Source: Gizmodo | 18 Apr 2009 | 12:00 am

Indie iPhone App Developers Rallying Around OpenFeint

Gaming has proven to have huge appeal on the iPhone. Because of that, there are a thousands of games in the App Store — which is great for consumers, but it can also be overwhelming. And it can be frustrating for developers who can see their work easily lost in the sea of apps. The iPhone social platform OpenFeint is trying to alleviate some of those problems. And it has rallied some big indie iPhone game developers to the cause.

The developers behind Trism, Boulder Dash and Pocket God among others have aligned themselves with the OpenFeint platform. Pocket God has recently spent a long time at the top paid app in the App Store, and it still holds the number two spot. Trism, has been one of the most popular games for the iPhone and it has made its developer, Steve Demeter a lot of money — something which Apple itself has played up a few times. Demeter had actually been working on his own platform, called Onyx, but dropped development of that to get on board with OpenFeint.

But why are these app integrating OpenFeint? Well, the developers see it as a way not only to add a social layer to their apps — users get profile pages, Facebook-like walls for others to write on, the ability to chat in games and more — but, the platform now includes a new feature dubbed “One Touch iPromote,” which gives users a simple way to find and buy other OpenFeint-supported games their friends are playing. OpenFeint users can invite other users into “lobbies,” where everyone can see what everyone else is playing. A user can then decide to play the same game or click on the link to buy it.

Basically, these developers are creating their own sub-ecosystem outside of the App Store to get the word out about their games. And that’s an enticing proposition for a lot of indie app developers who don’t have the marketing resources of some of the bigger game studios that are now moving in on the iPhone platform. And when it includes games that already rose from nothing to become hits, like Trism and Pocket God, the idea is even more enticing.

And this is a smart play by OpenFeint founders Jason Citron and Danielle Cassley (who named the platform after their early hit game for the iPhone Aurora Feint) because it gives developers a reason to use their platform rather than simply go with Facebook Connect (which you can also use with OpenFeint). Facebook unveiled Facebook Connect for the iPhone at SXSW a few weeks ago, as an easy way for developers to leverage the huge social network to add a social layer to apps.

So what’s in it for OpenFeint? “One Touch iPromote will be based on revenue sharing. When a user clicks on a game in a Feint Lobby and then goes on to buy that game the developer and OpenFeint will get a percentage of that sale,” an OpenFeint spokesperson tells me.

There are now 21 iPhone games using the OpenFeint platform. Version 1.5 of OpenFeint was unveiled today with this new One Touch iPromote feature.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Apr 2009 | 11:52 pm

How Adobe Air Apps Work (PC World)

PC World - Most computer users are familiar with Adobe Flash, the browser plug-in responsible for powering much of the Internet's multimedia content--from YouTube videos and Flickr slideshows to addictive Web-based video games. Flash is popular because it works on any operating system and on many mobile devices, and because it handles media and graphics with aplomb.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 17 Apr 2009 | 11:49 pm

Rainy days boost brain power

Australian researchers say rain and gloom may be good for the brain by improving the ability to remember. A team from the University of New South Wales School of Psychology questioned shoppers at a Sydney store over a 2-month period.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 17 Apr 2009 | 11:48 pm

Digitally Unlimited: Rushmore Star Embraces iPhone, Web to Sell Music

If the film Rushmore were made recently, Max Fischer would probably be founder of the Digital Music Society.

The actor who played him, Jason Schwartzman, would be at least. When he's off the movie set, Schwartzman injects his creative mojo into his online music project, Coconut Records. Songs from his first album, Nighttiming debuted on MySpace before hitting the iTunes Store. And most recently, Coconut Records songs appeared in the free iPhone rhythm game Tap Tap Revenge.

Following Weezer and Nine Inch Nails, Coconut Records is one of several tech-savvy artists experimenting with the internet, gadgets and games to boost sales in a rapidly declining record industry. In an interview with Wired.com, Schwartzman and his digital label manager Ben Patterson shared their philosophy on digital music, as well as the overall impact of tech-driven distribution methods.

Wired.com: Coconut Records is on Twitter, MySpace, iTunes and the iPhone. Do you plan to try out any other digital distribution methods to promote your music? I know Weezer's Rivers Cuomo had a YouTube song-collaboration project, for example.

Schwartzman: That was so cool.... like a YouTube chain-letter song. That's like the idea of collaboration on steroids. I had the exact same idea, but Rivers stole it.

Wired.com: Really?

Schwartzman: No.

I also had an idea — it was something called iSongs, and it was like this world where you could buy music and movies and audiobooks and all that stuff. And then Apple came out with iTunes, and I was like Steve, you fucked me on this. And you fucked me on the iPhone. It's a touch phone and it's called the iCaller.

Wired.com: Do you own an iPhone yourself?

Schwartzman: No. I can't.

Wired.com: Why not?

Schwartzman: My thumbs are not agile enough. I've got little tumbler hands.

Wired.com: So you're a movie star and a former drummer in a popular band. Why did you feel the need to promote Coconut Records through an iPhone game?

Schwartzman: I'll let Ben go first.

Patterson: We started with just being an indie release and not having buckets of marketing cash. We wanted to get music out any way possible and one of the great things about working with Jason is he's really embracing new ways to share music with people.

It's increasingly crowded to get music in front of people; it's super easy but super hard at the same time. You can compose on MySpace, but you have to get a lot of people to go there. So you can put things where it's not quite as crowded and you have a little more shared voice and visibility.

We try to find opportunities to share channels like that, and one of the ones that's become really strong in the past six months is the Tap Tap Revenge game. It really popped up sales for us on iTunes.... West Coast at some point was the second most downloaded track on Tap Tap Revenge.

Schwartzman: A more abstract way to support what Ben was saying is, it's almost like a thesis for the Coconut Records project. The whole thing started in just a homemade, small way, and it was really just a joyful experience to make the first record. We wanted to release the music in the way that it felt to record the music — in a way that just felt fun and involved.

[The record] was made quickly, and it was made in a gut reaction. When I made the first record, I didn't even know I was going to put it out. It was the first time I tried to record a bunch of songs in a blast. It was recorded just for my ears, my girlfriend's ears, my brother's ears, but certainly not for the public. And when Ben became involved and we talked about how to put it out there, we said we'd have to put this out in a way that it was just like how we made the recording — no hard work or restrictions. 

That's the great thing about releasing music in this way. [The internet] is like a big pond, and if you manage to do it correctly it's astonishing, it's this drop of a pebble and the ripples kind of go.

Patterson: To expand on that a little ... what I find is awesome is every day I'm looking at a Twitter stream for Jason, and looking at blog hits and stuff. Every day you see people who are discovering Coconut Records for the first time. It feels really nice for me. It's not something where you're all about one release date. It's all about continually introducing people to music and getting them to share with others.

Schwartzman: That's ultimately the fun thing about doing it this way. I have released my second record [Davy], and we're Tweeting it out for people, and it's incredible they're able to receive it. You can keep building and it's so cool that someone can discover it.

That's one of the odd things about the internet. It's the most instant thing in the world, but you just have time with it. It's been fascinating.

Another thing is, I don't really tour. I don't even play live. Really all I have is releasing music, and that's kind of what I do. That's why the internet is like my tour.

Wired.com: Coconut Records started out as a digital release, but eventually you started selling physical CDs. How did you get people to buy CDs if the album was available on the internet first?

Schwartzman: Another thing about Coconut Records is I know I'm never going to sell as many records as someone who's a really big artist who has a lot of money.... I'm not in the same league as those people, and that's fine. And when it came time to print up physical CDs, we were very modest with how much we wanted to print up.

My girlfriend's idea that I stole was, if you're going to only print so many CDs, and the artwork isn't very elaborate, you can't charge people so much money for nothing. So we took a Polaroid picture for each CD we sold [for the first 2,000 people who bought the CD]. So when people bought the record they felt like they had something special; no one else had the exact same thing they did.

I think it's really cool to put out a record where on one hand, digitally anyone can get it in the world, and hopefully be able to as long as that lasts. But physically there are less copies of it and they are totally individual and special. It's like traverse terrains simultaneously.

Wired.com: So what's next for Coconut Records?

Schwartzman: I'd like to do some more stuff for this record, I guess in some ways like the first record. I made the record so quickly, and I would be really excited about putting it out and letting it build [virally]. I'd also like to do some videos and be a bit more connected to people than before.

In terms of music I just have to write some more songs. Hopefully, I'd like to make another record this year.

Patterson: I think Tap Tap Revenge has been a great platform. I look forward to continuing to work with those guys, and I think working with Jason has been phenomenal.

Schwartzman: It's going to only get better, Ben.

Photo Courtesy of Boom

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Apr 2009 | 11:29 pm

5 Questions with Wil Harris

Section: Web, Web 2.0, Websites, Online Music/Video, Features, Interviews

You might know him as “The English guy on TWiT.”  You may know him from “ChannelFlip Tech.”  You might even be following him on Twitter.  He’s been named one of Think Vitamin’s most interesting people to follow on Twitter.  Get to know Wil Harris.

1.  Who are you?

I run a website called ChannelFlip.com, which is a portal for some really cool video content and podcasts about the latest technology, comedy, video games, movies and websites.  I also appear regularly on a podcast called This Week in Tech with Leo Laporte, which is probably how most people know me.  Before that I started a website called bit-tech.net, which was (and still is) geek mecca here in the UK.

2.  Facebook, Twitter, or something else and why?

The phone.  The phone has to be the most underrated communications tool around.  I have friends that own an iPhone and never use it to make a damn phone call.  Twitter is great for just staying connected to people that you otherwise wouldn’t talk to, though, particularly for guys.  I’m never going to call up a buddy and just ask how it’s going, that’s a total girl thing to do.  But with Twitter, I can secretly check in on them.

3.  Gadget you couldn’t live without (and why)?

iPhone.  Since getting one at launch (I got one from New York and hacked it to work in the UK) it’s now become inseparable from me.  It runs my calendar, contacts, email, phone calls, news, games, travel information, everything.  If someone took it away from me tomorrow, I would have no idea what I was doing.  Things (which is an awesome Mac app for todos and project management) syncs onto my iPhone, so between that and my email, I never have to be disconnected.  I left the house without it once, about 9 months ago, and I was practically in cold sweats all day.  What are my friends doing?  What email do I have?  What’s the latest sports score?  What’s the weather like on the other side of the world?  All crucial questions that I need answered NOW.

OK, on a really serious note, the iPhone does a few things really well.  1) I always have up to date contact and calendar information because it syncs with my Mac on a push basis.  2) I can always get at my email and that syncs flawlessly with IMAP on Gmail.  3) I always have my Todos thanks to Things (although this is dying for the 3.0 update to do push syncing).  4) I always have my latest music and podcasts to listen to.  These are the things that I do most each day and having one device - rather than a PDA, iPod and phone - makes my life so much easier.

4.  Most regrettable piece of tech you own [mine’s an original Sony Reader].

Hmm.  I’m going to say Gamecube.  I bought it, played Super Smash Bros to death, and then could never find anything else worth playing.  Bleh.

5.  If you could wish a gadget into existence, what would it be?

An auto-expanding laptop screen.  So a screen that was thin and light and attached to the MacBook Air, but which actually unfolded into a 24” display when you set it up.  Portable and practical.  That would be uber.

Find Wil around the web:
ChannelFlip.com
Twitter

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Apr 2009 | 11:26 pm

Genesis P-Orridge's copyright pants

Here is a 1972 photo of industrial music pioneer Genesis P-Orridge wearing "Copyright Breeches," made for him by Cosey Fanni Tutti. Both P-Orridge and Tutti are members of the highly-influential art damage music group Throbbing Gristle, who have just begun their first United States tour since 1981.


Source: Boing Boing | 17 Apr 2009 | 11:25 pm

AT&T Likely To Get Boost From iPhone In First Quarter - Wall Street Journal

Earthtimes (press release)

AT&T Likely To Get Boost From iPhone In First Quarter Wall Street Journal By Jeffry Bartash The recession has curbed demand for every US company, but AT&T Inc. (T) has avoided the worst of the downturn thanks in no small part to sales of the iPhone. Verizon CEO Says 4G IPhone Could Be on Verizon PC World Speculation grows over new Apple products San Jose Mercury News Gerson Lehrman Group - Apple Insider - Washington Post - Mobile Burn all 301 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 17 Apr 2009 | 11:13 pm

Antitrust Regulators To Monitor Windows 7, But Not Later Releases

CWmike writes "Gregg Keizer reports that federal and state regulators have struck a deal with Microsoft under which any version of Windows released after May 2011 will not be subject to the scrutiny mandated by a 2002 antitrust settlement. As previously promised, however, Windows 7 will be put under the microscope. Yesterday, the DOJ filed documents (PDF) with US District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly asking that she extend her oversight by at least 18 months, until May 12, 2011. Although Microsoft has consented to the extension — and acknowledged that the regulators can later ask for another 18 months — Kollar-Kotelly must approve the request."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 17 Apr 2009 | 11:05 pm

iPhone Game Roundup: Red Bull Air Race, Cosmic Nitro (Macworld.com)

Macworld.com - We’re clearing out our mailbox of some recent stuff that’s come our way, such as an aerobatic racing game, a new title from the maker of Galcon, football/soccer management game and an imaginative game involving flatulence.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:59 pm

Gadget Lab Podcast #71: Verizon on the Horizon for iPhone?

iPhone on the Verizon network? You don't say. Well, Verizon's CEO thinks it will happen, and we discuss why it would be a great idea for Apple to share its precious iPhone with another major carrier in the United States.

On a similar topic, we discuss how actor Jason Schwartzman is using an iPhone game and the internet to promote his digital music project, Coconut Records. Pretty neat, I think, even though that hater Danny seems to disagree.

Moving on to product reviews, Danny gives us the rundown on the sturdy Kodak Zx1 pocket cam and the Yamaha FZ6R, a motorcycle for beginner riders. Yes, it's powerful enough (600CC) to make you not feel like a sissy.

This week's podcast features Danny Dumas, Brian Chen and editorial assistant Maren Jinnett, with audio engineering by Fernando Cardoso.

If the embedded player above doesn't work, you can download the Gadget Lab podcast #71 MP3.

Use iTunes? Subscribe to the Gadget Lab Audio Podcast in iTunes. Do it now!

Like video? Aim your browser at the Gadget Lab Video Podcast — available on iTunes and right here on the Gadget Lab blog.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:54 pm

Apple trumps Windows PC makers in customer experience study - Apple Insider

TopNews United States

Apple trumps Windows PC makers in customer experience study Apple Insider By Aidan Malley Apple's reputation has been polished with a new customer experience study from Forrester Research that shows happiness and overall satisfaction with Macs being much higher than for several major Windows PC builders. Apple more lovable than other PC makers, survey says CNET News Apple tops customer satisfaction survey VNUNet.com Afterdawn.com - New York Times - PC Magazine - TopNews United States all 25 news articles

Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:36 pm

Sweet spreadsheet grill eliminates BBQ turf disputes

Here in Seattle, whenever we have barbecues (yes, make a rain joke, but I had one on the beach a week ago), we tend to have vegetarians present. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Some of my best friends are vegetarians. It’s just that we have to be careful in parsing out the grill space, so no one gets pig matter on their birdseed burger. And it doesn’t always work out. This amazing invention, possibly the greatest of all time, eliminates that problem entirely. Veggies A1 through C18! What can I say, I guess I just Excel at cooking outdoors!

Okay, that was uncalled-for. But puns are just in my nature, boys and grills.

Unfortunately, it’s just a concept right now. But you better believe we’ll let you know the second this thing goes real. Of course, you could always fabricate one. Of course, then you’d be cooking with brass.

[via Neatorama]

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:30 pm

South Korea aims to boost robotics

South Korean officials said Friday they have created a plan to boost the nation into the top three countries for robotics technology and applications by 2013. The officials said the plan was finalized Friday at a meeting of the National Science and Technology Council that was chaired by President
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:24 pm

US videogame sales slump in March (AFP)

AFP - US videogame sales fell 17 percent in March as the industry failed to escape the economic slowdown, according to figures released by the market research firm NPD Group.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:23 pm

Had Problems with Netflix Blu-ray DVDs? Report Them Now

Hundreds of subscribers to Netflix's movies-by-mail service say they are receiving fractured Blu-ray discs that won't play -- and that it's happening at an alarming rate. The reasons could include tough love from the local post office, which sometimes sticks the envelopes into automated sorting machines. Or it could be the faults in the Blu-ray disc manufacturing process. Here's the full article.

We have created interactive ZeeMap and we'd like you to report your experience with Netflix' service, particularly Blu-ray discs. The map will help us find out if the cracked Blu-ray discs problem is likely to occur in certain areas more than other. The results will appear on the map above.

Here's what you need to do:

Click "Add." Enter your location and select the marker for your issue:

• Damaged Blu-ray Disc: Black 
• Undamaged Blu-ray Dis: Brown 
• Damaged Standard-Definition Disc:  Blue
• Undamaged Standard-Definition Disc: Burgundy 

Under the "Details" tab, add info on how often you received damaged discs and Netflix's customer service response. Your email address will not be published on the map.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:19 pm

Predator C Avenger Makes First Flights

stoolpigeon writes "General Atomics' new unmanned combat aerial vehicle, the Predator C Avenger, has been making test flights. This new Predator has a stealthy design, 20-hour endurance, is jet powered and has an internal weapons bay. A number of photos have just become available. 'The aircraft was designed so the wings can be folded for storage in hangars or aircraft carrier operations if a naval customer is found. Cassidy, a retired admiral, has talked about a possible Navy role for Predator C since 2002. The Navy was interested in the Predator B's capabilities, but didn't want to introduce any new propeller-driven aircraft onto carrier decks. The UAV also comes with a tailhook, suggesting that carrier-related trials are planned. The inner section of the cranked wing is deep, providing structural strength for carrier landings and generous fuel volume while maintaining a dry, folding outer wing. Right now, the US Air Force and Royal Air Force are considered the most likely users.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:14 pm

EPA report warns of greenhouse gas risk

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report says greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution and could pose a public health threat. The proposed finding, which now moves to a public comment period, came out of a scientific review ordered by the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:13 pm

Another Contender Emerges: Posterous Takes On TwitPic With New API

The race is on to become the dominant media sharing site on Twitter, with favorites like TwitPic and newcomers including PhotoBucket’s TwitGoo vying for popularity as Twitter begins to hit the mainstream. Now Posterous is looking to join the race with a new API that developers can integrate into their Twitter apps with a minimal amount of effort.

We’re big fans of Posterous, the dead-simple blogging tool that makes it incredibly easy to post text, photos, and other media online. To post a photo or post to the site, you simply send an Email message to the generic post@posterous.com address, and the site does the rest. And you can optionally have the service automatically syndicate each of these posts to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and a number of other services.

Now, Posterous is looking to become even more convenient. Its new API allows developers to add Posterous support to their Twitter clients, which means you’ll soon be able to send photos to the service from your iPhone or desktop much the same way you would with TwitPic or one of its many competitors (assuming the clients integrate the service - more on that later).

But Posterous isn’t looking to simply serve as yet another competitor offering a near-identical featureset. Instead, the company believes that its blogging platform is superior to the basic photo galleries offered by other services (and Michael agrees - he’s been posting his photos here). The service supports multiple photo uploads at once, which are automatically placed into photo galleries, and can also generate embeddable players for audio and video files (though its API is starting off with support for images only). Users can optionally use their own domain names with the service, which means that they can more easily track analytics. And finally, users can download media in its original format, while some competitors only offer compressed versions for download.

I prefer Posterous to the other image platforms because it’s much more flexible. But as I wrote yesterday about TwitGoo, the key to the service’s success (at least as a TwitPic alternative) will lie in getting integrated into popular Twitter clients like TweetDeck or Tweetie. It’s not clear how selective these clients are at this point, but they’re going to have have to start making choices, otherwise users are going to be overwhelmed with the number of services they have at their disposal. That said, Posterous is making the process as easy as possible on developers, as it uses the “exact same methods, parameters, and response codes” as TwitPic.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:10 pm

Fair Use Bolstered by Student-Cheating Detection Service

A federal appeals court says students' intellectual property rights are not violated when an online cheating service stores essays in a plagiarism-check database. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sets aside copyright claims, saying the California detection company has a fair use right to bank the essays.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:05 pm

Spansion Inc. Receives Additional Delisting Notice From NASDAQ

SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Spansion Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:03 pm

Color e-paper you can write on? Yes, please

I can’t imagine that this stuff is cost-effective right now, but in a couple years? Damn, I might just buy me a Kindle 5. The writing bit could be handy, but its direct input method (just giving the magnetized powder a green light at point of contact, looks like) suggests to me that it may not be able to store that writing. Pure speculation on my part.

Details are few and far between, but I’m sure Bridgestone will out it when it’s good and ready for public consumption. Judging from the article’s limited statements, it looks like it may be Wacom-related as well?

[via Slashgear]

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:00 pm

Is a Crackdown Looming for Parenting Blogs? [Voices]

A number of Juggle readers are parent-bloggers themselves—and many of you read mom- or dad-blogs regularly. In many cases, parent-bloggers review products, such as diapers, toys and baby gear, and often receive free samples or services from companies hoping to see their wares get real parents’ seal of approval.

But things may be changing in the blogosphere, as the Federal Trade Commission considers whether to impose new rules for parent-bloggers. The FTC is weighing whether these informal endorsements should be considered paid advertisements if the blogger receives any quid pro quo from the manufacturer, either in the form of free goods or money.

The news is making a lot of parent-bloggers nervous. A number of parents have turned to blogging as a way to earn income or get free products during these tough times. But the FTC is concerned that the manufacturer-blogger relationships may not be transparent to readers.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Apr 2009 | 9:57 pm

YouTube sensation singer invited on 'Oprah' (AFP)

AFP - A Scottish charity worker who became an Internet star after her performance on a British talent contest has been invited to appear on Oprah Winfrey's chat show, officials said Friday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 17 Apr 2009 | 9:55 pm

CrunchDeals: Peeks for $25 @ Target

I stumbled upon a little surprise during a quick trip to Target last night: Peeks are clearanced out at Target.

I don’t know if all the color options, or stores, are running the same pricing, but at least the red and blue models are $25 at Flint, MI target. The website still lists the email devices at $50, but who knows, maybe it will drop on there shortly. $25 is closer to the price point that the Peek should be sold at considering th $20 monthly service charge that is required.

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Apr 2009 | 9:46 pm

The Bully Boss Strikes Again!

Admin assistants dish on their bosses' craziest requests FALLS CHURCH, Va., April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- And you thought your boss was unreasonable? Bet he never asked you to perform oral surgery or fill in for the bomb squad. Talk about "other duties as assigned!" With Administrative Professionals Day approaching (April 22), the editors of www.BusinessManagementDaily.com asked administrative assistants to weigh in with the craziest things their bosses had ever asked them to do.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Apr 2009 | 9:44 pm

A New Business Model For Skype: Turning Phone Numbers On The Web Into Paid Ads

While eBay prepares to unload Skype via a sale or IPO next year, it is busy looking for new ways to make money off its 405 million global users. They already account for an estimated 8 percent of international calls, and many of them are increasingly paying for SkypeOut calls to regular phones. Its revenues last year were $551 million, but it wants to get to $1 billion by 2011. To get there, it might have to start thinking local.

In fact, it has already started trials in Europe and New Zealand with Yellow Pages businesses that turn business phone numbers on the Web into free calls. Mike Boland at the Kelsey Group explains the concept:

The idea is that Skype is used by 405 million global subscribers to make free and cheap calls. Why not position it as a complementary tool to help find and drive calls to local businesses too? This was the same idea behind the launch of SkypeFind (which we covered here), but takes it a step further.

Essentially it broadens this to the larger Web, where most local search activity is already happening. What the idea requires is that phone numbers that show up throughout local search results be hyperlinked to launch a Skype call.

The SkypeFind feature he mentions is basically a local business directory within the Skype client which nobody uses But currently there is a browser plug-in that works with Skype 4.0, the latest version, that turns any phone number on the Web or search result into a clickable Skype call. In order to use the feature, you need to pay the normal SkypeOut rates.

The idea Skype is playing with is to make those calls, or at least some of them, free to consumers. Instead, a Yellow Pages company would buy up the calling minutes in bulk and either offer it as part of the fees it charges businesses to list their numbers in its directory or charge the businesses on a click-to-call basis. How they decide to price it will probably vary depending on the type of businesses being called. Lawyers and plumbers, for instance, would be more likely to pay for phone leads on a click-to-call basis. For other businesses, the Skype feature would act more as a retention strategy.

Click-to-call ads have been tried before, but this turns the actual phone number into an ad. Click it, and you call the business you were looking for, and the call is paid for by either the business or the Yellow Pages partner. The $32 billion Yellow Pages industry is quickly moving to the Web and Skype has the ability to light up any business phone number found on the Web.

Presumably, the Yellow Pages partners would only pay for numbers in their directories, so Skype would have to come up with a way to indicate which calls are free and which ones are not. And there is no reason to limit this to local calls. As people continue to use Skype increasingly for free long distance calls, making money from local calls might be the key to getting to that $1 billion in revenues.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Apr 2009 | 9:43 pm

Laguna Is A Hacker At Heart, And Other Fine Jobs At TechCrunch

We love our new TechCrunch world headquarters in downtown Palo Alto, and we’re working hard to fill it with smart, hardworking and fun people.

Team members needed:

Developers (2): We think it’s critical that next-generation media companies actually build product and test new apps developed by other start-ups. It gives us street cred and keeps us engaged in the community. It’s also creating new assets for our business. In the last year, in addition to launching our own CrunchBase structured-wiki product and API, Henry and Mark were some of the first developers to have access to roll out Facebook Connect, Google App Engine and Yahoo! BOSS search. And we have many more great projects ahead of us. Rails developers preferred, but raw talent and drive are most important to building out our team.

Great developer perks include our new (used) Segway, Microsoft Surface, outdoor deck, unlimited supply of caffeine, and friendly dog-wonder, tester-hacker Laguna. We also host major events throughout the year and lots of cool start-ups pass through our office every day.

Developer, Summer Intern. We have one paid internship available for a developer. Open to college students.

Our paid summer internships for CrunchBase and Events have been filled, but if you’re interested in working part-time at TechCrunch this summer for academic credit (or just great experience), please send your resume to gene [at] techcrunch [dot] com.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Apr 2009 | 9:33 pm

Swedish Pirate Party Gains 3000 Members In 7 Hours

An anonymous reader writes "Due to outrage over the verdict in The Pirate Bay trial, the Swedish Pirate Party has gained 3000 members in less than 7 hours. It is now bigger than 3 of the 7 parties represented in the Swedish parliament. 'Ruling means that our political work must now be stepped up. We want to ensure that the Pirate Bay activities — to link people and information — is clearly lawful. And we want to do it for all people in Sweden, Europe and the world, continues Rick Falk Vinge. We want it to be open for ordinary people to disseminate and receive information without fear of imprisonment or astronomical damages.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 17 Apr 2009 | 9:33 pm

Time Warner Cable renounces highest tier bandwidth cap prices

Section: Business News, Communications

Time Warner Cable recently announced that it would be expanding its tier pricing program.  The tier pricing would make TWC subscribers choose a tier based on how much they can afford to pay and how much bandwidth they think they will use.  It caused a lot of uproar among the Internet, even with those not in the affected areas, and even those who don’t have Time Warner Cable.

Now, after the initial uproar, TWC has backpedaled on its plans.  It has decided to not follow through with the tier pricing plans and continue their services as they are for now.  However, it has said that they plans were taken down until they can further “educate” their users.  Sounds like it’s just trying to rethink its stance, and possibly find a way to make it sound better to the consumer.

If there’s any way to make tier pricing sound better to consumers TWC will probably try to find it, but it’s doubtful that one exists.  Those who use a high amount of bandwidth will always be out to give their say on the issue.  Sure, it might be unfair to some of those who don’t use that much bandwidth, and only use their Internet to check email and news rather than downloading movies, and whatnot.  It’s a hard decision for TWC, but charging $150 for unlimited access isn’t and shouldn’t be the solution.

Read [Boing Boing]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Apr 2009 | 9:09 pm

"This is your second notice that your factory warranty is about to expire"

Reddit user Nevesis has sleuthed a lot of information about the National Auto Warranty Services, Inc aka US Fidelis, Inc, the company that has illegally robocalled millions of customers.

These are the only telemarketer calls I have ever gotten on my cellphone.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Apr 2009 | 9:02 pm

Speedus Announces Nasdaq Notification

FREEHOLD, N.J., April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Speedus Corp.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Apr 2009 | 9:02 pm

Who says DRM is difficult to understand?

The BBC has released this helpful infographic to let everyone out there know that DRM isn’t just simple — it’s fun! Of course, you’d have to be a goddamn PhD of doublespeak to make any sense of it, but who isn’t these days?

Honestly, if it’s this complicated, you’re doing it wrong. And the fun part is, none of this will affect real pirates. If I want to download a copy of an HD BBC show, it’s the work of five minutes. But customers in the UK will have to keep a printout of what they’re allowed to do with content they paid for.

It will now be possible to make a single HD Blu-ray copy of one of our programmes, although not copies of copies. An HD connection to a protected home network will also be possible, although an HD connection to the Internet or portable devices will not work. The diagram below I think sums up the various paths you might want your HD content to take - and the extent to which that will be possible. I should add that the partial unlocking of some paths should also enable the high quality standard definition RGB outputs from some set top boxes.

Here you go, BBC. I made a corrected version.

[via Pocket-Lint]

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Apr 2009 | 9:00 pm

Shuttle Dodges Space Junk Risk

Space junk won't derail the shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope for the final time, a NASA official confirms to Wired.com, even though the cloud of debris from February's satellite collision is growing.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Apr 2009 | 9:00 pm

Time Warner Pulls Plug On Metered Billing Tests

fudreporter is one of many who writes to tell us that Time Warner is not planning to continue their tiered consumption tests at this time. The company is not completely admitting defeat, stating that they "may return to the idea in the future," but for now the test has been ceased. "The plan would have established several tiers based on how much consumers use the Internet. Time Warner Cable had said at the time that it believed that consumers who download the most content need to pay more to cover infrastructure upgrades. The plan was first announced two weeks ago, then modified with higher download caps last week. In a news release yesterday, Glenn Britt, the chief executive of Time Warner Cable, said, 'We will not proceed with implementation of additional tests until further consultation with our customers and other interested parties, ensuring that community needs are being met.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:50 pm

SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc. Schedules First Quarter 2009 Earnings Conference Call

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:49 pm

Performance Technologies Schedules First Quarter 2009 Earnings Release and Conference Call

ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Performance Technologies (Nasdaq: PTIX), a leading provider of innovative network communications solutions, will announce its financial results for the first quarter 2009 after the market closes on Thursday, April 23, 2009. A conference call will be held on Friday, April 24, at 10:00 a.m., New York time, to discuss the results.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:42 pm

This is why no one likes the cable company

It’s a sad fact that often the only face a content provider has to a customer is the lowly cable installer. It seems that more often than not, said installer is not the best representative to what could be a good company. Of course, I’m not saying all installers will set fire to a house, sleep on a customers couch, or perform a sloppy install, but when those infractions happen, everyone finds out.

Take this Charter install at my mother’s house. She just got cable for the first time in her life, not for the TV service either but the bundled telephone service; she doesn’t watch TV past the occasional newscast. My mother keeps an impeccable house and yard though and this cable install downright frustrates her for several reasons.

One, the cable was routed around the basement window well covers when the cable could have been easily routed in between the plastic covers and the house. Screwing into her aluminum siding creating a permanent hole in doing so. Plus, it looks bad as these covers are seasonal and get removed a few times a year.

The other wiring mystery involves why Charter felt the need to install another cable line within her enclosed patio when there was already one there. The new installation was performed from the outside of the house, which apparently required drilling through the external walls instead up through the outdoor open wooden deck to install the outlet right next to the original cable run (which ran under the deck, btw).

Oh, there’s more. The digital telephone service was plugged into a switchable outlet that controls one of the only basement lights. My mom told me she has grown to live with not have a light in that area and just ensures that the pathway to the washer and dryer is clear. And Charter apparently felt the need to mess with her A/V setup and disconnected two of the front channels. Why they were even messing with the receiver is a mystery as she just had the very basic, non-digital service installed.

I realize that this isn’t the worst cable install ever. There aren’t cables draping across sidewalks and nor is there a spiderweb of them hanging all over. It’s hard to blame Charter directly for the bad install — it’s not like the bankrupt company can control everything its workers do. I don’t even blame the cable installers all that much as they are probably overworked and underpaid and could care less about my mother’s home.

But come on, installers are the face of the company and a little work ethic would be great. They are getting a pay check, which after all, is better than a lot of people can say — especially in my hometown of Flint, MI.

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:40 pm

Explorers Surprised At Lack Of Permanent Arctic Ice

Three British explorers trekking to the North Pole to assess how fast the Arctic ice sheets are melting said they were astonished at how little permanent ice they have discovered.The team began their 620-mile walk from Canada's Arctic to the North Pole in early March, and had set down in an area scientists were sure would contain permanent multiyear ice.But so far, the average depth of the ice has been slightly less than 6 feet, indicating the team was finding mainly first year ice that will meld during the summer months."To discover that there's virtually no multiyear ice in this part of the (Arctic) is a real surprise to me," a Reuters report quoted lead explorer Pen Hadow as saying this week.The team said the findings indicated less summer ice around the Pole this year.Last month, a leading polar expert warned that the Arctic is warming so rapidly that the summer sea ice cover could disappear entirely as early as 2013, decades before some had predicted.Indeed, the Arctic is warming at twice the rate of other parts of the world, with the sea ice cover shrinking to a record low in 2007 before slightly increasing in 2008.Scientists have linked Arctic warming to global warming brought about by emissions of greenhouse gases.The team also discovered that the snow cover on top of the Arctic ice is thinner than many expected, according to Chip Cunliffe, the team's head of operations for the mission."What we were looking at was potentially that we would start in an area of multiyear ice and then move over into first year ice as they headed north," he said during an interview with Reuters on Friday."The average thickness ...
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:35 pm

A Beginner's Field Guide To Pole-Watching

An estimated 160 million utility poles in the U.S. shore up with the millions of miles of crisscrossing cables that power our homes, phones and more. They're hard to miss, yet until recently, I'll admit I was mostly a utility pole dilettante. How often do most people really deconstruct the random wires, boxes, transformers, and industrial bric-a-brac hanging off them? Maybe you do. But if not, here's an introductory guide to pole ogling* after the jump...

[image via flickr]

*I did not mean that to sound vaguely sexual, but now that we're talking, yeah yeah, ha HA.

The notion of observing a pole's "industrial ecology" is an elegant one. Like the rainforest, distinct regions at specific heights each encompass a unique ecosystem.1

Newton's Telecom Dictionary defines three spaces: Supply, Safety Zone, Communications. Brian Hayes, author of Infrastructure, breaks it down roughly the same: Power Company, Communications, "Yard-Sale Zone" (aka the "Kick ass bass player seeks bandmates for Dio/Megadeth explosion" zone aka "Tourist" zone). There's an intense amount of minutiae once you start looking at different poles, even those just a few blocks from one another. Some poles are choking on cables, power supplies, amplifiers, repeaters and more. Better to start with something less crowded. A typical pole near my home:

The Florida Public Service Commission has a solid primer that makes deconstruction easy.

Simple rule of thumb: The higher you go, the more dangerous the cables and accoutrement are. The reason: safety. There can be 7,200 to 12,000 volts pumping through the top lines and transformer drums (in my photo, the two white buckets2, which are effectively mini versions of this mammerjammer). The transformers are responsible for converting that huge surge to locale wires that carry the much smaller voltage necessitated by residential spaces (typically 120/240v).

At the tip-top you'll often see a single, static wire (there isn't one in my photo), which releases excess charges to protect the "Transmission" in case of lightning. The three thinner wires running parallel across the very top beam (photo above) are the A /B/C phase wires. These feed into the drums, which then send power down to the "T," which distributes the charge through the secondary service drop cables, the higher-up lines you see heading everywhichway into homes and businesses. Below the "T" but above the next set of communication wires is the "Safety" zone, generally 30 inches below the transformer. This gives the phone company and others wriggle room to maintain the strands supplying your broadband (CATV), TV and phone wires. Here's what you might find on a pole that's exclusively CATV (image via Neal McLain):

If you want to dive in further, the resources cited here are pretty wonderful. There's also
Ed Sobey's A Field Guide to Roadside Technology (also on Google Books), which I've not read, and the aforementioned Infrastructure.

One last point that's hopefully obvious: Don't get too close. The results of one misstep can be gruesome. Here's what happened to a rookie lineman technician trying to splice 3-conductor #16 wire cable in North Carolina:

At 8:45 a.m. the victim positioned himself in a one-person articulated, truck-mounted aerial bucket 25 feet above the ground and slightly below the upper cross member of the utility pole...The victim did not use any boots, blankets, or other insulating material to cover the lightning arrestor conductors or other live conductors. The victim's insulated rubber gloves were in the tool tray located on the floor of the bucket... the physical evidence suggests the victim was holding the #16 wire cable with his left hand when his right hand came in contact with the lightning arrestor conductor. The victim cried out when his hand came in contact with the lightning arrestor conductor. The lineman on the ground looked up and saw the victim slumped in the bucket; he then ran to the truck and radioed for assistance... Finding the victim unconscious, the co-workers began CPR until the local EMS arrived. The victim was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead at 9:55 a.m.

The cause of death was cardiac arrest due to contact with 7200 volts of electricity. The coroner reported electrical burns on the victim's right palm (entry wound) and electrical burns on the victim's left palm (exit wound).

Terrifying, which is why you and I shall continue to call it pole-watching.

1That analogy holds true in another respect: extinction. The push for more underground cabling and wireless is a good thing. The less we see, the better. But generations from now, we're likely to see fewer of them -- or at least, poles with new aesthetics. But I digress...

2The cross of the pole juxtaposed with the Church cross' was unintentional.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:25 pm

4 Reasons Apple Should Share the iPhone With Verizon

Apple is more likely to bring the iPhone to Verizon once the cellular company deploys its fourth-generation network, claims Verizon's chief executive.

That's because Apple was never very interested in Verizon's current CDMA cellular standard, which is less popular among cellphone networks outside North America, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg told The Wall Street Journal.

Therefore, Verizon's upgrade to 4G in 2010 should rectify the issue. Verizon will adopt a standard called Long Term Evolution (LTE), which many domestic and international carriers plan to use for their next-generation networks as well. For Apple, that should mean more potential iPhone customers and fewer troubles in terms of hardware production.

But wait. Didn't Verizon say in 2007 that it rejected Apple's iPhone, rather than the other way around? Then, Verizon complained about Apple's control over distribution, which is a non-issue now that iPhones are being sold in Wal-mart, Best Buy and AT&T stores. Verizon also moaned about Apple's desire to handle all the customer care — but that shouldn't be a problem anymore, either, since Apple is the big leader in the latest customer satisfaction survey.

Still, Verizon spurned Apple. And Apple could lose face if it warms up to Verizon so easily after such an emphatic rejection. We're not satisfied that scoring the iPhone will be so easy for Verizon, but we definitely think it would be a wise, crucial move for Apple. Below is a list of reasons why we think a deal makes sense. If you agree, we encourage you to add your own reasons. If you disagree, well, we welcome those comments, too.

Verizon's Reputation for Its Superior Network
Let's start with the obvious: Everyone will agree that Verizon generally has better call and data quality than AT&T. Surveys say so, too. Many Verizon customers resist the iPhone because they don't wish to sacrifice reliable call reception and consistently zippy downloads.

We're not taking sides here, but AT&T has the opposite reputation. "Dropped calls" and "no signal" are phrases commonly heard when discussing AT&T's service quality. By expanding to Verizon, Apple will undoubtedly further its iPhone penetration in the United States.

Sharing Is Caring
AT&T will never, ever admit this, but its current 3G networks are evidently overloaded, due in large part to the iPhone's booming success. In August, Wired.com conducted a global study showing that iPhone data speeds were suffering on the U.S. AT&T network, when compared to Europe's fine-tuned 3G networks. And several iPhone customers have been so dissatisfied with network issues that they filed lawsuits accusing Apple of making false advertisements about the iPhone 3G's performance.

Why not share the responsibility of carrying the iPhone? It'll amount to less money for AT&T, but less trouble for Apple and less anguish for customers. Better service equates to more satisfied customers and fewer lawsuits. It's your basic win-win.

Polygamy = More Control, Power
For manufacturers, working with multiple partners is strategically wiser than working with only one. Take the iPhone's components, for example. Apple doesn't rely on a sole supplier for each part of the iPhone; it buys from various suppliers so one doesn't have too much bargaining power. If one partner is asking for too much money, you threaten to ditch it because you have multiple partners. Simple, right?

So here's where a ménage à trois with AT&T and Verizon would be great. Apple could potentially ask for a bigger slice of the pie when it comes to iPhone revenues, because it could threaten to leave either of them for the other. Ultimately, this gives Apple more control over how it handles the iPhone. And we all know how much Apple loves control.

Competition Is Good
Economics 101: Throw Verizon into the boxing ring with AT&T, and both companies will likely reduce monthly costs for the iPhone for the sake of competition. I'm tired of paying $80 a month for my minimal iPhone plan, aren't you? And, again, cheaper monthly plans will attract more customers to the iPhone. Even the naysayers might be tempted.

We're going to leave you to continue this conversation. Do you think Apple should work with Verizon to carry the iPhone? Whether it's yes, no or maybe so, add your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo: Seenya Rati/Wired

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:21 pm

Dumpy $25 boombox beats out high-end stereos

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the $25 Tesco Value MC-907, the winner of UK’s Annual Reevoo Customer Choice Awards 2009 in the Hi-Fi Systems category. It beat out the second-place $275 Roberts Sound MP43 and the third-place $150 Sony MHC-EC78PI. The awards are based entirely on owner reviews, which goes to show you that either people in the UK have terrible hearing or nobody gives a hot tamale about paying for a name brand stereo.

The Tesco returned an average review of 9.31, followed by the Roberts at 9.27 and the Sony at 9.16. It apparently beat out a few much higher-priced systems (like around $1000 and up) as well. Also of note is that the $400-ish Samsung NC10 netbook took second place in the laptop category behind the aluminum MacBook.

The Tesco Value MC-907 isn’t available in the US, but you should be able to find something comparable at Walgreens the next time you need to pick up something for that rash.

[IT News Online via Gizmodo]

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:20 pm

StratoComm Corporation Shareholder Advisory

ALBANY, N.Y., and EATONTOWN, N.J., April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- StratoComm Corporation (STCO) Chairman, Roger D. Shearer speaks to rescheduling of planned shareholder meeting.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:20 pm

GFI Group Inc. Schedules First Quarter 2009 Earnings Release, Conference Call

NEW YORK, April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GFI Group Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:15 pm

Gmail Now Tells You Who You Want To Email

Not sure who else to add to that group email? Gmail Labs now has a useful “suggest more recipients” feature that suggests contacts that you might want to include in a group email based on the people you’ve grouped together as email recipients in the past.

For example, if you often send family emails to your mother, father, husband, sister and brother, when you start composing an email to your mother and father, Gmail will suggest adding your sister, husband and brother. The feature is triggered only after you’ve added at least two recipients to the email.

To enable the feature, go to Gmail Labs and turn it on as a setting. This clever feature is just one of the many nifty innovations that has come out of Gmail Labs, including offline access, contact time zones, search suggestions, an undo button, multi-pane viewing, and many more.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:07 pm

Sex with the cable guy: does it really happen?

Jordan, a gorgeously cute, freckled blonde, was looking to have her phone line installed so off we go to do what we do best, satisfy the customer. After looking at the disastrous mess of cable and wires at her place it was obvious to me, we didn't have the right equipment to do the job. Jordan, however, had a different job on her mind and I definitely had the right tool to take care of that. Watch me plug my cable into Jordan, and box and jackhammer that tight socket at T1 speeds.

Excerpted from CableGuySex.com

Sex with the cable guy--it's a fantasy that has become a regular sexual obsession in our society, especially among bored housewives and other stay-at-homes. There's just something about blue collar man in uniform coming over in the middle of the day when the kids are at school and the husband is at work to satisfy all your entertainment needs--TV, Internet, daytime sex with a stranger. There are pornos with titles like Cable Guy Sex and Blue Collar Butthole (yes, the latter is gay porn) and Time Warner even produced a promotional calendar last year that featured 12 hot hunky cable guys with bulging muscles doing things like, cooking a delicious meal for you in their hard hat.

"It's the 21st century version of our grandmothers' sex with the milk man and our mothers' sex with the plumber fantasies," says Carol Queen, who runs the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco. She also points out that, with the increase in the number of female cable people, there could be a secret lesbian angle to the fantasy, too. Keep reading for more cable guy porn scenarios and to read about my ongoing quest to find out whether sex with the cable guy actually happens.

What I was really hoping for this story was find someone who had actually had sex with the cable guy. I, unfortunately, have not had sex with my cable guy. (The last cable guy that came over was pretty old, and I'm just not into old dudes.) Neither had Carol Queen, and she didn't know anyone who had either. I even posted a note on Craigslist asking for people who had had sex with the cable guy to email me, but nobody wrote in. Does sex with the cable guy actually happen, or is it a fantasy that doesn't translate well in real time?

I called my local cable company, Comcast. "Can you comment on whether sex with the cable guy or sexual harassment of cable guys is a problem you've noticed at Comcast?" I asked the lady on the phone. Long silence. "Uhhh... not that I'm aware of," she finally said. "But I will pass on your message and get back to you." As of right now, I still haven't heard back from them.

Also for "research purposes," I spent a bunch of time commuting to local porn shops and surfing YouPorn(NSFW!) and Gamelink(NSFW!). I didn't find any lesbian cable porn, but I did find that most cable guy porn had pretty basic story lines. Here's another from CableGuySex.com (NSFW!):

Alexis was having some trouble with her phone jack and scheduled a date for the cable guy crew to come in and have a look. After ringing the doorbell a few times with no answer, we thought we would have a peek in the window before leaving. Looks like someone forgot the cable guy was coming over because Alexis was in the middle of a hot masturbation session when we knocked on the bedroom window. I guess we came at the perfect time because when she opened the door, the only "jack" Alexis was interested in, was jack-ing my cock.

Before I go, let me ask you this: Have you ever had sex with the cable guy, fantasized about it, or know anyone who has? Ever uttered words like "Let's establish a connection between my dick and your lips" or "Do you like my tight little pussy cable boy"? If so, leave a message in the comments or shoot me an e-mail.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:07 pm

Sony Ericsson Developing Android Phone

Sony Ericsson's chief executive said on Friday that the company is taking time to develop a phone using Google's Android operating system.  Most cell phone companies are spilling out phones using the software in hopes to benefit from the high demand, but Sony Ericsson said it would take some
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:02 pm

This USB drive will self-destruct in 24 hours

Remember that British IT guy who left a flash drive with confidential info on millions of Brits on a train? That and like incidents happening every day could have all been avoided if he had one of these cool new self-destructing drives. There are things kind of like this already, but it’s more along the line of built-in encryption. I’ll have a review of this keypad-protected Lenovo in a couple days, but it’s not the same. You can’t order it to kill all the data on it in 24 hours.

This new Fujitsu offers a few security promises, most tempting being that timed data deletion. It also can be set to destroy the data if it’s plugged into a non-authorized computer. I’m not convinced by their “data redirection” thing that supposedly makes it impossible to copy the data from the drive. If you can read the information, it can be stored; any hacker could use a middle man to keep the information local, and of course there’s always Print Screen.

I’ll see what we can do about getting one of these babies and we’ll let you know how it works out.

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Apr 2009 | 8:00 pm

Hands-On: Battling Through Brief 'Final Fantasy XIII' Demo

An hour-long, Japanese-language sneak peek shows off the look and feel of the long-awaited sequel for next-gen videogame consoles.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Apr 2009 | 7:58 pm

Federal Signal to Announce First Quarter Earnings on May 1

OAK BROOK, Ill., April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Federal Signal Corporation (NYSE: FSS), a leader in advancing security and well-being, will announce first quarter 2009 earnings before the market opens on Friday, May 1, 2009.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Apr 2009 | 7:53 pm

Hybrid Hummer Promises 100 Miles per Gallon

A Utah company says it can make the much-maligned SUV greener than a Toyota Prius.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Apr 2009 | 7:49 pm

EPA Deems CO2 a Health Risk

In an important turnabout, the EPA says CO2 poses a threat to human health.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 17 Apr 2009 | 7:47 pm

Tonight @ Baker Boulevard Geographic Society: How To homebrew beer

Above, Patrick and Don of the Baker Boulevard Geographic Society generate a wall of noise from found objects connected to contact mics, a portable record player, and a signal generator. (Video shot and edited by Justin.)

Not pictured: Me drinking way more than anyone else and then basically passing out right after everyone left.

We'll be meeting again this evening at 8PM, where I will attempt to brew my first batch of homebrew in about two years, whereby others may learn from my mistakes.

Previously • Tomorrow Night in Eugene: The inaugural assembly of the Baker Boulevard Geographic Society (Includes a map.)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Apr 2009 | 7:37 pm

Deep Sea Animals Having A Hard Time 'Breathing'

Image Caption: A new study by marine chemists at MBARI suggests that deep-ocean animals such as this owlfish (Bathylagus milleri) may suffer as carbon dioxide increases and oxygen concentrations decline in the deep sea. Image: © 2001 MBARI
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 17 Apr 2009 | 7:37 pm

Zimbabwe Rhino Threatened By Increased Poaching

A rise in poaching in Zimbabwe has raised concern among conservationists for the survival of endangered rhinos in the region.Raoul du Toit, head of southern Zimbabwe's Lowveld Rhino Trust, told the Associated Press that the rhinos are sought after by gangs who sell their horns to be used for
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 17 Apr 2009 | 7:22 pm

4 Reasons Apple Should Deliver the iPhone to Verizon

Verizon thinks it will win over Apple's iPhone with its next-generation 4G network. We don't think it'll be that easy, but we do think Apple should share the iPhone with Verizon anyway. Here's why.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Apr 2009 | 7:21 pm

4 Reasons Apple Should Deliver the iPhone to Verizon

Verizon thinks it will win over Apple's iPhone with its next-generation 4G network. We don't think it'll be that easy, but we do think Apple should share the iPhone with Verizon anyway. Here's why.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 17 Apr 2009 | 7:21 pm

Four founders of Pirate Bay found guilty in file sharing trial

Section: Business News, Web, Websites

The Swedish courts handed down a landmark decision by finding the four founders of the wildly popular torrent site Pirate Bay guilty of hosting copyrighted material on their website.  Along with being sentenced to one year in prison each, the company will have to pay an estimated $3.5 million to several defendants in the case, including Sony, Warner Bros, EMI, and MGM.

The Pirate Bay founders, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundstrom used as their defense the fact that they don’t post copyrighted material on the site, but instead point users in the direction of places that they can download movies, TV shows, applications and music.  However, the court ruled that the quartet was in violation by “providing a Web site with sophisticated search functions, simple download and storage capabilities, and through the tracker linked to the Web site.”

The founders of Pirate Bay have stated prior to the conviction that they plan to appeal if found guilty.

Read: [Yahoo News]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Apr 2009 | 7:17 pm

St. Lucia Signs eTrace Agreement

Combating Firearms Trafficking Using Modern Technology WASHINGTON, April 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and St.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 17 Apr 2009 | 7:15 pm

More FBI Hacking: Feds Crack Wi-Fi to Gather Evidence

The FBI's elite Cryptographic and Electronic Analysis Unit offers to help Pittsburgh agents "with a wireless hack" to access files on a suspect's hard drive. A newly released FBI document provides the first hint that the bureau has added Wi-Fi hacking to its investigative arsenal.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Apr 2009 | 6:52 pm

Sony Ericsson: “Yeah, about that Android phone we promised…”

Don’t worry, they’re not backing out entirely, but Sony Ericsson wants you to know that their Android handset (or handsets) won’t be coming for quite some time. They want to make something, you know, different. They didn’t put any sort of date on it, unsurprisingly, but they do sound kind of sincere.

CEO Hideki Komiyama described the delay: “It does require a lot of evaluation, as well as a lot of testing, a lot of acceptance from a consumer viewpoint, and there is still some time to go.” That’s not really saying anything significant, but it’s far from the non-statement they could have made, something along the lines of “We are considering all options and market flizucuations.”

At the moment, they don’t have much to differentiate their product from, but by the time they get theirs out (let’s just arbitrarily say Winter), they’ll have a whole lot more competition to worry about.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 17 Apr 2009 | 6:47 pm

Forest Carbon Sinks Threatened By Global Warming

Image 1: Efforts to manage tropical forests more sustainably must take into account the complex relationships between the welfare of local people and global concerns such as climate change. Credit: Photo: John InnesImage 2: A series of warmer-than-average winters have allowed populations of the Spruce Beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) to develop, resulting in the mortality of almost 400,000 ha of this boreal forest. Credit: Photo: John Innes
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 17 Apr 2009 | 6:37 pm

Motorola: Revival of the Mobile Device Spin Off Plan? [Voices]

Is Motorola (MOT) going to dust off its plan to spin off its handset business as a separate public company?

Oppenheimer analyst Ittai Kidron thinks so. In a research note this morning, Kidron asserted that “management could revisit the planning process for the Mobile Device spin-off in the near future, which would signal growing confidence in the upcoming [handset] portfolio and raise the likelihood of unlocking the unit’s value.”

Kidron today repeated his Outperform rating on the stock, and increased his target price to $7, from $5. He said the company is not likely to miss estimates for Q1, and adds that there is even “a small chance for upside as both handset ASP and margins could be better than expected.”

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Apr 2009 | 6:25 pm

Submarine cable maps: 1901 v. 2009

This is what the world's submarine cable system looked like in 1901, according to the Eastern Telegraph Company.

This is what it looks like now. [Image via Telegeography]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Apr 2009 | 6:24 pm

How To: Amp up a Home Recording Studio w/Cabling

With the advent of laptops and cheap software like Logic and ProTools, building a decent "home" recording studio isn't as out of reach as it used to be. But there's more to it than buying crisper mics, better pedals or amplifiers that go up to 11. I recently dropped by a small recording space in Portland, OR -- the unofficial band capital of the West Coast -- for the lowdown on how to get the best, albeit relatively-subjective, bang for the buck by ditching generic audio cables. Hint: buying the most expensive patch cable available isn't the solution -- more after the jump.

"That's what's retarded about cabling. It's like trying to describe the difference between two pastel paintings of a lake: one may have longer brushstrokes or be a slightly blurrier pic. But if you close your eyes and listen, you begin to isolate the subtleties."

Brandon and Benjamin (above) rent a linoleum-floored room in what used to be a breakroom of an industrial space. They have "home recorded" all four of their albums, including their last two on Sub Pop Records. They're currently working on a new one in this space, where I find a messy, but deliberate network of cables of all sizes, thickness, colors, and function -- digital and analog alike, including two 10-foot monitoring cables that each cost ~$100. Playback at a recording studio mixing station is vital, but the sound, of course, all begins with the analog and digital signals you send from the pre-amps, guitars, drums or keyboards.

At left, a range of instrument/guitar cables, mostly from Mogami (~$30-$50 depending on length).

However, the longest, most impressive cable is a 50-foot, Mogami "snake" (~$400-$500) This guy spans most the studio, channeling the analog signal that originates at the drums, vocal mics and guitar -- then pre-amps -- across the room. At either end, you've got 16 inputs/outputs in aggregate (below, top) that let you patch in whatever however, wherever. ex; find the prime spot for your bass drum, leave it, and run your cable to the mixing station, where secondary cables pass the sound from the snake to a number of ADCs (below, bottom) that convert the signal for digital editing*.

Before playing on a bigger budget album with Modest Mouse, Benjamin used only generic snakes for his personal studio. During those sessions, however, he says he really started to hear the difference. "It's pretty hard to define," he told me, "That's what's retarded about cabling. It's like trying to describe the difference between two pastel paintings of a lake: one may have longer brushstrokes or be a slightly blurrier pic. But if you close your eyes and listen, you begin to isolate the subtleties."

With a generic snake, he says, there's simply less presence, less body and a lower dynamic range. We didn't conduct any spectrum analysis, but I'm willing to believe a slightly more expensive cable can be worth it, simply because people like Benjamin and Brandon don't have hugely disposable incomes, unlike boomer audiophiles who put together compelling justifications for their crazy home stereo cables. Much of the same thinking and "physics" can applied to the cables you record with, but active recording vs. passive listening seems different. A "better" cable for recording isn't simply about minimizing resistance so you can hear the difference right then and there in the moment, the way it is when a needle hits the vinyl and immediately transmits the cash registers on "Dark Side of the Moon" to your speakers. With recording, you're resigning yourself to a delayed listen, capturing the signal for potential use down the road, then making adjustments as you re-record to get a desired sound. It's not about tinkering with a known work to achieve a golden tone. In that sense, the act of recording seems inherently honest about the subjectivity of it all (at least that's my impression from this personal studio). If you take your craft at all serious, you might lay down and then sift through dozens or more takes to find the one that just feels right and sounds clear-est, but what is there to justify? You won't have anything to compare it to and why would you? You're creating a "vibe", not architecting the ultimate waveform.

The following tips will help maximize your purchase power:

How Much Cable to Buy

With a snake, calculate the true, absolute distance you need and don't overestimate. If you buy a 100 feet for a 50-foot run, you're not doing your sound any favors. When electricity travels from the mic through the pre-amp and into your snake, there's only so much distance it can travel before the quality starts to degrade -- even with a higher-quality, pricey cable, that's unavoidable.

Where Not to Buy

Guitar Center? Meh. Leave that place to undiscerning n00bs. Every beginner's go-to outlet sells basic quad cable with extra shielding that's used to reduce RFI/grounding issues/noise. The resulting reduction in resistance will hamper your sound. Besides, in a decent space, those issues shouldn't be too prevalent.

What Brands to Buy

You can buy a much cheaper non-quad cable with more bandwidth and a clearer sound. Pro studios and musicians are partial to cable makers like Canare and Mogami. Between the two, some say it's really six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Where to Buy

Going direct to Mogami and Canare can be pricey. If you're looking for custom-build cables, it's worth it in some respects. However, Redco will make many of the same cables for more reasonable fees ($1.00+/foot, depending). Or better yet, also try Hotwired, which often sells even cheaper pro cables on eBay.

What Not to Expect

No matter how much money you invest in cabling, the old adage holds: garbage in, garbage out.

*How to pick a converter is a whole other story, since the type/brand/era of your converter determines how much or little harmonic distortion colors the sound. Purists say no converters can compare to recording in analog.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Apr 2009 | 6:15 pm

SLIDE SHOW: The Week's Top Stories

From incoming asteroids to the survival secrets of alligators, browse the week's top stories.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 17 Apr 2009 | 6:07 pm

Gallery: An illustrated history of the transoceanic cable

Coaxial Cable, 8-Tube (exploded view), 1946

A fanned-out section of an 8-tube coaxial cable. One pair of these tubes was capable of transmitting 600 simultaneous phone conversations or one television program in one direction.

Lloyd Espenschied and Herman A. Affel, [ca. 1949]

Inventors of coaxial cable, Lloyd Espenschied (left) and Herman A. Affel, examine sections of coaxial cable. In 1936, AT&T put in service the first coaxial cable for television use in New York City.

Golden Gate Straits – Submarine Cable, 1909

Splicing the submarine cable that stretched across the Golden Gate Straits, San Francisco, California.

Coaxial Cable, 22-Tube (exploded view), 1970

A 22-tube coaxial cable carried up to 90,000 telephone calls simultaneously.

Transatlantic Cable (TAT-1) Under Construction, 1955

When AT&T opened TAT-1 in 1956, the first trans-Atlantic telephone cable, the initial capacity was 36 calls at a time. Since trans-Atlantic service opened in 1927, calls had traveled across the ocean via radio waves. But cables provided much higher signal quality, avoided atmospheric interference and offered greater capacity and security.

Transpacific Cable (TPC-1) on Japan Shoreline, 1964

AT&T opened TPC-1, the first submarine telephone cable across the Pacific in 1964. It went from Japan to Hawaii, where it connected to two cables linking Hawaii with the mainland. This brought the same improvements to trans-Pacific service that TAT-1 had brought to trans-Atlantic service in 1956.

TAT-8 Cable Sample, 1988

In 1988, AT&T laid and opened TAT-8, the first fiber-optic submarine telephone cable across the Atlantic. It had a capacity equivalent to 40,000 calls, 10 times that of the last copper cable.

Fiber Optic, 1976

Loops of hair thin glass fiber, illuminated by laser light, represent the transmission medium for lightwave systems. Typically, twelve fibers were embedded between two strips of plastic in a flat ribbon, and as many as 12 ribbons are stacked in a cable that can carry more than 40,000 voice channels.

Fiber Optic Installation Chicago, 1977

In downtown Chicago, AT&T installed the first fiber optic cable in a commercial communications system.

SCARAB, 1980

SCARAB (Submersible Craft Assisting Repair and Burial) is lowered into the sea for a test run from the deck of the cable ship, C.S. Long Lines. The craft's two mechanical arms, used for gripping cable on the sea bottom, project at the left of the craft. From the side of the ship there is a large arm (crane) holding a big iron object that is going to be put into the water.

Thanks to Brad and Seth at Fleishman and especially to the kick ass archivists at AT&T.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Apr 2009 | 6:01 pm

Why File Sharing Will Save Hollywood, Music

The Pirate Bay verdict in Sweden today seems at first blush like a victory for the music and video industry and a defeat for file sharing and social-media networks. But in the long run, it could be a victory for both "sides," if the content producers continue their excruciatingly slow process of wising up.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm

Can new underwater cables finally connect Africa?

Did you know that only 5% of people living in Africa have Internet access? Two big reasons: accessibility and affordability. Right now, the entire eastern coast of Africa only has satellite Internet, which means it's way too pricey and slow for most people. Last week, the BBC reported that three separate efforts are underway to lay submarine cables. The front runner in this effort is Seacom, a private company that has already dug 13,700km of cables into the sea beds from Egypt to South Africa to France. It's planning a big launch in July, and the big impetus is the World Cup, slated to take place in South Africa in 2010--Seacom will likely be the main deliverer of soccer goodness from Capetown to the rest of the globe.

But what does this really mean? When the Sat3 cable system was laid down under the sea on the western coast of the continent in 2001, the vast majority of the population were still disconnected because it was way too expensive. "The gatekeepers to the cable were government-run, monopoly telecom providers," says Ashwin Mathew, a phD student who studies infrastructure and submarine cables at Berkeley's School of Information. "It's not just about introducing cable; who owns and has access to it will be a determining factor to how useful it is." Other factors include structures of investments and negotiating access to the cables for countries that aren't on the coast.

Also note that the 5% who do have Internet access aren't exactly tab-surfing or scanning RSS feeds like we are. Connections are patchy, electric outages are frequent, and shoddy transportation often bars people from getting to the nearest Internet cafe. "Internet users really use the hell out of the existing low bandwidth connections," says Jenna Burrell, who is Mathew's professor and researches connectivity in Africa. She adds: "Cafe owners in Ghana who were paying ISPs were really pinched between the high cost of the network connection and the limited amount of money their customer base was able to pay for the service."

Aside from Seacom, the East African Marine Cable System (Eassy) and The East African Marine System (Teams) are also working on submarine cable systems in the region. Neither of these are private projects, though, which could mean they might meet the same fate as the west coast's Sat3.

Still, locals are excited about it. "Costs for telephony and internet could drop to a fifth of what they are now," Kui Kinyanjui, a reporter at Kenya's Business Daily, tells me over email. "East Africa is one of the last frontiers in the world that has not yet linked up to the global fiber optic network."

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm

Content Industry Applauds Pirate Bay Guilty Verdicts

Movie studios, record labels and software makers react joyfully to the four guilty verdicts handed down Friday in The Pirate Bay trial.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Apr 2009 | 5:47 pm

Tip For Aspiring Cable Vandals: Read The Newspaper

A $250,00 reward was posted for info leading to the capture of whoever clipped at least 500 strands of underground fiber-optic south of San Francisco last week.

From SF Chronicle (bold is my own):

Public safety crews that rely on 911 calls, hospitals trying to access medical records and people who wanted to make a landline or cell phone call, use an ATM or make a purchase with a credit card found services down...

Considering their importance to public safety and the economy, fiber-optic cables are not highly secured. The manholes are on public streets, and their covers generally are not that difficult to remove... The typical manhole cover, a 250- to 350-pound disc of cast iron, can be removed with the use of a J-hook, a steel pole with a hook at one end, or any similar tool.

Am I the only one who finds it odd when "news" of a crime serves as a helpful tip to less clever, would-be copycats? It's like writing a blog post and linking to this and then this.

[image via flickr]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 17 Apr 2009 | 5:45 pm

Who’s on Crack: SMS avoidance Myths and Hacks

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Email / IM, Smartphones, Mobile, Features, Originals, Columns, Who's On Crack

Normally, this is my place to poke fun at the idiocy that comes out of our tech industry, but today I’m going to poke holes at telecoms that find it appropriate to charge us $20,000 in our monthly phone bill without so much as a courtesy call.  SMS has become a cash call and unsuspecting folks are finding the surprise bill too much to handle.  Assembled here is how you can stick it to the SMS man.

And really, you big fat-cat telecoms, you’ve brought this on.  The price you’ve charged for delivering this stuff has increased over time, not decreased like most things in tech.  Now, as you cling to squeezing another $20 out of me per month, I am going to strike back .  Here is how you can reap the free stuff.  Kinda, sorta.

SMS without the phone:

• via email
• via GMail chat
• via the web
• SMS with the phone:
• Get a plan
• Got Data?
• Stuff you don’t have, yet.

Off Phone SMS

These are some of the ways you can shift your texting need off your phone onto free methods.  The experience is different but the results might just work for you.

SMS via email

Did you know you can send SMS messages through email?  It’s true.  All you have to do is know the email address the carriers set up and you are good to go.  This seems to work for many, but not all, carriers.

How To: Simply send an email to the carriers gateway and it will show up on your recipients phone as an SMS.  Check out this page for the @carrier.net address as they’ve assembled a pretty good list for many different countries.  Simply choose the carrier then enter their number and hit “go.”  The email address will be displayed directly below the button.  Nice and easy.

SMS via chat

Or GMail has this feature integrated into its chat function.  According to Google, “send SMS text messages right from Gmail. You chat from your comfy computer and reach your friends on the go; they get your messages as texts and can peck out replies on their little keyboards.”

Even better: if your friends use GMail, when you log on you’ll see if they are active and if so you you can just IM them through GMail Chat.  If they go offline (and GMail will tell you that) you can switch to SMS and continue the conversation.  The conversation also becomes searchable, something SMS is sorely lacking.

How To: First go into Labs setting and enable “Text Messaging (SMS) in Chat”.  The SMS will come from a (406) number and replies will pop up in your chat box, just like a chat.  I’ve used this service and it works well after the initial confusion over the (406).

Spies like us

Want to be even more anonymous?  Need to keep it uber simple for yourself or maybe a grandparent that can’t handle playing the CD you sent?  Just direct them to one of the many websites that will send your SMS for free.

How To: visit a site like gizmo.com, enter the country and phone number and message.  The site takes care of the nitpicky stuff like gateway address.  It doesn’t get much easier.

With a phone

Get a plan.  It is key to avoiding the $0.15 per SMS fee they’ll charge you if you go over your limit, so choose a plan wisely.  Most companies offer an unlimited plan for up to $20 per month (or $30 on a family plan) to allow you to send 700 texts per day.  Do you really have the time though?

Got Data?

If you’ve got a data plan, you can trade your SMS for IM’ing.  Apps like Facebook, Google’s Talk,AOL,  Meebo and others support IM.  You can set a time to all get online and send messages this way, without running up a bill.

How To: simply agree on a platform, agree to a time and type away.

Stuff you can’t use, yet

Then there is stuff you probably don’t have yet.  With the help of Google Voice, you can send SMS from the Google Voice website, or better yet, from an App like GV Mobile, you send a text right from your iPhone.  The only catch here is you probably have GV forwarding texts to you so you’ll get hit with the incoming.  But hey, you’ve just cut your texting habit in half.

How To: Wait it out.

Summary

Texting doesn’t seem to be going away.  These days, I get texts from schools about closings and early dismissals, I get texts on info on when practices are, and then there are the random texts I get like “get milk.”  For many of us, throwing money at it isn’t that good a solution.  These are just some of the solutions.

Got more suggest?  Let us know in the comments!

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Apr 2009 | 5:40 pm

Sony Ericsson posts loss, to cut 2,000 jobs (AP)

AP - Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson on Friday posted a euro293 million ($387 million) net loss in the first quarter on falling sales and said it would slash an additional 2,000 jobs to cut costs.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 17 Apr 2009 | 5:34 pm

Chemists' DNA Biosynthesis Discovery Could Lead To Better Antibiotics

Combating several human pathogens, including some biological warfare agents, may one day become a bit easier thanks to research reported by a University of Iowa chemist and his colleagues in the April 16 issue of the journal Nature.Amnon Kohen, associate professor of chemistry in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said that the study indicated a new mechanism by which certain organisms manufacture the DNA base thymidylate.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 17 Apr 2009 | 4:41 pm

Bonobos Rate Food on Scale From Bark to Grunt

Anyone who questions bonobo language should hear them discuss a meal.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 17 Apr 2009 | 4:07 pm

Blogger and Author Paul Carr Speaks! [BoomTown]

Last week, BoomTown had a delightful lunch with sharp-witted Brit Paul Carr, part of our meet-the-blogger series in which this column endeavors to introduce you to the Web’s more lively voices.

Actually, I mostly just wanted to meet Carr, whose work always cracks me up, such as when he cleverly dissed the lack of wireless access at LeWeb, a conference in Paris last year, in his column in the Guardian: “That’s right–LeWeb was entirely without the web. Which I suppose makes it simply ‘Le.’”

Or, more recently, again writing in the Guardian about how a “meeting with the Irish Tánaiste leads to a stolen bottle of Guinness and a lesson in handling the truth” online.

Wrote Carr, quite sensibly about trouble that technology allegedly creates:

“More seriously, though, every time a scandal emerges involving the technology–be it McBride’s email or American teenagers ’sexting’ naked photos to each other, we hear the same crap from journalists–that the web, and email and mobile phones are making everyone behave in scandalous ways they never did before…The only difference between the way humans have been behaving badly for years, and how they behave badly in the internet age is the fact that now there’s always someone else watching.”

Carr just settled in San Francisco, after a stint on the road constantly working on a new book on being a digital nomad. His previous book was titled: “Bringing Nothing To The Party: True Confessions Of A New Media Whore,” about his comically failed attempts to become an Internet billionaire.

Here’s our video interview, about all that and more:

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Apr 2009 | 4:00 pm

'Silent Hill: Shattered Memories' Re-Imagines Horror Game Clichés for Wii

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.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 17 Apr 2009 | 4:00 pm

You Can Lead a Geek to Water… [Voices]

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Apr 2009 | 3:49 pm

Consumers Want to Rip, Burn DVDs [Voices]

Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes makes saving music from CDs onto one’s personal computer a simple process, but doing the same with a DVD is much more complicated endeavor. Most DVDs are encoded with digital rights management technology to prevent copying.

Most DVD viewers think that’s hypocrisy. A study of 1,000 consumers conducted by the National Consumers League found that 90 percent think that they should have ability to back up DVDs on their personal computers in the same way they are able to do with music from a CD.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Apr 2009 | 3:22 pm

Pogoplug rolls out iPhone app

Section: Communications, Mobile, Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle, Peripherals, Storage, Web, Online Music/Video

Pogoplug, one of our favorite devices from CES 2009, has just announced that their free iPhone app is available. 

The iPhone app lets you stream videos and music without uploading anything to some service.  You can access your files that you put online using the Pogoplug.  Additionally, you’ll actually be able to upload things like photos from your phone to your hard drive attached to a Pogoplug. 

A quick recap of Pogoplug if you are unfamiliar: plug in a USB hard drive into the Pogoplug, connect the Pogoplug to the Internet and start sharing whatever is on that USB hard drive with whoever you want.  When we tested the device’s web-based interface, it was very easy to use.

Pogoplug is also working on applications for other platforms.  While they weren’t specific as to which ones, I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll see versions for Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Nokia, and the Palm Pre. 

Read: [Pogoplug Blog]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Apr 2009 | 3:01 pm

Switching from iPhone to Blackberry unleashes avalanche of hate

FROM APPLETELL - When Cnet’s Don Reisinger announced he was switching from an iPhone 3G to a Blackberry Bold, he was surprised by the offended tone some of his readers took…
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Apr 2009 | 2:48 pm

Faceless Watch Tells the Time – Without a Face

The Faceless Watch will confuse and bamboozle as much as anything from those cryptic horologists at Tokyo Flash. The wrist-band itself is handsome enough, and when I first saw the pictures I though that it was just that — an ironic man-bracelet. But in the side-by-side comparison you can clearly see the digits peeking through the gaps. Press the button and the LEDs glow to tell the time in refreshingly traditional digits.

The LED watch is sadly marked as “coming soon”, and is currently stranded on the product page without a price or shipping date. I want one enough that I have set a calendar reminder for two months in the future when I will return to check up on it, and thence inform you, the stylish and handsome/beautiful reader, of its availability.

Product page [100% via BBG]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Apr 2009 | 2:12 pm

Hands-On With the OXO Good Grips Peeler

A peeler is one of the most useful things you can have in the kitchen. It does, though, have to be a good peeler — the 50¢ piece of junk from the drugstore will do nothing more than frustrate, cramp your hand and — if you’re really unlucky — rip chunks out of your fingers.

Buy a good one, though, and you can not only peel soft fruits, you’ll also be able to skin mangoes and ginger, make potato chips, cut zucchini into ribbons (drizzle with sesame oil and a little balsamic vinegar for a fantastic and simple salad) and even shave hard cheeses like Parmesan or Pecorino. In short, it is one of the handiest things you can have around.

Good, thankfully, doesn’t mean expensive. I have a Good Grips peeler from OXO, which cost me less than €10 in the fancy uptown store, but can be had for around $8 online. This is my second (the first was years old and still sharp but I lost it). It’s one of the knife style peelers instead of the Y-shaped models, but this is just my preference.

So, what makes it so good? First, as you’ll see here, the blade is sharp. The plastic junk you find in the dime store usually features a stamped blade which is thin enough to force through potato skin, but doesn’t actually cut. This one cuts, to the extent that it will peel a ripe peach or even a tomato.

The angle of the blade is important, too. The sharp edge is on the inside, running around the hole. This cuts both ways, and the edge not cutting rests on the food and keeps the blade going in at the proper, shallow angle. Other peelers often either skim or cut too deep, which is why many people swear off them altogether in favor of a knife (like my mother, who uses a small paring knife for the job, and miraculously still has both thumbs).

Next up, you can see the pointed tip. It’s not sharp enough to hurt, but it will gouge the eyes out of a spud easily. It’s also good for scraping brown spots from peeled apples.

Finally, and the feature that gives this range of cookware its name, is the good grip. It’s rubberized so it’s not slippery when wet, and because it is oversized even the most ham-fisted will find it comfortable for long periods. Squaddies on square-bashing duty should consider this. Those rubber fins are great, too, as they grip more when you press down — although with this blade you’ll never actually need to press very hard.

OXO has a newer version available, called the Pro Swivel Peeler. The business-end is all zinc, and the main advantage is that you can change blades, like a razor. At $12, it’s still not expensive, but as my blade has never dulled, I don’t see the need. Is a review of a fruit peeler absurd? Perhaps, but if you make sure you have good basic tools in your kitchen (hint: you don't need that Porsche cofffee maker) then cooking will be easier and a whole lot more fun.

Product page [OXO]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Apr 2009 | 1:52 pm

Alligators Reveal How Dinosaurs Ruled Earth

Alligator survival secrets shed light on how dinos once took over the world.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 17 Apr 2009 | 1:17 pm

NBC Universal Earnings Sliced In Half, but There’s a Bright Side [MediaMemo]

The bad news for NBC Universal: The TV and movie powerhouse saw earnings drop 45 percent in the last quarter. The good news: The GE unit says that if you stripped out one-time costs, charges, etc., it would have only been down something like 15 to 25 percent. That’s right: For media conglomerates this quarter, down 20 percent is the new up.

The really good news for NBCU is that GE (GE) shareholders don’t care about its performance because they’re fixated on GE’s massive finance/credit problems. But GE does feel compelled to provide at least a little bit of data about NBC.

For the record, Jeff Zucker’s group saw revenues drop two percent, to $3.5 billion. Earnings came in at $391 million.

Here’s how GE summed up NBCU’s performance for shareholders this morning (click to enlarge):

For those of you in a hurry, a couple highlights: The performance of NBC’s local stations, which has been horrible since the second half of 2008, remains horrible. NBC’s cable business (USA, Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, etc.) remains strong. The company says it wrote down some $55 million on its investment in Ion Networks, which owns dozens of local broadcast stations.

And GE spent a couple of words boasting about the performance of Hulu, its joint venture with News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox–and soon, Disney’s (DIS) ABC. GE noted that Hulu is now No. 2 behind Google’s (GOOG) YouTube. Worth remembering as NBC decides exactly how much energy, resources and content it wants to direct Hulu’s way this year and beyond.

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Apr 2009 | 1:14 pm

Calif. Considering Space Solar Power

California's largest utility may buy energy from a company that collects it from space.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 17 Apr 2009 | 1:14 pm

Look out Flip Mino, DXG looks to shake up the budget camcorder space

Section: Imaging, Camcorders, Features, Originals

DXG’s camcorders often get overlooked by people because the company doesn’t have a flashy name and they make budget devices.  If you are unfamiliar with the company, DXG makes camcorders that cost a couple of hundred dollars.  These cameras use SD cards to record HD or standard definition video.  But in a world where others have lots of money to throw into advertising, DXG will be trying new strategies to become something different. 

Optical Image Stabilization

As cameras get smaller and smaller, they get harder to hold.  Pair that up with higher resolution video and you’ve usually got shaky footage that no one really wants to see.  DXG is actively pursuing optical image stabilization.  For the most part, you are not going to find optical image stabilization on other budget cams. 

DXG is testing a prototype using a gyroscope that should produce a smoother image.  The gyroscope is actually on an integrated circuit that was originally designed for short range missiles.  Military technology eventually finds its way into everyday life. 

Right now they are having difficulty getting the chip to work in different capture modes.  It will work in 720P at a certain frame rate, but it won’t work at 1080P.  The company is looking to get their cameras equipped with optical image stabilization by January 2010. 

Hit ‘em where they ain’t.

Next is retail outlets.  Normally, you’ll find video cameras in big box stores like Best Buy or Wal Mart.  DXG’s new 125V, aimed at sporty types, will be found in untraditional places like Dick’s Sporting Goods.  Their line of cameras designed for women dump the number-naming convention for names like “SoHo” and “Tribeca.”  Those cameras come with matching cases so everything matches neatly.  Expect to see these cameras at department stores like Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue.

If you were going hiking and were picking up gear at a sporting goods store or if you wanted a camera to match your outfit, DXG might have a camera for you. 

When I spoke to Paul Goldberg, Sr. VP of Sales & Marketing, he seemed determined to make sure that DXG’s products were incredibly easy to use.  Additionally he was focused on making DXG’s products as good as they could be instead of focusing on competition.  In these troubled times (drink), budget devices have to offer the best bang for the buck.  DXG might be able to do that; keep an eye on them. 

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Apr 2009 | 1:12 pm

Boylemania, Part II: TV to Internet to TV to Internet… [BoomTown]

Susan Boyle’s sensational television singing performance jumped from that medium to become a viral Internet hit, fueling more television that is, of course, headed to the Internet again.

Who says old and new media can’t work together?

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 antimedia stylings of Boyle, who can nonetheless sing like nothing else.

She does just that in the first clip, aiming to please 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, she 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.

Here are the CBS videos:

Watch CBS Videos Online

Watch CBS Videos Online

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm

IPhone Nano Already Available in China

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.

Product page [chinagrabber via Cult of Mac and Ubergizmo]

See Also:

• IPhone Nano Clones Already on Sale
• Possible iPhone Nano Photos 'Leaked'
• Wired.com's Wishlist: What We Want in an iPhone Nano

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Apr 2009 | 12:19 pm

Swedish Court Throws Pirate Bay Operators in the Brig [MediaMemo]

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 Web site, guilty of copyright infringement. It has sentenced four men who run the site to a year in jail and ordered them to pay $3.6 million in damages.

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), 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:

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Apr 2009 | 12:01 pm

Cheap Canvas Bag Might be Most Useful Accessory Ever

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…

Product page [LA Police Gear via Uncrate]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Apr 2009 | 11:57 am

Is the Video Game Sector Finally Slowing Down? [Voices]

Is the video game sector hitting a wall?

That’s the obvious conclusion of the latest monthly sales data from research firm NPD Group.

According to data released late Thursday, video game industry overall sales fell 17 percent in March from a year ago, with hardware down 18 percent, software off 17 percent and accessories off 15 percent. For all of Q1, overall industry sales were flat, with hardware up one percent year over year, software down two percent, and accessories down three percent.

Wait, wait. How did this happen? NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier asserts that the steep fall off reflects two unusual factors. One, she explains, is that Easter last year fell in March, whereas this year it fell in April. And secondly, she notes that last March included the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which she points out was the fourth-best selling game in 2008.

Read the rest of this post

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Apr 2009 | 11:41 am

Apple Breaks Radio Silence Over Microsoft 'Expensive Mac' Ads

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.

Mac vs. PC: What You Don’t Get for $699 [Business Week]

Photo: jeffmcneill/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Apr 2009 | 11:12 am

T-Mobile officially announces the 3G-equipped Sidekick LX

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

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.

Read [Sidekick]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Apr 2009 | 11:04 am

Macintosh/iPhone software update roundup - April 16, 2009

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 »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 17 Apr 2009 | 10:54 am