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Time For AOLers To Meet Their New Sales Boss, Again [MediaMemo]Kara Swisher broke the story last night, but for the record, here’s the AOL press release announcing the Time Warner (TWX) unit’s umpteenth new sales boss. Meet Jeff Levick, a Google (GOOG) vet who replaces Yahoo (YHOO) vet Greg Coleman, who just started in February.
1 Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:12 pm Hands-On with the Knog Frog Bike Light
Relax, lean back in your comfortable chair and join me on a journey. Imagine, if you will, that you own a beautiful, brake-free fixed-gear bicycle. The exquisite paint-job, iridescent in the shimmering sun, is rivaled only by the clean lines of your ride. From front to back, there is nothing to distract the eye as it rolls across the smooth geometry, free of superflous lugs and holes, or even reflectors. Imagine now that you need to take this bike out at night. You want to be seen, of course, but you also want to be seen. Permanently fixed lights are, naturally, out of the question, as ridiculous as wearing a hair-mussing helmet. Even removable lights need unsightly brackets. What to do? You need a hipster lamp, something that the Bike Snob calls the Hipster Cyst. It is the Frog, from Aussie company Knog.
The Frog is a bright, weather sealed LED lamp in a silicone casing. The built-in strap stretches around bars and frames and hooks back on itself. I found a set at my local bike-shop for €11 ($16) apiece, for once actually less than the €12 list price. At this price, they’re a little above the cheapest lamps, but nowhere near the top end.
The best feature of the Frog is its size. The tiny lamps are hardly bigger than the button-cell and LED within. The switch is concealed and you turn things on and off by pressing the top of the light. One press for “on”, another for “flash” and one more to switch off. Flash is probably the best of these, as it is both eye-catching to other road-goers and stretches battery life from 80 hours to a maximum of 160 hours. That’s around two and a half months if you ride two hours every single night.
The frogs attach to any part of the bike, although for the pictures I just put them on the top-tube where they hang like little one-eyed vampire-bats. You stretch the loop around and slide it into the hook. It’s easy enough not to be annoying — good news when you have to take the lights off to stop them being stolen. I haven’t been out in a good downpour yet (and without fenders, I’ll be leaving the fixie at home and taking the Dutch bike anyway) but the case seals the lights well enough for all but the worst rainstorm. The only openings are for the LED itself and a gap underneath the case to remove the unit for battery replacement.
The main concern with any light is visibility. The Frogs are bright, although Knog has some multi-bulb alternatives too. I took these shots against the balcony in daylight, if that helps you to visualize the output. I’ll put it this way. I first switched one on inside a fairly bright bar, pointing at my eyes, and got major retina-burn.
Problems: They pick up dust. You can see how much in the photos. Also, the LEDs stay white until switched on, so I’d recommend buying front and back in different colors to avoid confusion, unlike me. I like these little lights. We’ll see how much I still like them if those battery-life claims are exaggerated, though. Until then, I will not be looking to have my Hipster Cysts removed. Product page [Knog]
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:09 pm Rwanda Development Board Selects AtMail for Government Wide Email PlatformAtMail to provide intuitive email system to improve and enhance communications BRISBANE, Australia and COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho, April 30 /PRNewswire/ -- AtMail,...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:03 pm Amazon to charge 50% more for OTA Kindle document transfers
The service will now support RTF files fully and DOCX on an “experimental” basis. That means that some DOCX docs might not render properly just like some PDF files. Free transfers can still be performed just like always by emailing the document to the approprate address for conversion. This fee is only when files are transfered over the air.
Source: CrunchGear | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:01 pm Microsoft takes aim at IBM in Web campaign (InfoWorld)InfoWorld - Microsoft will take aim at IBM Thursday in a Web campaign touting Windows Server on Intel-based hardware as a better, more economical performer than IBM's AIX and RISC server platform.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm What Do VCs Say and Do in Early-Stage Today?In the last two months, we have interviewed six VCs. In each case, we asked the same question: "How is early-stage financing doing during this downturn compared to the last one in 2001/2002?" In this...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm Tent Peg HackI have used regular tent pegs hundreds of times and have been extremely dissatisfied. A great, simple alternative I've been using the last five years is to wrap or tape up a handful of large...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm Advisory: Budget Woes Highlight the Need for Government Procurement TransformationTaxpayers' Demand for Transparency Underscores Need for Procurement Processes and Technologies that Enable Agencies to Optimize, Account for and Control BudgetsSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm MTech and Ascom (US), Inc Partner to Provide Two-way Integration With HotSOSAscom and MTech Solutions Combine the Leading Hospitality Service Order System With Ascom's Voice and Messaging Capabilities Creating Superior Customer Value Through IntegrationSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm Verivue Deploys VMM and Synopsys VCS Solution for Verification of Scalable Media Distribution SwitchCombination of VMM Verification Methodology and VCS Enable Up to 4x Productivity Boost MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Synopsys, Inc....Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm Windows 7 Release Candidate Is Available From MicrosoftIndustry experts advise partners, companies and developers to preview Microsoft's next operating system. REDMOND, Wash., April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TodaySource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm asknet releases 2008 Annual ReportManagement Sees 2008 as a Year of Consolidation KARLSRUHE, Germany, April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- asknet AG, a leading provider of outsourcing solutions for the...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm EXFO Releases HPNA Test Probe for the AXS-200/600 SeriesAward-winning AXS-200/600 series expands triple-play testing into the home network QUEBEC CITY, April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - EXFO Electro-Optical...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm Roxio Unveils PhotoShow Touch for Windows 7Gestures Replace Clicks in Innovative Multi-Touch Slideshow Creation and Sharing Application SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Roxio(R), a...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm Global Payments Completes ZAO United Card Service AcquisitionATLANTA, April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN), a leading provider of electronic transaction processing solutions, announced today that it has...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm Roxio Delivers Essential Burning Solution for Windows 7 UsersUnveils Roxio Burn; Intuitive Way to Perform Frequent Recording Tasks SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Roxio(R), a division of Sonic Solutions(R)...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Apr 2009 | 1:00 pm Web Analytics Databases Get Every LargerCurtMonash writes "Web analytics databases are getting every larger. eBay now has a 6 1/2 petabyte warehouse running on Greenplum — user data — to go with its more established 2 1/2 petabyte Teradata system. Between the two databases, the metrics are enormous — 17 trillion rows, 150 billion new rows per day, millions of queries per day, and so on. Meanwhile, Facebook has 2/12 petabytes managed by Hadoop, not running on a conventional DBMS at all, Yahoo has over a petabyte (on a homegrown system), and Fox/MySpace has two different multi-hundred terabyte systems (Greenplum and Aster Data nCluster). eBay and Fox are the two Greenplum customers I wrote in about last August, when they both seemed to be headed to the petabyte range in a hurry. These are basically all web log/clickstream databases, except that network event data is even more voluminous than the pure clickstream stuff."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:43 pm 2nd Palm WebOS Handset Due In 2009 - TrustedReviews
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:41 pm Rumors of a Sony PSP Go! heat up - ZDNet
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:25 pm New Anti Flicker Lighting Developed For Automotive Crash TestsBy Andrew Liszewski A Long Beach-based design firm called Nectar Product Development has created a new anti flicker lighting system that eliminates the problem of flickering in high-speed video recordings...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:22 pm Apple's proprietary iPhone chips may not surface till next year - Apple Insider
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:22 pm Rumors and Horrors! Minipalm, Apple CPU, Kindle price hike• Palm is rumored to have a mini-Pre in development for release later this year. [TechCrunch] • Apple is to start designing its own chips, just for iPhones and iPods. [WSJ] • Amazon is to charge 15 cents per megabyte, rounded up to the next whole megabyte, when you transfer documents wirelessly to your Kindle. [Amazon] • Verizon says Cablevision's 101Mbps option is a "trick" which will fail if more than a handful of customers in any given neighborhood try to get it. [DSL Reports] • Prophecy of the day: Google Android will cause the netbook market to splinter. [MIT Technology Review] Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:21 pm Century Netbook Stand Cools Your Lap, Reads & Burns DVDsBy Andrew Liszewski While it wasn’t the reason I ultimately decided to part ways with my EEE netbook, the lack of optical drive did make things kind of a hassle when I decided to install XP. The...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:12 pm New Flip Ultra and UltraHD Now Official - Wired News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:09 pm Motorola 1Q loss widens, but beats Street (AP)AP - Motorola Inc. defeated low expectations Thursday, posting a smaller first-quarter loss than Wall Street had expected and regained its position as the world's fourth-largest maker of cell phones.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:09 pm Ericsson: Thanks a Lot Sony [Digital Daily]Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson (ERIC) reported earnings this morning and while it’s obviously doing better than some of its rivals, it’s not doing all that much better. This morning the company posted a 35 percent drop in first-quarter profit, its financials undermined by its Sony Ericsson joint venture (which reported a 293 million-euro loss) and customers postponing purchases because their local currency has collapsed. Net profit in the quarter was 1.7 billion kronor ($210 million) compared with 2.6 billion kronor in the same period a year ago. Now we know why Ericsson declined to offer a specific business outlook for 2009 when it last reported earnings. That said, the company seems to believe that the effects of global recession on its business are so far limited. Investments in wireless networks apparently continue a pace, econalypse be damned. “I think we have had a decent start of the year,” CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg said during a conference call with analysts. “We continue to gain market share. We had several strategic wins, we’re doing good in managed – both networks and managed services. There are some but still limited effects from the economic recession and still I think this is not the time to be too precise and predicting but realize that this is a very unusual time.” Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:08 pm Recession is latest focus of games for change (Reuters)Reuters - With the recession impacting college students, MTV's college network mtvU is turning to one medium it know will get attention to help teach students to cope with tough financial times -- a video game.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:07 pm New Flip Ultra and UltraHD Now Official
Flip has announced two more low-cost, single-purpose camcorders. Both of these cameras are as simple as those which came before, although the Flip lineup itself is started to get crowded to the point of confusion. First is the Flip UltraHD, previously seen turning up on a customer’s doorstep before being announced. The $200 UltraHD comes with a 2” LCD, the signature flip-out USB plug (which can be used to charge the double AA-sized battery-pack), 720p video and a real HDMI-out port. That battery pack can be removed and two regular AAs can be slid in there in case of emergencies. Finally, the memory has grown from 4GB to 8GB, enough for two full hours of shooting. The new little brother is the Flip Ultra. This shares the big screen and the rechargeable/replaceable battery (you’ll need to spring for the actual battery though, as it’s not included). It has a smaller 4GB of memory and of course only runs SD video-out, but will still record two hours worth of footage at 640×480. The Ultra comes in at $150. It also comes in more colors: black, white, yellow and pink against boring black or white for the HD. Available now. Press release [Flip] Product page [Flip]
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:04 pm Verizon’s Smart-Phone Talks: What’s Real? [Voices]Given the buzz surrounding Verizon’s (VZ) smart-phone efforts lately, it’s useful to review all the recent reporting and size up what looks most likely. The CDMA iPhone: Some publications have suggested that Verizon is discussing with Apple the possibility of making a version of the iPhone to run on the carrier’s existing CDMA network. USA Today reported this in a story earlier this week, and the New York Times (NYT) echoed it, even as it noted why this idea makes no sense. CDMA is essentially a U.S. technology used by Verizon and Sprint (S). The rest of the world operates on a standard called GSM. That’s partly why Apple (AAPL) chose to work with AT&T (T) (a GSM provider) in the first place. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:01 pm What Kind of Data Center Can You Build With $500M?coondoggie writes "So, if the government gave your company $500 million to spend on building a new data center what would you buy and how would you build it? Well, the Social Security Administration is about to find out. As part of the stimulus bill, or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the SSA got the tidy little sum to replace its National Computer Center. The SSA in fact says it will need closer to $800 million to fund a new IT infrastructure, including the new data center — the physical building, power and cooling infrastructure, IT hardware, and systems applications. (This is addition to a $72 million backup facility currently under construction in Durham, North Carolina)."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 30 Apr 2009 | 11:57 am Minnesota Requests ISP Ban On Gambling SitesOfficials in Minnesota are trying to use a federal law that enables restrictions on phone calls used for wagering to block online gambling sites.As of Wednesday, the state's Department of Public Safety had asked 11 Internet service providers to block access to 200 online gambling sites.Minnesota officials are citing a federal law requiring “common carriers” to comply with the request to block telecommunications services used for gambling.Internet service providers are not considered common carriers, so it’s unlikely that ISP’s will comply with the request, said John Morris, of the Center for Democracy and Technology.According to Morris, the law in question only applies to phone companies doing direct business with bet-takers. Online gambling is already illegal in the U.S.; so gambling sites are based overseas, meaning U.S.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 30 Apr 2009 | 11:54 am A Bounceback Quarter For Comcast [MediaMemo]
It’s back to the old axiom: Even in the worst of times, people really, really like their TV — and now, their Internet, too. The numbers: Earnings of 27 cents on revenues of $8.84 billion. Wall Street had expected 23 cents and $8.76 billion, respectively. Subscribers: Basic cable: Down 78,000. Barclays Capital’s Vijay Jayant had predicted a loss of 185,000 subs. High speed Internet: Up 329,000, vs expectations of 225,000 Digital video: Up 288,000, vs expectations of 320,000 Phone: Up 298,000, vs expectations of 375,000 Click chart to enlarge: Source: All Things Digital | 30 Apr 2009 | 11:45 am French lawmakers reconsider Internet piracy bill
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 SlashGear | Acer building several Android devices TG Daily By Samantha Rose Hunt Chicago (IL) - Acer confirmed that it is working on several devices based on Google' Android operating system, including a smartphone. Acer's Lanci: We're Testing Android On Smartphones Acer Working on Several Android Devices |
373 - A Map of the Land of Books
(Thanks, Marilyn!)
First let me note that solitary confinement has historically been a part of torture protocols. It was well-documented in South Africa. It's been used to torture prisoners of war.Solitary Confinement: The Invisible TortureThere are a couple reasons why solitary confinement is typically used. One is that it's a very painful experience. People experience isolation panic. They have a difficult time psychologically coping with the experience of being completely alone.
In addition, solitary confinement imposes conditions of social and perceptual stimulus deprivation. Often it's the deprivation of activity, the deprivation of cognitive stimulation, that some people find to be painful and frightening.
Some of them lose their grasp of their identity. Who we are, and how we function in the world around us, is very much nested in our relation to other people. Over a long period of time, solitary confinement undermines one's sense of self. It undermines your ability to register and regulate emotion. The appropriateness of what you're thinking and feeling is difficult to index, because we're so dependent on contact with others for that feedback. And for some people, it becomes a struggle to maintain sanity.
That leads to the other reason why solitary is so often a part of torture protocols. When people's sense of themselves is placed in jeopardy, they are more malleable and easily manipulated. In a certain sense, solitary confinement is thought to enhance the effectiveness of other torture techniques.
Chechen fighter's homebrew phone-charger
(via Red Ferret)
 TopNews United States | Microsoft, Apple, and Pink: A History Lesson BusinessWeek Rumors that Microsoft is developing a multimedia smart phone heated up again today when The Wall Street Journal reported (subscription required for full article) that Microsoft was talking to Verizon Wireless about launching the new phone in 2010. Motorola to make Microsoft challenger to iphone? Microsoft rebuffs rumors about attempts towards making its own phone |
It’s a little late to be announcing anything, since the things are already at Best Buy, but I guess Flip had better at least acknowledge that the Flip UltraHD and SD exist. We guessed that it was 720p and had 8GB of built-in storage when we saw the leaked pictures, and that’s pretty much what the news is. The price is lower than we expected, though, so that’s good news for all you on-a-budget video lovers out there.
The new UltraHD is thicker than the MinoHD, but has twice the storage and a larger screen (2″ vs 1.5″). It also can take two AA’s or a rechargeable pack, and will recharge via the flip-out USB connector. Other than that and the slightly , things are pretty much business as usual. The UltraSD will record to standard definition, obviously, and the battery will last longer — but do you really need 5 hours versus 3 when it’s so easy to recharge? Anyway, the SD goes for $150 and the HD for $200.
If you’re in the market, remember that there are competitors, in the form of every digital camera sold since last year (they all shoot 720p now) and also with similar devices like Kodak’s Zx1 (weather resistant) and Sony’s Webbie. Personally I’d go with the Zx1 because its weather sealing makes it more hardy — but the built-in USB thing in the Flips is awful handy. Best to go somewhere and try them both for yourself. Video quality on either one will be passable.
 Ars Technica | AT&T's iPhone Dilemma BusinessWeek By Peter Burrows To some, AT&T's agreement to sell iPhones seemed ill-advised at first. Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs set some exacting demands in exchange for granting AT&T the sole US rights to the iPhone. 'iPhone lite' and the business of world domination Verizon Wireless warming to Apple partnership |
Over the last few days, the TechCrunch tips box has been flooded with pitches from companies looking to capitalize on ‘Swine Flu’, the potentially pandemic disease that is currently freaking out a significant portion of Earth’s inhabitants. Now that everyone is stressing about it, what better time to make a buck, right?
First, there’s Flu Shirts, an online T-Shirt marketplace brought to you by some of the people behind Groopvine. The store has a variety of shirts mocking the current hysteria, emblazoned with taglines like “Maybe the Muslims were right about pigs” and “My dad went to Mexico and all he got me was swine flu”.
Then there’s Swine Fighter a Flash game from the guys who brought you HeyZap. Gameplay consists of clicking on diseased pigs to inject them with something and make them say, “Oink!” The game has done quite well, hitting the Digg front page and seeing over 150,000 game plays in only 24 hours. It also features a handful of guidelines from the CDC, though they’re so far below the fold I suspect very few people actually saw them.
And of course the spammers are taking advantage of the widespread alarm, sending out countless Emails with subjects like “US declares emergency as Mexican flu death toll rises” to entice unsuspecting readers.
Some of promotions currently being offered by companies are actually potentially useful, albeit opportunistic, like Phonevite’s decision to allow organizations to use its mass communication tools free of charge to broadcast emergency messages. There’s also ZocDoc the online booking site for doctors’ appointments, which has set up a dedicated hub for Swine Flu checkups being offered by doctors in the New York area. We’ve also gotten a variety of pitches from companies that have absolutely nothing to do with the disease, but are coming up with creative ways to explain how they’re helping.
Just on a personal note, I’ve always found jokes about potentially pandemic diseases to be more than a little disconcerting. People are dying. The WHO just bumped up the Swine Flu’s pandemic alert to its second highest level. I understand that many people like to laugh as a way to cope with their own mortality, and some of the media reactions are over the top, but some of this seems like grossly opportunistic capitalism. So, uh, keep rocking those T-shirts.
Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
: The first hint that something was up came in a letter stamped "Lost Post." It was addressed to the family of six who had recently moved into the sprawling Fifth Avenue apartment—and was apparently written by a former occupant who had died decades earlier. Inside the envelope was a poem full of riddles, the solutions to which were all around them: The home was filled with puzzles that had been covertly installed during an extensive renovation.
The letter led the family down a rabbit hole of hidden keys, secret compartments, and glowing boxes. Today, more than three years after they settled into their magic kingdom, they still haven't solved everything—even with the book of clues that architectural designer Eric Clough planted in a wall to guide them.
The elaborate project started with a casual aside. "Can we do something for the kids?" Clough asked his client, the CEO of a private equity firm, when he began work on the $1 million-plus job. Nothing complicated at first, just a few hidden lines of verse. But soon the carpenters were carving ciphers into radiator covers and adding secret compartments to the credenza. "I kept sneaking back into the apartment and hiding a few more clues," Clough says.
Even after the family decodes the last brainteaser, the game won't really be over: Someday the special keys for the secret compartments will be lost. The veneer will begin to warp. Someone new will move in, and they'll be enthralled by the enigmas around them. "Then," Clough says, "they'll find these clues in the archives of Wired."
: The apartment was once part of a 54-room penthouse atop a 1925 building on New York's Upper East Side. In 2005, an architectural designer retrofitted it with a treasure trove of puzzles and mysteries, unbeknownst to the new residents. Encrypted verses were carved into radiator covers.
: Elaborate Rubik's Cube-like toys were hidden in a secret cabinet.
: The apartment's elegance belies its cunning accoutrements.
: A cherry tree mural in the kids' bedroom doubles as a map of Central Park.
: Starburst chandeliers figure in a riddle on Galileo.
: A Japanese wood puzzle, when assembled, becomes the key to unlock a hidden compartment.
: A poem written by the father is revealed when panels are released by a special magnet.
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Each human head you see here mashes up the mugs of two stars from a movie or a TV show. Write down the titles, then string them together to describe a character from a Kubrick film. The number of letters in each word is provided below.  |
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Teeuwynn Woodruff is a game designer, puzzle maker, world builder, and interactive games creator. Games Woodruff has worked on include Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, and Pokémon. Her puzzles appear regularly in Games magazine. She is the creative director of Lone Shark Games (lonesharkgames.com).
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Answer:
Head 1 (Weird Science): Kelly LeBrock, Anthony Michael Hall
Head 2 (Doctor Who): Tom Baker, David Tennant
Head 3 (Can't Hardly Wait): Jennifer Love Hewitt, Seth Green
Head 4 (Until the End of the World): William Hurt, Max Von Sydow Stringing the titles together creates the clue "weird science doctor who can't hardly wait until the end of the world." Doctor Strangelove. |
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I spent the weekend with Pure Digital's new Flip UltraHD. It looks and feels a lot like the first-gen Flip Ultra, except it's high-def (720 pixels), has an HDMI output (really), and 16:9 widescreen. At 4.25" x 2.19" x 1.17", it's slightly bigger than the first-gen Flip Ultra and a lot bigger than the sleek MinoHD. The footprint isn't the only aspect that's bigger: instead of a 1.5" screen, the UltraHD has a vivid 2-incher. It also boasts 8 gigs of memory -- double that of the MinoHD and 4x the first-gen Ultra. It runs on two AA batteries (unlike the Mino) and costs $200 (not bad, but pricier than pocket cams from competitors like Kodak).
It was a lovely Northern California weekend, and I took these two video clips to test it in different conditions. The first (above) is of Steven after he got bonked in the head by his own surfboard, and the second (below) is of a fire pit at my friend's BBQ. I took side-by-side clips using my old Sanyo Xacti. The Flip dominated at canceling out wind noise at the beach. But when the sun set and we were sitting around a fire pit, the Flip didn't do so hot. The non-HD, 6-megapixel Xacti actually did a better job capturing the flames.
I did find, though, that I was much more inclined to pull the Flip out of my bag than the Xacti -- mainly because it's still one of the simplest, most user-friendly pocketcams out there. With little practice, I was able to navigate the controls without even looking. Since I knew I could go home and plug it into my laptop and TV without dealing with a cable or dock, I found myself reaching for it first by Sunday.
You’ve likely already seen it, but it’s still a little unbelievable to me that Gmail included feces as one of its emoticons. If you haven’t seen it, go ahead, check it out, it’s there (the very last one on the bottom row). And now, we’re getting more emoticons — a whole hell of a lot more.
A new feature in Gmail Labs, Extra Emoji, adds dozens of these different colorful icons as possibilities to send via Gmail. Emoji is the Japanese term used for emoticons, which are hugely popular in that country. So much so that support for them was added to only the Japanese version of the iPhone. And it’s the Japanese who actually made this Gmail Labs feature as well. Specifically, “all of these extra emoticons are straight from the secret underground labs of some of the top Japanese mobile carriers, used with permission,” Google writes on its blog.
I’m still digging through all of them to see if there is anything as interesting as the pile of crap one. I haven’t found anything yet, but the bomb and gun ones are pretty cool.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
HP is really taking the Windows Home Server thing seriously, eh? The company first launched WHS systems over a year and a half ago and we are already on the second generation. This time around though, HP is launching the MediaSmart LX195, which comes in at a lower price, but does sacrifice a bit to get there. That’s fine with me though.
Leaked info about this server appeared a few weeks ago and everything seems right one. What we have here is a single 640GB HDD, encased in a non-expandable case. The LX195 maintains Gigabit Ethernet and four rear panel USB ports just like its big brothers, but the CPU drops down from a 2.0GHz 64-bit Celeron to a 1.6GHz Atom. Plus, it only sports 1GB of RAM. But the unit comes in at $390 and runs Windows Home Server.
This server would be absolutely perfect for networks that just need a dead simple backup solution. These units come with stellar built-in backup software for Windows machines and also support Apple’s Time Machine. Chances are that 640GB [probably] isn’t enough space to store torrents and such, but it should be large enough to hold your parent’s photos, music and also back-up a couple of computers. Worse comes to worse, WHS does support USB external drives unless for some odd reason HP disabled that feature.
The future is looking good with HP’s MediaSmart line. There isn’t another company that has embraced the wonderful OS that is Windows Home Server as much and we’re seeing some killer products emerge. Now, lets get one with a couple of CableCard slots and Windows Media Center software.
I came across some very interesting news today. I was mostly minding my own business, hammering away at our various sources in the hardware industry and trying to dig up some sort of information on exactly when the Palm Pre (pictured right) might be launching, and how many of them will be available. Rumors are flying about both of those issues over the last couple of days.
And then, wham! A whole new rabbit hole to jump down. One of our better sources indicated to us that Palm is "very far along" on a second Pre-like device and currently has plans to put it on the market in the late part of 2009, possibly as early as the Fall.
This is too soon for a second generation device (Apple releases new generation iPhones yearly). and Palm won't be expecting people to upgrade their Palm Pre to this new device just a few months after buying a Pre. It's addressing a different part of the market.
Not much is known about the the upcoming movie of Wall Street 2 other than it will once again team up actor Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko and director Oliver Stone. When 1938 Media’s Loren Feldman heard the news this morning, he decided to come up with his own script—on Twitter. Over the course of more than twenty Tweets, starting with this one, he roughed out the basic plot lines of the movie. Well, it could be the plot of the movie if Oliver Stone decides to make it about the Web 2.0 crowd. Something tells me that Owen Van Natta, Jason Calacanis, and Henry Blodget aren’t going to make the final cut. Well, Blodget might.
Below is a (slightly edited) version of Feldman’s Twitter script for Wall Street 2. I think Feldman should make a puppet version of the movie. What do you think? (Script note: “Bud,” you’ll remember was the character played by Charlie Sheen in the original movie):
# Wall Street 2 coming. A 186 year old Michael Douglas to play Bernie Madoff. Hope O.Stone is on blow when they make this one.
# WS2- Gordan Gekko buys Facebook and twitter guts them both and sells the servers. There is no IP anywhere to be found worth selling
# WS2 - Bud sees the light and decides to work for a non profit org. He has his choice of almost all web companies to choose from.
# WS2 - Gordan Gekko and Arrington have a fistfight cause @techcrunch deadpooled Gekko’s startup “Greedddrrrrr” upon launch.
# WS2 - Henry Blodget gets banned for life again for calling Gekko’s Greeedrrrr “The greatest site ever. Easily $900 a share.”
# WS2 - The line “Lets get users, profits will come later” is cut from script having been deemed too stupid even by Hollywood standards
# WS2 - Gekko tries to buy Mahalo. @jasoncalacanis sells it and always regrets it. He now produces Kanye West.
# WS2 - Gekko tries to buy everything. Except seesmic. Loic invites him to speak at Le Web anyway. Gekko declines.
# WS2 - Gekko buys MySpace. OWen Van Atta is at his 129th job by then. Chris Crocker appointed CEO.
# WS2 -Gekko attends SXSW Interactive. Scoble vomits on him and Julia Allison wants money for sex. Not happy he buys the city of Austin anyway
# WS2 - Bud tries to enlist @davewiner to fight Gekko, but Dave is too busy duplicating features in the MacOS not knowing they even existed.
# WS2 Fred Wilson tries to meet Gekko. Gekko rebuffs him citing his atrocious taste in music. Gekko snickers to himself “Artctic Monkeys suck”
# WS2 - Gekko gets the YHOO MSFT deal done. Owen Van Atta appointed CEO. Arrington’s head explodes upon hearing news.
# WS2 - Ashton tries to sell Katalyst to Gekko. Instead he buys Demi like in that movie with Redford and Woody. Gordan loved that movie. Punkd
# WS2 - @ggekko becomes the most followed person on twitter with 83million. Gordan say to friends privately “What the fuck is this nonsense?
# WS2 - Gekko changes combined MSFT YHOO name to “Gekkle Wolfram” to capture the dopiest name award from the webby’s. Van Atta smirks.
# Gekko fears only one. @karaswisher . He’s more afraid of her, than twitter is of a business model. She scares Bud too. Heck she scares Rupe.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
AFP - French videogame star Ubisoft announced that it is making a sequel to the "Red Steel" title that debuted in 2006 with Nintendo's industry-changing Wii consoles.
I came across some very interesting news today. I was mostly minding my own business, hammering away at our various sources in the hardware industry and trying to dig up some sort of information on exactly when the Palm Pre (pictured right) might be launching, and how many of them will be available. Rumors are flying about both of those issues over the last couple of days.
And then, wham! A whole new rabbit hole to jump down. One of our better sources indicated to us that Palm is “very far along” on a second Pre-like device and currently has plans to put it on the market in the late part of 2009, possibly as early as the Fall.
This is too soon for a second generation device (Apple releases new generation iPhones yearly). and Palm won’t be expecting people to upgrade their Palm Pre to this new device just a few months after buying a Pre. It’s addressing a different part of the market.
The details are still slim - it’s a smaller device (and hopefully that means slimmer), but it will run Palm’s new WebOS operating system that everyone is raving about. We’re trying to determine if the device has a physical keyboard - no word on that yet.
There have been lots of rumors about Apple releasing an iPhone Nano (or alternatively iPhone Mini) in the past, none of which have turned out to be true (and many of which were very funny). It may be that Palm, seeing all that user excitement over a small form iPhone, decided to jump ahead and create a mini Pre of their own. So until we hear otherwise, we’re calling this new phone the Mini-Pre.
And just like when we broke the news of the Palm Pre on CrunchGear, you heard it here first.
Ok, I can get back to digging up those Palm Pre build numbers and launch date now.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
In an effort to spread the word about its Chrome browser, Google commissioned 11 short videos about the browser. My two favorites are below.
I think the first one could actually be used as a TV commercial. It wins for best use of color. And the tune is catchy—makes me want to buy a Chrome browser. Wait, I forgot. It’s free.
The second one is just funny. Men in tights always are. See how they blend into the background? Just like the browser does.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
Section: Web, Online Music/Video, Features, Interviews
1. Who are you?
I’m Katharine Fletcher, a freelance writer from the UK. I used to write and present the podcast “ChannelFlip Games” and wrote the gaming column “Ludolatry” for Custom PC.
2. Facebook, Twitter, or something else and why?
Both! I despise the fanboy trait of only being able to like one thing from each category, it’s so limiting! I get asked the 360/PS3 question a lot and it drives me nuts.
I use Facebook mostly for keeping in touch with IRL friends, especially friends who live far away. I like being able to see what people are up to and touch base with an occasional comment, without having to phone everyone I’ve ever met once a month!
Twitter on the other hand is great for keeping in touch with the online community, particularly those who have supported my work and want to know what I’m working on next. My followers are great at offering advice, interesting comments, and answers to questions, and in return, I love throwing out links to interesting sites and letting people know what I’m up to. (Katharine2501 if you want to follow me!)
3. Gadget you couldn’t live without (and why)?
Um… does the biro still count as a gadget? [Editor’s note: a “biro” is a ballpoint pen if you didn’t know—I didn’t.] I think there are a lot of early and comparatively simple gadgets that get overlooked in this high tech age.
Imagine if you still had to cut your pens from goose feathers and carry bottles of expensive ink around with you in case you wanted to jot down a note? Developments in writing and recording technology might sound a bit weird to care about, but they have a huge impact on society.
4. Most regrettable piece of tech you own [mine’s an original Sony Reader]
Hmm, tricky one. I get really angry with the HP LaserJet which I bought a couple of years back. It was a really good bit of kit and was quite a hefty investment at the time, but after about a year of printerly joy (yes, just out of warranty), it developed a fault no amount of cleaning and troubleshooting could fix and started printing unwanted blotches down the side of every page.
Even with the fault it works well enough, and was expensive enough, that I don’t want to replace it, but anytime I need to print something smart I have to borrow a printer. If I’d gone for a cheaper model I could happily replace it, or if I’d bought a better one it might not have developed a fault, so yes, a frustrating buy.
5. If you could wish a gadget into existence, what would it be?
A teleportation device! But only if I could wish it into a secret and singular existence just for me, mwahahaha! If I’m being less selfish, then a super small, super efficient solar panel cell that you could wear, maybe as a badge or a necklace, that would be able to collect enough energy to regularly charge your phone/PDA/mp3 player. No more dead battery in the middle of nowhere emergencies, and a nice contribution to reducing CO2 emissions.
Find Katharine on Twitter: [@katharine2501]
Full Story » | Written by Iyaz Akhtar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
• A water-propelled jetpack that lets you jog on water.
• Joel parked his keister on to two fancy ergonomic chairs.
• Some novelist wrote 100,000 words of his book on a smartphone (and man are his thumbs tired).
• The pizza box of tomorrow, today (even yesterday).
• Building an iMac G4 out of LEGOs = rad. Including a working LCD = RAD.
• Recycled plastic bags as art light fixtures.
• How to make a Moleskine notebook using a cereal box (!)
• We tested a powder that combats "monkey butt".
• Reports of another mysterious "brick in a box" from Best Buy.
• A pre-revolutionary wooden clock from Russia can cost $20,000.
• A PSP look-a-like that can plays classic games.
• First-look at a reusable to-go cup for eco-conscious coffee drinkers.
Source: Boing Boing | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:36 am
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
If you’re a social site maven who happens to be dying to dabble with the Pre, Palm wants to talk to you.
Palm has just announced a “Real Reviewer” program, in which they’ll be giving a select chunk of socialites a “current-model” Palm phone (read: probably the Pre), along with six months of service.
Read the rest of this entry at MobileCrunch >>
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
If you’re a social site maven who happens to be dying to dabble with the Pre, Palm wants to talk to you.
Palm has just announced a “Real Reviewer” program, in which they’ll be giving a select chunk of socialites a “current-model” Palm phone (read: probably the Pre), along with six months of service.
This is by no means the first time a phone company has proffered up a device in exchange for reviews; companies loan bloggers, journalists, and reviewers of other titles their latest gear on a daily basis. But that’s a bit different - reviewing stuff is part of our job description. That said, this isn’t the first time a company has opened up testing to the non professional, either. Nokia, for example, started up the “Nokia Pilot” testing program last year. However, I think this may be the first testing program specifically targeted at the Twitter/Facebook/Indie blog group - and if they pick their participants correctly, this could be a genius move. Major blogs and magazines carry a certain level of inherent authority, but any influence they have is rarely due to a personal connection with the reader. People tend to trust the opinions of people they know, even if they only e-know them. Get the kid who has (and communicates with) 5,000 followers to rave about the Pre, and Palm will have piqued the interest of a lot of folks they’d have otherwise missed.
If you get picked, you won’t be getting something for nothing - but what they’re expecting isn’t exactly grueling labor. In exchange for the half-year of free Pre, they want you to share any and every thought you have about the device on your favorite social network, blog, or whichever other soapbox you prefer.
If you’re interested, applying isn’t too tough. Answer 9 or 10 questions about yourself, ranging from “What phone do you currently have?” to “How would you describe yourself in 1 word?” (Ooh, ooh! Go with “delicious”! If nothing else, it’ll creep them out enough that they’ll pick you out of fear.), and then wait until Palm picks their favorites come May 8th. What have you got to lose? Sign up here.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
My friend Julie Wolfson is in Japan, and is sharing some of her photos. This is from a pet store in Roppongi, where the puppy cubicles face the street.
UPDATE: Boing Boing reader Goemon has an interesting comment about this place. He says:
That pet store runs a scam with the hostesses in the area:The hostess walks by with her "john" and coos about how cute a puppy is. The john is convinced to buy her the puppy/fashion accessory/sex token.
After leaving her john later that night, the hostess returns the puppy to the pet store to get her cut of the sale.
And the cycle continues.
Section: Web, Online Music/Video, Features, Originals
A lot of people are cutting costs. Maybe you traded in your cable for an over the air antenna, but still want more content. Well, a lot of the major networks have gotten on board with posting their shows online. However, not all video sites are created equal. Where are the best places to go to watch your shows online?
If you don’t want to navigate through different network sites, there are three big options for you.
The oldest is Joost.com. It’s an almost forgotten pioneer in the online video world, but it houses a lot of content. You can find CBS shows like CSI:NY, Warner Bros. shows like Smallville, and even MTV programming. Their video player is pretty good. If you find a bunch of shows that you like, it’s pretty easy to queue them up so you can watch one after the other. The site uses Facebook Connect so you don’t have to sign up for another account. You won’t find content from NBC like “The Office” on Joost. However, if you do find programming you like, you can subscribe to shows and receive e-mail notifications when that show is updated.
Hulu has a great offering of NBC and Fox programming including shows from their related networks like USA and FX. If you sign up for a free account, Hulu becomes very useful. You can subscribe to shows and they will be put into your queue automatically. If you go into your account settings, you can make sure that the videos play at 480p instead of 360p when you are logged in. Even if you don’t sign up for an account, it’s pretty easy to use and has a lot of shows to watch. The site has a few videos in HD, but that’s not site-wide yet.
Sling.com is one of the newer all-in-one solutions. You can watch NBC and Fox shows through some kind of deal through Hulu on Sling, although it doesn’t appear you can change the resolution. You can also play CBS programming here. Sling also works with Facebook Connect. If you’ve got your own Slingbox, you are able to watch it via this site as well if you’re on a Windows machine. Sling also let’s you subscribe to shows and also to other users.
All three sites also have their share of classic television and movies. If you’ve noticed, I haven’t mentioned ABC programing at all, since it appears that their content is only on their network site. Sling is one of the better sites since you can access programming from the most networks on one site, but the video quality on Hulu is just better. The question is whether you want convenience or video quality.
Hulu is tough to beat if you want good video quality. Sling is the best if you want to queue up videos from the most networks. Joost falls behind Sling and Hulu.
All-in-one solutions are pretty good, but if you’re willing to do more work, you can get better quality and a bigger selection. Keep an eye out for a follow up piece covering the best of the networks.
Full Story » | Written by Iyaz Akhtar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
"We will buy your dreams!"
About 30 years ago my friend loaned me couple of copies of Simon and Kirby's early 1950s The Strange World of Your Dreams. I hate it when people tell me their dreams, but Kirby and Simon were able to convert reader-submitted dreams into great comic book stories.
Download issues 1-4 here. (Via Beware, There's A Crosseyed Cyclops In My Basement!!!)
 Telegraph.co.uk | Twitter Quitters Just Don't Get It PC World A Nielsen report this week revealed that Twitter has an uncanny knack for hemorrhaging users. In fact, some 60 percent of new users bail on the service within a month. Eating it up: Insatiable fans feast on celebrities' tweets via Twitter Many New Twitter Users Not Coming Back for More |
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 Wired News | Budget Authorizes $2.5 Billion for NASA Shuttle Fleet Wall Street Journal By ANDY PASZTOR House and Senate leaders have agreed to authorize $2.5 billion to keep the US space shuttle fleet flying through 2011, if such an extension is necessary to complete currently planned missions to the international space station. NASA makes sure astronauts stay flu-free Path clears a bit for more shuttle funding |
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Two-finger touch or multi-touch? Users don’t have to choose. It can be touch anywhere says French start-up Sensitive Object, which offers a touchscreen technology that goes beyond the traditional display area.
The company’s ‘Anywhere MultiTouch’ platform is based on the recognition of sound waves propagated in an object when the user touches it.
A user’s touch on a glass surface produces a pattern of sound waves that creates an acoustic signature unique to the location of the touch, says Sensitive Object. The company, which was created in 2003, says it has found a way to associate this acoustic signature to the user’s every action. A glass panel equipped with two piezoelectric sensors, similar to what is used in some new flat speakers technology, is used to detect the sound waves and determine their acoustic signature.
The Anywhere MultiTouch platform can be used on various materials such as glass, aluminum and plastics says Sensitive Object.
The company hasn’t disclosed how much its new technology will cost. For now it says this will be available at a “very competitive price.” The platform is Windows 7 compliant and offers handwriting recognition.
Sensitive Object hopes to bring its technology to cellphones, netbooks, laptops, PCs and portable games terminals. For app developers, the technology can be handy to expand how users interact with their devices, it says. For instance in case of a cellphone, a game app can require touch on any part of the phone instead of just the screen.
“Sensitive Object’s products are now used in various markets such as home automation, interactive point of sale or information desks and gaming,” says Bruno Thuillier, CTO of Sensitive Object in a statement. “We’re now addressing the handheld and consumer markets.”
[via UberGizmo]
See also:
Touchscreen Kit May Spur More Multi-Touch Apps
Video: MOTO Labs Shows Large Screen Multi-touch Prototype
Photo: (Pranav Singh/Flickr)
 GulfNews | Google's Book Search Deal: 5 Pros and 5 Cons PC World The Book Search settlement, announced in October, followed a three-year battle over Google's right to display copyrighted books on its Web site. Publishers Confirm DOJ Google Probe Google Defends Online Book Deal |
The new Jawbone Prime has improved audio, "military-grade" noise-canceling, and comes in black, brown, silver, green, yellow, red, and purple.
Product Page [Jawbone]
Section: Audio, Portable Audio, Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Computers, Hardware, Features, Podcasts, Originals
We told you it was coming and here it is. Gadgetell is proud to present the first episode of “You Tell Gadgetell.” You Tell Gadgetell is the show where you tell us your opinions, your thoughts, in your voice. Normally we do the talking, now it’s your turn. In this first episode, Jodie hits a LAN party to ask “What’s your favorite gadget?” This show is brought to you by the Flip Mino.
Download (iPod/iPhone version):
You Tell Gadgetell 001
Full Story » | Written by Jodie Andrefski for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - A Radio Shack employee faces disorderly conduct and battery charges for punching a customer. Police said the customer was trying to return an item Sunday, but the employee wouldn't let him. The customer then asked to talk to a manager.[via Crime Scene KC]That's when the 52-year-old male employee began punching the man.
Stanford student Luke Ekkizogloy is writing an iPhone app that controls the lights in his house, but he has bigger dreams.
“I have what everyone has in mind, and that’s to make money,” Ekkizogloy told Wired.com.
Ekkizogloy, like many other students enrolled in Stanford’s iPhone programming class, is aiming to strike it rich by selling software through Apple’s prolific iPhone App Store, which surpassed one billion downloads last week.
Many software developers view the App Store as a digital Gold Rush, where companies big and small can potentially make millions with a single big hit. With 40,000 applications in the App Store to date, competition among iPhone developers is fierce. Still, even independent programmers like Ekkizogloy stand a chance, provided they have a good idea, cleanly written code and some luck. One of the most inspiring success stories involves Ethan Nicholas, an independent developer whose iPhone game iShoot earned him $600,000 in the month of January alone. What’s more, Nicholas taught himself how to code for the iPhone by reading websites.
But it’s probably easier to learn iPhone development if you have the resources of a world-class university at your disposal — and an Apple employee for an instructor. Stanford is so serious about training the next army of iPhone developers that the tech-savvy university hired Evan Doll, a senior iPhone engineer for Apple, to teach CS193P — a computer science course titled iPhone Application Programming.
Doll taught Stanford’s first iPhone class in fall 2008, and the current quarter is now running in its fifth week. In the class, students are building programs using the iPhone software development kit, which requires learning Objective-C — the programming language for iPhone. They’re also learning the basic fundamentals and principles of coding for the iPhone, such as memory management, interface construction and animation design.
In addition to the 60 students enrolled in the course and 40 squatters sitting in, thousands are taking Stanford’s iPhone class remotely via iTunes. In the iTunes U educational channel, wannabe iPhone developers can download video podcasts of the lectures along with the course slideshows — all free.
Stanford’s iPhone programming course is part of Apple’s iPhone University Program, which launched September 2008. Participating schools gain free access to the iPhone SDK and all the tools needed to develop apps for the handset, courtesy of Apple.
And as if offering an iPhone class weren’t enough, Stanford is expressing its enthusiasm in the device in its very own iPhone app “iStanford.” Free through the App Store, iStanford allows iPhone users to easily look up class schedules, the Stanford directory, the campus map and sports news.
When Wired.com visited the class last week, Doll was explaining the fundamentals of building an iPhone application interface. A common iPhone app interface, he said, is composed of a navigation bar at the top and a tab bar at the bottom.
“These are patterns for organizing your iPhone interface, but don’t reinvent the wheel,” Doll told the class. “At Apple our philosophy is if you do a lot of the same thing, make it useful.”
The Stanford brainiacs had plenty of useful ideas for apps. Mike Gao, a computer music technology student enrolled in the iPhone class, is best known for creating the Lumi, a digital console for mixing and remixing music on the fly. Gao said he plans to rewrite the Lumi interface for an iPhone app.
“The iPhone has millions and millions of people downloading apps through the App Store, so [Lumi on the iPhone will] definitely hit harder,” Gao said.
Other ideas? Student Patrick Costello (above) is thinking about coding an app to help workers log their hours — a digital timesheet of sorts. Sports fan Sean Beausoleil is toying with the idea of creating an iPhone app for fantasy football players. Anand Madhavan hasn’t decided on an app yet, but he’s fermenting the idea of a simple tool that helps gardeners.
And Mike Fogel (above) is thinking about coding an app for users to take pictures of each other’s outfits to vote on how well they match — crowdsourced feedback, similar to the idea of Hot or Not? Fogel is also learning iPhone software development to code a burrito application. Just what about burritos, exactly?
“Burritos — that’s all I can say,” Fogel said. “I’m not liable to talk about it.”
Makes sense: How could he get rich if he gave away his idea?
Only halfway through the course, the students still have plenty to learn before turning their app ideas into a reality. Their assignment for the week was to design a basic app that updates social networking feeds for services such as Twitter and Facebook. Sounds simple and barebones, but learning a new programming language is more difficult than it appears.
Is 10 weeks enough to learn to code a quality iPhone app? We’ll find out in June, when the course concludes and the students will submit their final projects to the App Store.
Meanwhile, some examples of App Store apps that came from fall quarter’s iPhone students include Air Guitar, a virtual guitar app; Stress Bust, an app that plays a video of ocean waves accompanied by guided voices to help you relax; and Abodi, an app that searches Craigslist and enables users to bookmark their favorite listings.
See Also:
Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
You don't need to spend a lot of money to make cool illuminating installation art. The Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain recently featured these cloud-like lamps made of 80 recycled shopping bags.
Luzinterruptus [via NotCot]
It’s pretty much obligatory at this point: someone announces a new piece of hardware, gets a lot of attention, and iSuppli tears it apart and prices the components.
Whether they’ve managed to get ahold of a Pre and actually tear it apart or they just dug up a list of components, we’re not sure - but iSuppli has pinned the final bill of materials for the Palm Pre at $137.38. Thats 46% of the $300 iSuppli expects Palm to charge Sprint for each handset, and 68% of 200 bucks they expect Sprint to charge the customer after subsidies. Not too bad - but of course, it doesn’t include R&D costs, marketing costs, nor all of the talent Palm had to hire to dig them out of their grave.
[Via TGDaily]
Crunch Network: TechCrunch obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies
Want something that looks like Motorola’s aborted Sidekick Slide? That runs Android? That has buttons like the RAZR? Well, you’re in luck because Moto is planning to launch the Android-powered Calgary on Verizon.
The QWERTY-slider looks like it has some promise. The styling is cool, the OS is proven, and things can only go up for Motorola. Given their track record, however, expect this thing to catch fire in your pocket or something.
Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
The BeBook Mini will be smaller and cheaper than its earlier version.
Dutch company Endless Ideas is set to launch a new version of the BeBook e-book reader in Europe with a 5-inch display screen that will be priced at $200 or less.
The new BeBook reader is expected to be available in the next few weeks and will be similar to its predecessor in almost every way. The orginal BeBook reader retails for €298 ($395) and has a 6-inch display. It runs Linux operating system and unlike the Amazon Kindle has no wireless capability. BeBook like most of its rivals uses the E Ink display.
The BeBook is manufactured by Chinese company Tianjin Jinke Electronics, which largely sells its readers under the Hanlin brand. That means the BeBook Mini will also be available as the Hanlin v5 Reader.
It is not clear if the BeBook will ever be sold directly in the U.S. but the device still has to battle it out in a crowded market. While Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader lead the market in North America, companies such as Samsung, Fujitsu and Foxit are competing for readers internationally.
See also:
E-Book Reader Roundup
BeBook E-Reader is Over -Priced and Under-Powered
Photo: BeBook Blog
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile
The latest date being circulated for the Palm Pre‘s release is June 7th. Now, what makes this date stand out just a bit is the fact that it is a mere 24 hours before Apple holds their World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC). This conference is supposed to be where Apple is expected to unveil their next gen iPhone. So, would this announcement by Apple cast a big old shadow over Palm’s parade?
Maybe not actually. What it comes down to is software. Both companies have jazzed up and upgraded the technology. But, Palm is obviously hoping to convince the masses that they are better than the iPhone…in ummm….24 hours. Or, they plan to play off the hoopla that is going to surround the whole WWDC and all the comparisons that are obviously sure to be made.
There’s been lots of going-ons between the two companies as of late. We’ve seen some strange bed fellows. We have the former Apple employees who jumped ship to Palm. The rather thinly veiled threat Apple made defending its IP. And most recently, the Elevation partner (which owns about 40% of Palm) pretty much claiming that the Pre was gonna kick the iPhone’s ass. Yeah, the competition is pretty apparent. And come June 7, if the Pre does actually use this date for release, things should get even more interesting.
Apparently lots of folks are very interested in seeing just what Apple’s got to show at the conference, since Apple just announced that they are already sold out. And considering that even the early registration tickets cost over $1,000…that is pretty darn impressive in this economy. No word yet on whether Steve Jobs is going to be there to make the announcements on the new products though. We’ll keep you updated as we find out more.
via: last100
Full Story » | Written by Jodie Andrefski for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Peter Lloyd made this 22" x 33" poster for Ampex in the late 1970s. You can buy a framed one for $3,000. Seems ridiculous, but Lloyd is a legend. Check out his take on the Bionic Woman [NSFW].
It's nice that when I order a delivery pizza I'll no longer have to ask for extra sanctimony.
PeeWee PC is splash-resistant and has a swiveling touchscreen display: ingredients that make it perfect, all other things assumed present, for the wee ones. From the blurb:
PeeWee PC loads each Pivot Tablet Laptop with 10 age appropriate software and game titles for Pre-K, Early Elementary, or Upper Elementary students. PeeWee also includes its proprietary security suite on each laptop, giving parents full control of how and when their children use the laptop. The PeeWee security software allows parents to limit how much time their children spend browsing the internet (on a daily or weekly basis), block inappropriate sites with any version of any web browser, take screen shots, view browsing history, and even control the laptop remotely.
It's otherwise a regulation netbook, and $600.
Product Page [PeeWee PC]
Not too shabby, Slacker. Less than 4 months after Slacker for BlackBerry was launched at CES 2009, Slacker, Inc. has announced that it has surpassed 1 million downloads.
Now, 1 million might not seem like all that much in the shadow of the iTunes App Store and its 1 billion served - but remember, this is the BlackBerry we’re talking about. A huge chunk of BlackBerry owners never download applications, with another significant chunk only ever downloading between 1-5. Taking that into considering, 1 million downloads in 4 months is a pretty big deal.
That said, we’d still be interested in hearing the number of downloads the iPhone port has seen so far. It’s been available for about a week less than its BlackBerry brethren, but spent a ton of time in the App Store’s Top 25 Free Apps list. We’d be willing to bet it passed the million mark quite some time ago.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
At $90, it's simply too expensive, but this PSP knockoff runs ROMS from lots of classic systems: NES, SNES, Gameboy 'n' Color, and the Megadrive/Genesis. As Gizmodo commenter Zaxxon Q Blaque points out, it appears to be a Dingoo in PSP clothing. [Chinagrabber via Technabob and Giz]
Section: Communications, Mobile
The new TellMe voice search feature is now being offered to manufacturers to include on their Windows Mobile 6.5 phones. It is current exclusively an option to manufacturers, but will be open to the general public by the fall. It will then be available as a download from either the TellMe website or Windows Marketplace.
Through TellMe, users will be able to press a programmed key on their phone and activate the voice search feature. You can dictate a text message, call one of your contacts or perform a voice web search. Since TellMe is owned by Microsoft, it will perform searches through Microsoft Live Search.
TellMe was purchased two years ago by Microsoft, but has only been available in beta for certain Blackberry devices. Although TellMe works on other Windows mobile devices, it has been customized for the new Windows Mobile 6.5 platform. No official launch date has yet to be set for Windows Mobile 6.5, but it will likely also be available publicly in the fall.
Read: [ZDNet]
Full Story » | Written by Heather Wood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
While that certainly doesn’t look like any Android UI we’ve seen, BoyGeniusReport is hearin’ whispers that the handset you see up above is one of Motorola’s first outings in Android territory.
Codenamed, nicknamed, or just plain name-named (they’re not sure which) “Ironman”, Motorola is supposedly aiming at a Q3 release. Specific specs are absent, but this handset will purportedly be a relatively high-end beast: Wi-Fi, 3G, a “screamin’ CPU”, and a high-res camera are all mentioned.
While the hardware looks and sounds legit enough, we’re not too sure about the Android bit. Even if that image on screen is just a placeholder (or Motorola took Android and uglied it up a bit), where are the home/back/menu keys? Touch-sensitive keys just not lit up for the render? Perhaps, but that seems strange. Oh well - if this is leaking a full quarter before the rumored release, we’re sure to hear more.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Motorola handset codenamed Calgary will be available on Verizon
Beleaguered cellphone marker Motorola has been betting big on the new Google Android mobile operating system. Now it looks like the first Android-powered handset is ready to hit the market this year.
The Motorola phone codenamed ‘Calgary’ will feature a QWERTY slide-out keyboard and will focus on social networking tools such as Facebook, according to the Boy Genius Report website. And it will be available on the Verizon network.
Meanwhile, Motorola’s competitor Samsung has already announced its first Android-based device. The Samsung I7500 features a 3.2-inch AMOLED screen (active matrix organic light emitting diode screen known for its luminosity and lower power consumption), 7.2Mbps HSDPA and WiFi connectivity. The device will also have a 5-megapixel camera, full keyboard and 8 GB of internal memory. The I7500 will be available in some European countries starting June.
Motorola is yet to comment on speculation around Calgary and when it will be launched.
See also:
Mojo Rising for Motorola in 2009?
Photo: Motorola Calgary/Boy Genius Report
While some phones stay true to a single flick (take Sony Ericsson handsets and any Bond movie ever, for example), some leap around Hollywood like a heiress on a booze binge. One example of the not so loyal? The Nokia 5800. After making its ultra-early debut in The Dark Knight, it’s jumping over to the Star Trek camp.
On May 1st (7 days before the film’s release), UK retailer Phones4u will be slinging the 5800 Star Trek edition in red, blue, and black/silver. It’s free of charge, if you’re willing to lock on to a Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile, or Orange contract. So what makes it Star Trek? Unfortunately, no phaser is included. It does have Star Trek screensavers, wallpapers, and ringtones preloaded - and that’s almost as cool, right? … Right? Anyone?
[via UnwiredView]
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Section: Web, Online Music/Video
By now, most of the world is aware of YouTube (except this guy) It’s the place to go to watch plenty of user generated content. Want to watch a baby boxing a kitten while riding in an RC car? You’ll probably find it on YouTube.
Today, YouTube will be live streaming President Obama’s news conference tonight. It’s been 100 days with President Obama in office, so now it’s time to do a little assessment. The White House YouTube channel will be streaming the video live at 8PM tonight (Eastern time).
YouTube’s first ever live stream was on November 22, 2008 on their YouTube.com/Live site. Who knows how long it will be before they offer live streaming for everyone? Oh, if you don’t want to watch it on YouTube, Hulu is also covering the live stream as is becoming customary.
Read: [Google Blog]
Visit: [YouTube.com/WhiteHouse] or [Hulu]
Full Story » | Written by Iyaz Akhtar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Back in October, Google and the Authors Guild reached an agreement on how Google Books should work. The agreement was put before the court in a 334-page document, and sent to authors and their families so they could decide whether to opt-in or -out of the agreement. The settlement was quite complicated, and involved Google scanning and putting up partial content of both in and out of print books online with ads with revenue that would be shared with publishers and authors.
It seems the settlement wasn’t sent to everyone that needed it once it was released. The families of John Steinbeck and Philip K. Dick, among other copyright holders, filed a complaint to the court about the agreement. It seems some had just learned of the proposed settlement only recently, and they wanted more time to read and understand it. The judge complied and extended the period to opt-out by four months, from May 5 to September 4. On October 7, there will be a final hearing to discuss the fairness of the settlement which some copyright holders seem to dislike.
Actually, according to a NY Times article, the Justice Department is looking into the agreement. Several groups have complained about the agreement, saying that it gives Google “an exclusive license to profit from millions of books.” There’s a chance that the Justice Department might not have to be involved depending on how the final hearing goes, but it shows just how far reaching this agreement is.
Read [Wired]
Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Email / IM, Smartphones, Mobile
This is not inspiring news. It seems, at least according to Big in Japan developer, Alexander Muse, the cupcake 1.5 update may break many third party applications. The update is supposed to go live in Spain tomorrow, leaving developers to scramble to come up with a solution.
For a phone that has sold over a million units just in the US to have some of the things that make it a popular phone stop working is a problem. Consumer confidence not just in the G1 phone but in the OS as a whole could be severely impacted by this. Putting developers into a situation where they must move swiftly to fix what the update brings is playing with fire.
The woes don’t end there. It would be a lot easier to come up with a version of your app and be done. But the problem quickly becomes the Android App Market will only allow one version of an app in the store. So any new entry must also be backwards compatible. I am seeing a bunch of late night coding sessions, courtesy of cupcake.
For users that picked up the G1, being the early adopters shouldn’t mean your favorite stuff breaks. This is not how you build an OS with super powers, rather it is how you get developers to flee to other operating systems.
Source: [Android Community]
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
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Amazon’s Personal Document Service has mainatined a $.10 fee for every document transfered via Whispernet since the device was launched, but the service will now cost at least 50% more. Starting May 4th, Amazon will charge $.15 per megebyte rounded up to the nearest whole megabyte for each document transfered. Basicaly, the base fee will soon be $.15 and it goes up from there. It’s not all sour grapes though.
Things looked 
The latest video from College Humor shows off a funny side of Twitter, well more accurately, it almost makes you realize that what you are tweeting is just foolish nonsense. The video is called Real Life Twitter and shows Dan Twittering in real life, of course what that really means is that he is yelling a bunch of crazy and seemingly random thoughts while out in public. After seeing this, it almost makes me reconsider using Twitter, of course even being silly and mostly nonsense, it’s still fun. And hey, don’t forget you can 
This one slipped through the cracks, but apparently 
Edison's conception of the workingman's ideal house has been a broad one from the very start. He was not content merely to provide a roomy, moderately priced house that should be fireproof, waterproof, and vermin-proof, and practically indestructible, but has been solicitous to get away from the idea of a plain "packing-box" type. He has also provided for ornamentation of a high class in designing the details of the structure. As he expressed it: "We will give the workingman and his family ornamentation in their house. They deserve it, and besides, it costs no more after the pattern is made to give decorative effects than it would to make everything plain." The plans have provided for a type of house that would cost not far from $30,000 if built of cut stone. He gave to Messrs. Mann & McNaillie, architects, New York, his idea of the type of house he wanted. On receiving these plans he changed them considerably, and built a model. After making many more changes in this while in the pattern shop, he produced a house satisfactory to himself.
Apparently there were a few lucky people out there who go their Sidekicks a bit earlier then others, and one of them was kind enough to take some shots of an unboxing and share it on the intarwebs for all to see. 
Not content at owning 100% of the world's brand awareness, Apple is 
Two of the biggest country markets of the world, Japan and China, are on their way to develop a next-generation mobile phone network for the Chinese market that paves the way for Japanese phone makers. The Chinese cell phone structure is still mainly based on 2G (Japan turned 100% 3G just a few weeks ago).
