us trying to make a real-life Mirror’s Edge video. This tiny camcorder (they claim it’s the world’s smallest, but I disagree) just debuted in Hong Kong at the Electronics Fair going on there, and it’s called the Mini DV. I can’t think of a more misleading name for a camera that doesn’t shoot to Mini DV tapes, but we’ll probably never see it on these fair shores anyway, so what does it matter? They could call it the Playstation 3.
It shoots 640×480 JPEGs at 30 frames a second, then assembles them into a motion JPEG AVI and stores it on a MicroSD card. There isn’t a monitor on it, obviously, but it can output in real-time to a PC. Not exactly high definition, but then again, you can’t clip a RED to your backback strap.
Up until this point, despite all the press he was getting, Ashton Kutcher was behind CNN in the race to become the first Twitter user with a million followers. Not anymore.
Kutcher surged past CNN on Thursday evening, likely clearing the last hurdle that stands between him and Ted Turner’s doorstep — he promised to ding dong ditch the CNN founder if he was the first to a million followers. Since then, Kutcher and others have upped the stakes. EA is offering Kutcher’s millionth follower a copy of every single game it makes in 2009 and a role in its Sims 3 game. And now Kutcher is offering to buy 10,000 bed nets to help stop the spread of malaria in Africa if he wins. CNN has also pledged to buy bed nets, win or lose.
But the stage is set for Kutcher to hit the mark first. With over 980,000 followers currently, he’s appearing tomorrow on Oprah to talk about Twitter along with the service’s CEO Evan Williams. And Oprah, who just secured her Twitter account today, has promised that she will send her first tweet tomorrow during the show.
Kutcher’s late surge to take the lead in Twitter followers has been pretty amazing. Today alone, he’s added tens of thousands of followers. This helped him overcome odds that were in CNN’s favor. The site Bookmaker.com said it had received thousands of bets on the race and favored CNN’s account to get there first at -500, with Kutcher at even money.
But one oddity in this whole thing is that apparently you can’t unfollow either Kutcher or CNN on Twitter right now! Go ahead, try it, you’ll get a nice error message saying something went wrong. Is Twitter trying to ensure Kutcher gets to a million in time for Oprah tomorrow? Tin foil hat time!
Update: Actually, as MobileCrunch’s Greg Kumparak just shared with me, you probably can’t unfollow either so that you can’t game Kutcher and EA’s millionth follower giveaway. So I hope you like your Ashton and CNN updates!
Another oddity is that some people are seeing follower counts go way up for certain users. The CNN account is one of them, see the screenshot below. (Though I still see the correct amount.) Twitter, it appears, is having some issues leading up to the breaking of the 1 million barrier.
Here’s the video Kutcher recorded on Ustream about the milestone. Notably, Kutcher says he’s going to start following more people.
Slingbox isn’t the only game in town when it comes to placeshifting your television and its content. Monsoon Multimedia’s Hava is an alternative. How does it fare in our tests? Keep reading.
What is it?
The Hava Titanium HD from Monsoon Multimedia is a device that allows you to placeshift your television and HD content in your home network and over the Internet to PCs and mobile devices. The device can also be paired with a USB hard drive to make it a DVR. It costs $249.99 on their official website.
What’s in the box
You get the Hava box itself, a CD with the Hava player software, lots of cables, IR blaster, and a USB Wi-Fi adapter.
The Good
The Hava box itself is compact and finding a place for it in your home entertainment center should be very easy. The back panel uses a special minijack to component adapter to connect to a HD source. This keeps the back of the unit relatively neat when compared to the standard component connections. The included cables should get you connected without needing a trip to Radio Shack. The software install is the same process you are used to.
The software itself is very powerful. If you want to record a show on the PC receiving the content, it is no problem. Additionally you can hook up an external hard drive to the Hava unit to make it a DVR. There is a mobile client available for Windows Mobile and soon there will be an iPhone app as well.
The folks at Monsoon are also still working on the Sociable TV website which is a very interesting concept. It will allow you to watch other people’s Hava boxes online through a browser.
Oh, did I mention that multiple people can connect to one Hava unit? Sling won’t let you do this. You could watch one program all over your house without interruption if you choose to do so. In that respect, the Hava acts as a video distribution device.
The Bad
The hardware unit and software player could use a redesign when it comes to looks. The software player is very bulky with large black borders everywhere. The installer appears to be designed by an engineer. It works, but it ain’t pretty. The housing for the device looks like something you would get from a noname vendor. The box could be nicer looking.
Please note that these criticisms are only about design and not function.
The in-betweens
The desktop player software is Windows only for now, so no mixed network environments for you unless you run Windows in a VM or something similar. Since the device used minijack connectors, perhaps the device could have offered more inputs.
The Crux
In a lot of ways, the Hava surpasses the Slingbox in functionality. If you’re looking for a device that can be a DVR and placeshift your HD content, the Hava Titanium HD is a great choice.
FROM APPLETELL - It appears as if Palm will be releasing their Pre anywhere from more than a month to a few days before the iPhone 3.0 software and (suspected) new iPhone hardware are released. The question is, what would be better for Palm? MORE »
Monolith and WB announced the availability of the “Toy Soldiers” DLC today for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. It’s the first of three DLC packs for F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin and we can expect the “Elite Powered Armor” map pack in May. What makes this even better than it being free is the bitchin’ soundtrack that plays over the trailer. Kudos to you, Monolith.
The F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin “Toy Soldiers” map pack allows players to experience multiplayer from a terrifying new perspective as they are reduced in size to be only inches tall and battle inside a pinball machine, a gruesome hospital lab room, and a playground sandbox.
* FullTilt: Players battle inside a retro 1970s era pinball machine “Snake Fist” style as they use flippers, targets, spinners and pop-bumpers for cover in fast paced action. The multi-level playfield and authentic sounds set the mood for destruction.
* Cockroach: Featuring a blood drenched hospital room filled with heart pounding action, players can climb up electrical cords, laboratory equipment and pill bottles in a tightly connected environment.
* Recess: Players wage mayhem from the top of a giant sandcastle to the cockpit of a toy bulldozer.
SAN JOSE, Calif., April 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As semiconductor devices scale to the 32nm technology node and beyond, shrinking contact and via dimensions make chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of tungsten more challenging. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Apr 2009 | 12:20 am
Red Alert! Netflix Blu-ray disc subscribers may want to inspect their red envelopes a little more closely before popping the discs into a player.
Hundreds of subscribers to the company's movies-by-mail service say they have received fractured Blu-ray discs that won't play -- and that it's happening at an alarming rate.
"Over the last two months, we've had probably four to six Blu-ray discs in a row arrive with small cracks at the edge of the disc that render it unplayable," says Pete Brown, whose wife has been a Netflix subscriber for three years.
Blu-ray discs differ from standard-definition discs in the way they are produced and how they store data. Standard definition DVDs are two clear polycarbonate discs, each 0.6mm thick, sandwiched together with the data recorded on a very thin metal substrate in between, explains Adrienne Downey, senior analyst at research firm Semico.
Blu-ray is a single 1.1mm polycarbonate disc that has the data encoded at the top. Blu-ray discs have a 0.1 mm coating on top of the data layer to protect it from getting scratched. Because the coating is much thinner than the 0.6mm sandwich used in DVDs, it could be more vulnerable to scratches and cracks.
"The coating is supposed to protect the discs but it could also be making them more brittle," says Downey. "Ultimately Blu-ray is a new technology and they are still working the kinks out of it." Downey says it will be another year or two before the whole Blu-ray ecosystem is entirely problem-free.
But Blu-ray technology can't take all the blame for the Netflix customers' problems. Far fewer BlockBuster customers are complaining about their Blu-ray discs, which suggests that Netflix has a few issues of its own handling the discs.
Renting Blu-ray movies from Netflix has been particularly challenging for Brown and his wife. Take the case of the Oscar-nominated hit Babel that was in Brown's queue. The disc arrived cracked, and then the replacement disk that Netflix sent was damaged. But that's not the end of the story: The replacement to the replacement was also
damaged. "At a point, my wife was like, maybe they are sending us same
thing to us over and over again," says Brown.
Reports about customer problems with damaged Blu-ray DVDs come even as Netflix plans to increase rental fees for Blu-ray discs by about 20 percent at the end of April.
About 1 million, or 10 percent, of the company's subscribers rent
Blu-ray movies. The company currently ships 2 million red envelopes a day.
Netflix user complaints first flared up in late 2007 as early adopters complained in online forums of receiving damaged discs. Now a fresh wave of users say they're having similar problems.
The problem is not pervasive, says Steve Swasey, Netflix's
vice-president of corporate communications. "Our percentage of Blu-ray
disks that members receive that are not playable is a fraction of a
percent," he says.
So what's causing the cracked Blu-ray discs? The reasons could include tough love from
the local post office, which sometimes sticks the envelopes into
automated sorting machines. It could be the Blu-ray disc manufacturing process or
even the relative newness of the technology.
"It could be in the specific (Netflix) hub that ships them or it could be in
the postal carrier or it could be the ways these subscribers are
handling it," says Swasey.
Older titles on Blu-ray DVDs certainly seem to be at greater risk for cracks, says Grant Brown (no relation to Pete Brown), a Netflix subscriber who has been following the issue for more than a year. "From what I have seen with my account and those of my friends, the newer the Blu-ray disc, the better the chance that it has not been cracked."
That's not always the case, however. Tom Turley, a Netflix subscriber in Seattle, says he received two cracked Blu-ray discs in a row last week -- both with a new movie.
Meanwhile, Netflix customer representatives have been pointing fingers at the post office. On Grant Brown's blog, users say Netflix encourages them to complain to their USPS if they receive cracked discs.
"It almost looks like Netflix doen't want to deal with the problem and they are pushing people to complain about the postal system," says Grant Brown.
Netflix
says it takes user complaints seriously. Every DVD that is reported damaged is pulled out of circulation, says Swasey. And while some users suggest a more sturdy mailer for Blu-ray discs, the company is not in favor of it.
"When we see the breakage for Blu-ray to be so infinitesimally small of the
total ships, it would be cost-prohibitive for us to change the shipping
method," says Swasey. "We do everything
to drive costs down."
PhotoBucket, the FIM-owned photo sharing goliath that sees over 25 million monthly uniques, is taking aim at becoming the dominant photo sharing service on Twitter. The company has quietly launched TwitGoo, a media-sharing service designed from the ground up to be Twitter-friendly, allowing users to share photos with only a few clicks (and movies are on the way).
PhotoBucket used to be one of the small guys, coming from nowhere in 2006 to emerge as one of the Internet’s largest photo providers. Much of its initial growth was driven by its ability to thrive on a popular social site - in this case it was MySpace, which previously didn’t have many easy options for embedding photos. Now the tables have turned, as TwitPic has come from a similarly unknown position to become the leader in sharing photos on Twitter. Traffic may still be relatively modest compared to more orthodox photo sharing sites, but with Twitter poised to become a mainstream phenomenon, media sharing is going to take off fast. PhotoBucket competitor Imageshack launched its own service in February. And now PhotoBucket wants a piece.
TwitPic is the dominant player in this space with over 1 million users, but the one-man operation is having trouble coping with its rapid growth - an issue that will likely become even more of a problem as Twitter becomes more mainstream. Conversely, TwitGoo is built on the same infrastructure that powers PhotoBucket and its sister site TinyPic, which means that it should have no problem coping with a massive influx of new users.
TwitGoo’s other advantage is that it will likely be perceived as more friendly to brands than startup services like TwitPic. At this point this isn’t much of an issue, but as more brands begin to embrace Twitter and create their own applications that tap into the service’s API, they’re going to want to direct any media-sharing functionality through a trusted service. PhotoBucket and its parent company FIM have already built relationships with these brands. And the site also screens content for obscenity - something that no small-time operation can do effectively.
The service itself will be familiar to anyone who has used TwitPic or any of its competitors. Users sign in to TwitGoo with their Twitter credentials and then upload a photo to generate a URL shortcode, which they can then Tweet directly from the service’s web interface. The site tries to maintain the look and feel of the native Twitter interface, importing user backgrounds and consistently placing links where you’d expect them. And in the not-so-uncommon event of Twitter downtime, the service features a backlog queue, which allows desktop clients and other API users to queue their submissions for when the Twitter system comes back up.
Of course, one of the things that has made TwitPic so popular is that it is integrated into many Twitter clients, including favorites like TweetDeck and Tweetie on the iPhone. TwitGoo is on very few of them, though it is hoping to catch up on this front quickly and is launching with a full API. The service is also in discussions with a number of major Twitter clients, though it can’t discuss specifics yet. This is really where the battle will be won or lost - on Twitter it doesn’t matter how nice your infrastructure is unless its third party clients support your service.
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Cludge writes "ZDNet has a story (and several related articles) about how Symantec has discovered evidence of an all-Mac based botnet that is actively involved in a DOS attack. Apparently, security on the exploited Macs (call them iBots?) was compromised when unwary users bit-torrented pirated copies of iWork 09 and Photoshop CS4 that contained malware. From the article: 'They describe this as the "first real attempt to create a Mac botnet" and notes that the zombie Macs are already being used for nefarious purposes.'"
I made my feelings on the Puma known— to both our listeners on the weekly podcast. This alternative to the multi-thousand-dollar fantasy weirdo-cycle relies only on your own two feet. Kind of like walking, which would be cheaper, but less awesome.
The Legway is like a Universe Cycle (whatever that means) with a handlebar. I haven’t ridden one, and I don’t particularly want to (this type of thing was never my bag — I’m a bike guy), but it looks like a fun project if you wanted to put together something crazy for your kid.
I like that the maker has a “collection of dangerous toys” for his kids. That’s amazing.
Google (GOOG) shares, which at one point this afternoon traded as high as $412, more than $23 above the regular session close of $388.74, has now given most of that back. Or to think of it another way, while you were driving home, the stock dropped about $20.
What happened? Well, the stock had rallied on Q1 earnings, in particular better-than-expected performance at the EPS line, as margins increased, thanks to tighter cost controls. The market was looking kind of giddy there for a bit, but there were apparently a few things on the post-earnings conference call that left people feeling a bit more sober.
Read the rest of this post
In the news release, Integrated Card Exchange and Peoples Trust to Launch Solution for the Canadian Market, issued 16-Apr-2009 by Planet Payment, Inc. over PR Newswire, we are advised by the company that there are updates to the press release. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 16 Apr 2009 | 11:35 pm
LANSDALE, Pa., April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Exchange Bank of Sonoma County, CA has implemented the Global DMS OASISOne platform to secure HVCC compliance and centralize appraisal management. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 16 Apr 2009 | 11:28 pm
It could just be me, but these trailers from Eidos for Battlestations: Pacific are starting to look alike and I can’t tell if they’re just changing the transition screens while using the same gameplay footage. Anyway, here are the two latest videos with the first supposedly showcasing multiplayer online while the second tries to reiterate the fact that you can play as the Japanese and change the course of history. I suggest watching them both in HD.
The popular video-hosting site unveils a site redesign that promotes authorized versions of full-length movies and TV shows on the site. It's clearly making a play for Hollywood, but it's proceeding cautiously so it doesn't spark a user backlash.
Who would have thought that cell phone sales and contracts would decline by nearly 20% since 2008 to 2009? I always thought that cell phones would continue to rise in popularity until pretty much everyone owned one. However, due to the economic crisis, In-Stat research firm conducted a study and found that cellphone sales would steeply decline when compared to last year’s growth.
Global sales of cell phones are expected to drop by nearly 20.5%, and contracts are expected to only have 8.9% growth, as opposed to 19.3% growth in 2008. These two stats are directly related to each other. If fewer people are buying new phones, then less contracts are likely to be inked. Cellphone manufacturers make a lot of money because people like to have shiny, new cell phones as often as possible. If people are deciding to take care of their cell phone and try to have it last for as long as possible, sales are going to go down.
Similarly, people are going to try and stick with their carrier for the full two years without terminating the contract and having to pay extra fees. Interestingly enough, In-Stat predicts contract sales to decline to even 6.3% in 2010, but steady itself out and even grow in 2011 with 9.6% growth. It looks like In-Stat isn’t being too optimistic on the whole economy situation, as they are predicting the only good time will come by 2011.
Personally, I can go either way on this one. I can see cell phones growing due to people not taking as good care of them and their love for new cell phones will overpower their willingness to save money. Yet, I do see how the economy can play a serious role in preventing good, solid growth in the cellphone department. Hopefully, the economy straightens itself out and people continue spending money on cell phones, contracts, and other gadgets.
Do you like iPhone apps? If you have an iPhone, it’s probably safe to assume you answered “Yes.” So do we. You know what else we like? Our readers. That’s why tomorrow, we’re holding our first ever iPhone App Giveaway Spree.
Starting at 9 A.M. PST tomorrow, we’ll begin giving away promo code after promo code for dozens of applications, each worth anywhere from 99 cents up to $30 bucks. We’ll be giving away one application (or package of applications) at a time - as soon as we’re out of codes for that prize, we’ll switch to the next one. You won’t know what we’re giving away next until that competition is under way - so stay on your toes.
If you want to take a peek at how AOL plans to take on Facebook, you need to look beyond Bebo (the social network it bought for $850 million last year) to theBoot, a country music site hidden away off in a corner of AOL Music. A very interesting experiment is going on at theBoot that represents a major plank in AOL’s social-networking strategy. It shows how AOL plans to take on Facebook Connect, which is Facebook’s way of letting other Websites tap into its members and their activity streams.
When you visit theBoot, you will see a thin toolbar along the bottom that is labeled Socialthing on the bottom left (think of it as FriendFeed) and on the bottom right it invites you to sign in using an AIM account. (Yes, that is yet another frame). Once you sign in, your AIM username and password becomes your username and password for the site, just like Facebook Connect extends Facebook IDs to other sites. OAuth and OpenID options are planned for the near future.
Next to the Socialthing icon on the toolbar is a prominent gear icon for privacy settings and an “Updates” tab. You can choose to always share your activity on the site, never share it, or always be asked before sharing. When you click on Updates, a window pops up showing you “Site Updates” and “Buddy Updates.” The site updates is a stream of new stories and comments going on right now at theBoot. You can tab over to “Buddy updates” to see status messages from people on your buddy list, as well as actions of your friends from other services including Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and StumbleUpon..
Whenever you comment on a story or take another action on the site itself, that comment appears not only in the site updates stream, but all of your buddies on AIM will see a little info icon next to your name, which if they click on will show your recent comment with a link back to the site. In other words, AOL is taking the 45 million active users of AIM and finally turning them into the underpinnings of a social network. Once you sign in with your AIM account, a couple chat tabs appear on the bottom right. You can chat with other AIM members on the site or you can have a private chat with people you know on your buddy list. (You can also invite your friends to the site that way). Part of Facebook Connect, I should note, also includes Facebook Chat, so there is overlap here. But AOL still has the advantage when it comes to chat.
The whole project is not what you’d expect to see from AOL. Maybe that is because the product is being led by Alex Bard, the founder and former CEO of Goowy, another startup AOL picked up as a small acquisition last year. It took a while, but some of that startup DNA is finally starting to rub off on the rest of AOL.
What AOL is trying to do is combine public and private message streams. You can see public streams on the Socialthing side of the toolbar and both public and private chat on the right. You can expect to see AOL roll out Socialthing for Websites across all of AOL Music, Moviefone and potentially all of the properties under its MediaGlow umbrella, which has a collective audience of 70 million unique visitors in the U.S. After AOL rolls out Socialthing for Websites to its own properties, you can bet that it will offer it to other Websites as well. The appeal would be that this is a way to socialize their sites that isn’t Facebook. It also gives them the ability to inject their content directly into consumer’s activity streams through Socialthing.
Another twist that AOL is planning on adding soon is a way to filter all of these streams of information by prioritizing which public streams you see based on who you chat with the most in private. Since AOL knows your chat history, it can move to the top the public comments, Tweets, and links to Flickr, YouTube and whatnot that come from your closest contacts—the ones you actually speak to (assuming you use AIM).
AOL is offering Socialthing to Websites for free because it could provide really valuable data on who is visiting what sites that could be used to target content and advertising in the future directly into the lifestream. AOL will have to tread carefully there, limiting sponsored updates, but that is an obvious direction.
Now all AOL has to do is refresh its AIM client to include the the lifestream from Socialthing so that users can see one unified activity stream of both public and private messages all in one place.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunchMobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
Al writes "Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have created a remarkably low-power server architecture using netbook processors and flash memory cards. The server design, dubbed a 'fast array of wimpy nodes,' or FAWN, is only designed to perform simple tasks, but the CMU team say it could be perfect for large Web companies that have to retrieve large amounts of data from RAM. A set-up including 21 individual nodes draws a maximum of just 85 watts under real-world conditions. The researchers say that a FAWN cluster could offer a low-power replacement for sites that currently rely on Memcached to access data from RAM."
A gadget blog has posted a rumor that Apple plans to deny SlingPlayer — a popular TV-streaming service — from appearing as an app in the App Store. Why? To please AT&T, according to the unnamed source.
SlingMedia, which submitted the iPhone app in late March, could not confirm the rumor.
"I know there's a lot of rumors swirling around, but we talk to Apple pretty frequently about all sorts of stuff, and we haven't heard anything one way or the other as to acceptance of SlingPlayer for iPhone," SlingMedia spokesman Jay Tannenbaum told Wired.com.
AT&T and Apple declined to comment.
If the story turns out to be true, it would not be the first time Apple rejected an application to appease AT&T. In August, Apple clumsily approved and then banned an application called NetShare, which enabled tethering with the iPhone. NetShare developer Nullriver told Wired.com that Apple pulled the app because it conflicted with AT&T's terms and conditions.
Though the App Store has its share of success stories for developers, Apple has been scrutinized for being unclear with developers about its iPhone-app approval process. FreedomVoice Systems, for example, submitted its iPhone application Newber in October — and still hasn't heard an answer from Apple. As a result, FreedomVoice tabled further development, complaining that this lack of communication could cost the company $600,000 in funding spent on Newber.
The rumor about SlingPlayer Mobile and AT&T is questionable, but believable. You can certainly imagine why AT&T would feel worried about bandwidth on its already strained network. PCMag's Jamie Lendino wrote a hands-on report on an alpha version of the app, and she noted the app played streams "with reasonable smoothness over a weak 3-G signal and near 30 fps animation over Wi-Fi."
However, Wired.com thinks SlingPlayer will appear in the App Store for a few reasons. First, Sling is a very high-profile, popular service whose plans for an iPhone app have been well-documented; a flat rejection would cause an uproar. Second, Sling tells Wired.com it has a good, communicative relationship with Apple, and we trust Apple will not break that relationship. Third, Apple already announced it's optimizing live streaming in the upcoming iPhone 3.0 OS — a Major League Baseball app using this improved streaming support is already in the works, although it remains unconfirmed whether this will only work with Wi-Fi.
Therefore, if Apple does reject SlingPlayer, we believe Apple will give Sling instructions on modifications it would like to see — most likely Apple would ask Sling to make its app work only with Wi-Fi and to disable the cellular network support.
What do you think? Would you care if Sling only worked over Wi-Fi? Add your thoughts in the comments section below.
Wired.com's Ryan Singel contributed to this report.
You want to get a motorcycle. You want to look like a badass too. But what you don't want is some two wheeler that screams "n00b!" when you throw a rev. Worse yet, you don't want to get a 1000cc crotch rocket and spread your guts across 10 miles of I-5 after a 175 MPH wipeout. Isn't there a middle ground? Yamaha figured it out with the FZ6R, a bike that despite its aggressive ferrings and sporty profile, is at heart, a beginners bike. From writer (and seasoned rider) Chuck Squatriglia:
Don't let the "entry-level" designation leave you thinking the FZ6R offers the thrills of an Antiques Roadshow
marathon. Yamaha made the bike gentle enough for n00bs who want to
build skills but sporty enough to keep experienced riders grinning.
It's also versatile enough for a weekday commute or some tight
cornering on a Sunday afternoon.
Do you like iPhone apps? If you have an iPhone, it’s probably safe to assume you answered “Yes.” So do we. You know what else we like? Our readers. That’s why tomorrow, we’re holding our first ever iPhone App Giveaway Spree over at MobileCrunch.
Starting at 9 A.M. PST tomorrow, we’ll begin giving away promo code after promo code for dozens of applications, each worth anywhere from 99 cents up to $30 bucks. We’ll be giving away one application (or package of applications) at a time - as soon as we’re out of codes for that prize, we’ll switch to the next one. You won’t know what we’re giving away in each round until it’s under way - so stay on your toes.
FROM APPLETELL - This week I am going to talk about what it is like after you get your apps out there and into the world. This is truly where the real fun begins, but you’ll quickly realize that although it can feel great, your job isn’t done. MORE »
Do you like iPhone apps? If you have an iPhone, it’s probably safe to assume you answered “Yes.” So do we. You know what else we like? Our readers. That’s why tomorrow (Friday, 4/16), we’re holding our first ever iPhone App Giveaway Spree.
Starting at 9 A.M. PST tomorrow, we’ll begin giving away promo code after promo code for dozens of applications, each worth anywhere from 99 cents up to $30 bucks. We’ll be giving away one application (or package of applications) at a time - as soon as we’re out of codes for that prize, we’ll switch to the next one. You won’t know what we’re giving away in each round until it’s under way - so stay on your toes.
So how do you win?
All we can say at this point is that all of the giveaways will go down right here on this very page. Bookmark it. Check it in the morning. Check it at lunch. Check it when you’re supposed to be working. Just keep checking it - free things go fast, and you don’t want to miss an opportunity to win. Beyond that? It’s a mystery. It might be a simple first-to-comment contest, or trivia, or something else - it’ll change throughout the day.
Rules:
The only rule we have to make clear right off the bat is that it’s only open to US residents. We know that sucks, and we’re sorry. It’s not our choice; it’s the way the iTunes App Store promo codes work.
You can win more than once, but only once per round. If someone starts winning over and over, we might set a cap to make it fun for everyone - but we’re not too worried.
We’ve got some awesome applications lined up for you - so be ready to roll at 9 A.M. PST, 4/16.
Note to developers: We are no longer accepting promo codes for the give away, as we’re absolutely inundated with them. Thank you for your interest.
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
MONTREAL, April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Snob Girls Professionnelles is proud to announce the launch of its 100% Free Series(TM) Hair & Skin care line, designed with your health and beauty in mind. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 16 Apr 2009 | 10:42 pm
Wow, who would have believed it? The Palm Pre actually exists outside of private tradeshow demos and the hands of celebrities?
If that’s actually a real, functional pre and not a mock-up or a well-done knockoff, it looks like accessory manufacturers have began getting shipments of the much coveted Sprint handset. An anonymous Ludle employee tipster just posted a few shots of the Pre alongside a Centro and an iPhone, noting a few things:
The screen is less scratch resistant than the iPhone
The back of the handset is more scratch resistant than the iPhone, but much more susceptible to finger prints
It’s in mass production, right this second.
We’ll keep digging for details, but we fully expect everyone involved to be bombarded with questions within the hour.
snydeq writes "Lawyer Jonathan Moskin has called into question the long-term impact last year's Java Model Railroad Interface court ruling will have on open source adoption among corporate entities. For many, the case in question, Jacobsen v. Katzer, has represented a boon for open source, laying down a legal foundation for the protection of open source developers. But as Moskin sees it, the ruling 'enables a set of potentially onerous monetary remedies for failures to comply with even modest license terms, and it subjects a potentially larger community of intellectual property users to liability.' In other words, in Moskin's eyes, Jacobsen v. Katzer could make firms wary of using open source software because they fear that someone in the food chain has violated a copyright, thus exposing them to lawsuit. It should be noted that Moskin's firm has represented Microsoft in anti-trust litigation before the European Union."
“Tomorrow just became a very big day. (Sorry for the teaser—more later.)” When Twitter CEO and co-founder Evan Williams posted to his Twitter account on Thursday morning, the Twitter universe buzzed with excitement. When co-founder Biz Stone posted this to his account, the buzz increased: “It’s almost midnight in Boston—did I really agree to get up before 6am? Tomorrow is going to be a long and interesting day!” What could the big news be, everyone wondered. Did Google finally decide to buy Twitter? Did Twitter buy Facebook? Is it related to the worm attacks of last weekend? Nope. It’s Oprah.
Yes, that’s right. According to some leaked info on Friendfeed, tomorrow Oprah’s Twitter account goes live. Are you excited? So far many are less than impressed and don’t consider Oprah opening a Twitter account to be news at all. Granted, it may not be what people were expected, but it could give Twitter a huge boost and make them even more popular. Just asked Jeff Bezos.
When the Amazon CEO appeared on Oprah’s show last October with the Kindle E-reader, she gushed over it, calling it her favorite gadget. The result? The device sold faster than Amazon could make them, leading to long backorder delays. Now the Kindle 2 is one of the hottest gadgets out there.
So maybe Evan and Biz have the right idea. Of course we won’t know for sure if the leak is correct until tomorrow, so leave us a comment with your guesses as to what the big news could be!
The FNP writes "Time Warner has postponed their plans to test tiered data caps in Greensboro NC, Rochester NY, San Antonio TX, and Austin TX. This announcement comes shortly after the media started reporting on Eric Massa's opposition and protests planned for this Saturday outside of Time Warner's offices in Greensboro and Rochester." There's also a good piece at Ars on the fall of the current tiered-pricing plans.
Most of us have a somewhat decent internal clock that helps us guesstimate when it's time to wake up or time to feed the dogs, but how well can we count exactly five seconds without looking at the clock?
The game is really simple: press the button once, the counter resets to 0:00 and the voice says: Ready? Press it again and the screen goes blank. Once you've counted five seconds in your head, hit the button again and the counter will display how many seconds have actually passed. And depending on how close you are, he'll say encouraging things like: You can do it! or yell at you: What the hell are you doing? (Nani yattenno yo!)
I have spent countless give-or-take-five-seconds with this thing, and have gotten as close to 4.99 and 5.01. But as this video taken just a few hours ago proves, exacting time is apparently not something I have gotten better at over time. It's a strange thing. Watching the video, I find myself thinking: D'oh! That's way past five seconds! or, Now! or, Yikes too early! But when I was actually doing it, I was honestly giving it my best shot.
Since this is conveniently pocket-sized and super addictive without being hard to comprehend, I've brought it with me everywhere--to conferences, parties, volleyball games--and people have invariably gotten addicted to it. I even had one stolen from me at ETech.
Anyone in the US can buy it on Gizmine.com for $20, but be warned: it is highly addictive and a total waste of time. But then again, who doesn't have five seconds to spare for useless entertainment?
Looking for that perfect sound? You can literally get an instrument to bend to your creative will.
Bent Festival, a hardware hacking festival, is showing music-loving geeks how to do just that this week in New York City. The event revolves around the art of tearing apart electronic gadgets and bending their circuits to create new musical instruments. In addition to teaching D.I.Y. workshops on circuit bending, Bent is hosting a series of art installations and music concerts featuring various bent-circuit artists.
Circuit bending may sound intimidating, but the event is designed for anyone, said Mike Rosenthal, managing director of The Tank, a nonprofit theater that puts on the event.
"We get people off the street who have never had anything to do with electronic music before, and within a few minutes kids as young as 5 or 6 are ripping apart their toys and creating amazing new musical instruments," Rosenthal said in a previous Wired interview.
The event starts today and ends April 18. Individual night tickets are $10; a three-night ticket costs $25. For a full schedule, visit the Bent Festival page.
German-led scientists say they have discovered an important element of DNA that creates good night vision in nocturnal mammals.
Ludwig-Maximilians University researchers in Munich said they discovered the DNA within the photoreceptor rod cells responsible for low light vision turns the rod cell nuclei themselves into tiny light-collecting lenses, with millions of them in every nocturnal eye.
The conventional architecture seen in almost all nuclei is invariably present in the rod cells of diurnal mammals, including primates, pigs and squirrels, said researcher Boris Joffe. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Apr 2009 | 8:22 pm
A new UK government proposal unveiled on Thursday would allow British motorists to receive up to 7,500 dollars if they buy an electric car, the American Free Press reported.Britain ministers hope the plan will help meet the UK’s target of slashing carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.“We Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Apr 2009 | 8:21 pm
An anonymous reader asks "Is there a solution for online storage of encrypted data providing encrypted search and similar functions over the encrypted data? Is there an API/software/solution or even some online storage company providing this? I don't like Google understanding all my unencrypted data, but I like that Google can search them when they are unencrypted. So I would like to have both: the online storage provider does not understand my data, but he can still help me with searching in them, and doing other useful stuff. I mean: I send to the remote server encrypted data and later an encrypted query (the server cannot decipher them), and the server sends me back a chunk of my encrypted data stored there — the result of my encrypted query. Or I ask for the directory structure of my encrypted data (somehow stored in my data too — like in a tar archive), and the server sends it back, without knowing that this encrypted chunk is the directory structure. I googled for this and found some papers, however no software and no online service providing this yet." Can anyone point to an available implementation?
Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, unveiled a new initiative on Thursday aimed at developing clean coal technology in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming.At the inaugural meeting of institute foundation members in Canberra, Rudd announced the Global Carbon Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Apr 2009 | 8:00 pm
A federal appeals court on Thursday bars a webcast of Recording Industry Association of America file sharing hearing. It was the first chance for the world to watch such a hearing.
U.S.-led scientists have found that an ecosystem below an Antarctic glacier has survived millions of years by using sulfur and iron compounds for growth.
Co-led by Montana State University Professor John Priscu and Jill Mikucki of Dartmouth College, the scientists said the ecosystem lives without light or oxygen in a pool of brine trapped below Taylor Glacier, next to frozen Lake Bonney in eastern Antarctica.
Priscu said the ecosystem contains a diversity of bacteria that thrive in cold, salty water loaded with iron and sulfur. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Apr 2009 | 7:35 pm
Dell's VP of Consumer Design, Ed Boyd, discusses the theory of Dell's latest design, including the Adamo laptop. He uses words like "unbridled" with a straight face.
Here's a design tip for Dell: Stop taking money from Intel and Microsoft so you can get those horrible little badges off the inside of your laptops. [via Core77]
Mike writes "If you buy a Kindle and some Kindle ebooks from Amazon, be careful of returning items. Amazon decided that one person had returned too many things, so they suspended his Amazon account, which meant that he could no longer buy any Kindle books, and any Kindle subscriptions he's paid for stop working. After some phone calls, Amazon granted him a one-time exception and reactivated his account again." Take this with as much salt as you'd like.
Berkeley -- Move over, Y chromosome – it's time X got some attention.In the first evolutionary study of the chromosome associated with being female, University of California, Berkeley, biologist Doris Bachtrog and her colleagues show that the history of the X chromosome is every bit as interesting as the much-studied, male-determining Y chromosome, and offers important clues to the origins and benefits of sexual reproduction."Contrary to the traditional view of being a passive player, the X chromosome has a very active role in the evolutionary process of sex chromosome differentiation," said Bachtrog, an assistant professor of integrative biology and a member of UC Berkeley's Center for Theoretical Evolutionary Genomics.Bachtrog, UC Berkeley post-doctoral fellow Jeffrey D. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Apr 2009 | 7:28 pm
The Earth’s temperature reached the 8th-warmest during January-March 2009 since records began in 1880, according to an analysis from the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina.The average temperature for the contiguous United States in March was 43.2 degrees F – 0.6 degrees F higher than the 20th century average, according to the report released on Thursday.Additionally, precipitation hit an average of 2.51 inches – 0.11 inches above the 1901-2000 average.“Heavy precipitation last month also pushed the Red River, along the Minnesota-North Dakota border, to record levels, triggering major floods,” said the NCDC.“Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and West Virginia had their second, fourth, and fifth driest such periods, respectively. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Apr 2009 | 7:25 pm
Researchers have discovered an important element for making night vision possible in nocturnal mammals: the DNA within the photoreceptor rod cells responsible for low light vision is packaged in a very unconventional way, according to a report in the April 17th issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Apr 2009 | 7:19 pm
Normally, here at Gadgetell, we are the ones who tell you all about the tech you need to know. Well, the tide is turning. Because I’m going to be getting out on the streets videotaping and asking real people real questions about ...well…you guessed it. All things tech. And that’s where you come in.
What do you want to hear about? What do you want to ask, America? Ok…so, not really America right now. Actually, just my home state. But, if I travel, the line may extend some. You can always send me an airline ticket and I’ll come and ask questions in your home town!
How is it going to work? I’ll be going out and about to different places and asking all sorts of people the question of the week. We want to get your views on different topics and hear what you have to say. What do you really think of the iPhone compared to the Palm Pre? Is the Kindle 2 overpriced? If you could design your super uber cool gotta have gadget…what would it be?
Okay, so here is what YOU do. You can comment here or send me your questions at jodie@gadgetell.com. That’s it! Couldn’t get much more simple than that.
You can also send in a brief (no more than 20 seconds please) video clip of yourself answering this week’s question. “What is your favorite gadget of all time?” And then just tune in right here on gadgetell.com, because you just never know….I may use YOUR question on an feature of “You Tell Gadgetell”.
“You Tell Gadgetell” is sponsored by the Flip Mino.
Yeah - we realize how odd that headline might seem. Apple doesn’t exactly endorse jailbreaks, so the idea that any jailbreak method is “official” may seem strange. But with just about every major release coming from one group, certain releases inherently just have more cred.
The just released iPhone 3.0 Beta 3 has been cracked wide open, albeit not by the iPhone Dev Team - hence the “unofficial” bit. Early reports indicate that it seems to be working fine - but as usual, tread with extreme caution, and read before you leap. There are a few important things to take note of. For example: if you jailbreak using this method, you’ll permanently lock out the iPhone OS 2.1 jailbreaks you might want to use if you ever decide to downgrade.
More information (and the download link) available here.
Crunch Network: TechCrunchobsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies
"This is easier if they had simply been painted many times, such as mayonnaise and various sources. Clean look!"
The Magic Five is a crafty, Japanese spread bottle with five parallel holes. If you squeeze just right, you can decorate a plate, food or person (huzzah!) with pretty much any reasonably-thick, chunk-free condiment of your choosing.
After discovering the bottle at an okonomiyaki counter in Kyoto during my first trip to Japan last November, I was hooked -- then mega-disappointed I couldn't find one at Tokyu Hands. Finally, I managed to import one. Find out how after the jump...
I'm a sauce guy. Not exclusively for taste, but play. Anytime a saucy desert, dinner or starter plate is put in front of me, I'm dragging a fork or toothpick through it to create a "spider web" or "checker board" (above) or Jackson Pollack.
The good news: This product is awesome for doing all of the above design work and more. I'm mostly decorating poached eggs with a mix of hot sauce, Tabasco, and ketchup. But mayo or anything with a similar consistency works great. Hot sauce with chunky peppers or skins are not good.
The bad news: It's sold only in Japan, where it's being marketed as an "As Seen On Tv"-style cooking aid. The only online outlet seems to be via shopping.yahoo.co.jp, which currently won't ship outside Japan*. Total bummer.
The good news (for me): Lisa has family in Tokyo. We split a set of two (below) for 1,259 yen, roughly $13 (including shipping, which was pricier than the Magic Five!). Worth every yen. I'll go out on a limb and say Lisa and I are now both budding decorators. She's using Kewpie mayo in hers. I'm jealous, and now very hungry.
*If you live in Japan, buy these and eBay them. You won't be sorry.
The Obama administration releases memos under the Bush administration detailing the legal bases for torture, and says it will not prosecute those who based their actions on the memos.
Once again I'm breaking my own "don't post things that don't exist" rule, but this "Aulis" logging harvester by Niko Kugler and George Heitzmann gets a pass because it is 1) fancy-pants construction equipment, and 2) awful close to being a Constructicon.
Expect to see this never for infinite dollars, etc. [via Yanko]
With just about absolutely nothing changing between the original Instinct and the Instinct S30, it’s not really too surprising that the S30 is launching at the same price the first one currently goes for: 130 bucks. What is surprising, however, is that Best Buy (of all places) will be peddling it at a deep discount.
According to a circular sent over to Engadget, the Blue Polo Brigade will be pushing these things out the door at $49.99 - or just shy of 60% off. You’ll need a 2-year contract, but if you’re thinking about making the upgrade sidegrade, you might as well save some cash.
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On the Intel/Asus-sponsed WePC.com, Destructoid's Niero Gonzalez had the same thought about dual touchscreen laptops that many of us have, but has made it oh-so-much-more compelling with a mockup of playing World of Warcraft on such a machine.
I'm writing pieces on WePC, too, for money. (Here's my latest, asking about gaming on netbooks.) I've been asking if we can get any special access to Asus's engineers so we can actually see if these sort of mockups may actually be produced. God knows Asus isn't afraid of releasing a zillion models with only slight differences in specifications.
In fact, it is their upcoming touchscreen netbook that is the first netbook to actually intrigue me in a while, since it brings something new to the table. I know several people have added touchscreens to netbooks with aftermarket kits, but I'd rather see them from the factory. (Aftermarket kits can be "cloudy", although this Dell Mini 9 with a touchscreen, for example, doesn't look too bad.)
It's impossible to link to stuff or talk about these companies on these conversational hub sites without it having the stink of the shill, which is why I don't tend to link to the stuff we do on these sites even though they really like us to do so. In this case, I actually just discovered Niero's post when it had a hundred-some-odd comments and thought, What has that crafty bastard done now? Couple that with my unfortunate recent inkling to play WoW again, and it's enough to make me think that I could live without a proper keyboard if it were this were my little dedicated gaming machine. (I wonder how WoW would run on an Open Pandora?)
iVisit, a audio and video conferencing company, is showing off an interesting technology using mobile phones that act as virtual eyes to help visually challenged users.
The technology called SeeScan allows users to point their cellphones at an object and have it identified in real-time. For instance users can point a phone at a at a can of Coke or a pack of frosted flakes or a bottle of shampoo and have the name of it read loud to them near-instantaneously.
The concept known as augmented reality, or a field that blends real world and computer generated data, is something companies are increasingly focusing on.
SeeScan though works only with packaged goods including currency but what's interesting to see is how iVisit has been able to make real-time object recognition work with a mobile processor.
There are approximately 11.4 million people with vision loss in the United States, ten percent of who are legally blind, says iVisit. The company claims it has tested the prototype with about 30 visually impaired users.
iVisit plans to release beta versions of the service in the U.S. later this year. The company says it will be available on major 3G networks and Windows Mobile phones including HTC 6800 (Mogul), HTC Flip, HTC Touch, HTC 6700, Samsung i760,Treo 700 Wx and LG Dominator. iVisit says it is working on Symbian and iPhone versions.
Click on the video to a demo of the SeeScan technology.
Beginning at CTIA09, Kyocera has been showing off mockups of concepts they’ve got lurking around the labs. While the hard plastic mockups they’ve shown previously didn’t do much for us, they’ve since moved on to 3D renders - and boy, are they pretty. We’re going to go ahead and ignore the fact that the technologies required for these handsets (such as practically priced flexible OLEDs) are at least a couple of years away, and just start drooling over them now.
First up is the EOS, essentially a big foldable OLED screen. But its got a couple of tricks up its sleeve: when partially unfolded, the back surface functions as a QWERTY keyboard. As you continue to fold/unfold it, kinetic generators within the device recharge it. Sound crazy? Sure! But that’s what concepts are for.
(Slightly) less abstract is the NXT. Take an iPhone, and pack 4 detachable OLED displays into the body. For good measure, toss a solar panel on the back. As long as you don’t go losing your screens, it could mean for some awesome on-the-go accelerator based gaming.
Want to see more? Core77’s got a couple more shots. [Via OLED-Info]
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
You gotta hand it to the marketing/PR peeps in the mobile gadget space for figuring out how to announce phones, yet hold back just enough to get some coverage out of the details disclosed months later.
As it were, HTC finally announced pricing and (gasp!) availability info for its newest “flagship” devices - Touch Diamond2 & Touch Pro2 - earlier today.
The Touch Diamond2 is “crafted to fit perfectly into the hand…[and] is optimized for one-hand use.” It includes (as we already knew) a 3.2″ hi-res wide-screen VGA display, is 13.7mm thick, has 20% more battery capacity (I presume over the original Touch Diamond), a 5 megapixel auto-focus cam, expandable memory, gravity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and “[has] a new touch sensitive zoom bar for even faster zooming of Web pages, emails, text messages, photos or documents.” Check out Matt Davis’ very-thorough unboxing and hands-on for a closer look.
As for the Touch Pro2, which the company says is “designed for business professionals…[and is] optimized for touch as well as heavy email use,” HTC has included a 3.6″ widescreen VGA display, a “large finger-friendly” QWERTY keyboard, improved battery life, expandable memory, a touch-sensitive zoom bar as well as gravity, proximity and ambient light sensors. HTC is also touting its new HTC Straight Talk™ For HTC Touch Pro2:
The new HTC Touch Pro2 leverages voice in a new way to create one of the most sophisticated communication experiences found on a mobile phone. HTC’s new Straight Talk technology delivers an integrated email, voice and speakerphone experience. Users can transition seamlessly from email to single or multi-party conference calls* and turn any location into a conference room.
In addition to the new simplified calling experience, Straight Talk includes an innovative mechanical and acoustic design that features a sophisticated speakerphone experience similar to those found in corporate boardrooms. Straight Talk delivers a high-fidelity voice and sound experience enhanced by asymmetric speakers and advanced noise suppression with full duplex acoustics. When the Touch Pro2 is flipped over it automatically turns into a conference room speakerphone system.
And finally, the news we’ve all been waiting for…the HTC Touch Diamond2 and HTC Touch Pro2 will be available starting in mid May and the end of June 2009 [respectively] (so specific, I know) at all authorized resellers at a suggested retail price of SGD $1,088 and $1,328 (aka, roughly $720 and $879 USD).
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Well this is a thing: AJ Gannon has combined a Speak n' Spell with a Rock Band controller, making for one very wicked-sounding alphabet screamer. [via Music Radar]
"Tweetlite" is a Arduino-powered plexiglass cube that displays a person's Twitter stream in LED flashes of Morse code. That would probably drive me nuts (although its creator Bruce Drummond does make a good point about its usefulness as a Morse code learning aid), but I've always been a sucker for ambient lights communicating status, even if in practice it can be a bit tedious.
Microsoft Outlook is more than just your basic email program. You can manage your contacts, calendar, and messages in one place without having to use multiple programs. Additionally, you can send text messages directly from Outlook as well as publish your calendars on the Internet. As a stand alone program, Microsoft Outlook will cost you over $100. Check out these free alternatives instead.
Using Eudora
Eudora has released multiple versions of its email software for Windows and Mac. Features include assigning a downloaded song as your mail alert, an Outlook importer, virus protection, IMAP and drag and drop attachment support. Currently, the manufacturer is developing a new open source version of Eudora that is available in beta. Site: [Eudora]
Trying out Thunderbird
Thunderbird is Mozilla’s email software that is currently available in 2.0. One of the best features of this Outlook alternative is the message tagging feature. With this, you can make your inbox into a to do list and tag each message with a personalized message. You can also customize your email with add-ons and extensions. Site: [Thunderbird]
Getting down with Gmail
You can’t really look at Outlook alternatives without considering Google’s Gmail. This email service is wildly popular for a specific reason. It’s free and has cool features, like built in video and text chat, mobile access, saved conversations and an easy to use calendar. I prefer Gmail over Thunderbird since to access the calendar feature for Mozilla’s version, you have to download another program: Sunbird. Site: [Gmail]
Good news, everyone. That Mexican law that requires cellphone users to be fingerprinted and registered into a national database went into effect [Spanish] the other day. It’s an effort to crack down on violent crime, since, as well all know, cellphones are notorious criminals and won’t think twice about dropping an Acme anvil onto your head.
I won’t even pretend to understand the ins and outs of the current Mexican situation, something to do with Americans’ insatiable appetite for the likes of marijuana and cocaine, and Mexican drug lords’ uncanny ability to supply those drugs at whatever the cost. It’s pretty bleak, yes.
Right, so moving forward, anyone who wants a cellphone in Mexico will have to provide official photo ID, an address and step up to the fingerprinting booth. If you already have a cellphone you’ll have to retroactively provide all that information.
Carriers are required to advertise the new law, so that no one can say, “But I didn’t know anything about it.”
Here’s a fun stat: there’s 70 million cellphones users in Mexico, and some 90 percent of them use a pre-paid phone.
Ed over at Hiptop3 has the scoop on the upcoming Sidekick 2009 aka Blade that we’ve been hearing about for the last few months. According to an internal T-Mobile memo, the new Sidekick LX is going live tomorrow. Yes, the Sidekick 2009 will be the new LX with the older model fading away, which it already has except for the Tony Hawk edition that still resides on the T-Mo website. And that private party on the 21st is probably for the Sidekick and nothing more. But will it launch earlier than the May 13 street date that was leaked a couple weeks ago?
Get Ready for the New Sidekick LX
T-Mobile is preparing to launch the thinnest Sidekick ever, with blazing fast 3G connectivity for customers to connect with friends quickly and easily. The new Sidekick LX will come equipped with GPS enabled Live Search, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and free bundled social networking applications including Facebook, My Space, and Twitter. Customers will also be able to watch and download You Tube videos directly from the device. The new Sidekick LX comes equipped with the features that customers love including a full QWERTY keyboard and an enhanced swivel screen that is larger and sharper than any other Sidekick.
Additional information regarding launch dates, pricing and availablility will be available on the Retail Communication Home Page on April 17.
Action Steps
Check the Retail Communication Home Page on April 17 for additional information regarding the Sidekick LX launch
The thing with almost every financial statement is that it can be read in either a positive or negative light. Nokia’s Q1 report is just like that. On one hand, the wireless company actually pushed a good amount of handsets out during the first quarter of the year. That being said, the sales numbers are less than the previous year, which doesn’t ride well for year vs year comps. However, even with reporting a 90% drop in profit from Q1 of 2009 verses Q1 of 2008, the Nokia stock is trading up for the day.
Yes, a 90.6% loss in profit verse the previous year is huge, but the company is still pushing out handsets and has big plans for this year. Plus, Nokia made major restructuring changes the last few months including, laying off a 1,700 workers, canceling contracts, and basically trimming down the operations of the world’s largest handset maker. This, folks, is how you ride out a global economic downturn.
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Yesterday’s post poking fun at fixies got a lot of attention, and we were, of course, accused of hatin’ on the bikes and riders. But we don’t — a quick look inside the Wired.com office door will tell you everything you need to know— the bike rack there is full of fixed-gear bikes, and at least one has the dreaded Brookes saddle. But then, it is San Francisco.
But you guys convinced me to try one. Apparently they are “fun” and also good for you, so I have decided to build one. The catch (and there’s always a catch) is that I want to do it on the cheap. No Bianchi Pistas, or Shimano anything. I plan to trawl the dumpsters for basic parts like frame and (hopefully) wheels, and get the cheapest of anything else that I might need:
And that’s where you come in. I could trawl the net all day, but where’s the fun in that? Y’all seem to know what you’re talking about, so help a guy out here. This is what I need.
Frame
Any racing-bike frame will do, right? I’m planning on painting it, so it’s really just about finding the right size. Are there any traps I should look out for?
Crank
I expect I’ll use what ever comes with the frame — after all, the crank is such a pain to remove that they usually stay on even stripped and dumped bikes.
Pedals
Do I really need clips or straps, or can I get away with regular pedals on a fixie? I will probably be riding this with flip-flops throughout the summer, so no fancy shoe/clip combos, m’kay?
Wheels and Cog
Hopefully I’ll find these with the bike. The exception is the rear cog (or sprocket, depending on where you come from). I’ll be needing a fixed hub. Is there a cheap option, and should I consider a flip-flop hub so I can change to freewheel in the future? Also, ratios. I live in Barcelona so, while a lot of the hills are mild gradients, at times I need to hit the slopes. What ratio should I choose?
Handlebars
These will be dumpster-dived, too. I’d prefer to get some straight bars, or even something that lays back a little so I don’t have to lean forward too much. I probably don’t need much advice here, but hints are welcome.
Lights
I know, not cool looking, but essential. I’ll end up buying these I expect, so please advise on the smallest, least obvious but still bright lights that I can buy.
Brake
I’m putting a brake on the front, at least until I get used to stopping without one. Is there a preferred kind? I usually see side-pull calipers, which I assume are there because they are so small.
Anything Else
This is a fixie, so I guess the point is to keep it as accessory-free as possible. That’s good, as it keeps the budget low. If I missed anything, let me know in the comments. I’ll be keeping you up-to-date with progress and photos right here on Gadget Lab.
Bad week for pirates — at least heavily publicized ones. A Swedish court has found the operators of the Pirate Bay, the world’s best-known file-sharing Website, guilty of copyright infringement. 
Most excitingly today on Offworld, area/code's iPhone puzzler Drop7 -- still one of the platform's absolute best, and one of the very few that (four months later) I'm still playing on a daily basis -- 
This morning, April 17, 2009 at around 2AM, Ashton Kutcher has beat CNN to 1 million 
The first man in space. The first man on the moon. The first man with a million Twitter followers. Yes, this is one of those great achievements in human history. Congratulations Ashton Kutcher.
Los Angeles tech companies may not be able to stand up to their northern California neighbors when it comes to technology clout, but they sure do seem to have a more interesting and varied work life. While Silicon Valley based Facebook is busy getting 
My lawyers filed my response to The AP’s claims against me on Tuesday 
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Up until this point, despite all the press he was getting, Ashton Kutcher was behind CNN in the race to become the first Twitter user with a million followers. Not anymore.
I made my feelings on the 
“Tomorrow just became a very big day. (Sorry for the teaser—more later.)” When Twitter CEO and co-founder Evan Williams posted to his Twitter account on Thursday morning, the Twitter universe buzzed with excitement. When co-founder Biz Stone posted this to his account, the buzz increased: “It’s almost midnight in Boston—did I really agree to get up before 6am? Tomorrow is going to be a long and interesting day!” What could the big news be, everyone wondered. Did Google finally decide to buy Twitter? Did Twitter buy Facebook? Is it related to the worm attacks of last weekend? Nope. It’s Oprah.
The thing with almost every financial statement is that it can be read in either a positive or negative light. Nokia’s 
