Smokey The Silencer Helps You Burn Things In Peace

Facebook Turns Down $8 billion Valuation Term Sheet, Claims 2009 Revenues Will Be $550 million

In the last couple of weeks Facebook received and turned down a term sheet for a new $200 million venture round of funding that would value the company at $8 billion, we’ve learned from a source with direct knowledge of the proposed transaction. We’ve also heard that they’ve received at least one other term sheet that valued the company at $6 billion.

Facebook declined the term sheet based on the requirement of a board of directors seat, says our source, and not the valuation. This has been a touchy subject in the past as well. Founder Mark Zuckerberg has three common stock board seats - one empty, one he holds and one held by Marc Andreessen. There are two preferred stock board seats, held by Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital and Founders Fund and Jim Breyer of Accel Partners. Zuckerberg seems to be quite serious about retaining control over the board of directors. Investors David Sze of Greylock Partners and Paul Madera of Meritech Capital Partners have non voting observer seats.

Facebook is also now pitching financial projections well above what we’ve previously heard. The highest 2009 revenue number that has leaked out of Facebook is $400 million. But investors are now being told the company expects $550 million in 2009 revenue. 2008, they say, rang in at around $280 million. The previous best information on 2008 Facebook revenue was $230 million from eMarketer.

That’s quite a jump in revenue. We’ve heard that things are going swimmingly at Facebook on the revenue front, but $550 million this year may still be quite a stretch. Or even perhaps unrealistic.

But apparently that revenue growth is getting the company to a valuation it could stomach other than the board seat issue. Facebook’s last round valuation was $15 billion, but those days are long gone.

The last few months have been crazy with rumors. BusinessWeek reported that Facebook was looking to raise $100 million in debt. We reported on early term sheets in the $2 billion range. Even Google was sniffing around the company to see if they could buy it on the cheap.

We have no information yet on whether or not Facebook is continuing to pitch for new money, or if the rumors from last weekend from VentureBeat that says they’re close to closing $150 million from existing investors in a common stock sale that would value the company at around $4.5 billion. But we have near confirmation that they recently turned down an $8 billion valuation simply because the investor wanted a board seat. That means they think they have other options.

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

Nokia to cut further 490 jobs - Reuters

Straits Times

Nokia to cut further 490 jobs Reuters HELSINKI (Reuters) - The world's top cellphone maker Nokia Oyj said on Tuesday it plans to cut a further 490 jobs as part of its global cost cutting program. Nokia to lay off 170 workers worldwide Forbes Nokia to shed 170 jobs worldwide Monsters and Critics.com Mobiledia - AFP - Mobile Today - TelecomTiger all 93 news articles

Google Street View Cameras: Now on Tricycles

After getting hounded out of town by outraged Brits wielding metaphorical pitchforks, burning torches and yelling “Not in my back yard!” the Google Street View team has turned to a lower-profile form of transport for its 3D camera arrays: Trikes.

The Google Street View tricycle will be arriving in Britain this summer (this year the summer in the UK is predicted to fall on a Tuesday in July). The real reason is not to avoid angry villagers (who seem curiously oblivious to the millions of CCTVs that watch them every day) but top gain access to places that cars can’t reach — in this case sports arenas, coastal paths and the like.

This is a splendid piece of lateral thinking. I live in a warren of very old, narrow streets in Barcelona and while the surrounding, car friendly parts of the barrio are already Street Viewed, our smaller alleyways are not. Saying that, the Street View Trikester should bring a heavy chain with him, or risk ending up yet another victim of the neighborhood’s bike stealing junkie.

Press release [Google]

See Also:

No Google Street View, Please — We’re British [Epicenter]

Carry On, Google Street View, Britain Rules [Epicenter]

Picture credit: Google UK

Find the Perfect Sitter This Summer

TechCrunch Hits Stockholm, May 27 - Come And Join Us

Well we have over 100 people coming to the TechCrunch Europe Roundtable event in Stockholm, TechCrunchTalk Nordic, on May 27, but there are still a few tickets left. I’m really looking forward to an afternoon of panel discussions and presentations followed by startup pitches and a great networking reception. And we’ve just confirmed our latest speaker line-up which includes: Natasha F Saxberg, serial entrepreneur from Denmark; Jüri Kaljundi from Estonia’s nagi.ee; Northzone Ventures‘ Pär-Jörgen Pärsson; Scandinavian investor maven Angel Gambino; and Sweden’s “IT-person of the year”, Stina Ehrensvärd from Yubico. And that’s just for starters.

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

Study Shows "Secret Questions" Are Too Easily Guessed

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hip Hop Star Murdered Just Two Hours After His First Tweets

Here’s one of those stories that’s just kind of eerie and sad. About 13 hours ago, hip hop artist Dolla signed up for Twitter. He sent out a couple of tweets and presumably left to go to the Beverly Center in Los Angeles. I know this because he was shot and killed there shortly thereafter.

One of the trending topics on Twitter right now is “RIP Dolla” and hundreds more messages are being directed at Dolla’s now-dormant account. It seems that he’s gained several hundred followers since his death and a lot of people are using the account to pay their respects to him.

Celebrities are now rushing to join Twitter as it’s a great means of promotion. Dolla himself used his second (and last) tweet to promote his MySpace page where he sells his music. It would seem that this may be the first time a relatively famous person that actually uses Twitter (if only for a day) has passed away. And like a MySpace or Facebook wall, this is now another way for fans to pay respect.

This also brings up the personal privacy topic. Dolla did not have a chance to tweet out his location, but just imagine if he had. This would have potentially turned into one of the biggest location service/privacy issues yet. Sadly, it’s only a matter of time before that comes up with one of these celebrities using sites like Twitter.

The police have a person of interest in custody, with regards to Dolla’s murder.

[thanks Eric]

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

Wyoming open pit coal mine expands ActiveMine(TM) wireless Wi-Fi network with second purchase order

Aricent and Cavium Networks Collaborate to Provide Advanced LTE eNodeB Solutions

Ceragon Expands High Capacity Trunk Network in the Dominican Republic

Stone-age superglue

Stone Age humans... knowingly tweaked the chemical and physical properties of an iron-containing pigment known as red ochre with the gum of acacia trees to create adhesives for their shafted tools.

Archaeologists had believed the blood-red pigment--used by people in what is now South Africa about 70,000 years ago--served a decorative or symbolic purpose.

But the scientists had also suspected that the pigment may have been purposely added to improve glue that held the peoples' tools together.

Nokia Streamlines Production Support and Administrative Activities in its Demand Supply Network Management Operations

Autonomy Interwoven Delivers Livesite for Microsoft .Net

Sri Lanka Network Security Market, yet Untapped - `Telecom', the Largest Spender in Adoption of Network Security Technologies, BFSI and Government Follow, Reveals Frost & Sullivan Study

An Apology Is In Order [Voices]

Dear South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster,

Two days ago you accused craigslist, and me personally, of engaging in criminal acts, reiterating your previous threat to file unwarranted and unconstitutional charges against us that are clearly barred by federal law. As you put it, “We have no alternative but to move forward with criminal investigation and potential prosecution.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site

For Wired, a Revival Lacks Ads [Voices]

Chris Anderson, the editor in chief of Wired, believes in logic the way Tina Brown believes in buzz. He rarely approves a story idea unless the writer backs up the thesis with data.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

When Twitter Met Food Trucks [Voices]

Goat cheese is the new black. Introducing goat cheese cheesecake, asserted the Twitter account for a Manhattan food outlet called the Dessert Truck one morning in April, a few hours before it opened up shop at its semi-regular haunt on the corner of St. Mark’s Place and Third Avenue.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Are Your “Secret Questions” Too Easily Answered? [Voices]

Brian Green’s experience with not-so-secret questions began when he logged on to his World of Warcraft account in March of this year and found all of his characters in their underwear. Someone had stolen the account and sold off all of his virtual equipment.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

It Won’t Be Baaaaaaack: “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” Cancelled (But Here’s a Resistance Video From John Connor!) [BoomTown]

Big, giant and prolonged sigh–as well as a cranky-old-lady shake of the fist–to our distant cousins over at the Fox television network, who dinged BoomTown’s favorite sci-fi show, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” today.

I am officially in a Summer-Glau funk, with major gadget withdrawal.

After much fake agonizing on the fate of “Sarah Connor,” Fox programmers finally stuck a fork in the series after two seasons. Loosely based on the movie franchise, the show garnered a passionate fan base online and off, but not enough to merit being renewed.

It’s ironic since the latest film in the cyborg-versus-man epic, “Terminator Salvation,” will open this Thursday.

It is the next blockbuster in a tech-heavy summer movie season, following the boffo reception that the new “Star Trek” has gotten (next up: “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”).

But “Terminator Salvation”’s noisy, Armageddon-is-nigh arrival could not save the more thoughtfully dark “Sarah Connor.”

Thank goodness, then for YouTube and a very pissed-off and half-naked young actor named Thomas Dekker, who plays a teenaged savior of humanity, John Connor, in the TV series.

In this perfect online video clip he did himself, the real-life (and very wild-eyed) Dekker calls Fox’s viewer comment line to express his support for the show in no uncertain terms:

Full disclosure: News Corp. (NWS) owns Fox, as well as Dow Jones, which owns this Web site.

Utah Company Announces BYOL (Bring Your Own Laptop) Conference

Daily Crunch: Here Boy Edition

Puppy-shaped speakers prove not all USB dogs have to hump or crunch to be cute
Sorry, guys. The Internet is over. There is a wearable towel now
Button spy camera: Only a little creepy
Time-lapse astrophotography of the Milky Way
Microsoft patents magic wand

VASCO Data Security Signs Reseller Agreement With TH Consultants Inc. (Canada)

MySpace Is In Real Trouble If These Page View Declines Don’t Reverse

We’ve all been closely watching the total user number for MySpace and Facebook and trying to predict the date that MySpace’s last stronghold will fall - no. 1 in U.S. social networking users. A year ago Facebook had super growth around the world, but U.S. growth was flat and we pondered the real value of all these worldwide users. At that time it would have taken Facebook more than four years to catch up to MySpace in the U.S. In January we re-ran the numbers and the trend suggested January 2010. Today that has all dramatically changed - MySpace has 70 million monthly U.S. uniques (Comscore, March 2009), less than they did a year ago. Meanwhile, Facebook has surged to 61 million U.S. users and are adding a few million more every month.

In other words, the war is over. MySpace user number growth has stalled out, and historically speaking, no company of note has reversed such a trend. But MySpace may have a much bigger problem on its hands than losing the social networking war to Facebook. Their real problem is that page views are declining sharply. That means people are still visiting the site, just far less than they used to. That means less advertising impressions in a time that MySpace can hardly be expected to deal with it.

Worldwide monthly page views for MySpace have declined from 47.4 billion a year ago to 38 billion today, a 20% drop. In that same period Facebook has grown from 44 billion to 87 billion, a roughly 100% increase. And it isn’t much better when you look at just the U.S. data. They’ve seen a 16% year over year drop in page views, from 41.6 billion to 34.8 billion (Comscore, April 2009). Facebook has grown from 13 billion to 20 billion page views per month in that period.

We have also spoken with a couple of very large application developers who confirm that activity on MySpace is decreasing at a dramatic rate, as high as “half a percent a week.”

MySpace is a battleship that’s going in the wrong direction at high speed. It’s hard to turn a battleship. Perhaps even impossible in this case.

In about a year from now MySpace will receive their last welfare payment from Google, and they’ll be on their own. They’ll have a social network that costs half a billion dollars a year to run. With page views decreasing and the Google money gone there is a strong likelihood that the News Corp. subsidiary will be unprofitable a year from now. Revenue of $800+ million last year could easily decrease to well below half a billion dollars, and likely will. No wonder new CEO Owen Van Natta isn’t committing to actually move to Los Angeles, where MySpace is headquartered.

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

Dell's Latitude 2100: More Than Just Kid's Stuff - Washington Post

The Age

Dell's Latitude 2100: More Than Just Kid's Stuff Washington Post Dell goes after the education market with a child-centric netbook, but will it make the grade? Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. First Look: Dell's Studying Pays Off With Latitude 2100 ChannelWeb Is the new Dell Latitude educational netbook worth the price? ZDNet CNET News - The Associated Press - I4U - Inquirer all 228 news articles

DIY electric VW goes 82MPH

Tischer converted a '91 VW Passat with a blown engine. He found it on Craigslist for $1,800. The Passat is a bit big for a conversion, he says, but it's aerodynamic and attractive. That counts for a lot. "It's just a professional looking car with a beautiful interior, and something I enjoy having as a daily driver," he said.

VW Owner Shifts Gears, Goes From Gas to Electric (Thanks, Aaron)


Source: Boing Boing | 19 May 2009 | 6:18 am

IBM Pushing Water-Cooled Servers, Meeting Resistance

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Mogulus Rebrands With A Killer Domain: Livestream.com

When Mogulus launched in 2007, few people understood its name. Most people still don’t because, quite frankly, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Or I should say, didn’t make a lot of sense — because beginning today, the service has been completely rebranded as something much more obvious: Livestream.

Mogulus is making the change because it feels like the entire field of streaming live video on the web is on the verge of exploding in popularity, and it’d be hard to find a better name to take advantage of that, as CEO Max Haot tells us. Naturally though, this change would not have been possible without the killer livestream.com domain, which Mogulus acquired recently. Haot wouldn’t tells us how much they paid for the domain, but you can bet it was a very pretty penny. [Update: Domain Name Wire claims it sold for $100,000 - thanks Jeremy]

So now Livestream moves forward. Having just launch its super simple Procaster tool that allows for one-button streaming over video over the web, the first tool Livestream will launch is Broadcaster. It will offer the same one-click simplicity, but will do so completely over a web browser, without any software needing to be downloaded (which you need for Procaster — which is also more powerful).

Mogulus has seen some good growth over the past year in terms of visitors to its site, according to numbers from Compete. I suspect that will rise greatly with this new domain. But it’s the features that make users stick around, and this move to one-click publishing is a good idea — keep it simple, stupid, and all that. Haot also notes that Livestream has over 1,000 paying Pro members, the premium service it launched last year.

So what was Mogulus going for with that name? Well, as you can kind see in the now old logo, it was Mogul-us, as in “anybody can become a media mogul,” Haot says. Yeah, Livestream is much, much better.

Disclosure: Mogulus advertises their Procaster product on this site.

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

New software makes iPhones spreadsheet-friendly

Source: Gizmodo | 19 May 2009 | 5:30 am

Crazy-ass freeway exchanges of the world

Jebediah sez, "This is a photo gallery of strange and striking freeway interchange configurations, including ones like the volleyball, the double trumpet, and the turbine. Many are as, or more, visually interesting than the cloverleaf. Learning all the different varieties makes one feel a bit like a birdwatcher when driving on the interstate. 'Oh, there's a classic diamond! And there's a clovermill!'"

What's A 'Spooey'? A Field Guide To Freeway Interchanges, Part 1 (Thanks, Jebediah!)


Source: Boing Boing | 19 May 2009 | 5:12 am

HOWTO keep your parody site safe from legal bullies

Hugh sez, "The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Corynne McSherry has put together a great whitepaper with tips on how to avoid having your parody or gripe site shut down."

Here's a story we hear a lot at EFF: You think BadCo, Inc. is a bad actor and you've developed a really cool site to tell the world why. Maybe just by griping about them or maybe through a bit of parody. Fast forward two weeks: you're basking in the pleasure of calling BadCo out when bam! You find out your site's been shut down. You call your internet service provider to find out what's going on. After way too much time climbing phone trees and sitting on hold you get an answer--Badco has claimed that your site violates its intellectual property rights.

All too often, the targets of critics and parodists try to strike back with accusations of copyright or trademark infringement. While such accusations may be something of a badge of honor--after all, at the very least, it means you've got your target's attention--they can also be frustrating and intimidating. And, if you rely on a service provider with little interest in protecting free speech, allegations of infringement can result in your site being shut down with little or no warning.

Six Simple Steps You Can Take To Protect Your Gripe or Parody Site (Thanks, Hugh!)


Source: Boing Boing | 19 May 2009 | 5:07 am

Technology Bill of Rights

InfoWorld's Paul Venezia has proposed a pretty good "Technology Bill of Rights" encompassing DRM, neutrality, anonymity, liability for malware, liability for proprietary software, and open source for government. I think it's a great starting point, though some of the Slashdotters suggest modelling it on the US Bill of Rights and/or the Makers' Bill of Rights.

Article 4. A company that produces and sells closed source software for use on computers shall be responsible for the security of that product, and a user has a right to seek damages in the event of a failure to secure their product

Related to Article 3, this is a sticky one. On the one hand, a company should be held responsible for damages caused by negligence in their product. On the other hand, attributing this to computer software could be extremely problematic to proprietary software companies. Maybe it should be met halfway -- a proprietary software company is compelled by law to immediately notify the public when vulnerabilities are discovered in their products. They are then granted two weeks to issue a patch to fix the problem. If not, they face increasing fines for every day a patch is not released. Also, there should be a mandatory update check in every product. This is far from a perfect implementation, but some form of this concept needs to be introduced.

Technology Bill of Rights (via /.)


Source: Boing Boing | 19 May 2009 | 5:04 am

Brand timeline -- what brands do you interact with and when?

Jane Sample and her blog-readers are composing "brand-timelines" that show which brands they interact with through the day... Mine would go phone, laptop, six zillion websites, diapers, milk, coffee, porridge, fruit, Dr Bronner's, stroller, then nothing until mid-afternoon (my reading time) when there'd be a publisher logo, then nothing until evening, then diapers, baby shampoo, a million websites, and nothing.

Brand Timeline Portraits (via Kottke)



Source: Boing Boing | 19 May 2009 | 5:00 am

RoamBi offers a new look at data on the iPhone

Source: Gizmodo | 19 May 2009 | 4:20 am

Dell aims bright new netbook at younger students (AP)

AP - Dell Inc., already the largest seller of PCs to schools worldwide, is trying to extend its lead with its first "netbook" designed for young students at a time when adult consumers and businesses have cut back on technology spending.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 19 May 2009 | 4:06 am

Dell Introduces Rugged Netbook for Kids

Dell is betting small computers will be perfect for tiny hands as it launches a new “rugged” netbook targeted at students.

Called the Latitude 2100, the netbook comes with an anti-microbial keyboard (perfect for germy little hands), a 10.1-inch touchscreen, a case with a rubber-like feel and a choice of five colors.

“Compared to plastic or magnesium alloy, the rubberized casing makes the device easy to grip and non-slip,” says David Lord, senior manager at Dell. “It shows our intent of using the netbook form factor in a way that benefits the education market.”

Based on a Intel Atom N270 processor, the Latitude 2100 netbook offers a choice of Windows or Ubuntu Linux OS, up to 1 GB memory,  up to 16 GB solid state drive or 250 GB hard drive, Bluetooth,  wireless LAN and a touchpad input. The netbook weighs 2.91 lbs. It also offers features such as a network activity light located at the back of the display so teachers can monitor the device’s connectivity status.

“That way teachers know if students are checking Facebook instead of working on a document,” says Lord.

There also some quirky touches such as a slot on the netbook’s hinge for the school log or owner’s name.

The Latitude 2100’s rubber-like coating is interesting and is in step with the industry-wide trend towards using innovative materials such as leather, fabric and bamboo in laptops. The device’s touchscreen also allows for innovative use of educational software, says  David Ruth, product manager for Dell.

What we would have loved is an overall slimmer profile for the machine. The Latitude netbook has a slightly chunky look and that can be distracting. The device’s generously proportioned keyboard (at 95 percent of a full sized keyboard) makes us overlook some of that.  The keyboard is comfortable enough to take the for users that want to take the device for uses beyond just basic web surfing.

Overall, though the Latitude 2100 is targeted at younger students, it is an attractive netbook for adult users and businesses. The laptop compares very favorably to the Dell Mini netbook series in price and features and being part of the Latitude brand allows it to take advantage of Dell’s services such as data protection and asset tracking that are not available for the Mini.

The Latitude 2100 will start at $369 for a version running Linux.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 19 May 2009 | 4:01 am

Want to Fool Apple’s App Store? Plant an Easter Egg

Despite Apple’s reputation for being a notorious gatekeeper with its iPhone App Store, there’s a way to sneak in content such as porn, profanity or potentially malicious code, with no hacking required: Easter eggs.

Apple initially rejected Jelle Prins’ iPhone app Lyrics, which displays lyrics for the songs in your music library, including the profanity contained in some song lyrics. Apple cited that fact as the reason for turning Prins down. So Prins installed a profanity filter and Lyrics got approved.

But he also secretly planted an Easter egg (programmer parlance for a secret feature) into the app for users to unlock the dirty words if they so pleased. All users have to do to unlock the filth is go to the About page, swipe downward three times and select the option to turn off the filter.

“It’s almost impossible for Apple to see if there’s an Easter egg because they can’t really see the source code,” Prins said. “In theory a developer could make a simple Easter egg in their app and provide a user with whatever content they want.”

The Lyrics app’s Easter egg points out the inconsistency and incompleteness of Apple’s approval process. When Steve Jobs introduced the App Store on June 9, 2008, he laid out a simple set of rules: No porn or malicious apps that invade your privacy. But Apple has kept the details of its approval process shrouded in secrecy, and as a result, little is known about how it works.

Apple declined to comment on this story.

Many iPhone developers do, however, agree on one thing: Apple’s approval policy is inconsistent. Here’s an example: The novelty fart app Pull My Finger was initially rejected from the App Store, and then later approved, but the game Baby Shaker, which involved shaking a baby to death, was initially approved before it was pulled down amid parental outrage.

Part of the problem may be that Apple lacks the manpower to review every app carefully, which is not surprising. The App Store has published 46,000 apps since it opened in July 2008, according to iPhone analytics company Medialets.

According to Prins, his server logs show that a single Apple employee tested his app prior to its approval. (His application works in conjunction with an online database, which logs activity from the app.) All Apple did during that testing, Prins says, was perform a search on profane words, which went undetected thanks to the Easter egg, and to check if the app worked when connected to the internet. A few days later, Lyrics appeared in the App Store, Prins said.

Prins said it would be technically possible for Apple to discover a hidden Easter egg, but it would require intense inspection and perhaps asking developers to hand over their source code, which Apple doesn’t currently do.

Secret features could adversely affect the iPhone and iPod Touch platform, says Nullriver CEO Adam Dann.

“If people start putting in naked pictures of their ex-girlfriend as an Easter egg to get revenge, or something like that, that isn’t quite right,” Dann said. “It has the potential to really mess things up for everybody.”

Dann has had his own run-in with App Store inconsistency: He developed the iPhone tethering app NetShare, which was approved and then banned after Apple discovered the app violated AT&T’s terms of service.

Speaking on security matters, Jonathan Zdziarski, author of the book iPhone Forensics: Recovering Evidence, Personal Data, and Corporate Assets, said the iPhone’s API is mostly secure and that it would be difficult to harm a user through an Easter egg unknown to Apple. He noted, however, a few areas where users’ privacy could be violated: audio, the camera and the address book.

For example, an audio app with a malicious Easter egg, Zdziarski explained, could potentially allow a developer to record a user’s conversations without him or her knowing about it. And a harmful photo app could snap photos with your camera even when a user is not pressing the shutter button. Third, a malicious app could steal your address book contacts.

“It’s not impossible to write code that looks innocent and acts innocent until you throw some kind of switch,” Zdziarski said. “It’s not hard to get that sort of thing past Apple…. It’s the equivalent of a doctor using a magnifying glass to try and find germs.”

However, Zdziarski said just because an application is approved doesn’t mean Apple won’t revisit it and pull it down later. That means a developer might only get away with shenanigans or harmful activities temporarily, only to be caught and banned by Apple later.

Prins said he was aware this was a possibility, and that if Apple pulled down Lyrics, he would install a better profanity filter.

Until then, Lyrics has slipped in a quiet “Screw you” to Apple’s App Store gatekeepers — albeit one mumbled behind their backs.

See Also:

• Apple Reviews NetShare; Permanent Ban Likely
• Android Welcomes App Store’s Rejects With Arms Wide Open
• Apple Rejects Twitter App Update for Alleged Bad Language
• Apple: You Can’t Play Jesus on iPhone
• AT&T: SlingPlayer for iPhone Would ‘Create Congestion’ for 3G …
• Apple Says No to Throwing Shoes at Bush on iPhone
• Apple’s Delays Could Cost iPhone Developer $600K

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 19 May 2009 | 4:00 am

New Watch Takes Electronic Ink Beyond Books

E Ink’s black-and-white displays have become synonymous with electronic book readers such as the Kindle and the Sony Reader. Now watchmaker Art Technology has extended the technology to timepieces, enabling the creation of a digital watch with a curved display surface.

“Our hope with E Ink was to take advantage of the high-contrast E Ink display and offer a curved look that we couldn’t have done with an LCD,” says Donald Brewer, CEO of Art Technology.

E Ink, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has popularized electrophoretic displays that consume very little power, require no backlights and are easily readable in sunlight. E Ink’s displays are used in virtually every e-book reader on the market today, thanks to a crisp, readable appearance that is closer to the experience of reading ink on paper than any LCD screen.

For now, the watch introduced by Art Technology is the only timepiece to use E Ink’s display. The watch, called Phosphor, is water-resistant but otherwise light on features. It offers only five different modes, including digital time, analog time, date, alarm and calendar.

While the use of the E Ink display is novel, it isn’t entirely functional. The display doesn’t refresh instantly and it can seem a bit slow, especially while changing modes or setting the time.

Another drawback with the watch is the lack of backlight. That makes the watch impossible to use in dark environments such as a theater.  Brewer says analog watches rarely have a backlight, so the lack of one in the Phosphor range shouldn’t put off too many buyers.

But then, analog watches usually have luminescent paint on the hands that make them glow faintly in the dark. That feature is not available on E Ink displays.

Though E Ink displays aren’t any cheaper than LCDs, Brewer hopes it can create the perception of greater value among buyers.

The watches will retail for $175 to $195 depending on the band. For now, they are available only through the company’s website.

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 19 May 2009 | 4:00 am

What's Inside WD-40? Superlube's Secret Sauce

The recipe for this superlube has long been a closely guarded trade secret—until now. Wired sent a can to the lab and got the ingredients.

Mineral Oil
Seriously. WD-40 is mostly a mix of baby oil, Vaseline, and the goop inside homemade lava lamps.

Decane
WD-40 contains an abundance of alkanes—hydrocarbons that match the formula C_xH_2x+2, usually in a long, zigzagging chain. This one, C₁₀H₂₂, which is also a common ingredient of gasoline, helps WD-40 remain a liquid at cold temperatures. Decane doesn't freeze until around -21 degrees Fahrenheit.

Nonane
Another alkane. One reason these molecules are so handy here: Their hydrogen atoms don't hold a charge, so they can't connect to the hydrogen or oxygen in water, which makes alkanes water-repellent. WD-40, after all, stands for "water displacement, 40th attempt."

Our lab analyzed WD-40 with gas chromatography (GC) and mass spectroscopy (MS). GC separates chemicals based on size, boiling point, and other factors, releasing them one by one over time. MS then blasts the molecules with an electron beam and tells what's what by the mass of the ionized fragments.

Tridecane and Undecane
Freeze-resistant? Check. Water- repellent? Check. Contains an alkane that is the major product of the red-banded stinkbug's scent gland? Check! Many alkanes are naturally produced by living creatures. Undecane, part of the pheromone trail left by cockroaches and ants, is present.

Tetradecane
Another alkane! Zzzzzz.

Dimethyl Naphthalene
Here's the thing: This stuff (C₁₂H₁₂) comes in 10 forms, called isomers. One of them is a harmless hormone given off by potatoes. Another is used in high-performance engineering plastics. Our analysis can't determine which ones are present here, but if you're using it as a solvent, as is likely the case with WD-40, they all work just fine.

Cyclohexane
That cyclo prefix means that unlike standard alkanes, which come in chains, this one's a ring. The shape gives cycloalkanes a higher melting point. And huffing them will knock you out cold. (Or so we're told.)

Carbon Dioxide
The WD-40 company claims that by using this gas as a propellant, it avoids using smaller gaseous alkanes (possibly butane and propane), which can be hazardous to the environment. As if CO₂ isn't.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 4:00 am

Twitter to Launch Business Tools by Year-End

Businesses are already using the popular micro-publishing service Twitter to get new customers, but the revenue-less start-up hopes new tools to be released by the end of the year will increase the number that do -- and possibly make the company some money.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 4:00 am

New Watch Takes Electronic Ink Beyond Books

A new watch uses the E Ink electronic display that has been been synonymous thus far with electronic-book readers like Amazon Kindle.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 19 May 2009 | 4:00 am

New Watch Takes Electronic Ink Beyond Books

A new watch uses the E Ink electronic display that has been been synonymous thus far with electronic-book readers like Amazon Kindle.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 4:00 am

May 19, 1910: Halley's Comet Brushes Earth With Its Tail

Earth briefly passes through the comet's tail. The press has a field day and people are amazed.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 4:00 am

Want to Fool Apple's App Store? Plant an Easter Egg

Apple rejected the iPhone app Lyrics because it contained profane words. After the developer hid the objectionable content in an Easter egg, the app was approved. The developer claims developers could use this method to get anything from porn to malicious code into the App Store.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 19 May 2009 | 4:00 am

Gallery: VW Shifts Gears, Going from Gas to Electric

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Eric Tischer woke up one Saturday and decided to build an electric car. The decision was just that easy. The project wasn't.

It helped that he's a gearhead. Tischer is the kind of guy who can take an engine out of a Mazda RX-7, stuff it into an MG Midget and wind up with something that runs. Converting his 1991 Volkswagen Passat to run on electricity took 11 months and cost about $20,000. Much of the time was spent figuring out how to build the inverter / motor controller. Much of the money was spent on batteries.

Tischer has put about 150 miles on the car so far. It hasn't got much range and he says it handles like a boat, but it has been reliable. He gave us a rundown of the buildup and some specs on the car.

Tischer converted a '91 VW Passat with a blown engine. He found it on Craigslist for $1,800. The Passat is a bit big for a conversion, he says, but it's aerodynamic and attractive. That counts for a lot. "It's just a professional looking car with a beautiful interior, and something I enjoy having as a daily driver," he said.

Photographs by Eric Tischer

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The engine came out in a few hours. The Passat has loads of room under the hood for an electric drivetrain and a pile of batteries, and the throttle-by-wire system simplifies the conversion. The engine was junk, so Tischer, a 31-year-old graduate of Chico State University, gave it away on Craigslist.

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The liquid-cooled Siemens motor came out of a Ford Ranger EV and cost Tischer about $1,250 shipped to his door. The three-phase AC unit is rated at 90 horsepower. Mating it to the five-speed transmission required fabricating an aluminum adapter plate and a coupling between the motor's helical gear and the clutch.

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Homemade motor mounts secure the drivetrain to the chassis. "The AC motor has a very flat torque curve from zero speed up to about 3,000-4,000 rpm, and from 3,000 4,000 up to 10,000, it is constant horsepower," Tischer says. VW tucked the Passat's steering rack well out of the way, so there's nothing to get in the way.

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Power comes from 24 Optima 55 Ah batteries Tischer bought at CostCo. Eight are mounted under the hood. Tischer says he typically drives 20 miles to work, about half of that on the freeway at 65 mph, then recharges for 3.5 hours at 10 amps, 230 vac. "This is roughly 7.2 kilowatt hours," he said, "and the battery pack is rated at 16 kilowatt hours, so 20 miles uses roughly half the battery capacity."

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Four more batteries are mounted under the car where the gas tank used to be. Tischer says he spent about $8,000 on batteries and the charger. He's using a Manzanita micro PFC-20 charger that can draw up to 20 amps at 240 volts.

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Tischer installed a battery management system from VoltBlocher.com to prevent overcharging. As each battery reaches 14.4 volts, the circuit sends excess power into a resistor to keep the battery from overcharging as the others continue charging. Beefy 4/0 gauge cable and crimp lugs tie it all together.

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The trunk houses 12 more batteries – six are stashed under that white cover in the spare tire well – and the electronics that keep the car going. The green box is the Manzanita charger. The gray box on the left is the custom-made inverter / motor controller (more on that in a moment). The black box is a homebuilt insulated-gate bipolar transistor stack.

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Tischer designed his own inverter / motor controller because the unit used to control the Siemens motor is no longer available. The inverter converts the 312 volts direct current from the battery pack to 230 volts alternating current for the motor. It runs in "sensorless vector control" mode, which allows Tischer to control the amount of torque generated by the motor. Full throttle means 100 percent torque. Half that amount is good for 65 mph on flat ground. Tischer gives a detailed explanation. (.pdf)

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Tisher has put about 150 miles on the car so far. After five months of troubleshooting, he's got it running "quite well" and has hit a top speed of 87.3 mph.

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Tischer says the Passat can easily carry 1,000 pounds, so it had no trouble handling the weight of the EV drivetrain. The motor weighs 120 pounds and there's 960 pounds of batteries aboard. That's roughly what the pack in the Tesla Roadster weighs.

"I've never driven a gas-powered Passat," Tischer said, "but I'm sure it doesn't feel like a boat like mine does. Stiffer springs in the back would definitely help. The ass end is sitting pretty low right now."

Source: Wired Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 4:00 am

Bionic Commando Takes a Swing and a Miss

The classic '80s game was based on a stupid premise, and the contemporary game does a good job of surmounting most of that. The gameplay itself, however, leaves something to be desired.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 4:00 am

Want to Fool Apple's App Store? Plant an Easter Egg

Apple rejected the iPhone app Lyrics because it contained profane words. After the developer hid the objectionable content in an Easter egg, the app was approved. The developer claims developers could use this method to get anything from porn to malicious code into the App Store.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 4:00 am

Glympse: A Hassle And Worry-Free Way To Share Your Location, Minus The Social Network

We’ve all been there. You’re late for a meeting with friends, stuck in traffic and unsure of when you’re actually going to arrive. You call them with updates like “well, I’m closer now, but still not sure…” and a shaky “maybe I’ll be there in 20 minutes?” What if your friends could track exactly where you were without the frustrating back and forth? Glympse, a new location-based service that is decidedly not another social network, is looking to help you do just that. Glympse is launching tonight on Android, and is coming soon to the iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and “other leading smartphone devices” (read: Palm).

Now, Glympse isn’t the first application that allows you to share your location with friends. But while other services like Loopt ask you to create a permanent connection with your peers, Glympse recognizes that oftentimes we don’t want all of our contacts to know our current whereabouts. Sure, you could adjust privacy settings on a per-user basis to specify who to share your location with and when, but that’s a hassle and can be easy to forget about. So Glympse takes a different approach, instead asking you to create temporary connections with other people that last for a maximum of four hours. The service doesn’t have any concept of long-time friends - you establish a connection, and it’s gone four hours (or less) later.

Glympse is the kind of application that sounds a little pointless at first, but the more you think about it, the more you realize how great the service could be. I can’t remember how many times I’ve told a friend or colleague I’d meet them at a restaurant “in about an hour”, only to find that I get stuck in traffic and wind up calling them multiple times to tell them when I’ll actually show up. With Glympse, I could just send them a message when I left, and they’d be able to track my progress. I wouldn’t have to be overly selective about who I shared my data with, as their permission would expire only a few hours later.

Reestablishing connections with your peers could get old quick, so Glympse is making it as painless as possible (you can initiate a Glympse in well under a minute). After opening the application, Glympse will ask you who you’d like to share your current location with (you can either enter their phone number or Email address manually, or you can select from your contacts). Then you specify the duration, which determines how long this contact will be able to see your current location. You can optionally also enter a message to accompany your location, as well as a plot for your ultimate destination (I could send a map to a friend with a marker that says “meet me here”). Hit Send and you’re done - a message will be sent to your contact informing them of your current position.

The message itself will contain to a link unique Glympse website, which pinpoints the sender’s current location on a dynamically updating map. You can view the website from mobile phones, and you can also share it with friends. This opens the door to some minor privacy issues (I could potentially Tweet a Glympse link and let the world see my friend’s current location) but since it would expire in a few hours anyway it probably wouldn’t be a big deal. Glympse isn’t launching with notifications (you’ll have to manually track your friend’s current status on the map), but the company says that it will soon issue an update that adds the feature soon. This means that you’ll be able to receieve a text message or Email whenever your friend arrives within a certain radius of you. Very cool.

This all sounds great, but there’s one major obstacle that’s going to hold Glympse back, and that’s the lack of background updating on the iPhone. Glympse is really only useful when your peers can keep track of your current position - not where you were the last time you remembered to check in (similar problems affect many other LBS services like Loopt). If I wanted to use my iPhone in the examples above, I’d have to leave the application open for my entire drive. Android does support background updating, but this can be a battery drain and the Android Marketplace doesn’t have nearly the momentum of the App Store. In any case, Apple is rumored to be trying to bring background updates to the iPhone, and other platforms like the upcoming Palm Pre support them, so this weakness may wind up being shortlived after all.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 19 May 2009 | 3:57 am

Chris Carter's tribute to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Throbbing Gristle's Chris Carter made a short video tribute to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Dig that pedal pandemonium! Ever since it was founded in 1958 to create sound effects and scores for radio programs, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop has been a huge influence on many electronic and experimental musicians. (via @chris_carter_)

Previously:

• Boing Boing Video: Throbbing Gristle - Boing Boing
• 1973 synthesizer music LP: BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Fourth ...
• Daphne Oram: electronic music pioneer - Boing Boing
• Throbbing Gristle and Derek Jarman - Boing Boing

Source: Boing Boing | 19 May 2009 | 3:55 am

8.0-Megapixels is the New 3.2 (In Japan)

DoCoMo's line up of cell phones releasing in June/July is impressive for two reasons: 1) there are 18 models. 2) the majority feature an 8.0-megapixel lens or better. Here's the distribution: 10.0 megapixel: 3 phones 8.0 megapixel: 7 phones 5.0 megapixel: 3 phones 3.2 megapixel: 5 phones And we're all still whining at Apple to deliver a measly 3.2.

Previously:
A very simple Japanese cell phone
Japanese cell phones designed by artist Yayoi Kusama - Boing Boing ...
Why Japanese cell phones suck - Boing Boing Gadgets


Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 19 May 2009 | 3:46 am

US To Require That New Cars Get 42 MPG By 2016

Hugh Pickens writes "New cars and trucks will have to get 30 percent better mileage starting in 2016 under an Obama administration move to curb emissions tied to smog and global warming. While the 30 percent increase would be an average for both cars and light trucks, the percentage increase in cars would be much greater, rising from the current 27.5 mpg standard to 42 mpg. Environmentalists praised the move. Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, called it 'one of the most significant efforts undertaken by any president, ever, to end our addiction to oil and seriously slash our global warming emissions.' Obama's plan also would effectively end litigation between states and automakers that had opposed state-specific rules, arguing that having to meet several state standards would be much more expensive for them than just one federal rule. The Detroit News reported that automakers were on board with the new rule and had worked with the administration on creating a timeline for the transition." There's a case to be made that raising the CAFE won't save oil or reduce greenhouse gases.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 19 May 2009 | 3:28 am

A Bunch Of Hot Spammers Had The Day Off Of Work LOL.

Around noon Pacific time today, a small meme broke out on the Internet. At nearly the exact same time, over a dozen Twitter accounts all tweeted out the message “Oh i had the day off work lol. thats why im home.” All were sent out from what appear to be the Twitter accounts of cute girls. Why? Because they’re all automated spam accounts set up by some lame online dating site.

Spamming a social network by creating fake accounts with pictures of cute girls is as old as social networking itself. But this one on Twitter is tricky because when you look all the accounts individually, they look like they may be legit. All use different names, have different pictures and use different bios. But all link to the same site (with the same BS ad campaign URL) and all have tweet streams that are exactly the same, word for word.

It looks like this Singlesnet site (or someone trying to reap the affiliate benefits) built a grass-roots spamming campaign of Twitter with these girls. But what’s odd is that it seems to be working somewhat. While most of these accounts seem to be following a good number of fake accounts — ones with no profile pictures and no updates — they all appear to have a good number (in the hundreds) of what appear to be real followers. Whether its the cute icons, mundane fake updates or number of legit followers that leads others to follow them, I couldn’t tell you. But people are following the fake girls.

And if you were only following one of them, it’d be hard to know that they were fake. Some have the same pink flower background (seen in the screenshot below), but not all do — tricky. But the two tell-tale signs are if their bio links to that Singlesnet site, or if they tweeted the magic words today, “Oh i had the day off work lol. thats why im home.”

Previous fake tweets included “Getting ready for work! Hehe just got out of the shower pervs” — always a winner.

I’m not sure that the bios in these fake Twitter accounts aren’t populated from real bios for real girls on the dating site, but the tweets are definitely all BS. Hope you didn’t try to set up a date with one of these girls.

CrunchBase Information

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Information provided by CrunchBase

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

Source: TechCrunch | 19 May 2009 | 2:47 am

Zazzle Goes To The Dogs, Expands Business Abroad

Zazzle, the site that lets you custom-design and sell everything from T-shirts and sneakers to postage stamps and skateboards, is launching localized sites and offerings in Australia and Canada. The company has also expanded its existing UK site, which was launched in late 2008, to the greater European market by accepting payments in Euros. And for pet-friendly users, Zazzle has unveiled a line of custom dog apparel, letting sellers put the same designs on items for both dogs and humans.

Zazzle allows anyone the opportunity to become product designers and to earn money by selling designs on a variety of items displayed in custom store fronts, free of charge to the seller. Designs and images can be screen printed or embroidered on items. Sellers earn royalties from the sale of products they design and can also allow consumers to further customize their creations.

The design site has also unveiled a suite of new “seller-friendly” tools to spice up sellers’ offerings. Sellers can now uber-customize their online storefronts, creating a branded destination for their products. Sellers can also enable a a filtering mechanism to specify which designs can be featured in different products in various colors. Additionally, Zazzle has implemented a Flash-powered bulk image upload tool that is compatible with Macs and PCs.

It’s good to see that Zazzle is growing by expanding its reach and offerings. Earlier this year, the startup underwent a round of layoffs, letting 15% of the company’s staff go due to the sluggish economy. Competitors include CafePress and Spreadshirt, which both have an international presence.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 19 May 2009 | 2:05 am

Scribd Becomes a DRM-Optional E-Bookstore

Miracle Jones writes "In an effort to compete with Amazon and Google, the document-hosting website Scribd will now be letting writers and publishers sell documents that they upload. They will be offering an 80/20 profit-sharing deal in favor of writers. Writers will be able to charge whatever they want. In addition, Scribd will not force any content control (although they will have a piracy database and bounce copyrighted scans) and will let writers choose to encrypt their books with DRM or not. This is big news for people in publishing, who have been seeking an alternative to Amazon for fear that Amazon is amassing too much power too quickly in this brand-new marketplace, especially after Amazon's announcement last week that they will now be publishing books as well as selling them."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 19 May 2009 | 1:31 am

Exclusive Leaked Screenshot Of Nokia’s Maemo Harmattan

After we broke the news this morning that Nokia was cracking away at a phone-friendly and potentially ad-supported version of their Internet tablet OS, Maemo, we figured we might be able to swing a screenshot.

Sure enough, our source came through. With that, we present the world’s first ever look at the mobile OS Nokia tentatively plans on launching around the end of 2010: Maemo Harmattan.

Read the rest of this post >>

Source: CrunchGear | 19 May 2009 | 1:28 am

Exclusive Leaked Screenshot Of Nokia’s Maemo Harmattan

After we broke the news this morning that Nokia was cracking away at a phone-friendly and potentially ad-supported version of their Internet tablet OS, Maemo, we figured we might be able to swing a screenshot.

Sure enough, our boy Sirm came through. With that, we present the world’s first ever look at the mobile OS Nokia tentatively plans on launching around the end of 2010: Maemo Harmattan.

As we mentioned in the earlier post, the Maemo Harmattan homescreen is essentially one big vertically scrollable page, filled from top-to-bottom with user selectable widgets. All of the widgets are deeply integrated with each other and the rest of the OS.

If you look closely, you’ll notice that only the top third or so of the image below has the blue background color. This is representative of the area visible on screen at one time. The background remains static, while the widgets float above it as the user slides them across the screen. Nokia’s obviously designing this interface for a widescreen display - but given the current trend of nearly every touchscreen being wide, that makes perfect sense.

Curiously, the ad widgets we disclosed earlier today are absent from this screenshot. Be it that Nokia moves forward with the ad widget concept and carriers embrace it (remember: the idea is that in exchange for ads on the homescreen, customers get a discount of some sort), ad-enabled handsets will have ad units locked in place between widgets.

We’ve run this screenshot past a few Nokians for authentication; while none were willing to outright verify it, they all said it looked perfectly legitimate to them. (Yeah - we noticed the “Tounament” typo in the calendar widget. We’ve got plenty of typos in our own calendar, so we’re not doubting it because of that.) Of course, Maemo Harmattan isn’t coming out until Q4 2010 at the earliest, so things might change. If it does, we’ll try to keep the screenshots flowing.

[Thanks, Sirm!]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 19 May 2009 | 1:04 am

Bookeen announces (possibly bad) ebook reader

Ebook device Bookeen announced last week that they are going to be introducing a new device, the “Cybook Opus.” Intended as an alternative to the Kindle, the details are sketchy so far, but we know that they are trying to make a lighter, more portable device then the other devices on the market.

Here’s what we do know, from the very basic information they are providing us with:

Very light (5.3 ounces)
1 GB of built in storage
200 DPI resolution
12 Different font sizes
“pocket size”

What we don’t see is what the actual size of the screen will be. You would expect the screen size to be the first thing that a company would mention, rather then the last. Sounds suspicious to me.

[via Electronista]

Source: CrunchGear | 19 May 2009 | 12:59 am

The interior design of '70s Danish pornography

A blogger has excerpted decor and fashion highlights from '70s Danish print pornography in such a way as to make them more-or-less safe for work. The above example is probably not the most illustrative of the collection, which is more lamps and furniture, but is too precious not to share. [via @RichardMetzger]


Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 19 May 2009 | 12:50 am

Leaked: RunKeeper To Get A New Logo, Website Overhaul

We only just opened the MobileCrunch Tips Line, and the stories are already pouring in. Keep’em coming, guys.

According to a source close to the matter, popular iPhone fitness app RunKeeper will soon be seeing a rebranding and website overhaul. We’ve obtained a screenshot showing most of the major changes, all of which seem to be visual at this point - but if nothing else, at least it’ll look pretty while you’re trying to de-fat yourself.

The new logo maintains the same color scheme as the original - but that’s about it. The sharp-edged, somewhat cheesy font of the original logo has been abandoned for a friendlier, rounded font. Additionally, they’ve opted to nix the strange RSS-icon-esque signal bars from the right side, filling the now free pixel real estate with the icon used within the app. It’s brighter and more inviting - overall, it’s a much better logo.

As with the new logo, much of new page design seems to be aimed at toning down the gloom factor. We’re fans of the RunKeeper application, but the dark blue background and accenting of the current design (see the screenshot at the base of this post for reference) depresses the hell out of us - not exactly a good thing, considering that the app is supposed to motivate you to go hoof off some poundage. The new design is much more inviting, with vibrant icons, rounded corners, and gradients aplenty. Its taken a while, but it looks like the design of the website will soon be on par with that of the iPhone app.

What do you think - better or worse?

New Design:

Old Design:

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 19 May 2009 | 12:13 am

Stanford’s Free iPhone Coding Class Surpasses 1M Downloads

About a month ago, Wired.com gave you a glimpse into the iPhone application programming course at Stanford University. We also noted the lectures were being videotaped and distributed free on the iTunes U educational channel. We’re delighted to see Stanford’s announcement that the video podcast has surpassed 1 million downloads — the fastest this milestone has ever been reached in the history of iTunes U, according to Stanford. Way to go, Stanford! The next army of iPhone developers salutes you.

See Also:

• Apple Launches iPhone University Program
• Nine-Year-Old Prodigy Writes iPhone App
• Hard Times? Not for iPhone Developers
• Texas University Hands Out Free iPods, iPhones
• Stanford Offers iPhone 101: App Developing Workshop
• Coder’s Half-Million-Dollar Baby Proves iPhone Gold Rush Is Still on
  
• Apple Promotes All-Time Top iPhone Apps
• iPhone Developers Go From Rags to Riches

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 19 May 2009 | 12:06 am

Snoozy the Sloth, a stuffed toy that really breathes

Justin Blinder gave birth to "Snoozy the Sloth", a stuffed toy that has a real diaphragm inside that allows it to breath, going so far as to exhale breath from its latex-glove lungs onto the neck of whomever is nuzzling it. Justin made Snoozy for a class at Parsons; I bet it won't be long before he is mass produced. For now, though, I like that Snoozy is a one-off, held together with makeshift parts, like a premature robot just clinging to life.


Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 18 May 2009 | 11:58 pm

JBoss offers enterprise business rules management (InfoWorld)

InfoWorld - Extending its open source middleware platform, JBoss plans to offer on Tuesday JBoss Enterprise BRMS (Business Rules Management System), for enablement of business policy and rules development.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 May 2009 | 11:55 pm

MECO plays "hide the home theater PC"

The MECO home entertainment computer from Pearing Systems is not cheap—custom configurations with Blu-ray, DVR, and full-blown audio solutions will run you into the thousands of dollars—but I appreciate their attempt at integration into home decor. The veneered coffee table chassis is fairly attractive and generic enough to match most living rooms. (Right there, yes, with the wine on it. That's the computer.) The systems are built entirely on Vista, which may or may not be a tick in your "For" column. But I've got to give them credit where it's due: at least they're trying to make the computer invisible.


Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 18 May 2009 | 11:52 pm

Dell Indicates Windows 7 Pricing Will Be Higher

ausekilis sends us word that a Dell spokesman said, without giving numbers, that Windows 7 pricing will be higher than Vista's or XP's. "Windows 7 pricing is potentially an obstacle to Windows 7 adoption for some users, though in just about every other aspect the operating system is beating Vista, according to a Dell marketing executive. ... [Darrell] Ward continued, 'In tough economic times, I think it's naive to believe that you can increase your prices on average and then still see a stronger swell than if you held prices flat or even lowered them. I can tell you that the licensing tiers at retail are more expensive than they were for Vista. ... Schools and government agencies may not be able to afford (the additional cost). Some of the smaller businesses may not be able to enjoy the software as soon as they'd like,' Ward said.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 18 May 2009 | 11:38 pm

Summer Haze Has A Cooling Effect

Global warming may include some periods of local cooling, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 May 2009 | 11:35 pm

The Blue Cat

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 18 May 2009 | 11:33 pm

Napster cuts music plan to $5 a month (AP)

AP - Napster.com on Monday cut the price of its online music streaming service to $5 a month from $12.95, and threw in five song downloads for customers in a move to better compete with rival iTunes.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 May 2009 | 11:27 pm

A week with the Puget Deluge Mini

Jon Bach, founder of boutique PC maker Puget Systems, is not always impressed by his suppliers' quality control. "The deeper that we get into the computer industry, the more cynical I become about it," Bach says. "There's so much hype, so little regard for what's best for the customer." To illustrate, he points to memory, where rapid innovation is just as rapidly commodified, and prices seem in perpetual freefall. Moving from one brand to another, Bach says, can result in profound differences in error rates. It's an offhand comment, but it expresses the animating principle of his business: building it yourself is fraught with risk. Puget does the research, assembles computers every day, and knows exactly what components will work well together. "One of the deciding factors is the [sales] volume of a boutique," Bach said. "It takes a lot of volume to discern trends and problems. Four years ago, we saw enough volume to discern trends, and to gain a direct line to engineers at Asus and Intel and so on. Most of the time we figure [problems] out before they do." Its latest product is the Puget Mini. It is like a small, dangerous sports car. Lavish customer service surrounds assembly and delivery. They overclock, benchmark and burn in it. Performance is stellar. On the other hand, it runs hot, and the $2,800 tag represents ostentatious expense in an age of tight budgets. Puget sent one to us to review. As tested, it has 6GB of DDR3 RAM, dual Nvidia Gforce 285 video cards, and an Intel Core i7 quad-core 920 CPU. There is an Asus Rampage II motherboard, a 300GB VelociRaptor and 1TB secondary hard drives, Blu-Ray optical, and Puget's own Hydro CL1 cooling system. There is an external heat-monitoring dongle, which plugs into a special port at the back, should the already-aggressive overclocking turn out to be insufficient. Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit is installed. This is mid-range, for Puget: models range to $10,000 and beyond, depending on your tolerance for the law of diminishing returns. As powerful within as it is bland without--the Antec P180 case is hardly a sex machine--the Mini's promise is of reliability and performance. Planted on the desktop and run through a selection of titles, including Assassin's Creed, Fallout 3 and F.E.A.R. 2, Project Origin, there was little to analyse: the same smoothness resulted regardless of display resolution or settings. Without access to multiple high-definition monitors, you won't be challenging a 3-grand Puget Mini for a while yet. The box was quieter than any heavily-cooled, overclocked system I've used, but spin-ups of its 6" case fan made themselves heard now and again. The only issue encountered was north bridge overheating with my home's A/C off. It shut down when the room was at about 85 degrees--hardly a fair environment for an overclocked gaming PC. Bach said that that production models include a fan, which the review model lacked, on the affected component. That they'd noticed this unlikely circumstance and fixed it prior to launch is reassuring, but it's also noticeable that Puget is a small, 25-employee firm selling luxury items. With its 3-page burn-in performance reports, it looks like the sort of company recessions don't pass by. Bach, however, says orders remain steady throughout the downturn. "It's changed things a little, but we haven't seen a difference in number sold," Bach said. "What everyone's tightening their belt on is what they're spending on each computer." It's machines a little fancier than the one tested, for example -- $3,000 to $5,000 -- that they can no longer shift. This sort of machine represents more power than current games can even be configured to exploit, and those who buy them are now opting for configurations priced between $1,500 and $2,000. At the "extreme high end" of $5,000-plus machines, however, Puget reports no difference in sales. If you enjoy running tests as a hobby unto itself you might feel the need to verify the supplied benchmark data and tinker further with its cooling characteristics. For the rest of us, Puget's Mini is a strongman gaming PC not afraid to look humble on the outside: its true appeal is in reliability guarantees and customer care.


Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 18 May 2009 | 11:25 pm

Nokia announces 3 new cell phones including the cheapest 3G phone available

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones

Today, cell phone manufacturer Nokia announced three new cell phones, the 2730 classic, the 2720 fold, and the 7020.  The 2730 is the cheapest 3G cell phone to date. 

Nokia 2730 classic

Other than being the cheapest 3G phone, it sports a 2 inch QVGA screen, Bluetooth functionality, FM radio, and a 2MP camera.  If you would like another email address, Nokia will provide you with your very own account that features spam and virus protection. 

The new phones Nokia announced today were specially designed to meet the needs of people living in developing areas.  For example, the phone has the ability to store up to 1,000 contacts.  I’m sure most of us won’t be using all that contact space individually, but as a family, it is quite possible. 

Also, the battery life is 17 hours of pure standby time, and 3.3 hours talk time, and Nokia Life Tools comes standard.  The 2730 will become available in Q3 of 2009, selling for only $108. 

Nokia 2720

The second phone Nokia announced today is the slim 2720, a clamshell-style phone.  It features Bluetooth, FM radio, MMS messaging, and an 18 hour standby battery life with 5 hours of talk time.  Expect this phone to become available in the third quarter for $75, a bit cheaper than the last phone.  Keep in mind, this phone does not have 3G connectivity. 

Nokia 7020

The last phone Nokia announced today is the 7020, which is also a clamshell phone.  It boasts a 2MP camera, ability to connect to social network websites, and will cost $124.  Unlike the other two phones, this one will be released in Q4 of 2009. 

Via [eWeek]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 18 May 2009 | 11:14 pm

Welcome, Wired. We call this land "Internet"

Here's the problem with Wired: They think print matters. Background: Stephanie Clifford warns that Wired may be about to die. Ad sales are down 50%, putting it just above Power and Motoryacht at the bottom of Condé Nast's portfolio of magazines. I've got some relatively ancient history to share, but I think it's germane. After I left Gawker Media, I was contracted by Condé to help the newly reacquired Wired.com develop a blogging strategy. I spent a few weeks with the Wired.com chiefs developing a battle plan and presented it to the magazine editor-in-chief Chris Anderson. He gave it the nod—he got what I was trying to do instantly—and away we went. Three months later the traffic to the Wired.com blogs had doubled. I cleared out writers that weren't working. That didn't always mean they were bad writers, but usually just bad bloggers—there is a difference. Even the best magazine writer may not be able to write and report in front of an audience. Our most successful blog was Table of Malcontents, run by our friend John Brownlee (with Lisa, too!), who ran with the opportunity, creating an "net culture" blog that was the archetypal model for what we were trying to create: Smart, fast, full of personality, two steps ahead of mainstream tastes. It had a superstar team, and with hard work they were soon the most popular blog on the network behind Rob's Gadget Lab. (They also did much to make my not-so-secret motto come true: "Make Wired weird again.") Then the magazine folks stepped in. As soon as it became clear that Wired.com's blogs might actually get some traction, the magazine started to dabble. I had structured the blogs so that each had a lead editor, something that that worked very well at Gawker. No one had a problem with that—until it meant that my lead bloggers might be telling magazine staffers what to do. It's not unusual for print journalists to look down at online writers, and often rightly so. There are some amazing reporters and writers whose work appears in Wired, people who do the sort of storytelling that bloggers rarely have the time or skill to do. But reporters treating their online peers like that at Wired? It was accepted without much question that the magazine side of the business—literally across the "Berlin Hall"—always trumped the online side. I made it about six months before I felt too constrained by both the magazine and its publishers and moved on. Since then, Wired.com's grown to 11 million monthly visitors: its blogs are among the best in their fields and its tech news reportage is among the finest, online or off—successes I don't take credit for. The sheer size of that readership speaks volumes: the Times says the magazine has only 700k or so subscribers. (It's a damn shame that online advertising is devalued compared to print advertising, but that's the media world for you.) Wired makes a fantastic magazine. The "puzzle" edition last month was just brilliant, and I skimmed it from cover to cover. But for technology and pop science reporting, the market has moved on. Tech magazines, now matter how well executed, are nothing more than a cute anachronism, with the same sort of boutique market as hand-made stationery. Which isn't to say that we or anyone else who writes for money isn't doomed; we just don't have to buy paper by the ton roll, nor keep a support staff around nearly as large as our editorial staff. Wired is great print, but if the magazine can't make money and is shuttered, taking the website down with it, I'm going to be livid. Not that making money online is easy—it's not, especially without sacrificing your ethics and your voice—but if any mainstream outlet should be able to make the transition, it should be Wired. I fear that may be impossible, not just for Wired but for all these old brands, because they can't accept that the work at which they have excelled for years will be just as important when it's online—and online only. P.S. No one actually ever called it the "Berlin Hall" except me. P.P.S. The fact that it was the Times that published this piece, one of my other dear media orgs also choking and sputtering on the future, was not lost on me.


Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 18 May 2009 | 11:12 pm

NEC Introduces First SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Controller

The first USB 3.0 host controller is expected to spur the availability of USB 3.0 products.

NEC Electronics has taken the first step towards general availability of devices based on USB 3.0, the next generation standard that is expected to offer a ten-fold speed increase over the current USB 2.0.

The company introduced the first USB 3.0 host controller chip for PCs and other digital devices in a move that will help bring the technology closer to market.

NEC’s µPD720200 chip can support USB data transfer speeds of up to 5 gigabits per second (Gbps) and will be fully backward compatible with earlier versions of the USB standard, says the company.

The launch of the chip comes nearly six months after the USB Implementers Forum finalized the specifications for the USB 3.0 standard. The new standard also allows for greater power output, which means more devices can be charged faster via USB.

Since its introduction in 1996, USB has changed the way we interact with our digital devices, allowing them to be truly plug-and-play. In 2007, more than 2.6 billion USB-enabled devices were shipped in 2007, estimates research firm In-Stat, with nearly four billion expected to ship by 2012.

NEC says it expects the market for USB 3.0 products to expand significantly in 2010. Samples of its µPD720200 host controller will be available starting June priced at $15 each. NEC expects monthly production of the chips to reach approximately one million units in September.

See also:
USB 3.0 to Deliver Tenfold Speed Increase

Photo: NEC Electronics

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 18 May 2009 | 11:04 pm

Time-lapse astrophotography of the Milky Way

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

Time-lapse photography is very cool to do, but fairly difficult. It requires a lot of patience, and the willingness to spend hours with your camera pointed at one subject without knowing whether or not your photos will turn out until it’s all said and done. Astrophotography is an easier form of time-lapse (at least in my opinion) but it still takes a lot of patience and time.

This clever fellow took a series of twenty second exposures over a nine hour time frame, and then stacked them together to make a video. He used a modified Canon 5D with a 15mm fisheye lens, and I would assume some type of external power supply since 9 hours is a long time to run on the stock battery pack. It’s quite stunning and well worth your time to watch it in it’s entirety. Having tried to do this myself in the past, I can tell you that it’s not as simple as it looks.

Source: CrunchGear | 18 May 2009 | 11:00 pm

Brain scan could stop epilepsy pre-surgery

U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 May 2009 | 10:59 pm

Android v1.5 “Cupcake” Release Pushed Back One Week

Dying to prove to the world that your buddy can down four Chipotle burritos in one sitting? If you’re waiting on T-Mobile to roll out Cupcake and all of its video-shooting, Youtube-uploading abilities, you’ve still got a while to go. T-Mobile just announced on its online forums that the release of Android v1.5 “Cupcake” is going to be delayed yet another week. The much-anticipated Cupcake was expected to be released, well, last week. Instead, G1 customers will just have to wait.

T-mobile’s official statement:
“G1 community,

We’d like to provide an update on the rollout of Android 1.5 for T-Mobile G1 customers.
We are working diligently to get Android 1.5 out as soon as possible, while aiming to ensure a consistent, positive experience for our customers. We’re finalizing the build this week to ensure optimal functionality and smooth delivery. Therefore, the rollout schedule has been reset by approximately a week, and we expect all G1 customers will have the update by early June.

Your device will notify you when the update is available. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 18 May 2009 | 10:53 pm

Five Nvidia CUDA-Enabled Apps Tested

crazipper writes "Much fuss has been made about Nvidia's CUDA technology and its general-purpose computing potential. Now, in 2009, a steady stream of launches from third-party software developers sees CUDA gaining traction at the mainstream. Tom's Hardware takes five of the most interesting desktop apps with CUDA support and compares the speed-up yielded by a pair of mainstream GPUs versus a CPU-only. Not surprisingly, depending on the workload you throw at your GPU, you'll see results ranging from average to downright impressive."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 18 May 2009 | 10:51 pm

Judge Postpones Lori Drew Sentencing to July

A federal judge on Monday postpones the sentencing of Lori Drew in the first federal cyberbullying prosecution. He indicates that he's still weighing a motion to reverse Drew's convictions on computer fraud charges.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 18 May 2009 | 10:40 pm

Got an iPhone? You can start a band.

When Malaysian wireless carrier Maxis went to go throw a big iPhone promo event in Penang, they decided to get some live entertainment. Being that it’s an iPhone event, what band would be better than one using nothing but iPhones as instruments?

Source: CrunchGear | 18 May 2009 | 10:36 pm

Got an iPhone? You can start a band.

When Malaysian wireless carrier Maxis went to go throw a big iPhone promo event in Penang, they decided to get some live entertainment. Being that it’s an iPhone event, what band would be better than one using nothing but iPhones as instruments?

These 4 guys managed to dig up 4 iPhones and learn to play a handful of popular songs in a week for the event, so we figured we should show them some love. Perfect? Nah - but they’ve got chops for only having practiced on the itty-bitty instruments for a few days. (Oh, and if you’re wondering: The drummer and pianist are using the “Band” app, the Bassist is using Moo Cow’s “Bassist” app, and the guitarists are using “PocketGuitar”)

Check out their renditions of Jazon Mraz’s “I’m Yours” and Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” after the jump. [Thanks Chong!]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 18 May 2009 | 10:32 pm

BB Video - Guatemala Protests: Eyewitness Cellphone Video from Twitterers

(Download / Watch on YouTube)

This past Sunday in Guatemala, tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital city to protest the assassination of an attorney who blamed president Álvaro Colom for his imminent murder in a posthumously-released YouTube Video.

Boing Boing Video viewer (and BB blog reader) Maria Figueroa (@thevenemousone on Twitter) was there with friends, and she sent us this eyewitness report captured on her cellphone.

Twitter has played a central role in this still-unfolding crisis: protests have been organized on this and other social networks, and Twitter user Jean "@jeanfer" Anleu went to jail last week for having posted a tweet related to the scandal. Authorities released him to house arrest, and he was forced to pay a $6,500 fine (for which he is now in debt).

The video featured here was shot on Maria's phone just as the protest was assembling. Her photos from Sunday's protest are here on Flickr. Here are more video clips documenting the protests.

Previously:

• Guatemala: "El Efecto Streisand," Update on Twitter User Arrested ...
• Guatemala: Protests for Assassinated Lawyer Streamed Live from ...
• Guatemala: Largest Protests Yet in Assassination and Corruption ...
• Guatemala: In YouTube Video Shot Before His Death, Attorney Blames ...
• Slain Lawyer's YouTube Video Plunges Guatemala into Crisis ...
• Guatemala: Twitterevolution, "YouTube Sedition," and Deepening ...
• Guatemala: Twitterer Released from Jail, Now Under House Arrest ...

Source: Boing Boing | 18 May 2009 | 10:19 pm

What Should Be In a Technology Bill of Rights?

snydeq writes "The Deep End's Paul Venezia argues in favor of the creation of a Technology Bill of Rights to protect individuals against malfeasance, tyranny, and exploitation in an increasingly technological age. Venezia's initial six proposed articles center on anonymity rights, net neutrality, the open-sourcing of law enforcement software and hardware, and the like. What sort of efficacy do you see such a document having, and in an ideal world, which articles do you see as imperative for inclusion in a Technology Bill of Rights?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 18 May 2009 | 10:06 pm

Science: CHOP research muscles out AIDS

Researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who have been researching AIDS for almost a decade, have come up with a novel new way to fight the immunovirus. Traditional vaccines didn’t seem to be working, so Dr. Philip Johnson, chief scientific officer at Children’s Hospital, shifted gears, and used muscles to deliver a gene in order to create a protein that interferes with the virus. Yay science!

Says Dr. Johnson:

Your muscle cells, we deposit the vaccine, it’s actually a gene, and it makes a protein, and in this case, interferes with a virus and your muscles make the protein. It actually gets into the circulation, and there it does it’s [sic] thing, it blocks the virus from infecting.

You can read the research paper entitled Vector-mediated gene transfer engenders long-lived neutralizing activity and protection against SIV infection in monkeys at Nature.com. The work to date has proven effective in mice, and then in monkeys. Human trials are next, to see if the Human Immunodeficiency Virus is different from the Simian Immunodeficiency virus.

Via Philebrity.

Source: CrunchGear | 18 May 2009 | 10:00 pm

Boing Boing Video: Welcome, Miles O'Brien!

Just as we invite guestbloggers to the Boing Boing blog, we periodically welcome guest correspondents to Boing Boing Video, our daily online video program.

I am thrilled to announce today that we have the honor of welcoming none other than Miles O'Brien, former CNN anchor and reporter, one of the most esteemed space and science journalists on the home planet, as a Boing Boing Video guest contributor.

Snip from his bio:

"Miles is a 26-year broadcast news veteran - with nearly 17 years as CNN's science, aerospace, technology and environment correspondent. He is now on his own - based in New York City - covering the same stuff across various media platforms."

Since departing CNN, Miles has been doing really interesting experiments in online media, including webcasts, features over at True Slant, live-twittering Space Shuttle launches, and other work we hope to showcase here on BB soon.

I've been watching him explore what is possible in online, independent news venues with the same sense of adventure that captivated me in his space reporting for CNN. The video he's been producing as a solo journalist is wonderful.

Miles is a personal hero. He's the best there is at what he does. It is with the absolute deepest respect that we welcome him as a guest colleague.

Source: Boing Boing | 18 May 2009 | 9:50 pm

Nokia Bringing Maemo To Phones, Could Be Ad-Supported

If your carrier offered to take a hefty chunk of change off the cost of a mobile handset be it that you let them put advertisements on the home screen, would you take the deal? Nokia thinks you might.

Our source deep within Nokia’s headquarters has just leaked us a bunch of information about the company’s future operating system release, Maemo “Harmattan”. It’s jam-packed full of unexpected twists, including their new-found love for home screen ads.

Read the rest of this entry >>

Source: CrunchGear | 18 May 2009 | 9:34 pm

DARPA Shows Off Their Latest Shinies

coondoggie writes with news that the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has released their top nine strategic research programs via a 57-page report last week. The overarching theme seems to be big long term goals that could result in major advances in technology. "DARPA's projects run the gamut from building extremely fast, secure networks, and developing higher, longer flying unmanned aircraft to bio-related advances that help bring vaccines to a useful state faster and space technologies that offer modular satellite systems."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 18 May 2009 | 9:24 pm

Atomic Disruptor Raygun

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 18 May 2009 | 9:22 pm

IIS 6 Attack Could Let Hackers Snoop on Servers (PC World)

PC World - Security vendors are warning users of Microsoft's Internet Information Services 6 Web-server software that a new online attack could put their data at risk.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 May 2009 | 9:20 pm

Leaked: Nokia Bringing Maemo To Phones, Could Be Ad-Supported

If your carrier offered to take a hefty chunk of change off the cost of a mobile handset be it that you let them put advertisements on the home screen, would you take the deal? Nokia thinks you might.

Our source deep within Nokia’s headquarters has just leaked us a bunch of information about the company’s future operating system release, Maemo “Harmattan”. It’s jam-packed full of unexpected twists, including their new-found love for home screen ads.

Update: We’ve got a screenshot of Maemo Harmattan now.

For the sake of everyone unfamiliar with Nokia’s wares, a quick overview: though they primarily use Symbian S40 and S60 across their mobile handset line, Nokia has been working on an operating system called “Maemo” for a few years now. Thus far, Nokia’s reserved it exclusively for their Internet Tablet line, though recent rumors have indicated that they are considering bringing it to mobile phones. Sometime soon, Nokia is expected to launch the fifth iteration of Maemo, codenamed “Fremantle”. Following that build will be Maemo “Harmattan”. Beyond that it would bring support for the Qt development framework that Nokia acquired in 2008, little is known about this build - until today.

Right off the bat, our source confirmed that Maemo was indeed headed for at least one Nokia phone. In fact, they say the eventual plan is to use Maemo to phase out S60 all together - though they do admit that based on Nokia’s history, this is unlikely to happen any time soon.

Here’s everything we know so far:

• This build of Maemo is a fairly dramatic shift from past releases, having been largely rebuilt for the jump to phones
• The home screen (”Harmattan Direct UI”) is essentially one big vertically scrolling page on which users can add widgets. We’ve seen a few widget examples so far, and they all appear to take up the full width of the screen.
• These widgets are tightly tied to the rest of the phone. Imagine, for example, that your home screen is made up of a calendar widget and a map widget, along with a handful of other widgets. If you make an appointment with one of your contacts, the appointment will automatically load into the calendar widget, place an icon in the right location on the map widget, and tie itself into any of the other widgets where appropriate
• Home screen ad widgets would be tucked between these other widgets. Unlike the other widgets, ad widgets would not be user removable or customizable.
• The current plan is for Nokia to give control of these ad units to the carriers, presumably taking a cut of the ad revenue.
• Nokia’s goal with these ad widgets is to make them incredibly context sensitive based on behavioral data. GPS placing you near a K-Mart? Bam! K-Mart ads. Browsing history showing you’re a peruser of Hello Kitty fansites? Sanrio ads might embarrass the hell out of you grace your homescreen.
• Our source indicates that this is all part of Nokia’s larger goal of conquering the cell phone cloud services market.
• Maemo Harmattan’s tentative release date is Q4 2010/Q1 2011.

Would carriers play along with this idea? Perhaps. While we were digging for independent confirmation of these details, another source pointed out that Pekka Ala-Pietilä, President of Nokia until 2005, left the company to start Blyk. As it just so happens, Blyk is a mobile operator in the Netherlands and UK which gives customers free texts/minutes each month in exchange for ad views. At the very least, this shows that there are carriers out there willing to experiment with the concept.

We are expecting to have at least one shot of Maemo Harmattan to share within the next few hours - so check back soon. (Note: The UI shown in the shot up above isn’t Harmattan - just a concept that trickled out from a Nokia presentation a few months back.)

[Thanks, Sirm!]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 18 May 2009 | 9:19 pm

Google suffers yet another outage

Section: Web, Google

As we reported in our Twitter feed, Google users had to put up with yet another service interruption when Google News went down for about 2 hours this morning starting at 8:30am EDT.  Users from all over the world reported the outage.  Some got a “503 Server Error” while others were able to access the service but found it was incapable of displaying pages correctly.  Still others got “Server Error” messages when any link on the site was clicked By just after 10AM service had been fully restored.

Google posted this on their official blog:

“Earlier today, Google News was temporarily unavailable for some users. Beginning at around 5:35 AM, Pacific Time, some users began experiencing slower-than-usual service from Google News, and between approximately 6:25 AM and about 7:00 AM, Pacific Time, a small percentage of users saw a 503 server error, along with a message to try their requests again later. This issue has now been resolved. We know how important Google News is to our users, so we take issues like this very seriously. We apologize to those users who were affected.”

Today’s outage was just the latest in a long string which started late last year.  While they are quick to apologize on their blog, each outage adds a new dent in the service’s armor as they try to position themselves as the world’s most reliable web service.  Are they really?  If you’re a diehard Google user it sure doesn’t seem like it.

Google’s never really given a full explanation of why they keep having these outages, instead blaming them on server glitches, traffic issues or in the case of the glitch that caused every site in Google’s search engine to be labeled malicious, human error.

Is Google getting too big for its britches?  In its eagerness to be all things to all people are they simply trying to do more than they can handle?  Let me know your thoughts!

Read [PCWorld]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 18 May 2009 | 9:18 pm

BB Video - Miles O'Brien Reports: An Astronaut Climbs Everest (with a GPS Assist)

In this episode of Boing Boing Video, guest contributor Miles O'Brien, the veteran space and science reporter formerly with CNN, speaks with astronaut Scott Parazynski as he attempts to summit Mt. Everest.

Parazynski and his team are scheduled to actually attempt the summit within the next day or two, as I understand their current plans.

They are using a personal satellite tracking device called "Spot" as a security measure. The GPS device has the added benefit of providing digital breadcrumbs of data that can be used to generate real-time maps of exactly where they are on the trail.

More of Miles "1337" O'Brien's work at True/Slant, and you can (and should) follow him here on Twitter.

Astronaut-turned-climber Scott Parazynski's Everest climb blog is here, and you can also follow him on Twitter, live from Nepal.

Below, a screengrab of their current coordinates -- and a snapshot of Scott at rest on Mount Everest. After the jump, more photos.

(Previously: Boing Boing Video: Welcome, Miles O'Brien!)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 18 May 2009 | 8:45 pm

Special Protein Helps TO Maintain An Efficient Brain

The instruction manual for maintaining an efficient brain may soon include a section on synaptotagmin-IV (Syt-IV), a protein known to influence learning and memory, thanks to a study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.The study showed that Syt-IV keeps the strength of synapses — connections between nerve cells where communication occurs — within a useful range of neither too strong nor too weak.Synapses' ability to adjust over time by becoming bigger and stronger or smaller and weaker — their plasticity — is at the heart of remembering, forgetting and learning.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 May 2009 | 8:42 pm

Napster cuts price and adds 5 downloads (Reuters)

Reuters - Digital music supplier Napster said on Monday it is slashing its monthly subscription price to $5 and adding downloads of songs to its streaming service in a bid to expand its customer base and compete with Apple Inc's iTunes.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 May 2009 | 8:41 pm

New back pain therapy guidelines issued

The American Pain Society has issued new clinical guidelines for low back pain, emphasizing the use of non-invasive therapy vs.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 May 2009 | 8:13 pm

Hubble spacewalkers complete all tasks

The fifth and final U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 May 2009 | 8:01 pm

Brain Organization Changes As We Enter Adulthood

A new study finds that children’s brains are organized differently than those of adults.  Specifically, the neural connections within a child’s brain are more a function of proximity to one another than is the case with adult brains.The research also showed that despite these differences, one of the most important core principals of adult brain organization is present in the brains of children as young as 7 years old."Regardless of how tempting it might be to assume otherwise, a normal child's brain is not inherently disorganized or chaotic," said the study’s senior author Steven E.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 May 2009 | 7:45 pm

Apple Begins Stress Testing Push Notification Servers

And so it begins. With WWDC and presumably the release of iPhone OS 3.0 just around the corner, Apple has deemed it time to begin stress-testing their Push Notification servers. We just received a letter from a (very) trusted source, in which Apple invited them to download a pre-release version of the Associated Press iPhone application, specifically tuned to make a high number of background push requests.

Upon adding the application, an iPhone-wide “Notifications” toggle is added to the iPhone OS 3.0 Settings screen, along with the option to toggle Notifications on an app-by-app basis. Screenshots and the full text of the letter available after the jump.

As a developer actively working with iPhone OS 3.0 beta, we would like your help in testing the Apple Push Notification service. We have selected a pre-release version of the Associated Press app for iPhone OS 3.0 to create a high-volume test environment for our servers.
To participate, we ask that you follow these steps:
1.
Download the pre-release version of the Associated Press app for iPhone OS 3.0 from the iTunes Store via your desktop by entering this unique redemption code in the ‘Redeem’ section of iTunes, found under the ‘Quick Links’ section:
[CODE REMOVED]
This unique redemption code and the functionality of the application will expire in seven days.
2.
Install the application on a development device running iPhone OS 3.0 beta 5 by synching it to iTunes. Make sure to accept notifications when prompted after installation. This application can only be installed on devices running iPhone OS 3.0 beta 5.
3.
When you first run the app, choose U.S. English as your region when prompted. The U.S. English region will receive alerts, the Canadian English region will not. For purposes of the test, AP will be sending a high-volume of real news alerts.
4.
If you do not receive notifications from the app within 48 hours after installation, let us know.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 18 May 2009 | 7:41 pm

SLIDE SHOW: The Hidden Cost of Solar Power

Is "Big Solar" ever a mistake? Some desert advocates say so.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 18 May 2009 | 7:41 pm

Astronauts Wrap Up Hubble Work

Astronauts finished work on the Hubble Space Telescope and shut the doors to the observatory.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 18 May 2009 | 7:41 pm

BillMyParents.com - the online version of “Please, Mom, can I have it?”

Section: Web, Websites

Credit card companies cannot get cards to kids even though they would love to.  However, BillMyParents.com is kind of a bridge that may let kids use their parents’ credit cards indirectly.  How does it work? 

The kid without a credit card goes to the BillMyParents site and then goes shopping.  The site works with Amazon, so they’ve got a big selection.  The parent can then approve the purchase with their credit card or not.  What’s really important is that the kid doesn’t have direct access to the credit card. 

It’s not that different than setting up a Wish List, but it’s definitely an interesting idea.  If you’re a parent, you could keep track of what your kid wants.  You may also get an insight into things you had no idea about.  “What’s an ‘iCarly,’ honey?” 

Since BillMyParents is an Amazon affiliate, they get paid if they refer people to Amazon.  I could see this being very useful for high school or college students to purchase books or school-related items.  Also, you may be able to prevent your kid from getting too far into credit card debt if they are using your lower interest credit card via BillMyParents.com instead of getting their own card.

Site: [BillMyParents.com]
Read: [BusinessWire]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 18 May 2009 | 7:12 pm

Weird New NASA Rovers Really Get Around

While the Mars Rover Spirit sits with a wheel stuck in the sand, NASA is hard at work developing new rovers with innovative ways of getting around on extraterrestrial surfaces.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 18 May 2009 | 7:07 pm

Device continuously monitors cancer growth

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology team says it has created the first implantable device that can continuously monitor cancer growth. Surgical removal of a tissue sample, a procedure known as a biopsy, is now the standard for diagnosing cancer.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 18 May 2009 | 6:52 pm

In Russia, Case Mods You

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 18 May 2009 | 6:36 pm

What’s Funny As Hell About The Supposed AT&T iPhone Plan Price Cut

Facing criticism that even the minimum iPhone monthly bill is too high for many consumers, AT&T is reportedly thinking about cutting its prices. The big rumored change is that AT&T would apparently offer a limited data package for $20-a-month, a $10-a-month reduction over the current all-you-can-eat plan. This makes me laugh because AT&T clearly thinks consumers are stupid. If AT&T really wanted to reduce monthly iPhone bills it could do something very simple: Start including SMS plans in its unlimited data plans. After all, SMS is data, yet it conveniently falls outside of AT&T's unlimited service. The reason for this is obvious: Text messages are an absolute cash cow for AT&T and the other carriers. They are also an absolute rip-off, as they cost the carriers next to nothing to transmit. Instead of just folding these SMS fees into the unlimited data plans like rival Sprint does, AT&T wants to pretend to save consumers money by offering a limited data package for $10 less a month. What a joke.

Source: MobileCrunch | 18 May 2009 | 6:36 pm

Sony releases new Alpha DSLR camera line

Section: Imaging, Digital Cameras

Sony has just added a slew of new products to its digital camera line. Highlights from the new items, include three new Alpha cameras, four new lenses and a new flash for SLR digital cameras.  These products are introductory items that new DSLR users will find easy to operate.  Sony is marketed the new line to consumers that are ready to move on from point and shoot cameras to DSLR in order to take better pictures.

The three new Alpha cameras are lightweight and the smallest version weighs just under 16 ounces. The a230 and a330 both are 10.2 megapixel digital cameras.  The a380 has 14.2 megapixels and replaces its predecessor the DSLR-A350.  The cameras have a built in stabilizer system that helps reduce blur while taking photos.  You can focus pictures on the 2.7 inch LCD screen or the optical viewfinder.  The a330 and a380 cameras both allow you to tilt the LCD screen to suit your preferences.  Use the HDMI terminal to connect the cameras to a high def compatible device.

The new lenses available through Sony will be available separately or packaged along with the new Alpha cameras.  A compact external flash will be available for the cameras as well.  You can pre-order the line from Sony now, but they will be released in stores by July.

Site: [Sony]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 18 May 2009 | 5:20 pm

Blue Whales Returning to Alaska

Having recovered from near extinction, blue whales reclaim an old migration route.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 18 May 2009 | 4:51 pm

Polluted Waters Bear Magnetic Signature

The telltale traces of heavy metals could help map tainted waterways.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 18 May 2009 | 3:51 pm

Ethical Guide for Robot Warriors in the Works

A software package aims to guide robots to make ethical decisions in war.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 18 May 2009 | 3:31 pm

Gadgetell Review and Contest: Radius Atomic Bass Earphones

Section: Audio, Headphones, Reviews, Features, Contests

These days you can’t swing a dead cat in the city without hitting someone with earphones on.  Many of us find the stock pair from Apple are a bit uncomfortable over any lengthy period of time.  It’s time for an upgrade and today, Gadgetell is starting a contest that will end Friday for a free set of Atomic Bass earphones from Radius.  Check out our review and if you like what you read, enter the contest.

Radius earphones for iPhone 3G

Guts

The Atomic Bass earphones for iPhone 3G add a high performance inline microphone/remote to the standard pair of Atomic Bass earphones that we are giving away this week.  These earphones are made from light aluminum; their weight is barely noticeable.  The wire is 120cm long, features a 3.5mm gold plated jack and according to the manufacturer feature a 10mm neodymium magnet that produces outstanding bass response.  These things look cool.

Fit

Sizing is accomplished via a small, medium, large set of interchangeable silicone caps to plug up your ear canal.  Other earphones tend to include tons of options for in-ear fit that let you customize them a bit more, but the S/M/L got the job done.  I went with medium and was able to run on a treadmill without them falling out any more than those with more fit options, so no harm - no foul there.  They didn’t feel perfect, but didn’t cause problems either - fit is a personal thing so experiences will vary.

Sound

Overall, these earphones fared well.  Despite selling for $49.99 for the iPhone version, I tested them against a pair of Shure M100s and found the sound to comparable despite the Shures costing double the price.  The bass response was good, I was able to discern low base and it wasn’t overpowering on the top end.  Overall, sound quality was great.

Remote/Microphone

Most of the time, I don’t use iPhone specific earphones and after using the Radius pair made for iPhone, I have no idea why.  Fast forwarding a song while running no long required my special skill of double tapping the main button, and locating the fast forward onscreen button.  A simple double click on the remote and slow songs in my mix were bypassed while working out.  Handy.  The microphone was good, not great according to people on the other end; but it was better than trying to talk the phone in my armband while running, so points there.

Bang for the buck

It is easy to test these against my collection of $100ish earphones and it sits mid pack.  Sounds was comparable, fit was a little off, but iPhone controls were cool.  The hard part is to remember the Radius earphones cost half of the others.  And that is impressive.

Overall

To sum up, I like these.  Their sound quality and hot aluminum looks are winners in my book.  The low price is icing on the cake.  I don’t see these staying in stock long anywhere and according to the reviews on their website from places like CNET, everyone seems to agree with me.

Learn more at Radius.

Contest

Ok, so you’ve read my review.  Now you want a pair for yourself?  Gadgetell is here to help with special thanks to Radius.  We’ve joined forces to give away a pair of the Radius Atomic Bass earphones in black, their most popular model.  A $39.99 value, yours for the taking. 

How:

How do you enter this giveaway?  That’s super-simple.  Register with Gadgetell, create a profile and leave a comment to this post telling us where you listen to your music with earphones on.  Is it the gym?  Work?  Skate park?  Bearing Sea crab boat?  We’ll be picking at random, so don’t hurt yourself.

Remember, you must be registered and have a profile for your comment to count as an entry!

Good luck.
Read: [Full Contest Terms]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 18 May 2009 | 3:10 pm

Your Next Netbook May Be an Android

Android, Google’s mobile operating system has been confined to cellphones so far. But consumer electronics makers are looking to make the new OS part of other gadgets too, such as netbooks, digital photo frames and e-book readers.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 18 May 2009 | 2:37 pm

SLIDE SHOW: Hubble Gets a House Call

The Hubble Space Telescope gets its final fix during a packed 11-day mission.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 18 May 2009 | 2:31 pm

Is Apple considering background processes?

FROM APPLETELL - Remember the last time Apple said anything about background processes? Yeah, they brushed it off as ridiculous given current battery technology.  Apple may now realize that’s a pretty lame excuse.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 18 May 2009 | 2:28 pm

Tree Leaves Reveal Deadly Pollution Levels

A potent tool for tracking particulate air pollution is discovered -- tree leaves.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 18 May 2009 | 2:01 pm

Usage patterns could help fight spam

Section: Web

Email services and users are constantly trying to find a better way to filter out spam.  The current word filtering isn’t too bad, but spammers have found easy ways around them.  There might be a new way of figuring out which messages are spam, and which are not, all relying on the time they come in.

A new study from Northwestern University and Yahoo Research shows that it’s possible to determine who sends out email at which times.  According to the study, there are two distinct groups of people who send out emails, those who send email during working hours, and those of us who send email from the moment they wake up to the minute they go to sleep. 

Most people tend not to stray from their standard pattern very often.  Spam sent by bots, however, tends to have irregular patterns, which can potentially indicate to filters that the emails are in fact spam.  It could even lead to potential notification by the email provider to end users that their accounts are being used to send out spam.

The study also goes on to point out that there are particular usage patterns of the Internet in general that could be used to the advantage of other websites.  Sites could use the usage patterns of their visitors to better determine who to market to.  It’s an interesting idea, and one that could possibly help Google AdSense determine what it’s users want to see.  In addition to using the small cookies introduced back in March to track interests, perhaps it could also use time stamps to help determine what to market to each individual person.

Read [Wired]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 18 May 2009 | 1:09 pm

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