Previously:

• None more black - Boing Boing
• Nanoengineers created blackest-ever black metal - Boing Boing
• Blackest material EVAR - Boing Boing

Source: Gizmodo | 2 Jul 2009 | 4:45 am

Twitter’s Popular Facebook App Has Been Broken Or Exploited For Days.

Twitter has long had an official Facebook application that allows users to update their Facebook status with tweets. It’s quite useful for those of us who don’t want to have to spend all day updating multiple services with the same messages. The app has over 250,000 monthly active users. But if you’re not already one of them, I have bad news: You’re not allowed to use it.

For the past several days, anyone who has tried to install the app has been greeted with the following message:

Error while loading page from session test

There are still a few kinks Facebook and the makers of session test are trying to iron out. We appreciate your patience as we try to fix these issues. Your problem has been logged - if it persists, please come back in a few days. Thanks!

A few days? Try a week now. And it seems that despite the issue being “logged” neither side seems to care much about fixing it. And what the hell is “session test”?

Well, it turns out Session Test is actually another Facebook application created by someone called “Bob McTest” — a Facebook profile with two friends and a crazy picture (below right). Session Test has 45,373 monthly active users and 182 fans, despite awful reviews (because as far as I know, all it does is block this Twitter app). Humorously, when you try to install Session Test, you get the same Session Test error message.

At first, I assumed this was some kind of test application Facebook created to log errors, but it says clearly on the page, “This application was not developed by Facebook.” So why is a second app popping up when you try to install the Twitter app? It may be some kind of exploit. When we contacted Facebook about it, they said they would look into it.

On the Sessions Test page you’ll find some rather humorous reviews and discussions from users who are pissed off about not being able to install the Twitter app. The Reviews area for example features messages like, “Steady errors for weeks now… Way to go… update: another week, still nothing….” and “errors!!!!!!!!!! f@ck!!!!” But you won’t find any kind of response from either side there.

And the Discussions area is even better. One thread called “I hate you” features a bunch of annoyed would-be Twitter/Facebook users. Another thread called “TWITTER” features more of the same. Finally, someone made a thread just to point out other apps created to workaround the problem, but really, it’s pretty ridiculous that neither side has even responded to any of this.

One user links to a Get Satisfaction thread also talking about the issue. But again, no response from anyone on either side. I know Facebook and Twitter may not be on the best terms right now following Twitter’s rejection of Facebook’s offer to buy the startup late last year. And the subsequent moves Facebook has taken to become more Twitter-like. But it’s the users of both services who are getting angry here.

After I reached out to both sides about the issue, both said they would look into it. Facebook doesn’t seem to think it’s a problem on their end as VP of Communication and Public Policy Elliot Schrage told us, “this is a question more appropriately posed to Twitter — they built the app!” But it seems pretty clear that one app is exploiting another one, which would seem to be at least partially Facebook’s problem. Meanwhile, Twitter cofounder Biz Stone tells us that he’s looking into it.

It seems hard to believe that neither side would even be aware of the issue, but then again, given that the two seem to be competing more and more, an app that allows you to use one of the services rather than the other is probably not at the top of the priority list for either side.

And the app still works for the users who had it installed before this issue arose. But if you try to change your username or password, you will get the error message as well.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 2 Jul 2009 | 4:28 am

Learn.com Now Hiring Sales Superstars - Qualified Candidates to Receive Signing Bonus

SUNRISE, Fla., July 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Learn.com(R), the leader in on-demand workforce development and productivity, announced today that the company has launched a new incentive program for accomplished sales professionals in the learning and talent management industry who are looking for the best growth opportunity.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Jul 2009 | 4:01 am

Video: Roast Weenies With Infrared Grill, Wireless Meat Thermometer

To celebrate Independence Day, Wired.com editors Danny Dumas and Steven Leckhart roast dogs with 14,000 Btu of infrared heating power. They review the an infrared portable grill and a wireless meat thermometer.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 2 Jul 2009 | 4:00 am

Group Effort: Solo Musicians Band Together on Collaboration Web Sites

Sure, you could post a "bassist wanted" ad on craigslist instead of the old coffeehouse bulletin board. But there's a better way to find kindred indie spirits. A host of Web sites have sprung up to help musicians connect and collaborate online. Whether you're seeking virtual bandmates for a recording or soliciting remixes from up-and-coming producers, you can now tap into a worldwide talent network from the solitude of your home studio. With scads of sites competing to cash in on the community-generated music craze, the discerning artist may need some guidance. So we compiled a hit list of the best services. Remember us when you debut at number one.

Top 10 Sites for Virtual Jam Sessions

• Indaba Music
  Swap tips on mixing, mastering, and distributing your work, and access a slew of tools for artistic collaboration. You can also participate in remix contests, which occasionally feature such A-listers as the Roots and Yo-Yo Ma.
• Jamglue
  Upload your songs and watch as Jamglue's huge community of mixologists slices, dices, and reshapes them. Or play producer and rework jams by the likes of T-Pain, R. Kelly, and MC Lars.
• Kompoz.com
  This site enables songwriters and musicians to come together as virtual bands. Got a cool guitar part? Record it, post it, and ask your fellow Kompozers to supply the rest.
• Minimum Noise
  You've recorded a solid tune, but it needs ... something. A Fender Rhodes, perhaps? Post a description of the accompaniment you seek and what you're willing to pay. Choose the best submission and buy the rights to use it.
• MixMatchMusic
  Lay down tracks with musicians around the globe using a Pro Tools-like recording and mixing interface. MixMatch also hosts a marketplace for the resulting works, with 85 percent of licensing revenue going to artists.
• Rifflet
  Calling itself a recycling bin for rock 'n' roll, Rifflet lets musicians contribute unused bits and bobs—a cool drumbeat, say, or unfinished song—so others can use them to craft new pieces.
• SoundCloud
  Looking for feedback on a demo? Post it here. Soundcloud's music player lets friends—or the community at large—leave text comments pegged to particular spots in a song's waveform.
• Tune Rooms
  Jam with other musicians by uploading your tracks to a browser-based sequencing interface. Or sit back and watch the next big hit get developed by the crowd. Artists retain rights to their material and can sell it offline.
• WeMix
  Megaplatinum rapper Ludacris cofounded WeMix as a place for aspiring hip-hoppers to post vocals, beats, and songs. Members then critique, build on, and remix the tracks. The best works could be released on Luda's label.
• YourSpins
  Geared toward mashup artists, this site hosts contests with music by talent such as Sia, Natasha Bedingfield, and Lil Mama. Take a song's separated parts, rework them, and post your mix. You can also generate ringtones. (YourSpins.com is currently out of service.)

Source: Wired Top Stories | 2 Jul 2009 | 4:00 am

July 2, 1982: Up, Up and Away in 42 Balloons

If bad eyesight ends your dreams of becoming an Air Force pilot, well, there are other ways to fly....

Source: Gizmodo | 2 Jul 2009 | 4:00 am

Explosions in the Sky: Take Better Fireworks Photos

When those great balls of fire appear in the sky above you this Independence Day, grab some impressive shots — no matter what kind of camera you own. Follow this advice from Wired’s How-to Wiki.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 2 Jul 2009 | 4:00 am

Explosions in the Sky: Take Better Fireworks Photos

When those great balls of fire appear in the sky above you this Independence Day, grab some impressive shots — no matter what kind of camera you own. Follow this advice from Wired’s How-to Wiki.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 2 Jul 2009 | 4:00 am

Video: Roast Weenies With Infrared Grill, Wireless Meat Thermometer

To celebrate Independence Day, Wired.com editors Danny Dumas and Steven Leckhart roast dogs with 14,000 Btu of infrared heating power. They review the an infrared portable grill and a wireless meat thermometer.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 2 Jul 2009 | 4:00 am

Comets Probably Seeded Earth's Nitrogen Atmosphere

KentuckyFC writes "One of the biggest puzzles of astrobiology is the origin of the Earth's oceans and atmosphere. One favored theory is that our water is the leftovers from a bombardment of comets early in Earth's history. But the ratio of hydrogen and deuterium in the oceans doesn't match the ratio in the four comets measured so far (Halley's, Hyakutake, Hale-Bopp and C/2002 T7 LINEAR). Now a new analysis of the ratio of nitrogen-14 and 15 isotopes in these comets and on Earth places new limits on how much of our environment could have come from comets. On the one hand, the astronomers who did the work say that no more than a few percent of Earth's water could have come from comets. But on the other, they say that the ratio of nitrogen isotopes in these comets almost exactly matches the ratio in Earth's atmosphere. That suggests that while Earth's oceans must have come from somewhere else, Earth's early atmosphere was probably seeded by comets."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 2 Jul 2009 | 3:58 am

Usenet.com Loses Music Lawsuit - Wall Street Journal

Ars Technica

Usenet.com Loses Music Lawsuit Wall Street Journal The recorded-music industry won a victory in federal court against Usenet.com Inc., a company that allows users to exchange files such as articles and songs on different newsgroups. The ruling, from the Southern District of New York, gives the industry ... Usenet.com loses case to RIAAAfterdawn.com Usenet Loses RIAA Copyright Infringement SuitInformationWeek Judge throws book at Usenet.com in RIAA lawsuitArs Technica Zeropaid -TG Daily -Mediapost.com all 31 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 2 Jul 2009 | 3:47 am

Plasma Waves Studied for New Electronics

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?With NSF support, long-time electrical engineer William Stillman talks about his return to school and the focus of his research involving terahertz radiationAfter nearly 25 years as an electrical engineer in semiconductor development and manufacturing, I headed back to school as a trainee with the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program.The focus of my research involves terahertz radiation--about which I knew very little when I first arrived on campus.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Jul 2009 | 2:45 am

Smartphone Palooza: 10 Hot Touchscreens Compared (PC World)

PC World - Keeping tabs on the latest cell phone models can be a full-time job, especially given the number of cell phones announced by Apple, Palm, Nokia, and HTC (including, most recently, the BlackBerry-like T-Mobile Dash) over the past few months. But thanks to PC World, you don't have to hunt down and compare the various touchscreen smartphones yourself.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 2 Jul 2009 | 2:20 am

Ant Mega-Colony Covers the World

Deag writes "A mega colony of one family of ants has spread all over the world. Previous mega colonies in California, Europe and Japan have been shown to be in fact one global colony. Ants from the smaller super-colonies were always aggressive to one another. So ants from the west coast of Japan fought their rivals from Kobe, while ants from the European super-colony didn't get on with those from the Iberian colony. But whenever ants from the main European and Californian super-colonies and those from the largest colony in Japan came into contact, they acted as if they were old friends."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 2 Jul 2009 | 2:02 am

Reminder: Win a free MoGo Talk Bluetooth headset for your iPhone

Just a reminder that there’s still time to win a free MoGo Talk iPhone case featuring a super cool 5-millimeter-thin Bluetooth headset built right into it. Fifty readers will be chosen at random on July 10th. You can also get 30% off of anything over $25 in the MoGo Talk store by using promo code crunchgear at checkout.

Both the giveaway and the 30% discount are exclusive to CrunchGear readers. See our original post for more information or use one of the links below.

Product Page: MoGo Talk iPhone

Discount: 30% off with promo code “crunchgear” (no quotes)

Giveaway: 50 free MoGo Talk Bluetooth iPhone cases exclusively for CrunchGear readers

Source: CrunchGear | 2 Jul 2009 | 2:00 am

Convoy Financial Group Selects Varicent for Incentive Compensation and Sales Performance Management

Leading financial group in Hong Kong automates compensation to drive productivity and time-to-market
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Jul 2009 | 2:00 am

Agenda For Real Time Stream CrunchUp (And Third Wave of August Capital Party Tickets)

Our Real Time Stream Crunchup is only a week and half away (get tickets here).  We’ve been working hard to pull together the best startups, investors, engineers, and marketers developing products and platforms which take advantage of real-time data and communications in new ways.  The real time stream is fast becoming a dominant metaphor for consuming information, increasingly displacing or at least transforming the traditional Web page. It has implications for startups, venture investors, media, search, and business, in general.  We’ll explore all of these facets in panels, on-stage interviews, demos, and a roundtable.

Twitter to Facebook have already embraced the stream, but they are only the beginning.  An whole new ecosystem of real time stream platforms and apps is emerging before our eyes.  In fact, so many companies wanted to demo their product launches at the CrunchUp that we had to turn some away.  But we still managed to fit in about a dozen demos, many of them will be seen for the first time.

The speakers lineup includes founders and executives from Twitter, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, FriendFeed, TweetDeck, Meebo, WordPress, Seesmic, Virgin America, Tweetmeme, Qik, and more.  Individual panels will do deep dives into the market opportunity, the real time platforms, real time search (something I am very excited about), and real time business.  By real time business, I mean how businesses are adapting to the stream as a tool for marketing, brand management, customer engagement tool, internal communications, and even resource allocation.  Putting together this conference has opened my eyes as to how far-reaching the real time stream is already, and these are early days.

I hope you can join us to see for yourself.  Below is the (almost final) agenda:

Real Time Stream CrunchUp

Friday, July 10, 9:00 am - 4:45 pm
Fox Theatre, 2223 Broadway, Redwood City
Get CrunchUp tickets HERE for $295, which includes a ticket and expedited check-in to the August Capital party.  Press contact: Daniel Brusilovsky

9:00 - 9:45 am

The Real Time Opportunity
Q&A with leading angel investors John Borthwick and Ron Conway, moderated by Michael Arrington and Steve Gillmor.

9:45 - 10:00 am
Product Demos

10:00 - 10:45 am
The Real Time Moment

• Jack Dorsey, Twitter
• Chris Cox, Facebook
• Bret Taylor, Friendfeed
• Erick Schonfeld, TechCrunch (moderator)

10:45 - 11:00 am
Break

11:00 - 11:30
Real Time Application Demos

• Meebo, Sandy Jen
• Seesmic, Loic Le Meur
• Wordpress, Andy Skelton
• Wowd, Boris Agapiev
• Additional STEALTH demos

11:30 - 12:15 pm
Real Time Search

• Gerry Campbell, Collecta
• Matt Cutts, Google
• Kimbal Musk, OneRiot
• Vipul Ved Prakash, Topsy
• Edo Segal, Investor and former CEO Relegance
• Sean Stutcher, Microsoft
• Erick Schonfeld, TechCrunch (moderator)

12:15 - 12:30 pm
Real Time Mobs
Michael Arrington and Robert Scoble talk about the darker side of the stream

12:30 - 1:45 pm
Lunch

1:45 - 2:15 pm
Real Time Media Demos

• RSS Hub
• Magma, Andrew Baron
• Qik, Bhaskar Roy
• Additional STEALTH demos

2:15 - 2:30 pm
Business Demos

• Bantam, John Rourke
• Salesforce, Kraig Swensrud
• SocialMedia, Somrat Niyogi

2:30 - 3:15 pm
Real Time Business

• Porter Gale, Virgin America
• David Sacks, Yammer
• Maynard Webb, LiveOps
• Eric Marcoullier, Gnip
• Erick Schonfeld, TechCrunch (moderator)

3:15 - 3:30 pm
Break

3:30 - 4:45 pm
Real Time Roundtable

• Chris Cox, Facebook
• Iain Dodsworth, TweetDeck
• Jack Dorsey, Twitter
• Steve Fisher, Salesforce
• Nick Halstead, Tweetmeme
• David Hornik, August Capital
• Bret Taylor, Friendfeed
• George Zachary, Charles River Ventures
• Steve Gillmor, TechCrunchIT
• Erick Schonfeld, TechCrunch

All details are here.

Press, please email Daniel Brusilovsky for press consideration to attend the CrunchUp and August Capital outing.

August Capital Tickets

Friday, July 10, 5:30 - 10:00 pm
2480 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA
Get tickets NOW, courtesy of Eventbrite. They’ll go fast, so grab them now. UPDATE: Round of tickets sold out. Final batch of tickets will be released next week.

Tickets are $20 to help manage the guest list and minimize no shows. Due to extremely limited availability, we regret that tickets are non-transferrable and non-refundable. If you use your name to purchase multiple tickets, your guests must arrive with you to check in at the door.

Demo tables, photowalls, games and other sponsorships are available to make a memorable impression with MeetUp attendees. Please contact Jeanne Logozzo or Heather Harde to learn more about sponsorship packages and custom opportunities.

Big Time Thank Yous to Our CrunchUp Sponsors

Product Sponsors: Glam Media Lab’s Tinker live conversation moderation, Tokbox live video chat, Ustream live video streaming, Bantam Live, Charles River Ventures and mailspace cc:Betty.

Demonstration Sponsors: Seesmic, OneRiot, PeopleBrowsr, Mashery, IDrive, Sun Start-Up Essentials, Meraki, SocialFeet, Tapulous, Loopt, Grey Goose Vodka, Future Works, Gaping Void and Stormhoek Wines.

Event Sponsors: Eventbrite for ticketing and MediaTemple for hosting, Topix, ReTargeter, Coveroo, Pandora.

Please contact Jeanne Logozzo or Heather Harde to learn more about sponsorship packages and custom opportunities. Additional details here.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 2 Jul 2009 | 1:48 am

YouTube Increases File Size Limit To 2GB, Now Allows Direct HD Embeds And Links

While not every tweak to YouTube’s system deserves a post, this one is pretty significant, though very straightforward as well. First, the 1GB file limit for YouTube videos has been doubled to 2GB; this is a boon to many users who have been uploading high definition content more than a few minutes long. Ten minutes of 1080p footage can easily exceed a gig, especially if you’ve been editing it and weren’t careful about re-encoding. A 2GB limit should soothe that particular pain.

Next, the update now allows for direct linking to HD streams, as well as easy embedding of same. While it wasn’t impossible before now to get an HD video by default on your page, or to link right to one, it required a little work. But now YouTube has apparently decided that they are ready for the bandwidth shock as thousands and thousands of users default to HD instead of SD — increasing the average amount of bits being sent by a huge amount.

Linking to HD is unfortunately not integrated with the UI yet. You have to add “&hd=1″ to the end of your link — thusly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDiC26-iAs8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDiC26-iAs8&hd=1

With HD link, without HD link.

And here’s a sample HD embed. It’s not really worth it this size; HQ looks fine and loads faster.

What will the next improvements be? Upload speed is solid, compatibility is good, it goes without saying that they’ve got enough users. More social aspects? More integration with Google Apps? Personally, I’m hoping for a live video broadcast service like Qik — that would make liveblogging things about a thousand percent easier, and I know it’d be Android-compatible. Only Google knows.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 2 Jul 2009 | 1:30 am

Only One Beyoncé: Services Pick Up After Your Music [Personal Technology]

My digital music collection is over a decade old, and it’s as disorderly as a drawer of mismatched socks.

Many songs are missing the correct album titles and cover art—or just show up in Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iTunes with mysterious names like “Track04.” Over the years I’ve used several programs to import and buy music, resulting in wild inconsistencies in my collection. I’ve got songs by Beyoncé (with accent), Beyonce (without accent), Beyoncé Knowles (with accent) and Beyonce Knowles (without accent).

Several companies have developed programs that tap into vast databases of songs to tame music collections. I’ve been testing one by San Francisco startup TuneUp Media that’s available to download online and buy in Apple’s stores. While I was reluctant to pay $19.95 for a year’s subscription to a service I reckon should be in iTunes for free, TuneUp has largely delivered on its promise to scrub my music collection with minimal effort, making sure tracks were properly titled and adding extras like album cover art.

TuneUp’s greatest asset is that it works seamlessly with iTunes (for Mac and PC). With TuneUp hooked on to the right side of the iTunes program, you drag “dirty,” or mislabeled, songs into a box identified by a spray bottle of cleaner. The software identifies songs by taking clues from information you’ve embedded in your music, as well as sampling the song’s digital fingerprint. TuneUp looks for a match to those clues in a database of songs maintained by Sony Corp.’s (SNE) Gracenote.

Some matches are a slam dunk, but almost half of my collection proved to be problematic. Of the 500 most-played songs in my pop-oriented collection, TuneUp found “matches” for songs across 79 albums and “likely matches” for songs across 209 albums. It couldn’t identify 10 songs. The company says it counts matches as a 90% or higher chance of a match, and “likely” as at least 75% chance of a match. Songs with a likelihood under 75% are labeled “not found.”

TuneUp gives you the chance to review each of the matches before it adjusts your catalog. (It comes with an undo button.) Accepting all of the sure matches is easy enough, but slogging through the likely matches is troublesome. TuneUp gives you only the option to accept or reject its one recommendation after listening to the file, if you want.I worried that I might be inadvertently mislabeling a song, but haven’t yet found evidence of errors in my collection. The company says it cut out alternative matches to simplify the cleaning process, but is working on adding them to future releases of the software.

Once a song has been cleaned by TuneUp, it is given a consistent name, track number, album cover and other helpful information, such as the year it was released. Now I’ve got songs by just Beyoncé (with accent) and almost all of my songs feature the album cover art that looks so nifty on iPhone screens. The software assigns your songs genre identifications, which can be handy for matching music to your mood. Most of the classifications aren’t terms I would have come up with: Beyoncé is dubbed “urban crossover,” while Michael Jackson is either “disco” or “other pop” depending on the era—but at least they’re consistent. You also can tell TuneUp not to change any specific part of a song’s existing catalog listing, including genre.

TuneUp takes a few seconds, depending on your computer and Internet speed, to identify and re-classify each song. Attempting to scrub a whole collection—mine has more than 10,000 songs—can be a lengthy affair. The company suggests cleaning 500 songs at a time, but you can do many more than that if you leave it running over night.

I tried out a free competitor to TuneUp called MusicBrainz Picard, which matches songs based on a database collected by a swarm of Internet users, rather than one particular company. TuneUp and MusicBrainz, which is run by a nonprofit, are as different as Britannica and Wikipedia in their approaches to cataloging information.

The MusicBrainz approach to building a user-generated database is powerful and has been tapped by companies such as the BBC and Amazon.com (AMZN) to improve the way they keep track of music on their sites. Some of my songs that TuneUp couldn’t identify, such as the song “This Way” by hip hop group Dilated Peoples, were a breeze for MusicBrainz. To date, MusicBrainz has about 700,000 “releases” (such as whole albums) and 8,000,000 individual “tracks” in its database.

But MusicBrainz’s database has limitations, such as the inability to catalog album-cover images or song lyrics, both of which are copyrighted material. The free Picard program lets you tap the MusicBrainz database from your own computer. Serious music fans will be attracted to Picard because it is more precise than TuneUp; Picard guides you to choose from a variety of options when it isn’t certain of a match. But the software is rudimentary and requires concentration and time to use. Picard also doesn’t connect directly into iTunes’ catalog. To use it with iTunes, you have to first clean up all of your music files with Picard and then re-import your songs into iTunes.

I recommend TuneUp for the average music fan who might view cleaning up a music collection as the sort of task that shouldn’t take much longer than one rainy Sunday afternoon. Picard is better for people for whom maintaining an orderly music collection is a never-ending project.

TuneUp comes with a feature called “Tuniverse,” which fills the right side of the screen with information related to whatever song iTunes is playing at the time. That information includes YouTube videos, biographical details from Wikipedia, Google (GOOG) News, music recommendations from Amazon and tickets from StubHub to coming concerts in your area. While I initially worried Tuniverse would feel like added advertising on the screen, I’ve come to enjoy the extra information. And once again, I was left wondering why Apple hasn’t built these capabilities directly into iTunes. I, for one, learned from Tuniverse that Beyoncé has a concert in San Francisco next week, and I just might buy a ticket.

Walt Mossberg is on vacation.

Write to Geoffrey A. Fowler at Geoffrey.Fowler@wsj.com

Source: All Things Digital | 2 Jul 2009 | 1:08 am

Apple to NVIDIA: I’m so breaking up with you

Just when we thought the two companies had found true love, it turns out there’s some turmoil beneath the surface. After NVIDIA’s acknowledgment of mobile GPU breakdown (and denial that the faulty GPUs were in Apple products), Apple determined that many video failures in MacBooks were in fact NVIDIA’s fault. Okay, they worked through that. But it seems NVIDIA has been taking Apple for granted, and displaying “arrogance” in its proposals for continuing a partnership. NVIDIA arrogant? Well blow me down!

So what happens next? After the end of this current product cycle (so probably next year), Apple may be dropping NVIDIA like a rock. But wait a second, it would take a lot of convincing to get AMD to put their GPUs in an Intel system, considering their growing interest in whole-system advantages. It’s all so confusing! Fortunately, it’s also all speculation, so we can wait it out and see what happens.

What do you guys think? Back to AMD? Perhaps Intel has something up its sleeve? Or maybe NVIDIA will apologize and they can have hot and sweaty make-up negotiations. Semiconductor gossip is so juicy!

[via Electronista]

Source: CrunchGear | 2 Jul 2009 | 1:00 am

Pirate Bay 2.0: Pay Pirates to Become Consumers

The Swedish gaming executive who’s gambling nearly $8 million buying The Pirate Bay is convinced he can turn the 20 million users of the world’s most notorious file sharing site into well-behaved consumers — even amid a deluge of account-deletion requests.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 2 Jul 2009 | 1:00 am

Microsoft Starts Officially Tweeting

It’s Twitter day at Microsoft, apparently. Not only did the software giant announce that it would start adding tweets to its Bing search results, the company actually started officially using Twitter today.

To be clear, Microsoft had a rather large presence on Twitter before through its various departments/products/services, but now it’s using the main /microsoft account to tweet. The account is being run by its corporate communications team, consisting of four people. So far there have been only 2 tweets and the account only has about 1,000 people following it. That should change, fast.

So what was its first tweet? “Anyone can make games now, Kodu is available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace http://bit.ly/3wlWKo #microsoft #xboxlive #kodu” Like any good Twitter user, Microsoft has self-promotion down cold. But that’s not nearly as slick as Google’s first tweet back in February.

There’s probably not much to read into Microsoft’s love-fest with Twitter today, but you never know. After all, rivals have been snooping around, flirting with the service.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 2 Jul 2009 | 12:59 am

Plasma Waves Studied for New Electronics

Who says you can\'t teach an old dog new tricks?After nearly 25 years as an electrical engineer in semiconductor development and manufacturing, I headed back to school as a trainee with the National Science Foundation\'s (NSF) Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program.The focus of my research involves terahertz radiation--about which I knew very little when I first arrived on campus.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Jul 2009 | 12:53 am

Fallout 3 cosplay looks like the business

With enterprising individuals making such elaborate costumes as Samus Aran and Master Chief, I suppose it’s no surprise that the Brotherhood guys from Fallout are now being cosplayed.

It actually reminds me a lot of the special unit from Jin-Roh. Verrry similar. Man, now that was a good movie.

The costume is obviously not full metal like the “real” one, and consequently I doubt it would protect very well against super mutants. Fortunately, there are none of those in Seattle, so I can suit up with confidence.

Source: CrunchGear | 2 Jul 2009 | 12:30 am

Is Microsoft just skimming the Surface of multi-touch?

FROM APPLETELL - Microsoft is really good at dreaming about the future; their track record on delivering it is not quite so shining. It begs the question: what impact, if any, will Microsoft’s Surface have on everyday computing?
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 2 Jul 2009 | 12:08 am

Obsessable and GDGT: separated at birth?

This is interesting. GDGT launched today, and we welcome them heartily to the internet. But something in their intro video seemed familiar, as if we’d seen it recently… oh. Oh my! Oh, goodness!

We kid, we kid. But… yeah. Considering the two sites’ similarities, they should probably work that out.

Source: CrunchGear | 2 Jul 2009 | 12:07 am

Network Merchants Inc (NMI) Launches CertifyPCI(TM) - an In-House PCI Certification Tool

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., July 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Network Merchants Inc (NMI) today announced the launch of CertifyPCI(TM) - an automated web-based PCI Certification tool to PCI certify qualified merchants in minutes.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Jul 2009 | 12:05 am

Record-breaking Solar Cells Tailored To Location

Urchin writes "The quality of sunlight varies depending on where you live, but off-the-shelf solar cells are all identical. A new solar cell designed by UK firm Quantasol is easily tuned to adapt to the local light conditions, which boosts its long-term performance. Its short-term performance isn't bad though — the single junction solar cell has a peak efficiency greater than any previous device, beating a world record that's stood for 21 years."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 1 Jul 2009 | 11:56 pm

LEGO Michael Jackson To Debut This Friday

This Friday a four-inch Lego version of Michael Jackson will be added to LEGOLAND, specifically the section of the park known as Miniland. From the official press release:

Model Builders are creating a four-inch tall Minilander of Jackson that can be seen by Park guests as he exits a limousine in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The scene will include photographers and random paparazzi surrounding the limousine as Minilander fans try to catch a glimpse of the pop icon.

While trying to capture the most recognizable version of Jackson, the three Model Builders working on the project have actually created five different versions which are being posted to CNN.com allowing viewers to comment on which model is the most fitting. The most popular model will be installed on Friday, July 3, 2009 before the Park opens at 10 a.m.

This would have pleased MJ immensely because, as we all know, the guy loved spending time surrounded by throngs of smiling children.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Jul 2009 | 11:26 pm

Shields Up!: Hackers, spammers and Michael Jackson

Section: Computers, Security, Features, Originals

This week we’re going to take a look at how spammers and scammers use news headlines to do their dirty work.  It’s an old and well worn technique, presumably because of its effectiveness.  Scammers and spammers love to send emails and links claiming to have exclusive info about a hot news story.  So far this year we’ve seen spam with subjects such as President Obama’s inauguration, the Swine Flu outbreak, the Air France tragedy, and now the spam making the rounds claims to have exclusive footage of Michael Jackson’s last moments alive.  They do this because they know people are likely to be looking for information on such hot topics and as a result may be more likely to click on titillating links about then.

Yes, the music icon’s shocking and sudden death is the newest thing to be exploited by spammers and scammers alike.  The messages range from simple text based spam asking the recipient to reply to receive some exclusive info about Jackson’s death (meant to harvest their email address for a future attack, since the reply tells them the address is both active and receptive to spam!) to malicious messages with links to fake news videos that quietly infest the viewers computer with malware.

The most popular malware at the moment is ZBot, a Trojan that steals personal information from the victim’s computer and monitors a list of major sites that includes Amazon, Paypal, Ebay, and most major U.S. Banks.  When it detects a site on the list has been loaded, a keylogger is activated and records the victims log on credentials.  ZBot has also been discovered harvesting FTP log on credentials for over 68,000 major websites including Bank of America. It’s a very nasty piece of malware that looks to be targeting both businesses and end users.

Other Jackson themed spam has been showing up on blog comments and social networking sites, again claiming to have pics or videos of Jackson’s last moments or autopsy.  The links usually lead to malicious sites that harvest personal info.

The latest wave of Jackson themed spam is being sent with the subject line “Remembering Michael Jackson” and claims to be from michaeljackson.com.  The link in the message claims to lead to an unreleased song or video of the pop legend’s.  Instead it leads to the Ackantta-F worm, which emails itself to everyone on the infected machine’s contact list, and is network aware which means it can spread to other machines networked to the infected one as well as to any memory cards or USB sticks connected to it.

To protect yourself get your Michael Jackson news from reputable news sources only.  Don’t ever click on links in emails or posts claiming to offer secret or exclusive songs, videos, pictures or any other kind of information, especially if the email or message was unsolicited and/or from someone you don’t know.

Web traffic rose to a historic high when the news of Jackson’s death broke.  In fact the traffic was so high several major sites (Including Google, Twitter and AIM) crashed under its weight. Spammers and scammers are doing everything they can to take advantage of that huge audience so beware and stay safe!

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 1 Jul 2009 | 11:12 pm

Yahtzee woolgathers on and around The Sims 3

In this pleasantly digressive meta-review, Zero Punctuation examines not only the newest Sims game, but the psyche of the player and the sinister commercialism pervading EA’s latest money-printer. His observation that many items you’d think would be standard (pool table, jacuzzi) are not in the game is not surprising: doubtless a “party pack” is forthcoming, right before the next 20 packs of items they’ve already made and could have included.

It’s evil in many ways, and I won’t be taking part in it.

Source: CrunchGear | 1 Jul 2009 | 11:00 pm

Study: Inbred bumblebees less successful

Scottish-led scientists say they've discovered the first proof that inbreeding reduces bumblebee colony fitness by hiking production of inefficient males. The scientists led by Penelope Whitehorn from the University of Stirling said the sex of bumblebees is normally determined by the number of chromosome sets an individual receives.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 1 Jul 2009 | 11:00 pm

US Sets Up Emergency Multi-Band Radio Project

coondoggie writes "Looking to help eliminate the dangerous and inefficient hodgepodge of communication and network technology used by emergency response personnel, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today said it had picked 14 groups from across the country to pilot an ambitious Multi-Band Radio project. In 2008, the DHS Science and Technology Directorate awarded a $6.2 million contract to Thales Communications to demonstrate the first-ever portable radio prototype that lets emergency responders--police, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and others--communicate with partner agencies, regardless of the radio band they operate on."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 1 Jul 2009 | 10:57 pm

To Pre 0r to iphone? - New York Times

New York Times

To Pre 0r to iphone? New York Times Q. I'm trying to decide between a Palm Pre and an Apple iphone 3GS. I now use an antiquated Treo 650, which contains all of my life. Will all my contacts, calendar info and memos in the Treo transfer to either phone? ... O2 tipped as Palm Pre carrier in the UKV3.co.uk O2 wins UK exclusive on Palm Pre, says reportRegister Post-Review Thoughts On Palm's PreWashington Post Ars Technica -InformationWeek -PC World all 251 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 1 Jul 2009 | 10:50 pm

Plants Kept Earth From Becoming Ice Ball

Over the past 24 million years, plants on the Earth have helped reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and saved the planet from becoming completely frozen, according to a report on Wednesday.Writing in the journal Nature, researchers at Yale University, the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the University of Sheffield used simulations to show that vegetation actually stabilized the Earth’s climate and kept it from becoming locked within an icy shell."Ultimately, we owe another large debt to plants" said Ken Caldeira from the Carnegie Institution of Washington at Stanford University’s Department of Global Ecology, who co-authored the report."Aside from providing zesty dishes like eggplant parmesan, plants have also stabilized Earth's climate by inhibiting critically low levels of CO2 that would have thrown Earth spinning into space like a frozen ice ball."Despite large emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere by volcanoes, natural processes of sedimentation have occurred to capture carbon-containing minerals within the Earth’s crust.Scientists point to a period of mountain building on Earth that should have absorbed nearly all of the carbon from the atmosphere.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 1 Jul 2009 | 10:40 pm

Felt Playstation is really an iPhone case

An adorable felt PlayStation is really a case for your iPhone, crafted and sold by etsy seller rabbitrampage for just $20. (It's sold out now, but I bet they'll make you another one.)

The PS1 controller keychain is sold separately, but is probably essential. [via]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Jul 2009 | 10:40 pm

Bing Keeps Its Foot On The Gas, Adds Tweets To Results

Bing is something of a rarity for Microsoft these days: It’s a product that actually has good natural buzz. And for good reason too, it’s a solid product. For certain queries, it seems more useful than even, yes, Google. (And not just porn queries.) And Microsoft isn’t squandering away this opportunity, it’s keeping its foot on the gas, today attacking what is perceived to be Google’s weakness: Real-time search results.

While that’s a little misleading — Google actually does have plenty of data that gets into its system almost immediately — what everyone seems to mean by real-time results these days is Twitter results. And that’s exactly what Bing is adding. Kind of. As it notes on its blog:

Today we’re unveiling an initial foray into integrating more real time data into our search results, starting with some of the more prominent and prolific Twitterers from a variety of spheres.

While Microsoft is still in the process of rolling this feature out, you can see what it will look in the image below featuring AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher (who also has some more details about the feature). Apparently, Bing will update these Twitter results every minute, reports the New York Times.

But it’s important to note that Bing will not be crawling every tweet that runs through Twitter. Instead, it will focus on only those from people it deems important based on follower counts and volume of tweets. As they note:

We’re not indexing all of Twitter at this time… just a small set of prominent and prolific Twitterers to start. We picked a few thousand people to start, based primarily on their follower count and volume of tweets. We think this is an interesting first step toward using Twitter’s public API to surface Tweets in people search. We’d love to hear your feedback as we think through future possibilities in real time search.

What else is a bit odd about Bing’s addition of tweets is that apparently they’ll only show up for very specific searches. So, for example, if you search for “Ryan Seacrest tweets” you’ll find them in the results, but presumably you won’t (at least not yet) if you just search for “Ryan Seacrest.” That would be much more interesting.

Google has been doing things in recent months such as adding Google profiles and Facebook profiles prominently in search results. But so far it has shied away from highlighting tweets in their results, even as dozens of other search companies pop up to do just that. Even if these tweet results are rather pointless, this will be seen as Bing doing something Google cannot. And that may just give a few more people a reason to use Bing.

Well played, Bing.

Update: The feature is now live. Here’s my result:

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

Source: TechCrunch | 1 Jul 2009 | 10:30 pm

Sweet touchscreen fan control for your already-overdecorated PC rig

If you’re a control freak with your computers (like yours truly), you like to have lots of settings at your fingertips. For fan speed, I actually only tweak my MacBook Pro’s, using SMCFanControl, since the sucker gets hot at default settings. But if you’re concerned about the heat in your gaming rig or want to be sure the fans don’t start blasting in the middle of a quiet movie, something like this control panel might be right up your alley. Not only does it look awesome, but it’s a real live touchscreen and it actually serves a purpose. And it’s cheap!

Man, if you don’t think a cool-looking fan control touchscreen is worth $30, I don’t know what you’re doing on this blog. The Sentry 2 is a great deal and everyone in the world should have one.

Source: CrunchGear | 1 Jul 2009 | 10:30 pm

Optimus Prime USB Speakers are more than meets the ears

If the horrendous Michael Bay movies haven't already sullied your love of Original Flavor™ Transformers, you'll be able to plop this Optimus Prime head that conceals USB speakers in its flapping ears for $50 in July. Except it's July right now, so I guess they mean more July than now. [via Coolest-Gadgets]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Jul 2009 | 10:28 pm

A Guide To Explosive Fireworks Photographs

With Fourth of July celebrations this weekend, it’s time to stock up on beer, hot dogs and some tips on how to photograph fireworks better this year so your pictures don’t have to look like a child’s doodle.

Wired.com’s how-to wiki guide shows how you can get the best pictures of all pyrotechnics. It doesn’t matter if you are using a digital camera, a point-and-shoot or an iPhone. We’ve got it all covered.

Here are a few hints of how you can do better. If you are using your iPhone, try twisting your wrist as you click to add some kinetic energy to the picture. With an ultra-compact point-and-shoot, shut off the flash and try to use the timer. And with a digital SLR camera, set the focus to infinity and try shooting multiple bursts in a single image.

For more, check out the guide on photographing fireworks and add your tips to the list.

Photo: (Timothy K Hamilton/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 1 Jul 2009 | 10:02 pm

Joost, Meet The Competition. Magnify.Net Sees Growth In White Label Video Platform

With the news surrounding the implosion of Joost and the startup’s move towards providing white label video platforms for companies, we thought it would be a good idea to check in with one of Joost’s new competitors. As we wrote in our post about Joost’s prospects as a white label video community provider, there is already plenty of competition, including Brightcove, Magnify, and Ooyala.

Brightcove is perhaps the best-known player in the space. But another one which has been relatively successful in creating interactive video sites for brands is Magnify.net. The video hosting and sharing platform, which launched in 2007, is rapidly growing its white label service and is expected to be cash-flow positive by the end of the year, according to co-founder Steve Rosenbaum.

Magnify has recently partnered with several sites to power their video aggregation platforms, including deals with Etsy, CarsonDaly.TV, and Bicycling.com. Magnify has also created white label video channels for Zappos, New York Magazine and The Weather Channel.

Bicycling.com recently decided to shift from Magnify’s competitor Brightcove to power its platform for original content. The cycling site is launching its Magnify-powered site in conjunction with its coverage of the Tour de France, which starts July 4th. It was attracted by Magnify’s social features, such as the ability to pull UGC videos from sites like YouTube and updates from Twitter. Bicycling.com online editor David L’Heureux plans to integrate Twitter streams onto the platform from cycling all-stars like Lance Armstrong. Magnify also allows the online magazine to aggregate a mix of videos and makes it easy for the site to offer readers external videos and internal media that is created by Bicycling.com.

Additionally, Magnify is creating subject-driven channels, such as IranLive, that aggregates video content around a specific topic and also integrates live Twitter streams with the mentions of that topic. The IranLive Twitter stream has filters that remove any Tweets with derogatory or abusive language.

What does the Joost white-label service do again?

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

Source: TechCrunch | 1 Jul 2009 | 9:56 pm

NASA airs earthquake technology videocast

NASA says it will produce a live Internet videocast, giving viewers an opportunity to ask about U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 1 Jul 2009 | 9:55 pm

New AES Attack Documented

avxo writes "Bruce Schneier covers a new cryptanalytic related-key attack on AES that is better than brute force with a complexity of 2^119. According to an e-mail by the authors: 'We also expect that a careful analysis may reduce the complexities. As a preliminary result, we think that the complexity of the attack on AES-256 can be lowered from 2^119 to about 2^110.5 data and time. We believe that these results may shed a new light on the design of the key-schedules of block ciphers, but they pose no immediate threat for the real world applications that use AES.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 1 Jul 2009 | 9:50 pm

Grow, Canada: Sustainable Biofuel From the Great White North

We fill up at what's called the first gas station to sell gas blended with cellulosic ethanol.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 1 Jul 2009 | 9:45 pm

Animal Rights Activist Try To Stop Seal Hunt

In an attempt to save thousands of baby seals from being killed for their fur, Namibia animal rights activists are trying to raise millions of dollars to buy out a fur company that buys the pelts.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 1 Jul 2009 | 9:35 pm

Study may improve genetic counseling

U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 1 Jul 2009 | 9:30 pm

Child Porn Is Apple's Latest iPhone Headache

A nude photo purporting to expose a 15-year-old girl has appeared in an iPhone application.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 1 Jul 2009 | 9:29 pm

Child Porn Is Apple's Latest iPhone Headache

A nude photo purporting to expose a 15-year-old girl has appeared in an iPhone application.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 1 Jul 2009 | 9:29 pm

Child Porn Is Apple’s Latest iPhone Headache (Updated)

(Updates with Apple pulling the application Thursday)

A photo ostensibly showing a 15-year-old nude girl has turned up in an iPhone app, highlighting Apple’s inability to safeguard its application store from prohibited content.

The image appears in the free app BeautyMeter, which enables people to upload photos that are then rated by others, who assign a star-rating to members’ body parts and clothing. It’s much like an iPhone version of Hot or Not and many similar sites.

On Thursday, Apple pulled the app from the iTunes store.

The photo to the right (censored by Wired.com) depicts a photo of a nude girl snapping a photo of her reflection in a mirror. In the screenshot, the girl, who is listed as a 15-year-old from the United States, is topless and partially nude at the bottom. Nearly 5,000 users of the app have rated the photo. iPhone app review site Krapps discovered the photo.

The appearance of nudity in BeautyMeter underscored Apple’s difficulties regulating content in its App Store, which has surpassed 50,000 pieces of software available for download. For example, last week, Wired.com reported on an app called Hottest Girls, which released an update for its app to include topless photos of women. Apple pulled the app hours later, saying porn is not allowed.

“Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography,” an Apple spokesman said regarding Hottest Girls on June 25. “The developer of this application added inappropriate content directly from their server after the application had been approved and distributed, and after the developer had subsequently been asked to remove some offensive content. This was a direct violation of the terms of the iPhone Developer Program. The application is no longer available on the App Store.”

Apple made no similar announcement regarding BeautyMeter. It simply disappeared from the App Store. But in theory people who already had the app can continue to use it, including the upload and rating functionality.

On its web site, BeautyMeter’s developer Funnymals says members of BeautyMeter are required to provide their iPhone device ID so illegal content can be traced back to the owner of that phone.

“We don’t review each uploaded photo exclusively but from time to time we will clean up,” Funnymals stated in BeautyMeter’s terms and conditions.

As of 1:30 p.m. PDT Wednesday the image of the purported 15-year-old was still in the app.

Funnymals and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Wired.com has not confirmed the photographed girl’s identity or her age.

Although U.S. federal and state laws prohibit child pornography, Funnymals and Apple will probably not be held liable for the content because they would be protected by the Communications Decency Act, according to Mark Rasch, a lawyer and founder of computer security consulting firm Secure IT Experts. That’s because when Apple approved the app, it did not contain the prohibited content. Instead, the app downloads images off the internet, thus placing the responsibility on the people who use the app.

However, Rasch said he expects Apple to remove the application, or the developer to remove the content, once made aware of it.

“They probably don’t have liability unless they have actual knowledge, in which case they have at least a legal or moral duty to act,” Rasch said.

See Also:

• Child Porn App Disappears from Store
• Porn Comes to the iTunes App Store
• Apple: No Porn Allowed in iPhone’s App Store
• Apple Removes Baby-Killing iPhone App Amid Outrage
• Apple Relents, Adds ‘Pornographic’ E-Book Reader to App Store
• Want to Fool Apple’s App Store? Plant an Easter Egg

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 1 Jul 2009 | 9:29 pm

TiVo announces a new upgrade program for existing customers

Section: Video, Accessories, Content, DVD/DVR/Blu-ray, HDTV, Video Providers

Today, TiVo announced a new program that will allow current users to upgrade their current DVR set up to a new HD DVR set up.  Many TiVo customers probably don’t have the income to purchase all this luxury equipment, such as HD DVR, and are often stuck using their regular DVR.  Well, starting today TiVo is rewarding their veteran customers by offering them $50 off an HD DVR.

Basically, as long as you have been a TiVo customer for a year, you are eligible for the $50 discount.  All you have to do is sign onto your TiVo account and you can save $50 or more off a brand new HD DVR.  It looks like the program is a mainstay as TiVo hopes to keep customers as well as gain new ones with exciting offers and promotions.  Remember, TiVo allows for instant Netflix streaming, access to YouTube videos straight from your television, Amazon Video On Demand access (as well as HD video access), and advanced search for broadcast and broadband content. 

Thanks Jessica for the information.

Company Site: [TiVo]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 1 Jul 2009 | 9:24 pm

Congress Probes Defunct Airport Security Fast-Lane Company

Lawmakers want to know what's going to happen to traveler data after the best known airline fast-lane company shut down last week, while holding onto sensitive data of 165,000 fliers.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 1 Jul 2009 | 9:18 pm

Microbial analysis, micropatterning methods featured in Cold Spring Harbor Protocols

Microbial populations have traditionally been studied in carefully controlled, laboratory-grown cultures. New metagenomic approaches are being developed to study these organisms in environmental or medical samples.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 1 Jul 2009 | 9:13 pm

Images of Apollo Landing Sites Soon Available

eric.brasseur writes "The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has entered lunar orbit in perfect shape. From a height of 50 km, it will image the Moon in high resolution. The hardware left by the Apollo missions will be clearly visible. The Soviet automatic probes will also be photographed. Previous best images were made by the Japanese probe Kaguya and showed a white patch where the dust had been blown away by the blast of the LM engine."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 1 Jul 2009 | 9:02 pm

Appletell’s Red, White and iBoo giveaway

FROM APPLETELL - Appletell is celebrating Independence Day with it Red, White and iBoo giveaway. One winner will get to select a red, white or blue iBoo iPod Docking Station and 2.1 speaker system from Speakal
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 1 Jul 2009 | 8:56 pm

T-Mobile Dash 3G: Sneak peek and Review

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

There has been lots of buzz about the latest brainchild from T-Mobile and Gadgetell was lucky enough to get its hands on one of these before it hits the shelves.  The T-Mobile Dash 3G, designed by HTC—does it live up to its speedy namesake, or do we find it lagging behind?

What is it:

The latest handset from T-Mobile features all the goodies you expect in this type of device:  Voice calling, email, the QWERTY keyboard (with a trackball), Stereo Bluetooth, and 2.0 megapixel camera with video.  It’s all there.  It’s nicely sized and fits easily in the palm, weighing in at 4.2 ounces and measuring a half inch wide.  Powered with Windows 6.1, the Dash 3G is geared for those on the go who want an easy way to stay in touch via texting or emailing in a convenient, stylish package.

Features:

* 2.4-inch, 320 x 240 pixels, 65k QVGA display
* Internet access/Web browsing over T-Mobile’s high-speed 3G network and Wi-Fi
* Windows Mobile 6.1
* Microsoft Voice Command
* Assisted GPS with Location Based Services by TeleNav
* 2.0 megapixel camera with digital zoom, video capture and playback
* Music and video multimedia player
* MicroSD expansion slot supporting optional removable memory
* Stereo Bluetooth capability
* Speakerphone and voice-activated dialing
* Built in support for four of the main instant messaging clients (AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger.)

Dimensions: 4.59 x 2.42 x 0.47 inches; 4.2 ounces
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE worldphone (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
Dual-band UMTS/HSDPA (AWS Band IV & Band I)

My Impressions:

Let me lead off by saying I was really looking forward to trying out the Dash 3G.  I was.  That said, I received the box containing the unit.  All excited, I opened it up, ready to play with my newest toy.  I took it out of the box, it looks cool.  I like the shiny black veneer and the shape and feel of the Dash 3G.  I like the softly rounded edges and it is light without feeling chintzy.  So far, so good.

I messed around with the options on the screen, trying to determine what is what and how to work it.  This is actually pretty simple to do and I can find what I was looking for without too much hassle.  Okay, still doing well there, Dash.

Move on to trying to use the text messaging feature.  This is where I hit the first stumbling block.  I didn’t realize by simply looking at the phone how close the keys really were to each other and how this would affect typing.  When I tried to type my first text, it came out something like “jhdhg fnfoiwp dnwio wi wpfmc vsfhuw,m”.  OK, maybe not quite that bad, but you get my point.  And if it does that to me, a girl, not to be gender-biased or anything, it just just seems to me that guys would have a much harder time with it.  I don’t exactly have fingers sized like sausages.  So, after playing with this for a while, getting rather frustrated, and finally texting on it slower than I do on my regular phone’s non-QWERTY keyboard, I decide to move on to something else.

I tried out the web browser next.  I typed in the url for gadgetell.com and waited to see how long it took me to get there.  79 seconds.  I wasn’t highly impressed.  I tried not to think negative, knowing, well, it could have been worse.  Problem is, it got worse.

When I was on the ‘Net and trying to scroll around using the trackball, it didn’t seem to like where I was telling it to go very much.  I would roll, roll, roll that baby, just to make it budge a tiny bit.  It had much more of a hard time with left/right than up and down.  I also noticed it didn’t really do this when I was on the main screen of the handset and just scrolling through menus—it was more when I was trying to do anything within a webpage.  Maybe I got a bum handset, I don’t know.

I also wasn’t totally impressed with the sound quality when I was trying to do something simple like record my greeting.  It literally took me 8 tries to not sound like I was talking from across the room with someone crumpling paper while I was doing it.  Once I got something somewhat intelligible, I just finally quit. 

I also didn’t get to use the BlueTooth headphones, as when I tried to put them in, they were really big for my ears.  I don’t know if Joe-Shmoe consumer gets to pick a different size pair to come with the phone.  Granted, this obstacle can be overcome by buying a different set.

This really bummed me out, since I thought the Dash 3G looked great; and like I said, I really wanted to like it.  It does have some positives.  For example, it is easy to use and figure out where the features are etc.  I also like the “my faves” on the display, which allows you to just go to any of your favorite contacts and then spin through choices to call, message, email, send video message, etc. to him or her.  The GPS is a nice feature as well.  Plus, the price isn’t as high as some other phones in this category.

Final Thoughts:

As much as I hoped to love it, this just isn’t a phone I would buy.  Too many quirks about it that in my opinion make it frustrating to use and just not worth it. 

Availability:

The T-mobile Dash 3G is set to be available beginning July 8, 2009 for an MSRP of $169.99 with a two-year contract and qualifying data plan.  You can buy it at select T-Mobile retail stores or online.

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 1 Jul 2009 | 7:55 pm

Wired Playlist: Soulful Post-Bop From Herbie Hancock, DJ Food

Give your ears a blast of cool summertime music. Other featured acts in this week's podcast include Indian Jewelry, Iggy Pop and Cursive.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 1 Jul 2009 | 7:20 pm

The evolution of Gmail labels

I love labels in Gmail. Most email programs use folders, which only let me put mail in one place at a time. With labels, I can organize mail in multiple ways. Combined with filters to automatically label incoming messages, Gmail offers powerful ways to organize email.

When I joined the Gmail team, I was surprised to learn that only 29% of Gmail users had created any labels. At first, I thought perhaps conversation threading and search made the need to organize our mail less important. But when we talked to people who use Gmail, we got a different story. People often asked us to add folders to Gmail, assuming no system of organization existed. As one person said in a usability study, "What are labels... and where are my folders?"

We realized that if you didn't know about labels, it would be easy to assume Gmail had no way to organize your mail. Not only were "labels" unfamiliar, they were kind of hidden. So, we set out to make labels more accessible, as well as more powerful. Most of the changes have been in Gmail for a while, but we're adding some new features today. We thought you'd enjoy a peek at the method to our madness.

The first thing we did was make labels look more like the sticky notes you use in real life. Making the interface mimic things you interact with outside the computer can sometimes improve ease of use.


We also made it easier to remove a label from an open conversation:


Then we worked on the actions you take to apply and remove labels. Before, to put a label on a message, you had to look under "More actions> Apply label." Not only was this option hidden in a generic menu, but the language wasn't what people are familiar with when it comes to organizing mail. We explored several alternatives:
Source: The Official Google Blog | 1 Jul 2009 | 7:03 pm

New iPhone Knockoffs Are Nearly Indistinguishable From Original

As quickly as gadgets evolve, their knockoffs do, too. Take a gander at some of the new counterfeit iPhones, which sport an uncanny resemblance to Apple’s proud creation.

iPhone knockoffs have come a long way in a short amount of time. Compare the image at top of a new iPhone clone to the image below of a HiPhone, a shoddy counterfeit iPhone we regretfully purchased in November. The older one is obviously fake — even to those who don’t own an iPhone. But the new copycat looks pretty impressive, doesn’t it?

New iPhone knockoffs are making their way onto eBay and Craigslist, reports Cult of Mac’s Leander Kahney. And they look so close to the real thing that the only warning sign is when the price is too good to be true.

MacMedics posted a video featuring a fake iPhone that a client purchased off eBay. Check it out below the jump.

See Also:

• Chinese iPhone Knockoffs Described With Hilarious Engrish
• IPhone Nano Clones Already on Sale
• Ipod Touch Knockoff Already Available a Month Ago
• Say Hello to Wired.com’s Fake Chinese iPhone — the HiPhone

Photos: Steven Fernandez/Flickr, Brian X. Chen/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 1 Jul 2009 | 7:02 pm

Trees Buffered Earth From Iceball Fate

Greenery likely helped save Earth from runaway cooling, research concludes.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 1 Jul 2009 | 7:00 pm

BLOG: Ancient Game Solves Genetic Mysteries

A 2,000-year-old logic puzzle is tapped to speed up genetic sequencing.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 1 Jul 2009 | 6:20 pm

Dell Looks to Turn Netbooks into Navigation Devices

Say hello to your latest personal navigation device: a netbook. Dell plans to introduce a GPS and Wi-Fi card that can be integrated into the company’s netbooks to turn them into gizmos that can offer turn-by-turn direction as well as any Garmin or TomTom.

“Smartphones already have GPS capabilities,” says Alan Sicher, senior wireless product manager at Dell. “We are now bringning it to netbooks so the devices know where you are and can help you where you want to go.”

Customers will have the option to buy the $69 card called the Wireless 700 when ordering their Dell Mini 10 netbook.

Dell’s move comes at a time when navigation devices makers are looking beyond the traditional standalone GPS gadget and are offering their software on other devices.  Last month, TomTom announced that its turn-by-turn directions app would be available on the iPhone. TomTom will also offer accessories such as a car mounting dock and power charger. Meanwhile, Dell is hoping to capitalize on the explosive sales of netbooks.

Dell netbooks with the integrated GPS cards will allow consumers to pop open a netbook and get directions and also also make their netbook location aware. For instance, buyers can geo-tag photos on Flickr or check weather information customized to their current location. The Wireless 700 card combines Broadcom’s GPS technology and Skyhook Wireless’ Wi-Fi positioning solutions.

As for the navigation software, it offers 2D and 3D map views, save addresses for a trip and route optimization– pretty much all the things that a standard GPS devices does.

Netbooks are petite devices still it is difficult to imagine consumers carrying it around as a GPS navigation device or using it their car to find their way around–especially when smaller-sized cellphones could do the job.

Sicher says Dell’s GPS-capable netbooks will come in handy for international travelers. “If you are traveling to Europe romaing costs can be pretty pricey for your cellphone,” he says.

The GPS netbooks could also be handy in areas where cellphone coverage is weak, says Sicher. But there’s fine print to the turn-by-turn directions navigation software on the netbook. Though it will be free for buyers of the card and the netbook, the maps will be updated yearly and customers could be charged for the updates.

Dell plans to offer accessories such as car charger and a dock for the netbooks but they will be available later this month. The GPS cards will be available starting July 7.

See Also:

• Dell Mini 10 Netbook Review
  
• Dell Goes in for Plastic Surgery
• Dell’s Adamo Imitates MacBook Air’s Price, Not Its Profile
  
• Dell Introduces Rugged Netbook for Kids

Photo: (watchcaddy/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 1 Jul 2009 | 6:16 pm

Astronomers Identify New Class of Black Hole

A new class of black hole may help to explain how supermassive black holes develop.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 1 Jul 2009 | 6:15 pm

First look: GDGT

GDGT (pronounced gee-dee-gee-tee), the gadget crowdsourcing-meets-social networking site created by Pete Rojas and Ryan Block, launches now. I had the chance to play around with it last night &mdash it's really cool! The interface is beautiful and easy to use, the features are fun, and in a world where talking about gadgets has become a common icebreaker, it seems completely natural that something like this would exist. Now, a brief inside look...

This is my profile page. It's vaguely reminiscent of my Facebook profile, with personal info up top and recent activity below, except it's a lot better looking and easier to navigate &mdash also, it has squeezed my existence down to gadgets I have, want, and had. If you can't find a gadget you own in the database, you can add it yourself.

Right now, I have three friends and two followers. This part reminds me of Twitter &mdash I'm hoping to have more friends and followers by the end of the day because it will make me feel popular.

Community updates and gadget news show up like this. Just imagine, you could be talking about gadgets all day. GDGT is prepared to host hundreds of thousands of conversations about gadgets, so if you want to geek out about your 3GS, this would be a good place to do it, better than at the dinner table with your luddite friends and family.

You can also use GDGT to find gadgets...

...or to compare them. So now that you know all this, you can sign up and check it out for yourself.

GDGT main page

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Jul 2009 | 6:00 pm

Recession-O-Rama: Discounts on HPs and Lenovos

Section: Computers, Laptops

We’ve partnered up with LogicHP.com to bring you today’s Recession-O-Rama deals. The website focuses news, deals, reviews, and discussion on everything HP Laptop, Desktop and Printers. So, what do we have for you today? $$$ off a bunch of HP computers?

HP Pavilion Slimline s5150t Desktop PC

$200 instant discount + $30 stackable coupon on customizable HP Pavilion Slimline s5150t Desktop PC. Plus, FREE 640GB hard drive upgrade, 40% off 18.5-inch LCD Monitor, 20% off all HP speakers, Free HP DeskJet Printer ($70 value) after mail-in rebate and FREE shipping. Plus FREE Windows 7 Upgrade.

HP Pavilion Elite e9150t Core i7

$200 off instantly and LogicHP’s $300 off coupon code for fully-loaded & powerful just released HP Pavilion Elite e9150t Core i7 2.66GHz Desktop PC. FREE shipping to your door. Plus get Windows 7 upgrade for free when its available in October. Base price starts from $1,099.99 - $200 instant savings - $30 off using LogicHP’s Coupon Code = $869.99 shipped free.

HP Pavilion Elite e9110t Desktop PC

Save up to $488 instantly on the NEW HP Pavilion Elite e9110t Desktop PC. Available for online customization with FREE 640GB Hard Drive upgrade, FREE 6GB DDR3 RAM Upgrade, FREE 15-month NIS subscription, 50% off 20-inch LCD Monitor, FREE HP DeskJet Printer ($70 value) after mail-in rebate, 20% off all HP speakers and FREE shipping. Plus, FREE Windows 7 Upgrade.

HP Pavilion dv2z Ultra-slim Laptop

Save up to $509 instantly on customizable HP Pavilion dv2z Ultra-slim Laptop with several free upgrades, $150 instant discount & $30 stackable coupon. It’s the thinnest and lightest HP laptop measuring .93” thin and 3.81 pounds wrapped in a magnesium-aluminum alloy case. Plus, get FREE 2GB RAM Upgrade, 75% off 4GB RAM upgrade, Free upgrade to 512MB discrete graphics, FREE Upgrade to 320GB Hard Drive, Free color customization, FREE HP DeskJet Printer after paperless rebate and FREE shipping. Available in Moonlight White (default) or Espresso Black. Eligible for FREE Windows 7 upgrade!

HP Pavilion dv3t

Save up to $384 instantly on customizable HP Pavilion dv3t 13.3-inch Notebook using multiple free upgrades, $150 instant discount & $30 stackable coupon. HP dv3t is the lightest Intel-based HP Pavilion Laptop. Features LED-backlit display, liquid metallic imprint pattern, in Black or White color designs, up to 7 hours battery life, optional backlit keyboard and Blu-ray. Plus, FREE upgrade to 4GB RAM, FREE upgrade to 320GB Hard Drive, 50% off 500GB Hard Drive upgrade ($25 only), FREE HP DeskJet D4360 Printer ($70 value) after mail-in rebate & Free shipping. Plus FREE Windows 7 upgrade.

Lenovo ThinkPad T400

The thinnest (.82”) & lightest (3.91 lbs) T-series Notebook ever. 14-inch Lenovo ThinkPad T400s starting $1,870 - $271 instant savings - 15% off coupon (Expires soon) = $1,359.15 plus FREE shipping.  Lowest price yet for the newest ThinkPad T400s. Features improved keyboard design, 14.1” WXGA LED LCD, 6-cell battery, up to 8GB DDR3 RAM, 2-Megapixel camera, and slew of connectivity options.

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 1 Jul 2009 | 5:55 pm

Twitter adding updates for list features

Section: Web, Websites

Twitter is updating its interface to make certain features more user friendly.  Most of the updates are to affect the Follower and Following list pages found on the mini blog website.  You can now perform more actions while at the pages, which will likely make these lists better utilized.  New actions added to these pages include mobile updates, direct messaging, and unfollow.  Previously, there weren’t any actions permitted on these pages and they were just a listing of your Following and Follower friends.

Additional updates include the ability to change Follower and Following pages to the easier to read list view.  The expanded view previously available made it difficult to view information about all of the accounts you were following.  The design has also been adjusted on these pages to accommodate these changes.

More over, Twitter is now allowing users to view the accounts that other people are following on the site.  If you see an account that interests you, you will have access to the action that allows you to follow them for yourself. 

Read: [Twitter Blog]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 1 Jul 2009 | 5:41 pm

Feathers Revealing Extinct Moa's True Colors

A stash of fossil feathers from the extinct Moa reveal a wealth of information.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 1 Jul 2009 | 5:20 pm

GDGT upgrading self

UPDATE: It's launched. Here's a first look. You can of course see for yourself!

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Jul 2009 | 5:15 pm

Giant, Spitting Worms Garner Protection Plea

Supporters of the Palouse earthworm file a petition to protect this rare, giant worm.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 1 Jul 2009 | 5:00 pm

Rumor: Everyone’s trying to buy T-Mobile UK

When we mentioned yesterday that Vodafone was considering snatching up T-Mobile UK, we figured that’d be the last we heard of it for a while. They’d go quiet for a while, do some negotiation, and then they’d either make a big deal about the purchase or just pretend the whole thing never happened. As it happens, it’s a bit more heated than that.

According to ElectricPig, there’s a bit of a bidding war going on right now, with O2 and Orange throwing up their paddles alongside Vodafone. It’s all a big messy mess at the moment, though; some claim that Orange wants nothing to do with it, while other say they’re already bidding away. The current rumored price getting tossed around is right around £3 billion pounds, which is just under $5 billion USD.

What say you, UKers - got a preference as to who walks away with T-Mobile UK’s customer base in tow?

Photo: jennlynndesign on Flickr

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 1 Jul 2009 | 4:37 pm

Rumor: GSM Pre being announced next week?

Oh, Palm Pre. You’ve got style. You’ve got grace. You’ve even got a PlayStation emulator! But what you don’t have, young one, is a SIM card slot that makes you friendly with the vast majority of popular carriers around the world.

That won’t be a problem much longer, or so say the rumor mill. Now, we’ve known a GSM Pre has existed for months now, but Palm has stayed mum on the topic. According to T3, Palm will make an announcement next week regarding everything you need to know about the UK release of the Pre.

If these things are released in the UK before the US, we fully expect the eBay grey market to be jam-packed within the week. Unless, of course, they’re locked down to specific carriers - in which case we fully expect them to be hacked and up on eBay within a week and a day.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 1 Jul 2009 | 4:16 pm

What we've learned about spam

Blended threats. Payload viruses. Spam. If you're one of the more than 15 million people whose work email is protected by Postini's email security products, we hope you don't spend a lot of time thinking about these things. And if we're doing our job right, they certainly shouldn't be showing up in your inboxes. But we process more than 3 billion business emails per day for our customers, culling the spam, viruses, and other threats out, so we do think about this stuff. A lot.

On occasion, we like to share some of what we've learned, so that those of you who are interested can see what spammers are up to. If you're one of those people, head over to our Enterprise Blog for an update on spam trends over the past few months.

Posted by Ellen Leanse, Google Enterprise team
Source: The Official Google Blog | 1 Jul 2009 | 4:15 pm

Joost forced to change strategy, again

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

Three years ago when Joost launched it was only a desktop client that could be used to watch TV shows, mostly older ones.  Later, with the huge success of Hulu, Joost decided to switch its model to a flash player similar to that of Hulu.  Now it’s being forced to change its model once again since it doesn’t have nearly enough traffic to compete with Hulu and YouTube, and not enough advertising money.

Joost is changing from its current flash-based player that competes with Hulu to a platform provider.  It will be licensing out its technology to other companies.  Most likely those other companies will be broadcasters that don’t want to put their video on Hulu, or who just want a piece of the $1.1 billion dollars being spent on online video ads this year.  The new direction also comes with a new CEO, Matt Zelesko, who is currently senior vice president of engineering, the closing of the Netherlands office, and possibly substantial lay offs.

When Joost launched it was a big deal, not necessarily because of what it did, but because it was from the guys who created Kazaa and Skype.  The desktop client wasn’t bad for beta software, and seemed to have a bit of promise.  But then Hulu came and sucked in everything it could.  While it is sad that Joost is being forced to change for a third time, it’s hard to say it wasn’t eventually going to happen.  Even though Joost turned itself into somewhat of a Hulu clone, it just could get traffic.  I know at least I only ever see the site when there’s some sort of news about it, which is usually bad news.

Read [NY Times]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 1 Jul 2009 | 4:12 pm

Today on Offworld: glum busting, retro Soviet arcades, domestic violence

As seems to be the case time and time again, indie devs are best at giving us surrealist/dreamscape gaming, and the latest -- featured today on Offworld -- is Justin 'CosMind' Leingang's Glum Buster, an intricately constructed PC pixel platformer that is as traditional as it is relentlessly alien -- think Eric Chahi's Another World/Out of this World -- and is being sold via an altruistic charity-ware setup. It'll certainly go down as one of the finest indie developments this year.

Elsewhere we took a fantastic look inside Moscow's Soviet Arcade Games Museum via their new Art Lebedev (he of the Optimus Maximus OLED keyboard) designed website that not only gives us near-pornographically beautiful shots of previously unseen 70s era Soviet arcade design, but also recreates a number of the games in Flash to play directly on the site.

We also played Noonat's Queens -- a game built for a competition dealing with the theme of 'domestic violence' that manages to cleverly skate the thin ice there, and fell in love with Puit Wars, a micro/massive pixel wargame that proves hiphop emcee Aesop Rock should be making music for games, followed Nintendo DS cult puzzler star Professor Layton on Twitter, and took a new look at the mysteries of SUPERBROTHERS' rustic pixels in his Kurosawa-inspired Alpinist.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Jul 2009 | 4:01 pm

LED Life Mask

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Jul 2009 | 3:49 pm

Sprint will also offer the BlackBerry Tour (9630) on July 12

Not to be outdone by Verizon, Sprint announced today that the BlackBerry Tour would start selling on my birthday, July 12. The final cost of the Tour will be $200, but there’s a $100MIR and a $50 instant rebate. In case you forgot, the Tour is the Curve’s (8900) 3G counterpart.

Sprint Tour

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 1 Jul 2009 | 3:35 pm

BLOG: Radio Waves Faster than Light?

A new gadget allegedly speeds radio waves faster than light. Is it for real?
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 1 Jul 2009 | 3:25 pm

Toshiba launching the TG01 next week in London

Yay! Toshiba is officially unveiling their Windows Mobile Snapdragon-powered TG01 in London on July 9th. Yeah, I’m about as impressed as you are. The only redeeming quality I find in this device is the 4.1-inch WVGA touch-screen. Who cares about Snapdragon when Tegra is coming in a few months? And let’s not forget about the fact that it’s a Windows Mobile device. Do whatever you want to skin WinMo, Toshiba, but everyone knows that HTC’s TouchFLO 3D is the best in that arena.

via Vincent Nguyen’s blog

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 1 Jul 2009 | 2:57 pm

O Beautiful For Spacious Bag, For Amber Waves of Beer

Timbuk2's Dolores Cooler messenger sack can hold a 12-pack of canned PBR*. The lining is insulated. One of the straps features a red pop top. All you need now is a designated cyclist.

*Person who comes up w/the best addendum, wins.**

**The prize: respect and admiration from your peers.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 1 Jul 2009 | 2:54 pm

Japanese cell phone commercial: Brad Pitt plays disgruntled sumo champion’s butler (video)

Brad Pitt has been shooting TV commercials for Japan’s third biggest cell phone carrier SoftBank for a few years now, and more often than not, he plays a total moron. In this new spot, currently in heavy rotation on Japanese TV, he tries everything to please sumo champion Musashimaru.

Musashimaru (who became Japanese sumo champion in 1999 and is from American Samoa) is in a bad mood, and Pitt tries everything to make him happy. The point of the video is to point out that SoftBank offers particularly slim and light cell phones.

Here is the commercial:

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 1 Jul 2009 | 2:33 pm

There I Fixed It: Gallery of Dangerous, Hilarious Hacks

There isn’t much to say about the blog “There I Fixed It”, other than that you should add it to your RSS reader immediately. It’s a gallery of user-submitted hacks, the twist being that these hacks are disastrous, usually dangerously so, and many of them could quite possibly end in death.

The new car lock above is just hilarious, and the AT-AT caravan ladder mash-up is simply amazing. But the bike fire engine (below) is actually pretty handy-looking, for a small village at least.

Product page [There I Fixed It via Core77]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 1 Jul 2009 | 2:30 pm

'There I Fixed It' Highlights Dangerous, Hilarious Hacks

A new blog called "There I Fixed It" highlights reader-submitted photos of hilariously bad hacks and repairs.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 1 Jul 2009 | 2:30 pm

Microsoft’s Project Pink gets a new agency

Ah, Project Pink, I haven’t heard anything from or about you in quite a long time. But it looks like Redmond made some key changes to its agency roster and McCann picked up the “Pink” account. McCann also handles Windows Mobile.

According to ZDnetter Mary Jo Foley, Pink will be built on top of Windows Mobile 7, which MS plans to release the code for this fall when WinMo 6.5 devices start to flood the market. Foley goes on to say that she’s heard that Motorola will manufacture Pink alongside the Sidekick. Except she fails to realize that Sharp manufactures the Sidekick; Motorola built the Slide that has since been axed from the lineup. So does that mean Danger is in the mix? Maybe. On a side note, it’s pretty funny that the UI for Pink is codenamed “Purple” because Bing’s earliest codename was also Purple or so I’ve heard.

Going back to early May, Foley detailed purported specs for Pink and the biggest indicator that the device could be tied in with the Zune platform is the use of Nvidia’s Tegra platform. And it wouldn’t surprise me if Danger had a big hand in all of this because they haven’t done much with the Hiptop unit other than including Live Search in the latest Sidekick LX. Just don’t go to Verizon.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 1 Jul 2009 | 2:27 pm

Cancer: Another Threat to Wildlife

Wild animals get cancer too and the disease is another conservation threat.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 1 Jul 2009 | 2:05 pm

Review: Don’t get yourself too hot and bothered by Warpack Grunts

I was pretty excited about Warpack Grunts when I first started playing it. The game seemed to have promise. And for $0.99, I had inklings that it may have been the biggest steal to come to the iPhone since the OS 3.0 launch. While it still lived up to its $1 price, I can’t say that it quite met my expectations. Though the graphics, the gameplay and the level of difficulty were all rock solid, a few missing features (and some wonky controls) left a sour taste in my mouth.

Developed by Freeverse and Strange Flavour Limited, Warpack Grunts is a third person army combat game in which you travel around in a pack of 4 special forces units and your job is to blow the enemy to smithereens. The pack moves as one group, and drag your army around by swiping your finger in the direction you want to go. Unlike most iPhone real-time strategy games (which this is not, but RTS games are the best point of comparison for the controls), you cannot select a portion of your units, and you do not tap to move them in a certain direction. Instead, you literally slide your finger in front of where you want them to go, and the screen and units move accordingly. This maneuver has a surprisingly shallow learning curve, and I picked it up within five minutes of gameplay. Your units each have their own machine gun, but share one “special weapon” such as a grenade, bazooka or sniper. You tap in the direction you want to fire the machine gun, or can toggle the special weapon to fire it.

Addictive, intriguing and well-designed were three words I thought I would end up describing the game. And the first two still hold true. The game is split up into a series of short missions (not meant to take more than 5 minutes at the most; some of them are as short as 30 seconds), each of which is challenging and engaging. Overall, I had a hard time beating most missions on the first try, but usually handled it on the second or third. That said, some missions (like the 30 second ones) were uselessly easy and some missions were unnecessarily tedious and frustrating.

You weave and wind your way throughout a nondescript South American jungle, and the landscape is filled with trees rocks that force you to stay on a path. The game makers had to be drunk when they designed some of these paths, because they weaved and wound so much I felt like I was getting dizzy while sitting still in my chair. Given the nature of the controls (you have to keep dragging your finger along the screen to move at all), these labyrinthine environments were obnoxious and unwanted.

But the worst part of this game was the design. I loved the actual crux of the gameplay, and think that it would be easy for Freeverse to do a second take on the game, raise the price to $4 and make me extremely satisfied with purchasing it. Aside from the aforementioned controls, another major gripe I had was the inability to save. After dying four (or maybe five; I can’t count) times in one go, you are basically back to square one. It doesn’t save at the last mission you played, and so you are stuck starting over from the tutorial levels and ripping hair out reading the same stale dialogue over and over again.

OK - I’ve talked a lot about how I liked the gameplay, but what did I like? Mostly, it was the tactile nature of the skirmishes. You use the environment (i.e. hide behind trees) and your special weapons (e.g. grenades) to destroy your enemy before they know what hit ‘em. Though this often means having to play the level twice (and just getting man-handled the first time), it also results in a more strategic shooting game. The enemies move in a predictable manner, so you can plan your route ahead of time and carefully pick them off, one by one.

Despite its many flaws, but I would still recommend buying Warpack Grunts if this the type if game you’re into. I was more frustrated about the game because of how much potential it had than anything else, but at $1, I find it hard to believe you couldn’t justify the purchase. That’s one less trip to the vending machine for a game that has major upside if you can look past its pitfalls. Each mission has its own merits, and I found myself glued to the screen while I was ‘nading tanks or gunning down enemy soldiers.

What we like:

• The Missions. Though there were definitely outliers, most of the missions were quick and dirty. Plenty of action and they didn’t last so long that you lost interest.
• The Grenades. Ok, I know this is specific, but grenades are actually a huge part of the game, and their use is extremely well-done.
• Multiple aspect support. Switching between portrait and landscape is essential to the game, and it was a treat to see a game utilize both.

What we don’t like:

• The controls. We’ve mentioned this already, but OMFG was I annoyed at having to drag my finger around like a flippin’ drunkard trying to navigate around the landscape to actually kill the enemies. Also, I thought that toggling the special weapons was too difficult and poorly designed.
• You can’t save. There are over 30 levels in this game, but if you want to play it campaign-style and go through them, you have to start from the beginning after every 4 deaths. Why a bonafide game manufacturer would put its users through that torture (the first few levels are tutorials) is beyond me.
• Only one good special weapon The grenades were fun, yes. But the rest of the special weapons were lame. The sniper and binoculars were too hard to control, and virtually unusable. And the bazooka shot straight at the ground you tapped on, meaning you could only fire at what you saw on the screen. That meant you had to basically stand in front of enemy tank bearing down at you as you frantically fired your bazooka at it, hoping for the best.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 1 Jul 2009 | 1:46 pm