Source: Gizmodo | 17 Jul 2009 | 3:00 am

Yahoo Search Ad Deal With Microsoft “Down to the Short Strokes”–But Caution Also Advised [BoomTown]

Unless there is some major glitch, there might finally be a search and online advertising deal struck between Yahoo and Microsoft at long last.

Top executives at Microsoft–including SVP of the Online Audience Business Group Yusuf Mehdi, search head Satya Nadella and top digital exec Qi Lu, as well as others–have all flown down to Silicon Valley from their Redmond, Wash., HQ today to iron out the remaining issues, which seem to have to do with the deployment of technology.

“It is an entourage,” joked one exec.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is also deeply involved in the talks, although he is not with the group.

If all goes well, the deal could be announced within the next week, sources at both companies said.

The most recent talks have been unusually close to the vest at both companies, and spokespeople for both Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT) declined to comment on the issue.

And, of course, they should not, since there is no certainty any deal will be struck at all, especially since the pair have been down this road before, unsuccessfully.

In those cases, both sides have thought they were close, too, with fingers quickly pointing at each other for the failure of the discussions.

While BoomTown has gotten several different versions of terms of the latest deal, they all include Microsoft (MSFT) paying Yahoo (YHOO) several billion dollars upfront to take over its search advertising business and guarantee certain payments back to Yahoo.

There is also a display advertising element to the deal, which would likely have Yahoo take the lead in selling premium advertising for the companies.

That they are so close is a good sign, although sources on both sides of the deal cautioned that it could just as easily come apart.

And, indeed, Microsoft and Yahoo have long argued the particulars of this deal, including over the rate for traffic-acquisition costs, the ability of Yahoo to have control over data and the simple fact that such an arrangement is exceedingly complex.

But, said one person close to the situation, “It is down to the short strokes, for sure, it is just a question if we can finally close this.”

That’s a good question, given the push-me-pull-you relationship between Yahoo and Microsoft over the last two years.

But both need each other, especially since they lag so far behind search market leader Google (GOOG).

Yahoo was even ready to strike a similar deal with Google in the midst of Microsoft’s hostile takeover attempt last year. That partnership failed due to regulatory concerns.

Talks between Microsoft and Yahoo have waxed and waned too, as I reported earlier this week.

When last we checked in, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and Microsoft’s Ballmer had a little private tete-a-tete about the deal, when both were attending the seventh D: All Things Digital conference in Southern California in late May.

Bartz and Ballmer also both acknowledged discussions in onstage interviews at D7, with Bartz even boldly stating that she was open to the deal if good and reliable data and “big boatloads of money” were forthcoming from Ballmer.

(You can see the video of her saying that here, while Ballmer is less colorful here.)

Since then, Microsoft did an aggressive launch of its new Bing search service, which has been an initial success.

The company has become more confident with the early success of Bing, which has garnered good reviews and small improvements in market share in surveys.

Sources at the software giant maintain that the improvement–via innovation and a huge marketing spend–has given Microsoft a bit of leverage against Yahoo, although the bets are still out on exactly how much sustained share Bing can garner.

Yahoo is aware, of course, that is can ill afford to lose search market share, although Bartz has been focused on beefing up Yahoo management and marketing.

Still, the companies have never given up on the talks, which began in March, although all the back and forth underscores a very real debate by both sides about whether joining together will benefit them both or not.

The possible pluses are clear: Huge technology cost-savings and cash for Yahoo and another weapon to fight archrival Google for Microsoft.

It needs as much firepower as it can get. A recent comScore (SCOR) report for June showed Google with a 65 percent share, Yahoo at 19.5 percent and Microsoft at just 8.4 percent.

The deal, if struck, could give a big boost to shares of both companies, which have been up a lot since the beginning of the year.

While sources at both sides stressed that this was in no way a merger, a deal would bind their fates together rather strongly.

There was a report earlier today by 24/7 Wall Street that a deal was “imminent.”

One source advised caution when asked about that word, although this person was more confident than ever.

In any case, if it does not work out, the source said, “this will be it…we will all finally go our separate ways and be done with it.”

Source: All Things Digital | 17 Jul 2009 | 2:49 am

Awesome: The Game Crafter Lets You Build And Sell Your Own Custom Board Games

Now this is a great idea. The Game Crafter is a new company that lets you build your own, fully customized, table-top games. Board games, card games — you name it, there’s a good chance these guys can put it together for you, with fully customized art assets and text.

Building a game is fairly straightforward — you upload the art assets you’d like to have printed on your game board and cards, pick out which accessories should be included in the box (dice, pawns, etc.) and write out the game’s documentation laying down the rules. Of course, that’s all a bit easier said than done if you don’t have a bunch of art assets sitting around. Still, once you have your images and text in hand, actually putting the game together is painless. Unsurprisingly there are still some limitations (you can’t currently design custom pawns), but the company is planning to add more customization options shortly.

As you put your game together, the site will give you an idea of how much it will cost to build based on how many cards, pieces, and boards it requires. From there, you can either order it at cost for yourself or set a sale price and sell it on the site’s integrated store. The store is pretty empty at this point with only a handful of games available, but it’s a start.

The best part of this for novice game builders is that there’s no up-front cost to get started —  the site handles all distribution and printing costs, taking a 50% cut of the profits from each sale. A 50% cut sounds like a lot, but the company defends the price-point by explaining out how much you’d get if you managed to get your game in stores — according to the site, you’d typically have to give the game’s distributor 30% of the the proceeds, with the retailer taking another 40%, leaving you with only 30% of the sale price. You also retain all rights to the game, so you’re free to take it off and sell it elsewhere should a better opportunity come along.

It sounds great, but there are still a few caveats. The site’s production page notes that while cards are full color and printed on hefty card stock, they’re printed with wax instead of ink, which is less exact. Likewise, card printing isn’t exactly perfect, and there’s a chance some parts of the card’s far edges will be cut off. Still, it sounds easy to compensate for these issues, and the technology is only going to get better.

We think this is such a cool idea that we’ve currently got an intern hard at work at creating a TechCrunch board game. It’s still early in the planning stages (feel free to leave ideas in the comments), and we’ll let you know once it’s ready.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Jul 2009 | 2:48 am

A prime example of why we need portable DTV

Look at this dude. He wants some TV while he’s enjoying a cup at Starbucks. The only thing is that the switch to digital now requires him to carry a converter box alongside his black and white tube TV. If only the powers at hand could move along the development and approval of ATSC-M/H, he might be able to watch OTA PBS on his cell phone like the rest of the modern world does using DVB-H.

KansasCity.com via BoingBoing

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Jul 2009 | 2:40 am

HTC Issues Hotfix for Bluetooth Vulnerability in Smartphones (PC World)

PC World - HTC released a software update on Thursday that fixes a Bluetooth vulnerability disclosed earlier this week by a Spanish security researcher.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 17 Jul 2009 | 2:40 am

Australian Website Bans ... Australians

Nazlfrag writes "Earlier this month the blog and discussion forum ZGeek was sued for $42 million AUD over a user's comment. The plaintiffs are aspiring movie producers who claim to have lost a movie deal due to a 9/11 conspiracy discussion thread. Even though the initial lawsuit has been thrown out, and the company complied with lawyers' demands by taking down the offending posts, it is believed the plaintiffs will file suit again. In addition to suing the forum, in an Australian first they have been granted an injunction to force the ISPs to disclose the IP addresses of the two posters involved. Due to the risk of incurring even greater legal costs the company is closing its doors in Australia, and will ban their fellow countrymen from posting there again."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 17 Jul 2009 | 2:40 am

The Creepy 23andMe Zeppelin Is Still Circling My House. Go Away, Zeppelin.

Update to last weekend’s breaking news about the creepy 23andMe zeppelin that’s been floating around my house. It was back again today. For all I know it’s been circling my house all week. What do you want, 23andMe zeppelin? I already bought a DNA kit. Go away.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Jul 2009 | 2:34 am

Blu-ray Disc Sales Up

Source: Gizmodo | 17 Jul 2009 | 2:30 am

Corsair announces new Extreme! SSD! Drives!

For high performance drives, SSD seems to be where it’s at these days. Corsair is at the forefront of the market, and just announced three new drives that definitely bring speed to the party. Now if they could only increase the capacity without being Extreme!ly expensive.

So three new drives, in 32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB. But the real news in the speed. The real news though is the speed. They all have a 230 mb/sec read and 170 mb/sec write rate. That’s the kind of speed that used to be limited to arrays — these should be perfect for HD video editing tasks. Of course, no word on pricing yet, but you can pretty much bet it won’t be cheap.

From the press release:

Fremont, CA. July 16th, 2009.- Corsair®, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer memory, power supplies and flash memory products, including solid-state drives, today announced the Extreme Series X32, X64 and X128 high-performance SSDs, in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB densities respectively.

Built using the renowned Indilinx Barefoot controller and Samsung MLC NAND flash memory, the Extreme Series has been designed to offer the highest performance currently available on the market, with read speeds of up to 240MB/s and write speeds of up to 170MB/s.

“The combination of the Indilinx Barefoot controller, Samsung flash memory, and 64MB of on-board cache delivers blistering, stutter-free performance, eliminating the bottleneck imposed by traditional mechanical hard disks,” said Jim Carlton, VP of Marketing at Corsair. “The new Extreme Series SSDs are ideal for use as primary drives in desktop and notebooks systems, and also for RAID 0 configurations in high-performance desktops for enthusiasts who want extreme performance.”

All Extreme Series SSDs feature end-user upgradable firmware to allow for new features to be added, such as the upcoming TRIM command for Windows 7 and other operating systems, which maintains optimal performance over time. Firmware upgrades and support for the Extreme Series SSDs will be available via Corsair’s website, and drives can be updated without the need to wipe data from the SSD, ensuring seamless upgrades.

The Corsair Extreme Series X32, X64 and X128 solid-state drives are available immediately from Corsair’s authorized distributors and resellers worldwide, and are backed by a Two-Year Limited Warranty. Complete customer support via telephone, email, forum and Tech Support Express is also available.

For more information on Corsair solid-state drives, please visit the Corsair SSD product page

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Jul 2009 | 1:40 am

Twitter's security breach: a reminder to choose and use web passwords wisely.

Someone who goes by the name of "Hacker Croll" breached the cloud computing accounts of one or more Twitter employees, and obtained access to extremely sensitive personal and corporate documents. I won't link to the documents, but they're floating around. I first read about the breach on the New York Times "Bits" blog.

This seems as good a time as any to remind everyone about choosing and managing passwords wisely. The New York Times' Gadgetwise blog has a helpful post up today along those lines. Snip:

The lesson Twitter employees are learning the hard way is a lesson for us all. If you use cloud services for personal or work purposes, you need to:

* Use strong passwords
* Use a different password for each of your accounts
* Pick tough security questions
* Keep your passwords and answers to security questions to yourself.

If you use Gmail, here are tips on how to keep your account secure. There are also instructions on securely retrieving a forgotten password with a text message to your phone.)

If you find it difficult to remember multiple strong passwords, choose a secure way to store them.

Twitter Gets Hacked. Can It Happen to You? (NYT Gadgetwise)

Related: Much debate online today about the ethics involved in publishing the ill-gotten docs. Here is a blog post at Information Week arguing that this reflects recklessness, and here are two blog posts which defend the notion that this is a protected right (my linking these should not be interpreted as a personal blessing, I'm thinking all of it through, too): copyrightsandcampaigns, and citmedialaw.org.

Here is Twitter co-founder Biz Stone's blog post about the data theft:

About a month ago, an administrative employee here at Twitter was targeted and her personal email account was hacked. From the personal account, we believe the hacker was able to gain information which allowed access to this employee's Google Apps account which contained Docs, Calendars, and other Google Apps Twitter relies on for sharing notes, spreadsheets, ideas, financial details and more within the company. Since then, we have performed a security audit and reminded everyone of the importance of personal security guidelines.

This attack had nothing to do with any vulnerability in Google Apps which we continue to use. This is more about Twitter being in enough of a spotlight that folks who work here can become targets. In fact, around the same time, Evan's wife's personal email was hacked and from there, the hacker was able to gain access to some of Evan's personal accounts such as Amazon and PayPal but not email. This isn't about any flaw in web apps, it speaks to the importance of following good personal security guidelines such as choosing strong passwords.

And, a question many are asking: will Twitter sue the blog that published a number of these documents today?


Source: Boing Boing | 17 Jul 2009 | 1:18 am

Microsoft Says It's Starting To Get Under Apple's Skin - ChannelWeb

New Zealand Herald

Microsoft Says It's Starting To Get Under Apple's Skin ChannelWeb Microsoft last year told Worldwide Partner Conference attendees it was tired of Apple making fun of Windows Vista and planned to fight back. A year later, Vista is firmly situated on the scrap heap of history, but Microsoft nonetheless feels it has ... Microsoft: Running ScaredPC World Apple Asks Microsoft To Stop Running Ad Campaign>MSFTWall Street Journal Apple's panties in bunch over Microsoft adsRegister DailyTech -Reuters Blogs -ChannelWeb all 393 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 17 Jul 2009 | 1:12 am

Google Wants You To Know A Google Docs Redesign Is Coming (I Wonder Why)

On the Google Docs blog today, the company took the time to make a non-announcement. Basically, there’s a bunch of words that bury the real story: That Google Docs will soon be launching a “brand new shiny interface.”

Hmmm. I wonder why. Obviously, earlier this week Microsoft laid out its plans for Office 2010, which includes a web-based component meant to take on Google Docs. But once again, there is nothing to actually see right now from Google, instead this is a pre-announcement to let users know that they may be seeing wonky elements over the next few weeks as they tweak things on the fly.

Not surprisingly, the sharing of documents will be a key element to this redesign. Despite it being perhaps the key element of Google Docs, sharing items with others is simply not that intuitive right now. Here’s what Google has in mind for the future:

One thing you’ll probably notice in the next few days is that the “Shared with…” list in the left hand pane will go away. But don’t worry, you can still use Search to do the same thing. Just click on “Search Options” and type the user’s name into the “Shared with:” box. If this is a search you’ll do over and over again, you can click “Save this search” so it will be easily accessible in “Saved Searches”.

Another thing you’ll see is the new Sharing Menu. We feel this is a big improvement over the old one; we’ve moved all the sharing functionality into this one dialog, so now you can completely manage sharing without having to leave the Docs list.

Other than that, Google is adding a bunch of new search operators (which only the hardcore users will care about). And it concludes the post with “They [the new features] will be followed shortly by the new interface and a number of pretty exciting features we have in the pipe.”

Google. Such a tease.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Jul 2009 | 1:11 am

Gates has a plan to destroy all hurricanes

I know I waxed friendly on Gates yesterday, but this latest plan seems a little mad-scientist to me. Of course, he didn’t concoct it personally and it’s only possible to use it for good, but the sheer scale of the thing just screams “Dr. Evil.” The idea is that by changing the ocean’s temperature by a few degrees in the area where a hurricane is about to hit, they can slow or weaken a hurricane before it makes landfall. Of course, changing the temperature of the ocean is about is large-scale an operation as is possible on this planet.

Fortunately, they only need to change its temperature in a certain area, and only by a few degrees. This would create enough atmospheric something-or-other to affect the storm. A whole bunch of “sail-maneuvered barges” (why sails?) with pumps and 500-foot tubes would pump up cold water from the depths and push warmwater down. Of course, it’s going to be hard to staff a hundred ships that will be going straight into the path or eye of the hurricane. Not exactly the safest place to be, but on the plus side it’d make a great movie.

If you were to say to me “that’s madness,” I wouldn’t think less of you for it. But it seems that hurricanes apparently cost the US $10bn annually and Katrina cost us $81bn. A fraction of that would pay for this entire fleet.

My problem is this: the ocean is a very well-tuned ecosystem, and a temperature change of a few degrees might be negligible to us, but for microfauna or algae it may be fatal. Mess with the planet’s homeostasis at your own risk, my friends.

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Jul 2009 | 1:10 am

Resident Evil 5 release date for PC announced

Capcom has made it official: Resident Evil 5 is coming to the PC on September 15th. The fifth installment in the popular survival horror series was released for the Xbox and PS3 in March of this year, to some controversy. The version being released for the PC has some improvements, specifically the addition of 3D, intended to take advantage of Nvidia’s 3D Vision goggles.

From the press release:

CAPCOM REVEALS SHIP DATE FOR RESIDENT EVIL 5 FOR THE PC

A Whole New Dimension of Horror Comes to PC Fans

Capcom is pleased to announce that Resident Evil 5 for the PC will release on September 15, 2009 in North America and September 18 th in Europe. PC gamers will get the ultimate Resident Evil package in the new PC version as new features will include NVIDIA®’s new GeForce® 3D Vision technology (wireless 3D Vision glasses sold separately), new costumes and a new and improved mercenaries mode with three times as many enemies.

Fans that pick up the PC version will be the first to experience stereoscopic 3D out of screen effects as their living rooms are transformed into the world of Kijuju. Infected Majini coming at players from every angle, dust flying in and out of screen and the scariest bosses to date are taken up a notch . Resident Evil 5 PC is a whole new level of fear players will never forget. The game also supports Stereoscopic 3D in all of its cut scenes – an industry first.

These groundbreaking stereoscopic 3D effects were developed in close cooperation with NVIDIA, which is why the game is part of NVIDIA’s “The Way It’s Meant To Be Played” partnership program. Resident Evil fans can check out the 3D action for themselves today as a new stereo 3D tech demo with benchmark is available to download today on NVIDIA’s official site at http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_re5_downloads.html. To find out more info on NVIDIA’s GeForce 3D Vision technology, click on the link here, http://www.nvidia.com/3dvision/.

If you can’t get enough of RE5 for the PC, it will be making its public debut at Comicon 2009 in Booth #5133 in full 3D . It will also be shown to thousands of gamers at this year’ s Penny Arcade Expo in the Fall. More details on the game will be hitting in the upcoming months.

About Resident Evil 5

From the ashes of old conflicts, a new terror arises. The Umbrella Corporation and its crop of lethal viruses have been destroyed and contained. But a new, more dangerous threat has emerged. Years after surviving the events in Raccoon City, Chris Redfield has been fighting the scourge of bio-organic weapons all over the world. Now a member of the Bio-terrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSSA), Chris is sent to Africa to investigate a biological agent that is transforming the populace into aggressive and disturbing creatures. Joined by another local BSSA agent, Sheva Alomar, the two must work together to solve the truth behind the disturbing turn of events. Featuring a revolutionary new co-op mode of gameplay, Resident Evil 5 will let players experience fear together as terror moves out of the shadows and into the light of day.

Co-producer and series veterans Jun Takeuchi (Lost Planet) and Masachika Kawata (Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles) unleash an unprecedented level of fear for the new generation in Resident Evil 5, the sequel to one of the highest-rated videogames in history according to Metacritic.com and Gamerankings.com. Promising to revolutionize the series by delivering an unbelievable level of detail, realism and control, Resident Evil 5 is certain to bring new fans to the series. Incredible changes to both the gameplay and world of Resident Evil make this a must-have game for gamers across the globe.

The Resident Evil series has sold over 40 million units since the original game was released in 1996 and has spawned a multi-million dollar trilogy of films from Sony Pictures. The latest installment of the game, Resident Evil 5 promises to revolutionize the series just as Resident Evil 4 did.

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Jul 2009 | 12:45 am

You Only Live Twice: Spymaster Coming To Facebook Too

By now, many of you have heard about Spymaster, the viral game that uses your Twitter social graph to play and get more users into the game. Well guess what? It’s coming to that network with even more users, Facebook.

The integration should be launched at some point today, co-founder Chris Abad tells us. But the key is that this will not be playable on Facebook’s site like many of the gaming apps built for that platform are, instead this will use Facebook Connect to pipe updates into the social network, just as it works with sending updates to Twitter.

And users on Twitter and Facebook will be able to play at the same time against one another. Players on the different networks will be distinguished by the different icons. And you can link up accounts on both Twitter and Facebook at the same time.

Spymaster caused quite a bit of controversy shortly after its launch as some followers of players on Twitter felt they were being spammed by the game. Since then, Spymaster and others have taken a few steps to make it easier to blunt some of the more viral-like elements of the game. But really, we felt the game just showed the need for Twitter to add at least some basic forms of filters on its core offering.

And despite this blunting, Spymaster says it is already monetizing its product. “We started monetizing about a week ago. So far we’re seeing very high numbers in terms of revenue per user, as well as conversion rates. I can’t share specific numbers with you just yet, but Super Rewards (our partner for our virtual goods store) says we’re knocking it out of the park against comparables,” Abad tells us.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Jul 2009 | 12:37 am

Blind Photographers Use Gadgets to Realize Artistic Vision

When a brain tumor caused professional photographer Alex Dejong to lose his eyesight three years ago, he turned to gadgets to continue making his art.

Carrying around a Nokia N82 cellphone, Dejong used assistive software to translate sounds into visuals in his mind. After stitching together a mental image of his surroundings, he snapped photos with his Canon and Leica digital cameras.

But Dejong’s blindness is acute: He can only perceive light and dark. Because Dejong could not see his own photographs, he hired an assistant for editing. Until recently, editing was a part of the creative workflow that he thought he’d lost forever. And then to his surprise, Apple’s iPhone 3GS, which launched late June, gave him back the ability to edit photos.

The new iPhone has a feature called VoiceOver, which reads back anything a user places his finger over on the screen: e-mail, web pages, system preferences and so on. Beyond that, photo-editing applications such as CameraBag and Tilt-Shift perform automated editing tasks that blind users like Dejong could not otherwise do on their own.

“With the iPhone and a lot of the photography apps that a lot of people are using, I have my entire workflow, and I can do it in five minutes,” Dejong said. “In this way, the iPhone is a remarkable gift. I’ve had it for three weeks now, and it has really opened up my world, apart from the photography.”

For years, technology companies and small software developers have created digital tools to aid the blind in everyday life. Microsoft Windows, Linux and the Mac operating system each carry tools such as audio screen readers and magnifiers to assist the visually impaired with computer use. And in the hardware arena, some gadgets, such as Dejong’s Nokia N82, specialize in helping the blind. The smartphone supports a vOICe app that analyzes the light detected by the handset’s camera and plays different sounds depending on the brightness, thereby helping the blind make pictures out of sounds.

Dejong said he still uses the Nokia N82 to help him “view” his surroundings, and he admits the iPhone 3GS is more of a “toy camera” compared to his professional DSLR. But he hails the smartphone as the first handset fully accessible to the blind.

“Even if I don’t see the output myself, I still want to have my hand in everything that I do as a photographer,” Dejong said.

Dejong is part of an online community called Blind Photographers, where similarly handicapped shutterbugs share their work and photography tips. Because blindness is variable from person to person, the shooters each develop a different methodology to suit their visual impairment, said Tim O’Brien, a member of the organization and a freelance newspaper photographer for Chapel Hill News.

“My eyesight is not blurry but more like low-resolution,” explained O’Brien, whose condition is called juvenile macular degeneration. “It’s like the difference between looking at an old television and a high-definition television.”

Because of his handicap, O’Brien can see much better from his periphery than his center. So when he takes a photo, he first familiarizes himself with his surrounding (walking up and down every aisle in a grocery store, for example) to gather and memorize a visual. He calls it building a map in his head.

After the necessary preparation, O’Brien snaps photos with his Nikon D40X DSLR and applies edits with the image application Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. His photography process, then, is not much different from a non-handicapped shooter. He just takes much longer than most digital shooters — about as long as a photographer using film, he says.

“I can’t tell if the camera is in focus, or any of the details,” O’Brien explained. “I’ll go home and find lots of interesting things that I didn’t know that I had. That’s not dissimilar to how photographers worked in the film days, when they didn’t know what their camera took until they developed film.”

Despite his visual impairment, Jason DeCamillis still primarily shoots with film. His condition is called retinitis pigmentosa: His central vision is good in the daytime, but his peripheral vision is poor, and come nighttime everything goes pitch black. Like O’Brien, DeCamillis spends most of his time preparing his photo shoots: He sweeps across the scene, and his mind tricks him into thinking he can see everything by forming a mental composite image.

DeCamillis’ camera of choice is the Holga 120WPC, a medium-format pinhole camera, because he feels it’s a fitting form of self-expression. His second favorite camera is the Diana 151, also a medium-format film camera.

“The cool part about that Holga is that because it’s a pinhole, it’s sort of similar to how I can tell people how I see,” DeCamillis said. “It looks very similar to what my composite image is in my head. It’s not a realistic view of how I think other people see the world.”

Photo credit: Alex Dejong shot the photos above and below on this page. Click through to the next pages to see photography by O’Brien and DeCamillis.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 17 Jul 2009 | 12:30 am

Med student with rare cancer in research

A Chicago-area medical student says he began working as a researcher on the rare brain cancer glioblastoma after he was diagnosed with the disease. P.J. Lukac told the Chicago Tribune he decided to talk to Dr.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 17 Jul 2009 | 12:25 am

Mercedes details upcoming all-electric SLS AMG gullwing

Mercedes has an electric SLS AMG in development that will probably take the title away from Tesla as the must have plug-in sports car. The new SLS AMG recalls past iconic Mercs with a sweeping body and gullwing doors. Plus, the performance and power output is on par with a current generation SLS AMG 6.3-liter V8 but this puppy doesn’t make Al Gore cry.

We all knew that Mercedes had electric car intentions when Damiler purchased a stake in Tesla a few months back. However it’s doubtful that this SLS has seen significant Tesla development just yet. Mercedes did buy that stake to gain access to the quick development cycle that inherently come with small companies. This car has probably been in the works for a while now.

The design is purely Mercedes Benz, but underneath is more Moon Rover meets Tesla. There are four electric motors placed just inside the suspension system that propels the car to 60 mph in 4.0 seconds. (The Roadster does it 3.9 seconds, btw) A row of batteries extends down the center of the vehicle’s frame in a Chevy Volt-fashion that doesn’t interfere with the car’s weight distribution and helps keep the center of gravity sports car-low.

We’re curious to hear what the cars range will be. The presser didn’t mention anything, but the four, smaller motors might translate into a similar range as the Tesla Roadster which has a higher capacity lithium-ion pack, but one large motor.

HP freaks should be content with the 392 kW output which translates into 525 HP. With that much horsepower, it seems like the 0-60 time should be a tad better, but we’re all slowly learning that electric cars are tuned differently than their gasoline counterparts. For instance, the new Tesla Roadster Sport features a hand-wound stator which increases the amount of current that passes through the motor and decreases the 0-60 speed from 3.9 seconds to 3.7 seconds.

Still, performance is measured differently by everyone and we’re curious to see how this car whips around the track with the batteries down the center, motors at each wheel and no transmission thanks to the electric drive. This SLS AMG is likely going to set the bar very high for electric supercars for sometime. It’s just a shame that the everyday man will not be able to enjoy this zero-emissions sports car as it’s likely going to be priced up in the stratosphere. It’s probably not that hard to develop a viable electric car when price is no object.

PRESS RELEASE:

New swing-wing model with purely electric high-tech drive system: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG with electric drive – the exciting future of the super sports car

Affalterbach – Mercedes-AMG is paving the way ahead: with the new SLS AMG with electric drive, the performance brand within Mercedes-Benz Cars is developing an exciting super sports car with zero-emission high-tech drive. This model sees Mercedes-Benz and AMG displaying their expertise in the development of alternative drive solutions for high-performance super sports cars, delivering further proof of their pioneering status in this market segment.

The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMGwith electric drive transforms the vision of powerful and locally emission-free super sports cars into reality thanks to an innovative drive system: powerful forwards thrust is provided by four electric motors with a combined peak output of 392 kW and a maximum torque of 880 Nm. The four electric motors are positioned near the wheels, substantially reducing the unsprung masses compared to wheel-hub motors. One transmission per axle transmits the power. This intelligent all-wheel-drive system allows dynamically optimised power transmission without any losses by means of Torque Vectoring – in other words the specifically targeted acceleration of individual wheels. In its first pilot phase, the SLS AMG with electric drive incorporates a liquid-cooled high-voltage lithium-ion battery of modular design with an energy content of 48 kWh and a capacity of 40 Ah. The 400-volt battery is charged by means of targeted recuperation during braking whilst the car is being driven.

Acceleration from zero to 100 km/h in around 4 seconds

When it comes to dynamics, the electrically driven SLS AMGdelivers an unequivocal statement: the swing-wing model accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in around 4 seconds – putting it on the same high level as the SLS AMG with a 6.3-litre V8 engine developing 420 kW/571 hp.

“With the SLS AMG with electric drive, we wanted to redefine the super sports car. For us, it is not just about responsibility. We attach just as much importance to excitement and classic AMGperformance,” says Volker Mornhinweg, Chief Executive Officer of Mercedes-AMG GmbH.

Optimum weight distribution and low centre of gravity

The purely electric drive system was factored into the equation as early as the concept phase when the new swing-wing model was being developed by Mercedes-Benz and AMG. It is ideally packaged for the integration of the high-performance, zero-emission technology: by way of example, the four electric motors and the two transmissions can be positioned near the wheels and very low down in the vehicle. The same applies to the modular high-current battery, whose modules are located in front of the firewall, in the centre tunnel and behind the seats. Advantages of this solution include the vehicle’s low centre of gravity and the balanced weight distribution – ideal conditions for optimum handling, which the electrically powered SLS AMG shares with its petrol-driven sister model.

Key data at a glance:

	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG with electric drive
Max. output	392 kW
Torque	880 Nm
0-100 km/h	Approx. 4 s
Rated capacity	40 Ah (at 400 V)
Energy content	3x 16 kWh = 48 kWh

The installation of the drive components required no changes whatsoever to the swing-wing model’s aluminium spaceframe body. And there were just as few constraints when it came to maintaining the excellent level of passive safety and high degree of long-distance comfort that are hallmarks of Mercedes cars.

Strategic alliance for fast electrification of the car

The electrically powered SLS AMG sees Mercedes-Benz and AMGcontinuing to pursue their aim of minimising the amount of time it takes to bring about the electrification of the car. Their strategic involvement in Deutsche Accumotive GmbH & Co. KG, a joint venture between Daimler AG and Evonik Industries AG, will provide the battery technology required in future. Daimler has the leading role in this joint venture for the development and production of batteries and battery systems for automotive applications.

Source: CrunchGear | 17 Jul 2009 | 12:20 am

Hulu’s Alien Plot Is Now Up For An… Emmy Award?

It’s not often that we hear about consumer web startups getting their own TV spots, much less during the Super Bowl — that’s the sort of craziness that was reserved for the heady 90’s, back before the (first) bubble burst. But that’s exactly what Hulu did this year when it ran a spot during Super Bowl XLIII, introducing the masses to the online video site’s plot for world domination (headed by Alec Baldwin, of course). The ad was certainly effective — Hulu saw a massive traffic jump and released a series of followup ads featuring celebrities including Seth MacFarlane and Dennis Leary.

Apparently the general public wasn’t alone in liking the ad. Hulu has just been nominated for an Emmy Award in the category “Outstanding Commercial” — a feat that few other consumer websites have ever accomplished (I believe the only other startup to get a nod was Snap.com in 1999, when that site was home to a search engine).

Of course, Hulu isn’t exactly your typical startup — it was created by News Corp and NBC, and recently added Disney to the team. Still, it’s hard to look at a company that launched its private beta less than two years ago and not call it a startup.

My favorite part about the news is that The Emmys — an organization steeped in the traditions of old Hollywood — is honoring a company whose on-demand model may eventually change television as we know it. In any case, good job guys. Now you’ve just got to beat out the likes of Nike, Budweiser, and Coca-Cola to get your prize. Here are the rest of the nominees:

Airport Lounge • Amex / Platinum Card
Alec In Huluwood • Hulu
Bottled Courage • Nike
Circus • Anheuser-Busch Budweiser
Heist • Coca-Cola
Magazine Buyer • Anheuser-Busch Bud Light
Tips • Career Builder
Wedding • Sprint Nextel

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

Source: TechCrunch | 17 Jul 2009 | 12:10 am

Google Apps Security Questioned After Twitter Leak - PC World

Straits Times

Google Apps Security Questioned After Twitter Leak PC World Analysis: Twitter suffers a significant security breach, brought on by a Twitter employee's Google Apps account being hacked. Twitter uses Google Docs for information sharing. How do I know this? Well, it seems Twitter Inc. has had a pretty significant ... Twitter Hack: Are Companies Moving Too Quickly To The Cloud?ChannelWeb Twitter's recent jaunt in the news kicks off security debateThe Tech Herald Twitter Attack Bigger Than Password Strength, Cloud Security TalkeWeek New York Times -Gerson Lehrman Group -TechNewsWorld all 614 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 17 Jul 2009 | 12:03 am

Study: The human Y chromosome may be lost

U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 17 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am

Why OpenBSD's Release Process Works

An anonymous reader writes "Twelve years ago OpenBSD developers started engineering a release process that has resulted in quality software being delivered on a consistent 6 month schedule — 25 times in a row, exactly on the date promised, and with no critical bugs. This on-time delivery process is very different from how corporations manage their product releases and much more in tune with how volunteer driven communities are supposed to function. Theo de Raadt explains in this presentation how the OpenBSD release process is managed (video) and why it has been such a success."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:37 pm

The Valley

Susannah Breslin is a guestblogger on Boing Boing. She is a freelance journalist who blogs at Reverse Cowgirl and is at work on a novel set in the adult movie industry.

I took these photos on the set of an adult movie in the San Fernando Valley this April. It was April 10th, to be exact. Which is my birthday. Why I was on the set of an adult movie on my birthday is another story altogether. The story of my life.

The location was a hideous brown building in Canoga Park, not far from Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, where rocket engines are built and in front of which sits a giant rocket engine as if it has fallen out of the sky. Both sides of the soundstage were lined with themed rooms: a shower room, a weight room, a sex dungeon. That day's scene would take place on one of the ugliest adult movie sets that I have ever seen: pea soup-colored walls, a diarrhea-colored leather sofa, a faux wood floor. All the flowers were fake.

The name of the movie was "Interactive Sex with Tori Black." The director explained: "We were going to go with 'Existential Musings of a Porn Star,' but we thought we'd dumb it down. If you want to have sex with Tori Black and don't have chloroform, this is your next best option."

Tori is 20 and very pretty. She has long brown hair and long tan legs. When she came out of the dressing room for her scene, wearing pink lingerie and matching pink high-heels, she said: "And here we go." Then she said: "Off to work."

Her co-star was James Deen, who is the hipster generation's answer to Dirk Diggler. He's 23 and has been doing porn since he was 18. When I asked him if he had had sex with 1,000 women in his lifetime thus far, he looked down, thought for a moment, and replied: "More than that."

While the director filmed, Tori and James went at it like dogs. Even when he stopped shooting, they kept going. It was impressive. It was Olympic. It was also Passover. In between shots, all the crew guys standing around and watching kept making jokes about Deen being Jewish and what they called his "Hobbit feet." Deen ignored them.

When it was time for the money shot, which in the business is referred to as the "pop shot," somebody called out: "Actually, he can't pop until sundown." After that, everybody got very quiet and respectful while Deen delivered his closing shot. Then they burst into a rousing rendition of "Hava Nagila," and everybody clapped.

Afterward, Tori checked her face in the mirror. She told me that the heavy makeup makes her face break out. I thought it was the pop shot. But what do I know? I guess you learn something new every day.

Source: Boing Boing | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:28 pm

Touch screens hit desk phones: the snom 870

Section: Communications, Accessories, VoIP

One of the features that makes the iPhone easy to use is the ability to create conference calls or place calls on hold or mute without needing to know any special key codes.  All you have to do is touch the big button on the touch screen and you’re all set.  Today, snom introduced a new VoIP desk phone, the snom 870, which incorporates a touch screen.  The screen is 4x3 inches in size and is primarily aimed for businesses, however I can see something like this easily finding its way into the home.

Since the phone has a touchscreen, setting up a conference call for up to five people is supposed to be easy because of a drag and drop menu system.  Things like speed dial get an upgrade thanks to the touchscreen and an address book as well.  The phone does seem a bit on the pricey side at $349.  However if you’re trying to run a business but your employees require a training session to learn their old phones, maybe a touch screen option is better (assuming the snom works as advertised).

Now if you want to have a bit of a laugh, watch the video below that makes using the snom 870 appear to be a zen like experience from a dream (it also shows the phone in action). 

Company site: [snom.com]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:23 pm

Google Says YouTube Can Start Making Real Money, Very Soon. Really! [MediaMemo]

YouTube, the world’s biggest video site, is a money loser for Google. But it may not stay that way for long, the company hinted today.

In response to a question during Google’s quarterly earnings call today, chief financial officer Patrick Pichette contended that the company could begin making a substantial profit, someday soonish. Here’s my paraphrased note from the call (I should have a verbatim quote later on): “In the not too distant future, we see it being very profitable.”

If Google really does pull this off, it will be a remarkable turnaround project. Google shelled out $1.65 billion for YouTube in 2006, but since then, has struggled to get a handle on the site’s potential and pitfalls.

YouTube is exponentially bigger than any competitor, but has struggled to turn its enormous audience into dollars. And its costs are exponentially bigger than any other competitor, too: Each video in its catalog represents a liability for the site, which has to host the clip and pay to stream it to users–and users are uploading something like 15 hours of video per minute to YouTube.

Google has never offered up any financial detail about YouTube’s performance, and didn’t during the call. Analysts have had good sport trying to figure out just how much revenue the site takes in and how much money it loses. One recent report concluded that the company was losing nearly half a billion dollars a year, while another pegged it at a more modest $174 million.

But the company has been fairly upfront about what it wants to do with YouTube: Get more professionally made videos, as opposed to stuff that users make themselves, on the site, and then sell as many ads as it can against them.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt did boast during the call that YouTube’s “monetized views” have tripled within the last year and that the company now sells ads against “billions” of video views every month. But this clip remains ad-free:

Source: All Things Digital | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:03 pm

Absolut wants to get you crunk with Drinkspiration

This could be the most ridiculous or ingenious app of all time. It’s silly, really, but I thought I’d share it with you guys. Now you can show your friends on Twitter and Facebook just how big of a lush you are. Just watch the demo video. Drinkspiration is available now for the iPhone (iTunes). An Android app is in the works and will be available soon.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:00 pm

Bit.ly Starts Warning About Malicious Links

Since it became the default URL shortener for Twitter, Bit.ly has been growing like crazy. And as we learned from Spider-Man, with great power, comes great responsibility.

Bit.ly has started warning users of potentially malicious sites, based on information it has about URLs being shortened. For example, if you click on this link, you’ll see the message that reads, “Warning - this site has been flagged and may contain unsolicited content. The content of this web page appears to contain spam, or links to unsolicited or undesired sites.” It then gives the following suggestions:

Close your browser window

Notify the sender of the URL

Or you can also continue on to the link, at your own risk, if you click another URL on the page.

And this do-gooding likely plays into Bit.ly’s greater plans to become a more Digg-like destination for content.

Bit.ly is apparently pulling this malicious site info from StopBadware.org and antiphishing.org, just as many other services do.

[thanks Adam via tunese]

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

Source: TechCrunch | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:55 pm

Taiwan Cracks Down on Fake Cellphone Handsets

An iPhone look-alike in a nano-sized package with a FM transmitter and Windows Media Player may make for a great gag but the device is for real and available in China and Taiwan. So are fake Blackberry phones and knockoffs of other popular smartphones.

Now Taiwan’s National Communications Commission has reportedly begun a campaign to crack down on the sales of fake handsets, most of which are produced in mainland China. The knockoffs known as “shanzhai” are popular among users who want additional features that may not be found in the real models. Particularly, the iPhone is a favorite since it is not available in China. Apple is yet to negotiate a deal with a Chinese telecom provider to offer the phone to users in the country.

The Chinese phone knockoffs are an annoyance to not just handset makers but also to regulators. The Taiwanese Commission has said the handsets lack tracking numbers and often don’t have valid radio frequencies they can operate on.

The Commission has said, for now, it’s crackdown will focus on those selling the devices. Users of fake handsets will not be targeted. And in what seems to be a strangely contradictory policy, users can continue to bring up to five “shanzhai” handsets from mainland China or Hong Kong. Meanwhile sellers of the knockoffs could face up to a $9000 fine.

No word on what happens to Kindle knock-off.

Photo: A fake iPhone (Andrew Currie/Flickr)

(via Unwired View)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:52 pm

Former AOLer Jim Bankoff Scores $7 Million for Sports News and Community Start-Up [BoomTown]

Jim Bankoff–the well-regarded former AOL exec who runs an online sports news network called SB Nation–has nabbed $7 million in funding from investors to grow the company, including Comcast Interactive Capital, said sources.

There was also a Securities and Exchange Commission document filed on the transaction today, under the name Sportsblogs Inc., which you can see here.

The SEC filing noted that the money invested was $7.95 million. But sources said that the nearly million-dollar difference is for giving cash to early employees and founders and will not be used to fund SB Nation.

People familiar with the situation said SB Nation’s post-investment valuation, after this second round, will be $30 million and also include previous investors, such as Accel Partners and Allen & Co.

Its first round–which also included several prominent angel investors, such as former AOL exec Ted Leonsis and LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner–was $5 million.

SB Nation has used that investment to grow like gangbusters over the last year, especially since Bankoff arrived last fall as its chairman and CEO.

Depending on which survey service you reference, the site has between four and seven million unique visitors a month.

It has done distribution deals with Internet giants like Yahoo (YHOO) to goose that growth.

While it has been around since 2003, founded by DailyKos’s Markos Moulitsas and others, the Washington, D.C.-based start-up has been aiming more at the sweet spot of local sports pages, especially as newspapers have become weaker.

SB Nation also covers national sports, using a community network of blogs, analysis and news.

Comcast Interactive Capital, which is the venture arm of Comcast (CMCSA), will also get a board seat for David Zilberman.

Bankoff (pictured here) was a longtime AOL exec, ultimately in charge of programming and products there. He worked on such products as TMZ.com, Moviefone, MapQuest and Netscape, as well as its AIM and ICQ messaging offerings.

After he left the Time Warner (TWX) online unit, he became a senior adviser to Providence Equity Partners. Bankoff still has that role, but has been working full-time at SB Nation for a year.

Source: All Things Digital | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:51 pm

World's First 3D Webcam Tested

CNETNate writes "The world's first 3D webcam not only takes anaglyphic images, but will let you have a stereoscopic 3D video chat over the Internet. It's the work of a unique camera called 'Minoru,' which has been tested and documented in a feature today. Be warned though: anaglyphic photography was clearly not invented to create comfortably-viewable videos."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:50 pm

NYPD is spending $1 million in typewriters

New York City is spending a million bucks on typewriters over the next three years. Apparently the NYPD is working toward computerizing everything, but they're just not there yet. So Swintec office equipment is on contract to provide manual and electrics, and maintenance, for the foreseeable future. From UPI:

Most of the city's arrest forms have been computerized, but property and evidence vouchers printed on carbon-paper forms still require the use of typewriters.

"It just doesn't make sense that we can't enter these (vouchers) on computer," a police officer told the newspaper.

Dr. Edith Linn, a retired New York police officer and professor of criminal justice at the city's Berkeley College, said many of the 500 police officers she interviewed for a study told her the outdated equipment makes them less likely to perform arrests for minor offenses.

"NYPD typewriter bill nearly $1 million" (via Orange Crate Art)




Source: Boing Boing | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:32 pm

Vampire Fangs Flytrap, Headgear

I'm a sucker for all things miniaturized and oversized. So I'm especially fond of JAAAHWS, a big version of those classic novelty vampire fangs. Use them to build your own maneating flytrap (above) or put the fangs on your noggin', like so... (adults can wear them, too)

Interesting tidbit: JAAAHWS were created by Brian Morishita who also works with Rick Baker at Cinovation Studios, which means he has two super cool jobs.

Available in white ($20) and glow-in-the-dark ($28 - limited).

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:25 pm

Good Enough for Nikki Finke, Good Enough for Celebrity Editrix Bonnie Fuller: Mail.com Lands Another High-Profile Hire [MediaMemo]

Want a media job? Dust off your resume, highlight your experience covering entertainment and Hollywood, and then give Jay Penske a call. The owner of Mail.com Media Corp. continues to make high-profile hires for his burgeoning Web publishing business. The latest: Celebrity editrix Bonnie Fuller.

Fuller will take over Penske’s Hollwood Life site, which Penske says will become “a vibrant, interactive digital destination for entertainment news and style-minded women, ages 18-35.”

That makes some sense. Fuller made her bones at women’s magazines like Cosmopolitan and Glamour, and her reputation by reinventing Jann Wenner’s US Weekly and turning that title into a cash cow. She had a less successful run as editorial director at tabloid publisher American Media, and for the past year has been in a holding pattern.

Bonnie Fuller is one of a series of hires Penske has made since acquiring Mail.com, a white-label mail provider, and raising $35 million last year. His most promient get to date: Luring Hollywood power blogger Nikki Finke to the fold, purportedly for a truckload of money (though I’m pretty sure it’s just a minivan).

Source: All Things Digital | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:18 pm

MTS Announces Additional Workforce Reduction

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., July 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MTS Systems Corporation (Nasdaq: MTSC) today announced an additional reduction in its workforce in response to the continued weakness in industrial capital spending.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:15 pm

Choosing Better-Quality JPEG Images With Software?

kpoole55 writes "I've been googling for an answer to a question and I'm not making much progress. The problem is image collections, and finding the better of near-duplicate images. There are many programs, free and costly, CLI or GUI oriented, for finding visually similar images — but I'm looking for a next step in the process. It's known that saving the same source image in JPEG format at different quality levels produces different images, the one at the lower quality having more JPEG artifacts. I've been trying to find a method to compare two visually similar JPEG images and select the one with the fewest JPEG artifacts (or the one with the most JPEG artifacts, either will serve.) I also suspect that this is going to be one of those 'Well, of course, how else would you do it? It's so simple.' moments."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:02 pm

Shareholder Class Action Filed Against Kenexa Corporation by the Law Firm of Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, LLP

RADNOR, Pa., July 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement was issued today by the law firm of Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, LLP:Notice is hereby given that a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of purchasers of securities of Kenexa Corporation (Nasdaq: KNXA) ("Kenexa" or the "Company") between May 8, 2007 and November 7, 2007, inclusive (the "Class Period").If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, LLP (Darren J.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:02 pm

Know Your Mushrooms documentary

I'm looking forward to seeing Know Your Mushrooms, a documentary by Ron Mann (who also directed Comic Book Confidential).

KNOW YOUR MUSHROOMS follows uber myco visionaries Gary Lincoff and Larry Evans (two of the more expert and unforgettably mercurial characters in the community) as they lead us on a hunt for the wild mushroom and the deeper cultural experiences attached to the mysterious fungi.

Combining material filmed at the Telluride Mushroom Fest with animation and archival footage along with a neo-psychedelic soundtrack by the Flaming Lips, KNOW YOUR MUSHROOMS opens the doors to perception, takes the audience on a longer, stranger trip and delivers them to a brave new world where the fungi might well guide humanity to a saner, safer place… with extra cheese…

When I was young my grandmother would take my family on mushroom hunting trips. She really knew her mushrooms. Once when we were in the woods, my mother and grandmother got into an argument about whether or not a mushroom they'd found was poisonous. My mother said it was poisonous and my grandmother said it wasn't. To make her point, my grandmother ate the mushroom on the spot. (I have to assume she was right, because she lived to be 107.)

Last week in Colorado, my mother (who knows her mushrooms too, just not as well as her mother did) found and dried some mushrooms. Photos here.

Know Your Mushrooms documentary

Source: Boing Boing | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:01 pm

Android gets a torrent-monitoring app, but it still has a long way to go

One of the abilities of smartphones I’ve always coveted is the ability to peek in at your torrents and see how they’re doing. Is that movie finished? Is anyone downloading that pack of videos I put up? These are questions that demand answers while you’re waiting in line at the coffee shop three minutes from your house. Well, Android has a promising young app called Transdroid (not to be confused with a voice-modulating app of the same name) that lets you check up on your precious torrents from a distance.

It’ll work with Transmission, µTorrent, plain BitTorrent or Deluge, as long as you have a version that supports a web UI. Go look for it in the preferences, I’ll wait.

Yes? Good? Okay. So now that you’re all excited, I have to tell you that the app is a bit of a letdown. It’s mostly potential at this point. Setup is super easy, if you know some basic stuff like how to get your IP (or proxy, I suppose) and port numbers. It started working right away for me, and that’s when I noticed that there’s no UI to speak of. You can sort by name, but status sorting is useless (you can’t tell it how to sort, really) and everything is in one big list. No “active torrents,” no “seeding,” no nothing. The UI really needs to be fleshed out — and I’m sure it will be in time. But right now it’s hard to recommend to any serious torrent user.

The search function works great, though. A quick search on Mininova (the search box can do BTjunkie, Mininova, or ISOHunt right now) brought up results within seconds, and a quick touch added the torrent to my “downloading” list on my computer almost instantaneously. Slight problem, though. When I stopped and removed that test torrent on my computer, it started downloading again right away. So I removed it again — permanently, you understand, the way you remove giraffe porn. It was not until I removed it on my phone that it died the true death. Trouble, my friends.

So yes, it exists, but I’d give it a couple months to get a real UI and work out the issues. I’m glad it’s there, though.

[via Download Squad and Android Freeware]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pm

Help Out BBG's Favorite Guerrilla Gardener

Annie, the guerrilla gardener I wrote about for BBG, is in a fracas with Caltrans, which wants to remove some of the work she's done.

Pretty lame, considering she is the only reason this freeway off-ramp transformed from nothing to something.

Want to support the cause?

Sign this petition.

...And buy a "Runs with Pruners" t-shirt ($5 goes towards garden tools, supplies, etc.)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:55 pm

UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

3-D mapping helps in brain tumor's removal CINCINNATI, July 16 (UPI) -- University of Cincinnati neurosurgeons say they used a new technology involving the creation of a 3-D map to remove a large tumor from a patient's brain. The surgeons used multiple brain scans that were fused and installed into a surgical guidance computer, whose function is similar to that of a global positioning system.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:44 pm

Comcast Unveils IPhone App [Voices]

By Vishesh Kumar, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Comcast (CMCS) is now on the iPhone bandwagon. On Thursday, Comcast, the largest cable operator in the U.S. by subscribers, announced a free application for the Apple (AAPL) device that lets customers check their Comcast email and home voice mail as well as surf their TV schedules.

Still to come: the ability to program DVRs at home from mobile devices, the way that rivals like DirecTV (DTV), Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) do.

But the application has gotten largely positive reviews in the blogosphere. Gizmodo calls it a “surprisingly nice little app,” while MobileCrunch says it’s “a good, solid offering that’s a no-brainer for iPhone owners who subscribe to and use Comcast’s voice, internet, and cable services.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:38 pm

Lou Beach show at Billy Shire Fine Arts

Billy Shire Fine Arts in Culver City, CA is hosting an exhibition of Lou Beach's extraordinary collage work.

Shown here, World Of Men C, 15" x 19",$2800

Exhibition: July 11, 2009 - August 1, 2009

Lou Beach show at Billy Shire Fine Arts


Source: Boing Boing | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:33 pm

3-D mapping helps in brain tumor's removal

University of Cincinnati neurosurgeons say they used a new technology involving the creation of a 3-D map to remove a large tumor from a patient's brain. The surgeons used multiple brain scans that were fused and installed into a surgical guidance computer, whose function is similar to that of a global-positioning system.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:25 pm

Nokia’s second quarter earnings plummet

Section: Business News, Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile

Nokia has announced that its second-quarter earnings plummeted by 66%.  The company blames the recession for the drop, saying demand for its products has diminished due to the economic turmoil.  Their net profit was $535 million down from roughly €1.4 billion this time last year.  Nokia shares fell 11% as a result of the news.

The company shipped 103 mobile devices this quarter, down 15% from a year ago and prices on their handsets fell to US $88 from US $104 last year.  Their North American distribution fell 30%.  Facing strong rivals in Apple and RIM, the company says it is trying to transform itself:

Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said the company performed well in a ‘‘tough quarter’’ and that demand appeared to be bottoming out after falling sharply in recent quarters. He said Nokia is accelerating its transformation into a ‘‘solutions company’’ that offers not only cell phones, but services and applications as the handset, Internet and media industries converge.

‘‘The mobile industry is undergoing its biggest change in its 20-year history,’’ Kallasvuo told analysts in a conference call.

To that end, Nokia has launched the Ovi Store, its answer to Apple’s popular App Store.  Customers can find ringtones, games, applications and other content there for their Nokia phones.  Analysts say if Nokia is to succeed they must develop strong relationships with top U.S. network operators and catch on quicker to hot trends like touchscreens and clamshell designs.

Read [NYTimes]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:21 pm

Syncfusion Named to SD Times 100 List 2009

About SD TimesSD Times is an industry magazine that selects the top innovators and leaders in the software development industry for inclusion in the annual SD Times 100 list. The list is not a product award but rather a recognition of organizations that are top influencers for their innovation and leadership. The full list of winners is available at www.sdtimes.com/content/article.aspx?ArticleID=33549. The full list was published in the June 15, 2009 print edition. About Syncfusion
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:21 pm

Climate Dominoes Falling Slower Than Expected: Study

Climate change may have a more gradual effect on a key ocean current than once thought.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:20 pm

Spy Satellite Sea Ice Images Finally Made Public

Our nation's spies have had their satellite eyes on arctic sea ice for a decade. Now, for the first time, the rest of us can finally take a peak, too.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:20 pm

62% of Sun's Stockholders Vote For Oracle Deal

Moon Workstation writes "In an special meeting held at Santa Clara, CA, 62% of Sun's stockholders voted for the acquisition by Oracle. As a result of this Sun's stock will be taken from the stock market as of Friday. The acquisition is still waiting for approval by the US Department of Justice and anti-trust offices in other countries. The planned acquisition is source for rumors and speculation about the future of different Sun products, like OpenSolaris, CPUs and others." (MySQL among them.)

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:09 pm

Sony Ericsson Launches 8.1-megapixel Camera Phone - PC World

TrustedReviews

Sony Ericsson Launches 8.1-megapixel Camera Phone PC World Anyone looking for a camera phone that packs a little more punch than the obligatory low-end cameras found on most phones these days will undoubtedly gravitate towards the new C905a Cyber-shot. With an 8.1-megapixel lens, it boasts the highest camera ... Sony Ericsson loses market share, sees tough H2Reuters Sony Ericsson posts another loss in 2QThe Associated Press Sony Ericsson posts $300M loss as sales sinkBizjournals.com FierceWireless -InformationWeek -Wall Street Journal all 432 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:05 pm

Vonage Holdings Corp. Announces Date of Earnings Release and Conference Call for Second Quarter 2009 Financial Results

HOLMDEL, N.J., July 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG), a leading provider of broadband telephone services, will report its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009 on Wednesday, August 5, 2009.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 16 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pm

Netherlands Imposes Partial Ban On Eel Fishing

Eel fishing will be banned in the Netherlands for several months a year in a move to help protect the fish from extinction, the Dutch government said on Thursday.The measure would go into effect this year with a two-month ban beginning October 1.  From 2010 and beyond, a three-month prohibition would be in effect beginning in September.  The government said it will review the approach in 2012 to assess its overall effectiveness in protecting the eels, a delicacy in the Netherlands.Some one thousand tons of eel are caught in the Netherlands every year."I realize this is a very big sacrifice for eel fishers, but ultimately it is also in the interests of the industry that eel numbers are allowed to recover," said the Dutch Agriculture and Environment Minister, Gerda Verburg, in a statement.The new measure, which must be approved by the European Commission, follows Brussels' previous rejection of an earlier Dutch plan to boost the eel population by having fishermen release 157 tons of mature eels caught closer to their spawning waters in the Atlantic.Each year, the eels make a tough journey to the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic to spawn.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:59 pm

Cogent Communications to Host Second Quarter 2009 Earnings Call on August 7, 2009

WASHINGTON, July 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cogent Communications Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: CCOI) will host a conference call with financial analysts at 8:30 a.m. (ET) on August 7, 2009 to discuss Cogent's operating results for the second quarter of 2009.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:53 pm

WATCH: King Tut Treasures at Carnarvon Castle

Long-hidden artifacts from King Tut's reign are now on display at Carnarvon Castle.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:45 pm

Palo Open-Source OLAP Cubes Now With Support for Excel Pivot-Tables

SAN FRANCISCO, July 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Jedox, an international software company that develops and markets commercial, open source-based planning, analysis and reporting solutions, has announced a new development for its Open-Source OLAP Palo product - the industry's first free ODBO driver (MDX) in the cost-free download of Palo for Excel.The new ODBO connectivity allows users to carry out advanced OLAP-based Pivot Table queries in Excel without the need for expensive licenses for Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:37 pm

SourceForge, Inc. Sets Second Quarter of 2009 Financial Results Release Date

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --- SourceForge, Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:30 pm

Crudely streamlined Honda Civic reduces drag

Clay Roe says:

While browsing for horn modifications for my '08 Honda Civic Hybrid, I came across this extreme body modification to a 1992 Honda Civic CX. It may look like an Aptera's older road-weary brother; but the builder claims to have increased his drag coefficient from 0.34 to 0.17! Resulting in over 90 mpg! Just like my expensive hybrid!*"

* - (With the wind. Downhill. With the AC off.)

Home-made super-aerodynamic Honda Civic


Source: Boing Boing | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:24 pm

NASA Releases Restored Apollo 11 Video, But Originals Lost

leetrout writes "I attended a media briefing held by NASA at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. this morning where they released restored video of the Apollo 11 mission. The clips released are about 40% of the total footage to be restored by September by Lowry Digital in Burbank, CA. Wired has all the clips. A couple remarkable comments made during the briefing included the opinion from the original footage search committee that the original slow scan footage (stored as a single track on telemetry tapes) has been lost forever as the tapes were likely recycled by the mid '80s (apparently common NASA practice). Also, that someone from the applied physics laboratory was in Australia converting the slow scan directly to video. This differs from NASA's goal of merely broadcasting the event, at which it was successful. Unfortunately, no one knows where those tapes of approximately two hours of footage are located."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:20 pm

Kyocera advancement could mean better wireless Internet

Section: Communications, Computers, Networking

Remember the first time you found out that if someone turned on the microwave that your Wi-Fi connection would go to heck?  Maybe you’ve noticed that on certain wireless devices a statement saying that it is designed to accept any interference caused by radios?  Kyocera may have put something together that could make radio interference a thing of the past. 

Kyocera has created two “Surface Acoustic Wave” filters that stop radio interference in the 2.6 GHz range.  This technology is expected to help in the deployment of WiMAX as well as help Wi-Fi.  The “filters are used to separate desired signals in high-frequency bands.”  Less interference means a higher quality signal to wireless devices. 

As great as wireless technology is, it’s just not as reliable as a wired connection.  Maybe with Kyocera’s SAW filters things will change.

Company site: [Kyocera]
Press Release: [SAW filter]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:15 pm

Independent Analyst Firm Cites Open Text as an Industry Leader in Records Management

Open Text Records Management Scored Highest Overall for Current Offering; Integrations with SAP and Microsoft SharePoint are a Compelling Choice for Many Enterprises WATERLOO, ON, July 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Open Text(TM) Corporation (NASDAQ: OTEX, TSX: OTC), a global leader in Enterprise Content Management (ECM), today announced that analyst firm Forrester Research, Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:15 pm

China Voice Holding Corp. Signs Agreement With China Unicom Ltd.

BOCA RATON, Fla., July 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- China Voice Holding Corporation (CHVC) (OTC: CHVC), announced today that their China subsidiary, Beijing CandidSoft Technology Co. Ltd.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:15 pm

Sandfish Tuck Legs, Swim Like A Snake Through Desert Sand

Image 1: A new study conducted at Georgia Tech found that sandfish (shown here) place their limbs against their sides and create a wave motion with their bodies like snakes to swim through sand. Credit: Georgia Tech Photo: Gary MeekImage 2: Georgia Tech graduate student Ryan Maladen (left) and physics assistant professor Daniel Goldman set up the high-speed x-ray imaging system to record the movements of sandfish below the sand surface. Credit: Georgia Tech Photo: Gary Meek
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:11 pm

Verizon to open up GPS on the Omnia

We just got word from Verizon that they’re planning on opening up the GPS on the Omnia to third parties soon. How soon? Really soon. As in within the hour. No longer bound to VZ Navigator, you should be able to use just about any WinMo 6.1-friendly navigation app you can dig up. Freedom!

Verizon’s word:

“…new software for the Samsung Omnia will be available within the hour. This software will give customers an additional option for navigation. The open GPS feature allows customers to purchase or use free applications by adding them to the device. Of course, they can still use VZ Navigator with turn by turn directions that talk to you while driving and takes you to millions of locations throughout the U. S. and just recently parts of Europe.”

You’ll be able to download the update as soon as it goes live here.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Jul 2009 | 8:01 pm

G1 Rumors: Visual Voicemail? Check. Exchange email? Ehhh.

For some, these latest rumors are a reason to celebrate. For others, it’s time for sorrow. That’s why I used the “Happy face/sad face” theater clown masks. It’s symbolic.

The usually accurate TmoNews says they’ve got it on good word that G1 owners have a new toy to get excited about: T-Mobile Visual Voicemail. According to their tipster, visual voicemail should come by way of a downloadable application.

Unfortunately, the same whisperer goes on to say that G1 owners should stop holding their breath for Exchange support. While it looks likemyTouch owners will be getting Exchange by way of the “Work Email” app, there are currently no T-Mobile/Google-endorsed plans to bring the app to the G1. Wait - so if you want Exchange on Android, you have to go with a phone that lacks a physical QWERTY keyboard?

Update: As commenter thelazzyone points out, you can get Exchange on your G1 by taking the Mail APK file that has been ripped from the Hero and installing it on your G1. Not official, but it’s easy and seems to work! More info here.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:55 pm

Researchers Uncover Clues To Origin of Dachshunds

Surprising findings may yield insights into human developmental disordersA single evolutionary event appears to explain the short, curved legs that characterize all of today's dachshunds, corgis, basset hounds and at least 16 other breeds of dogs, a team led by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health, reported today.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:55 pm

Twitter’s Internal Strategy Laid Bare: To Be “The Pulse Of The Planet”

On Tuesday evening more than 300 confidential Twitter documents and screenshots landed in our inbox. We said we were going to post a handful of them only, and we’ve spent much of the last 36 hours talking directly to Twitter about the right way to go about doing that. We’ll have more to say on that process in a couple of days.

The documents include employment agreements, calendars of the founders, new employee interview schedules, phone logs and bills, alarm settings, a financial forecast, a pitch for a Twitter TV show, confidentiality agreements with companies such as AOL, Dell, Ericsson, and Nokia, a list of employee dietary restrictions, credit card numbers, Paypal and Gmail screen shots, and much more.

These are the last two documents we are going to share: a subset of the detailed notes from a set of executive meetings that took place between February 12 and June 9, 2009. Much of the information in these notes is either personal in nature (new hires, etc.) or too sensitive to share. What’s interesting of the rest we are posting here with our commentary. These notes include never-before revealed discussions between Twitter and Google, Microsoft, and others, as well as details of product planning, company goals, employee retention, and new proposed terms of service and APIs. Even acquisition targets such as CoTweet and Twitpic are discussed (and sometimes dismissed). It’s important to note that we have been given the green light by Twitter to post this information - They aren’t happy about it, but they are able to live with it, they say (more on why they did that in our later post).

One other caveat - as we’ve said before, these documents are rough meeting notes, not polished documents meant for broad consumption. There are lots of typos and outdated information. But on the plus side, the rawness of it shows the dedication and deep commitment of this team to making Twitter into a world-class company.

Finally, there are some details about partner discussions, particularly around Google and Microsoft, that we are just not going to publish. Twitter has been in negotiations with both companies around a broad set of transactions for months. But we aren’t going to go into great detail about exactly what has been discussed, or Twitter’s strategies toward those negotiations. So while it looks like there is a lot of detail around those discussions below, the most sensitive stuff has been removed.

Let’s start with a key strategy meeting which took place on February 25, 2009. One of the audacious goals laid out in the notes of the strategy meeting is for Twitter to become the first Web service to reach one billion users. The notes are laid out in bullet points with each one reading like a Tweet: “If we had a billion users, that will be the pulse of the planet.” In the meeting itself, Stone tries to put his finger on what Twitter is by calling it more of a “nervous system” than an alert system.

A lot has happened since February. Twitter’s site has gone from an estimated 4 million visitors in the U.S to 20 million, and nearly double that worldwide. However, the notes provide a rare view into the strategic thinking of the company just before it entered its current phase of hypergrowth.

Dealing With Google: Much of the discussion at Twitter meetings throughout the past six months revolved around dealing with Google and Facebook. In a March 13, 2009 management meeting, for example, during a discussion of a search deal with Google, the fear is expressed that “Google would kick our ass at finding the good tweet.” But almost immediately afterwards, someone asks, “Can we do to google what google has done to others?”

In a May 7 management meeting, Twitter’s search syndication strategy with Google is discussed, as is the desire of “every tech company” to gain access to “Hosebird,” an API Twitter is working on to deliver its full stream of Tweets to search partners and others. The attitude towards Google is cautious: “Playing with fire here where we know that Google is building the competitive product.”

But by June 9, things seem to have progressed with Google. After an earlier two hour meeting with Google executives, the Twitter leadership had decided that an “agreement for some period of time makes sense - with our parameters.” But at the same time, they resolved to that Twitter’s own “search results page needs to be great - better than the landing pages on Google.”Company Goals and New TOS/APIs: In that same June 9 meeting, Twitter execs talked about their end of year goals, including a “next gen search results page” and a (much-needed) reputation system which internally is being called “Tweet rank.” The company is also hard at work defining a new Terms of Service agreement which will launch in conjunction with new APIs. These will determine what kind of commercial messages Twitter will have rights to monetize via ads. Twitter wants to “take a far reaching license to the content, with two exceptions (endorsement, content profit), and no opt-out.” Twitter also talked about making its API license “more throttled than ToS.”

Diddy, Marissa, and Microsoft: Another thing that comes through from the notes is just how much everyone has been courting Twitter. The agenda topics for a Twitter management meeting on April 16, 2009 reads like a who’s who of Hollywood and Silicon Valley: Diddy, Oprah, Marissa Mayer, Microsoft, 4Chan. They discuss giving “advisor shares” to entertainer Diddy, a big Tweeter, but also see him as a distraction. “Diddy values his contribution higher than we do,” read the meeting minutes. In an earlier meeting on April 2, other potential advisors discussed included Shaq and Al Gore (presumably both would receive advisor shares as well).

If Diddy was a distraction, Google product chief Marissa Mayer was a “huge distraction” who kept asking for stats on Twitter’s growth. Twitter management decided to give her “a constrained version of growth.” Finally, Microsoft wanted to talk about a deep infrastructure deal (”we don’t want to talk about this right now”) and a “secret project with the x-box.”

Despite the interest and attention, all the Twitter management really seemed to want was to be left alone, even by its own board members. In a May 7 meeting, they talk about how to put off informational meetings in a nice way: “How do we communicate to the Board (and investors) to back off.”

Exchanging Favors With Investment Bankers: On May 26, the Twitter management team discussed choosing investment bankers with the idea that they would engage them “for a year and a half - exchange favors, then use them for the transaction.” It is not clear what “the transaction” is, but it can only be an IPO or an acquisition.

Managing the Message: The minutes of that May 26th meeting also shed some light on how Twitter manages the media. Word had gotten out that a Twitter TV show was in the works, and Twitter decided it needed to “kill the story that “twitter is coming out with a TV show.” The message: there are “many users of Twitter - none are officially blessed.”

Identity Crisis: Let’s return to that key strategy meeting on February 25 (from here on out I’ll try to go chronologically). It is clear from the notes that the company was still struggling to define itself: Some stabs at defining the company’s mission included “Twitter is for discovering and sharing what is happening right now,” and “Twitter makes you smarter, faster, more efficient and more powerful.” Below are excerpts taken from throughout the document.

Acquisition Angst: The meeting took place after acquisition talks with Facebook fell apart last fall, and before similar talks with Google also went nowhere this spring. A lot of the meeting dealt with Twitter’s acquisition angst and trying to decide “What do we want to be when we grow up?” The company has an “IPO Bias,” yet realizes it will “always have to be open to Exits.” The “only type of acquisition we are interested in are ones where we stay in charge.” Perhaps that is what killed the Facebook deal. Twitter management felt that the “Facebook sell always seemed wrong,” that it was “the wrong destiny for Twitter.”

The Facebook Threat: The Facebook threat keeps coming back up. In one portion of the meeting devoted to discussing “How could Facebook kill us?” they list threats such as Facebook adopting real-time search, changing the opt-in options to make status messages public, emphasizing its SMS features, and generally copying Twitter’s functionality and user-interface (all of which have started to happen).

Defensive Strategy: The company also considered how best to defend against Facebook. “Make sure people are happy” is at the top of the list, followed by “cult” and “get more and better developers.” Doing a better job and getting “twitter everywhere” seems to be its best defense.

Real-Time Search: Twitter is clearly concerned about positioning itself against its two main rivals and potential acquirers. In contrast to finding out “what is happening right now” on Twitter, “Google is old news.” Yet during the meeting, the company is clearly preoccupied with search: “Twitter the product is a vehicle for twitter search;” “People don’t use twitter for search; and “Twitter should tell me stuff without me searching for that.”

Financials: The company talks about its financial model, which boils down to generating “$1 per user per year” and going from 25 million users at the end of 2009 to one billion in 2013, with a user being defined as a “unique individual having a conscious twitter experience in a given week.”

Revenue Model: The strategy meeting also covered future revenue models, starting with verified commercial accounts, which is described as the “fastest way to make money without putting a whole organization behind it.” Another benefit to targeting corporate and celebrity users: “Charging more to fewer users is a good model.”

But it is the next business models down the list which start to become interesting. These include Search/Content Ads (with heavy users of the search API being required to run ads), Sponsored Tweets, “Adsense Widgets” (presumably Twitter ads which can run on other sites like Google’s AdSense, and in other apps) and payments.

Getting To One Billion Users: The key to most of these business models is to keep attracting more users, and the company has some creative thoughts on how to acquire them. These include: “Free phones preloaded with twitter,” “TV twitter,” “Kindle,” “Radio,” “Dell, build it into,” videogame consoles, Website widgets, IM networks, and PCs. They also realize the “cost would kill us if we had a billion users tomorrow.”

RSS Is The Enemy: The other expense they are worried about is supporting all of the RSS feeds that are migrating to Twitter. The people who run Twitter definitely don’t like RSS, and who can blame them? The big concerns expressed at the meeting were, “What if all feeds went through twitter: would be expensive,” and “feeds are not unique content.” (They are also too slow, but that is another issue).

March 12, 2009 Meeting (Getting Back to Google): Moving forward to a regular management meeting on March 12, the subject of Google comes up again. Google’s blog search team was scraping Twitter’s site and getting only “60-70% of updates.” They wanted Twitter to hurry up with its Hosebird API so that they could start indexing every Tweet. The plan was to “include microblog content on blogsearch.google.com (which gets less than twitter search).” Already, Twitter made up “90% of the content” on Google Blog Search. As the minutes put it: “We are this product.” There was also talk of including microblog results on the main search page, which would be “the biggest change to google search in years.”

In that same March 12th meeting, Twitter also wrestled with a proposed search advertising partnership with Microsoft. The team was “not ready” and considered this yet another “Distraction.” Worries were expressed that it would strain Twitter’s engineering resources and that any partnership with Microsoft would raise branding issues: “There is going to be a perception that we are dating.” The board was also worried about Twitter “getting into bed with Microsoft.” By the end of the discussion, someone asks, “Why did we start talking to Microsoft in the first place”?

Twitpic, Photobucket, Tweetie: At the same time that Twitter was putting off Microsoft and Google, it was cultivating smaller startups. During that same March 12th meeting, one agenda item was “Twitpic- To buy or not to buy (1).” They decided not to, and the next week in a meeting on March 19, they decided to “bless” a competing Photobucket app called Twitgoo. Twitter also decided “we like Tweetie,” the popular mobile Twitter client in a meeting on March 26th.

Another Acquisition target: CoTweet. More recently, in a June 2 meeting where CoTweet and the need to support commercial accounts came up, the need to partner, buy, or hire came up, as it had in the past. And CoTweet seems to be identified as “another acquisition target.”

Mogees, R.I.P: You can also see what happens to startups that don’t get Twitter’s blessing. Twitter CEO Evan Williams was “not blown away” by micro-payment startup Mogees in a May 7 meeting because “Paypal and Amazon can do this.” Mogees doesn’t seem to be in service anymore.

April 30, 2009, Employee Retention (”Happiness Committee”): Twitter’s management meetings also dealt a lot with how to keep employees engaged. The minutes for an April 30 management meeting talk about recruiting from Facebook and note: “People don’t leave jobs they leave managers,” they “leave situations that are making them sad.” To prevent that from happening at Twitter someone proposed forming a “happiness committee.” That should work.

Nothing Is Free Forever: In that same April 30 meeting, the team talked about licensing Tweets to partners: “We can give people stuff for free but not forever.” There was also a fascinating discussion about how users should be able to opt out of having their Tweets syndicated by other media properties such as TV shows. One idea put forward was that your Tweets can only be syndicated by other people or entities who already have a relationship with you.

Search as Discovery: Another interesting discussion on April 30 had to do with search as discovery and the work of a visiting Stanford professor. The notion of charging per follower is contemplated.

Retweeting (A “Disturbance In the Force): Finally, everyone’s favorite subject, retweeting, was brought up in that June 2 meeting. It looks like Twitter is going to adopt it as a formal feature, but Evan Williams is concerned that retweets are “broken” because it becomes “hard to read who authored, people edit what was actually said.” Well, yeah. There’s only 140 characters, you know.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:50 pm

Time-lapse sim of Earth's land mass movement

Here's a nice time-lapse video simulation depicting the probable past and possible future of the Earth's land masses, "650 Million Years In 1:20 Minutes." (via CT2)


Source: Boing Boing | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:49 pm

Insanely expensive unopened 1967 Star Trek paint-by-numbers

This original, unopened 1967 Star Trek oil paint-by-numbers is for sale on eBay. It could be yours for just $1800! The seller has a slew of Star Trek memorabilia for sale.



Source: Boing Boing | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:48 pm

First remote detection of algal reported

U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:45 pm

Leading Experts Reach Consensus On Beneficial Biofuels

"Done right," biofuels can be produced in large quantities and have multiple benefits, but only if they come from feedstocks produced with low life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, as well as minimal competition with food production.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:42 pm

Three Arrested For Conspiring To Violate the DMCA

jtcm writes "Three men have been charged with conspiring to violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act after federal investigators found that they allegedly offered a cracker more than $250,000 to assist with breaking Dish Network's satellite TV encryption scheme: '[Jung] Kwak had two co-conspirators secure the services of a cracker and allegedly reimbursed the unidentified person about $8,500 to buy a specialized and expensive microscope used for reverse engineering smart cards. He also allegedly offered the cracker more than $250,000 if he successfully secured a Nagra card's EPROM (eraseable programmable read-only memory), the guts of the chip that is needed to reverse-engineer Dish Network's encryption.' Kwak owns a company known as Viewtech, which imports and sells Viewsat satellite receiver boxes. Dish Network's latest encryption scheme, dubbed Nagra 3, has not yet been cracked by satellite TV pirates."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:31 pm

FDA announces review of asthma drug Xolair

The U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:29 pm

Copies of Moon Landing Videos Restored

Hollywood helps NASA restore historic, grainy images of the first moon mission.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:15 pm

Sony Ericsson posts fourth quarterly loss

Let’s pour a little out for Sony Ericsson because if they’re not dead now they’re dying rapidly. The phone maker posted a loss of $300 million for Q2, it’s fourth consecutive quarter of lagging earnings.

What’s the problem? They’re not releasing anything anyone wants. The X1 was a dud and the rest of their new line hasn’t been announced yet. They’re basically sitting out the smartphone revolution.

“As expected, the second quarter was challenging and we still believe the remainder of the year will be difficult for Sony Ericsson,” said the company’s president Dick Komiyama in a statement. “Our focus remains on bringing the company back to profitability and growth as quickly as possible, and our performance is starting to improve due to our cost reduction activities.”

These “activities” include restructuring their handset division and firing 2,000 employees.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 pm

UnPirate: Checking out alternatives to Dragon Naturally Speaking

Section: Computers, Software / Applications, Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle, Peripherals, Web, Web Apps, Features, Originals

Dragon Naturally Speaking is the bestselling software that offers speech recognition technology.  With the software, you can use a headset to dictate and have your words turned into emails, instant messages, word processing documents, and give your desktop commands to follow.  It’s quite popular in the pirating circles due to its quality and price tag (ranging from $99 for a standard edition and $899 for a professional edition).  You can try these lower cost and free alternatives if you want to stay legal.

Free trial offer through E-Speaking

E-Speaking is a speech recognition program with more than 100 desktop commands already built in.  You can use the software for free during a 30 day trial period and then must pay a small $14 licensing fee at the end of that period to continue usage.  To use E-Speaking, you will simply speak commands, such as “Open email.”  Dictation support is also included with the free trial download of E-Speaking.  [E-Speaking]

Built in Vista Speech Recognition

Windows Speech Recognition is a feature included in the Windows Vista operating system.  You can use a headset microphone or desktop microphone as a way to use the application.  During setup, you will train Windows Speech Recognition to recognize your voice. You will then be able to perform many of the same functions as Dragon Naturally Speaking, such as dictate emails, control your OS, and create word documents.  [Microsoft]

Extras included with IBM’s ViaVoice

If you don’t happen to have Windows Vista installed, you can purchase ViaVoice instead.  There are Mac versions of this software available along with availability for Windows 98 or higher.  It has many of the same features of free speech recognition apps, but also includes voice navigation through IE, background noise elimination abilities, and an included microphone.  [ViaVoice]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 16 Jul 2009 | 7:00 pm

Mercedes Confirms an Electric Gullwing Will Fly

Four motors. 525 horsepower. And gorgeous. What's not to love?

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Jul 2009 | 6:50 pm

RIAA Loses Bid To Keep Revenues Secret

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The RIAA's motion to keep secret the record companies' 1999-to-date revenues for the copyrighted song files at the heart of the case has been denied, in the Boston case scheduled for trial July 27th, SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum. The Judge had previously ordered the plaintiff record companies to produce a summary of the 1999-to-date revenues for the recordings, broken down into physical and digital sales. On the day the summary was due to be produced, instead of producing it, they produced a 'protective order motion' asking the Judge to rule that the information would have to be kept secret. The Judge rejected that motion: 'the Court does not comprehend how disclosure would impair the Plaintiffs' competitive business prospects when three of the four biggest record labels in the world — Warner Bros. Records, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and UMG Recording, Inc. — are participating jointly in this lawsuit and, presumably, would have joint access to this information.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Jul 2009 | 6:43 pm

Map shows Golden Gate Bridge marked by suicides

This depressing but fascinating map shows the Golden Gate Bridge marked by the number of suicides at each of the 128 light poles that span it.

[via StrangeMaps]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 16 Jul 2009 | 6:14 pm

The LG BL40 is real, is long

If there were any doubts in your mind that the LG BL40 (otherwise known as “the longest phone in the entire world”) video that got out a few days ago was anything but real, let them be cast away.

Pictures of the BL40, which may or may not be the new Chocolate (and might also be called the LG Oh-God-where-the-hell-do-I-store-this-thing), have made their way onto a German phone forum, and have since embarked on their trek across the vast Interworks. There are some spec goodies to be gleaned from the post; read on for those.

What we know:

• Looks like it uses LG’s Sense UI
• “Apparently [there is a] FM Transmitter”, says the original poster
• 355 megs of internal memory
• Accelerometer
• WiFi
• UMTS/HSDPA
• 5 megapixel camera w/ Flash

[Via EngadgetMobile]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Jul 2009 | 6:11 pm

Blizzard’s World of Warcraft Armory App for iPhone looks darn good

This is the only World of Warcraft iPhone App you’ll ever need. Blizzard has just released World of Warcraft Mobile Armory [iTunes], which gives players of the game full access to the Armory. (The Armory tracks player and item stats and the like. It’s essential for “real” players of the game.) So add this App with a few trips to WoW Wiki and Thottbot, and you’re a mobile WoW warrior (but not necessarily Warrior).

The App is free, of course, and works on your iPhone and iPod touch. (I don’t have either, so I can’t try it out.) It’s locked into your actual WoW account, too.

Even beyond just looking at your character, and your realm’s top character, while waiting for your Supercut, I could see having it at your side while actually playing the game. No having to minimize and all that.

via Kotaku

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Jul 2009 | 6:00 pm

Video: Moth Blocks Bat Attack by Jamming Sonar

A tiger moth jams bat sonar by making its own ultrasonic clicks in response to the bat's attack. Scientists from Wake Forest University videotape bats as they attempt to catch the moths — and missed.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Jul 2009 | 6:00 pm

CrunchDeal: Find temporarily free iPhone apps with Twitter

Twitter and the iPhone. They’re both pretty love-it-or-hate-it subjects — but put them together in the right way, and they’re wonderful.

Because everyone loves getting stuff for free that they’d normally have to pay for, 148Apps has thrown together a Twitterbot that monitors for premium apps that have dropped down to the gratis zone. Sure, they’re not always the best apps the store has to offer - but they’re free apps you’d otherwise have to pay for, and they’re finding dozens a day. What have you got to lose?

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Jul 2009 | 5:42 pm

Park Attendance Rising in Poorer Countries

Tourists are flocking to parks in poorer countries, but not in the United States.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Jul 2009 | 5:38 pm

BLOG: NASA Puts Future Shuttle Flights on Hold

A foam issue on the shuttle's fuel tank, which affected Endeavour, has NASA halting flights.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Jul 2009 | 5:38 pm

SLIDE SHOW: Journey to the Moon

Take a look back on one of the most significant achievements in human history: the Apollo moon landing.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Jul 2009 | 5:38 pm

Newly Restored Video of Apollo 11 Moonwalk

NASA releases 15 newly restored videos of key moments in the Apollo 11 moon landing mission.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Jul 2009 | 5:36 pm

Verzion to push Slacker Radio onto all BlackBerry Storms

Quick note for all you BlackBerry Storm users out there: Starting today Verizon is pushing Slacker Radio out to all the Storms network wide. Why? Well, Verzion worked out a deal with Slacker to integrate V Cast into the app. So when a song is playing on Slacker, there will be a button which will allow you to purchase the song via V CAST Music with Rhapsody catalog. Neat, I guess.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Jul 2009 | 5:20 pm

Space Shuttle Endeavour Has Lift Off - Washington Post

BBC News

Space Shuttle Endeavour Has Lift Off Washington Post Space Shuttle Endeavour blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, July 15, headed for the international space station with seven astronauts after a month of delay. The space shuttle Endeavour successfully lifts off from Kennedy Space Center in ... Shuttle Astronauts Inspect Heat ShieldInformationWeek Shuttle Endeavour blasts off; debris strikes mulledCNET News Endeavour Suffers Debris Dings on LiftoffeWeek DailyTech -TG Daily -Reuters all 6,169 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 16 Jul 2009 | 5:17 pm

Palm releases Mojo SDK for all developers - let the webOS apps roll in

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones

In a move today that is sure to please all developers, Palm announced the release of the Mojo SDK, related documents, and support forums.  As long as you have a valid email address, you can begin downloading the SDK here.  With the Mojo SDK you can build apps for Palm’s webOS. 

So far, the Palm Pre App Catalog features 30 apps which were designed by select companies.  Those 30 apps have been downloaded 1.8 million times, which just goes to show how popular the App Catalog has been so far.  Now, app submissions will not be looked at until the Fall.  So you still have a few months to design your app and get it ready for Palm’s staff to look it over.  Palm can only hope the popularity of the App Catalog thus far will encourage developers to create new, innovative apps for the Pre.  If anything can be learned from Apple’s successful iPhone venture, the more apps you have in your app store the more popular the device will be. 

It will be interesting to see how the App Catalog changes once Fall rolls around. 

Read [Palm Pre Blog]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 16 Jul 2009 | 5:13 pm

Mysterious, Glowing Clouds Appear Across America's Night Skies

Glowing clouds usually seen only in the night skies over the polar regions are being observed farther south. They're beautiful to behold, but may be more evidence of a global warming trend.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Jul 2009 | 5:00 pm

Palm Offers Pre Software Developers Kit to All

More than a month after the launch of the Palm Pre, Palm has opened up its webOS Software Developers Kit (SDK) called Mojo to all developers. The move could spark off a flurry of new applications on the Pre app store that seemed to be losing steam after the device’s release.

The SDK can be downloaded from a new developer portal, Palm webOSdev at developer.palm.com. Any developer can access the SDK, its associated documentation and new Mojo forums, said Palm.

“Palm been very methodical about how we roll out the program,” said Michael Abbott, senior vice president, application software and services at Palm at the MobileBeat 2009 conference in San Francisco Thursday. “We we are being very deliberate about scaling it.”

Palm’s move should help quell criticism that the Pre has been lagging behind its peers because of the paucity of apps in the Pre’s app store known as the App Catalog. The Catalog  started with about 18 apps at launch and grew to 30 apps two weeks later.

Experts blamed the lack of widespread availability of the Pre SDK for the slow start. Palm had an early access program that allowed only a few chosen developers to create apps for the phone.

Meanwhile, Apple’s app store, which has become the industry standard, has more than 50,000 apps and 1 billion app downloads.

But Palm seems pleased with its progress. More than 1.8 million apps have been downloaded from the App Catalog since Palm Pre was released about six weeks ago, said the company. The App Catalog submission process will be opened to all developers starting fall, it said.

See Also:

• Palm Pre Scores a Modest Hit, Despite Problems
• 6 Reasons Why the Palm Pre Is Special
• Palm Unveils Its Long-Awaited Smartphone, the Pre
• Palm Pre Review
• Palm Pre App Catalog Makes a Slow Start

Photo: Pre Catalog (rhastings/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 16 Jul 2009 | 4:35 pm

Google Reader stops being a wallflower, gets more social

Section: Web, Web 2.0, Web Apps, Websites, Google

Google Reader is down with the whole social scene, just like Twitter, Facebook, and Friendfeed with 4 new ways to share content.  Google Reader is adding “fun” social elements like following, liking, and searching.  But is it too little too late?

Google Reader used to be the place where I got all the breaking news.  The problem?  RSS isn’t real-time.  Twitter has taken over that job for me and for folks like the mighty Robert Scoble and Friendfeed fills the niche.  Google Reader, presumably feeling the Twitter effect, is fighting back.  At least a little bit.

Today, the Google Reader Blog pitches us 4 new ways users can get social, but not too social if that is your bag.  Here they are:

• People.  Now you can search for the folks who share stuff publicly and follow them.  You’ll get all their shared data.  Kinda like following someone on Twitter.
• Selective sharing.  Now, based on your contacts and groups you set up, you can share items.  Don’t want Gramps to see your bathroom humor stuff you share?  Cool, don’t show him.  This keys off your contacts in GMail.
• Link to your shared.  Folks who somehow manage to find your Google Profile can see a link you enable there to follow you on Google Reader.
• Like it.  Really.  An outright copy of other places likes (Friendfeed, now Facebook), you can show the world what you “like.”

Maybe because my usage of Google Reader is way off, I get the “dead fish handshake” on this.  It seems to be going through the motions while devoted to the RSS.  Is Google Reader part of your diet?  Do you need more social action?  Let us know.

Read [Google Reader Blog]

 

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 16 Jul 2009 | 4:19 pm

Plan ahead: Document and share your health wishes with Google Health

Do you have medical records gathering dust in a pile somewhere? As a doctor and nurse on the Google Health team, we've both had a lot of experience working directly in the healthcare system, with all the bills, insurance forms and other paper documents that come with it. We know from firsthand experience how burdensome all of these documents can be and we would like to reduce the unnecessary use of paper in patient care. As a step in that direction, Google Health recently added a feature which allows patients to upload scanned paper documents to their Google Health profile for safe storage and easy sharing.

One of the most important documents you may want to store and share in Google Health is an "advance directive." An advance directive allows you to determine your end-of-life wishes so that your family and doctor can honor them if you get sick and are unable to communicate. The decision to sign an advance directive is an important and personal one, and Google Health now makes it a little bit easier. Google Health is now working with a leading advance directive provider, Caring Connections, that provides a free, downloadable form customized for all 50 states. To complete your form, download it, print it out, complete it, scan it, and upload it to Google Health. Once you've uploaded the signed form, Google Health makes it easy to share it with your caregiver.

We hope someday we'll move beyond paper, but until then Google Health can help you store your paper medical records electronically, including an advance directive, in one safe place.

Posted by Julie Wilner, R.N., Program Manager, Google Health & Roni Zeiger, M.D., Product Manager, Google Health
Source: The Official Google Blog | 16 Jul 2009 | 4:00 pm

King Tut Explorer's Photos, Treasures Revealed

Long-hidden photos and treasures from a King Tut tomb explorer are revealed.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Jul 2009 | 3:47 pm

Asteroid Belt Loaded with Former Comets

Many asteroids were once comets that were displaced by the gravity of outer planets.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Jul 2009 | 3:45 pm

Capcom confirms Resident Evil 4 for the iPhone

After it was accidentally leaked in Japan, Capcom has officially announced that Resident Evil 4 would be hitting the App Store at the end of July in Japan. The rest of the world will have to wait a bit longer to kill zombies on their iPhone.

News from Capcom Mobile: RE4 will be coming to iPhone end of July beginning with Japan, rest of world to follow shortly thereafter. Woo!

Capcom’s Twitter

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 16 Jul 2009 | 3:42 pm

Gizmodo '79

Gizmodo's been gadget bloggin' the 70s. Essential reading. [Gizmodo]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 16 Jul 2009 | 3:13 pm

Mix Stix Make Bad Cooks Even More Annoying

Thankfully, I can write about these Mix Sticks without trembling in fear that my hippy housemate would see them, get a job, buy them and then spend his days rat-a-tatting all over the my generously shared pots and pans. This is not because he has mended his ways, oh no. It’s because I moved out months ago, and no longer care in which rhythmic antisocialisms he engages.

Mix Sticks are a pair of wooden spoons, one slotted and one solid. The gimmick is on the normally dull butt-end of the spoons, which here is equipped with a drumstick tip. You can, of course, use any wooden spoon to bash out tuneless “music” on a saucepan, but these novelty items clearly give a measure of encouragement and justification to the sociopath in your life. Avoid.

Product page [Fred]

See Also:

• Drumstick Pencils Could Ruin Your Life

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 16 Jul 2009 | 2:43 pm

Nikon Will Fix Dead D5000s, Free

If you have Nikon’s new flip-screen DSLR, the D5000, and it won’t switch on, it’s because Nikon didn’t make it properly. A component glitch is causing some D5000s to remain resolutely off, even with a full battery or when hooked up to the mains. From the official statement:

an electronic component related to power control in some Nikon D5000 digital SLR cameras does not meet factory specifications and may, in certain circumstances, prevent the camera from turning on, thus preventing operation of the camera.

To be fair, these things do happen even to the most careful of manufacturers, and at least Nikon is dealing with it properly. Anyone with an affected camera can send it back and to have the offending component replaced. This will all be free of charge, including two-way shipping. If you’re camera is already broken, get in touch. The rest of you lucky D5000 owners should wait until July 23rd when Nikon will publish its serial number look up tool, which will be at the page linked below.

D5000 Service Advisory [Nikon]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 16 Jul 2009 | 2:20 pm

Submit your ideas to change the face of broadband

Have an idea for how to expand high-speed Internet access across the United States? Here's your chance to have your voice heard.

Under the terms of the recent economic stimulus package, the Federal Communications Commission must deliver to Congress a National Broadband Plan by February 2010. Several weeks ago, we laid out Google's vision for how to make broadband Internet available and affordable for every American — and hundreds of others have already submitted comments of their own.

The FCC has called for "maximum civic engagement" in developing a broadband strategy, and we're hoping to help them to achieve just that.

We've teamed up with the New America Foundation to launch a Google Moderator page where you can submit and vote on ideas for what you think the Commission should include in its National Broadband Plan. Two weeks from now we'll take the most popular and most innovative ideas and submit them to the official record at the FCC on your behalf.

Google and the New America Foundation agree that public participation in this process is critical. Expanding access to broadband has the potential to transform communities across the country, spark economic growth, and restore American competitiveness. Now that the Commission has officially opened this proceeding, and with a new Chairman at the helm, we think it's time to give people the opportunity to learn about the issue and to weigh in with their thoughts. And as the process continues to unfold at the FCC, we'll keep you informed of additional ways to share your views and voice your ideas to the agency.

So do you have any good ideas? Submit them today on Google Moderator — and you just might help change the face of broadband in the United States.

Posted by Richard Whitt, Washington Telecom and Media Counsel
Source: The Official Google Blog | 16 Jul 2009 | 2:07 pm

5 Reasons You Can Ditch Your DSLR for an iPhone

If you want high-quality photos, a responsive and full-featured DSLR is the only way to go. But sometimes you don’t want to carry that bulky box around with you. With a couple of accessories, and a few megabytes of applications, you can turn the iPhone in your pocket into a rather capable replacement.

Interchangeable lenses

Photographers have a mantra: “It’s all about the glass.” It doesn’t matter how good the camera is if you mount a junky lens on the front. The iPhone 3GS has added a much better autofocus lens to the mix (you didn’t think that one extra lousy megapixel made all that difference, did you?) but it’s still limited in range.

Enter the Factron Quattro (above), an iPhone case that lets you swap lenses onto your iPhone. It also looks gorgeous, like a 1980s Halina 110 camera. The $200 duraliminum case will fit the 3G and 3GS and you have to buy the lenses too, which run from $18 for a 40mm close-up to $56 for the 185º fisheye.

Product page [Factron]

Camera Bag

Not a real camera bag (who needs that when you have a spare pocket?) but a piece of software that lets you carry around a whole bag full of virtual cameras. Once you have snapped a picture, Camera Bag will process it to make it look like a photo from a range of distinctive cameras. Trademark concerns mean the names of these cameras aren’t used, but the entertaining alternatives are easy to spot: Lolo and Helga are fairly obvious, and Instant is a Polaroid emulator

There are also a few “filters” that will turn an image black and white, for instance. The app costs $2 and, if you’re serious about your iPhone photographic fun, it should be in your camera bag.

Product page [Nevercenter]

Zoom

If you don’t want to spring for the Factron case and lenses, you can get a little closer to the action, ghetto style (and we don’t mean just walking forward a few feet). Zoom is a $1 app that does one thing: It gives the iPhone camera a digital zoom. Sure, this is better done in something like Photoshop, which has the power to stop the noise getting out of hand (digital zoom does nothing more than enlarge the center of the image), but doing it in-camera means you can swiftly dispatch the results to the internet.

As you’d expect, you pinch to zoom, and it gives you a 4x bigger picture than usual.

Product page [iTunes]

Pano

What if you want to do the opposite of zoom, and just fit more of the scene into the picture? The fisheye lens is one way, or you could do it with software. Pano adds panoramic stitching to the iPhone. This is available in many point-and-shoot cameras, but you need to do the actual assembly on a computer. The iPhone is a computer, and it will, astonishingly, do this heavy lifting for you.

Pano gives a transparent overlay of the previous photo to line things up, and you can take up to 16 pictures for stitching. The finished image can be as big as 6800 pixels wide. Pano costs $3.

Product page [Debacle]

Tripod

One thing is missing from the iPhone that pretty much every other camera has: a tripod bush. And because there’s no way to attach the iPhone to a support, there’s no easy way to shoot blur-free low-light pictures or even run around and snap a picture of yourself.

There are plenty of homemade options, or you could keep it real basic and just use the reassuringly heavy and steady iPhone dock from Apple. But until a better solution comes along, Joby’s little Gorillapod Go-Go will do the trick. The flexi-tripod can balance on its three legs or you can bend those same legs around anything and the Joby will hug it tightly. The Go-Go comes with three interchangeable heads: a tripod screw, a suction cup and a couple of adhesive pads. It’s $30 and will work fine with an iPhone.

Product page [Joby]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 16 Jul 2009 | 2:01 pm

5 Reasons to Ditch Your Camera for an iPhone

With a few accessories and the right apps, the iPhone makes a pretty usable substitute for a digital camera -- if you're willing to accept the tradeoff in quality.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 16 Jul 2009 | 2:01 pm

Damage Eyed After Shuttle Launch

Launch photos are studied for debris breaking off Endeavour during launch.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Jul 2009 | 2:00 pm

Giant Router Clock Shows When Internet Tubes Are Clear

If you took a roulette wheel and the old electronic follow-the-music game, Simon, you’d end up with something like the Route O-Clock. It is a (prototype) broadband router which detects bandwidth use and displays this information using colors on a clock-like display which divides the day into half-hour segments. The idea is that it helps you plan you most bandwidth-heavy activities for parts of the day during which less traffic is flowing.

It’s a little like the SmartSwitch, a light switch that gets harder to turn on as power consumption in your home increases. It’s a nice idea, we guess, but wouldn’t it be better to have the tech built into a router which could then load-balance for you, for instance firing up BitTorrent only when the tubes are fairly clear?

Also, why so big? A small circle LEDs should do the trick. This reminds us more of King Arthur’s Round Table. Or a dart board. Or a… well, you get the idea. Ambient metering of environmental variables? Good. Honking, glowing disks on the mantelpiece? Not so good.

Product page [Future Routers via The Giz]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 16 Jul 2009 | 1:22 pm

UK teens release hate on iPods.  Study says CDs rule

Section: Audio, Portable Audio

Call it “Delusional Thursday” if you like, but a recent study from The Leading Question, in conjunction with Music Ally, says UK teens don’t just like CDs better, they prefer them.  In a world where the iPod has become more common than fire from a Sony laptop battery, we are floored by this study’s results. 

2/3rds of UK teens prefer using CDs to share music.  Digital downloads, cassette tapes, and 8-track tapes (presumably) make up the remaining 34% for these 14-18 year-olds.  The study emphasizes the “try before you buy” aspect of streaming and digital music as a way the music industry can sell more records.  59% of those surveyed say they listen to music CDs every day.

As I sit here racking my brain trying to remember the last time I listened to a CD or even bought one, I can’t help wonder how I can explain this survey.  But it gets worse: The Leading Question CEO Tim Walker is quoted on study, “music fans have spoken and digital is evidently not the clear cut replacement to the physical CD.” 

It is interesting to note that the survey excludes those without broadband and mobile phones.  Also interesting is the sample size of 1,000 and note the age range: “the syndicated, proprietary project involves 1,000 face to face interviews with music fans aged 14-64 and a series of in depth focus groups which took place throughout the UK.”

I seriously question this study.  Have I become so immersed in tech that I can’t see out of the tech tower I’ve built?  No way.  Here are the top 5 most likely reasons the study turned up such inconceivable info:
#5: The survey takers hung out inside CD shops interviewing CD customers.
#4: The survey takers hung out inside CD shops inside convalescent homes. 
#3: The survey was conducted only on music industry’s titans’ kids.
#2: UK teens love Sony Walkman CD players. 
#1: UK teens know the sound quality of a CD is so much better than an MP3.

Digital music has so much going for it: cheap to distribute, players are smaller in size, no media to scratch or lose, and runs on pretty Apple products.  What is not to love?  What is your take, what is up with these UK teens?  Let us know in the comments.

Study (Warning: PDF): [MusicAlly]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 16 Jul 2009 | 1:13 pm

For Tank Fish Two Is Not Enough Company

Aquarium fish kept alone or in pairs show higher stress than those kept in big groups.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 16 Jul 2009 | 12:45 pm

Palm Pre syncing and AT&T tethering workaround both broken with Apple updates

FROM APPLETELL - iPhone 3.1 beta 2 breaks the IPCC hack we saw that enabled tethering for AT&T early on the iPhone, leaving users without tethering until official support later this year.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 16 Jul 2009 | 12:25 pm

Samsung N310 Go netbook now available in the US

Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Laptops, Netbooks

Yet another netbook has become available for sale here in the U.S. market, this time it is the Samsung N310 Go.  Although it does have a fairly standard set of netbook specs, it does come with a 6-cell (8,850 mAh) battery that gives up to 10 hours of power on a single charge.

Getting back to those specs, the Samsung N310 Go features a 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 resolution display, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, and built-in 3-in-1 card reader.  In terms of the operating system, the N310 Go is running Windows XP Home.  Additionally, the Samsung N310 also has a slightly softer rubberized exterior that should add a little overall durability.

The Samsung N310 go netbook is available in Sunset Orange, Navy Blue, Mint Blue, and Jet Black.  As for pricing, expect to pay $449.99, but that does come with free shipping.

Product [Newegg]  Read [Samsung] Via [Portable Monkey]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:14 am

NASA's new restored footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing

To honor the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, NASA has just released these brand new restored videos of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's historic first steps on the moon. The space agency is working with Lowry Digital in Burbank to restore tapes from the July 20, 1969 moonwalk &mdash the project in its entirety will be completed in the fall, but they're offering a sneak peek at some of the iconic moments, like Neil Armstrong (above) and Buzz Aldrin (below) taking their first steps on the moon, starting right now. These clips show side-by-side comparisons of the footage stored in the NASA archives vs. the never-seen-before newly restored footage.

Stay tuned for more reporting about the "lost" Apollo 11 tapes and an interview with Buzz Aldrin on Monday.

Below, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin raising the American flag on the moon's surface:

Footage courtesy of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 16 Jul 2009 | 11:00 am