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M&A Activity Heats Up In July To $9.6 Billion

Whether it’s a sign of economic recovery or just investment bankers getting ready to take off the month of August, there’s been a lot acquisition activity lately. In the last week alone, IBM purchased SPSS for $1.2 billion, Amazon bought Zappos for $928 million, Sprint paid $483 million for Virgin Mobile, AdKnowledge paid $50 million for Super Rewards, and Yahoo picked up Xoopit for $20 million.

So far in July, the value of the acquisitions we track on CrunchBase totals $9.6 billion, which is nearly three times more M&A activity than the $2.6 billion we tracked in June. M&A exits already started to perk up in the second quarter , according to our latest CrunchBase report. But the increased deal flow on July suggests that corporate buyers are opening up their purse strings even more while acquisition prices are still relatively cheap.

But the bargains might not last. Already, the median acquisition price leaped up to $260 million in July, from $22 million in June. Most of that jump was due to some very big transactions such as the ones listed above, as well as Agilent’s $1.5 billion purchase of Varian and Bristol-Myers’ $2.1 billion acquisition of Medarex. Still, you know what they say about rising tides . . .

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

Nikon announces D300s and D3000 SLRs

Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pm

Patent Models Record Inventions in Miniature

For more than a century, America's patent authorities required inventors to build a model of their creations. The practice stopped after the Civil War, but thousands of models survive. This photo gallery shows off the best models from a new Harvard exhibition of these exquisite miniatures.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pm

Patent Models Record Inventions in Miniature

For more than a century, America's patent authorities required inventors to build a model of their creations. The practice stopped after the Civil War, but thousands of models survive. This photo gallery shows off the best models from a new Harvard exhibition of these exquisite miniatures.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 29 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pm

10 Worst Evolutionary Designs

1 Sea mammal blowhole. Any animal that spends appreciable time in the ocean should be able to extract oxygen from water via gills. Enlarging the lungs and moving a nostril to the back of the head is a poor work-around.

2 Hyena clitoris. When engorged, this "pseudopenis," which doubles as the birth canal, becomes so hard it can crush babies to death during exit.

3 Kangaroo teat. In order to nurse, the just-born joey, a frail and squishy jellybean, must clamber up Mom's torso and into her pouch for a nipple.

4 Giraffe birth canal. Mama giraffes stand up while giving birth, so baby's entry into the world is a 5-foot drop. Wheeee! Crack.

5 Goliath bird-eating spider exoskeleton. This giant spider can climb trees to hunt very mobile prey. Yet it has a shell so fragile it practically explodes when it falls? Well, at least it can produce silk to make a sail. Oh, wait — it can't!

6 Shark-fetus teeth. A few shark species have live births (instead of laying eggs). The Jaws juniors grow teeth in the womb. The first sibling or two to mature sometimes eat their siblings in utero. Mmm ... siblings.

7 Human stomach. People can digest a lot — except for cellulose, the primary component of plant matter. Why don't we have commensal bacteria in our guts to do it? They're busy helping termites.

8 Slug genitalia. Some hermaphroditic species breed by wrapping their sex organs around each other. If one of said members gets stuck, the slug simply chews it off. What. The. Hell?

9 Quadrupeds. Let's say you're a four-footed animal. Now let's say you get a wound on your back, or an itch, or a bug wandering up there. Tough luck, kid. You probably can't do much about it. Hope there's a low branch around.

10 Narwhal tusk. The unicorn-like protuberance on a male narwhal's head is actually a tooth that erupts through the front of the jaw and keeps on growing, up to 9 feet. Narwhal: "Doc, I have a toothache." Dentist: "Indeed."

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pm

July 30, 1898: Car Ads Get Rolling

The first-known advertisement for an automobile appears. You might be surprised by where it ran.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pm

Mr. Know-It-All on Flirtatious Texts in Court, Books for College, Braille for Kids

I'm worried my wife's divorce lawyer found some flirtatious text messages I sent a coworker. Can those texts hurt me in court?

A lot depends on the lewdness of your prose. "If it was just compliments like 'Gosh, you look great today, I really like the way you did your hair,' it won't get her lawyers very far," says Gary Nickelson, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. If you borrowed sentiments from Barely Legal VI: Caught From Behind, then you could be in for a legal bruising.

The good news is that raunchy texts alone are not considered proof of adultery. But bawdy missives can come back to haunt you, even if your split is no-fault. "In most states, the conduct of the parties during marriage is determinative of property division in a divorce," says Gabriel Cheong, a Boston divorce lawyer. Usually, this applies to finances and property, but the judge could take salacious texts into account when deciding who gets what.

That may seem unfair, because the flirting violated only the spirit of your marital accord, not the letter. And, granted, emotional cheating isn't nearly as transgressive as the physical sort. But it's still cheating all the same—you fostered a sense of intimacy with another woman, knowing that your wife would be aghast if she ever found out.

This won't be the last time you fantasize about a coworker; crushes are unavoidable in office life. But should you don a wedding band again, try not to act on them, even via thumb-typing.

My brother has decided not to enroll his young, visually impaired son in classes to learn Braille, claiming the system is archaic. This seems irresponsible. Should I say something?

Certainly, but please do so in the most congenial manner possible. No one likes being told how to raise their kid, even by a trusted family member. The trick will be to acknowledge the legitimacy of your brother's viewpoint while also making a strong case for Braille's utility.

Your brother is correct that Braille is on the wane, partly due to the proliferation of text-to-speech tools and other assistive technologies. The National Federation of the Blind estimates that less than 10 percent of legally blind Americans use the reading system, compared with 50 percent a half century ago. So your brother likely figures that his son will do just fine as part of the majority.

But that majority isn't doing as well as it could. Seventy percent of blind American adults are unemployed, and 50 percent of blind high-school students drop out. In such an environment, shouldn't your nephew have every available cognitive tool at his disposal?

You can also point out that technology can't be relied upon in every situation. "When someone gets up to give a speech, they need to have notes in front of them," says Mark Riccobono, an NFB executive. Or what if your nephew someday intends to travel? He'll need to read signs. Braille literacy could be a lifesaver should his hardware fail.

My college English class is reading Paradise Lost. To save cash, I printed out a free copy from Google Book Search. My professor still wants me to buy a bound copy. Should I go ahead and fork over the $20?

Remember that college brochure that inevitably boasted about the institution's amazing student-faculty relationships? Well, now's the time to put that claim to the test.

Approach the professor and politely inquire about the specific reason for his objection. His beef could be legitimate—the bound copy may include some critical analysis, for example. On the other hand, it's possible that he's just not accustomed to the Web's cornucopia of free literature; the ivory tower certainly has its share of Luddites.

If the professor can't offer up an explanation more convincing than, "This is the way I've always done it," stand your ground. Explain that you're willing to accept the consequences of your choice, such as dealing with the free version's differing page numbers, and gently remind the prof about the financial hardships of undergrad life. Twenty bucks may not mean much to a high- falutin' Milton scholar, but it's enough for a month's worth of instant ramen.

Need help navigating life in the 21st century? Email mrknowitall@wired.com.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pm

Nikon announces D3000 and D300s, as expected

We got a call from Nikon earlier, and they laid out for us what we know was coming: the new entry-level D3000 and prosumer D300s. We’ve known these were coming for months now, and as it turns out, the specs that were leaked a while ago were exactly on target. You’re leaking, Nikon!

So what do these things have to offer?

D3000

Let’s start with the D3000, which is the one may people will be going for. It comes as a kit for $600, including an AF-S NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR IS lens. I trust Nikon’s kit lens way more than Canon’s (also an 18-55), so I’d advise getting the kit if you’re just starting out. Remember, though: the D3000 can only use AF-S lenses, not AF. If you’re new to the SLR world, that shouldn’t be a problem, but if you have a couple lenses your dad used to use or something, don’t expect them to work on this. Here are the D3000’s vital statistics:

10.2-megapixel CCD sensor
3″ LCD screen (230,000 pixels, about 600×400)
ISO 100-1600 (boostable to 3200, but don’t do it)
11-point autofocus (diamond pattern I believe)
3FPS burst mode
Integrated Dust Reduction System
Heavy-duty shutter (100,000 shots, very nice)

And the less critical inclusions:

Active D-lighting system
3D Color Matrix Metering II (this and the above thing are replacements for post-processing, which is both fun and rewarding, so no need for ‘em)
Stop-motion movie mode (probably fun)

It also includes a “guide mode,” which I think is good. First time users of SLR cameras will find this helpful as it walks you through taking a good picture. I’m just afraid it’s going to make users rely on onboard editing of photos, which is always a bad idea. Do yourself a favor if you get this camera, shoot in RAW and play around with your own pictures, you’ll find it way better than Nikon’s (or any other camera-maker’s) built-in software.

D300s

This is the prosumer option. At $1800 it replaces the D300, adding a few really worthwhile features, chief among them being a usable video mode. Let’s see here:

12.3-megapixel CMOS sensor
3″ LCD (920,000 pixels, about 1280×720)
7FPS burst mode (8 with battery pack)
Video mode at 720p/24FPS (excellent)
ISO 200-3200 (expandable to 100-6400)
14-bit A/D conversion (good)
Dual card slots: SDHC and CF
51-point autofocus

All in all it sounds great. We knew these specs way back in May, but it’s good to know that none of them were made up. The dual card slots, video mode, and increased frames in burst mode are what really set it off. I know I trash DSLR movie modes because they use crappy interpolation, but at least they’re headed in the right direction. 720p is nice, and real 24p is also great to have. Note that I don’t think you can shoot at 30 frames per second even if you wanted to. It’s also got a line-in so you can have a separate sound collection device, or “microphone,” if you don’t trust the one that’s built in.

Looks like Nikon has a couple real winners here. The D3000 is a good competitor with Canon’s XSi — I don’t include the T1i because its movie mode is garbage and I don’t like the name.

The D300s is almost closing in on 5D territory at $1800, but really it’s competing with the 40D. It’s hard to make a comparison there, because it’s significantly more expensive, but I’d say if you’re going to spend over a grand on a camera, the D300s is probably more for your money. That’s just a snap judgment, though.

Source: CrunchGear | 29 Jul 2009 | 9:59 pm

Researchers attack my iPhone via SMS - CNET News

Sky News

Researchers attack my iPhone via SMS CNET News Researchers Collin Mulliner and Charlie Miller shortly before they proved they could attack my iPhone with a text message, even after a beer or two. LAS VEGAS--Researchers have discovered a way to take complete control over an iPhone ... Black Hat: Android, iPhone SMS Flaws RevealedInformationWeek SMS hack could leave "every" iPhone vulnerableApple Insider Some SMS Networks Vulnerable to AttackPC World Wired News -Forbes -Mediapost.com all 80 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jul 2009 | 9:56 pm

Late breaking news! Steve Jobs works at Apple HQ, spotted leaving

Folks, I’m not making this up. Steve Jobs was spotted at Apple today! Can you believe it! He really does work there and was caught leaving around 3pm today. The photograph of course comes to us from the most trusted source of celebrity news, TMZ.

Alright. Fine. I’ll ask the question that’s on everyone’s mind.

Do you think he can now legally park in a handicap spot?

And, why do we care so much about this kind of stuff? Maybe this is why humans haven’t been back to the moon lately.

Source: CrunchGear | 29 Jul 2009 | 9:56 pm

Panel Advises Longer Life For Space Station

suraj.sun writes "A presidential panel reviewing the U.S. space program has found that the United States needs to boost NASA's budget by $1.5 billion to fly the last seven shuttle missions and should extend International Space Station operations through 2020. The panel also proposed adding an extra, eighth shuttle flight to help keep the station supplied and narrow an expected 5-7 year gap between the time the shuttle fleet is retired and a new U.S. spaceship is ready to fly."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jul 2009 | 9:30 pm

Huntkey Announces X7 Global Release Conference

SHENZHEN, China, July 29 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Huntkey Enterprise Group announces that Huntkey X7 (PC Power Supply) Global Release Conference -- "Conquer Your Realm" will be held in Beijing (July 30) and Shenzhen (August 5).
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Jul 2009 | 9:20 pm

Leica S2 gets priced and dated

Remember that Leica S2 we heard about the other day? It’s kind of like a medium-format camera stuffed into a chubby SLR body, but since it’s Leica, it works out better than it sounds. However, since it’s Leica, it also costs a bundle — more than I guessed when the camera got previewed. I won’t tease you with it, here it is: sixteen… hundred… times ten… pounds sterling.

Yes, £16000, which works out to about $26,000 in our wimpy currency. Yeah, it’s a Leica all right. The freaking extra grip costs over a grand. Check out the whole sapphire-studded lineup over at DPReview.

Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pm

Review: Yahoo's shift to Bing could be risky bet (AP)

AP - Is Microsoft's Bing really a better search engine? Since it debuted last month, it has earned praise for the smart way it presents results and how it lets users preview Web sites without clicking through to them.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jul 2009 | 8:40 pm

New Twitter Cross-Posts To Facebook Have Users Bewildered. (Update: Facebook Bug To Blame)

Twitter is now seeing dozens of tweets a minute from users reporting that their Twitter updates are being posted as automatic updates to their Facebook profile, apparently without their consent. The change seems to have happened very recently, and reactions are ranging from surprise to anger.

At this point it isn’t clear exactly what’s going on — it seems like some users may have installed the official Twitter application at some point and not had it post updates until now. But others are reporting that they’ve never installed a Twitter-related app, which makes the situation all the more confusing. We’re reaching out to Twitter and Facebook to find out what the cause is.

My hunch is that these users have previously installed the official Twitter app on Facebook, which has had problems in the past, and used it to occasionally check their Twitter profiles without realizing that it was also meant to auto-post their tweets to Facebook (a bug may have prevented these posts from ever actually appearing). Now Twitter has fixed the bug, and users don’t know what’s going on. We’ll update as soon we we know the actual cause. Update: A Facebook bug caused this, see below.

It looks like this may have something to do with Facebook ignoring an application’s privacy settings. Under Facebook’s application privacy page, I’ve unchecked the box that gives Twitter the ability to post updates to “Publish recent activity (one line stories) to my wall”. However, the updates are still showing up. We’re seeing similar reports from users with the FriendFeed app installed.

Update 2: Facebook has given us the following statement:

Earlier this evening, a small Facebook bug allowed a handful of apps to publish to the stream on behalf of users who had previously authorized the app. The situation has now been resolved, and all application settings will remain intact for users.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jul 2009 | 8:31 pm

Apple planning a “hot pants” device with the controls in the back?

Yes, I just made up the “hot pants” device right now. You remember that song? “Hot pants… with the zipper in the back. Any color will do… any color will do.” No? Well I like the term, and I’m keeping it. Is this going to be a problem?

Good. A hot pants device, then, has the controls on the back, and you manipulate stuff by seeing through it or possibly just by instinct. These Apple patents seem to indicate such an interface on a little lozenge-type device with a “force-sensitive touch based surface.” You mean you have to be a Jedi to use this thing?

MaCNN calls it a “stunning nano-phone,” but to me it really just looks like some pre-emptive patent-getting for the click wheel and some other stuff, should transparent OLED displays become viable. Of course, being all screen, this particular device doesn’t seem to have anywhere to put the device, but that’s something we’ll let future Apple work out.

[via BGR and MobileSyrup]

Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jul 2009 | 8:30 pm

JamLegend’s ‘Guitar Hero For The Web’ Now Lets You Upload And Play Any Song You’d Like

The Guitar Hero/Rock Band phenomenon is showing no signs of waning, with countless sequels still on the way (including one focused solely on music by The Beatles) and money continuing to pour into the coffers of their respective game publishers. But gamers are still being forced to live with a problem that’s troubled the genre since its formation: you can only play along to songs that publishers have approved, licensed, and then ‘mapped out’ with note charts to play along to. Today, they’re getting a solution: JamLegend, the Guitar Hero-like website that uses your keyboard instead of a plastic guitar, has launched a new feature that lets you play along to any song in your music collection, whenever you’d like.

For those that haven’t been exposed to JamLegend before, the site shares a lot of common ground with Guitar Hero. Gamers load up a song and a flurry of colored dots begin to flow down the screen, with each one corresponding to a differet key on your keyboard. The experience is less atmospheric than the games you’ll find on the consoles, largely because it lacks flashy graphics and plastic guitars, but if you’re a Guitar Hero addict looking to get your fix at the office, it’s certainly good enough.

Until now JamLegend has fallen prey to the same problem as Guitar Hero and other console games: if a song wasn’t in the catalog, you couldn’t play it. Now, you can upload any song you’d like, and using digital signal processing, beat detection, and other automatic analysis, JamLegend takes the song and converts it into a playable track within a few minutes. Of course, generating a playable track is is one thing — but are they any good?

After trying out a few tracks, I found the technology to work well, though it isn’t perfect. On a standard, professionally-made track, you typically play along to guitar notes and not the accompanying drum beats or vocals. The auto-generated tracks tend to catch the most prominent sound at any point in the track, which means that sometimes you’ll find yourself playing elements of each instrument, along with the vocals. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just a bit different from what you may be used to.

Because this is a fairly unique feature in the genre, JamLegend is hoping to use it to start monetizing the site. Users can upload up to five of their own tracks at once, and each week they can swap out one of these for a new one (in other words, there’s a waiting period before you can add new songs). If you’d like to have more songs available at once, the site offers an entry-level premium package for $5 a month, which allows for up to 100 tracks at once, or a $20/month package for 500 songs.

All in all this a solid addition, though I’m curious if the record industry will have a problem with it. The only way to add a song to your library is to upload your own copy (the site makes it easy to buy songs you don’t already own, which is another source of revenue), but we’ve seen the labels get upset over less.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jul 2009 | 8:07 pm

UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

CDC names H1N1 flu vaccine priorities ATLANTA, July 29 (UPI) -- U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jul 2009 | 8:07 pm

Google drops more than one million public domain books for Sony’s eBook store

I’m just curious to know if anyone in the CG audience has either of Sony’s eReaders: PRS-505 or PRS-700. Enjoy those classics!

SAN DIEGO, July 29, 2009 – The eBook Store from Sony, together with Google, today announced it is providing access to more than 1 million free public domain books – from classics such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island to biographies, historical texts, romance novels and hundreds of other genres. The announcement reinforces Sony’s commitment to providing consumers with the largest, most comprehensive selection of eBooks available. These titles, which Google has digitized as part of its Google Books project, are available in EPUB format and are optimized for current models of the Sony Reader Digital Book.

“We are committed to ensuring our customers have the freedom to discover and read content from the widest possible range of sources,” said Chris Smythe, director of the eBook Store from Sony. “We’re proud to offer access to the broadest range of eBooks today – from hot new releases, to New York Times Best Sellers, to classics and hard to find manuscripts such as those available for free from Google.”

From Sony’s eBook Store (ebookstore.sony.com), Reader owners with a U.S. location can download and transfer any of these titles to their PRS-505 or PRS-700 Reader. New eBook Store users can access available titles after setting up an account and downloading Sony’s free eBook Library software.

“As more and more people discover digital reading, it’s important to build an open platform to help them access and read books online,” said Adam Smith, product management director at Google. “We’re pleased to continue our collaboration with Sony so that more people around the world can discover and enjoy these books.”

Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jul 2009 | 8:00 pm

Twitter and Facebook make Afghan election debut (AFP)

AFP - Afghans may be desperately poor, largely illiterate and without electricity, but that does not stop would-be presidents campaigning in cyber space on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jul 2009 | 7:42 pm

Is the iPhone Causing Apple to Lose the Plot?

Is Apple losing the plot? I ask this because, having just read this bollocks (Apple wants to make jailbreaking illegal because it supposedly threatens our nation's cellphone tower infrastructure, and thereby threatens our national security), I've read nothing but well-reasoned, anti-Apple invective. Come, let's explore the phenomenon. But first: what's going on? The Electronic Frontier Foundation wants to make iPhone jailbreaking 100 percent legal. It's your phone, so why can't you install whatever the hell you want on it? No one tells you what software you can and cannot install on your PC, right? Exactly. Now, Apple doesn't want jailbreaking to given any sort of legal blessing, because, well, Apple is Apple, and AT&T, its incompetent partner in crime, doesn't know if it's coming or going. Want to use Google Voice mobile? Oh, I bet you do, but The Man doesn't want you to.

Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jul 2009 | 7:40 pm

Coincidence?

Jason Torchinsky is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Jason has a book out now, Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture. He lives in Los Angeles, where he is a tinkerer and artist and writes for the Onion News Network. He lives with his partner Sally, five animals, too many old cars, and a shed full of crap.

This is something I found a good while ago, and have posted at other places online; but it's just one of those things that I think merits looking back at, periodically, to help better understand the mysteries of existence.

The top, of course, is that famous picture of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald. The bottom is the cast of Bagger Vance, horsing around at the opening night party, as seen in Variety.

Were they trying to recreate this image? If so, why the hell would they do that? Did the photographer see the resemblance? There's so many questions here, all vastly more interesting than anything Bagger Vance normally produces.

Man. It gives me chills.


Source: Boing Boing | 29 Jul 2009 | 7:34 pm

Trusting Swedes follow GPS 400 miles off-course

So a pair of tourists, looking to drive to beautiful Capri, accidentally typed “Carpi” into their navigation system, and followed it for a full 400 miles before deciding maybe there was something wrong. What clued them in? The fact that Capri is an island and their route never crossed a body of water? Actually, they asked where to find the Blue Grotto when they actually got to Carpi.

It’s silly, but it’s also indicative of an increasingly common attitude, which is that our devices are infallible. It leads to us relying on them more than on ourselves, and further down that road, to us no longer trusting ourselves to do something which used to be second nature.
We just saw an article on this subject over at Boing Boing Gadgets. Lisa over there feels that her GPS is bad for her brain, and it certainly can be. Turn-by-turn navigation takes your mind off the road, and not in a good way. And how about our other devices? Sure, they’re enabling a level of sharing and communication that is completely unprecedented and, I think, on the balance a good thing — but they’re tethering (so to speak) our minds to them, and that’s rarely a good thing. It’s a bit like doing a crossword puzzle by googling everything one after another.

I think I should come up with a rule for things like this. Yeah, I’m just going to pop one out right now:

Use technology to expand your capabilities, but never to replace them.

That seems pretty reasonable. So they could have done what I do with GPS: find a location, double-check it, and write down the parts that I may miss if I don’t know the area. Turn-by-turn be damned.

[via TechDirt]

Source: CrunchGear | 29 Jul 2009 | 7:30 pm

Cyber-criminals targeting social networks: experts (AFP)

AFP - Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites are inceasingly being targeted by cyber-criminals drawn to the wealth of personal information supplied by users, experts warn.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jul 2009 | 7:27 pm

DARPA Builds Smarter Version of Microsoft's Clippy

holy_calamity writes "Microsoft's animated paperclip may be long dead, but a $150m DARPA project has resurrected the idea of a virtual assistant. AI researchers from more than 60 institutions worked on the project entitled CALO. CALO is designed to help ease the bureaucratic burden of the military. A consumer spinoff, Siri, is coming to the iPhone later this year. It responds to conversational voice commands to take over multi-step tasks like choosing and booking restaurants or cabs."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jul 2009 | 7:20 pm

Top 10 iPhone Annoyances (And How to Fix Them) - PC World

BBC News

Top 10 iPhone Annoyances (And How to Fix Them) PC World Even the iPhone isn't perfect. Here are the top ten iPhone annoyances and what you can do about them. Even the greatest gadgets have flaws, and the iPhone is certainly no exception. Praise it all you want, but the "Jesus phone" has plenty of little ... Apple's idisk finally comes to the ipod, iphoneCNET News For Business Owners, iPhone Apps AboundWall Street Journal Apple Wins Right To Say Its Apps Are 'Only On The iPhone'Washington Post Atlantic Online -Telegraph.co.uk -Register all 858 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jul 2009 | 7:03 pm

Hasta la Vista: The Many Versions of Windows 7 [Personal Technology]

Last week, this column laid out the painful, tedious process that awaits Windows XP users in October if they choose to migrate their existing PCs to Microsoft’s forthcoming new edition of Windows, called Windows 7. This week, I aim to explain some of the other details and issues involved in upgrading a PC to Windows 7, even if you are currently running Windows Vista, from which an upgrade is far simpler.

Unlike migrating from XP–still the most common version of Windows, despite its age–moving up from Vista is designed to be relatively straightforward. It’s a direct upgrade process that preserves all your personal files, settings and programs.

However, even this easier transition involves some choices and limitations that can be confusing for mainstream, non-techie users, so I will try to sort them out here. Throughout this column, I will be referring to simple, direct, upgrades meant for average users. I won’t be discussing more complex methods that require things like wiping out, or dividing, hard disks.

Unlike Vista, Windows 7 doesn’t require beefier hardware than its immediate predecessor. It should work fine on nearly every Vista PC, and even on many late-model computers running XP. In fact, it is a bit less demanding than Vista. For instance, Microsoft (MSFT) has repeatedly demonstrated Windows 7 working on low-powered netbooks that choked on Vista.

However, just like Vista, Windows 7 will be sold in a multitude of different editions, and deciding which one to buy can be confusing. There are six different flavors, though one is reserved for countries Microsoft calls “emerging markets.” Of the remaining five, one is for big businesses. Another, a stripped-down edition called Starter, can’t be installed as a direct upgrade for existing computers, according to Microsoft.

Most consumers will likely choose Windows 7 Home Premium, which costs $120 for upgraders and has all the key Windows 7 features. The next step up, called Professional, adds a few extras that may be especially useful for consumers who work at large companies or use older, specialized programs. Most notably, the Professional edition, unlike the Home Premium version, can remotely tap into certain corporate networks that use a system called “Domain Joining.” And the Professional version has the ability to run older Windows XP programs that wouldn’t otherwise work in Windows 7. It costs $200 for upgraders. The other likely choice is called Ultimate. It combines every feature of the other editions but costs upgraders $100 more than Home Premium.

There are limitations on which current Vista machines can be directly upgraded to the various versions of Windows 7. In general, you can only upgrade your current version of Vista to the comparable version of Windows 7. For instance, Vista Home Premium can only be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium and Vista Business can only be upgraded to Windows 7 Professional. This rule has two exceptions. Any flavor of Vista except Starter can be upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate, if you care to spend the extra money. And Vista Home Basic can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium.

All of the three common consumer versions of Windows 7 can run inside virtual machines, such as the faux Windows computers created on Apple (AAPL) Macintosh hardware using the Fusion and Parallels software. However, the upgrade rules still apply.

After you’ve installed Windows 7, you can move up from Home Premium to Professional with minimal extra effort, for an added sum, by using a program from Microsoft called Windows Anytime Upgrade. This unlocks the added features of Professional, which were actually already on your machine, but were hidden. You can do the same thing to move up to Ultimate.

However, there’s another complication. For each of the three main consumer versions of Windows 7, there are actually two editions. One is meant for PCs with standard processors, called 32-bit processors, and the other for PCs that sport newer processors called 64-bit processors. The 32-bit version of Windows can recognize only 3 gigabytes of memory, but the 64-bit version can use much, much more. For most average users, 3 gigabytes is plenty, but some consumers have 64-bit Vista machines, which can move faster when lots of programs are being used at once, or when doing tasks like playing back high-definition video.

The problem is that you cannot directly upgrade 32-bit Vista to 64-bit Windows 7, or vice versa. So that adds another layer of complexity to the upgrade process.

Finally, a note about prices. Most major Windows PC makers are offering free, or very low cost, upgrades to Windows 7 later, if you buy a Vista PC now. They are doing this, in cooperation with Microsoft, to discourage people from waiting until October to buy a new PC. Each hardware company has slightly different policies on this. However, this free upgrade program isn’t of any help if you simply want to keep your existing PC and upgrade it to Windows 7.

You can learn more about the various editions of Windows 7 at: windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/compare-editions?T1=tab01. And I’ll have a full review closer to its Oct. 22 release date.

Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jul 2009 | 7:02 pm

How to get top-tier audio in your convertible

I’ve never been a car person, or an audiophile, but I understand that for some people, their car is their baby and the place where they most often listen to the music they love. Sure, I’m okay with crackly FM in an 18-year-old Plymouth Voyager, but if you’re rocking a soft-top XKR or something similar, not only should you have higher expectations but the audio qualities are totally different.

If you really care about your music and are willing to pay for it (because it’s difficult to do any other way), this is a really great guide to get you the sound you deserve.

Some take-away points:

• Get a decent amp and EQ; default EQing can ruin the best system.
• Secure your subwoofer (and your parts), rattling sounds bad and can actually mess up your car.
• Put more power and more bass in the front and tone down your subs; separating the frequency ranges makes music sound unnatural.
• Test it loud. It’s the only way to be sure your tweeters aren’t going to cut your eardrums later.
• Test it in situ. Remember, you’re never going to be listening to this system when you’re not driving.
• Get a pro to help, they may know things about your model or speakers that you don’t.

There’s a ton more detail here as this guy goes through a full installation in a Sebring. If you’re planning on getting your audio tricked out, it’d be a good idea to check through this:

Part one, part two, part three, and part four.

Source: CrunchGear | 29 Jul 2009 | 7:00 pm

A great photoset of high-end home theaters

I don’t know about you all, but I love me some home theater pr0n. I could stare at the pictures and read equipment lists all day long - sometimes I do, but don’t tell Biggs.

HGTV of all websites has assembled a great collection of high-end home theaters. You won’t find all the details that sites like Electronic House provides, but if you’re in need of a great 10 minute time waster while the clock slowly ticks towards quiting time, click here.

Source: CrunchGear | 29 Jul 2009 | 6:41 pm

Roger McNamee: Judgment Day

“You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two- year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone,” Elevation Partners (which owns a huge portion of Palm) co-founder Roger McNamee told Bloomberg in March. “Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.”

Yes, that would be today.

So how did McNamee’s claim turn out? Well, let’s put it this way: If there was a foot-in-the-mouth award given every year, no one else would need to apply this year. Hell, it might take the prize for the whole decade. It’s a quote of Ballmer-level proportions.

Before I dive into any kind of analysis, I can say right off the bat that McNamee’s statement is false. Why? Because I bought the original iPhone on June 29, 2007. I am still using an iPhone today.

Something else to think about: Estimates are that Apple sold somewhere between 250,000 to 500,000 iPhones in its first weekend on sale in 2007. The last estimates given for Pre sales was that it sold around 300,000 by the end of June. It’s entirely possible that there haven’t even been as many Pres sold so far as there were iPhones sold during its first weekend. That doesn’t just make McNamee’s claim look bad — it makes it impossible.

I do not have a Palm Pre, but I have used one quite a few times now. It’s a great phone. The hardware isn’t exactly my cup of tea (I don’t like the keyboard), but there is no denying that the webOS software is very solid. Of course, it’s subjective, but I would say the Pre is the second-best smartphone on the market today.

But that’s not what McNamee said. He said, “Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.” The claim was laughable at the time, but it’s even more laughable now. He was, of course, implying that once people who bought the original iPhone saw the Pre, all of them would switch since their initial 2-year contracts would be up.

The reality has been much different. Not only is it likely that many of the people who originally bought the iPhone are still using one, but many of them have upgraded once or twice to newer models. And of course, there are millions more iPhone customers that have been added since then. Including millions since the launch of the iPhone 3GS, which was launched after the Pre.

Speaking of the Pre’s launch, it took place after McNamee’s claim, and it sold pretty well out of the gate. But Apple announced the iPhone 3GS a few days later, and as expected, it dampened much of the Pre hype. Sales of the Pre remained decent, but not stellar, and have been slowly trailing off ever since.

Contrast that with the iPhone 3GS that sold over a million units in just three days after its launch, and has remained red hot. It’s so hot that Apple has had a hard time keeping it in stock. The Pre, on the other hand, is widely available, according to recent inventory checks.

And while it’s not entirely fair to compare the two platforms by their app stores, the huge difference cannot be overlooked either. The iPhone launched its App Store a year ago, which was a year after the launch of the first iPhone. So there was already an installed user-base, which is one of the reasons why iPhone app downloads completely destroy Pre app downloads.

But at the same time, the iPhone App Store launched with 500 apps, the Pre’s App Catalog has an anemic 32 apps, nearly two months after its launch. The number is so laughably low that when two new apps were launched yesterday, it made headlines — for the fact that two new apps finally launched.

This is of course because Palm only just opened its SDK to the public, the lack of which really hurt its potential. With it out now, the Pre’s app ecosystem should grow much more quickly, but it will likely still be a few months before we really start to notice that.

But McNamee knew all of that when he made that statement, and yet, he still said it.

Now, it’s one thing to tout your own product, but calling out a rival with a comment so asinine, was a poor choice, to say the least. And to Palm’s credit, they knew it too, which is why they sent the SEC a filing with 10 clarifications and corrections about what McNamee said in one interview. Here’s the correction that relates to this:

8. The statement in the second paragraph of the article that “not one” person who bought an Apple, Inc. iPhone on the first shipment date “will still be using an iPhone a month” after the two-year anniversary of that day is an exaggerated prediction of consumer behavior pattern and is withdrawn.

Oh, okay, why don’t we all just make outrageous claims then send the SEC a note to withdraw them? But that’s why we’re here, to hold people’s feet to the fire when they say idiotic things, even if they petition the SEC to withdraw them.

The fact of the matter is that the iPhone remains the hottest smartphone and may be the hottest platform overall on the planet, right now. Apple has sold around 25 million iPhones. Palm has sold something probably south of a half million Pres — it’s a number that Sprint wouldn’t even say during its earnings call. And whatever the number was, it was not enough to stop the service from bleeding customers last quarter.

The Pre, while a nice phone, has a number of things working against it, including Sprint’s smaller network (though I find it to be much better quality-wise than AT&T’s awful network), and the lack of a robust app ecosystem right now. But both of those should change shortly. I already spoke to the app problem, but Verizon has also announced that the Pre will be on its network sometime in early 2010. That will be big, I imagine.

But will it be iPhone-killing big? No, of course not. There is plenty of room for many smartphones on the market, you’d have to imagine that even McNamee knows that. I think his iPhone-envy just got the best of him with such a statement. And that was interesting because it added more fuel to the fire of the Apple/Palm rivalry, which was already an interesting one.

Palm has no shortage of ex-Apple employees now working for it, including newly appointed CEO Jon Rubenstein, who used to head Apple’s iPod and Mac divisions. And now they’re caught up with this cat-and-mouse game with Apple to make iTunes syncing work for the Pre.

The Pre is also the first mobile device since the iPhone to use multi-touch, something which brought out some interesting statements from Apple about protecting their intellectual property. There have been no lawsuits on that front, but we can probably safely assume that Apple looked into it, and probably isn’t too happy that it apparently cannot push for legal action.

Then there was the ad that Sprint made for the Pre, with an eaten apple (which also spoke to the first wave of expiring iPhone contracts). And then there was Apple trash-talking the Pre’s small app store size during its WWDC keynote. “And somebody else. I can’t quite read it. It’s small,” is what Apple’s Phil Schiller said. (The chart he’s referring to is above.)

But Apple can talk for now, it has earned that privilege by running laps around its rivals with its smartphone and App Store. Palm, has not. And they look bad today thanks to McNamee.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jul 2009 | 6:39 pm

Creative introduces the Android powered multitouch Zii Egg, but not for consumers

Section: Audio, Portable Audio, Video, Portable Video, Gadgets / Other

Interestingly enough, Creative has announced a product with the greatest potential out of other recent products known as the Zii Egg.  The device is set to run on Creative’s own Plaszma platform, as well as Google’s Android platform.  Developers will be able to create apps for both the Plaszma and Android platform.  For some reason, Creative likes to use a lot of -ahem- unique names such as Plaszma, StemCell Computing, and Zii Egg. 

All three of those terms are related in some way.  A way that we will probably learn more about as soon as people get their hands on the new Creative Zii Egg.  Perhaps what’s more interesting than the platform(s) it runs on is i’s hardware.  Just to give you an idea, it features both an HD camera and a normal VGA camera.  Since it features an HD camera, HD playback is supported. 

Obviously, Creative hopes to compete with the iPod Touch and Zune HD.  In addition, it boasts 32GB on internal memory, which is expandable via SD slot up to 32GB, 3.5 inch multitouch LCD screen, X-Fi audio processing, 256MB mobile DDR RAM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, text-to-speech, and OpenGL ES support. 

As of now, the Zii Egg is available for OEM’s and developers for $400.  It is odd that Creative would toss such a promising product away to let other companies customize it however they wish.  Who knows, though, maybe it is the right decision to let others improve upon it.  Of course, the device could take another interesting turn of events and become a phone.  Either way, it looks pretty enticing and it will be interesting to see what the developers do with it and what other details Creative will release.

Read [Creative Zii]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jul 2009 | 6:13 pm

Company Awarded "The Patent For Podcasting"

Chris Albrecht writes "VoloMedia announced today that it has been awarded what it called the 'patent for podcasting.' According to the press announcement, patent number 7,568,213, titled 'Method for Providing Episodic Media,' covers: '...the fundamental mechanisms of podcasting, including providing consumer subscription to a show, automatically downloading media to a computer, prioritizing downloads, providing users with status indication, deleting episodes, and synchronizing episodes to a portable media device.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:55 pm

Geodelic releases Sherpa into the wild

G1 owners-

Direct your device to the Android Market and download Sherpa (it’s official now)!

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:51 pm

Gamertell Interview: Madden NFL 10 Wii art director, Tim Spangler

FROM GAMERTELL - Gamertell interviews Madden 10 for Wii art director Tim Spangler on whats new this year with the game.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:45 pm

'Good fat' may help people lose weight

U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:37 pm

Vulnerabilities Allow Attacker to Impersonate Any Website

Security researchers at the Black Hat security conference Wednesday show how an attacker can fool nearly all popular browsers.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:37 pm

Jailbreaking iPhone could pose threat to national security, Apple ... - CNET News

Ars Technica

Jailbreaking iPhone could pose threat to national security, Apple ... CNET News I just got my new iPhone 3GS the other day and the first thing I did with it was get it jailbroken, just how I handled my iPhone 3G. This time around, it was not really because I was in dire need of any extra functionality (the 3GS now can ... Apple using scare tactics to stop iPhone jailbreaking from ...BetaNews Jailbreaking is Evil: AppleTechtree.com Apple: Jailbreaking Could Knock out Transmission TowersPC World InformationWeek -Ars Technica -ChannelWeb all 92 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:26 pm

Will Apple CEO Headline CES ’10? [Voices]

By Ben Charny, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Those snubbed by Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs take heart. He won’t return calls from Gary Shapiro, who heads the world’s largest consumer electronics industry trade group.

Shapiro is chief executive of the Consumer Electronics Association, the same group that puts on the Consumer Electronics Show each January for the last three decades. Apple plans to attend the show’s 2010 version, marking the first time in memory the Cupertino, Calif., consumer-electronics giant will be there.

At a dinner with journalists this week in San Francisco, CEA’s Shapiro was asked whether he’s invited Jobs, who recently returned from medical leave, to keynote the show. Yes, Jobs has been asked, but nobody from Apple has gotten back to him, Shapiro said.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:16 pm

Watch what you tweet: woman sued over twitter update

Section: Web, Web 2.0, Websites

 

A Chicago woman has been slapped with a $50,000 lawsuit by her landlord.  Horizon Group Management filed the lawsuit after the woman complained about her apartment on Twitter.  Horizon was angered by her claim that they didn’t care about the mold problem in her apartment.  Although she did not have her tweets protected, the complaint only reached about 20 people.  Horizon claims the statement ““maliciously and wrongfully” defamed them.

In the woman’s defense, they admit they didn’t bother to contact her or ask her to delete the tweet, they simply ran to their lawyer, and they freely admit they are a “sue first and ask questions later” kind of company.  The woman has since moved out of her apartment and has not made any comment on the suit.

While I personally think the landlord is seriously overreacting, there is an important lesson to be learned here.  Unless you protect your tweets, anyone will be able to see them.  They are completely public.  It’s obvious this company was searching Twitter for mentions of itself, and if you are one of the many who are searching for employment these days, you can pretty much be assured that potential employers will be searching for you as well, so think twice about bashing your former boss or posting a racy pic-even protecting your tweets won’t keep your friends from retweeting things.

The same holds true for your MySpace and Facebook pages.  Unless you use the privacy settings anyone who does a simple Google search will be able to see everything.  Facebook’s new personalized URLs make that even easier.  I have my pages set so only friends can see what I post.  Anyone not my friend gets a very simple page that provides little info and prompts them to sign up and/or send me a friend request.  I find this setting adequate.  There is even a deeper setting for Facebook where you can completely block your profile, including your photo and even make yourself unclickable when you leave comments on other people’s pages so that people can’t message you or send you a friend request.  (I find this to be overkill and think it makes you come across as very cold and unfriendly though.)  MySpace’s new Profile 2.0 lets you decide exactly what content you want public and which you want to restrict to just friends.

Of course none of these privacy tools will work if you are careless about who you accept as a friend/follower.  On Twitter, never automatically follow people that follow/request to follow you.  Take the time to check them out. On Facebook, quality is far better than quantity.  My rule of thumb is not to accept friend requests from people I don’t know (unless we share a mutual friend)  if they don’t include a note telling me who they are.  As with Twitter, take the time to check people out.

Social networking is a valuable tool and great fun too, but learn how to do it safely!

Read [PCWorld]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:15 pm

Bald-Headed, Pink-Faced Songbird Discovered

The "bubbling" bird has the distinction of being the only bald songbird in Asia.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:01 pm

http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_eyefi_pro

The Eye-Fi has been something of a quaint curiosity in the eyes of serious photogs. Now Eye-Fi strikes back with the Pro -- a card that has RAW capabilities and the ability to connect to an ad-hoc wireless network.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:00 pm

New Bald Bird Discovered in Laos

Biologists have discovered a new species of songbird with an oddly bald head.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:00 pm

http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_eyefi_pro

The Eye-Fi has been something of a quaint curiosity in the eyes of serious photogs. Now Eye-Fi strikes back with the Pro -- a card that has RAW capabilities and the ability to connect to an ad-hoc wireless network.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:00 pm

Flying the Plane That May Take You to Edge of Space

Wired.com sits down with Pete Siebold for a first-hand account of what it's like flying WhiteKnightTwo.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jul 2009 | 4:51 pm

Calif. marsh returns to life after century

Native plant life is growing in a wetland reclamation near Los Angeles that organizers say they hope will also attract invertebrates, rare birds and fishes. For the first time in a century, salt water from the Pacific Ocean is pouring into 67-acre Brookhurst marsh in coastal Huntington Beach, Calif., replenishing an area that was barren much of the 20th century due to a levee that was recently breached. Opening Huntington Beach wetlands to full tidal flow is the single most critical step in recreating nursery and foraging habitats for a diverse community of fish, invertebrates and birds, says David Witting, a fish biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Restoration Center in nearby Long Beach. The scientific agency within the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jul 2009 | 4:45 pm

Funds Dwindle To Dismantle Old Nuclear Plants

Hugh Pickens writes "The Associated Press reports that the companies that own almost half the nation's nuclear reactors are not setting aside enough money to dismantle the reactors so many plants may sit idle for decades posing safety and security risks as a result. The shortfalls in funding have been caused by huge losses in the stock market that have devastated the companies' savings and by the soaring costs of decommissioning. Owners of 19 nuclear plants have won approval to idle their reactors for as long as 60 years, presumably enough time to allow investments to recover and eventually pay for dismantling the plants and removing radioactive material. But mothballing nuclear reactors or shutting them down inadequately presents the risk that radioactive waste could leak from abandoned plants into ground water or be released into the air, and spent nuclear fuel rods could be stolen by terrorists. The NRC has contacted 18 nuclear power plants to clarify how the companies will address the recent economic downturn's effects on funds to decommission reactors in the future but some analysts worry the utility companies that own nuclear plants might not even exist in six decades."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 29 Jul 2009 | 4:45 pm

Why Overt Gaming Could Take Over Social Networks & Recommendation Engines

I'm the Mayor of my local dog park. For two days, I was also the Mayor of Wired Magazine's San Francisco office. I'm now recovering from a disconcerting case of TMI-tus. All thanks to Foursquare, a GPS-enabled app I downloaded to my phone.

If you're unfamiliar, here's how it works: You launch the app, your phone determines your location, and you then have the option to broadcast this "news" to your friends, Twitter followers, etc. and add tips about, say, a restaurant &mdash what to order, what table to sit at, what time to go, etc.

But here's the catch: it's a game. Points are awarded every time you check in. Additional points are handed out if you do this frequently at multiple locations. Even more points are earned every time you add a new location to Foursquare's database.

The result: I ranked #14 on the San Francisco leaderboard after a long, exhausting weekend.

The purpose: I have no clue.

...Or actually, maybe I do. Find out after the jump.

photos by Adam Jackson & Filmoculous

I could care less about seeming active or hip. So I shared indiscriminately. Every restaurant, bar, museum, bus stop, park. I went in deep to get a feel for what a user might get from this.

What I discovered is that things can get heated. For instance, when I'm not Boinging, I work part-time at Wired. The fact I earned the right to call myself the Mayor of Wired didn't sit right with at least one of my co-workers. He decided to make it his mission to stage a coup.

He won.

I unceremoniously retired from Foursquare.

Around the same time, the launch of gdgt got me thinking. It's a user-generated service &mdash much like Foursquare &mdash that relies on average joe's to help fill out a huge database of potentially-useful info. Only instead of locations, gdgt wants the 411 on products: specs, prices, launch dates, photos, and more.

Each gadget gets a page, which &mdash much like Wikipedia &mdash can be edited and updated by users. Again, much like Wikipedia, active users do this for status and reputation*. I'm not trying to take the piss out of the gift or freeconomy. There are people sharing information, goods and services unselfishly with no expectation of reward or public acknowledgment.

The benefits of a site like Foursquare aren't so explicit. At its core, it's a recommendation engine (eat here, order this) and a tool for motivating to try new places. Like Yelp, with less commitment.

My question &mdash and feel free to voice your thoughts in the comments &mdash is whether even more overt gaming could drive a site like Wikipedia or gdgt in ways that Foursquare seems to? I'm guessing the answer is yes. But does gaming cheapen the experience or, as it did in my case, drive away users? I'm guessing the answer is maybe.

The difference between social networking or collaborative wiki-work and this next phase is exemplified by transparent quantification. Or, more obviously, it's not a game which exists primarily in our heads &mdash i.e. "I made 372 edits this week; I'm awesome" or "I accrued 29 followers." It's not a game that only some choose to see as a game. Instead, everyone involved knows they're being counted. By virtue of participation, you're ceding the fact you will appear somewhere on the leaderboard. Whether you care where is another matter.

This brings me to a site called SuperFan, which wants to be gdgt for everything (all products, musicians, movies, sports teams, Jello shots and more). The site, which launched in June, touts a reward system that goes beyond offering mere social capital:

As a user accrues points for adding photos, information, etc., she's awared a new reputation level (much like Foursquare's badges, pic above). At every new level, you get a bucket of credits, then bid eBay-style for absolute control over her favorite page/URL. Say you're a big Genesis fan (the band or the console). You can use your earned points &mdash or purchase credits via credit card &mdash to be in charge of changing the page's color palette, photos, video, etc.

I should mention you only get to control the page for 5 minutes. Then, if someone outbids your previous bid, they become the webmaster of that page.

Maybe you think this sounds lame.

I'll admit, it's not my bag. But I'll also admit I didn't think Foursquare would be as fun or as interesting as it was. And still, even more of my peers are playing the game.

It's way too early to tell if SuperFan will gain any traction. Facebook could blink twice and throw up similar functionality**. But imagine if you got 5 points for every friend you made on Facebook? Or 10 points for every follower on Twitter? And with those credits you could unlock new features, functionality, or simply get invited to exclusive meet-ups a la Yelp.

Seems like an obvious way to boost engagement, no?

Either way, it's safe to say building in overt, highly-structured gaming could very well become the next go-to tactic for driving adoption and cultivating an avid user base. For a social network, online service, and especially the plethora of iPhone and other mobile apps launching, that kind of attention is golden.

*How participating in a site like gdgt affects purchasing habits is a question reaserchers would love to answer.

**SuperFan founder Rick Marini says there's no indication Facebook has any interest in gaming or, more to the point, aggregating the hundreds of disparate fan pages that have been created on Facebook for an artist like Lil' Wayne. Whereas SuperFan will offer only one page.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 29 Jul 2009 | 4:40 pm

Mosquito Bites Used to Deliver Malaria 'Vaccine'

Using mosquitoes, scientists have created a delivery mechanism for a malaria "vaccine."
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Jul 2009 | 4:30 pm

Yahoo Shareholders Transfer $2.9 Billion To Microsoft Shareholders

Anyone wondering who got the better deal today (my detailed thoughts later) need only look at the stock movements of Yahoo and Microsoft. Yahoo dipped 12.08% to $15.14, knocking $2.91 billion off their market cap. Microsoft gained 1.41% to $23.80, adding…$2.94 billion to their market cap.

So net/net about $30 million in new value was created today by the market, All of that plus everything Yahoo lost went to Microsoft. Yahoo got Binged, to the tune of $2.9 Billion. Oops.

Our complete coverage of the deal is here.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jul 2009 | 4:25 pm

AT&T: Don’t Blame Us For The iPhone’s Google Voice Ban

The outcry over the Google Voice ban on the App Store is still going strong, with hundreds of news stories, developer posts, and complaints putting the story in and out of Twitter’s top trends for nearly three days running. Much of the blame has been directed at AT&T, over beliefs that the carrier forced Apple’s hand in its decision to ban the applications. Now it looks like AT&T believes it’s been wrongly accused, and it’s beginning to take a stand for itself.

Last time we reached out to AT&T to comment on the story, the company gave TechCrunch writer MG Siegler a very blunt and brief statement:

“Nope – Apple is the one who can talk about their App Store.”

But today, the company has begun sending out more detailed messages to some of the frustrated customers who have been voicing their complaints. The message below was written by Glenn Lurie, AT&T’s President of Emerging Devices and Resale.

Your letter concerning Apple’s decision on the Google Voice iPhone app was forwarded to me since I work closely with Apple.

While we’re very proud to offer the iPhone 3GS along with the thousands of apps available through the App Store, AT&T does not manage the App Store – and we are not involved in the approval process for apps in the App Store. I recommend in this particular case that you express your concerns to Apple.

I’m glad you’re enjoying your iPhone and hope that you continue to be an AT&T customer. We appreciate and value your business.

Sincerely,
Glenn Lurie

AT&T’s stance is no longer that it can’t talk about the App Store — it’s that it doesn’t manage the App Store, and that any concerns about this case should be directed at Apple. Of course, the note leaves plenty of wiggle room for AT&T. The company may not be necessarily “managing” the approval process, but it could easily be the whispering in the ears of the people who do. And to say that AT&T isn’t involved at all seems highly unlikely as well — why would Apple cripple apps like Sling were it not over bandwidth concerns voiced by AT&T? Still, there must be some reason why AT&T is beginning to change its tune. AT&T would be foolish to paint a bulls-eye on Apple as it tries to extend its incredibly valuable exclusive iPhone contract, but it’s doing what it can to deflect a few of the blows coming from its frustrated customers.

We followed up on the letter above by getting in touch with AT&T, at which point an AT&T spokesman said that the company stood by what Lurie had written and that we should contact Apple for any further information. Apple spokesman Steve Dowling refused to comment on the matter. Our brief conversation, which consisted largely of “we haven’t made any comment on that” responses, included this gem:

JK: Are you planning to comment?
SD: We haven’t made any comment on that.

So where does the blame truly lie? It’s unlikely we’ll ever get a straight answer. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber has cited a reliable source in saying that it was “AT&T that objected to Google Voice apps for the iPhone. It’s that simple.” And I myself suspect that the blame lies largely with AT&T. But others, like Om Malik, believe that Apple should be bearing the brunt of the blame.

But in the end, users don’t really care who is to blame, provided the issue gets resolved quickly. If that doesn’t happen, developers will continue to lose faith in the App Store’s walled garden approach. Apple will lose its glossy luster, and some will seek lusher platforms where they’re sure they can actually release the applications they’ve spent months building. The iPhone may be dominating this space now, but we’re really only about two years into this new era of smart phones — it’s a bit early for Apple to be embittering developers with such regularity.

Thanks to Jason Walke for the tip.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jul 2009 | 4:20 pm

Race bias tied to prostate cancer variance

A lack of doctor trust, access and continuity are to blame for black U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jul 2009 | 4:09 pm

Windows Mobile now called “Windows Phone” - no, really

Apparently, it’s been leaked by some loose-lipped presenter at a Microsoft event that “Windows Mobile” is out, and “Windows Phone” is in. Well, Microsoft, I try to get your back now and then when you’re misunderstood or wrongly accused, but this is beyond the pale. I can’t think of a worse name to call your operating system. Let me count the reasons why:

• Apple has taken all the mindshare for “____Phone” devices. I understand you want to beat them at their own game, but that doesn’t mean you have to dress like them and get your hair cut like them. This advice also applies to your new store.
• Windows Mobile is a name people know. Changing it, for no reason, to something extremely similar, without any changes to the OS itself, suggests you don’t know what you’re doing.
• People still say “phone,” but “mobile” is a more modern and specific term. You had a winner there. “Windows Phone” sounds like a crappy house telephone with WinCE on it.
• It just sounds… dumb. I realize this is just my opinion, but it’s not snappy or memorable, it fades from the mind rather than sticking in it like Android or Symbian. Plus, how are we going to shorten it now? WinPho?
• Even “Microsoft Phone” would be better. Or “Windows Connect,” or “Contact.” I like that last one. You can have it, Microsoft. You can pay me back by whipping the chumps who came up with your current one.

I could go on, but why spoil your fun? What do you guys think of this ridiculous turn of events?

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 29 Jul 2009 | 3:58 pm

Upgrading from XP to Windows 7 [Mossberg's Mailbox]

This week’s Mailbox is devoted to the most common of the hundreds of questions I received in response to last week’s Personal Technology column describing how difficult and time-consuming it will be to upgrade a Windows XP computer to Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows 7 operating system.

To avoid the difficulties you described last week with migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7, what do you think about a two-step approach whereby we buy Vista, upgrade from XP to Vista, and then go from Vista to Windows 7?

That would work, since–unlike those running XP–PCs running Vista can be upgraded to Windows 7 directly, without wiping their hard drives, displacing any files or re-installing any programs.

However, you’d be doing twice the work and paying for two new versions of Windows instead of one.

If I bought a Vista computer, but had it downgraded at the factory to XP, will my situation be any different than what you described should I choose to migrate to Windows 7?

According to Microsoft, the answer is no. Your computer is now a Windows XP computer, and thus still has no direct upgrade path to Windows 7. You would still have to remove and later restore your personal files, wipe your hard disk clean, and then re-install all your programs. However, if you received Windows Vista installation disks with the machine, you could upgrade it to Windows Vista first, and then, upgrade it directly to Windows 7, a process that doesn’t require any of those cumbersome steps.

Does the difficult scenario of moving from Windows XP to Windows 7 that you described last week also apply to those of us who run XP on Macs in virtual-machine programs like Parallels or Fusion?

Yes. Microsoft says the same migration steps are necessary whether the Windows XP computer is physical or virtual, and that includes Macs running XP via the Parallels or Fusion software.

It also applies if you are running XP on a Mac using Apple’s Boot Camp program and wish to move to Windows 7.

After Windows 7 comes out in October, will Microsoft somehow force us XP users to stop using it? Is there any reason I have to upgrade, or can I keep using XP, which meets my needs perfectly?

You can keep using Windows XP and all your current programs on your current computer. It won’t suddenly expire.

Especially in light of how hard it will be to upgrade, can you please explain what advantages Windows 7 will have over XP, which is tried and true? I deliberately skipped Vista and am inclined to skip this new Windows version as well.

People should never feel stampeded to upgrade their technology and should keep using whatever meets their needs and makes them comfortable.

However, based on my testing of pre-release versions of Windows 7, I would say it is significantly better than XP, which, after all, was designed a decade ago, an eternity in computer time.

I’ll cite just a few examples. Microsoft says that Windows 7 is more secure than XP, because its underlying architecture allows more defenses against malicious software than in the older product. Microsoft claims, and my tests bear out, that Windows 7 makes networking computers much simpler, quicker and more reliable than XP does. And the company says that Wi-Fi networks work better and faster than they do with XP.

I would add that, if Windows 7 catches on in a way that Vista didn’t, you may gradually find that new software and hardware makers will stop bothering to make their products compatible with XP, though this process will take years.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online for free at the All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jul 2009 | 3:54 pm

Feds May Soon Be Allowed To Use Cookies

fast66 writes "The White House may lift its policy barring federal Web sites from tracking users' online behavior. In place since 2000, the cookie policy issued by the Office of Management and Budget was intended to protect citizen privacy but has sparked criticism — even from White House officials — for hampering citizen outreach. On Friday, Bev Godwin, the director of online resources and interagency development at the White House's new media office, blogged on the White House Web site, 'We want to use cookies for good, not evil' — and invited the public to comment on cookies through various online channels, including the Office of Science and Technology Policy blog."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 29 Jul 2009 | 3:50 pm

Shuttle's thermal shielding OK after check

U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jul 2009 | 3:25 pm

Mini, Wearable Camcorder Will Complement Nerdy Apparel

File this under “Dorktastic.” iRes Technology on Wednesday released its wearable mini camcorder, capable of recording up to seven hours of video and audio.

Called the uCorder, the gadget measures 3.5 inches long, one inch wide and half an inch thick — small enough to fit in a shirt pocket or down Charlie Sorrel’s left nostril, which should help him keep his finger out for a few minutes. The cam shoots 640-by-480 video in AVI format; there’s also an option to record audio only as WAV.

Two models are available: $80 for the 1GB and $100 for the 2GB.

Product Page [iRes]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jul 2009 | 3:17 pm

Backup now for your BlackBerry and Android, plus a bit more

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile, Computers, Software / Applications

I’ve written about SugarSync before and I am still a user of the service.  Call it online storage or call it a keen way to share data across all your computers and phones or call it online backup; I call it my brain-dead back up.  And now, Android and BlackBerry users can take full advantage of it.

SugarSync’s automatic, real-time backup of your files works so well, users forget about the service; until they need to send a big file.  Gmail only handles files up to 25MB as does my ISP.  But with SugarSync, the file loads up and I can send a secure link so folks like Iyaz can get my video file for our InterrupTech show.  It is drop dead easy.

The new applications for Android and BlackBerry devices allow access to SugarSync fun, things like: sending files from a phone, view files (including photos) from any computer on your account, upload mobile photos from phone to account. 

The applications are free and available for PC/Mac, Windows Mobile, iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry.  No word on Palm Pre app yet.

Company site: [SugarSync] via [jkOnTheRun]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jul 2009 | 3:17 pm

Inside the AP's Plan To Security-Wrap Its News Content

suraj.sun writes with an excerpt from this story at Ars Technica that the "Associated Press, reeling from the newspaper apocalypse, has a new plan to 'wrap' and 'protect' its content though a 'digital permissions framework.' The Associated Press last week rolled out its brave new plan to 'apply protective format to news.' The AP's news registry will 'tag and track all AP content online to assure compliance with terms of use,' and it will provide a 'platform for protect, point, and pay.' That's a lot of 'p'-prefaced jargon, but it boils down to a sort of DRM for news — 'enforcement,' in AP-speak."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 29 Jul 2009 | 3:07 pm

Review: An afternoon with Shuttle's Nano-powered XS29

Shuttle's XS29 barebone PC has a 1.6GHz processor, up to 4GB of RAM, gigabit ethernet, DVI, VGA and standard audio jacks, 6 USB ports and Via Chrome9 HC3 video. It's a Via Nano version of the X27, an otherwise identical machine equipped with an Intel chipset and Atom CPU.

Thoughts follow.

• I haven't tried the X27, but in principle, the difference would be slightly superior performance but greater power consumption. There's also the XS29F, a slower fanless version.

• Equipped with 2GB of RAM and a 150GB toshiba hard drive, desktop performance was fine, but it's not up to (modern) gaming. It just doesn't have the grunt.

• 1080p HD movies worked great, not a spot of chop. The chipset supports MPEG-4, VC1 and WMV hardware accelleration. But there's no HDMI!

• If you're OK with DVI and put in Blu, it would make a great home theater PC.

• Price is TBD, but it'll liekly be $450-ish for a complete system with the basics and $200-ish for just the case, motherboard and CPU.

• All said, it's bigger than a Mac Mini and a Dell Studio Hybrid, but not any better. Unless you like the Shuttle's basic black look, a little more money gets you a smaller and more stylish system in both cases. it's a real PC and you can tinker with it to your heart's content.

• However, what it does have over rivals is upgradeability: the case comes apart in moments without the use of tools. Upgrading RAM or the drives would be a snap. There's even an unused PCIe slot, should you manage to find something that'll fit in there.

• The review unit came with Windows 7 beta build 7057, and it was a little glitchy. So build a system with XP, Vista or Ubuntu until someone verifies all is well with Microsoft's latest.

Web store [Shuttle]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 29 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pm

The Real Twitpocalypse: Asteroid Alerts Come to Twitter

Now you can find out on Twitter when an asteroid will be near Earth, through NASA's new tweet alert system.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jul 2009 | 2:55 pm

Wired Playlist: New Music From Kid Koala, Faves From Atlas Sound, Breakwater

Get an earful of great tracks in this week's free podcast.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jul 2009 | 2:51 pm

Dry conditions close beaches

A 10 percent decline in U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jul 2009 | 2:43 pm

Dry weather lowers beach closings number

A 10 percent decline in U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jul 2009 | 2:43 pm

Arctic CO2 Fueling Fierce Global Warming Cycle

A new European study finds that climate change is accelerating the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) from sub-Arctic peatlands, stimulating a fierce cycle of global warming.Northern peatlands contain one-third of the Earth’s soil-bound organic carbon, the equivalent of half the CO2 in the entire
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jul 2009 | 2:39 pm

Appletell reviews Clip2Mobile for iPhone, iPod touch

FROM APPLETELL - Clip2Mobile is a program that lets you wirelessly send text and files (including pdfs, video, and music) between your home computer and your iPhone/iPod touch.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jul 2009 | 2:37 pm

Cognitive Testing, Gender and Brain Lesions Could Predict MS Disease Progression Risk

Cognitive testing may help people with inactive or benign multiple sclerosis (MS) better predict their future with the disease, according to a study published in the July 29, 2009, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jul 2009 | 2:22 pm

Facebook coming to Android

Well, we never thought it would happen because of its intense rivalry with Google, but Facebook is almost ready to launch an official app for Android phones. Hints are already popping up here and there, but I've been able to confirm it. The app could hit the Android Market (its version of the App Store) as soon as the end of this week. Facebook's Android app will launch with a more limited set of features than its current, and very popular, iPhone app. For instance, it won't have an inbox, I'm told by a source who has seen it. But it will have the full Facebook stream, which is really all you need. The Facebook Android app is built around the stream and status updates. It was built with Facebook's new Stream API. Your updates keep coming in, with a notification number telling you how many new items are available at any given time.

Source: MobileCrunch | 29 Jul 2009 | 2:21 pm

P2P Network Exposes Obama's Safehouse Location

Lucas123 writes "The location of the safe house used in times of emergency for the First Family was leaked on a LimeWire file-sharing network recently, a fact revealed today to members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Along with the safe house location, the LimeWire networks also disclosed presidential motorcade routes, as well as sensitive but unclassified document that listed details on every nuclear facility in the country. Now lawmakers are considering a bill to ban P2P use on government, contractor networks."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 29 Jul 2009 | 2:20 pm

Consensus! Tenenbaum defense is a trainwreck - ZDNet

guardian.co.uk

Consensus! Tenenbaum defense is a trainwreck ZDNet There are numerous economic experts out there who could clearly point out that there's no causal evidence that file sharing does any damage at all. There may be a correlation with a decline in CD sales, but not with any other aspect of the music ... Online Music File Swapping Trial UnderwayInformationWeek Joel Tenenbaum follows in Jammie Thomas' footstepsCNET News Tenenbaum lawyer admits liability; damages now main issueArs Technica BetaNews -The Associated Press -ABC News all 591 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jul 2009 | 1:50 pm

Is the iPhone causing Apple to lose the plot?

Is Apple losing the plot? I ask this because, having just read this bollocks (Apple wants to make jailbreaking illegal because it supposedly threatens our nation’s cellphone tower infrastructure, and thereby threatens our national security), I’ve read nothing but well-reasoned, anti-Apple invective. Come, let’s explore the phenomenon.

But first: what’s going on? The Electronic Frontier Foundation wants to make iPhone jailbreaking 100 percent legal. It’s your phone, so why can’t you install whatever the hell you want on it? No one tells you what software you can and cannot install on your PC, right? Exactly. Now, Apple doesn’t want jailbreaking to given any sort of legal blessing, because, well, Apple is Apple, and AT&T, its incompetent partner in crime, doesn’t know if it’s coming or going. Want to use Google Voice mobile? Oh, I bet you do, but The Man doesn’t want you to.

Anyhow, Apple wrote to the Copyright Office, and offered this explanation as to why jailbreaking should never be legalized:

…local or international hacker[s] could potentially initiate commands (such as a denial of service attack) that could crash the tower software, rendering the tower entirely inoperable to process calls or transmit data. Taking control of the BBP [baseband processor, which regulates connections between the phone and tower] software would be much the equivalent of getting inside the firewall of a corporate computer — to potentially catastrophic result. The technological protection measures were designed into the iPhone precisely to prevent these kinds of pernicious activities, and if granted, the jailbreaking exemption would open the door to them.

To quote MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, ha!

If the sheer ludicrousness of that statement isn’t apparent right now, then hopefully the following comments I’ve isolated will make things clear. The comments also show a very real strain of animosity pointed right at Cupertino. Combine that with AT&T’s recent foul-ups, and you do start to wonder if Apple is heading in the wrong direction.

The following are from the original Wired article. I think it’s safe to say Wired readers aren’t exactly the frothing-at-the-mouth-with-anger variety.

Then they’re broken. Fix the cell towers. I’d compare this to, say, SQL injection attacks. The solution isn’t to control the users, the solution is to fix the exploit where it exists: the cell tower.

***

Ok, let me see if I get this…

Legal jailbreaking would cause criminals/terrorists to crash things.

But… since when do criminals or terrorists really -care- about following the law? If it’s made illegal, they’ll still do it. It’s not like jailbreaking a phone and getting caught would, even if it were a crime, add that much to a sentence for terroristic activities.

It’s sort of like that part from Heavy Metal, with Captain Stearn. “…and one moving violation.”

***

If that were possible…wouldn’t it have happened by now?

***

Unfreaking believeable, Apple just confessed their iphones are a threat to National Security and fail to see the repercussions this could have on their business. If any of this is true then I suggest legislation to ban all iphones effective immediately, since iphones are a threat to national security. Legalizing jailbreaking or keeping it illegal doesn’t change the fact that iphones are not secure enough to prevent jailbreaking. So all of those precautions they claimed they took to prevent this from happening was a waste of time since it can be circumvented by anyone just by watching a youtube video.

***

well then Apple should make a proper phone at last..
trillion times more Nokias and other smartphones are being unlocked for years now..
and? no DoS attacks so far..
what’s the deal here?
Apple wants the laws to help it’s business?

***

Let me get this straight… Keeping it ILLEGAL to jailbreak phones will dissuade terrorists and drug dealers from doing these horrible things that Apple claims could be done with their phones?

Really? So a terrorist who would bring down the Cell Phone towers, or a drug dealer who would sell heroin to children, is going to go, “Woah, dude… wait a minute… I’m not going to risk violating the DMCA!”

Apple Legal Team Fail.

***

What Apple *doesn’t* say, is:
- this scenario would require an “evil genius” hacker
- can be done with *any* smartphone, not just iPhone
- can be done with eval boards, bare ICs, hacked regular cellphones

It’s a fairly common strategy to get what you want from tech-clueless regulators: create a nightmare scenario involving the issue you want them to address, then claim that the only way to prevent a catastrophe is to regulate as directed.

You would think the regulators would have learned by this time to look at these pleas for additional regulation witha bit more skepticism.

And the following comments come from Slashdot, which, again, I wouldn’t exactly call a bunch of wingnuts.

Worse, trusting the client is always an idiotic plan. Even if it isn’t iSteve’s precious baby, there will always be some phone(s) were the evil unauthorized users have access to the baseband(if nothing else, the people who design phones have to have the baseband interface specs, and I’m sure that sort of thing gets lost/dumpster dived/hacked/inside-jobbed from time to time). Solving cell tower security issues by trying to lock every handset would be like trying to make the internet safe by making Symantec Endpoint Security mandatory for all devices with public IPs.

This is just Apple wrapping themselves in the “Security” blanket to get what they want. Should we expect a series of PSAs about how iPhone jailbreaking aids the terrorists?

***

What Apple is saying is wrong. Everybody with any knowledge of the system knows it’s wrong; even if cell towers were susceptible, jailbreaking doesn’t touch the baseband software on the phone. Yet they make the claim anyway, knowing it’s false, presumably because they’re hoping nobody involved in this process at the Copyright Office has the technical knowledge to know it’s BS. Let’s call this what it is: it’s a lie.

Shouldn’t there be some sort of consequences for just lying in a process like this? I know in courts there is perjury, for lying under oath, but what legal consequences are there for lying in this kind of situation?

***

Instead of locking the whole thing down, just lock down the baseband processor. That way people who want to run their own apps can do so without having to jailbreak anything, and the baseband processor won’t have any attention given to it. But of course this would still be a problem with AT&T, who provides the connectivity.

***

We all know the deal. If I wanted to compromise said cellular network, I could use the current published, freely, and openly available jailbreaking techniques. If they legalize jailbreaking of the phones, it is not going to legalize hacking cellphone towers, so the people that are going to do it are already trying. This is just a another preemptive strike by Apple. They are going to lose credibility, because too much press in a short ammount of time for a company can be just as bad as flying under the wire. I think it is time they slip back into the ether and keep quiet for a few weeks.

***

This is IDIOTIC. How can any reasonable person possibly buy this argument.

Anyone that wants to bring down a cell phone tower or cell network IS NOT GOING TO CARE whether or not it’s LEGAL to screw with the cell radio baseband software. They are ALREADY attempting to do something much worse.

Let’s be honest here, the “security” aspect of this argument is a smokescreen. It’s blatantly all about the profit!

Furthermore, the cellular network should NOT be so fragile that a single rogue cell phone could take it down (AFAIK it is not). BUT if AT&T is truly insistent on making this argument, then I believe a full investigation by the FCC is mandated. The self-admitted fragile state of their network means that their stewardship of a public resource (radio spectrum) is being poorly managed and truly endangering national security.

Now, I understand this small, statistically insignificant sample doesn’t really represent anything, but it is interesting to see some people beginning to question Almighty Apple.

And I type this on a MacBook, so don’t I’m Mr. Anti-Apple. This is all make-believe to me.

Flickr

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 29 Jul 2009 | 1:46 pm

JVC rolling out new higher-end and lower-end headphones

Section: Audio, Headphones

If you’re like me, chances are you’re always on the lookout for new headphones, just in case.  Sometimes old headphones break, one side stops working, or perhaps the constant untangling wears away at the cord.  JVC announced a few headphones that should be good for almost anyone, depending on how much they want to spend on headphones.

On the higher-end, JVC announced the HA-M750 and HA-S650, both of which are meant for people who want better sound quality in over-the-ear headphones.  The HA-M750 looks to be those who are either amateur DJs, or wish to be so.  They feature “DJ-style” monitoring through one ear, with the rest of the headphones twisting to the side so as not to get in the way.  The standard cord on the HA-M750 is almost four feet long, and comes with an extension cable of about 6.5 feet, making for one very long cord, so it might be a bit difficult to use while moving about.  The HA-S650s are perfectly suited for such, however.  The main draw of the HA-S650 is that they fold in on themselves, making for easy storage.  Both are said to offer better bass, and have a comfortable feel thanks to the memory foam around the ears.

On the lower-end, JVC is bringing the HA-EBX85 (sports clip earbuds) and the HA-FX20 All Star headphones (standard in-ear headphones).  Both are said to offer decent sound quality, which JVC touts as superior sound quality.  Both come in a variety of colors, with the HA-EBX85 coming in single colors on the ear clip, and the HA-FX20 All Stars coming in dual colors.  While neither are all that likely to attract audiophiles, they would be decent choices for average users who don’t want to spend more than $15 of $20 on a pair of headphones.

Read [JVC HA-M750 and HA-S650]
Read [JVC HA-EBX85 and HA-FX20 All Star]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jul 2009 | 1:02 pm

Saturn's Day Five Minutes Shorter Than Thought

A day on Saturn is five minutes shorter, according to new calculations.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Jul 2009 | 1:00 pm

BIG PIC: Amur Leopard Cubs Hit the Road

Three extremely rare Amur leopard cubs are on their way to zoos in the U.S. and the U.K.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Jul 2009 | 1:00 pm

Wi-Fi, Geotagging-Enabled Photo Card Sold Exclusively Through Apple

Apple is exclusively selling the new Eye-Fi Geo, a flash memory card with networking and geo-tagging capabilities.

Like previous Eye-Fi cards, the Eye-Fi Geo enables shooters to upload their photos over Wi-Fi to a photo-sharing site such as Flickr, or to a Mac or Windows PC on the same wireless network. What’s new about Eye-Fi Geo is it automatically geotags photos with meta data to identify where the photo was taken.

The Eye-Fi Geo card works with SD and SDHC cameras and can carry up to 2GB of data. The card should come especially useful for owners of iPhoto ‘09, which sports a new geotagging feature.

The Eye-Fi Geo costs $60 at Apple stores and Apple’s online store. Eye-Fi Geo can also be upgraded for $10 to share images through MobileMe and several other photo-sharing and social-networking sites, according to Macworld.

Product Page [Apple]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jul 2009 | 11:48 am

Barnes & Noble retail stores now offering free Wi-Fi

Section: Communications, Mobile, Computers, Wireless

Just recently Barnes & Noble announced that they will be offering free in-store AT&T Wi-Fi.  Which can only be taken as an attempt at making people aware that they are pursuing the eBook e-delivery market.  According to the details:

“Customers can also download free Barnes & Noble Apps giving them access to the world’s largest eBookstore with over 700,000 eBooks titles and exclusive content, customer reviews, information about in-store events, store locations, and more.”

That said, the bottom line means that in-store visitors can now surf the Internet for free, all while they are most likely browsing books they have no intention of buying.  Of course, when you are eating overpriced pastries and drinking overpriced coffee, the free Wi-Fi and book mooching becomes a little more tolerable.  Hit the read link below to find the closest Barnes & Noble location and begin taking advantage today.

Read [Barnes & Noble] and [AT&T]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jul 2009 | 11:16 am

Jellyfish May Affect Climate by Stirring Oceans

Jellyfish pulsating through the oceans could actually influence Earth's climate.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Jul 2009 | 11:00 am

Text-Message Exploit Can Hijack Every iPhone, Researchers Say

Security researchers plan to reveal a security hole that would enable hackers to take complete control of an iPhone with a text-messaging attack.

Security researchers Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner will publicize the exploit Thursday at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference, according to Forbes. The researchers said the hack involves sending a series of mostly invisible SMS bursts that effectively hijack an iPhone. From thereon, a hacker could control all the functions on the iPhone, such as e-mailing, dialing contacts — and, most alarmingly, sending more text messages to hijack even more iPhones.

How can you know if you’re being SMS attacked? According to Miller, one giveaway is if you receive a text message containing a single square character. If that happens, he suggests you immediately turn off your iPhone.

“This is serious,” Miller told Forbes. “The only thing you can do to prevent it is turn off your phone. Someone could pretty quickly take over every iPhone in the world with this.”

Though many customers hail the iPhone as one of the most well designed and versatile smartphones, security researchers have criticized the phone for its weak security. For example, Wired.com recently reported on forensics researcher Jonathan Zdziarski’s discovery that the new iPhone 3GS’ data encryption can be cracked in a few minutes with free software. Because of this flaw, Zdziarski recommended against the iPhone being used by businesses.

Miller and Mulliner said they contacted Apple about the SMS exploit a month ago, but the company has not released a software update to fix the issue. Apple did not immediately respond to Wired.com’s request for comment.

Though the researchers informed Forbes of the SMS exploit, it’s worth noting they did not demonstrate it to Forbes. We’ll be convinced this is true once we see it.

For ongoing coverage of the Black Hat conference, read Wired.com’s Threat Level.

See Also:

• iPhone Jailbreaking Could Crash Cellphone Towers, Apple Claims …
• Hacker Says iPhone 3GS Encryption Is ‘Useless’ for Businesses …
• Help Wanted: iPhone Hacker for Apple
• IPhone Can Take Screenshots of Anything You Do
• Hacker Will Break iPhone Security on Video

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jul 2009 | 10:59 am

BLOG: T. Rex Blood, Bone Protein ID'd

Traces of protein from blood and bone are found in T. Rex remains.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Jul 2009 | 10:40 am

Comic Con 09: Hands on with Smith Micro’s Anime Studio Pro 6

FROM GAMERTELL - Gamertell got an exclusive look at Smith Micro’s new Anime Studio Pro 6…
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jul 2009 | 10:31 am

Kodak's New HD Video Cam = Goodnight & Good Luck, Flip!

Kodak unveiled the Zi8, its latest pocket video cam (far right). The HD shooter features 1080p, 4x digital zoom, SD slot, and weighs just 3.9 oz.

Oh, and did we mention it costs $180.

As we've said before, Flip-maker Pure Digital is gonna have to work, hard, to compete.

[via Gizmodo]

Previously:

• Six cheap camcorders compared (Verdict: Flip Ultra still holds the ...
• Flip slammed for being no better than digicam video
• Flip MinoHD camcorder: Will 720p matter to low-end camcorder ...
• Creative Vado Pocket Video Cam just like the Flip Video Ultra, but ...
• Samsung announces pocket HD camcorder

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 29 Jul 2009 | 10:00 am

Can You Follow This? Suing A Tenant Over A Tweet - ChannelWeb

BBC News

Can You Follow This? Suing A Tenant Over A Tweet ChannelWeb While Horizon is going after Twitter user Amanda Bonnen for her Tweet, Twitter is going after Horizon, illustrating just how powerful social media can be. It likely doesn't help matters that Horizon Group Management's Jeffrey Michael told the Chicago ... Woman's Tweet Draws Landlord LawsuitInformationWeek A Tenant's Twitter TangleWall Street Journal Twitter post gets renter sued by landlordCNET News Ars Technica -PC World -Register all 474 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jul 2009 | 9:56 am

Recently on Offworld: the 16-bit arthouse, chiptunes dance parties, real-life Wasteland clutter

Recently on Offworld we went deep into the virtual arthouse, as McSweeney's DVD offshoot Wolphin screens a faux-16-bit short, Ledo & Ix, we discovered a quarter-square-mile Second Life art/vinyl toy gallery that never was (above), and we watched the first video of Fig. 8, a game where a bicycle wends its way through "the surreal world of an 'architectural' diagram."

We also listened to the delightful electro-pop space opera soundtrack of Sidhe's recent PS3 Breakout/shooter Shatter, poked our head into a recent and awesomely Wareheim-ian chiptunes dance party, and saw Ubisoft officially announce Scott Pilgrim, the game (but offer frustratingly few additional details).

Finally, we saw footage of Cryptic Sea's terrifyingly sparse Lunar Lander tribute, a plan to bring Sonic CD to the iPhone, another Japanese indie freeware hit coming to WiiWare, a project to MS Paint a Pikachu, and our 'one shot's for the day: Fallout 3 Wasteland clutter in real life, and an 8-bit dark castle from the depths of the Cube Kingdom.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 29 Jul 2009 | 9:47 am

Hackers to show how to take control of an iPhone via SMS

Section: Apple, Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones

For all the time we’ve been using cell phones, we’ve never had to worry about someone else trying to control them, unless they steal them, that is.  It’s just not something one would think about, especially not when using the iPhone.  Apple has a history of security with its desktops, so why not the iPhone?  Turns out they’ve been a bit lazy with the security updates.

Thursday, at the start of Black Hat, the annual cybersecurity convention, Charlie Miller, the man who was able to control an iPhone back in 2007 with a malicious website, and Collin Mulliner will show the latest issue they’ve found with the iPhone.  Turns out they can take full control of any iPhone through SMS messages.  The only thing the user would see is a single notification displaying a single block character.  At that point the phone is pretty much already hacked, with the only solution being to turn it off.

Miller alerted Apple to the security flaw months ago, as he does when he finds these vulnerabilities.  Apple, however, has yet to patch the SMS insecurity.  Apple has patched previous security flaws, most of which required some action by the user to even activate.  This attack, however, can be accomplished at any time as long as the iPhone is on and connected to the network, with no action from the user.  Seems like this would be something Apple would want to patch up as quickly as possible.

The iPhone isn’t the only phone with SMS vulnerabilities.  Many cell phones and platforms, including Symbian, which runs on about half the world’s phones, Windows Mobile, and Android (though Google has patched the flaws) will be shown to have similar vulnerabilities via SMS.  It could potentially lead to an influx of SMS worms eventually, unless companies patch them up.  Some have already begun sending SMS messages to malicious sites, though there is potential for much worse, as Miller and Mulliner are going to show us.

Read [Forbes]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jul 2009 | 9:20 am

BLOG: Shark Bites Woman Bites Shark Hunters

A shark tore into her foot in 2004; now she works to protect the animals.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Jul 2009 | 8:30 am

T-Mobile to sell HTC Touch Pro2 in August

We know it was coming but so soon!

To recap it’s a WinMo 6.1 phon with WiFi, 3.6-inch touchscreen, and 3.2-megapixel camera. It will, as rumored, be available in mocha.

T-Mobile USA Debuts HTC Touch Pro2 in the U.S.
New Tilting Touchscreen Device Available to T-Mobile Customers in mid-August

Bellevue, Wash. — July 29, 2009 — T-Mobile USA, Inc., and HTC Corp. today announced the upcoming availability of the HTC Touch Pro2™, a powerful, stylish device with an intuitive touch screen and user interface that enables customers to simplify their communication and mobile Internet experience while staying connected, informed and in control of work and life. The device will be available in a mocha finish to T-Mobile customers beginning Aug. 12.

Enabled for T-Mobile’s expanding high-speed 3G network and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), the HTC Touch Pro2 offers fast data delivery and an enhanced Web-browsing experience along with popular features such as built-in GPS and location-based services. Featuring a 3.6-inch color WVGA touchscreen that slides back and tilts up to reveal a full-QWERTY keyboard, the screen is perfectly positioned for reading and creating e-mail, browsing the Web, using applications, and playing videos and games. A 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus also provides customers with an easy way to capture and share high-quality images and video as well as view that content on the crisp display.

The HTC Touch Pro2 also offers an efficient way for customers to manage their daily lives, whether at work or play. A single contact view displays the individual conversation history regardless of whether voice, text or e-mail was used. The HTC Touch Pro2 also includes Straight Talk technology, an integrated e-mail, voice and speakerphone experience that provides a simple way to respond to e-mail via a call, allows organizing conference calls from group e-mail, and makes it easy to turn any location into a conference room. Straight Talk delivers a high-fidelity voice and sound experience enhanced by asymmetric speakers and advanced noise suppression with full-duplex acoustics.

HTC’s latest TouchFLO 3D interface is deeply integrated into a customized version of Windows Mobile 6.1 to deliver maximum consistency throughout Windows Mobile applications and menus. This makes it easy for customers to view, edit and update Microsoft documents, conveniently access calendars and manage to-do lists. Access to Microsoft Voice Command also simplifies locating contacts in the address book, making phone calls, getting calendar information, playing music and starting programs. The HTC Touch Pro2 is also stereo Bluetooth® capable.

“This summer, many people are balancing summer vacations and time away from the office with the pressures of the workplace,” said Travis Warren, director, product marketing, T-Mobile USA. “We are pleased to announce the HTC Touch Pro2, a uniquely designed device that will help customers manage their day-to-day activities, whether they are in the office or working from an airport, the local playground or the car.”

“The HTC Touch Pro2 offers the most powerful productivity experience available on a mobile phone, while also delivering unparalleled elegance in both its exterior and user interface design,” said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America. “HTC and T-Mobile have a history of introducing groundbreaking products, and this collaboration continues with the debut of this highly anticipated device to the U.S. market.”
The new HTC Touch Pro2 is expected to be available nationwide in mid-August at T-Mobile retail stores, select authorized dealers and online at http://www.T-Mobile.com.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 29 Jul 2009 | 7:33 am

WiFi-enabled BlackBerry 8530 headed to VZW

Hopefully Verizon has changed it tune for good on WiFi. Generally the carrier doesn’t allow WiFi-toting devices to be sold with a Verizon Logo affixed - there are a couple of small Winmo exceptions- but it seems that the BlackBerry 8530 will be 802.11 b/g enabled. Not only that, but it might be the first Verizon BlackBerry to come loaded with OS 5.0. Pricing or availability info hasn’t been announced, but once those float into our tip box or RSS feeds, we’ll let ya know.

[image via CrackBerry]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 29 Jul 2009 | 7:01 am

Tanning Beds as Lethal as Mustard Gas, Arsenic

Experts view tanning beds as a top cancer risk, deeming them as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Jul 2009 | 6:45 am

Video: Geek Spiderman Scales Walls With DIY Vacuum Gloves

Spiderman, Spiderman, does everything a spider can! Including, it seems, using home-made vacuum gloves to stickily scale the walls of the BBC’s White City building, a vertical drop of 120 vertigo-inducing feet.

In this case, Spiderman isn’t the meek Peter Parker but engineer and TV presenter Jem Stansfield. Looking more like a low-rent steampunk Doc Ock than Spidey himself, Jem clanks his way to the top, in front of a cheering crowd. There’s even a dramatic slip a few yards from the summit.

How did Stansfield manage this trick, a stunt to promote his TV show Bang Goes The Theory? No, he wasn’t bitten by a radioactive vacuum cleaner. Not quite. The suction is being supplied by an old hacked cleaning machine, though, and the pump is evacuating air from his plywood flippers. It’s all delightfully King of the Rocketmen in looks, and if the series continues to be this good it might be worth a quick Mininova search for us foreigners. And as the Beeb warns, “This stunt was carried out by trained professionals following strict safety procedures and should not be attempted or replicated.” Thanks, Aunty!

Man climbs building with vacuum gloves [BBC via Geekologie]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jul 2009 | 6:38 am

Toxic Pollen, Nectar Could Sting Bees

A powerful toxin is not only threatening bee populations, but also the nation's food supply.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Jul 2009 | 6:30 am

Lamps Made From Old Cassettes Exude Warm Retro Glow

This commercial product, the Cassette is Not Dead lamp, is an invitation to start a great DIY project. The €25 ($35) lamp is made up of old audio cassettes which are joined together by nothing more than string. In fact, so easy is it to construct that you can even remove and replace cassettes so they can be listened to (assuming you actually have something to play them on):

[Y]ou can play with it changing the tapes even with yours and listening all of them too.

See? Also available is a floor-standing version, which is essentially the same thing, forming a shade on a standard standard lamp. This costs a record-collection replacing €220 ($312), and could also easily be re-made with a bit of help form Ikea. Still, as inspiration, the beautiful lamps are priceless.

Product page [OOOMy Design]

See Also:

• Cassette Tape Belt Buckles
• Bye-Bye Cassette Tape: UK Chain Kills Romantic Format
• Cassette Dock
• 13 Year Old Uses Walkman for a Week. Result: Embarrassment …

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:49 am

Onion Spoof Gadgets Almost, Nearly, Bad Enough to Be Real

On the left, you see the E-Z Go Spine Extractor, it’s purpose: “Removal of undesirable fish spine and other living things has never been easier! For immediate taste-pleasure and easy disposal.”

The spine extractor, although authentic in both cheap design and Engrish product pitch, is a spoof. As is the rather handy looking box next to it, the Yu Wan Mei Device, which “has been completed and is now available for sale.” These parodies are what happens when the Onion gets into gadget marketing, and like anything the Onion does, they’re so close to the truth of our day-to-day gizmo-hunting life that a few tears of knowing pain slip between the mirthful drops from our laughing, watering eyes.

Click over to experience the dangerous joys of Metal Fun, fast-food snack bags filled with filings, shavings and other sharp shards. Or the Yu Wan Mei Loyalty Bracelet, the blurb for which is worth quoting in full:

Show your loyalty to Yu Wan Mei and its line of products in a high-fashion way! The bracelet looks so nice for men or women—even the GPS chip inside is designed with an eye for style. Do not remove the Loyalty Bracelet.

Hot New Consumer Products [The Onion]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:12 am

Monsterpod Camera-Mount Sticks to Almost Anything

One well crafted pitch from Photojojo and we’re hooked. Here’s the opening of the blurb which describes the Monsterpod: “If there were a tripod equivalent to the hoverboard, the Monsterpod would be it.”

Unbeatable. So what is it? The Monsterpod is a fat disc of viscoelastic polymer with a tripod mount up top. Screw on your camera, scooch the pod onto almost anything (bricks, glass, stone) and there it sticks for up to ten minutes, holding your camera steady for a quick low-light shot or self-portrait.

Viscoelastic Polymer is a material that acts like rubber honey — once deformed it creeps slowly back into shape. Think Stretch-Armstrong, only more useful. The Monsterpod costs $30, and you’ll need to spend another $10 on the zip-up carrying case. This makes it a little more expensive the the other favorite mini-camera holder, Joby’s Gorillapod, although the uses of each are different enough that you might want both. Maximum camera weight, 20oz.

Product page [Photojojo]

See Also:

• Gorillapod Go-Go: Miniature, Flexible Tripod
• CES: Joby Gorillapod Attaches Cameras to Anything

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jul 2009 | 5:00 am

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