TradeBeam Selects Savvis to Support IT Infrastructure

Autonomy's Meaning-Based Computing Technology Integrated Into Verdasys Enterprise Information Protection Technology

Autonomy Wins Best Innovation Award for its Ground-Breaking Meaning Based Marketing Solutions Portfolio

Review: Audio Technica ATH-CH7 headphones

This is the second BBG review of Audio Technica headphones, following the active noise canceling ATH-ANC3s (which I loved). In contrast, the ATH-CH7 are a noise-isolating set. They proved to be a very good product, and an instructional one.

My observations while testing the ATH-CH7:

1. I know what impedance does now. Impedance is one of those words that seems terribly important to stereo salesmen but makes no audible difference at home so long as your speakers and components are decently paired. In portable headphones, impedance takes on a much different bent, because it ultimately affects the volume of a device's audio output. High impedance levels make it hard for, say, an iPod to provide the right power to the headphones.

When I first tried the ATH-CH7s, I was cranking the much volume higher than I'm comfortable doing, which confused and concerned me. Then I did a bit of reading and discovered these headphones have a 90 ohm impedance. Ninety is way high: Apple's standard iPod earbuds have an impedance of 32 ohms. (The Audio-Technica ATH-ANC3s have the same impedance as the CH7, but the power boost of the active noise canceling compensates for it.) Thus informed, I cranked up the volume dial.

2. Audio-Technica loves bass. Specifically, they're big on replicating the good low-end thump one gets from a home or car stereo in their headphones. This is a markedly different technique from companies like Etymotic and Shure, which aim for reproduction accuracy first and foremost. Me, I like bass, so the ATH-CH7s made me happy. Audio quality is good across the board, but the ability to get hearty low-end at low volume levels makes a difference.

3. Headphones have learning curves. I brought these headphones on a family vacation, and traded with my music-loving relatives, who had over-the-ear Bose noise-canceling headphones. I figured the hearty bass response of the ATH-CH7 would be an interesting variant to the cleaner Bose sound.

Two people tried them, and both returned the headphones to me with scrunched noses, saying: "They're tinny." Which, to me, was crazy: the ATH-CH7's bass is as good as any of the models I've tested. But I had the large-size silicone ear cushions in place, and I didn't show my relatives how to make a seal to maximize bass response. I'm used to it, but noise isolation definitely requires an instruction manual.

As for the headphones in question, ATH-CH7 is a solid performer, best at minimizing distortion. It's a moderately good noise isolator, although the active noise canceling in the ATH-ANC3 blows the CH7 away (excluding wind, that is). They're also quite comfortable to wear. I'm 2 for 2 in enjoying Audio-Technica's headphones.

The Fallacy Of The Link Economy [Voices]

People who “get the web” will explain to you that the economics of the web have everything to do with linking and getting linked to. The more links one can get, the better off one is. Few disagree with that guidepost.

So when the AP and the newspaper owners demanded that they get revenue from the linkers, it was clear that they just didn’t understand the web and didn’t appreciate all the value they were receiving from link traffic.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

On the Link Economy [Voices]

Arnon Mishkin says he has found the fallacy of the link economy but I think his argument is itself built on some fallacies, among them:

If links are not valuable, then fine, get rid of them: refuse all aggregators’ and search engines’ robots, complain so much about links that no one bothers to link to you (a la the AP). Or put all your stuff behind a pay wall where the links won’t pay off.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

How Twitter Works in Theory [Voices]

It is said that an economist is someone who sees something that works in practice and wonders whether it works in theory. Twitter clearly works in practice - and if you want practical advice, watch Laura Fitton’s Tech talk at Google (GOOG), or read her Twitter for Dummies. I’ve learned a lot from talking to her and others about this phenomenon, and I wanted to write about some theories that help me understand it.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

The Evolution of Blogging [Voices]

Dave Winer’s ability to peer into the future is uncanny. He was talking about a river of news long before the current activity streams became popular. He was evangelizing RSS long before there were blogs. I could go on and on about his prescient observations, but it’s his warnings that are especially prophetic.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Starbucks: Stay as Long as You Want [Voices]

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that some New York coffee shops were pulling the plug on customers that park themselves at tables, open their laptops, and hang out for hours, buying perhaps only a single latte as their cafe rental fee.

While independent coffee shops that are struggling to make ends meet may see the need to flush out the low-revenue laptop users, the major chains are not so strapped.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Epson Expands ImageWay Partner Program to Include Scanner Offerings

CrunchGear Week in Review: Fiery Crash Edition

Stylish ceramic speakers: expensive but very cool
Sure, why not buy a Go Kart version of Batman’s Tumbler?
DigiDudes: crowd-sourced keychain / tripod thingies
Everyone needs a Vespa; even the kiddies
Anti-texting while driving message hits home WARNING GRAPHIC

Georgia Cyberattacks Linked to Russian Organized Crime (PC World)

Amazon Confirms EC2/S3 Not PCI Level 1 Compliant

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Yahoo Veterans Launch Rocket Fuel, A “Hybrid” Ad Network

A team of Yahoo veterans who built its behavioral targeting advertising technology are publicly launching a hybrid ad network today called Rocket Fuel, which they’ve tested over the past year with major brands including Nike, Dell, Microsoft, and American Express. Despite keeping quiet, Rocket Fuel’s ad network reaches 40 million people and shows them about 100 million ads per month.

CEO George John calls Rocket Fuel a “hybrid ad network” because it combines all sorts of targeting data (social, behavioral, contextual, geographical, search) to figure out what works best at any particular moment. “We saw how important it was to let the data tell you which ad to show,” says John, who came from Yahoo along with president Richard Frankel and CTO Abhinav Gupta.

Rocket Fuel’s algorithm considers everything from a consumer’s online behavior and location to the time of day and what particular ad was shown. If people who listen to electronica music are more likely to click on an ad than those who listen to jazz, or people who log in from work respond better than people from home, Rocket Fuel tries to ferret out those details and feed them back into the mechanics of the ad campaign. John explains:

We let the date tell us what works and what is important. Instead of inflicting on customers thousands of targeting options, we figure out which options are working well and move inventory in that way.

Sounds simple enough, but apparently this is not the way most ad targeting is done. Instead, advertisers and ad agencies typically are given a confusing array of targeting options and are left to their own devices to sort through them all. Rocket Fuel is automating that testing process and speeding up the feedback loop so that advertisers can hone in on whatever combination of targeting is working at that second.

But does the world really need another advertising network, hybrid or otherwise? If Rocket Fuel can deliver better advertising campaign ROIs, advertisers will give it a shot. That’s all that matters. If it can’t, it won’t make it off the launchpad.

The companyl raised $6.8 million in a series A round a year ago from Mohr Davidow, Labrador Ventures, and individual angel investors.

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

Huffington Post and Facebook Go “Social News,” With Connect on Steroids [BoomTown]

In an unusually robust collaboration using Facebook Connect, the Huffington Post is launching a feature on Monday called “HuffPost Social News,” which lets readers create a personalized social networking-like news page on the Huffington Post itself.

While the Huffington Post had already been using Facebook Connect since January–which allows readers of the site to log in using their Facebook identity to interact, which is mostly used to leave comments–this use essentially takes Facebook Connect and puts it on steroids.

“We are looking at HuffPost Social News like a ‘digital water cooler,’ because we see news going in that direction,” said Huffington Post Editor-in-Chief and Co-founder Arianna Huffington, in an interview with me this weekend. “We did this, because we are interested in real identities having real conversations about news.”

While the use of “social news” will be seen by some as simply a clever PR term, this kind of innovative deployment on the Huffington Post is actually a very big step for the site, especially as an opportunity to bind its readers to it more closely, presumably increasing engagement and traffic.

“This is a natural way to expand into the Facebook community and give users who desire to engage and comment with friends more privacy,” said Huffington Post CEO Eric Hippeau, with whom I also spoke earlier today. “And, like a lot of other sites, we are trying to make our site more attractive to marketers who want to engage with engaged users.”

Hippeau said he hopes that will lead to more advertising spending, although the first focus is to get people using it.

Such a move is an interesting one for Facebook too, since it is getting unusual prominence and much deeper integration on a popular news Web site, well beyond how other sites are using Facebook Connect.

If it works, HuffPost Social News will give it even more content flowing into its service, a direction that was also underscored by Facebook’s recent $50 million purchase of FriendFeed, the online content sharing site.

Goosing interactivity and engagement is a big aim for Facebook and also lots of news sites, such as the Huffington Post.

While there are about 1.7 million comments on the site monthly, for example, if users sign up for HuffPost Social News at large rates, that could expand a lot.

This will be done via the special page, as well as a large module on every Huffington Post page you visit showing what your Facebook friends who also sign up for HuffPost Social News are posting, what’s most popular in your network and on the site itself.

As is usually the case with Facebook Connect, you can decide what is sent back to Facebook and can also hide your movements from HuffPost Social News by going into a “stealth” mode.

If left turned on, though, it captures your every click on the site, including what you are reading–which means my social site should constantly be filled with news of Britney and LiLo.

“HuffPost Social News finds your Facebook friends who are also reading HuffPost and links you together on our site so you can dive deeper into the stories you like best,” wrote Huffington in a blog post to readers of her site, which you can read in its entirely below. “The explosive growth of online social networking has fundamentally changed our relationship with news. It’s no longer something we passively take in.”

You can see that in action below on page I created and also my module (click on the images to make them larger):

Main Personalized Page

Module

And here’s the official press release from the Huffington Post, as well as two blog posts on the subject by Arianna Huffington, one for her site and one for Facebook:

THE HUFFINGTON POST LAUNCHES NEW COLLABORATION WITH FACEBOOK–HUFFPOST SOCIAL NEWS

SOCIAL NEWS PLATFORM COMBINES POWER OF FACEBOOK WITH HUFFPOST CONTENT AND COMMUNITY

Aug 17, 2009–(New York, NY)–The Huffington Post (”HuffPost”) announced today the launch of HuffPost Social News, a collaboration between HuffPost and Facebook® that connects HuffPost users with their Facebook friends, the news they are reading and the stories they are commenting on. Through its integration of Facebook Connect, HuffPost Social News seamlessly combines the news and opinion of HuffPost with Facebook’s user experience and power to connect people.

“I’m excited to announce the launch of HuffPost Social News,” said Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post. “This new platform lets our community of engaged users easily share stories and post comments for friends to see–it’s HuffPost’s version of a digital water cooler, enriching and deepening conversations around the day’s news. Social media has fundamentally changed our relationship to news. It’s no longer something we passively take in. We now engage with news, share news, react to news–news has become something around which we gather, connect, and converse. HuffPost Social News makes this more dynamic than ever.”

Said Eric Hippeau, CEO of The Huffington Post: “Our goal is to make HuffPost Social News the go-to place for Facebook users to share news–both the stories they love and the stories they hate–with friends. It should also appeal to marketers interested in reaching passionate, savvy readers who care about the news and who want to share their interests with friends.”

Said Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook: “The Huffington Post has led a revolution in how people discover and consume news. With the integration of Facebook Connect, HuffPost Social News is now leading the way to make news even more of a social experience, giving people new ways to share and filter news and current events through their networks of friends on Facebook.”

HuffPost Social News allows users to increase their presence on The Huffington Post by automatically creating personalized profile pages that keep track of all their HuffPost Social News friends. At the same time, users retain complete control over what stories and comments are shared with their Social News friends, as well as what is posted to their Facebook Wall, and into their Facebook stream. Users can also see how their friends are voting on HuffPost polls and their contributions to “Eyes & Ears,” Huffpost’s citizen journalism platform.

Said Paul Berry, Chief Technology Officer of The Huffington Post: “From the first brainstorming session in Facebook’s office to the integration of Facebook Connect, it has been truly exciting to collaborate in building this product. The future of news is social, and I’m tremendously proud that HuffPost has been so early in reaching this important milestone in how news is shared online.”

Your HuffPost Experience Is About to Get a Lot More Social!

I’m excited to announce the launch of HuffPost Social News–a collaboration with Facebook that connects HuffPost users to their Facebook friends, the news they are reading, and the stories they are commenting on.

When you sign up for it–and I hope you will right now–HuffPost Social News finds your Facebook friends who are also reading HuffPost and links you together on our site so you can dive deeper into the stories you like best. (But don’t worry, you’ll still have complete control over what stories and comments are shared with your friends, as well as what goes on your Facebook wall, and into your friends’ news feeds.)

The explosive growth of online social networking has fundamentally changed our relationship with news. It’s no longer something we passively take in. We now engage with news, react to news, and share news. News has become an important element of community–something around which we gather, connect, and converse. And we can all become part of the evolution of a story now–expanding it with comments and links to relevant information, adding facts and differing points of views.

HuffPost Social News makes this easier and more dynamic than ever. It takes social news to a whole new level. It will turbo-charge your online conversations and connections, and allow you to build and develop a community that follows what you read and care about.

Thanks to your passion and commitment, HuffPost has an incredibly active and vibrant community. You posted over 1.7 million comments on the site last month alone–with many stories attracting more than 10,000 comments. The one drawback: it’s sometimes hard to keep up with it all.

With HuffPost Social News, you can be sure that your comments won’t get lost in the mix–and that the people you care most about will see what you have to say about the stories you love or are angered by, delivered in real time. And you’ll be able to easily and immediately see who is replying to any of your comments. Of course, your comments will still appear on the full thread, so anyone reading HuffPost will be able to see them.

HuffPost Social News also taps into the other coming big trend in news: personalization. People connecting to each other using their real identities and having real conversations.

HuffPost Social News allows you to have a greater presence on our site by automatically creating personalized profile pages that keep track of all your HuffPost Social News friends–collecting all the comments you have made and the stories you have read, as well as the comments made and stories read by your friends. Think of it as HuffPost’s new digital water cooler.

HuffPost Social News is just one early piece of the social transformation of the news industry. We will be adding more social features and personalization in the coming months. The news is simply more interesting and engaging when we experience it with friends. It is an exciting change and we are thrilled to be part of it.

Sign up here to get started. And let us know what you think. HuffPost Social News is your Huffington Post.

The Future of News Will Be Social

Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, a nationally syndicated columnist, and author of 12 books. With HuffPost launching a new social news feature today using Facebook Connect, we asked her to share her perspective on the ways social media is shaping the future of news.

Despite all the current hand-wringing about the dire state of newspapers, we are actually in the midst of a Golden Age for news consumers. We can surf the net, use search engines, access the best stories from around the world, and interact by commenting and forming communities.

The days of publishing pooh-bahs dictating to us what’s important and what’s not are over. We now can get the news we want, when we want it, how we want it and where we want it. The Web has given us control over the news we consume. Now the explosive growth of online social networking is fundamentally changing our relationship with news as well. It’s no longer something we passively take in.

We now engage with news, react to news and share news. News has become an important element of community–something around which we gather, connect and converse. We all are part of the evolution of a story now–expanding it with comments and links to relevant information, adding facts and differing points of views. In short, the news has become social.

And it will become even more community-powered: stories will be collaboratively produced by editors and the community, and conversations, opinion, and reader reactions will be seamlessly integrated into the news experience.

I’ve always been obsessed with news. As the daughter of a newspaperman, I grew up with the smell of newsprint and the buzz of breaking news. I’ve also always enjoyed bringing people together from different parts of my life and facilitating interesting conversations.

In the past, these have taken place around dinner tables, on group hikes or at book parties. Now, via cyberspace, those conversations have gone global. And they are happening in real time.

One of the reasons we launched The Huffington Post was to enhance and facilitate those conversations. While our goal was to create a one-stop spot for news and opinion with an attitude, community has always been a key element of the site. The launch of HuffPost Social News today brings together my two loves:nonstop news and the passionate discussion of the news with my friends.

Using Facebook Connect, HuffPost Social News weaves the news and opinion of HuffPost with the social capabilities of Facebook. It connects HuffPost users to their Facebook friends, the news they are reading, and the stories they are commenting on.

Want to know what your friends are reading? Check out their Facebook-powered stream on HuffPost and the personalized Social News widget that appears as you navigate the site. Want to see your friends’ comments above the thousands of strangers commenting on a story? Log in to HuffPost Social News using Facebook Connect and that happens automatically.

HuffPost Social News also taps into another big trend I see emerging in news: personalization. People connect to each other using their real identities and have real conversations. HuffPost Social News is just one early piece of the social transformation of the news industry. We will be adding more social features and personalization in the coming months, and I expect to see news organizations around the world doing the same.

Source: Gizmodo | 16 Aug 2009 | 11:50 pm

TomTom releases turn-by-burn navigation app for US and Canada (Macworld.com)

Macworld.com - TomTom's long-awaited turn-by-turn navigation app for the iPhone, TomTom U.S. & Canada (iTunes link), is now available on the US iTunes App Store.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 16 Aug 2009 | 11:45 pm

Cellcom Israel Announces Second Quarter 2009 Results and Strengthens its Position as the Market Leader

NETANYA, Israel, August 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- - 15.0%(1) Increase in Net Income With an Increase in Operating Income and EBITDA; - Profitability Growth, Despite the Ongoing Economic Slowdown, Price Erosions and Growing Competition; - EBITDA(2) Up by 2.9%(3); EBITDA Margin of 39.6% - Cellcom Israel Declares a Second Quarter Dividend of NIS 3.05

Source: Gizmodo | 16 Aug 2009 | 10:15 pm

IBM Scientists Use DNA Scaffolding To Build Tiny Circuit Boards

SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 16 Aug 2009 | 10:01 pm

Gone Forever: What Does It Really Take to Disappear?

Every year, thousands of adults decide to disappear, walking out the door with no plan to return and no desire to be found.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Aug 2009 | 10:00 pm

Author Evan Ratliff Is on the Lam. Locate Him and Win $5,000

A Wired writer is vanishing, leaving behind friends and family, and not telling anyone (including his editor) where he's going. Check out the rules, find him and win $5,000.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Aug 2009 | 10:00 pm

August 17, 2000: Internet Crosses 50-Yard Line in U.S.

It was nine years ago that internet access reached the 50-percent mark in the United States.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 16 Aug 2009 | 10:00 pm

Facebook Faces the Canadian Privacy Commissioner

dakohli writes "Canwest's Sarah Schmidt writes that Facebook has until Monday to find a way to fix its 'serious privacy gaps.' And if the Canadian Privacy Commissioner isn't happy with the Web Company's response, then she has two weeks to push it to the Canadian Federal Court in Ottawa. 'A spokeswoman for the commission said it's premature to say whether the feud will end up in court. This would be an international first for Facebook, which has grown to more than 200 million users since its launch in 2004.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Gizmodo | 16 Aug 2009 | 8:15 pm

Open Source GSM Network At Dutch Hacker Convention

solevita writes "Harald Welte, who's been interviewed previously by Slashdot, has written on his blog about operating an Open Source GSM network at the recent HAR2009 conference. Photographs and a description and of the setup, run under license of the Dutch regulatory authority, are provided; essentially the setup consisted of a pair of BTS' (Base Transceiver Stations) running at 100mW transmit power each and tied to a tree. In turn these provided access to the Base Station Controller (BSC), in this case a Linux server in a tent running OpenBSC. The system authenticated users with a token sent via SMS; in total 391 users subscribed to the service and were able to use their phones as if they were on any other network. Independent researchers are increasingly examining GSM networks and equipment, Welte's work proves that GSM is in the realm of the hackers now and that this realm of mobile networking could be set for a few surprises in the future."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Aug 2009 | 6:15 pm

IBM Scientists Build Computer Chips From DNA (PC World)

PC World - Scientists at IBM are experimenting with using DNA molecules as a way to create tiny circuits that could form the basis of smaller, more powerful computer chips.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 16 Aug 2009 | 5:20 pm

Hackers Put Social Networks Such as Twitter in Crosshairs (PC World)

PC World - Web sites such as Twitter are becoming increasingly favored by hackers as places to plant malicious software in order to infect computers, according to a new study covering Web application security vulnerabilities.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 16 Aug 2009 | 5:20 pm

Production of Boeing 787 Dreamliner Delayed Again

Hugh Pickens writes "Boeing has discovered microscopic wrinkles in the skin of the 787's fuselage and has ordered Italian supplier Alenia Aeronautica to halt production of fuselage sections at a factory in Italy. 'In two areas on the fuselage, the structure doesn't have the long-term strength that we want,' says Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter. To repair the wrinkles, additional layers of carbon composite material are being added to a 787 at the South Carolina factory and twenty-two other planes must also be patched. Production of the 787 has been fraught with problems with ill-fitting parts, casting doubt on Boeing's strategy of relying on overseas suppliers to build big sections of the aircraft before assembling them at its facilities near Seattle. The 787, built for fuel efficiency from lightweight carbon composite parts, is a priority for Boeing as it struggles with dwindling orders amid the global recession. Customers had been expecting the first of the new jets in the first quarter of 2010 — nearly two years earlier than they will be delivered. The delays have cost Boeing credibility and billions of dollars in anticipated expenses and penalties. Orders for 72 planes have been canceled already this year, although Boeing still has confirmed orders for over 800 aircraft."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Gizmodo | 16 Aug 2009 | 5:00 pm

Illinois scientists discover new DNA tool

A new discovery may make it easier for scientists to manipulate DNA in the laboratory, a paper from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champagne said.

Source: Gizmodo | 16 Aug 2009 | 4:00 pm

88% of Electronics Exports Reused, Not Dumped

retroworks writes "Greenercomputing.com staff covered a study which sheds more light on the controversial practice of exporting used computer equipment overseas. University of Arizona professors Ramzy Kahhat and Eric Williams newly published research, Product or Waste? Importation and End-of-Life Processing of Computers in Peru apparently confirms what WR3A.org says in the Video 'Fair Trade Recycling'. Namely, that most of the exports of used computers imported by buyers overseas (88%) are really for reuse and repair. Otherwise, people would not pay to import them. This bolsters pro-export arguments made in a scholarly article by Charles Schmidt of NIH in 2006. Perhaps what is needed to stem e-waste pollution is not a ban on exports, but for more people to export, so that buyers have more choice of (ethical) suppliers. Put another way: If used computer exports are outlawed, only outlaws will export used computers."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Aug 2009 | 3:50 pm

Palm Pre Girl stops talking right at you

Pre-thinking brings us the latest Tamara Hope Pre Ad with young Tamara talking more to her Pre than directly at us.

Interestingly, Tamara looks much better when she isn’t Palm’s ghoulish Pre homunculus. Click through for a pleasant surprise.

Source: CrunchGear | 16 Aug 2009 | 3:34 pm

Anti-texting while driving message hits home WARNING GRAPHIC

Before you watch this be warned it’s pretty graphic. I’ve seen plenty of people swerving because of texting - one guy I saw was on his old, ratty Nokia rolling from lane to lane as he texted whoever was most important in his life while traveling 75MPH on I75 in Ohio - and this PSA really shows what can, and probably will happen, in a terrible number of texting-while-driving cases.

The PSA was made by the Gwent police department and is part of a 30 minute movie. This 4 minute tidbit is enough to make me rethink checking Google Maps on the iPhone let alone SMSing “WTF LOL” to anyone.

via Giz

Source: Gizmodo | 16 Aug 2009 | 3:20 pm

Y Combinator Starts Seeding Ideas To Startups

Y Combinator sees no shortage of startups that apply to be a part of their funding cycles. But they don’t always see all the ideas they’d like to see come out of the classes. So starting with the upcoming Winter 2010 cycle, they have a new idea called RFS, Requests For Startups. Basically, Y Combinator will issue some ideas of what they’re looking for in any cycle, and will accept the ones that pitch the best way to do the idea.

Now, to be clear, Y Combinator will not be forgoing its usual method of combing over any and all startup pitches outside of the ones they lay out. “We don’t expect responses to RFSes will ever be more than a fraction of the applications we accept. We wouldn’t want them to be. Most good ideas should be ones that surprise us, not ones we’re waiting for,” Paul Graham writes on the site today. The hope is that this will help guide some new startups without solid ideas in the direction of something that is missing in the market. Or encourage ones that already have a similar idea to apply.

Y Combinator’s RFSes won’t describe exactly what Y Combinator is looking for, but rather will give a general idea, with the hopes that the startups can come up with even better plans than Y Combinator is thinking of, Graham says.

So what is the first RFS? Well, it’s something near and dear to our hearts: The Future Of Journalism. Y Combinator is wondering what the online content sites will look like in the future when print publications are gone. Certainly some, like TechCrunch, have gotten large enough to support themselves now, but most content sites are still built on the notion of content first, monetization later. Y Combinator notes that in the heyday of print media, the approach was often the opposite, there was a business plan in place before the launch. It believes that approach can still work, and has laid out a rough outline of what it’s looking for from startups that want to do this:

Groups applying to work on this idea should include at least one writer who can write well and rapidly about any topic, one or more programmers who are good at statistics, data mining, and making sites scale, and someone who’s reasonably competent at graphic design. These functions can of course be combined, and in fact it’s even better if they are. Xooglers would be particularly well suited to this project.

This RFS is just the first of 3 to 5 that Y Combinator hopes to get out there before the October 26 Winter 2010 class application deadline, Graham tells us. Startups applying specifically for these RFS ideas will be able to indicate that on their applications.

Graham notes that Y Combinator has sort of passively given ideas to startups in the past, like this, but thinks this new explicit call will lead to some interesting things.

We asked Graham if this new approach means these types of startups will get different financial deals from Y Combinator. “Not significantly,” Graham says. “Execution matters so much more than the idea that even if we supplied the entire idea we wouldn’t be entitled to more than 10% of the company,” he notes. On his post he gives a bit more:

We might ask for a little more equity from startups responding to an RFS, because we’d expect to contribute more to them. But at most a percent or two, and often nothing. Ideas count for something, but execution matters far more.

[photo: flickr/eran finkle]

CrunchBase Information

Y Combinator

Information provided by CrunchBase

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

Source: TechCrunch | 16 Aug 2009 | 3:12 pm

Kid Uses Apple Store To Shoot Audition Reel

YouTube user nicholifavs is using the Apple Store as his own, personal A/V studio and audition space. So far, the little dude's shot dozens of lip sync videos including this one of the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow."

Discuss this and more over at BBG.


Source: Boing Boing | 16 Aug 2009 | 2:49 pm

COLLADA Contest Winners From Siggraph 2009

An anonymous reader writes "COLLADA — the group creating open 3D data standards — announced their latest contest winners at Siggraph 2009. Ordinarily this wouldn't interest me, but the grand prize winner, NaviCAD, really did submit something rather interesting — an iPhone app that lets you explore Google 3D Warehouse models. Of course there's the pinching for zooming in/out, but it also uses the motion sensor to control the view. If you are walking around the inside or outside of a building, as you look around in the real world the view on the iPhone displays the corresponding view."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Aug 2009 | 2:40 pm

Comcast Seeking Control of Both Pipes and Content?

techmuse writes "Reuters reports that Comcast may be attempting to use its huge cash reserves to purchase a large media content provider, such as Disney, Viacom, or Time Warner. This would result in Comcast controlling both the delivery mechanism for content, and the content itself. Potentially, it could limit access to content it owns to subscribers to its own services, thus shutting out competing services (where they still exist at all)."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Aug 2009 | 1:32 pm

Pirate Bay advertising the $675,000 mixtape

Section: Audio, Web, Downloads, Websites, Online Music/Video

In an expected attack on the RIAA, The Pirate Bay is now advertising what it calls “The $675,000 mixtape.”  The collection is comprised of the 30 songs that grad student Joel Tenenbaum was found guilty of sharing through filesharing services.  The listing even goes so far as to say that it’s approved by the RIAA in case you didn’t know who the the mixtape is attacking.

The mixtape, as of now, has 1057 people seeding the torrent.  While that means you can get all 30 songs rather quickly depending on your download speeds, the seeders aren’t there for that reason.  The torrent description makes it clear that seeding is meant to be a symbolical gesture, say that they, too, downloaded the 30 songs Joel Tenenbaum had to pay $675,000 for, and they’re going to help others do so as well.  The description also makes it clear that Tenenbaum isn’t involved in the torrent, but did serve as the inspiration.

The RIAA, despite “approving,” the mixtape can’t be very happy about it.  This move is directed to get a response from the RIAA, which would most likely come in the form of a lawsuit, if not several, if there’s any response at all.  Any sort of response from the group would simply cause more ire among those who use The Pirate Bay and other torrent sites, and even more bad press.  The more of these high-profile lawsuits come out with the defendants having to pay the RIAA much more than what is charged for the song normally, the more of this sort of mixtape will show up, just to spite them.

Read [All Things D]

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

---

Source: Gadgetell | 16 Aug 2009 | 1:30 pm

Simple, Portable Physics Simulations

ttsiod writes "I want to 'lure' my nephews/nieces towards Science and Engineering (to whatever extent that's possible, in the age of consoles). To that end, I have coded simple physics simulations, like falling snow, exploding fireworks, and 1D/2D wave simulations. My efforts are here, in the form of portable SDL mini-programs (GPL code, compilable under Windows, Linux, Free/Net/OpenBSD, Mac OS/X and basically every OS with GCC and SDL). Try them out, and do offer any suggestions on other programs that can trigger scientific interest in young minds. Myself, I am teaching them Python, so that they can code 'fireworks' on their own."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Aug 2009 | 12:26 pm

Firefox 3.5 Not Playing Nicely With Twitter

Firefox 3.5, which we’ve ranted about recently, is not playing nicely with Twitter. In fact, for the last week at least users (including me, including today) have had a lot of problems updating status messages and following new people if they use Firefox 3.5. The site just hangs forever.

Twitter knows about the issue and says they’re working on it. And the odd thing is that the issue seems to come and go.

The worst part about this is that Twitter was actively promoting Firefox 3.5 downloads in July, and a lot of Twitter users are probably using it. This version of Firefox alone has around 4.5% market share already.

My apologies to Power Twitter, I originally (privately) accused them for the problems, and it looks like I was wrong.

Update: I’m testing Twitter with a download of the most recent alpha build of Firefox 3.7, and it doesn’t work either.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 16 Aug 2009 | 12:01 pm

Eco-Friendly Self-Cleaning Material Tough On Stains, Light On Effort

Image Caption: To create easy-to-clean surfaces, scientists have developed coatings for use on an array of materials, including fabrics, glass, concrete and windshields. Credit: Aldridged, Dreamstime.com
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Aug 2009 | 11:59 am

Amazing New Mosquito Repellent: Will It Fly?

Image Caption: Mosquitoes stay away from repellent-soaked cloth on the arm of researcher Ulrich Bernier. Credit: Greg Allen, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 16 Aug 2009 | 11:56 am

Sony laptop can’t play Sony disk with Sony drive on Sony TV

Zing! Don’t try to watch your copy of Watchmen on your Vaio laptop with Blu-Ray on your Sony TV! Says one forum member at quartertothree.com

I bought the watchmen DVD. Pretty cool right. Tried to play it on my sony laptop hooked up via hdmi to my sony flatscreen. Crashed of course. This was only annoying. The next six hours spent upgrading and rebooting the sony software that the sony updater software forgot to tell me about was fun. Even now, I’m at a point where I can hear audio on the commercials, but my entire sony setup tells me it can’t understand the audio format when trying to play a sony blu-ray disc on my sony setup.

The author also notes that “Sony sucks balls the size of Los Angeles.” Another posulates:

Man, you wouldn’t believe the amount of trouble I had hooking up my PS3 to a brand new Bravia TV last month. It still won’t work over HDMI!

I truly believe the different departments of Sony Corporation are entirely staffed by different breeds of hamster.

I simply state that Sony has gone so far off mission that I wouldn’t be surprised if they start selling Sony Slap-Chops.

via BBG

Source: CrunchGear | 16 Aug 2009 | 11:25 am

Are Game Consoles Ruining DLC?

A round-table discussion at Gametopius looks into the state of downloadable content for games as it has evolved over the past several years, going from an occasional, welcome supplement to being a common marketing strategy for most of the industry, frequently causing irritation over pricing and availability. "All of the map packs so far released for the Call of Duty games have been $10 each to download on consoles through closed networks, while PC gamers could download those same packs for free off of FileShack or somewhere else. Valve's own Team Fortress 2 has received a significant amount of DLC that's been completely free on the PC. Xbox owners of the same game, however, have only received perhaps half of that content, and they have had to pay for it in $5 packs. Why is this? The idea of this kind of content delivery was scarcely heard of on consoles, so console gamers see no reason not to pay for it. But on the PC, these amounts of content are usually just considered parts of patches. Furthermore, why pay for a few extra maps and costumes when modders are making and offering new ones for free all the time?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 16 Aug 2009 | 11:21 am

Gmail pushes to number three in email, kicks AOL mail down

Section: Communications, Email / IM, Web, Google

Despite its apparent popularity, Google’s Gmail surprisingly still isn’t the top email service out there.  Earlier this year Gmail was sitting as the number four email service based on total unique visitors per month.  Last month, that changed when Gmail surpassed AOL Email for the first time.  That’s a pretty big feat considering the two were separated by about 20 million uniques.

The change saw Gmail increasing its uniques by 25 percent, while AOL Email decreased by 22 percent.  Google came out with 37 million uniques for July, while AOL had 36.4 million, so the margin isn’t huge, but it certainly is there.  For comparison, Hotmail, the number two, clocked in at 47 million uniques while Yahoo Mail recorded 106 million for the month.  So while Google may have surpassed the flailing AOL, it still has some healthy company in the super popular Hotmail and Yahoo.

Given these numbers it wouldn’t be surprising if Gmail passes Hotmail by at least this time next year, if not sooner.  What makes determining accurate numbers difficult is the fact that it’s so easy to have multiple email accounts with each of the services.  Surely I can’t be the only one who has at least one email with each of the top services, even if one or more is now abandoned.  Google might to work at getting next few million visitors, though maybe its advertising campaign for bringing Google to offices might help.  Or maybe Google just needs to find some other way to convince its users to use Gmail, chances are they already have Google accounts, or at least YouTube accounts, just need to convince them that Gmail will add to those experiences in some way.

Read [TechCrunch]

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

---

Source: Gadgetell | 16 Aug 2009 | 10:52 am

The Media Bundle Is Dead, Long Live The News Aggregators

Here we go again. The newspaper industry is blaming online news aggregators for its dwindling profits and inability to adapt to a world of links and truly-free flowing information. (They like it when information flows freely into their pages, but not so much when it flows out).

On Thursday, paidContent ran an essay by media consultant Arnon Mishkin called “The Fallacy Of The Link Economy” which was misguided on so many levels. Mishkin’s main argument is that:

The vast majority of the value gets captured by aggregators linking and scraping rather than by the news organizations that get linked and scraped.

It is not really clear whom he is calling an aggregator—actual news aggregators like Yahoo News, Google News, Digg, Techmeme and the Huffington Post, or anyone who links to a news story. After all, he equates the entire web to the blogosphere, which says more about his parochial industry view than about the web. In his mind, the web is the enemy and links are bad.

What really seems to concern him, however, are news aggregation sites. They threaten newspapers because they are emerging as the new front page which people skim every morning for headlines instead of going to any single newspaper site. Mishkin argues:

Historically, the value of those casual browsers was captured by the newspaper because the readers would have to buy a copy. Now all the value gets captured by the aggregator that scrapes the copy and creates a front page that a set of readers choose to scan.

Set aside for a second that ads on news aggregation sites are usually worth a lot less than ads on original content sites and thus they are not capturing the same value. More to the point, when I first read this my immediate response was that the value of news sites does not come from getting people to skim headlines, but to actually click through and read the actual stories. The newspaper industry wants to go back to the world before the Web, when each newspaper was a small media bundle packed with stories, 80 percent of which sucked. But it didn’t matter because you’d gladly pay a dollar to read the one or two stories that caught your eye on the front page, hoping there would be more inside.

Well, guess what? The media bundle is dead. News sites can no longer capture reader’s attention with 20 percent news, and 80 percent suck. Each story stands on its own in a world of atomized content where readers can come from anywhere on the Web, not just the front page. Now in addition to the front page, there are a million side doors. Reader lock-in is gone. The sooner newspapers get used to that concept, the sooner they can start to adapt and survive.

Which brings us back to the value of news aggregators. The newspaper industry is looking for someone to blame. Usually, it’s Google, but really anyone on the Web will do. Rather than blame the aggregators, news site should take advantage of them. On the Web, every side door can be a front page, whether it is Google News or search or Digg or Twitter or a feed reader or My Yahoo. I’ve said this before about Google, but it applies to any site that links to the news:

Google does not control the news, it exposes it. . . . It is incumbent upon each of us to attract an audience by having something original or interesting to say.

And if a news site or a blog can say enough interesting things enough times that news aggregators (or other sites) keep linking to them, then they can build up their brand and reader loyalty. Maybe readers will click on those links if they see it is coming from a trusted source, and then maybe some of those will start coming to the news site itself on a regular basis. But that loyalty must be earned every day, story by story, post by post. The more front pages (or side pages) which point to a news site’s stories, the more chances it has to gain that loyalty.

But the days of the media bundle when readers got all of the day’s news from one site are long gone. So too are gone the cushy days when newspapers could count “casual browsers” as real readers and sell them to advertisers. Newspapers had better get used to a world where links exist and can whisk readers away as quickly as they bring them. Those who don’t will learn that trying to recreate the past is a sure a path to an early grave.

(Flickr Photo: John Vachon/Library of Congress)

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

Source: TechCrunch | 16 Aug 2009 | 10:41 am

Apple Store As Audition/Office Space

This little dude Nicholi has shot dozens of lip sync videos at the 5th Avenue Apple Store. And why not? Plenty of desktops. Free wi-fi. Solid tech support.

These are the same reasons model and self-marketer Isobella Jade wrote her entire memoir in the SoHo Apple Store. (Sound uncomfortable? Consider that Hemingway also wrote while standing up.)

Above is Nicholi's rendition of the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow", and here's his take on "I Gotta Feeling."

[via Abe Forman-Greenwald]

Previously:

• Weezer video stars lots of YouTube celebs - Boing Boing
• Back Dorm Boys: the lesser-known hits
• Add the Benny Hill theme tune to any YouTube video - Boing Boing ...
• ThruYou, an album made entirely from YouTube clips, far greater ...

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 16 Aug 2009 | 10:21 am

What would be inside an Apple tablet - CNET News

Techtree.com

What would be inside an Apple tablet CNET News Speculation about a rumored Apple tablet may be an exercise in futility, but it is an interesting exercise nonetheless. In this case, my speculation will extend to what may be inside an Apple tablet. Will the design philosophy spring ... Purported Next iPod Touch Photos SurfaceTechtree.com Apple Tablet Dreams: Image GalleryPC World My Apple iPad Wish ListPC Magazine CNET News -CNET News -CNET News all 259 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 16 Aug 2009 | 10:18 am

North American GSM Palm Pre gets certified by the W-Fi Alliance

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

There are plenty of people waiting and hoping to see a a 3G-capable GSM version of the Palm Pre become available in North America and it now looks like that is one step closer to becoming a reality.  Just recently, the Wi-Fi Alliance certified just such as device.

The new listing highlights the Palm Pre, which in this case is referred to as the P100UNA, and it shows that it has been certified with support for the 850/1900MHz bands, which means that it will be capable of working with both AT&T here in the US as well as Rogers up in Canada or possibly even with Bell, who have recently announced plans to begin transitioning to GSM from their current CDMA.

Of course, looking at the complete story, this is just a small first step.  We still need to see an FCC listing and approval before any 3G-capable GSM Palm Pre will be available in the US.

Read [Wi-Fi.org (pdf link)]  Via [PreCentral]

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

---

Source: Gadgetell | 16 Aug 2009 | 8:57 am

Nokla has no class (but plenty of swivel)

This bootleg "Nokla E81" uses a remarkable swiveling design far more innovative than the conservative phones Nokia itself pumps out these days. Remember when it used to be famous for oddities? [Justamp via Engadget]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 16 Aug 2009 | 8:46 am

OMHSDG!!! SNOW LEOPARD BOX

Seriously. Can’t Apple build some destroyer robots who battle each other in a ring of fire? Anything but the box art for OSX Snow Leopard, the Most Boring Update in Apple History ™?

via Macrumors

Source: CrunchGear | 16 Aug 2009 | 8:16 am

Free apps roundup for August 14th, 2009

FROM APPLETELL - Another week, another online video service enables support for the iPhone 3GS via an app on the App Store.  Don’t worry, there are more apps and utilities beyond the jump that I hope you will find useful.
MORE »

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

---

Source: Gadgetell | 16 Aug 2009 | 7:27 am

Facebook Initiatives Could Challenge Net Heavyweights

Social networking site Facebook could be gearing up to challenge the Web’s leading companies as it moves towards becoming a “utility” that offers users various activities to keep them online for hours.The five-year-old company recently revamped its search engine, acquired a start-up firm that some say is a Twitter rival, began testing a scaled-down version of its service to expand into international markets and is developing a new electronic payments system that might compete with Paypal.These moves represent a new phase in Facebook's evolution as the company combines the viral power of social networks with its vast 250 million member base to expand into new markets."When you become the site that people spend enough hours on everyday it's very natural to take advantage of that and to become the site that tries to provide all the services that portals provide," said Haim Mendelson, a professor at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, in an interview with Reuters.Co-founded by 25-year-old Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard University dorm room, Facebook could ultimately challenge Web giants such as Yahoo and Google in content and communications, said Brigantine Advisors analyst Colin Gillis.Facebook’s service, which Zuckerberg calls a "social utility," could also find itself taking on eBay Inc.'s PayPal online payment system and maybe even Apple Inc.'s iTunes for digital downloads, Gillis told Reuters."People only do so many things on the Web," said Jeffrey Rayport, founder of the digital media consultancy Marketspace.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 16 Aug 2009 | 6:05 am

So Hot Right Now: Top 10 Gadgetell posts for the week of August 09, 2009

Section:

Haven’t caught all of the Gadgetell news this week?  Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles!

• Gadgetell Review: i-gotU GT-120 USB GPS Travel Logger
  ” What is it? The i-gotU GT-120 USB GPS Travel Logger is a small, lightweight, water resistant GPS device that records your traveling route so you can later view it on your computer.  Just turn it on and…” MORE »
• Get caught up in technology with InterrupTech: August 10, 2009
  ” Download: iPod/iPhone version (mp4) | Audio version (mp3)  Get caught up in a hurry with InterrupTech.  You won’t find endless chatter here.  We’ve got a timer to move things along.  This week:…” MORE »
• Dell to launch an Android based mobile phone in China (or so the rumor says)
  “We have seen reports in the past which suggested that Dell had an Android-based smartphone in the works, and once again that rumor has resurfaced.  The latest is coming…” MORE »
• Blogger says Twitter, Facebook outages directed at him
  ” Even if you do your best to ignore the two websites, there was simply no missing the denial-of-service attacks on Twitter and Facebook this past week.  What you may not know is why the attacks were brought about.  The easy answer…” MORE »
• Leaked images of the Nokia RX51/Rover internet tablet surface online
  ” Coming courtesy of the Mobile Bulgaria blog, we have a nice (and surprisingly) clear set of leaked images of the yet-to-be-released Nokia RX51/Rover Internet Tablet. The images are showing what is labeled as…” MORE »
• Third party apps suffer as Twitter continues to battle DDoS attack
  ”  Two days ago Twitter was knocked off line by a large scale DDoS attack and although back online, the site is still under attack and fighting to keep from being knocked offline again. Some of the steps they’ve taken have affected third party apps…” MORE »
• Gadgetell Review: Vtech IS9181 Wi-Fi Internet radio
  ” What is it? Vtech IS9181 is a Wi-Fi Internet radio which comes equipped with an auxiliary cable, remote control, and power cable.  It costs under $150 at Amazon.com. The Good Getting started is a simple as…” MORE »
• Internet usage in America is now spiking before breakfast
  “Think about your average morning for a moment.  Chances are rather than getting up and going straight to find some sort of breakfast you wake up and head straight for your computer, BlackBerry, iPhone, or any…” MORE »
• AT&T sued for lack of iPhone MMS
  ” When Apple first announced the iPhone 3.0 upgrade and later when it debuted the iPhone 3GS it was happy to tout the new MMS features.  The feature would roll out immediately with 3.0 to most every iPhone carrier.  AT&T was the…” MORE »
• NextWorth introduces new recycling service for cell phones
  ”  Today NextWorth introduced its new cell phone trade in service.  The company, which specializes in trade in and recycling programs for electronics, will now accept cell phones from every carrier and manufacturer.  Simply go…” MORE »

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

---

Source: Gadgetell | 16 Aug 2009 | 5:32 am

Our Mac Chromium Updater: Stay Up To Date On The Best Versions Of Chrome For Mac

We’ve been gushing for weeks now about the latest Chromium builds for Mac. Every day, they seem to get better. The problem is that every day, several updates are released and you have to manually go to the site and scroll down a long list to find the newest version to download. So we’ve made an application that allows you to easily ensure that you have the latest version at all times.

Our Mac Chromium Updater was built with the help of Greg Rosen, who created a script to check your version of Chromium versus the latest build. Then one of our developers, Hunter, created an Automator process so you don’t have to deal with installing something like Wget on your machine. The end result is a simple app that you run and let it update Chromium for you. You can find it here.

For those who aren’t aware, Chromium is the open source project behind Google’s web browser, Chrome. While there are pre-release versions of regular Chrome available for Mac as well, the Chromium builds get updated much more frequently, and as such, are the closest to a working version of Chrome on the Mac. For example, latest versions of Chromium include Flash support and bookmark support. Overall, the project is coming along very nicely.

A couple quick notes about our app: First, when you run the app, depending on the speed of your connection, it may take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes to download the newest build of Chromium. So even if you don’t think the app is doing anything, let it run, and eventually you will see the latest build of Chromium open on your screen. Second, this has only been tested of OS X 10.5 Leopard, but Chromium will only run on Leopard, so there you go.

Enjoy. We’ve included a read me file in the zip with a few more obvious disclaimers and a note of who to email with problems.

Again, find it here. Bookmark this post, we’ll add a note here if we update the updater.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 16 Aug 2009 | 4:33 am

Disclaimer | About

World : News Archives | Business | Entertainment | Sports | Technology | Science | Marketplace Audio

India : News | Business | Entertainment | Sports | Telugu |

Blogs : Humor pages | Norkay's Blog | Kids Stories | Indian Recipes | Database Tech Blog

Sundries : World Video Clips | Songs Clips | Indian Video Clips |