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Next-Gen iPhone Will Contain a Compass
IPhone screenshots are easy enough to fake, and lord knows some odd claims come from the Boy Genius Report, but this seems such an obvious addition to iPhone hardware that we’ll bite. The shot above is from a debugging menu inside the 3.0 beta iPhone OS, and shows options to save logs of a compass, as well as the current accelerometer and also “motion”, which we think is either a combo of the others or a log of the GPS unit’s findings. It makes complete sense. The iPhone hardware was mature at its first launch, and there’s not much — bar a decent camera and a thinner case — that could be added. The G1 Googlephone already has a compass and it powers the neat but slow live street-view function, where the phone rather redundantly overlays pictures of the world onto the actual real world. Knowing the position of the phone and also the direction it is pointing in opens up some neat options. This seems like a juicy and accurate rumor. In fact, now we have read it, it seems very odd that Apple wouldn’t include this in the new iPhone. Magnetometer in next iPhone confirmed? [BGR via MacRumors]
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 May 2009 | 11:46 am Reznor takes a byte out of Apple - BBC News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 May 2009 | 11:36 am MPAA Proof of Concept: Copy DVDs by Pointing Camera at ScreenIt’s hard to believe that this video is real, but apparently it is. What you are seeing is the official, MPAA sanctioned method for teachers to make copies of DVDs for educational purposes. Are you ready? To make a copy you play the DVD and aim a camera at the TV screen. I told you it was hard to swallow. So desperate is the movie industry’s crazy uncle to stop anyone breaking DVD copy protection that it actually made the above presentation at the Library of Congress, where a hearing is held every three years to decide whether or not any exemptions should be made to the DMCA laws. Needless to say, it’s already too late (cough, Handbrake, cough), and this is clearly just an attempt to protect the DMCA in its current form rather than to actually stop teachers from copying movies. What we find particularly ironic, though, is that this is the exact same method that the MPAA wants to stop in cinemas, where evil teenagers use their cellphones to record movies off the screen. MPAA shows how to videorecord a TV set [Vimeo]
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 May 2009 | 11:29 am UPDATE 3-Carphone to buy Tiscali UK for 236 mln pounds cash* Cash buy funded from existing facilities, no debt taken onSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 May 2009 | 11:22 am SugarSync adds new 2GB plan, available for freeSection: Computers, Software / Applications, Peripherals, Storage
To begin with, they have changed up their plans just a little. First, they have added a new plan. Previously they had the Basic (30GB), Premium (60GB), Professional (100GB) and Business (250GB) option that ranged in price from $4.99 a month up to $24.99 a month. The new option is smaller, coming in at just 2GB, but the good news is the price—free. Sure, you are not going to fit a ton a files in 2GB, however for someone with basic needs that should be more than enough. Especially when you combine that with either the Blackberry or iPhone app, which are also both able to be downloaded and used for free. Additionally, they have also added some other improvements feature wise. Windows users will notice a change as you can now manage your documents and files directly from within Windows Explorer. That means all you have to do is right click and you will be given the option to open the SugarSync Manager. You will also see special icons on folders that show you if that item is in the process of being synced (circular arrows) or already synced (green check mark). Finally, they also added some improvements in the web interface, which are noted as making it easier to setup and sync your files. Read [SugarSync] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 8 May 2009 | 11:18 am Spain's Mediapro denies accord reached with PrisaMADRID, May 8 (Reuters) - Spanish media group Mediapro denied on Friday it is about to close an agreement with rival Prisa on broadcasting football matches on Prisa's pay-TV channel Digital+.Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 May 2009 | 11:18 am Universal Translator: Marry Any Flash to Any Camera
The Strobists are on a roll. Not only has the first batch of the community-design LumoPro LP120 flashguns sold out (don’t worry — they’ll be back in stock in a couple days), but Moishe of MPX and David Hobby, the Arch-Strobist, have come up with a new accessory, also cheap, also useful and also incredibly open. Named the Universal Translator, the tiny cube lets you use pretty much any flash with any camera. Here’s a list of the connections in this little black box:
That, you will see, covers just about anything. You can adapt any strobe to work with the cable of your choice, you can turn a cheap compact digicam into a wired flash commander, and you can use the minijack to hook direct into PocketWizard wireless remotes. The price is $19, and the only drawback is that they won’t fit Sony cameras or flashes. But then, when you gave Sony your money, you weren’t expecting it to use any standard parts, right? Product page [Midwest Photo Exchange via Strobist] Photo: strobist/Flickr
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 May 2009 | 11:07 am China CNPC seen selling $1 bln bills at 63 bp overSHANGHAI, May 8 (Reuters) - China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) is expected to issue $1 billion in dollar-denominated three-year corporate bills on Monday at a coupon of about 63 basis points over six-month...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 May 2009 | 11:04 am Dig Dug Remix hits the iPhone, iPod touch (Macworld.com)Macworld.com - One of Namcoâs most enduring coin-op arcade game franchises has returned for the iPhone and iPod touch â Dig Dug Remix is now available, and costs $6.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 May 2009 | 11:00 am UPDATE 3-Toshiba to raise $5 bln; forecasts profit* Sees 100 bln yen operating profit in 09/10 vs loss estimatesSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 May 2009 | 10:58 am HOWTO lecture to studentsRob Weir writes in Inside Higher Ed on how to conduct a lecture that your students will actually pay attention to. Good advice -- I like this quote: "It's better to say a lot about a little than a little...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 May 2009 | 10:49 am HOWTO lecture to studentsRob Weir writes in Inside Higher Ed on how to conduct a lecture that your students will actually pay attention to. Good advice -- I like this quote: "It's better to say a lot about a little than a little about a lot."A time-tested way of engaging students is using a hook. Unveil a teaser, pose a question, tell a story, be provocative, invite brief brainstorming... any adult equivalent of "Once upon a time ...." Frontloading wonderment helps keep an audience. For instance, when I want students in my Civil War class to consider a stated objective about the link between ideology and historical memory I show a slide of King George III, George Washington, Benedict Arnold, Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln, and Robert E. Lee. I ask, "Which figures can we pair and why?" For a lecture on the economics of the Salem witchcraft trial I hold up a shard of imported 17th century pottery and tell students, "This little scrap of crockery contributed to the death of 19 people in 1692."Boring Within or Simply Boring? (via Kottke) Source: Boing Boing | 8 May 2009 | 10:49 am Your ashes on the MoonBack in 2008, Space.com covered Celestis's plan to expand their shoot-your-remains-into-space program to include sending a vial of your ashes to the Moon. The article says that the service will be available in 09, but Celestis's website currently says that the it won't "launch" until 2011.Fly Me to the Moon ... Forever Celestis Memorial Spaceflights (via Monochrom) Source: Boing Boing | 8 May 2009 | 10:47 am Your ashes on the MoonBack in 2008, Space.com covered Celestis's plan to expand their shoot-your-remains-into-space program to include sending a vial of your ashes to the Moon. The article says that the service will be available...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 May 2009 | 10:47 am Verizon Mifi: Personal Wi-Fi Coming this Month
The Mifi is a tiny, battery powered EVDO modem which sits in your pocket and turns the incoming 3G radio waves into a small Wi-Fi network, enabling you to hook up your laptop, iPod Touch or anything else with a Wi-Fi radio. This last is pretty exciting on its own as it effectively turns an iPod Touch into an iPhone without a phone. The difference with the Mifi is that it is so tiny and, according to the New York Times’ David Pogue, ridiculously easy to use. It’ll run for 40 hours in standby, much like a cellphone, and when you hit the single switch on the side it springs (or rather, stirs) into life, firing up a little 30 foot bubble of Wi-Fi around you. Once on, the battery will give five hours of surfing but can be plugged into the power as it goes to re-juice the batteries. Of course, its a cellular modem, so you have some rather low data caps. The $40-a-month plan limits you to just 250MB (yes, megabytes) and jumping to $60 gives the industry-standard 5GB. You can share the connection with up to five devices, so if you’re generous with the neighnors on the Muni, for example, you could burn through that pretty quick. Gripes aside, this looks to be an amazing device, freeing you from a specific connection for all of your internet-abled gadgets and just covering your personal space with a personal connection. I wonder if this will end up in Europe anytime soon — we have, apparently, excellent 3G coverage. Wi-Fi to Go, No Cafe Needed [NYT] Verizon Launches MiFi Hotspot Without Subscription [PCmag] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 May 2009 | 10:46 am Now Slower With More Bugs stickers are good for organic produce, software boxesEvil Mad Scientist Labs wants you to proudly label your organic garden with these handsome "Now Slower and with More Bugs!" stickers, originally produced to adorn software products: The influence of...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 May 2009 | 10:40 am Now Slower With More Bugs stickers are good for organic produce, software boxesEvil Mad Scientist Labs wants you to proudly label your organic garden with these handsome "Now Slower and with More Bugs!" stickers, originally produced to adorn software products:Stickers for the Organic Gardener
(Photos by Lorien Tersey )
Source: Boing Boing | 8 May 2009 | 10:40 am NYT: 'Newspaper-Saving' Redneck Kindle Can't Pronounce President's Name [Text-to-Speech]Pointing out the clunkiness of the Kindle's text-to-speech feature is tired, but with the new Kindle DX being lauded as a newspaper savior, the NYT has a point: "Bay-rack Oh-bamma" won't cut it. The...Source: Gizmodo | 8 May 2009 | 10:40 am Chinese provincial government orders local officials to smoke moreProvincial officials in Hubei, China have sent down orders to government employees demanding that they consume 230,000 packs of locally produced cigarettes in order to boost tax revenues from coffin-nail...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 May 2009 | 10:37 am Chinese provincial government orders local officials to smoke moreProvincial officials in Hubei, China have sent down orders to government employees demanding that they consume 230,000 packs of locally produced cigarettes in order to boost tax revenues from coffin-nail factories in the region.In total, officials have been ordered to puff their way through 230,000 packs of Hubei-branded cigarettes worth £400,000...Chinese ordered to smoke more to boost economy (via We Make Money Not Art) Source: Boing Boing | 8 May 2009 | 10:37 am FBI investigates hacker's ransom demand - TG Daily
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 May 2009 | 10:31 am Japan's top chipmaker Toshiba posts record loss (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 May 2009 | 10:29 am Microsoft buys BigPark - Inquirer
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 May 2009 | 10:25 am UPDATE 1-Brazil's Vivo profit jumps 26 pct after Telemig buySAO PAULO, May 8 (Reuters) - Vivo Paritipacoes, Brazil's largest mobile phone company, said on Friday first-quarter profit jumped 26 percent as it added more clients after consolidating its Telemig Celular...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 May 2009 | 10:22 am Enigma Auction: Historical Cypherpunk Gizmo for Sale
This tip comes by way of Gadget Lab reader Ken Fricklas, who calls it “The coolest cypherpunk gizmo, ever.” And we’d have to agree, especially as it could be ours for a reserve price of just €25,000 ($34,000) The gizmo? The Enigma machine, used by the Nazis in World War II to (unsuccessfully) send secret messages and ensure world domination. It also starred in the execrable 2001 movie of the same name, tagline: “10,000,000,000,000,000+ combinations - 24 hours to get it right.” According to this movie, the Enigma was recovered by an American who then, against the clock, saved the day. According to the truth, and to history, a team of be-suited boffins toiled away in the low-key Bletchley Park, England, to crack the code of the “unbreakable” cipher machine. Whether you prefer fantasy or fact, the Enigma remains the ultimate analog computer and comes from time when the names of devices were as good as the devices themselves. Donations are welcome. Auction page [Artfact. Thanks, Ken!]
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 May 2009 | 10:20 am Mininova Starts Filtering TorrentsDreen writes with this snippet from TorrentFreak: "Just a few days before their court appearance, Mininova, the largest BitTorrent site on the Internet, has started to filter content. The site is using a third-party content recognition system that will detect and remove torrent files that link to copyright-infringing files."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 8 May 2009 | 10:20 am Microsoft Releases Facebook Application For Windows Mobile - InformationWeek
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 May 2009 | 10:19 am Apple revises 'wet iPhone' policy (Macworld.com)Macworld.com - I didn't realize this, but apparently people inadvertently getting their iPhones wet has been a bit of a problem. I'm not talking aobut the usual story of dropping them into a toilet or whatever, but rather people taking their phones the gym or the bathroom and getting all kinds of moisture into the device.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 May 2009 | 10:16 am UPDATE 2-Carphone to buy Tiscali UK for 236 mln pounds cash* Cash buy funded from existing facilities, no debt taken onSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 May 2009 | 10:12 am Scooter and Me: Flying a Shuttle - ABC News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 May 2009 | 10:08 am China April fuel stocks fall 15 pct -sourceBEIJING, May 8 (Reuters) - Refined fuel inventories held by China's top two oil firms fell 15 percent to below 12 million tonnes during April, while their fuel sales rose 5.2 percent, an industry official...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 May 2009 | 10:06 am FMA Congresses: Can a Company Save Up to 30% in Energy Costs Without Having to Upgrade Equipment?"This is our second congress with FMA congresses and this is much better than a traditional tradeshow. We're here with people that are decision makers, that are...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 May 2009 | 10:00 am CGS Customer Priscilla of Boston Recognized as an Apparel Top InnovatorLuxury bridal gown and accessories designer and retailer Priscilla of Boston has been named as one of the fashion industry's Top Innovators of 2009 by Apparel magazine. A...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 May 2009 | 10:00 am 1Q09 Results: VIVO Participacoes S.A.SAU PAULO, May 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VIVO Participacoes S.A. (VIVO) (Bovespa: VIVO3 [ON = Common Shares] / VIVO4 [PN = Preferred Shares]; NYSE: VIV), announced its...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 May 2009 | 10:00 am Cross-Dressing Film Directors - Quentin Tarantino Rocks High Heel Shoes for NYT Magazine (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Actress Diane Kruger is on the cover of May 2009 issue of New York Times Magazine. For me, the real allure behind the piece, however, was the brilliant film director Quentin Tarantino...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 May 2009 | 10:00 am Samsung Alias 2 Flips Its Keypad For Any Occasion, Arrives May 11th [Cellphones]The Samsung Alias 2 is undeniably a dumbphone, but it's got one feature that (kinda!) sets it apart: It unfolds into landscape and portrait configurations, and uses the same keypad in both. How?...Source: Gizmodo | 8 May 2009 | 9:45 am Next09: Video Interview With Chris Messina On The Current State Of OpenIDThe last video interview I did at the Next09 conference in Hamburg that I wanted to feature here on TechCrunch is the conversation I had with mr. Captain Web 2.0 himself, open web advocate Chris Messina...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 May 2009 | 9:41 am Next09: Video Interview With Chris Messina On The Current State Of OpenID
As a reminder, OpenID is a decentralized, distributed single sign-on method that allows users to log onto many services with the same digital identity. That identity can be one of your current profiles on the web, in case the company you registered it with is an OpenID provider. Most of the major players on the Internet are currently providers, including such companies as MySpace, Facebook, Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, PayPal, AOL, and many more, but very few of them have actually become a relying party as well (which would allow someone to log onto Yahoo with their AOL id, for example). About a year ago, Michael argued that companies who make a lot of noise when they become providers but don’t move (quickly enough) to also become relying parties could be exploiting the project for PR reasons and take the gain without the pain. And truth be told, not much has changed since then, even if usage seems to be swinging upwards. Most of the big names that are issuing OpenID parties have yet to support the project by allowing users to effectively be able to sign in to their services with third-party digital identities. The big exception - surprisingly - is Facebook, the first big network that will truly embrace OpenID even if it has a service that competes directly with it (Facebook Connect). For more perspective on that, you should go read the guest post Facebook Connect and OpenID Relationship Status: “It’s Complicated”. Anyway, Messina and I talked about the current state of OpenID, the love from Facebook, how he hopes the government will once become a massive relying party, the challenges ahead and more specifically if OpenID has a chance against Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect, Twitter Connect, etc. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Source: TechCrunch | 8 May 2009 | 9:41 am Boot Camp Photography - Hedi Slimane Captures Liberation at Saint-Cyr (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Hedi Slimane is hands down my favorite photographer these days. After quitting his position as the creative director and chief designer of Dior Homme, Slimane has been producing some...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 May 2009 | 9:40 am AT&T and Verizon: Is the smartphone growth train slowing? - ZDNet
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 May 2009 | 9:31 am Beach Bromance Fashion - H&M Shows Aquatic Male Bond For Summer 2009 (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) While most brands have opted for sizzling beach romance in their new campaigns, H&M; goes for a different kind of romance, a bromance between two buddies. Sometimes a guy needs...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 May 2009 | 9:20 am Are we ready to say bye to books? - BBC News
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 May 2009 | 9:18 am Video Friday: Martin JetpackBy Evan Ackerman We posted about the Martin Jetpack Ducted Fanpack last year, and since then, Martin has been getting some criticism for the fact that in most of their demos so far (including the one we...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 May 2009 | 8:59 am Are U.S. Investors Pathologically Optimistic?A typically incisive and interesting bit of commentary from Frank Veneroso on the incurable current optimism of investors in U.S. markets: OptDont ShortmebroSource: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 May 2009 | 8:55 am Miniaturized HDMI Connector Is As Small As Micro USB, Still Drives Your HDTV [Hdmi]Molex has prototyped a new miniature HDMI connector called Type D, which boasts the whole range of regular HDMI specs—19 pins, 10.2 Gbit/s bandwidth, HDCP, etc.—in a package the size of a...Source: Gizmodo | 8 May 2009 | 8:24 am Plum’s Hans Peter Brøndmo Speaks About the Less-Social Social Network! [BoomTown]
A few weeks ago, I dropped in on Hans Peter Brøndmo, a longtime Silicon Valley entrepreneur to talk about Plum, one of the many different kinds of social networks that are not Facebook. Brøndmo is CEO and founder of Plum, which was founded several years ago, and is trying to make a business in the places big social networks ignore. Sites like Plum are what many like to call micro-social networking, used by people or Web sites who want less the overwhelming experience that the large social networks have become and more an ability to create with a smaller group. It’s hard–though not impossible–to do this on Facebook and Twitter is all about broadcasting, so it’s interesting to look at those working on sites for small social groups and the various approaches they take. As the Web becomes more socialized, one imagines a time when you don’t need an actual social network to maintain your online presence. Plum–which started off as a social bookmarking site until it morphed into its current offering–is one of those companies that is trying a variety of approaches to do this. Here’s my video interview with Brøndmo where we chat about this and more: Source: All Things Digital | 8 May 2009 | 8:02 am When Hacked PCs Self-DestructAn anonymous reader writes "From The Washington Post's Security Fix blog comes a tale that should make any Windows home user or system admin cringe. It seems the latest version of the Zeus Trojan ships with a command that will tell all infected systems to self-destruct. From the piece: 'Most security experts will tell you that while this so-called "nuclear option" is an available feature in some malware, it is hardly ever used. Disabling infected systems is counterproductive for attackers, who generally focus on hoovering as much personal and financial data as they can from the PCs they control. But try telling that to Roman Hüssy, a 21-year-old Swiss information technology expert, who last month witnessed a collection of more than 100,000 hacked Microsoft Windows systems tearing themselves apart at the command of their cyber criminal overlords.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 8 May 2009 | 7:26 am FutureIT Announces First Quarter 2009 Financial ResultsLOD, Israel, May 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FutureIT Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 May 2009 | 7:13 am Disappearing act of world's second biggest fish revealed - CNN International
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 May 2009 | 7:05 am Breaking Up Is Hard To Do [Voices]Like a lot of people, I’ve been trying to trim expenses lately as I settle into leaner financial times. One thing I’m finding, though, is that in this era of electronic billing and auto-renewal, discontinuing monthly payments is a lot more difficult than it used to be. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 8 May 2009 | 7:05 am School Of Journalism To Require iPod Touch, iPhone For Students [Voices]COLUMBIA — Books, paper and pens are considered necessary school supplies. Now, so is an iPod touch or an iPhone for incoming freshmen at the MU School of Journalism. Brian Brooks, associate dean of the Journalism School, said the idea is to turn the music player into a learning device. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 8 May 2009 | 7:04 am 3 Reasons Why Twitter Will NOT Index the Links You Share (Updated) [Voices]Techmeme is on fire this morning with discussion of Rafe Needleman’s CNet post about Twitter’s supposed plans to index the content of links shared over the microblogging service. Ex-Googler turned Twitter exec, Santosh Jayaram, said as much last night, as well as mentioning plans to rank search results by the reputation of the author. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 8 May 2009 | 7:03 am David Simon: Dead-Wrong Dinosaur [Voices]The creator of the brilliant television series The Wire today asked Congress to legalize monopolistic collusion by newspapers. Only they can really cover City Hall, he said. Apparently he hasn’t been there in a while. I realized I needed some self-examination, and our journalism program needed some updating. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 8 May 2009 | 7:01 am New MSN City Guides Is Your Key to the CityModern site design. The new City Guides features an entirely new look with inline video and customized themes for the top 30 U.S. markets. While users in Seattle will see the Space Needle and Mount Rainier, those in New York will see the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and other landmarks.Live Search Maps integration. Live Search Maps is integrated throughout the site -- making it easy to find a restaurant or event and get one-click directions. Users can select a road, aerial or bird's-eye view,(2) and track their recently viewed businesses and events that automatically populate in the home page module, My Summary.Enhanced local search results. People can now get relevant local results for every ZIP code in the country, and easily explore the site through improved Live Search capabilities. For activities, users can categorize results by relevance, date, type or distance, and restaurants by neighborhood, popularity, feature or category.Personalization. Users can create a profile page, using Windows Live ID, which will allow them to plan upcoming trips, track their favorite places, and store Live Search Maps collections and photos. Windows Live friends can also share their favorite restaurants and recommendations.Learn and share. City Guides offers a rich community to learn from and share with. It offers expert sources and user reviews, including reviews from Yelp, Citysearch and Judy's Book. Users can also easily publish reviews or share a review with friends on Facebook.Build a reputation. People who contribute a great deal of reviews and local knowledge can establish themselves as experts. The more knowledge they contribute, the higher their rank -- ranging from City Newbie to City Champ.Make plans.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 May 2009 | 7:01 am UMC Reports Sales for April 2009TAIPEI, Taiwan, May 8 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TAIEX: 2303), (UMC) today reported unaudited net sales for the month of April 2009. Revenues for April 2009 Period 2009 2008 Y/Y Change Y/Y (%) M/M (%) April 6,877,372 8,521,260 -1,643,888 -19.29% +51.44% Jan.-Apr.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 May 2009 | 6:50 am Oregon Man Used an Electric Dog Collar to Shock His Kids "Because He Thought It Was Funny" [Crime]Salem, Oregon resident Todd Marcum, whose name we will use repeatedly because of the nature of his crime, has been arrested for maliciously abusing his four young children with an electric dog...Source: Gizmodo | 8 May 2009 | 6:20 am Inmarsat Holdings Limited Reports First Quarter 2009 ResultsLONDON, May 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Inmarsat Holdings Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Inmarsat plc (LSE: ISAT), the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services, today reported unaudited consolidated financial results for the 3 months ended 31 March 2009. Highlights - Revenue up 10.5% to $163.4m (2008: $147.9m) - EBITDA up 13.2% to $117.3m (2008: $103.6m) - Profit after tax up 35.3% to $39.1m (2008: $28.9m) - Global broadband coverage completed - Repositioning of Inmarsat-4 fleet completed - Acquisition of Stratos Global completed on 15 April - New distribution agreements signed Andrew Sukawaty, Inmarsat's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said, "Our first quarter results deliver yet another quarter of strong growth and underline the resilience of our markets thus far to the wider economic climate.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 May 2009 | 6:09 am Rents Decline Across ScotlandEDINBURGH, Scotland, May 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Citylets, Scotland's leading online letting portal, latest research shows that the cost of private rental accommodation is falling throughout Scotland. Levels of rental stock are soaring as home movers are forced to let their unsold properties.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 May 2009 | 6:00 am Ballmer Says Venture Freeze Will Spare Startups in Key Fields - BusinessWeek
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 May 2009 | 5:57 am Apple's Pricey Notebooks: Time For a Change - BusinessWeek
Source: Google News - Sci/Tech | 8 May 2009 | 5:57 am Sony Product Timeline Is a Glorious Gadget History Lesson [Gadget History]They have been in coma lately but, through 53 years of history, Sony has created some of the most amazing gadget in history. Some of them changed the world forever. Here you have them all. Click on...Source: Gizmodo | 8 May 2009 | 5:20 am Sony's OLED, Wi-Fi Walkman Gets Priced to Go Head-to-Head With the iPod Touch [PMPs]Sony's X1000-series Walkman PMP, which packs a gorgeous OLED screen and Wi-Fi, is likely to be priced at to directly compete with Apple's iPod touch, according to an early appearance on Sony's site....Source: Gizmodo | 8 May 2009 | 5:15 am E Ink Offers Broadsheet Kit for Developers
E Ink, the company whose displays power almost all the major e-book readers, has released a new line of its broadsheet prototype kits aimed at developers. The AM-300 kit offers a 9.7-inch display and comes on the heels of the launch of Amazon’s larger sized Kindle e-book reader Kindle DX Wednesday . The latest kit allows companies to experiment around E Ink’s display and build their own prototype readers.”With the success of e-books, there is lot of interest in e-newspapers,” says Sri Peruvemba, vice president of marketing for E Ink. “We have had every major publisher talk to us about our displays and many large equipment manufacturers are getting into the space.” E Ink’s experiments with similar kits has paid off in the past. Last year it launched the AM300 series kit targeted at product designers and hobbyists who want hands-on access to its e-books reader sized display technology. The kits offered buyers a production sample of a glass-based display, a display controller and all the hardware and software necessary to produce a fully functional e-reader. Though most of the kits priced at $3000 each were bought by companies looking to create Kindle competitors, a few enthusiasts hacked it to run a browser and some Linux applications. E Ink’s new Broadsheet AM 300 kit has a resolution of 150 pixels per inch and can display multiple shades of gray giving readers the clarity of newsprint, says the company. The kit includes a display module, a Linux x86 operating environment, E Ink API software for Broadsheet, various sample images, open source software drivers and applications including support for MMC cards, Bluetooth and USB. The kits will start shipping by the end of the month. See also: Photo: Broadsheet AM 300 Kit/ E Ink
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 May 2009 | 5:13 am Storytelling In Games and the Use of NarrationMarkN writes "The use of story in video games has come a long way, from being shoehorned into a manual written for a completed game to being told through expensive half-hour cut scenes that put gameplay on hold. To me, the interesting thing about story in games is how it relates the player to the game; in communicating their goals, motivating them to continue, and representing their role as a character in the world. This article talks about some of the storytelling techniques games have employed, and in particular the different styles of narration that have been used to directly communicate information about a story, and how that affects the player's relation to their character and the degree of freedom they're given to shape the story themselves."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 8 May 2009 | 4:36 am B2W Announces a Growth of 6% in Consolidated Gross Revenue, 8% in Consolidated EBITDA and an Improvement of 30 Days on the Cash Conversion Cycle in 1Q09.RIO DE JANEIRO, May 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- B2W - Companhia Global do Varejo (BOVESPA: BTOW3), a company formed from the merger between Americanas.com and Submarino, announces today its results for the 1st quarter of 2009 (1Q09).Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 May 2009 | 4:35 am New Hipster Affectation: Urban Oil Prospecting (Cardigan Not Included) [DIY]This DIY oil detector, essentially a modified metal detector, is the hottest new accessory for city-dwelling hipsters worldwide. Plus, it matches terrifically with a beard. The metal detector is...Source: Gizmodo | 8 May 2009 | 4:05 am Activision eyes "Guitar Hero" TV series, tour (Reuters)Reuters - The worldwide hit video game "Guitar Hero" could become a reality TV show and/or a real-life concert tour, people familiar with the discussions said Thursday.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 May 2009 | 4:02 am Two for the Price Of One
James Ernest is a board game designer responsible for games like Kill Doctor Lucky, Lord of the Fries, and Pirates of the Spanish Main. He is currently a senior game designer at The Amazing Society, a Web game developer in Issaquah, Washington.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 May 2009 | 4:00 am Steven Levy on How Gadgets Lose Their MagicWhen Arthur C. Clarke went to the great geosynchronous orbit in the sky last year, he left behind a huge legacy, not least of which was a quote oft cited by Silicon Valley visionaries and wannabes. "Any sufficiently advanced technology," the sci-fi master wrote in 1962, "is indistinguishable from magic." I thought of Clarke's observation recently while I was playing with a Flip MinoHD camcorder. It's a stripped-down device with a footprint smaller than an Altoids tin, yet it holds an hour of video (in high definition!) and even has 2X zoom. It sports a clear 1.5-inch screen for shooting and playback. Its controls are so simple that even an adult can master them on the fly. It has a pop-out USB plug for uploading to a computer and recharging without fumbling for a cable. Its price tag is $230, less than the cost of a really good seat at a Van Morrison concert. When I was growing up, television production was confined to studios, and video cameras were giant cyclopsian beasts that included chairs for their operators. Only TV stations and networks could capture a video image, and "getting on television" was an event that required alerting all your friends and the entire family tree. When the age of consumer video arrived, it was like a miracle—even though the earliest camcorders had to be propped up on a shoulder and could record just a few minutes of video. Of course, the black-and-white machines cost a bundle—enough to buy tickets for an auditorium of Van Morrison fans back then. Sir Arthur would undoubtedly agree that the transformation from TV studio to Flip is the very definition of magic. This applies to all the similar fruits of Moore's law. In the past 40 or 50 years, such mind-stretching advancements have become the norm. But what happens when magic is an everyday occurrence? Consider that the Flip MinoHD—a once nearly unobtainable piece of technology—is now a 3-ounce knickknack. Better yet, it's rendered so elegantly that its coolness is baked in, not slapped on. Barely a minute after opening my review unit, I had the gizmo fired up and ready. My first experiment was to grab a long tracking shot through the rows of Wired's cubicles. I downloaded the footage and was impressed that all was captured as planned. However, the handheld image was a bit shaky ... maybe too vérité. As a result, my first thought was not so much "What hath God wrought?" as "What? No image stabilization? Where's the built-in steadicam?" We all, I think, have become inured to Moore's law. The astonishing advances that once would have brought us to our knees are now reduced to a thumbs-up on Gizmodo. They're removed from the realm of magic—they're just cool gear. Which brings me back to Sir Arthur. His quote makes me think of the European explorers who encountered previously unknown tribes. I used to imagine what it would be like to venture deep into the bush and unveil my latest gadget—a digital tape recorder, an iPod, an electric toothbrush. But now my daydreams are different. As technological magic becomes routine, I wonder whether a visit to a preindustrial society might teach me more than it teaches them. The only thing more fascinating than our technology is the idea of getting along without it. Maybe the way to recapture the magic is to turn all that stuff off.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 May 2009 | 4:00 am May 8, 1951: DuPont Debuts DacronDacron suits hit the racks in New York City, and civilization as we know it doesn't come to an end. Or maybe it does.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 May 2009 | 4:00 am The Most Useful iPhone App That Might Never Exist [IPhone Apps]Just try to tell me you don't need that phone app at least once a day. [Slate V via 9to5Mac]Source: Gizmodo | 8 May 2009 | 3:00 am Remainders - Things We Didn't Post [Remainders]Here's the stuff that we didn't post today. (Until now, obviously.) • The next iPhone's getting a Magnetometer. This means a compass. Probably a Google Streetview compass. Not all that useful...Source: Gizmodo | 8 May 2009 | 2:39 am Windows Mobile Official Facebook App: Unpretty But Useful [Facebook]Cnet has a runthrough of the first official Facebook app for Windows Mobile—developed by Microsoft with Facebook—whose defining feature might be that it makes no real attempt to mimic the...Source: Gizmodo | 8 May 2009 | 2:30 am Oracle Won't Abandon SPARC, Says Ellisonfm6 writes "When the Oracle acquisition of Sun Microsystems was announced, it was widely assumed that Oracle was interested only in Sun's software technology, and would sell or discontinue all its hardware businesses. Larry Ellison, in an interview (PDF) just posted on the Oracle web site, says that's not what's going to happen. In particular, SPARC isn't going anywhere: 'Once we own Sun we're going to increase the investment in SPARC. We think designing our own chips is very, very important. Even Apple is designing its own chips these days.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 8 May 2009 | 1:50 am San Francisco Muni begins to enforce imaginary no-photos policyThe blogger at What I'm Seeing is a prolific photographer of San Francisco's rapid transit system, and thus has fallen afoul of its imaginary no-photos policy, with a threatened arrest:What Is Muni's Photography Policy?? (Thanks, Ted!) Source: Boing Boing | 8 May 2009 | 1:45 am PSP-3000 hacked on 5.03 firmwareWe have visual confirmation that firmware 5.03 has been successfully hacked, and will run emulators. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the exploit hasn’t been released yet, and you’re just going to have to wait patiently to play Dig Dug (or do it here). As you can see in the video, they were successfully able to reboot after installing the new kernel, and then change the MAC address. A full release can’t be far behind. [via Slashdot]
Source: CrunchGear | 8 May 2009 | 1:45 am Craigslist Competitor OLX Scores $5 Million For Online Classifieds
OLX, the Craigslist for the rest of the world, has raised $5 million in funding from from Nexus Capital India. The company raised $13.5 million in Series B funding in April 2008 from General Catalyst Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Founders Fund and DN Capital, bringing the total funding raised to $28.5 million. OLX raised $13.5 million in Series B funding in April 2008 from the same investors as above, and raised an undisclosed Series A round of $10 million in September 2006 with the same VCs and various angels participating. While the free classifieds site has trouble competing with Craigslist in the U.S., OLX has a strong user base internationally. With a presence in more than 87 countries in 39 languages, OLX’s popularity lies mainly in Spain, India, Portugal, Mexico, South America, China, and the Philippines. Fabrice Grinda, founder and CEO of OLX says the new investment will be used to make new acquisitions, implement site improvements, expand globally, and pursue aggressive marketing initiatives. In 2007 OLX has made an investment in Edeng.cn, a Chinese free classifieds site and acquired Mundoanuncio.com, a Craigslist-like classifieds site targeting the Hispanic market, in 2006. Much of its success in the Philippines can be attributed to its white label partnership with Friendster. Its offices are also spread over the globe with 125 employees (OLX has added almost 35 employees since last year) working in New York, Buenos Aires, Beijing, and Moscow. While OLX may play second fiddle to Craigslist in the U.S., the site prides itself on being a second-generation free classifieds site, complete with Web 2.0 features such as social network widgets, better search capabilities, interactive maps, and mobile functionality. Craigslist has recently been under scrutiny by Attorney Generals over prostitution and the “Craigslist Murder” that have taken place in conjunction with the site. eBay’s Kijiji is also a competitor in the space, but Kijiji has set its sights on catching up to Craigslist in the U.S., even considering a name change. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Source: TechCrunch | 8 May 2009 | 1:30 am Konami code-enabled website listing
Via Metafilter, where I also found this amazing illustration of the code, Da Vinci style.
Source: CrunchGear | 8 May 2009 | 1:20 am Oracle Will Stay in the Hardware Business, Ellison Says (PC World)PC World - Oracle plans to stay in the hardware business following its planned US$7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems, CEO Larry Ellison has said, adding more detail to earlier statements made by the company.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 May 2009 | 1:20 am An Alien Robot's Cookbook: Recipes from Earth
Ruth Fankushen Kunkel (who ran a restaurant called the Delta of Venus Coffeehouse and Pub) says An Alien Robot's Cookbook: Recipes from Earth "began as a journey to find something that my son Gabriel would eat besides pizza, hot dogs, and cereal." Her son provided the fun illustrations that accompany the recipes for dishes like "Big Bang Breakfast Potatoes," "Apple Robocakes," "Overnight French Toast," "Quasar Quiche," "Dark Star Vegan Cupcakes," and dozens of other tasty items. Science facts and alien robot lore are interspersed through the pages. As the father of two picky eaters, I'm looking forward to trying some of these recipes with my kids.
An Alien Robot's Cookbook: Recipes from Earth How Fortune, Forbes and BusinessWeek Can Save Themselves
But Arrington keeps berating me to write a post today, so here goes. 24/7 Wall Street did a post the other day saying the sun was setting on Fortune, Forbes and BusinessWeek, and its facts about the finances of these publications are sad and mostly indisputable. Indeed, cutting frequency and staff are near certainties for at least BusinessWeek and Fortune. But I don’t agree that those realities mean the magazines can no longer afford quality, edited, long-form investigative stories. There’s an obvious option for these magazines, and I’m surprised more people aren’t talking about it: Ruthlessly collapse the print and online staffs, run everything online as soon as they write it, except one or two cover-length, long-form glossy pieces. Those will anchor the print issue, rounded out by the best stories from online. Then cut the money spent on trying to court new subscribers, shifting the entire marketing budget to promote the Web or real-life conferences and branded events. You could even use reader comments to flesh the online pieces out more for the print edition, driving more engagement in both the print and online versions. Voila! One publication, not two pretending to be one. And guess what? One publication is a hell of a lot cheaper, even if it’s printed on dead trees. Under this system, you still have the enterprise articles, like the Fortune piece 24/7 cites about Bernie Madoff. You just focus and only do one or two of them an issue, keeping 99.9% of your staff focused on writing stellar daily online content. And you optimize your staff to be scrappier, more productive and adapt from an old way of doing journalism, to something closer to blogging. People who can’t or refuse to adapt won’t have jobs. That may sound cruel but if the magazines themselves don’t adapt, no one there will. This plan would save a ton of money. That’s right: They can save tons of money and still print a publication. Big national magazines have different economics than a metro daily paper. In some cases the biggest cost is a bloated staff, in others a highly-paid staff with generous corporate credit lines. Remember, most of these staffers were hired during better times and while layoffs have been frequent, they haven’t been as far reaching as they probably should have been. With all due respect to 24/7 Wall Street, the average compensation package at one of these three publications isn’t $60,000 unless you got hired out of school in the last few years. Think higher. Much higher. Now a lot of these publications will tell you they’re all one staff now. But go through the staff boxes and see how many of those names blog, write breaking news online or write anything online with any frequency. Hint: If the question “Is this for print or online?” keeps coming up in your organization, you’re doing it wrong. Aside from one investigative piece per issue, there shouldn’t be a difference between the two. As a practical matter, it’s not that different from all of the magazine copy running online after the fact. But if you think about it, that policy elevates the magazine above online. It should be reversed. Why not go the route of closing print completely and going online? First off, you’d kill the print ad revenue stream which is still the bulk of these magazines’ business. But it also abandons the magazines’ competitive advantage. For a lot of people magazines are different from newspapers. They’re printed on nice paper with glossy, glitzy photo shoots and painstaking graphic design for a reason. People in them like putting them on their coffee table—or better yet, framing them. Don’t underestimate the power reporters working on a cover have to convince a reluctant CEO to talk to them or give them exclusives. It may be one of the few advantages they’ve got over increasingly influential blogs. Similarly, there’s still a huge swath of readers who like flipping through a hard copy of BusinessWeek or Fortune on the plane, or even on a Sunday afternoon. The business world isn’t all tech, after all. And as a reporter, I have to be honest. There’s nothing quite like seeing your article printed in a glossy magazine. That can be a valuable retention and recruiting tool when used well. As can the implicit promise that the publication still values long-form, investigative reporting that has some shelf life to it. It’s not that big, glossy, deeply-reported magazine stories are better than blogs. But they are a different way to tell certain important, complex stories, the same way a book is a different way to tell a story than an article. Not all news needs that kind of methodical, intensely-edited and graphic designed treatment, but I’d argue one or two per month do. And if newspapers keep crumbling, magazines are going to be the only places left that know how to do it. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: TechCrunch | 8 May 2009 | 12:45 am Keni Lee Burgess plays "Baby Please Don't Go" on his cigar box guitarKeni Lee Burgess plays Muddy Water's "Baby Please Don't Go" on his cigar box guitar. And here's Burgess' MySpace page with streaming music. (Via Cigar Box Nation)
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 8 May 2009 | 12:27 am Bullet Point Preview: Star Trek (the movie)FROM GAMERTELL - Check out Gamertel’s bullet point preview of J.J. Abrams’ take on the Star Trek franchise. It also includes a list of interesting things to look for… Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 8 May 2009 | 12:21 am Google CEO doesn't see problem with his Apple role (AP)AP - Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt is taking a government inquiry into his role on Apple Inc.'s board in stride, expressing confidence that the probe won't find any evidence that the ties between the two companies throttle competition in mobile phones and other technology fields.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 May 2009 | 12:20 am Lawmaker Defends Imprisoning Hostile BloggersRep. Linda Sanchez, D-California, is defending her proposed legislation demanding up to two years imprisonment for hostile electronic speech. The Los Angeles congresswoman claims there is no intent of "censorship."
Source: Wired Top Stories | 8 May 2009 | 12:00 am Theora Ahead of H.264 In Objective PSNR Qualitybigmammoth writes "Xiph hackers have been hard at work improving the Theora codec over the past year, with the latest versions gaining on and passing h.264 in objective PSNR quality measurements. From the update: 'Amusingly, it also shows test versions of Thusnelda pulling ahead of h.264 in terms of objective quality as bitrate increases. It's important to note that PSNR is an objective measure that does not exactly represent perceived quality, and PSNR measurements have always been especially kind to Theora. This is also data from a single clip. That said, it's clear that the gap in the fundamental infrastructure has closed substantially before the task of detailed subjective tuning has begun in earnest.' Momentum is building with a major Open Video Conference in June, the impending launch of Firefox 3.5 and excitement about wider adoption in a top-4 web site. It's looking like free video codecs may pose a serious threat to the h.264 bait-and-switch plan to start charging millions for internet streaming of h.264 in 2010."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 7 May 2009 | 11:55 pm Pentagon wants to beef up for cyber warfare (AP)AP - Cyber espionage and attacks from well-funded nations or terror groups are the biggest threats to the military's computer networks, a top officer said Thursday.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 May 2009 | 11:53 pm Google CEO to FTC: You Can Have My Apple Board Seat When You Pry it From My Cold Dead Hands … [Digital Daily]
Asked directly if he would resign from Apple’s board in the face of FTC scrutiny, Schmidt bristled — “Why would you ask that question” — and then said simply, “It hasn’t crossed my mind.” Source: All Things Digital | 7 May 2009 | 11:42 pm Glowdoodle turns your crappy webcam into a crappier webcam (in a good way)
"Glowdoodle" is a fun little app by Eric Rosenbaum that lets you paint with the light going into your webcam in a sort of blurry overlay that looks a bit like what happens when you move a cheap CMOS sensor when snapping a picture. People have done fun things with it using fire and LEDs, but I just learned what I look like when I sneeze. (Thanks, Sarah!) Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 7 May 2009 | 11:35 pm Summer internships at the Free Software FoundationJohn from the Free Software Foundation sez, "The Free Software Foundation announced a new internship program today, and is looking for interested students to apply by May 25. A wide variety of focus areas are possible, from campaign and community organizing (like DefectiveByDesign.org and LibrePlanet.org) to helping with free software licensing issues, and of course programming. We're really excited about being able to offer these positions and work with bright students interested in free software." Intern at the FSF (Thanks, John!)Source: Boing Boing | 7 May 2009 | 11:33 pm Fujitsu’s new security chip lets you lock or wipe a laptop, whether it’s on or off
The new security setup, co-developed with Willcom, will consist of a special receiver and an encrypted hard drive (Fujitsu loves those). The decryption codes will be kept on the receiver chip, and the hard drive can’t be accessed without them. So under normal operation everything is… well, normal. But let’s say you get your bag nicked at a coffee shop — that’s when the magic happens. The chip is always on whether the laptop is, and is always connected (as long as there’s coverage) to Willcom’s PHS network. You can tell it to do one of two things: lock the PC so it can’t boot, or delete the decryption key, rendering the hard drive totally unreadable. I’m hoping there’s some way to back up the encryption key to another computer or something, in case you get the laptop back. [via Tom's Hardware]
Source: CrunchGear | 7 May 2009 | 11:32 pm RealNetworks Q1 EPS Misses; Declines to Forecast [Voices]Internet streaming media software developer RealNetworks (RNWK) this evening reported Q1 sales of $140.8 million, down 5 percent year over year, and in line with analysts’ estimates, and a net loss of 10 cents per share, worse than the 6-cent loss expected. Citing “uncertainty regarding consumer spending,” the company declined to give a forecast for the current quarter. “The company expects 2009 to be a challenging year for consumer spending, online advertising and corporate infrastructure spending,” reads the company’s press release. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 7 May 2009 | 11:29 pm GPS TracKing, the Latest Device by Rocky Mountain Tracking, Inc.FORT COLLINS, Colo., May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Rocky Mountain Tracking, Inc. (RMT) has released to the public what may be the most innovative device yet, the Trac-King (GPS Tracking) device.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 May 2009 | 11:27 pm SugarCRM Chief Steps Down (PC World)PC World - The CEO of open-source customer-relationship-management software vendor SugarCRM has stepped down.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 May 2009 | 11:20 pm Video: Colliding Particles, or "What the hell is the Large Hadron Collider for?"Do you know why the Large Hadron Collider actually exists, besides looking spiffy and putting the fear of instant void in evening newscasters? Watch "Colliding Particles: Hunting the Higgs", a stylish series of films produced by Mike Paterson. The first is above, but they're up to episode 4 now. Good stuff.
Previously:
Update: I really didn't mean to type "Large Hardon Collider", but you would be right to think that is not beneath me. Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 7 May 2009 | 11:10 pm Giant Spiders Invade Australian Outback Townyouth68 writes "Australia is known around the world for its large and deadly creepy crawlies, but even locals have been shocked by the size of the giant venomous spiders that have invaded an Outback town in Queensland. Scores of eastern tarantulas, which are known as 'bird-eating spiders' and can grow larger than the palm of a man's hand, have begun crawling out from gardens and venturing into public spaces in Bowen, a coastal town about 700 miles northwest of Brisbane."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 7 May 2009 | 11:10 pm Apple goes back on its word, puts NIN App in the App StoreSection: Apple, Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Web, Downloads
A few days ago, Trent Reznor of NIN posted angrily on the NIN forums about how his app got rejected by the guys over at Apple. Since he posted his rant on a public forum, you can imagine the news spread like wildfire. The irony in this situation is that Apple claims the app contains objectionable material, yet they sell his album on iTunes, albeit it comes with an explicit tag. Many blogs covered this story backing up Trent Reznor has Apple should have approved the app, and just add an explicit tag. Today, Trent Reznor tweeted “NEWS FLASH: Apple has approved the NIN iPhone app update. Should be live in a few hours.” It seems Apple received plenty of complaints not only from NIN fans, but people on the outside who feel Apple should not have acted in such a manner. Not to mention all the negative press they were receiving from this manner. It just goes to show that even the best of them makes honest mistakes, but at least Apple did the right thing at last. If you can believe it, “The NIN iPhone app is unchanged, the ‘issues’ seem to have been resolved.” Way to go Trent (and all NIN fans), for sticking it to the man. Via [Trent Reznor on Twitter] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 7 May 2009 | 11:03 pm Capsule office by Iwan Baan
Some people would like to work in this office designed by Iwan Baan; others would not. I am one of those people.
Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 7 May 2009 | 11:03 pm Guzik Releases New DTR 3000 Discrete Track Recording Test SystemMOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Guzik Technical Enterprises today announced that they are accepting orders for their new DTR 3000 disk drive test system, which has the capabilities to test and report on the newest media technologies using Discrete Track Recording (DTR) and other preprinted servo information.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 May 2009 | 11:02 pm AT&T Partner Will Help Bring New Devices to Network (PC World)PC World - AT&T has turned to an outside service provider to get consumer electronics products such as navigation devices, cameras and MIDs (mobile Internet devices) onto its network more quickly and easily.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 May 2009 | 11:00 pm Happy 125th, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers!
Honestly, the IEEE's 125th anniversary celebratory event "Engineering the future" leaves me a little bit flaccid, what with all the globes and shiny fireworks and young folks with limpid eyes staring out of their Productivity Well, but still...it's the IEEE, bitches! And such! Congratulations on your anniversary (officially on the 13th of May) and here's to 125 more. Here's something more my density: Their IEEE 125th anniversary photostream has a bunch of ancient beardos and old engravings showing the power of the light bulb. Once you skip past the first couple pages of engineers that are alive, it's damn near worth viewing image by image.
Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 7 May 2009 | 10:57 pm Ultra Clean to Present at the 37th Annual JPMorgan Technology ConferenceHAYWARD, Calif., May 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 May 2009 | 10:57 pm How to run Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9FROM APPLETELL - Is the WWDC too far away for you? Need a netbook running Mac OS X right away? With the right equipment, you could have it running on a Dell Mini 9 in less than an hour. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 7 May 2009 | 10:55 pm It’s 3.0 Or Die For New iPhone AppsApple has just sent out an email alert to iPhone developers that any new app submitted to the App Store will have to be ready for the iPhone 3.0 software, which is due shortly (probably around Apple’s WWDC event in June). Beginning today, any app submitted that isn’t 3.0 compatible will be rejected. Here’s the key parts of the email:
I’ve emailed Apple asking if there are any features specifically that developers should be careful about making sure work in the new 3.0 firmware. Google recently outlined some of the key points of the new Android firmware that developers should watch for in order to maintain compatibility. One potential issue as outlined by our tipster Nick is as follows:
[thanks nick] Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: TechCrunch | 7 May 2009 | 10:53 pm What's Getting Cut From Science Part of the Federal BudgetKristina at Science News writes "As part of the announcement of its proposed fiscal year 2010 budget, the Obama administration released a summary (called 'Terminations, Reductions, and Savings: Budget of the US Government, Fiscal Year 2010') that includes which science-related programs are getting cut. Two big programs are the nuclear waste storage project at Yucca Mountain in Nevada and a second prototype airborne laser missile-defense weapon." Update: 05/07 23:03 GMT by T : On the other hand, reader Dusty writes, "The NASA budget for 2010 has been announced, up 5% on 2009. Human space flight plans to be reviewed."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 7 May 2009 | 10:50 pm Artist: Kevin Cyr "Glorious Work"
This painting looks like it could almost be something that actually exists in Southeast Asian country, but the Wise logo is throwing me off. Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 7 May 2009 | 10:43 pm Avatar Startup FUHU Raises $6.25 Million, Strikes Deal With Acer To Put Widgets In PCs
FUHU, a startup that produces virtual avatars and identity cards and rich media web widgets, has secured $6.25 million in Series B funding from The Acer Group (which produces Acer, Gateway, eMachines and Packard Bell computers). FUHU also signed a 10 year contract to distribute FUHU products in all Acer computers and smart mobile phones. FUHU raised $1.5 million in Series A funding in February 2008 from John Hui (co-founder of eMachines), VIA Technologies, UMC Capital, Industrial Bank of Taiwan, Alorica, and several angel investors. FUHU’s urFooz product, an embeddable virtual identity card, allows users to create an avatar and portable profile that contains music, photos, feeds, and videos. The widget then lets users syndicate their profile on social networks (MySpace, Facebook etc.). Through the deal, FUHU will collect computer users’ information with out-of-the-box registration for Acer computers. Users will be given the option to create a urFooz avatar and account upon registration. Here’s one for Britney Spears: Filling out a profile is similar to filling out a profile on a social network—you are asked for the essential information you would share with a friend, including hometown, employers, relationship status, and education. You can link your profile/avatar to your accounts from Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, FriendFeed, blogs and more. You can also dress your avatar in designer clothes through purchases at urFooz’s virtual mall. And you can embed your urFooz card on any social network, blog or site. The card is dynamically updated on these sites when you update your profile. Currently urFooz has about 20,00 users but CEO Jim Mitchell says that the startup could add 1 to 2 million users a month through the integration of urFooz with Acer computer registration. Whether users will actually feel compelled to keep using the profile is another question. The idea of an embeddable avatar is interesting but you can also share photos, videos, and music within your social networks without the help of a widget, Another FUHU widget that will be integrated with Acer computers is the Spinlets widget, which is a rich media widgets that let users place favorite music, videos, links, pictures, MP3s, ring-tones, news and more on social networks, sites and blogs. Currently, the Spinlets site only lets you embed music widgets on sites but the video, pictures and additional functionality will be coming soon. FUHU says there will be some sort of pre-loaded mashup of the Spinlets widget already downloaded on the computers but would not reveal more details about what this will look like. One of the advantages for Acer in this deal is that the company will have access to data and information about users who set up a urFooz profile, including hobbies, activities, interests, says Mitchell. Acer is also planning to integrate FUHU’s widgets into its smart phones, which are already out in Asia. Acer plans to unveil its smart phones in the U.S. in 2010. Competitors in the rich media widget space include Slide and RockYou. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Source: TechCrunch | 7 May 2009 | 10:32 pm DataPath Shareholders Approve MergerDULUTH, Ga., May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- DataPath, Inc., a leading provider of satellite and wireless communications networks around the world, today announced that holders of DataPath's common stock have approved the merger agreement pursuant to which DataPath will become a whollyowned subsidiary of Rockwell Collins, Inc.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 May 2009 | 10:29 pm Artist: Danny Gardner
19-year-old Danny Gardner has a wicked style and a burbling imagination. Can't wait to see him get even better. [via Concept Ships] Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 7 May 2009 | 10:28 pm Suggested improvements for TiVo Series 4Justin Mecham has a list of suggested feature upgrades for the TiVo Series 4, should that ever see the light of day. Here's a taste: • Keep all first-run episodes, but remove repeats "As Space is Needed" -- Why is there not an option for keeping first-run episodes indefinitely while allowing reruns to come and go as space is needed? I should be able to have different retention rules for new episodes than repeat airings.I'm in the market for a set-top media box. I'd consider a TiVo today—and bear in mind, I don't currently have cable TV—if they'd also just make the thing a decent network media streamer. [via PVR Blog] Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 7 May 2009 | 10:26 pm Spock dancing to The Jacksons: 1984 videoUmmm... Err.... (Thanks, Tara McGinley!) Source: Boing Boing | 7 May 2009 | 10:25 pm Swifferbot drags its microfiber belly across your floor
It charges itself and finds its own way around, and even lets you know via LED when it’s found an extra-dirty spot that needs a little extra inchworming across. It was shown at the TokyoFiber Senseware expo in Milan. Ah, I just remembered what this thing reminds me of. Remember Out of this World?
I’d be afraid my little floorbot would one day rear up, bare its single poisoned fang, and take me down as vengeance for all the crumbs it had to mop up. [via Pink Tentacle]
Source: CrunchGear | 7 May 2009 | 10:21 pm Facebook Comes to Windows Mobile (PC World)PC World - Users of current-generation Windows Mobile 6 phones can download a new Facebook application starting Thursday.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 May 2009 | 10:20 pm Marion Peck's "Ladies & Clowns" show
Artist Marion Peck's "Ladies & Clowns" show opens at Sloan Fine Art in NYC on Wednesday, May 13th, from 7 to 9 pm. Exhibition runs May 13 through June 13, 2009. Google Friend Connect Adds Comment Translation
For sites that use Google Friend Connect and its comment widget, there is now a novel new feature: comment translation. The comment widget plugs into Google Translate to allow readers to translate comments left in foreign languages. This will be a boon to international blogs and sites, such as Go2Web20, which use Google Friend Connect as a login system. Now you can talk to people half-way around the world, even if they don’t speak the same language. Sort of. The translation is still machine translation, but it is usually good enough to get across the main gist of what people are saying. The way it works is the comment widget has a “translate” link which then pops up a menu of languages to choose from. The translated comments are then highlighted in yellow. Here is a video showing what it looks like in action. Google says that this can work for a variety of sites, including international non-profits such as the World Wide Fund For Nature’s Earth Hour website. The Earth Hour campaign is supported by 4,000 cities in 88 different countries to help engage citizens in conserving energy. Visitors to this website can now leave comments in their native language and use Google Friend Connect’s comment translation to engage in discussions with the greater community. Comment translation is one of several new gadgets that have been rolled out in Google’s Friend Connect gallery, perhaps in an effort to catch up to Facebook Connect. These features include the event gadget, the polls gadget, and the Get Answers gadget. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: TechCrunch | 7 May 2009 | 9:58 pm The iPhone Is Accelerating Music Sales For Pandora
Users are buying about a million songs a month now from these affiliate links on Pandora, CTO Tom Conrad tells me. Of those, a solid 20% are coming directly from Pandora’s iPhone app, which includes an easy link to open the iPhone’s iTunes app, and buy a track. That’s really impressive considering that it’s just one phone that a relatively small percentage of their users use. But really, I’m not surprised by this at all, because Pandora has always been a brilliant music discovery service. And when paired with the iPhone, you have an all-in-one new music machine. And Pandora was actually the top downloaded app on the iPhone for all of 2008. But last month, when Apple completed removing DRM from all its iTunes tracks, it created an even a greater incentive to buy music that way. Now, I can buy music on the go, sync it back with my computer when I get home, and listen to it anywhere. Another feature driving affiliate sales is the bulk music purchase option. This allows you to bookmark songs on Pandora, and with one click buy them all on either iTunes or Amazon. 10% of web users who are buying music through Pandora are using this bulk buy feature, Conrad says. Here’s an interesting way to think about these affiliate sales. If Pandora is selling 1 million tracks a month, that’s $12 million in sales a year (though Apple and Amazon make the majority of that). But Pandora is still only less than 1% of all radio when you take into account the terrestrial and satellite varieties. Say hypothetically that Pandora made up 100% of radio, the potential sales of these affiliate tracks would then by $1.2 billion a year, as Conrad notes. That of course is very unlikely to ever happen, even in Pandora’s wildest dreams, but still Conrad says that from Pandora’s own research, they know that for every song purchase Pandora drives, users are likely to buy 3 to 5 more songs on top of the one they found. At this 100% model, that would make Pandora a $3.6 to $6 billion a year business. Why play such a hypothetical? Well because the total recorded music industry revenue last year was only $4.6 billion. Affiliate links can be big business on the web and on mobile. Even before the iPhone app, Pandora was one of the top affiliate purchase drivers for Amazon and iTunes. And amazingly, their main competition wasn’t other online music sites, but instead was search and shopping engines like shopping.com. Given the boost Pandora is already seeing from the iPhone in this regard in just a matter of months, it seems pretty clear that mobile purchases could be a big deal down the road. And just imagine if Apple one day lets apps access iTunes right from within the apps to ease the process even more. With in-app purchases coming in iPhone 3.0, something like that could be possible one day. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
Source: TechCrunch | 7 May 2009 | 9:53 pm Your Commuting Costs By Car Vs. Train?grepdisc writes "Newspapers in Boston are fawning over a report by the American Public Transportation Association that taking public transportation saves money over driving. How can one possibly save $12,600 per year, when the inflated estimates of 15,000 miles per year at only 23.4 miles and $2.039 per gallon costs only $1,310, and a high parking rate of $460 per month results in under $5600. Is the discrepancy made up of tolls, repairs, the cost of buying a car and ignoring train station parking fees?" Everyone's situation is different — and it's easy to have a chip on one's shoulder while estimating prices. But for those of you with the option, what kind of savings do you find (or would you expect) from taking one form of transport to work over another?Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 7 May 2009 | 9:53 pm Pentagon's Black Budget Grows to More Than $50 BillionThe Pentagon wants to spend just over $50 billion on classified programs next year, newly released Defense Department budget documents reveal. That's the highest sum of secret spending, ever. But it doesn't include the $105 million on ray-gun tech.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 May 2009 | 9:39 pm AMD Phenom II overclocked to 7.1GHz, that’s a 220% increase
Actually, it means liquid nitrogen and the much colder and much more difficult to come by liquid helium. Liquid helium can drop the temperature to -240 degrees — 33 colder and you’re at absolute zero. Of course, it’s not exactly easy to use and the results it enables are hardly indicative of real-world performance, but it’s still pretty awesome. It takes a pretty specialized setup to get these kinds of results, but checking these crazy rigs can give you good tips for when you’re building your own system and want to know what the pros are using. [via Tom's Hardware]
Source: CrunchGear | 7 May 2009 | 9:38 pm QOTD [Digital Daily]
Source: All Things Digital | 7 May 2009 | 9:30 pm Study IDs how ants know a nestmate is deadU.S.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 May 2009 | 9:30 pm Students Skeptical Kindle DX Can Replace Paper Chase
Amazon will have to do much more than enlarge its Kindle to increase the e-reader’s appeal to college students. Announced Wednesday, the Kindle DX features a 9.7-inch screen geared toward displaying textbooks for college students. However, many students polled by Wired.com on Twitter listed various reasons for why the DX would fail to replace their mountains of textbooks. Their complaints ranged from the reader’s $500 price tag to the DX being inconvenient for study habits. “I’d need five Kindles just to hold a single thought while writing essays,” said Marius Johannessen, who is studying for his master’s in information systems at University of Agder. “Books work just fine.” Amazon is investing high hopes in its Kindle e-book reader, with dreams of spearheading a paperless revolution. It’s unclear just how close Amazon is to actualizing this dream, as the company has declined to release official sales numbers of the reader, which debuted late 2007. However, Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, said in February that the Kindle makes up 10 percent of the e-book market, and Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney estimated 500,000 Kindles were sold over 2008. So that would suggest 5 million e-readers were sold over 2008 — still a small market relative to the tech industry. With the DX, Amazon is aiming to expand its e-book presence by targeting two major print industries — newspapers and textbooks. The textbook industry, worth $9.8 billion, is going to be tough to crack, because there are so many ways thrifty students obtain their books: University stores often offer used books, book-trading programs and sometimes even textbook rentals. Other than specification details and the product’s price, Amazon did not disclose sales strategies for e-textbooks. Tech strategist Michael Gartenberg said a viable e-textbook business model would be the DX’s main challenge in appealing to students. “You can’t introduce technology like this, which has got a lot of breakthrough things associated with it, and expect it to be business as usual,” Gartenberg said. “The reason the iPod worked was not only did it introduce new technology, but it introduced a new business model for the technology as well.” Indiana University business student Chandler Berty told Wired.com he would consider a Kindle DX if e-books cost less than used physical textbooks. He added, however, that college students already carry laptops, which are superior to the Kindle, rendering the reader unnecessary. “Two devices = fail,” Berty said. Students pointed out plenty of other issues about the DX to Wired.com. For instance, students often loan textbooks to one another, and currently that’s not practical with a Kindle, as you’d have to loan your entire reader and library. Also, the beauty of paper textbooks is the ability to highlight sentences, underline keywords and keep all of them open at once. While the Kindle does have highlight and notes tools, the reader is sluggish with performance, and the keyboard is unnatural and clunky to type on. However, it’s too soon to say how Amazon’s DX will fare on campuses, as the students polled by Wired.com had quite mixed opinions. Overall, 19 students replied to our query via Twitter,five of which said they would definitely purchase a DX, seven who said no and seven who said maybe. “Law students are waiting for Kindle books!” said Twitter user “SoCaliana.” “We have so many books to carry around. I couldn’t find my texts on CD or anything!” We can expect Amazon to cook up some interesting sales models after it completes DX pilot programs with Arizona State, Case Western Reserve, Princeton, the University of Virginia and Pace university. Meanwhile, let’s get the brainstorming started. What would you suggest for e-textbook sales strategies, readers? Here’s an idea: Selling e-textbooks by individual chapters as opposed to complete books, since most classes don’t read textbooks in entirety anyway. That would certainly cut costs. See Also:
Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.com
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 7 May 2009 | 9:19 pm Students Skeptical Kindle DX Can Replace Paper ChaseAmazon has a lot of homework to do before it attempts to crack the e-textbook market with its Kindle DX reader.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 May 2009 | 9:19 pm Students Skeptical Kindle DX Can Replace Paper ChaseAmazon has a lot of homework to do before it attempts to crack the e-textbook market with its Kindle DX reader.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 7 May 2009 | 9:19 pm Eric Schmidt On Netbooks: Forget Android, It’s All About Cloud Services
At Google’s Press Event earlier today Schmidt wasn’t interested in talking about Android on netbooks. “We have no announcements on that,” he said. But he then talked about Netbooks passionately, saying the the unit numbers were becoming material and that use cases were “consistent with the cloud computing model” that Google is focusing on with Google Docs, Gmail and other services. “Keep an eye on this space,” he said, suggesting but not outright saying that Google may have announcements around Netbooks soon. (and Google I/O is soon, by the way). Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: TechCrunch | 7 May 2009 | 9:12 pm Facebook’s email censorship raising red flagsSection: Communications, Email / IM, Web, Web 2.0, Websites
Given that Pirate Bay is known for offering copyrighted content, I can see why Facebook would want to avoid any connection with them, but is censorship the answer? As long as no illegal content (videos, music, movies, etc) is posted on Facebook should they really be blocking simple links? Interestingly enough, Facebook is not blocking any other bittorrents, only Pirate Bay. What do you think about Facebook’s decision to block Pirate Bay? Are they doing the right thing? Going too far? Leave a comment with your thoughts! Read [PCWorld] Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 7 May 2009 | 9:09 pm New Firefox Project Could Mean Multi-Processor Supportsuraj.sun writes with this excerpt from Mozilla Links "Mozilla has started a new project to make Firefox split in several processes at a time: one running the main user interface (chrome), and another or several others running the web content in each tab. Like Chrome or Internet Explorer 8 which have implemented this behavior to some degree, the main benefit would be the increase of stability: a single tab crash would not take down the whole session with it, as well as performance improvements in multiprocessor systems that are progressively becoming the norm. The project, which lacks a catchy name like other Mozilla projects (like TaskFox, Ubiquity, or Chocolate Factory) is coordinated by long time Mozillian, Benjamin Smedberg; and also integrated by Joe Drew, Jason Duell, Ben Turner, and Boris Zbarsky in the core team. According to the loose roadmap published, a simple implementation that works with a single tab (not sessions support, no secure connections, either on Linux or Windows, probably not even based on Firefox) should be reached around mid-July."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 7 May 2009 | 9:06 pm Rumor: SplitFish Gameware to reveal Wii-like motion controller at E3 [Update]
I’m just putting it out there, kids. Look at the zoomed in view of the E3 invite I just got from SplitFish. They don’t make anything that involves two controllers being flailed around. Unless, of course, you’re some sort of magician that can create hard surfaces for the FragFX mouse while you monkey around.
Source: CrunchGear | 7 May 2009 | 9:00 pm Panel will review NASA space flight plansU.S.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 May 2009 | 8:58 pm WiGig Tempts With High-Speed Wireless Data Transfer
A new standard aims to offer gigabit-speed connectivity without the clutter of cables. “What we are talking about here is the ability to download a 25 GB Blu-ray disc in under a minute,” says Mark Grodzinsky, chairman of the marketing workgroup at the Wireless Gigabit Alliance. “It’s not something you can do with Wi-Fi or any other standard right now.” The Wireless Gigabit Alliance, a consortium of electronics companies, has established a specification for 60 gigahertz wireless technology that can offer users data transfer speeds ranging from 1 Gigabits per second to 6 Gbps. To put it simply, WiGig could be at least ten times faster than today’s Wi-Fi and it could be available to consumers by the end of next year. The need for fast wireless data transfer plays into two big trends: the proliferation of multimedia and the increasing cable clutter than users have to deal with. Users are increasingly getting hooked on Hulu, browsing through Flickr and clicking on YouTube shorts. But for all their new streaming media players or cameras, consumers haven’t been able to cut the cord. Take the set-top box in today’s home that has to be connected to the TV through an HDMI cable. “This is one of those technologies that almost 100 percent uses a wire because the speeds required to stream a high-def 1080p video is at least 3 Gbps,” says Grodzinsky, “and no wireless technology today can do that across multiple applications.” That’s where WiGig could step in. The standard will allow for extremely fast file transfers, wireless displays, streaming media, and wireless connections for devices such as cameras, laptops and set-top boxes among other things, says the Alliance. It won’t have the same range as a Wi-Fi network but it is ideal for devices that want to communicate without wires at gigabit speeds within a room or adjacent rooms, says Grodzinksy. “Today’s wireless networks will top out at a few hundred Mbps but what we are talking about here is multiple gigabits of data transfer speed,” says Craig Mathias, principal with research firm Farpoint Group. “That plays into the ever-increasing demand for throughput.” WiGig joins a fray of wireless standards that are fighting to free consumers from being tethered to their devices. In most homes, Wi-Fi has emerged as the standard technology for wireless access. But it is too slow to handle high-definition video or transfer pictures from the camera to the laptop. Wireless Standards & Data Speeds 802.11g Wi-Fi: The basic and most widely used Wi-Fi connectivity offers speeds of up to 54 Mbps. 802.11n Wi-Fi: The faster W-Fi standard it offers data transfer at up to 300 Mbps. Standard Bluetooth: Most widely used between cellphones and headsets, it offers top transfer rate of about 3 Mbps. Bluetooth 3.0: The ‘high-speed’ successor to standard Bluetooth, its top transfer rate hover around 24 Mbps. Wireless USB: It can offer speeds of up to 110 Mbps at a range of 10 meters and 480 Mbps over a range of 3 meters. Wireless HD: Aimed at HD video transfer it can offer speeds of up to 4 Gbps (for 10 meters). Theoretical speed can go up to 25 Gbps. WiGig: The newest kid on the block tantalizes with promise of speeds ranging from 1 Gbps to 6 Gbps. Zigbee: This low-power wireless standard is for applications that require low data transfer but quicker response time such as remote controls. Meanwhile, other standards such as wireless HD and Zigbee have sprung up offering to solve these problems. But they just aren’t broad enough to be used across multiple applications. Take wireless HD. Despite its promises of high speed connectivity, it is largely seen as a vehicle for high-def video transfer. WiGig has a bigger umbrella, says Grodzinsky. “We want to be more than simple cable replacement,” he says. “We want complete interoperability and be on a number of platforms from TVs to notebooks.” WiGig also benefit from the use of the unlicensed 60 GHz spectrum, says Mathias. The availability of greater bandwidth in that spectrum allows for faster transmission. For now, the specification isn’t final. The Wireless Gigabit Alliance hopes to complete it by the end of the year. From there it is up to companies to bring the technology to market. WiGig will also have to battle other technologies to become the de facto standard. “Ultimately, the question is how many different kind of radios do you really need?” says Mathias. “There’s not just competition from Wi-Fi and wireless HD but also cellular technologies such as 3G, LTE or WiMax.” WiGig is likely to bump up against IEEE’s attempts to introduce follow-ups to the 802.11g and 802.11n Wi-Fi standards. The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers), a non-profit organization, has been working on proposals to introduce the extremely high throughput 802.11ac and 802.11ad standards. The 802.11ad standard will also be based on the 60GHz spectrum but is not expected to be available before 2012. “There are competing technologies to WiGig that are looking for standardization,” says Mathias. “The WiGig Alliance hopes to get a head start now and they might submit their standard to the 802.11ad group to be included in the specification.” Either way this battle of the standards plays out, it is clear for consumers truly high-speed wireless data transfer is zipping into their living room. See also: Photo: (Mighty Kenny/Flickr)
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 7 May 2009 | 8:51 pm WiGig Tempts With High-Speed Wireless Data TransferA new wireless data transfer specification called Wireless Gigabit promises users speeds ranging from 1 Gigabits per second to 6 Gbps. WiGig could be at least 10 times faster than today’s Wi-Fi and might be available by the end of next year.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 May 2009 | 8:51 pm WiGig Tempts With High-Speed Wireless Data TransferA new wireless data transfer specification called Wireless Gigabit promises users speeds ranging from 1 Gigabits per second to 6 Gbps. WiGig could be at least 10 times faster than today’s Wi-Fi and might be available by the end of next year.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 7 May 2009 | 8:51 pm Teenage Bomb Threat Suspect Was Internet Prank Phone-Call StarA 16-year-old North Carolina boy arrested for allegedly making a bomb threat against Purdue University has a secret identity as a superstar in an unusual online subculture. His group makes prank phone calls for a live internet audience, his mother admits Thursday.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 May 2009 | 8:44 pm LIVE: Google Press Luncheon [Digital Daily]
In advance of its shareholder meeting today, Google is holding a press event at its Mountain View, Calif., campus with CEO Eric Schmidt presiding. Also on hand: Dave Drummond, senior vice president of corporate development; Susan Wojcicki, vice president for product management, Kent Walker, general counsel, and Marissa Mayer, vice president, search products and user experience. Hot topics of the day: Google’s and Apple’s interlocking boards, YouTube and the company’s thoughts on the econalypse, AOL and netbooks. This liveblog paraphrases most questions and answers. It is not, in other words, a verbatim transcript of the event. A theme of the meeting is the just-opened inquiry by the Federal Trade Commission into Apple’s and Google’s interlocking boards. Schmidt gets right into the topic with a joke: Looks like we’re at a legal deposition. He adds that he doesn’t believe Google (GOOG) views Apple (AAPL) as a primary competitor. If there are issues that are competitive during a board meeting, he will recuse himself, he says, just as he has regarding the iPhone. Would Schmidt consider resigning from the Apple board? Schmidt: “Hasn’t crossed my mind.” Ken Walker adds: “The law is clear that there is safe harbor for companies that don’t have overlapping revenues, and we’re comfortable with that position.” Regarding the recession, are there any signs that we’re at the bottom? Schmidt: “We don’t yet see a change.” As Google gets bigger and faces more antitrust scrutiny, does this change how the company approaches partnerships? Schmidt: Information is incredibly important, and we should expect governments around the world to pay attention to what we do and hold us to the principles we’ve articulated. Internally we tell our employees to pay attention, there are consequences to mistakes they make. In the last few years, we’ve worked harder to anticipate the concerns of people affected by the power of the Internet. In my biased judgment, we’re getting better at anticipating those concerns. We are more careful about when and how we do things that are raising the concerns of any party, but that care doesn’t stop us from doing those things. Is there anything you haven’t done because of that? Schmidt: I can’t think of a specific. What do you think of the long-time monetization potential of social networks? Susan Wojcicki: “We’ve been learning a lot about monetizing social inventory. And we believe there are ways to monetizie it over time, but those ways are different from search.” Why did Google decide to sell its stake in AOL? Schmidt: “We love AOL….We also like money… and look, we sent our best guy over there to run it,” he says referring to Tim Armstrong who recently left Google for AOL. Next, Marissa Mayer talks a bit about Google News. She notes that the company is looking at how to improve the navigational experience. There are things that need to change in the way that stories are presented. Think of the way that Amazon (AMZN) presents books. YouTube will eventually be a successful product and business. We don’t know how long that will take. But YouTube is a huge traffic phenomenon. Wojicki jumps in to note that that traffic is attracting a lot of advertiser interest, so there is monetization going on. She adds that Google is adding new ad formats to the site, prerolls and click-to-buy ads on music videos. YouTube will eventually be a successful product and business. We don’t know how long that will take. But YouTube is a huge traffic phenomenon. How does Google continue innovating given the cost-cutting measures it recently implemented? Schmidt Innovation is a cultural value at Google, so this hasn’t really been an issue. “Cutbacks were more efficiency-related, a move to stay lean but nimble in the midst of a recession.” What’s your take on the balance between Android being an open platform and the trade-offs the company needs to make with handset makers? Schmidt: “On the one hand, you benefit by having free access; on the other hand there is some sacrifice of stability. We are doing our best to achieve stability without exercising too much control.” What about China? Dave Drummond: It’s an “ongoing challenge” to operate there. YouTube is blocked. There is a government preference for local business that makes things very difficult. That said, “we think we’re doing well there.” Schmidt: “We will continue to do business in China….We would like YouTube unblocked.” How do you respond to critics who argue that Google is the new Microsoft (MSFT)? Schmidt: “They obviously don’t remember the old Microsoft.” In recent public forums you’ve been asked about acquisitions and you’ve said the price isn’t right right now. Has there been any change in that opinion? Schmidt: No change. There’s simply just not a lot of activity out there now. What are your thoughts on netbooks? Schmidt: “The netbook phenomenon looks very real. It looks like it will be a significant element of growth in the PC industry over the next few years.” Schmidt further notes that Google is obviously interested in the market given its business. “Watch the space,” he concludes. Source: All Things Digital | 7 May 2009 | 8:39 pm Humans blamed for Australia's dengue risksAustralian scientists are blaming humans for their nation's dengue risks and say installing large water tanks in urban regions might make the problem worse. The researchers, led by Nigel Beebe from the University of Queensland, said such domestic water tanks would enable the dengue mosquito (Aedes aegypti) to regain its foothold across the country and expand its range of possible infections. Beebe and colleagues from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, the Australian Army Malaria Institute and the Communicable Diseases Branch of Queensland Health, challenge the common assumption that climate change will drive the spread of this mosquito, suggesting the real driver is human behavior. Dengue risks will not be driven directly by warmer temperatures or changes in rainfall patterns, Beebe said.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 May 2009 | 8:36 pm Two Minute Review: Ford GT40 Series Car MouseThe Ford GT40 Series Car Mouse from RoadMice.com is a $50 wireless mouse stuffed in a replica Ford GT. This is definitely a mouse for car lovers and there’s apparently quite a market for car mice, as RoadMice.com offers about a skillion different models of wired and wireless mice that look just like real-life cars. The version I tested out is an 800-dpi resolution wireless mouse that uses two AAA batteries and a USB RF receiver. The mouse could easily be mistaken for a scale-model toy Ford GT until you get up close and notice the scroll wheel sunk into the middle of the hood. Other than that, though, there’s little evidence of this being a mouse, so go ahead and take it to work with you. The left and right sides of the car’s hood serve as the left and right mouse buttons. When you click either button, the corresponding headlight lights up as a blue LED. This feature can be turned off in order to save power. The scroll wheel is sunk far enough down into the hood that it’s a bit tricky to operate, especially clicking the wheel. I had a tendency to accidentally wiggle the mouse while trying to hit the scroll wheel, which often caused me to shift the on-screen cursor off of it’s intended target. Based on my highly-scientific measurements (putting a ruler between the mouse and the receiver) the wireless range of the mouse is a mere 12 inches, so make sure you’re sitting close enough to your computer. I had no problems on a laptop and a little server cube that sit atop my desk but my desktop computer sits almost on the floor to the left of me and the mouse wouldn’t work up near my right hand. All in all, the Ford GT Series Car Mouse is an attractive device for people who love cars. As an actual mouse, though, it’s a bit cumbersome to use and at $50, it’ll likely remain a niche product. Still, if you’ll take form over function when it comes to cars and mice, you’ll likely not be disappointed with this one. Ford GT (Red) with White Stripe [RoadMice.com] Like this video? View more here…
Source: CrunchGear | 7 May 2009 | 8:30 pm NASA Running Low On Fuel For Space Explorationsmooth wombat writes "With the end of the Cold War came warmer relations with old adversaries, increased trade and a world less worried about nuclear war. It also brought with it an unexpected downside: lack of nuclear fuel to power deep space probes. Without this fuel, probes beyond Jupiter won't work because there isn't enough sunlight to use solar panels, which probes closer to the sun use. The fuel NASA relies on to power deep space probes is plutonium-238. This isotope is the result of nuclear weaponry, and since the United States has not made a nuclear device in 20 years, the supply has run out. For now, NASA is using Soviet supplies, but they too are almost exhausted. It is estimated it will cost at least $150 million to resume making the 11 pounds per year that is needed for space probes."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 7 May 2009 | 8:18 pm MSI announces strategic partnership, donates one PC
I can think of no better way to show your support for green initiatives than to donate a single $400 PC to a place for budding business professionals to congregate. I’m sure it’ll get tons of use. All those green startup initiatives need to save their pennies, rather than buy their own computers to be able to communicate and do business-type stuff. Here’s the whole press release, for your charitable illumination:
Source: CrunchGear | 7 May 2009 | 8:15 pm Household Wind TurbinesMore than 17,000 attendees and more than 1,200 exhibitors have gathered in Chicago this month for the world’s largest conference of wind energy leaders.“Wind energy accounted for almost 50 percent of the new generation capacity added in the US last year,” said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) “Clean energy, energy independence, that’s what wind energy is all about, and it is the future of the United States.”Darrin Russell of Southwest Windpower explained how the company’s 2.4-kilowatt Skystream turbine could result in drastic savings on the costs of energy among individual households."It's nice watching the (electricity) meter go backward.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 May 2009 | 8:15 pm FDA asks for $3 billion 2010 budgetThe U.S.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 May 2009 | 8:14 pm Google Press Day, Live
Google’s 2009 shareholder meeting is today at 2 p.m. pst. As usual they’re holding a press event prior to the shareholder meeting. Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt, SVP Corporate Development David Drummond, VP Search Products and User Experience Marissa Mayer and VP Product Management Susan Wojcicki are attending and taking questions. Key topics discussed: Apple: In response to a question about the FTC inquiry about overlap with the Apple/Google boards of directors, Schmidt says Apple doesn’t see Google and Apple as a primary competitor, and so there shouldn’t be issues with him being on the Apple board. Antitrust: Drummond says he expect to see increasing antitrust scrutiny as Google continues to be successful. Schmidt says information is incredibly important. Governments will pay attention to what Google does, he says, and will hold Google to their core principles. Schmidt says Google understands that there are consequences to mistakes. Schmidt says Google is always trying to find a balance between what their end users need and other concerns. “We are more careful about when and how we do things that are going to raise concerns of any party.” He brings up book search, says careful planning has lead to a historic agreement that is winding its way through the court system. Monetization of social networks: Susan “we’ve learned a lot about how to monetize this inventory, we believe there are ways to monetize over time but different from search because by nature different from search.” Says they’ve been working on how to serve those ads differently, talks about ads in activity streams. Google selling AOL stake: Drummond - it was a financial decision to sell the stake. Eric quips “we love aol, we sent our best guy there to run it.” Plans for customized news: Marissa, who just testified on news to congress, says they have a team looking at how news will evolve. how stories are presented. navigation. finding and traversing news. some things aren’t as good in online news. comments. what to suggest next after a story is read. presentation of stories and how people move from one story to the next. Marissa is talking about the recent google labs products around news. YouTube: question on estimated YouTube losses this year. Eric says he “believes youtube will eventually be a successful and profitable business. I don’t know how long it will take. it is a huge traffic phenomenon.” Susan says the huge amount of traffic has attracted lots of advertisers. They’ve monetized hundreds of millions of videos, she says. Preroll formats are being tested, she says, and there’s an opportunity to serve ads in different formats. On music videos, need a click to buy next to the video. Cost cutting v. innovation: Question on how google keeps innovation going with cost cutting so aggressively. Eric says they’re focused on being more precise in their actions. Susan says Google is focused on small teams that act like startups. Eric says its too early to speculate on what Google looks like post recession. Says Internet growth not slowing and people spending more time online. Google Ventures Drummond says they’ve made initial investment and hired partners. Goal is to go early stage, professional investing in areas they care about, which is a wide variety of areas. Cost per click decline: 10Q showed a 14% CPC decline, asked to comment. Eric says they won’t comment much beyond the public statements. Android: Is android an open platform for innovation v. carriers trying to splinter. Eric says this is a problem with any open source project. China situation: Drummond says it is an ongoing challenge to operate there. YouTube continues to be blocked. issues with google.com from time to time. Says there’s a preference for local businesses there. It’s a difficult road, he says. Google and Twitter: Marissa says lots of interesting things happening. Interesting from a search perspective. Some overlap with google trends. “we’re interested in being able to add microblogging into search, but no specific plans.” Android on Netbooks: Eric says no announcement on netbook strategy but says that netbooks are very real, and that people are using netbooks that are consistent with the cloud computing model. client device to access cloud services, google wants their services to work with netbooks and to keep an eye on this space. Live blogging continuing… Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Source: TechCrunch | 7 May 2009 | 8:09 pm Airbus Encourages Revolutionary Aviation Ideas For Student ContestAirbus, a unit of EADS, is sponsoring a global competition for new concepts in aircraft design and engineering, Reuters reported.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 May 2009 | 8:06 pm The Clickfree Traveler: The backup device that’s the size of a credit card
This is probably the easiest review I’ve ever had to write. It’s about the Clickfree Traveler, an automated backup solution that works with both Windows and Mac; it’s the size of a credit card, as the video here tries to show! (Presumably Linux folk have all written, in raw machine code, their own backup applications.) Literally, you plug it into the USB port of your computer, a small window pops up with a countdown timer, and then it automatically backs up your home directory—/users/ndeleon/ in my case. Provided there’s enough space on the Traveler for your data, it’s all over in a matter of seconds. It’s pretty darn painless. And what if you don’t have enough space on the Traveler? Well, a little window pops up that says there’s not enough free space on the device. Fair enough, soldier, just go into the options tab of said window and tell it which directory you want it to backup. Maybe you don’t want the entire home directory backed up, or you only want all MP3s (Music) and PDFs (Office Docs) backed up. Then you’d select those categories and off you go. It’s all right there in plain English. Pretty painless, I must say. Let’s see… limitations… well, it only backups your data when you tell it to. That is, there’s no scheduled backups or anything, no “backup files at midnight every night” kind of thing. The Traveler is also designed for frequent travelers or businessmen—people whose 401(k) has evaporated in recent months—so you may need more than the 16GB the Traveler provides if you plan on using it for your never-goes-anywhere desktop or whatever. In that case, you might want to spring for the bigger versions: either 32GB or 64GB. Also, Mac-wise, it requires an Intel-based machine and Leopard, so those of you clinging to Tiger or earlier, or to a PPC-based Mac, are out of luck. I don’t know, the Traveler did exactly what Clickfree’s snazzy back-of-the-box wording said it would. Plug her in, and a few seconds later your data is backed up. There’s no software to install, and it’ll fit right there in your wallet. Consider me pleasantly surprised. (You have no idea how I enjoy writing, “Well, this item was a pain-in-the-ass to use.) For $79 (for the 16GB model), not too shabby.
Source: CrunchGear | 7 May 2009 | 8:00 pm Why Facebook Shut Down the Only Useful App It Ever HadFacebook has banned Newsfeed RSS, an application that delivers all of your friends' Facebook activities as an RSS feed. Facebook believes keeping track of your friends using RSS is a violation of their privacy, which means its newly "opened" platform will continue to remain tightly controlled.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 May 2009 | 7:58 pm Land Clearing Threatens Malaysia’s FirefliesA Malaysian lawmaker warned Thursday that the nation’s spectacular firefly population is under threat of destruction within months due to large-scale land clearing.The fireflies are one of Malaysia’s leading tourist attractions."If we do not do anything, the lights will go out for the fireflies by the end of the year," Elizabeth Wong, who oversees tourism and environmental affairs in the Malaysian state of Selangor, told the AFP.Conservation groups had notified Malaysia’s government about the "impending destruction" of the riverside firefly colony, Wong said.Tourists flock to the area, which lies about 90 minutes' drive from Kuala Lumpur, to see the fireflies as they gather in riverside trees and produce dazzling light displays as males and females communicate.However, the number of fireflies has fallen sharply because of development in the region, tour operators say.Indeed, nearly 95 acres of land along the Selangor river has been cleared of the trees in which fireflies live, Wong said, despite the area’s being declared a firefly sanctuary."Four out of the seven critical spots which the fireflies depend on has been cleared bare of vegetation.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 May 2009 | 7:56 pm Obama requests $18B budget for NASAThe U.S.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 May 2009 | 7:54 pm Caption Contest: Win A Pair Of Tickets To Tonight’s Sold Out Star Trek Screening Our opening night screening of Star Trek tonight in Redwood City is totally sold out, but we’ve held back ten tickets for a special Trekkie caption contest. The rules are simple: leave a comment with a funny caption for the photo above, and we’ll pick out the five best entries, who will each win a pair of tickets. We’ll choose the winners at 2:45 PM PST (be sure to leave your real Email address so we can contact you). Update:: The winners have been chosen. We’re also opening up a waitlist for the movie, which you can sign up for here. We’re thinking that the first 20 people (and possibly more) on the list should make it, but you have to be there in person and there are no guarantees, so give it a shot if you don’t mind potentially getting turned away. For those of you who already have a ticket, we’re going to be letting people into the theatre beginning at 6, so get there before that if you want a good seat. Feel free to leave a caption if you already have a ticket, just be sure to note that you don’t want to be in the running (likewise for those of you who aren’t in the San Francisco Bay Area but want to show off your Trekkie wit). The movie begins promptly at 7 PM at Century 20 Theaters in Redwood City, and after that we’ll head over to Red Latern for some drinks (everyone is welcome, even those of you who can’t make the movie). Thanks again to the event’s sponsors: Microsoft Live Search, which helps more than 200 million people a month find stuff on the web, is buying everyone a soft drink at the theater. Trapster, a location based mobile application that alerts users in real time when they approach speed traps (iphone app here), is buying everyone popcorn. SugarSync, a digital life management service that lets user back-up, sync and access documents, photos and music across all of their devices. And Eventbrite for helping with the cost of the tickets.   Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Source: TechCrunch | 7 May 2009 | 7:53 pm Shouting at Robots for Art’s Sake
Shouting and waving your arms at buggy technology doesn’t normally do anything useful. With these robots, it makes art. The Cobot (for “collaborative robot”) is the brain child of Christian Cerrito, who created it for his master’s thesis at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. The pocket-sized Pollock comes in two flavors: the SoundBot, which draws in response to loud noise, and the ShadowBot, which sketches along the boundary between light and dark. They can even transform anger into art. While Cerrito was writing his final paper, swearing loudly at his computer, the SoundBot doodled on the floor, recording his frustration. “At some point I looked at the floor, and there was this beautiful drawing,” he said. Other people enjoyed interacting with the SoundBot and ShadowBot, as shown in the videos below.
But Cerrito’s favorite part of the whole project is watching people play. “Most of what they’ve created so far are their relationships to their users,” he said. “With drawing and painting in particular, people are hesitant to dive in and start doing something. It tricks people into drawing, playing with shape and form, doing all these things. That’s the most fascinating thing.” Cerrito wants to let the bots draw on room-sized pieces of paper and turn them loose in public places. He’s also planning to open source the designs to let people build their own, which he estimates would cost between $80 and $100. In the meantime, you can watch Cerrito’s (and all the other ITP students’) presentations here. If you’re in New York, you can see the Cobots in person at the ITP show this weekend. And see below for one more video of a Cobot in action. Photo credit: Christian Cerrito
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 7 May 2009 | 7:42 pm Shouting at Robots for Art's SakeTwo experimental robots draw pictures as they respond to sounds they hear and the shadows they encounter.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 7 May 2009 | 7:42 pm Shouting at Robots for Art's SakeTwo experimental robots draw pictures as they respond to sounds they hear and the shadows they encounter.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 7 May 2009 | 7:42 pm Egyptian Inscriptions Used To Map Other Ancient Military OutpostsArchaeologists are hoping to use inscriptions from Luxor’s Karnak temple in Egypt as a guide to finding other ancient defensive outposts."As we understand from the inscription at Karnak temple, the city of Tharu had two fortifications with the Nile in the middle," Mohamad Abdul Maqsoud, head of archaeological exploration in Egypt's Nile Delta and Sinai regions, told Reuters.Archaeologists have determined that Pharaohs made regular journeys through Sinai in conquests against Hittites and other civilizations in the region of modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Iraq."This city was used to protect Egypt and as a gate to the Delta.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 May 2009 | 7:40 pm Ze Frank's free iPhone app "iFingerU"Buzzzzzfeeeeeeed. It's on BuzzFeed. Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 7 May 2009 | 7:39 pm Scientist sends students 17,000 earwormsA Texas A&M University researcher says he has shipped nearly 17,000 corn earworms to U.S.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 May 2009 | 7:33 pm 2010 World Cup tipped to be mobile TV’s coming of age Mobile TV—that is, live TV on your cellphone—is still sorta “meh,” it's fair to say. That's why the news that the 2010 World Cup in South Africa is seen by some, including Nokia, as the event that will bring the technology to the forefront, is certainly welcome. After all, nothing attracts eyeballs quite like the World Cup—sort of in the same way that the 2006 World Cup in Germany was HDTV's mass audience debut.
Source: CrunchGear | 7 May 2009 | 7:30 pm Hubble Telescope to Get Final House CallAstronauts will make final repairs and add key instruments to the Hubble Space Telescope.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 7 May 2009 | 7:25 pm "Hello, computer."
The "Star Trek USB Communicator Internet Phone" is the platonic example of a Brando product: it's a cute replica of TOS-era communicators, complete with lights and sound effect, but it has a cord. $43 of missing the point. Worse, I still want it, even though I use a regular headset to chat on Skype or iChat. [via CrunchGear] Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 7 May 2009 | 7:11 pm AT&T to drop the monthly charge for an iPhone?Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile  Ohhh…and the smartphone rumor mill keeps churning. The latest, according to Cote Collaborative, is that Apple is considering cutting their monthly service charge for their iPhone by $10. This is supposedly going to happen when they make their big introduction to their latest and greatest at the WWDC in June. Obviously with the whole Palm/iPhone competition, AT&T is looking for a way to get in customers that might be thinking the service plan is too expensive. And at the same time, we have Apple themselves possibly looking to move past AT&T and look around at other carriers (like Verizon). But, if this price cut thing works and brings in more customers, obviously both Apple and AT&T will be sitting back happy. The two year contract would be lowered by $240, brought down to $59 a month from the current $69. This is a 14% savings. Right now, if you want to buy an iPhone, a two-year contract plus the phone is going to run you a whopping $1,880. Not exactly small change. Cote says “This price does not address the whole market.” And apparently Apple is getting a little concerned that this price barrier exists. To point, Cote goes on to say “Wal-Mart iPhone sales haven’t met expectations.” Ya think? Although there have been some rumors of a nano-iPhone hitting the market for $99, geared for those who would like an iPhone, but can’t really afford one…Cote says…nope. He doesn’t really expect one popping up anytime soon. Though he says that playing around with the price plans shows that they do want to do something about affordability. (Or at least AT&T does). Keep it here for more details as we get them. via: thestreet Full Story » | Written by Jodie Andrefski for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 7 May 2009 | 7:10 pm Pogue reviews the MiFi personal hotspot from VerizonHe's a'twitter, but I'm most interested in the pricing: The MiFi gets its Internet signal the same way those cellular modems do -- in this case, from Verizon's excellent 3G (high-speed) cellular data network. If you just want to do e-mail and the Web, you pay $40 a month for the service (250 megabytes of data transfer, 10 cents a megabyte above that). If you watch videos and shuttle a lot of big files, opt for the $60 plan (5 gigabytes). And if you don't travel incessantly, the best deal may be the one-day pass: $15 for 24 hours, only when you need it. In that case, the MiFi itself costs $270.Good for Verizon. If they're going to put a cap on the data transfer, it's only appropriate that they stop pretending they care where and when you use that data. Previously • MiFi puts portable 3G hotspot in your pocket Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 7 May 2009 | 6:52 pm 2010 World Cup tipped to be mobile TV’s coming of age
Mobile TV—that is, live TV on your cellphone—is still sorta “meh,” it’s fair to say. That’s why the news that the 2010 World Cup in South Africa is seen by some, including Nokia, as the event that will bring the technology to the forefront, is certainly welcome. After all, nothing attracts eyeballs quite like the World Cup—sort of in the same way that the 2006 World Cup in Germany was HDTV’s mass audience debut. The World Cup, which takes place in June and July of next year, is proving to be a big opportunity for mobile TV providers. In Africa (World Cup 2010 is the continent’s first such tournament) alone more than 10 companies have sprang up that will provide coverage of the action in some form or another. Services are already up and running in countries such as Kenya and Ghana. FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, says it expects a record number of viewers for the monthlong festival de golos. Last time around, in 2006, the cumulative audience was around 26.3 billion. Yes, billion. (I probably accounted for a good 50 of those views, watching a few games more than once.) So, needless to say, there’s an incentive for mobile TV providers to get their act together in time for the big show. Anyone willing to sponsor a MobileCrunch trip to South Africa (you know, to cover the mobile, tech stuff) is encouraged to contact us. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: MobileCrunch | 7 May 2009 | 6:00 pm Rumor: Palm Pre launch prep schedule leaked, lacks editing
We’re going to go ahead and ignore the glaring “Employee Benfits” typo and the fact that “LAUNCH LUNCH!” is in almost deliberately over-the-top caps, and just skip right to assigning this thing its properly sized grain of salt. June 7th was one of the (many) rumored release dates for the Pre, so the dates fit. Plus, Sprint is banking their future on this one, so it’s plenty reasonable to think that they’d be having a last minute heavy-training period followed by a pre-Pre-party. We’re not going to vouch for it, but we’re not debunking it either - just passing it along. If this turns out to be legit, Sprint really ought to insist that people read these things before they get sent out. Unless they left the typos in there to make it seem somewhat sketchy. In that case, someone at Sprint is a genius. Crunch Network: TechCrunch obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies
Source: MobileCrunch | 7 May 2009 | 5:28 pm Samsung Alias 2 and Motorola Rival A445 get pictured in the plasticky flesh
There it is folks, in all of its e-ink keypad glory: the Samsung Alias 2. Rumors indicated that this guy was set for release on May 11th, and the fact that shots of it have started to trickle out lead us to believe that the retail spots have begun to receive their units. Expect to see this guy hit shelves next week. PhoneArena has a few more shots, along with a couple blurry cam shots (one of them after the jump) of the Motorola Rival A445. Otherwise known as “Rush 2″, this QWERTY-slider is headed for VZW and is jampacked full of mediocrity - but if you’re looking for a basic texter on the ol’ veezeedub, it might fit the bill.
Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Source: MobileCrunch | 7 May 2009 | 5:05 pm Fears of 'Lights Out' for Malaysian FirefliesA dazzling firefly population in Malaysia faces destruction due to tree clearing.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 7 May 2009 | 5:05 pm UnPirate: Move on from Vegas Movie StudioSection: Web, Downloads, Web Apps, Online Music/Video, Features, Originals  The Pirated: Vegas Movie StudioVegas Movie Studio is video editing software that is produced by Sony Entertainment. You are able to create transitions, titles and special effects for your digital videos with the editing tools on your PC. Vegas Movie Studio also has built in authoring software to make your own DVDs. Instead of refusing to purchase the software and then illegally downloading it from Pirate Bay, try these alternatives.
 Drag and drop editing with Windows Movie MakerWindows Movie Maker is available for free through the Windows XP Download webpage. Movie Maker uses drag and drop technology to edit and arrange your digital movies. Although it does not have DVD authoring included, you can still share your edited creations via email, web or CD. [Windows Movie Maker]
 Special effects enhancements with WaxIf you are looking for video editing applications that have more options as far as special effects, then check out the freeware Wax. Wax allows you to create 3D imaging, add audio tracks to your video programs and even add special effects, like explosions, fire and rain. The program is also compatible with almost any type of video file. [Wax]
 Best for beginnersNovices will like the functional ease of AVS Video Editor. You can use a storyboard in order to create your transitions and manage the video edits. A newly supported feature of AVS Video Editor is the ability to edit high def videos. It also has DVD authoring software without any extra downloads required. [AVS Video Editor] Full Story » | Written by Heather Wood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 7 May 2009 | 5:00 pm Analyst’s Speculation: AT&T Will Decrease iPhone Monthly Plan
That would drop the cheapest iPhone monthly plan from $69 to $59, saving customers $240 over the handset’s two-year contract, Michael Cote, a Cote Collaborative analyst, told TheStreet. He speculates the price drop will be announced June 8 during Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Why the price cut? To boost iPhone sales, Cote explains, by attracting consumers who find the iPhone too expensive. We think that’s a pretty weak argument. First, that’s a very small price cut, and after factoring in taxes and miscellaneous charges, consumers will still be paying at least $70 a month to use the original iPhone. (The iPhone 3G’s monthly plan costs $10 more than the original iPhone’s because of the 3G network, so the only handset that would be affected, if Cote is correct, is the original iPhone.) Second, the core strategy for Apple to sell more iPhones would be to launch a third-generation iPhone — which everybody is betting Apple will be doing. A small reduction of the original iPhone’s price plan would bear insignificant results in comparison to sales of a third-generation handset. Third, are Apple and AT&T really worrying about the iPhone’s performance? We doubt it. In the first quarter of 2009, the BlackBerry Curve beat the iPhone as the most popular smartphone. But keep in mind that Apple sold over 10 million iPhones in 2008. And in the fourth quarter of 2008, Apple outsold Research in Motion; the iPhone catapulted Apple into becoming the third largest mobile phone supplier in the world, according to Steve Jobs. And it’s fairly obvious why fewer iPhones were sold in the first quarter of 2009: Many are waiting for the third-generation iPhone to launch this summer. What do you think, readers? Would you buy an original iPhone in June if the monthly plan dropped $10? Vote in the poll or add your comments below. See Also:
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 7 May 2009 | 4:34 pm Video: Google demos Android 1.5 (Cupcake)Sure, Android v1.5 has been fleshed out in excruciating detail in the past few weeks, but there are plenty of people who didn’t get Cupcake early and are clamoring for more. Plus, everyone loves an awkward Google engineer video - though we must say, this guy is a lot less awkward than most of’em. Check out the unintentional Pirate Bay shoutout about 30 seconds in. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Source: MobileCrunch | 7 May 2009 | 4:19 pm Basking Sharks' Hiding Places FoundBasking sharks hide out and scientists have finally tracked where they go.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 7 May 2009 | 4:05 pm Fuel for Deep Space Missions Running LowNASA is running out of nuclear fuel needed for its deep space exploration.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 7 May 2009 | 4:04 pm Microsoft anti-competitive? Surely Mozilla and Opera jestSection: Computers, Software / Applications, Web, Web Browsers
Mozilla and Opera, makers of Firefox and Opera browsers respectively, are saying that Microsoft is being anti-competitive in the browser space with the Release Candidate of Windows 7. The argument lies in the fact that those upgrading from Vista can choose and “Express” option which makes the upgrade easier. Using this option, Windows 7 not only installs easier, but also replaces the default browser with Internet Explorer 8. Mozilla and Opera believe this is an example of why Microsoft in the browser space causes problems. It’s just too much work to open up Firefox of Opera and click the box in the dialog that asks if you want it to be your default browser. It’s really no surprise that Microsoft would make such a move, from what I remember this happened a lot when using Windows. Microsoft likes it when you use Internet Explorer, so you can annoy web developers who hate the way the browser works. Mozilla and Opera come off as just a bit whiney with the complaint. Most people who prefer Firefox and Opera probably won’t mind having to change the settings once, even if it is and inconvenience. I know when I’m in Windows I’ll jump through whatever hoops I have to to get to Chrome, or Firefox if that’s not an option. Either way, IE does have a purpose. You need it to download the other, better web browsers on clean installs, and then ignore it. Read [Electronista] Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 7 May 2009 | 3:08 pm Giant Trilobites in Portugal Could Be BiggestA newly discovered cluster of trilobite fossils could include the largest ever found.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 7 May 2009 | 2:25 pm Domestication Led to Horse Color ExplosionHorses' coats exploded into colors after domestication took off some 5,500 years ago.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 7 May 2009 | 2:05 pm AT&T to discount iPhone service plan?
According to Cote Collaborative, AT&T is pondering a price cut on monthly service charges for iPhone owners when Apple will purportedly announce new hardware at WWDC in June. Apparently Apple and AT&T are under enormous amounts of pressure to sell more iPhones and there’s a “strong possibility” of a $10/month discount on the entry-level $69 plan. If this is true then the overall discount on a two-year contract amounts to $240. Could be true or it could be a load of bullhonky. We’ve contacted AT&T for comment but have not heard back yet. via The Street Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: MobileCrunch | 7 May 2009 | 1:52 pm Microsoft headed towards more “disasters”- BallmerSection: Web, Web Apps, Web Browsers, Websites, Google  Yesterday in a speech at Stanford University, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer suggested Microsoft will be taking more risks with its search entries. Acknowledging Google’s dominant position, Ballmer pointed to opportunities Microsoft can afford to chase and evolve. According to Ballmer, some will be hits, some will be disasters.
Ballmer pointed to the success of the LiveSearch Cashback program where users were paid to use the site. The plan was interesting for sure and seemed to give the company some traction.
Ballmer was later asked about Yahoo search possible acquisition and declined to comment substantially about it. He did say that appropriate discussions may or may not be taking place; which is helpful. Ballmer did note that having more customers is helpful and presumably Yahoo can help with that. Let the new Microsoft-Yahoo rumors begin again! Source: [CNET]
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 7 May 2009 | 1:09 pm Solid State Camcorder Packs in Pixels for a PricePanasonic's newest solid state camcorder trumps the $200, internet-ready vid-cams any day of the week. With 32 GB of on-board memory and three CMOS chips, it takes footage that ready for a 52-inch boob tube, not YouTube.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 7 May 2009 | 1:00 pm The Verizon MiFi 2020 EV-DO portable WiFi router
We’ve had a special place in our hearts for the Novatel Wireless MiFi ever since we played with one at CES. Verizon let it leak via the MiFi’s online manual that the carrier was getting the portable EV-DO router sometime soon, but now we info to fill in the blanks. The Verizon MiFi 2020 appears to be all of the hotness that the pre-production Novatel was with ability to share a Verizon 3G connection over 802.11b/g to five WiFi devices simultaneously. The battery should last up to four hours when in active use, and 40 hours in standby mode. You would think that Verizon would charge a hefty premium for such a device, but actually, it’s not that bad. The monthly plans start out at $40 with a 250MB cap, with the 5GB plan fetching $60. Then there is the 24 hour “DayPass” that charges the user only $15 for usage, but also requires that the MiFi be purchased at the full, and also unannounced, price. Expect to pay $100 after a $50 with a monthly service plan when the MiFi drops on May 17th. Crunch Network: TechCrunch obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies
Source: MobileCrunch | 7 May 2009 | 12:47 pm Apple and AT&T 4EVR? Naw
Some analysts have said the obvious and informed the world that the iPhone won’t be on one carrier for much longer. Why? Because Apple will ravage AT&T until it is a dark husk fill with bile and sputum, take as many customers wishing to use GSM and AT&T coverage as possible, and then move on like the chitinous, swart beasts from The Dark Crystal. And that’s the upside. What do we say? There will be a CDMA iPhone, probably on Verizon. There will be a cheaper unlocked iPhone coming down the pike for those wishing relative freedom. Also, I want to work as an analyst, because they get to make stuff up out of whole cloth and call it “research.” When we do it, we call it blogging. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Source: MobileCrunch | 7 May 2009 | 12:46 pm Sony unveils the limited edition Danielle Steel Reader, Kindle fans laughSection: Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle
It turns out that in an announcement that was totally shadowed, Sony unveiled their latest limited edition Reader. This time it is a Danielle Steel edition and for just $279.99 you can get a special red colored Reader that comes with a red leather cover with the Danielle Steel name embossed in the lower right hand corner as well as three books and a personal letter from Danielle Steel. Sounds like a good deal for a Danielle Steel fan, however while I understand she is a popular author I cannot help but wonder if a limited edition Reader is really needed. Basically, this just seems like Sony is trying to compete in the ebook space, however it appears as if they are not really bringing much in terms of an a-game. Product [Sony Style] Via [electronista] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 7 May 2009 | 11:01 am
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As someone who regularly works on multiple computers, I appreciate the ability to always have my files with me. That is where SugarSync comes in; they have a setup that just works and now it has recently gotten a little nicer.
A small portion -- 1 gram -- of the encapsulated cremated remains of one person can be sent to the moon for $9,995. The price includes the option of watching the launch, an inscription of the deceased's name on an accompanying plaque, and complimentary scattering of the remainder of the remains at sea near the launch site.
The last video interview I did at the 
I’m getting shit for this post no matter what. By insinuating business magazines are better off than papers when I currently write a column for BusinessWeek people will call me biased. (As Arrington would say, “consider that your disclosure.”) Likewise, I have a lot of friends at all three publications who probably won’t appreciate what I have to say, because it’s not in their economic interest.
The Federal Trade Commission may worry about the ties between the Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) boards, but Google CEO Eric Schmidt clearly doesn’t share its concern. “I don’t think Google sees Apple as a primary competitor,” he said during 
Many people are dying to get Google’s Android operating system onto their netbooks - Google’s OS running on the miniscule computers seems like a match made in computing heaven (or at least better than the bloated Windows or unusable (for newbies) Linux. And Android netbooks are certainly coming soon. Dell, for example, is 
Facebook has entered the censorship arena by actively blocking a Pirate Bay linking app and perhaps more worrisome, censoring emails on its messaging system that contain links to the site. Users are also blocked from cutting and pasting Pirate Bay URLs into Facebook messages. This has lead to questions of whether the popular social networking site is violating free speech. Some say because Facebook must read emails to see if they contain the prohibited links they could be in violation of federal wiretapping laws. 
Microsoft has never been known for being the friendliest of companies, especially towards those who compete against it. That does make a bit of sense, competitors usually aren’t all that nice to one another, and Microsoft, having so many products, has a lot of competitors. But, when being mean to competitors means being mean to the average computer user it can be an issue. Or, Mozilla and Opera could just like complaining about Microsoft just like everyone else.
It turns out yesterday was quite the big day for ebook readers. Well maybe not big in terms of importance, but in terms of large as the newly unveiled Kindle DX is now larger in both size and price. Of course, we cannot forget that in addition to Amazon and their Kindle, we also have some other companies with ebook readers on the market, one of which is Sony.