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Symantec Exec Warns Against Relying On Free Antivirusthefickler writes "Clearly, the rise of free antivirus is starting to worry Symantec, with one of their top executives warning consumers not to rely on free antivirus software (including Microsoft's Security Essentials). 'If you are only relying on free antivirus to offer you protection in this modern age, you are not getting the protection you need to be able to stay clean and have a reasonable chance of avoiding identity theft,' said David Hall, a Product Manager for Symantec. According to Hall, there is a widening gap between people's understanding of what protection they need and the threats they're actually facing."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 4 Jul 2009 | 1:29 pm Weekly Wrapup: Facebook Privacy, FriendFeed Trolls, iPhone Push, And More...In this edition of the Weekly Wrapup, our newsletter summarizing the top stories of the week, we analyze the latest changes to Facebook's privacy controls, investigate trolling on FriendFeed, explore the...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 4 Jul 2009 | 1:00 pm Short Is Sweet: Postcards Begat SMS Begat Twitter
If I open up an email and see it filled with paragraphs of information, guaranteed my eyes are going to glaze over. Certainly sometimes it’s an important message that I do need to read, but most of the time it’s just a core message filled with paragraphs of bloat. I don’t want or need the bloat, I need the core message. And that’s why I love Twitter. You simply cannot go over 140 characters. And more often than you may imagine, that’s enough. Now, on the face of it, plenty of people will disagree with me on that point. But think about it. In an age where we’re bombarded by tons of information, from multiple angles, all day long, there is something beautiful about brevity. I used to read screenplays for a living. Trust me when I say that there is no shortage of people who can blather on about something to seemingly no end. But the skill in writing a screenplay often came down to if you could convey what you needed to convey in just a few lines. It’s not an easy thing to do — at all. And while it’s not quite the same because it’s even more compact, Twitter forces you do to a similar thing in its own way. And Twitter is hardly the only form of communication that has done this. Most users know by now that the 140 character limit of Twitter is actually tied to the limits of text messaging. Text messages can only be 160 characters long (Twitter needed to reserve the extra 20 characters for usernames). But do you know where the 160 character limit comes from?
And so you see, while you may think Twitter’s character limit is silly or frustrating, it’s actually borne out of two other forms of communication that are widely accepted and used the world over. You may not think of Twitter being just like a postcard, but in some ways it is — one that you can instantaneously send to many friends or acquaintances at the same time. And minus the cost of a stamp. Even with the rise of technology, the lure of the short message remains. And that was the key reason why I found Twitter compelling when I first started using it over two years ago. I never thought of the limitation in a negative sense, but rather as something that could inspire creativity in messages. And could even spur communication. It’s liberating to know that you only have 140 characters or less to respond to something. For a lot of messages, that removes a huge burden of trying to say enough to the person you’re talking so that they don’t think you’re being rude. With a 140 character limit, a correlation between briefness and rudeness doesn’t exist. And that’s why more and more I’m finding myself telling people, “Just message me on Twitter.” It’s a two-way street. I don’t want to have read you go on and on about something that could be said in one line, and you won’t have to listen to me go on and on about something in response. Again, it won’t work for all messages, which is why Twitter or something like it will never kill email, but for a lot of messages, it works just fine. Characters and time are saved. It’s a limitation that is liberating. [photos: flickr/pink sherbert photography & inlaterdays] Information provided by CrunchBase
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Source: TechCrunch | 4 Jul 2009 | 12:30 pm Astronomers See A New Class of Black Hole - NPR
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 4 Jul 2009 | 12:26 pm The Chemistry of Firework DisplaysPonca City, We love you writes "David Ropeik writes at MSNBC that there's a lot more to making a basic firework display than putting a fuel source and an oxidizer together. Pyrotechnic chemists, who are trying to create bedazzlement instead of bang, don't want their work to explode, but to burn for a bit, so it gives a good visual show. To achieve the desired effect, the sizes of the particles of each ingredient have to be just right, and the ingredients have to be blended together just right. To slow down the burning, chemists use big grains of chemicals, in the range of 250 to 300 microns, and they don't blend the ingredients together very well, making it harder for the fuel and oxidizer to combine and burn, thus producing a longer and brighter effect. Surprisingly few emitters are used in pyrotechnics, and there are no commercially useful emitters in blue-green to emerald green in the 490-520 nm region. Energy from the fire in the basic fuel is transferred to the atoms of the colorant chemicals, exciting the electrons in those chemicals into a higher energy state. As they cool down, they move back to a lower state of energy, emitting light. So, you actually see the colors in fireworks as they're cooling down. To get the really tricky shapes, like stars or hearts, the colorant pellets are pasted on a piece of paper in the desired pattern. That paper is put in the middle of the shell with explosive charges above it, and below. When those charges go off, they burn up the paper, and send the ignited colorant pellets out in the same pattern they were in on the sheet of paper, spreading wider apart as they fly."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 4 Jul 2009 | 12:16 pm Obama cites his agenda in holiday address (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 4 Jul 2009 | 11:55 am Photo-Obscuring Purses - Anti-Paparazzi Handbag Ensures You're Never Caught by Cameras (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Adam Harveys concept design for the Anti-Paparazzi Handbag will make that pesky paparazzo wish he had never messed with your privacy. The purse is designed to emit an obscuring strobe...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 4 Jul 2009 | 10:59 am Apple store employee shot during attempted armed robbery - The Money Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 4 Jul 2009 | 10:59 am Delicious Extreme Makeovers - FancyFastFood.com Changes the Way We See Fast Food (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Dont those wonderfully plated foods in the gallery above look delectably delicious? Well, you might want to take a closer look, because those fanciful delights are from your favorite...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 4 Jul 2009 | 10:49 am 34 Stop-Motion Innovations - Fom Sticky-Note Procrastination Art to Light Graffiti (CLUSTER)(TrendHunter.com) The stop-motion innovations weve featured range from mesmerziing post-it notes as pixelated, animated images to stop-motion light graffiti that brings frozen light to life against a...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 4 Jul 2009 | 10:40 am 13 Jumpsuit Creations - Knock-out Jumpers, From One-Piece Rombers to Short Shorts (CLUSTER)(TrendHunter.com) Jumpsuits have been creeping back into fashion for a year or two now, and appear to be growing strong for summer. While usually worn by women these days, I cant help but reminisce...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 4 Jul 2009 | 10:29 am Bowties and Denim - 10 Different Neckwear Looks for Menswear in Spring 2010 (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Spring 2010 appears to be the season that neckties come roaring back into fashion for men. For many years, the suiting piece has been out of style, and only donned by bankers and men...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 4 Jul 2009 | 10:19 am Eco Smart Transit Signs - Solar-Powered Synchomatics Uses Autodesk to Create Digital Prototypes (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) Syncromatics solar-powered signs bring smart transit information directly to the rider at the bus or shuttle stop. The use of solar power reduces the need for costly infrastructure...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 4 Jul 2009 | 10:09 am Simplistic Sensuality - Alex Aristei's Photography Has Subtle Implications (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Alex Aristei is a unique photographer who can capture the most subtle sensual shots. The pictures in the gallery above show just how talented he is, as moments that provide implications...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 4 Jul 2009 | 9:49 am High Fashion Motorcycles - Christian Audigier Creates Customized Ducati Monster 1100 (GALLERY)(TrendHunter.com) Christian Audigier is known for his tattoo-style designs, and now the designer is bringing that look to the Ducati Monster 1100. Christian Audigier teamed with Rever Corsa for the...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 4 Jul 2009 | 9:29 am Behind the First Secure Quantum Crypto Networkschliz writes "Researchers behind the world's largest quantum encrypted network said the technology could secure business networks inside six years. The prototype Quantum Key Distribution network was built by the Secure Communication Based On Quantum Cryptography (SECOQC) group last year. It is described in a journal paper published by the Institute of Physics this week, which includes details on how it is based on the trusted-repeater paradigm."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 4 Jul 2009 | 9:11 am Koinup Photography Contest: Portraits of Virtual WaterHere's a fun photography contest for the Summer, sponsored by NWN partner Koinup: The H20 Contest. Take photographs on any Second Life sim, as long as it reflects the contest theme of water or H2O. Top...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 4 Jul 2009 | 8:39 am Wear patterns as information leakage from security keypads Bruce Schneier points out that keypad wear is a form of "information leakage": "There are 10,000 possible four-digit codes, but you only have to try 24 on these keypads. The first is most likely 1986 or 1968. The second is almost certainly 1234."
Information Leakage from Keypads Hitler finds out Michael Jackson has died (Der Untergang remix)Video. Adolf Hitler is pretty pissed off to learn that Michael Jackson has died and won't be able to perform at his birthday party. Evidences the true marks of a great internet meme: infinite expandability, extremely bad taste in multiple respects, and an unfairly long lifespan. (via @andrewbaron)
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 4 Jul 2009 | 7:50 am What’s Right and Wrong with Media Now
The good side is very good: thousands of layers of mostly needless middlemen and processes are being eliminated as journalists get a direct channel to their readers. And, because it’s a two way medium, readers get that channel right back. And in the cases where the subject of an article has been wronged, the Web gives them powerful megaphones to fight back. In short, the more everyone has a voice, the more reporters are challenged to make sure they are right, because they will be called out. Look at what happened with the plagiarism scandal around Chris Anderson’s new book. Anderson says it was a mistake around a change in how they were going to use citations, and I take him at his word. But it’s safe to say any author who’d considered borrowing heavily from Wikipedia won’t now. We like to think that we act virtuously because of personal or professional pride, but nothing enforces those ethics like the real possibility of getting caught and hugely embarrassed. But the bad side is also very bad. The elimination of those layers – typically fact checkers, editors, lawyers and just time to make sure a work is fully baked—also allows mistakes, lazy reporting, a dependence on rumors, and hot-headed, unfair treatment to subjects. Worse: The metrics around the Web make it crystal clear which kinds of stories drive the most traffic. That leads to salacious reporting for the sake of clicks and comments. It’s easy to point the finger at blogs, especially by certain members of old media losing money quarter-after-quarter. (Cough, cough.) But this is not just a technology change as most corners of media are fighting for survival, it’s become a cultural change. And this week, I’ve been struck by two non-blog examples that reflect the tension. Right about now most people reading this probably have guessed the example of salacious reporting and unfair treatment I’m driving at is Ben Mezrich’s new book on Facebook. I’ll say upfront I haven’t read it. Galleys have been very closely guarded. Once I do read it, if everything everyone who has read it has told me is wrong, I’ll apologize for what I’m about to say. But, on a professional level, I find the ethics behind this project disgusting. It’s essentially a book based on talking to one source who had a falling out with the company just as it was moving to California and becoming more than a dorm room project. That’s like someone writing a book about you based solely on what your old college ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend said. Mezrich has been clear to say he’s never met or talked to Mark Zuckerberg in the intro and in interviews, but that doesn’t stop him from drawing potentially damaging conclusions about his character and selling it as a non-fiction book that’s getting made into a movie that people will take as fact. In contrast, I spent years and hundreds of hours interviewing and following the subjects of my last book, which as most people know, included Zuckerberg amid other Web 2.0 figures. And I’m about one-third of the way through research for my next book, which includes spending 40 weeks in other countries following entrepreneurs. It’d be a lot easier to write a narrative without that whole burden of actual reporting. If I could sit in Silicon Valley and make up what I think entrepreneurs in Africa are like, that’d sure help out on my bank account, my health and my neglected personal relationships. To be clear, I have no doubt Mezrich’s book will sell better than mine and make a juicier movie. But I wouldn’t swap the karma points. I don’t know how you call yourself a non-fiction writer and publish a book about a living person that’s based on you “imagining” what they are like. And let me tell you, having first interviewed him when he was 19 and spent countless hours with him since, the idea that Zuckerberg is some kind of sexed-up lethario is laughable fiction. Why didn’t Mezrich write a novel or a different non-fiction book that he actually knew something about? It just seems like a cheap way to get a film deal and sales since the “imagined” subject is also leading the hottest private tech company in the world right now. (Indeed, the film rights were reportedly sold before the book was written.) Even Mezrich’s publicist admits as much, according to a New York Times Blog post where he said, “The book isn’t reportage. It’s big juicy fun.” I’m guessing it’s not fun for the people trying to build a company who Mezrich essentially calls womanizers, drug addicts and backstabbers. Probably not fun for their families, employees and investors either. If this is where media is going on a book level, magazine level or blog level—I want out. Contrast that to what’s playing out with another hot non-fiction book that was also optioned for a film: Moneyball. Some people accuse Michael Lewis of taking some liberties with facts here or there, but I’ve never met one of his subjects who felt he was treated unfairly, including the subject of Moneyball, Billy Beane. Like his style or not, Lewis did his job: He invested countless hours reporting and wrote a book that told a dramatic story that also happened to be true. Recently, that book was also being made into a movie, to star Brad Pitt and be directed by Steven Soderbergh. The plug unexpectedly got pulled. It seemed Soderbergh reworked the script to be less a feature film version of things and more a real-life reenactment with some of the actual people playing themselves. Quippy anecdotes and funny lines were cut because they weren’t actually said in real life. I’ve not been a huge fan of some of Soderbergh’s more experimental work, and I don’t know if his treatment would have made a better movie. But imagine: The people who are allowed to take the most liberties with a “true story”—the filmmakers—hewing more to the truth than an author who ostensibly gets paid to write the truth. The media world is upside down these days, and I hope when all the volatility is done we wind up on the Soderbergh side of things. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Source: TechCrunch | 4 Jul 2009 | 7:02 am Dotcom Crash-era Startup Reanimates By Trending On Twitter It's not often that Internet companies last 10 years, but Moonfruit in the UK has proved pretty resilient. It survived the dotcom boom the first time round, launching with VC-backing, growing to 65 staff and cutting back to two staff in the space of a couple of years. It's a wonder why they didn't exit in the most recent boom, but here they are still, plugging away. And their resilience is proving to be an asset as their 10-years old web site building business comes back into fashion, even as more recent competitors like Weebly, Yola, MyDragnDrop and Webnode, and many others, try to capture the market for people who want to build simple web sites.
So what's the best way to re-invigorate an internet brand after 10 long years? Get trending on Twitter, that's how. So Moonfruit has been giving away 10 Macbooks for every year of their operation, beginning this week. The result is that it has become the top trending term on Twitter three days in a row, as all people need to do is add the hashtag #moonfruit to their tweet. An algorithm is randomly choosing a winner. There are five days left. By the second day this week it had reached 2.5% of all twitter traffic. But could the stunt backfire as fast as it worked?
Source: TechCrunch | 4 Jul 2009 | 7:01 am Daily Crunch: In the Pipeline Edition
Italian company uses RC toy submarines to run cables through sewers
Source: CrunchGear | 4 Jul 2009 | 7:00 am Generating Power From Ocean Buoys and Kitescheezitmike writes "Researchers at Oregon State University are testing a new type of wave-energy converter to generate electricity from ocean waves: 'Even when the ocean seems calm, swells are moving water up and down sufficiently to generate electricity. ... For decades the challenge has been to build a device that can withstand monster waves and gale-force winds, not to mention corrosive saltwater, seaweed, floating debris and curious marine mammals. ... In the most recent prototypes, a thick coil of copper wire is inside the first component, which is anchored to the seafloor. The second component is a magnet attached to a float that moves up and down freely with the waves. As the magnet is heaved by the waves, its magnetic field moves along the stationary coil of copper wire. This motion induces a current in the wire — electricity.'" Meanwhile, researchers at Stanford are working to design "turbine kites" that operate at 30,000 feet, where air currents flow much faster than they do close to the ground. Ken Caldeira, a Stanford associate professor, said, "If you tapped into 1% of the power in high-altitude winds, that would be enough to continuously power all civilization."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 4 Jul 2009 | 6:09 am djBC's Muppet mashups djBC, consistently my favorite mashup producer/creator (he's the guy behind the Beasties/Beatles remix "The Beastles"), has released an entire album of remixes of Muppet music! He sez, "In honor of my daughter's first birthday- and one month late- I'm rolling out 'Muppet Mashup.' Ten mashups, remixes, and covers of music from The Muppet Show and Sesame Street. With the legendary McSleazy (of MTV Mash and GYBO), Dunproofin, ATOM, Martinn, Uncanny Valley and yours truly, dj BC. I'm particularly proud of my 'I'm Happy' track, which is built on Edwinn Starr loops, Muppet Show samples, and a fun, funky playground acapella from some little girls on Sesame Street." I've just listened to this straight through, with the baby, and we were both captivated. Bravo! Mashups, remixes, and covers of music from The Muppet Show and Sesame Street. Coral Cache mirror of the entire album
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 4 Jul 2009 | 5:48 am HOWTO build a radio in a POW camp -- the real life King RatThis first-hand account of the construction of a clandestine shortwave radio by British POWs in a Japanese camp in Singapore really reminds me of James Clavell's magnificent novel King Rat, my all-time favorite war-novel, which revolves grippingly around the construction, discovery and consequences of a hidden shortwave in the Changi camp (both Clavell and Ronald "St Trinian's" Searle were interned in this camp).BJ: Can I just ask you - the components for the low voltage battery cells that you produced, where did you get all the components from?Construction of Radio Equipment in a Japanese POW Camp (via Make) Source: Boing Boing | 4 Jul 2009 | 5:42 am Utterly amazing music video shot on a bunch of webcams
This’ll be a great thing to show your family and friends over the weekend. Excellent job, guys.
Source: CrunchGear | 4 Jul 2009 | 5:42 am Landmark buildings of the world as acrylic rings Etsy seller Plastique's got laser-cut acrylic rings boasting pointy world monuments. As knuckledusters, they create the possibility of growling, "Right, mate, you're geography," before you bust your opponent in the chops.
world landmarks acrylic ring set (white)
(via Neatorama) If woowoos ran the emergency room"Homeopathic A&E," a sketch from the British comedy show That Mitchell and Webb Look invites us to imagine an emergency room (A&E is British for Accidents and Emergencies, the UK equivalent of ER), as run by newage woo woos.
That Mitchell and Webb Look: Homeopathic A&E
(via White Coat Underground) Compuserve shuts downAfter 30 years, Compuserve is finally, totally, mostly dead (the email addresses still work). I was always a local BBS and GEnie guy, but there's no doubting the power and influence of Compuserve in introducing the idea of networked communications to a generation, and proving the business-case for commercial online activity:The original CompuServe service, first offered in 1979, was shut down this past week by its current owner, AOL. The service, which provided its users with addresses such as 73402,3633 and was the first major online service, had seen the number of users dwindle in recent years. At its height, the service boasted about having over half a million users simultaneously on line. Many innovations we now take for granted, from online travel (Eaasy Sabre), online shopping, online stock quotations, and global weather forecasts, just to name a few, were standard fare on CompuServe in the 1980s.CompuServe Requiem (via Beyond the Beyond) Source: Boing Boing | 4 Jul 2009 | 5:20 am Massive bank fraud in massively multiplayer game EVEThe chairman of the virtual bank in EVE Online, a space-trading/piracy game, absconded with billions of virtual credits, swapping them for $5,000 in cash to make a house payment. The embezzlement caused a run on the bank and has rocked the economy of EVE.The run on the bank has come to about 600 billion ISK, which has been withdrawn. However, we have a very big group of excellent supporters, who have deposited about 105 billion ISK sitting in Sweep to keep us liquid. We are extremely grateful for this. Currently the run seems to be mostly over with only a slightly higher withdrawal rate still, than deposit rate. That's to be expected, and in-line with EBANK's strategy to shrink to a more managable level.Billions stolen in online robbery New perspective on EVE Online's latest bank embezzlement (via /.)
Previously:
Source: Gizmodo | 4 Jul 2009 | 4:22 am UK Police Told To Use Wikipedia When Preparing For CourtHalf-pint HAL tips news of UK prosecution lawyers who are instructing police to study information on Wikipedia when preparing to give expert testimony in court. "Mike Finn, a weaponry specialist and expert witness in more than 100 cases, told industry magazine Police Review: 'There was one case in a Midlands force where police officers asked me to write a report about a martial art weapon. The material they gave me had been printed out from Wikipedia. The officer in charge told me he was advised by the CPS to use the website to find out about the weapon and he was about to present it in court. I looked at the information and some of it had substance and some of it was completely made up.' Mr. Finn, a former Metropolitan Police and City of London officer and Home Office adviser, added that he has heard of at least three other cases where officers from around the country have been advised by the CPS to look up evidence on Wikipedia."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Gizmodo | 4 Jul 2009 | 2:40 am Hawking Says Humans Have Entered a New Stage of Evolutionmovesguy sends us to The Daily Galaxy for comments by Stephen Hawking about how humans are evolving in a different way than any species before us. Quoting: "'At first, evolution proceeded by natural selection, from random mutations. This Darwinian phase, lasted about three and a half billion years, and produced us, beings who developed language, to exchange information. I think it is legitimate to take a broader view, and include externally transmitted information, as well as DNA, in the evolution of the human race,' Hawking said. In the last ten thousand years the human species has been in what Hawking calls, 'an external transmission phase,' where the internal record of information, handed down to succeeding generations in DNA, has not changed significantly. 'But the external record, in books, and other long lasting forms of storage,' Hawking says, 'has grown enormously. Some people would use the term evolution only for the internally transmitted genetic material, and would object to it being applied to information handed down externally. But I think that is too narrow a view. We are more than just our genes.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 4 Jul 2009 | 2:03 am Atari 7800 goes open source
I would have guessed that the widely available complete ROM dumps of these games would have made a release like this unnecessary, but that’s apparently not true. Clearly there’s more to these old games than their assets and final code. There are also some internal utilities released, dev systems and such. Be sure to check the notice at the bottom of the Atari Museum page, by the way. Very funny. They’re really getting into over at Reddit, where I found this, and one of the commenters (jeffbell) is actually a former Atari coder whose work is in this release! How cool is that? He says:
Very nice. Thanks, dude, Robotron is great (played it last week at Wiimbledon) and Rescue on Fractalus was awesome (and scary when you’re a kid). [image and via: ProgrammerFish]
Source: CrunchGear | 4 Jul 2009 | 1:35 am Oddball Tech: Self-replicating nanobots to colonize Mars, tech makes us dumb, and robot doctorsSection: Computers, Security, Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle, Robots/AI, Transportation  The nanobots, they’re multiplying!Want to go to Mars? Of course you do. The only problem is that it not exactly the most friendly of places to visit just yet. How could we set up a colony of sorts? We could send people to live there to build a new civilization, but what fun is that? Director of the NASA Ames Research Center Peter Worden thinks that self-replicating robots can handle the load. Yep, you read that right. Self-replicating robots. These robots would built a suitable environment for humans by transforming the atmosphere of Mars. Normally, I would go off and claim that these robots will eventually get irritated with its human overlords and try to stage a coup. After all, if they can control the air, they can pretty much kill us at will. However, I think this could be incredibly interesting if such a thing could happen (the atmosphere change, not the killing). [Source] Grab a computer, |
 KOMO News | Seattle fire knocks out service to Bing Travel, other sites CNET News Tenants of the Fisher Plaza data center carry servers out of the building Friday morning. The building houses the Bing Travel servers, among others. Updated at 4:51 pm PDT with time fire started and statement from Fisher Communications. ... Fisher Plaza fire disrupts Web service, TV station Fire in downtown Seattle data center knocks out businesses, online ... Fisher Plaza blaze knocks out Internet service |
In principle, any advance in any field of technology is welcome, but I have my doubts about this new service developed by a Japanese company called DSS. It’s basically aimed at establishing a “big brother”-like control system [JP, PDF] within factories.
After paying $21,000, factory management can simultaneously monitor the activities of up to 30 workers and then analyze and visualize the data collected (fee for a 3-day-analysis). Each worker has to wear a gyro sensor and an acceleration sensor at the ankle and a mini video camera in the shirt pocket.
DSS also installs so-called infrared milestones (pictured above) at various places in the factory halls to be able to locate the workers, record their activity and then deliver a “digital heat map” of the factory to their clients.
The company claims their system helps to significantly boost productivity and cut costs in any factory. It also says the inspiration came from a Toyota production philosophy: “1 second = 1 step = 1 yen of productivity”.
Via Tech-On
What’s black, red, wears a Verizon badge, and looks just like the Samsung Glyde? The Samsung Glyde 2, of course!
Presumably in hopes of losing a friend or getting someone fired, HowardForums user StandardsDT waited for his in-the-know buddy to leave the room before going camera crazy.
Here’s what we know so far:
[Via BGR]
Crunch Network: TechCrunch obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies
The SK3 is a small, well-specced netbook that would be called a UMPC in a past life. What intrigues me about it is how it's made to integrate with this standard-form business planner. It's strange and pointless and wonderful, like something from an old science fiction movie.
Check out the unboxing at UMPC Portal: Kohjinsha SK3. Ultra-Portable and Portfolio-Ready! (Unboxing video).
A few dozen old albums glued together, top-sanded and put on IKEA legs. $450. [Bughouse via Awesomer]
The microKORG has been the world’s best selling synth. The new microKORG XL has the same great features as it’s predecessor plus a more capable effects processor, improved key response and a gooseneck microphone for some vocoding out of the box. So here’s a video of the XL for you to check out.
[Update] The video has been removed from YouTube, but is still available at korg.com.
Click: Korg microKORG XL
Tip #1: If you’re going to be a huge wanker and rob a retail store, don’t rob an Apple store. You know those little fancy handsets they carry around? Thats so they can avoid doing much with cash.
Tip #2: Don’t friggin’ steal stuff or shoot people, unlike this guy at the Arlington, Virginia Apple Store.
One female victim was shot in the shoulder before the suspect fled the scene. Here’s to a speedy recovery, Apple Store lady.
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Start Mobile has managed to get 18 separate iPhone applications approved by Apple. So you’ll imagine their surprise when one of them was recently rejected. But you may be even more surprised to find out why.
Apparently, Apple doesn’t like the way one piece of art in the app depicts President Obama. Is it out of line or tasteless? Well, you can determine for yourself, because you’ve undoubtedly seen the art in question before: It’s Shepard Fairey’s famous “HOPE” image of Obama that was everywhere during his Presidential campaign.
So why on Earth would this be rejected? Well, here’s the wording in the rejection:
It contains content that ridicules public figures and is in violation of Section 3.3.12 from the iPhone SDK Agreement which states: “Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.”
“Ridicules public figures”? This image is hanging in the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian — yet, Apple apparently finds it inappropriate.
To be clear, the app in question is a free demo app of Start Mobile’s galleries and contains a dozen images, but Apple is clearly just unnerved by the Obama one as you can see in the correspondence below which the developer has shared.
Here’s Apple’s initial rejection letter:
Subject: Start Mobile Wallpaper Gallery 1.0: Application Submission Feedback
Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 12:27:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: iPhone Developer Program
To: XXXXX@XXXXXXX.com, XXXXX@XXXXXXX.netPlease include the line below in follow-up emails for this request.
Follow-up: 74455381
Dear START MOBILE, INC.,Thank you for submitting Start Mobile Wallpaper Gallery to the App Store. We’ve reviewed Start Mobile Wallpaper Gallery and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it contains content that ridicules public figures and is in violation of Section 3.3.12 from the iPhone SDK Agreement which states:
“Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.”
An example of a public figure is attached.
If you believe that you can make the necessary changes so that Start Mobile Wallpaper Gallery does not violate the iPhone SDK Agreement we encourage you to do so and resubmit it for review.
Regards,
iPhone Developer Program
****************************
Here’s Start Mobile’s follow-up trying to explain why the image is not ridiculing a public figure:
Subject: [Fwd: Start Mobile Wallpaper Gallery 1.0: Application Submission Feedback]
Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 21:56:29 -0700
From: John Doffing
To: iPhone Developer ProgramFollow-up: 74455381
Apple Developer Program:
The attached image is most certainly NOT content that ridicules a public figure, nor is it in any way “obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory”.
The attached image is an iconic portrait by globally acclaimed artist SHEPARD FAIREY, and is actually included in the National Portrait Gallery!
* http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/7817466.stm
According to the BBC:
“When people think of a portrait of Obama, they think of this image.”
Fairey’s works are also in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
–
THANK YOU!
Best,
John
Now, lest you think Apple is possibly rejecting the app because Start Mobile doesn’t have permission to use the artist’s work, Start Mobile has three other apps featuring the work of Shepherd Fairey that are already in the App Store.
Okay, so maybe Apple’s isn’t comfortable with the bit of legal wrangling that is taking place over the artwork? That’s possible, but that’s not what it says in the rejection. And there are other applications like this one that use the image in question. And, you’ll notice, that’s not even the real version of the image, and it’s being used in the app’s icon. Why Apple would let that slip by and not this app? I have no idea.
And further, Start Mobile actually has another app that also features an Obama image that has been sitting around waiting to be approved for 2 months now, presumably for the same reason. That app features artwork from urban artist Justin Bua, and contains the image of Obama shown on the right.
So why doesn’t the developer just remove the offending images and get these apps approved? Well, because he doesn’t think he should have to, and believes this is just another case of the App Store approval process gone off the tracks.
“You notice that my original email to you didn’t scream CENSORSHIP or anything like that. I am quite sure that this is simply what amounts to a clerical error. A billion apps sold. 50k apps. etc etc. So this is just growing pains on their part. But unfortunately, it effected us directly, and had we not done SOMETHING, the end result would have been what amounts to accidental censorship,” Start Mobile’s John Doffing told us over email.
He goes on to note that he spoke with someone in developer relations a few weeks ago about the rejection, and they indicated that any apps that contain images of Obama may simply be getting rejected outright because there was a lot of “incendiary political content” that was coming through the App Store approval process around the time of the election. Sometimes “‘the baby is thrown out with the bathwater,” is what Doffing was told.
Doffing said that openness about what was going on made him hopeful that the app would find its way to the App Store, but that apparently didn’t change anything.
Sadly, this looks like yet another ridiculous App Store rejection. While Apple has no shortage of developers wanting to make apps for the platform, at some point, all of these ridiculous rejections run the risk of turning developers away.
Apple badly needs to straighten out its policies and get a team in place that doesn’t make dozens of silly mistakes with regards to app approvals and denials. The system continues to be broken.
Sure, Apple can do what it wants, but it’s asking developers to make apps for its store, which move iPhone and iPod touch units and make Apple all that money. Increasingly, the promise is that developers can earn a living off of the platform, or at least supplement their income. But they can’t do that if Apple keeps rejecting their apps for no apparent reason.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
FROM APPLETELL - The Mophie JuicePack Air is one of the premier external battery solutions for the iPhone 3G and 3GS. The whole package couldn’t get much more simple, though that doesn’t mean it’s perfect.
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Smart. And a little gross. An Italian company has resorted to using remote-controlled toy submarines to run fiberoptic cable through the sewers of Milan.
The model of the submarine is apparently the Neptune SB-1, a $600 toy by Thunder Tiger of Taiwan. There’s a full article here but it’s in Italian. Seems pretty self-explanatory, though: attach cable to submarine, drop submarine into river of poo, pee, and bathwater, then pilot said submarine down to the poor sap on the other end of the pipe who’s gotta fish the thing out and connect the cable to whatever needs rigged up.
In unrelated news, think twice about bidding on used Neptune SB-1 toy submarines on eBay — you can never really know where they’ve been.
[via Slashdot]
I guess Mafia games are a big hit these days. Zynga’s Mafia Wars, a multiplayer game that’s playable on social networks like Facebook, as well as the iPhone, has attracted some 4 million gamers to its clutches. (This, despite the fact that it’s more or less a rip-off of the earlier Mafia Life game.) Part of the game’s success, I think, can be attributed to the fact that, unlike in games like World of Warcraft, there’s not as much of a social stigma attached to “whacking” rival mobsters—slaying dragons and whatnot is still sorta “nerdy,” something that good ol’ Cnet says, too. So we’re in good company here.
In any event, so long as we’re on the subject of Mafia games, you can actually win real life money by playing Mafia Payday. I don’t remember how it works, but the guy was on Ron and Fez last week talking about it. So, again, if you’re into that whole mob “thing,” it could be worth your while.
So, uh… Michael Owen to Manchester United. Who saw that coming?
Section: Audio, Portable Audio, Video, Portable Video, Communications
Welcome to this week’s edition of Who’s on Crack. This week was overflowing with what clearly was drug-induced euphoria. Maybe we can blame it on summer vacations? Maybe we can blame it on the torrential rains in the east. Maybe we can just blame Milli Vanilli. Whatever the blame, we’ll march these chosen examples right off to rehab.
Twitter seems to be catching on everywhere, not just the US and Iran. Seems Japan is getting into the swing of things and some inventor has come up with this: the Akiduki Pulse Box. With the touch of a button, this device Twitters your heart rate. Fun on a bun?
I’ve been trying to figure out a good reason this exists (the Akidui Box, not Twitter) and have come up with just three things: you are an athlete and want to send out your amazingly low resting heart rate, or perhaps you’ve left a suicide note that says push this button so you can Tweet “0 beats per minute” or for porn to show your level of, ahem, excitement.
This device points to a level of automatic tweets that could follow you around. A purchase in a coffee shop might trigger a tweet: “JG’s on a date or really thirsty” or perhaps a trip to the ATM triggers “JG is rolling in dough (or depending on the available balance) JG could use your loose change.” Maybe a broken taillight in my car would let my followers know “for a good time, find a cop and have JG drive by him”. The fun would never end.
With apologies to Tony, Toni, Tone, Sony is in a whirlwind. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Walkman, Sony’s blockbuster product, a story comes out that kids see the Walkman as old and outdated. The writer of the story doesn’t clarify the Walkman was the one from the 80s, not the one from this year. The brand is done. If this isn’t a wake up call to finish off the Walkman brand, I don’t know what is. I actually feel bad for Sony on this.
Sony gets smash idea: PSP+Phone. Genius. What I don’t feel bad about is mocking Sony for suddenly perhaps getting the idea that a gaming phone might be big. It hit me this year when searching for yet another Nintendo DS game in the grass that one of the best things about Apple’s gaming is no physical media to lose. That right there would tip the scales for me as a buyer. Can Sony get on this fast enough? I am not so sure.
I am not a gamer by any stretch of the definition, yet most of the iPhone apps I have are games and I play them frequently. Can Sony create an elevated gaming experience with its partners? Or will it be a “me too?” I fear it is the latter. Oh, Sony.
As bloggers, we tend to borrow images from places all over the net. “Borrow” probably isn’t the right term, “steal” them is probably more accurate. Take this image from my Pink phone post yesterday. I borrowed it from Rene Ritchie over at iPhone blog and neglected to say thanks, or in this case, sorry. I was too hasty.
However, don’t you think the line should be drawn in stealing or borrowing images from your staff, one should get credit? For example, take these awesome images taken of a Wall Street Journal advertisement that Iyaz posted on. Iyaz doesn’t say where he got them but surely he didn’t produce them. But yet, Iyaz is mum on who the photo credits belong to. He stole them from me. [Editor Iyaz’s Note: In my haste to scoop everyone with the news—which we did scoop everyone—and my shock at seeing someone actually reading a newspaper, I forgot to give proper credit. I have since fixed that.]
Appletell’s Josh Holat reported these feats by AT&T:
Really? For a look-a-like? Perhaps it is a reflection of how many original iPhoners didn’t upgrade to the 3G and were finally ready to upgrade? Did Appletell build that much hype around the new phone with the help from a few other blogs? Is video recording capabilities that white hot right now? I have trouble believing this intel. Remember the lines back at the release of first generation? Has AT&T just smoothed everything out so they can crank through sales?
There are so many fence sitters now, like me, who are hesitant to upgrade. Maybe it wasn’t a 3GS rush, perhaps it was the $99 3G? Or maybe, just maybe, all of this is hooey as it is a leaked document and AT&T hasn’t released a darn thing.
And really, if that is AT&T’s “best day ever,” I feel sad. I believe the Aquabats said it best:
Well now I’m out of school
And I don’t have a job
I just sit around all sweaty and lethargic
And I’m just thinking ‘bout where it all went wrong
Why I can’t concentrate
On anything but reruns
I wish I had some more stability
I wish I had somebody making lunch for me
I guess I miss the seventh grades in life
The thought of Pizza Day
I thought it was stupid then
But I wish I had it now
I miss my
...
Friday was Pizza Day, the best day of the week
It always came with salad and a side of cold green beansHooray for Pizza Day
Hooray for Pizza Day
I miss Pizza Day
The best day of the week.
Have a great weekend.
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
From the cover of the Christian Science Monitor. I'll tweet the answer on Monday.
Witnesses heard shots fired in the back room of an Apple store in Arlington, Va., at about 10 a.m. this morning. One person was shot, and the shooter escaped on foot, and was reported to be wearing a fake beard. The extent of the victim's injuries are unclear. [Fox]
Cult of Mac Updates: "Police have confirmed that a 26-year-old, female Apple employee was shot in the upper body and injured at the Apple Store Clarendon in Arlington, Virginia, during a "violent armed robbery."
FROM APPLETELL - A recent AT&T memo leaked to MacDailyNews, indicates the iPhone 3GS had a very, very good launch day.
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Section: Computers, Software / Applications
We all know that Microsoft has a habit of taking some of the ideas that Apple put into Mac OS X and putting them into Windows. Just look at Spotlight and the Search in the start menu. Windows 7 even takes a few cues from the Dock in OS X, even if it merges those ideas with the Windows tradition of the menu bar. The list could go on, and now the list may include OS licensing.
It seems that somewhere within the latest leaked build of Windows 7 there is text in the licensing agreement that alludes to a family pack. It reads, “if you are a ‘Qualified Family Pack User’, you may install one copy of the software marked as ‘Family Pack’ on three computers in your household for use by people who reside there.” Looks pretty definitive there, unless it was added to throw us off. However, it’s doubtful that the text would be added just to throw off those who use the leaked versions.
There’s obviously no word on pricing yet, since there has been no official release or statement about the family packs. It looks like Microsoft might finally be realizing that businesses aren’t the only customers that require more than one license of Windows. Though there’s always the chance that the family packs won’t sell all that well. Microsoft has always had an issue with piracy, and why buy three licenses of Home Premium when you could pirate Ultimate or find a friend who can get you a Professional license? We wouldn’t condone any of those practices, but there’s a good chance they’ll continue with Windows 7.
Read [CNet News]
Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
More CrunchPad details, in a Mike Arrington profile published by the SF Business Times:
"We're going to make some really big announcements," said Arrington, who predicted a prototype would be ready for unveiling by the end of July. "We're full on. These prototypes are real."Arrington started work on the Crunchpad after meeting an expert in electronics manufacturing in China, and these days he estimates the project commands three-quarters of his time.
"There's factories that just churn stuff out. It's pretty simple," said Arrington, who has incorporated a separate company called Crunchpad Inc. that has 14 employees in Singapore.
Tech blog titan Michael Arrington's next big thing: Hardware [Bizjournals]
... Borders' eBook is "finally a rival to the Sony Reader." [Times]
 DailyTech | Facebook criticised over privacy BBC News The social networking site Facebook has come under fire for planned changes to its privacy settings. It wants to "simplify" the process so users only have to set them once, instead of for each individual feature. ... Facebook undergoes drastic changes one more time New Facebook Privacy Controls Take On Twitter Facebook changes privacy controls so members feel safe to share |
 Telegraph.co.uk | Apple patching critical SMS vulnerability in iPhone OS Ars Technica Safari Charlie says that Apple is working on a patch for a serious flaw he identified in the SMS implementation on the iPhone. Further, he warns that users interested in security should avoid jailbreaking their phones. By Chris Foresman | Last updated ... Will iphones Get Tactile Feedback, Fingerprint ID? iphone crashing bug could lead to serious exploit Security analyst says he could hack into your iphone – via SMS text |
What in the hell is LG Mobile’s president smoking because this is the most absurd thing I’ve ever read. Becoming the #2 mobile phone maker in three years is one thing considering the fact that Samsung could and would destroy them at any time. But a new Black Label device to compete with the iPhone? Or a luxe brand on par with Nokia’s Vertu? Keep dreaming, Ahn.
via Unwired
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Ned Kelly was an infamous outlaw of the Australian outback. Now he is a thumbdrive. [Etsy via Chipchick]
 Science Centric | New Moon Orbiter Sends First Lunar Snapshots FOXNews nasa's newest spacecraft in orbit around the moon has sent its first snapshots of the lunar surface. Released Thursday, the images from nasa's new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal a moon bathed in light and shadow in a region know as Mare Nubium, ... Satellite Offers New View of Dark, Light Sides of Moon NASA's lunar orbiter sends back results of first Kodak moments Lunar mapping satellite snaps first test images |
George Hotz put out an iPhone 3GS jailbreak for Windows, with OSX to follow soon. This allows the installation of third-party software not approved for Apple's appstore, but doesn't unlock it for use with T-Mobile or other GSM networks.
Download it. Make sure you have windows(but not 7), the latest iTunes installed, and an iPhone 3GS with 3.0 firmware. Connect your iPhone normally. Click "make it ra1n". Wait. On bootup, run Freeze, the purplera1n installer app. Hopefully you'll figure out what to do from there.
Hotz explicitly calls out the iPhone dev-team for waiting until 3.1 to release the crack.
Normally I don't make tools for the general public, and rather wait for the dev team to do it. But guys, whats up with waiting until 3.1? That isn't how the game is played. We release, Apple fixes, we find new holes. It isn't worth waiting because you might have the "last" hole in the iPhone. What last hole...this isn't golf. I'll find a new one next week.
Fantastic. I wonder if this alternative release will provide Apple with an opportunity to quickly jail the 3GS again in 3.1. Preventing just this scenario was ostensibly the reason for Dev-team's decision to wait.
I make it ra1n [iPhonejtag]
Section: Communications, Web, Web Apps, Google
Google Voice has just announced a new feature—the ability for current users to change their Google Voice number. Sure, this feature is currently limited to those lucky enough to actually have received an invitation, but at the same time I am sure there are plenty of original GrandCentral users who are feeling the need for an updated number. The process to change your number is quick and easy, although it does require you to pay a one time fee of $10.
Anyway, assuming the $10 fee does not scare you away, then log in to your Google Voice account and go to Settings -> Phones. Once there you will see your current Google Voice number listed towards the top, with the word “Change” on the right side. If you click on the word “Change” you will be given the opportunity to change your number to something that better suits you. Google even allows for a bit of personalization and preference when it comes to finding a new number. You can search by entering a specific ZIP code or area code as well as entering a partial number or phrase to look for a more personalized match.
Additionally, your old Google Voice number will remain active for three months. Now, if we could just get the whole number portability issue settled out and let users begin transferring current numbers into Google Voice, that and of course, get more people using Google Voice, which from what I understand is still an ongoing process.
Read [Twitter @googlevoice]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Geohot aka George Hotz aka the first person to unlock the original iPhone (with solder), has released a jailbreak for the iPhone 3GS. And, the naughty boy, he has taken the work done by the iPhone Dev Team (the folks behind all previous software unlocks) and posted it early.
The iPhone Dev Team are waiting for the v3.1 software release from Apple before “officially” making the hack available, ostensibly to avoid the hack being patched by Apple. But as it is already ready, Geohot, a member of the Dev Team, has gone ahead and put it out for download.
The unlock is Windows-only, and you’ll need an iPhone 3GS to use it on, of course. I have neither, so I can’t test it, but GeoHot at least has a good reputation. According to The Register, Hotz says the hack, named “purplera1n” is “awesome.” Maybe, but if it lets you load up the carrier-unlocking applications available for jailbroken iPhones. we’ll probably agree.
Product page [purplera1n via the Reg]
FROM APPLETELL - We received a tip with a link to uxsight.com, an online retailer that is marketing a silicone skin for, apparently, the iPod touch 3G. The difference? It includes a hole for a camera.
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After an entire week of claiming to have visited my house at 5AM to deliver a package, the DHL man finally dropped off the Myka today. Not that I actually saw him: the guy scuttled off into the heat haze of the street like a gecko, leaving the package, alone, in the middle of the lobby floor. Thanks, DHL!
We first saw the Myka, then still a pre-production prototype, over a year ago. Now it is finally shipping and we have one for review. The Myka is a BitTorrent-enabled set top box which is the same shape and size as a Mac Mini. The model here has a 250GB hard drive inside along with a slew of ports on the back.
The full review will come soon, but here are a few first impressions before I even plug the thing in. First, 250GB is a little small these days, that being the size of an average laptop drive. I actually have half a gig in my MacBook, double the size of the Myka. For our review it makes no difference, but if you were buying one, perhaps consider the 1TB drive. Second: Look at that remote. It’s huge, and fugly compared to the sleek Myka box (itself changed little from the prototype, and pretty enough to be Lady Approved®).
The third surprise is the Wi-Fi. Instead of being built-in, it comes in the form of a USB dongle. It is at least 801.11n, but this seems kludgy, especially as - if you use the 90º elbow adapter to plug it in - you obscure the Ethernet port.
Otherwise, the package seems to be pretty self sufficient. There is an HDMI cable, a gold-plated(!) USB cable and a set of phono connectors for older TVs. You can also plug in a USB keyboard should you wish — useful at least to enter Wi-Fi passwords at the beginning
I’m excited to try it out, an will be hooking it up to the 14″ portable TV (it’s our only TV) this weekend and BitTorrenting some legal content. A Linux distro perhaps, or some lame music. That seems to me to be a much better way to spend a Saturday than eating Turkey and arguing with my family in the sweltering summer heat. Wait, that’s Thanksgiving right? Independence Day is the one with spaceships destroying buildings.
Product page [Myka]
Myka: One Set-Top Box to Rule Them All? [Gadget Lab]
These USB necklaces are the jewelry equivalent of those awful fiberboard TV cabinets beloved of lottery-winners everywhere. Instead of buying a piece of technology that looks good in the first place, the idea is to take something ugly and pretend it is a more old fashioned, conservatively acceptable object. In the case of the TV, the box that rises up from the foot of the bed is pretending to be an antique oak closet. In the case of the USB necklace, designed by Sempercura, these drives are straight out of the Franklin Mint School.
We’re all for wearing a USB drive around the neck, and there are some basic but good-looking models which you could even let hang outside your clothes. But Sempercura’s tat would look more at home on my mother’s mantlepiece next to the crystal butterflies than it does adorning the chest of any self-respecting geek.
The saddest part is that Sempercura actually takes the time to ensure that the drive part is reliable, with flash memory supplied by Alcro, and that the base case for the drives - a brushed, monolithic rectangle - is pretty smart looking before all the crushed-glass crap is applied. Go take a look at the gallery. There’s even Swarovski in there. As someone close to me said, “Ack! Gaaah!”
Product page [Etsy via Geeky Gadgets. Thanks, Julian!]
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Recently, I’ve noticed something. If you send me an email, the likelihood that I’m going to respond is pretty small. But if you send me a message on Twitter, the likelihood that I’ll respond is much higher. Certainly, part of it is that I get less messages on Twitter. But you might be surprised at how close it’s getting in volume when you add @replies to direct messages. The bigger factor for me, is the length of the messages.
The 
Like most things on the Internet, there’s a good side and a dark side to where the media business is headed.
The beta testing stage can be the cornerstone to the successful development of a new site. And many startups have to conduct and implement beta testing of sites, surveys and analytics internally, which can be an daunting task when you are launching a site. Prefinery lets startups outsource the whole beta invite process, from start to finish. Prefinery is offering 100 TechCrunch readers with beta invites to test the site. You can sign up 
A woman was shot today at an Arlington Apple Store, for no one knows what reason. She’s in serious but stable condition and the guy is at large. I’m surprised this hasn’t happened before: iPhones are expensive little buggers and jacking a pallet of them would be a real score.
Okay, it’s not exactly the 
I don’t recall how the YouTube user 
Forrester Research has released statistics that indicate that consumers will spend approximately 10.6 percent less on information technology products this year than last year. In January, the research firm had predicted a 3 percent drop in tech spending in the United States. They have now revised that figure to 5.1 percent less for the U.S.