Source: Gizmodo | 31 Aug 2009 | 7:40 pm

Internet's First Registered Domain Name Sold

MojoKid writes "Believe it or not, it wasn't internet.com or dot.com that was acquired when the Internet was young. Instead, it was the somewhat off-the-wall name of symbolics.com. The Symbolics company was the first to use an internet domain name to guide Internet viewers to its line of Lisp machines, which were single-user computers optimized to run the Lisp programming language. XF.com Investments, which is a Missouri-based Internet investments firm, has managed to secure the domain name from its original owner for an undisclosed sum and XF's CEO was quick to proclaim his excitement over the acquisition. It's hard to say why this domain name was the first registered back on March 15, 1985, but for obvious reasons it holds a special place in history. There has been one original owner for nearly 25 years. Over that time, we've seen the Internet grow to the tune of 180,000,000+ registered domains, and thousands more are being added each and every day."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 31 Aug 2009 | 7:21 pm

Smartbooks Prepare to Compete in Mini-laptop Space (PC World)

PC World - Mini-laptops based on Arm chips are set to make their way to users, which could heat up the battle in a space dominated by netbooks with Intel's Atom chips.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 31 Aug 2009 | 7:00 pm

Debt Slave Surpasses 38,000 Views in Three Days

FORT LEE, N.J., Aug.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 31 Aug 2009 | 6:54 pm

Opinion: EA’s Madden NFL 10 downloadable content is out of bounds

FROM GAMERTELL - EA’s downloadable content has been less than stellar for a while but the company has really dropped the ball by charging for some Madden NFL 10 add ons…
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 31 Aug 2009 | 6:14 pm

The Carol Bartz Is Mad as Hell and Not Going to Take It Anymore Memo: The Hypoglycemic Edition [BoomTown]

BoomTown promised a Yahoo internal memo upon our return from vacation today and we will not let you down.

Thus, here’s a doozie Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz recently sent to her troops.

It’s actually from mid-August, although it took me this long to get my hands on it, as people at the company are justifiably a little memo-leaking shy after this missive that complains of the sugar-low mood of the staff.

One in a series of weekly Friday communications from her, some of which I have posted before, this one got a lot of attention internally, especially among the down-in-the-dumps engineering staff, who were less than pleased with the damn-the-torpedoes-stop-yer-whining tone of the memo.

Whatever the reaction, it is certainly a classic Bartz times 10–a definite back of the hand for those Yahoos who perhaps dwelled too much on whether or not they liked the recent search deal she struck with Microsoft (MSFT).

Here’s the basic gist of it: Fie on naysayers, stop bellyaching, Yahoo rocks and get back to work!

And here’s the memo–referencing the tough week, her knee surgery and the need to focus, people!!!–with the email address section omitted:

I’ve had one! All the work, all the explaining, all the opinions!

I wanted to crawl into a hole and eat chocolate (and of course my knee boo-boo made me feel even sorrier for myself). Making the search decision and driving this much change for us was hard, but it is done.

So I am out of the hole, ready to attack the future. We are Yahoo! 581 MILLION PEOPLE came to us last month. Our audience increased 1.9% month-over-month, faster than the overall Internet population (1.2%).

Our job is to keep growing that audience with a great homepage, great media properties, great communications products and a great search experience. Match that with a compelling advertiser program and voila! We are the largest media property on the Internet.

So get out of the sugar low–we have work to do. Stop staring at our navels, stop arguing with each other. Stop debate, debate, debate, and let’s focus on the competition.

Let’s focus on a great Yahoo! Our average user is just trying to get through the day…looking to find out what’s going on in the big world and their own world. They want their Internet site to be great, and to work. They don’t care about how or about deals. They care that we are a trusted dependable site.

That is our simple mission. Focus on it!!!

Source: All Things Digital | 31 Aug 2009 | 6:10 pm

The First American Corporation Celebrates 120-Year Anniversary as it Prepares for Split Into Two Publicly Traded Companies

SANTA ANA, Calif., Aug. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF), America's largest provider of business information, announced today a year-long celebration to mark its 120th year of service to the real estate and mortgage industries.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 31 Aug 2009 | 6:01 pm

Burning Question: When Will International Phone Calls Be Free?

Not anytime soon, bub. But when you eventually get your iPhone 4G, they should be included in your rate plan.

Which is weird, because it's probably been a long time since you nervously eyed the clock while on the phone with your granny in Smallville. Long distance has been all-you-can-eat since cell phones and voice-over-IP conquered the universe. But international telephony—whether landline, cellular, or Internet-based—is still a piggybank-rattling affair: Providers just can't offer dirt-cheap calls across borders.

The problem is that there's no such thing as an international telephone network. As your voice travels the lines from, say, Venice, California, to Venice, Italy, it encounters a lot of tollbooths. You pay your local provider to let you hop on the wire, and you pay a termination fee to whoever owns the network at the other end. If you cross another country's wires along the way, you have to pay them, too.

The Web, on the other hand, is, well, worldwide—and that should mean no more checkpoint charlies. Unfortunately, even if you're using VoIP, you're often calling someone who's using a traditional line. So the termination fees remain. That's why Skype calls to cellular and landline numbers can still be as expensive as $1.40 a minute. (Sucks to be you, East Timor expats.)

But if you're talking Skype to Skype, you don't pay anything. And that's the direction mobile phones are heading as well. With the explosion of wireless broadband options, cellular providers are evolving into VoIP companies. Once both ends of the conversation are on the Net, connection fees will become relics of the early modern age. "When 4G networks become ubiquitous in a couple of years, people won't be paying for overseas calling," says Christopher Collins, a networking analyst at the Yankee Group. "It'll be just another service embedded in a holistic data plan."

That will be a completely new way of doing business for cellular providers. "At that point, they'll be competing to add services," Collins says. Which means that free, unlimited international calling will just be the start. Get ready for a torrent of free services in its wake.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 31 Aug 2009 | 6:00 pm

Burning Question: When Will International Phone Calls Be Free?

Not anytime soon, bub. But when you eventually get your iPhone 4G, they should be included in your rate plan.

Which is weird, because it's probably been a long time since you nervously eyed the clock while on the phone with your granny in Smallville. Long distance has been all-you-can-eat since cell phones and voice-over-IP conquered the universe. But international telephony—whether landline, cellular, or Internet-based—is still a piggybank-rattling affair: Providers just can't offer dirt-cheap calls across borders.

The problem is that there's no such thing as an international telephone network. As your voice travels the lines from, say, Venice, California, to Venice, Italy, it encounters a lot of tollbooths. You pay your local provider to let you hop on the wire, and you pay a termination fee to whoever owns the network at the other end. If you cross another country's wires along the way, you have to pay them, too.

The Web, on the other hand, is, well, worldwide—and that should mean no more checkpoint charlies. Unfortunately, even if you're using VoIP, you're often calling someone who's using a traditional line. So the termination fees remain. That's why Skype calls to cellular and landline numbers can still be as expensive as $1.40 a minute. (Sucks to be you, East Timor expats.)

But if you're talking Skype to Skype, you don't pay anything. And that's the direction mobile phones are heading as well. With the explosion of wireless broadband options, cellular providers are evolving into VoIP companies. Once both ends of the conversation are on the Net, connection fees will become relics of the early modern age. "When 4G networks become ubiquitous in a couple of years, people won't be paying for overseas calling," says Christopher Collins, a networking analyst at the Yankee Group. "It'll be just another service embedded in a holistic data plan."

That will be a completely new way of doing business for cellular providers. "At that point, they'll be competing to add services," Collins says. Which means that free, unlimited international calling will just be the start. Get ready for a torrent of free services in its wake.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 31 Aug 2009 | 6:00 pm

Review Time: JH Audio’s Ridiculously Expensive, Totally Awesome Custom Earbuds

We all know a good earbud is hard to find. Just open up a new iPod, iPhone or hell any portable audio device out there and have a listen to the included ‘buds. They’re crap, right? JH audio is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Its newest bespoke earbuds, the JH13s, deliver some of the crazy-best aural experiences we’ve ever heard in an earbud. Here’s an excerpt from reviewer Jackson Lynch:

The buds delivered fantastic sound separation with uncompromising booming bass, rattling mids and crystalline highs. For a lark, we tried mating the JH13s with the Ray Samuels Audio P-51 Mustang high-resolution headphone amp and ALO Audio’s 30-pin iPod line-out cable, just to see if that could improve on what we deemed to be aural perfection.

Adding these two (expensive) components opened the floodgates of unadulterated sound, yielding the richest, most complete experience we’ve ever coaxed out of a set of earbuds. Yes, the JH13s are terribly expensive, but they also make for the most luxurious listening this side of heaven.

Check out the rest of the awesome write-up of the JH Audio JH13PRO Earbuds on our reviews site.

(Photo by Jonanthan Snyder/ Wired.com)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 31 Aug 2009 | 5:44 pm

League Issues New Twitter Policy - Washington Post

CBC.ca

League Issues New Twitter Policy Washington Post The NFL released its amended policy Monday for use of Twitter and other social media platforms by players, coaches and other team personnel on game days, prohibiting such use beginning 90 minutes before a game until following the conclusion of media ... NFL: Social media OK before, after gamesThe Associated Press Quitting Social MediaAtlantic Online The golden age of social mediaIndiana Daily Student Mediapost.com -StandardNet -Alibaba News Channel all 288 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 31 Aug 2009 | 5:43 pm

Sprint to launch Touch Pro2 on September 8th

Section: Communications, Cellular Providers, Smartphones

Sprint has announced it will release the highly anticipated HTC Touch Pro2 on September 8th.  The handset features a 3.6” WVGA touchscreen, full QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, world-roaming, and runs Windows Mobile 6.1.  As with most Sprint phones it also offers SprintTV, Sprint Navigation and NFL Mobile Live all at 3G speeds.

“More than ever, today’s wireless customers expect to stay productive whether they are on the road or in the office,” said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president - Product Development for Sprint. “HTC Touch Pro2 on America’s most dependable 3G network1 makes that a reality. And with Sprint’s Simply Everything plans, which include voice minutes, messaging and data for one low price, we let customers focus on all their phone can deliver.”

The Touch Pro2 will initially be available via the Sprint website and telesales and will retail for $349.99 (after $100 mail in rebate) and a 2 year contract.  It’s not yet known if Sprint will require the phone to have its Simply Everything plan, but the plan was mentioned several times in its news release so it is possible.  For those who don’t mind the high price and Windows Mobile it looks to be a great phone.

Read [CNet]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 31 Aug 2009 | 5:33 pm

British Company Takes Lead To Stop Asteroids

An anonymous reader writes to tell us that following the news of NASA's budget cuts impacting their ability to do things like watch the sky for asteroids, a British company has decided to create a "gravity tractor" ship that could divert asteroids away from Earth if the need should arise. Of course, a gravity tractor certainly isn't a new idea. "Dr. Cordey said the company had worked with a number of space authorities on other methods of protecting the Earth from asteroids, but this one would be able to target a wider range. He said: 'We have done quite a lot of design work on this with the European Space Agency and we believe this would work just as well on a big solid iron asteroid as well as other types.' But the high cost implications mean that before the device could be made, it would have to be commissioned by a government or a group of governments working together."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 31 Aug 2009 | 5:23 pm

Raging wildfire menaces observatory, ... - The Associated Press

Grand Forks Herald

Raging wildfire menaces observatory, TV towers The Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Mount Wilson opened the heavens and then became a modern hub for communications on Earth. Now it is threatened by a force of nature that humans may be powerless to control. The wildfire ravaging the mountains north of Los Angeles drew ... Wildfires Threaten GSU FacilityNews/Talk 750 WSB Fire closes in on historic Mt. Wilson ObservatoryUSA Today On Mt. Wilson, 'right now the fire is boss'Los Angeles Times Reuters -Astronomy Magazine -Broadcasting & Cable all 335 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 31 Aug 2009 | 5:10 pm

It works! Find My iPhone leads fuzz to phone-snatchers

Although I’m always skeptical of security measures like Find My iPhone, it’s always nice to hear when they work. In this case, a fairly ordinary phonejacking in Pittsburg was foiled when the fools forgot to remove the SIM from their recently acquired booty. After the perps took off, the victim went home, booted up his Mac, and tracked them to a local Wal-Mart, then to a restaurant. Officers apprehended them there, where they found the iPhone and other stolen stuff.

At last, the security measures we thrilled to in Enemy of the State and The Net are coming to fruition!

[via The Register]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 31 Aug 2009 | 5:00 pm

Heavenly Earbuds Bestow Sonic Nirvana

There's nothing wrong with the earbuds you're listening to. Except for the fact that they completely suck. For $1,100 (yes that much) JH audio has 'buds that blow all other in-ear audio devices completely away.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 31 Aug 2009 | 5:00 pm

Heavenly Earbuds Bestow Sonic Nirvana

There's nothing wrong with the earbuds you're listening to. Except for the fact that they completely suck. For $1,100 (yes that much) JH audio has 'buds that blow all other in-ear audio devices completely away.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 31 Aug 2009 | 5:00 pm

Icahn pares Yahoo stake with sale of 12.7M shares (AP)

AP - Financier Carl Icahn, one of Yahoo Inc.'s largest stockholders, has sold 12.7 million shares to whittle his holdings in the slumping Internet company down a percentage point to a 4.5 percent stake.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 31 Aug 2009 | 4:54 pm

Apple's Sept. 9 Event: 5 Hot Bets - PC World

Sydney Morning Herald

Apple's Sept. 9 Event: 5 Hot Bets PC World Now that Apple has confirmed it's planning an invitation-only bash September 9 in San Francisco, our time to speculate is running short. What new stuff is coming? First, let's scratch the much-anticipated Apple tablet off the list. ... Apple Is Expected to Update iPodsWall Street Journal Apple is in very good shape in ChinaGerson Lehrman Group Apple Announces 9 September iPod EventTrustedReviews Afterdawn.com -eWeek -San Francisco Chronicle all 350 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 31 Aug 2009 | 4:47 pm

Xbox 360 Version of Champions Online Being Held Back By MS

Tomorrow marks the launch of Cryptic Studios' new superhero MMO, Champions Online. It was developed for the PC and the Xbox 360, but the console version will be much delayed, according to Cryptic CCO Jack Emmert, because Microsoft is holding things up. "Microsoft's a big company, and they have to work out all the various issues related to MMOs. It just takes time for the big beast known as Microsoft to get moving. I really have no explanation other than that, because it's as baffling to developers as it is to everyone else," he said during an interview with VG247. The game itself is apparently finished, but Emmert isn't sure it'll even go live for the 360 by the end of this year. Square Enix developers made similar comments earlier this month regarding Final Fantasy XIV, which will be available first on the PS3 largely because it's taking a long time to work out how the game will interact with Xbox Live.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 31 Aug 2009 | 4:39 pm

Review: Logitech Harmony 900 universal remote

I wanted to love this remote. The Harmony One has a great form factor, and I was hoping that Logitech would add its current RF system to the mix. But that didn’t happen with the $400 Harmony 900. Instead, Logitech attempted to simplify the RF setup even though the current method is easy enough and managed to muck things up. The remote’s nice, but crippled by a lackluster RF system and therefore nowhere near the best remote I have ever used.

Things I like

The Harmony One was a welcome update to Logitech’s line of universal remotes a few years ago. It feels good in the hand, the buttons are nice enough, and the charging system is bulletproof. Thankfully, the Harmony 900 has the same exact form factor and charging system. The top touchscreen is responsive and bright, although a little on the small side. The physical buttons have just enough resistance behind them and work well. The form factor is nice.

There are some differences between the One and the 900. The 900 sports a slightly different color scheme, along with themes for the top LCD screen.

Setup is easy. Logitech includes a program that installs a Web-based program that guides you through all the steps. It took me about five minutes to configure the remote. It may take a little longer for you if you don’t know model numbers, how everything is connected, and if you don’t have high-speed Internet. But if you do, it’s a breeze. I just wish Logitech would make an off-line program like Universal Remotes. I’ve had to leave a person’s house and find a hotspot to install a few remotes before.

I have to give Logitech props for making the RF system easy to configure. Now it’s done on the remote itself instead of on the PC. This means you can adjust things when you’re right next to the equipment, which is really handy if you aren’t using a laptop to install the remote.

Things I don’t like

The only reason a person would buy the Harmony 900 over the One is for the RF capabilities. This allows owners to stuff their equipment in a closest - or downstairs in my case - and control the whole system through the magic of radio frequency. I’ve used and tested five different RF remote systems over the years and never had an issue before. I have an issue with the Harmony 900, though.

Most RF systems have a range of about 100 feet depending on physical walls and wireless interference. The Harmony 900 remote has a range of about 20 feet even though the product description clearly indicates 100 feet. That means that I can use the remote just fine in the front part of my house, but not in the kitchen, which is apparently too far away from my equipment stashed in the basement, away from prying eyes and little fingers.

Part of the joy of having the AV equipment elsewhere is that you generally don’t have to worry about where you point the remote. Or you can crank the tunes in other parts of the house. RF remotes are great, but this remote fails miserably. The 20 feet range is just barely enough to reach all parts of my living room. However, if I step one foot through my kitchen door, it doesn’t work. It’s not a huge deal if you have a simple system, but if you have speakers located throughout your house or have video streaming to different rooms, this limited range is a deal breaker. Plus, everyone’s walls are different so YMMV.

But it’s just not the range I have beef with, it’s the implementation of the IR blasters. For some reason Logitech felt the need to design new IR blasters that sit on a shelf instead of sticking to the front panel of the device. This means that AV geeks that spent good money on equipment racks cannot use this remote because there probably isn’t a shelf available when the gear is flush-mounted. I can’t use the IR blasters on my office system because of the lack of shelf. Logitech didn’t need to reinvent the wheel, the mini IR blasters used by the industry for years work fine.

The new blasters use a 2.5mm jack instead of the standard 3.5mm plug, so your current IR blasters probably will not work.

I guess it wouldn’t be that big of a deal if the range was limited, but the remote also displays a error message when it’s out of range which requires the user to acknowledge it. This same error message pops up when the remote is giving a ramping command like volume control or navigation. For instance, if you hold down the volume button, that same message pops up as if the remote is having trouble communicating with the RF system even if the remote is within range.

I do need to point out that this is my second Logitech Harmony 900. The first one only had a range of 5-10 feet. Logitech support was great and sent me out a second one though.

Conclusion

I love the Harmony 900, but hate the RF system. Perhaps I received two bad eggs. Idk. But I’m also thinking that a lot of the problems can be fixed with firmware updates. My recommendation would be to hold off for a while, since I have a feeling that eventually it will be the best sub-$500 remote available. I’ll update the remote in a few weeks and see if it improves the range at all.

Pros:

• Great ergonomics
• Seemingly reliable charging system
• Very easy setup

Cons:

• Crappy RF system
• Weird IR blasters

Product page

$400 @ Amazon

Source: CrunchGear | 31 Aug 2009 | 4:35 pm

Change of Management at Convergent Mobile, Inc.

SONOMA, Calif., Aug. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- (http://www.myprgenie.com) -- The Board of Directors of Convergent Mobile, Inc. has accepted Mark J. Porter's resignation as the CEO of the company and Chairman of the Board as of August 28, 2009. On July 26, 2009, Mr.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 31 Aug 2009 | 4:33 pm

Apple releases Mac mini, SuperDrive updates (Macworld.com)

Macworld.com - Apple on Monday released firmware updates for the Mac mini and for certain SuperDrive-containing systems.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 31 Aug 2009 | 4:28 pm

Toyota’s anti-drunk driving gadget elicits comparison to, yes, Nazi Germany

Help me understand this. Toyota today announced some sort of anti-drunk driving “gadget” (more like a complete system, including a digital camera and a breathalyzer) that prevents a car from being turned on if it detects a certain amount of alcohol in your system. You know, to help reduce the number of drunk driving-related accidents, which in the U.S. caused nearly 12,000 deaths last year. That’s one death every 45 minutes.

And yet, all too predictably, there’s a certain segment of the population who claim the system will fail because it infringes upon people’s freedoms.

Here’s a sampling from Breitbart:

Sure way to lose American sales.
We like our freedom, not dictates.

…

I don’t drink & drive, but I’ll be damned if Toyota, or any other automaker is going to dictate to me.
There will be a good business on technicians who override these systems.

…

Time to properly install one of these devices…. about 4 hours

Time to bypass the device…. about 10 seconds

Another wasted technology bought and paid for by your American tax dollars going overseas

…

NAZIS

…

Yeah, lets just put the cop inside the car with you! Blow an illegal limit, the doors lock and the alarm will go off if you open them. Take this gadget and jam it up your Japanese arsh!

I literally laughed out loud at the “NAZIS” barb. Not even Godwin would have predicate that. (On a side note, can anyone point me in the direction of a book or paper that describes Nazi Germany’s policies with respect to drunk driving?)

Granted, this reaction is to be expected when Drudge is involved. (He linked to the Breitbart version of the article.) That site attracts a certain reader, let’s say. The kind that likens still-in-draft bills with the death of the American way of life—whatever that is—itself.

I mean, what does this gadget do, exactly? It detects if you’re drunk. If you’re drunk, however that’s defined in your local jurisdiction, you should not be driving a car, full stop. End of discussion.

And yet, people will bleat on about their “freedoms” being violated. Driving drunk is not some noble exercise of your freedom, but rather is an example of needless (and senseless, but there doesn’t seem to be too much sense there to begin with) recklessness. Do not confuse an ability to vote in elections and participate in a democratic republic with your ability to careen down a highway, killing a perfectly innocent person, or persons, in the process.

/soapbox

Source: CrunchGear | 31 Aug 2009 | 4:20 pm

Casio lets loose a couple budget Exilim cameras

Casio is recently best-known for their Exilim FC100 and FS10, the compact cameras capable of shooting 1000FPS, among other things. I certainly loved the FC100 and recommend it every chance I get. But of course, Casio also makes regular old point-and-shoots, and now there are two more than there used to be.

EX-Z280

The EX-Z280 is the mid-range-budget one, at $180. It’s got 12.1 megapixels, a 26mm equivalent lens with 4x optical zoom, and it records 720p video. It’ll do face recognition and stuff but it seems pretty run-of-the-mill.

EX-Z33

At $120, the Z33 is the true budget offering. As always, I recommend against buying these. They have to cut corners somewhere, and they’re not going to tell you where that was. In the meantime, 10 megapixels and a 3x optical zoom isn’t bad for just over a bill, but I still recommend going up the price ladder a bit and finding something you’ll want to carry around.

And of course, if you’re in the market for a point and shoot, I do still recommend the Exilim FC100 or FS10 over anything else. And if you can get one of those for under $250, why buy anything else?

Source: CrunchGear | 31 Aug 2009 | 4:00 pm

Skype Doubles Connection Fees

Skype is doubling the fees it charges to connect international phone calls, even thought the world is still stuck in a recession. Is Skype trying to make investors happy before its upcoming IPO?

Source: Wired Top Stories | 31 Aug 2009 | 4:00 pm

Exclusive Video: 'Napoleon Dynamite' Director on the Fine Art of Shooting in VHS

Director Jared Hess offers a few tips on getting the most from your camera when you're shooting in VHS. We find him on the set of his new film Gentlemen Broncos for this exclusive video.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 31 Aug 2009 | 4:00 pm

NICE Establishes Actimize as Industry's Largest and Broadest Risk & Financial Crime Solutions Provider by Acquiring Fortent

NEW YORK and RA'ANANA, Israel, August 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- - Customers Will Benefit From a Comprehensive Integrated Platform for Anti-money Laundering, Real-time Cross-channel Fraud Prevention; Brokerage Compliance and Enterprise Case and Investigation Management - Following Acquisition, the Majority of the World's Largest Banks and all Top Ten Global Banks Will be Using Actimize for Compliance and Financial Crime Prevention - NICE Best Positioned to Leverage Anticipated Wave of Global Regulations For Financial Institutions Given Size, Breadth of Portfolio and Installed Base - Deal Will be Accretive to NICE on a Non-GAAP Fully Diluted EPS Basis Starting First Quarter 2010 - Actimize Business Expected to Cross the $100 Million Mark in 2010 NICE Systems (NASDAQ: NICE) and Actimize, a NICE Systems Company, today announced the signing and closing of a definitive agreement to acquire Fortent - a leading provider of analytics based Anti-Money Laundering and financial crime prevention software solutions for the financial services industry, servicing clients such as Barclays, JPMorgan Chase, Mizuho, Royal Bank of Scotland and Scotiabank.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 31 Aug 2009 | 4:00 pm

Is that FriendFeed in your pocket, or - oh, it is?

Are you addicted to FriendFeed? Can’t get enough of Robert Scoble’s incessant posts? Want to keep up with them even when you’re on the go? Are you praying to the heavens that Facebook doesn’t screw up FriendFeed post-acquisition? Then Stir (iTunes link) might just be for you. Created by StructLab Stir is an iPhone app that allows you to get your fill of FriendFeed anytime, anywhere. You can use it in the bathroom at work (guilty), while watching a lame chick flick with your girlfriend (guilty) or if you’re on the couch and don’t want to walk the 10 feet to your desk (umm, yes, guilty).

Of course, it is hardly the first FriendFeed app for the iPhone, but it’s the first one I’ve looked at and it’s pretty damn good. Mind you, I only started using FriendFeed last week. Twitter [follow me] is still my micro-blogging platform of choice, but I quickly noticed that FriendFeed has some obvious benefits. And Stir takes advantage of all of them.

Stir is easy to set up. You simply open the App and type in your username and password and it brings up all of your information. That isn’t unique to any social networking iPhone app, but it’s a must-have. What makes Stir a great app, though, is that it utilizes FriendFeed’s functionality extremely well. FriendFeed, first and foremost, is an aggregator of your social media. It does this by bringing all of your self-generated social media content (Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, blog) onto one site. You then share that content with anyone else who also uses FriendFeed, and see a “stream” of their social media and yours. Additionally, FriendFeed does a great job of allowing you to interact with that content - users can “Like” or comment on any post. Basically, a good FriendFeed iPhone app should let you: 1) easily view, manage and post to the stream and 2) interact with content on the stream.

Stir does both beautifully. It automatically provides you with a way of viewing multiple different types of streams. You can either see your full stream (all of your friends), or you can separate your stream by social network (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc.) so you only see posts of your FriendFeed subscriptions that come from that network. Furthermore, you can access additional streams that are separated by groups, lists or search terms. So, if you’re a part of the TechCrunch group on FriendFeed, you can see everything that’s coming from that feed with just a few taps on the screen. Similarly, if you’ve got a separate list for your Star Wars Trading Card Game friends, they show up on Stir as a separate feed. Useful if you want to cut out the noise and focus on a specific group or shared interest.

Stir also allows you to easily interact with FriendFeed content. If you really loved Sarah’s latest article on how Mac Fanboys are starting to crawl back into their hole, feel free to “like” it or comment on it within the app.

However, Stir doesn’t do anything special: it isn’t the TweetDeck of FriendFeed clients. It doesn’t help you better organize your feeds or revolutionize the FriendFeed experience. But it doesn’t have to, because unlike Twitter, FriendFeed is useful right out-of-the-box (who really uses twitter.com anymore?). Instead, Stir simply allows you to access this great web app via your iPhone. It’s easy-to-use, got a clean interface and isn’t missing any obvious functionality.

Bottom line: it does everything FriendFeed does. On your iPhone. It costs $2.99, which is a bit pricey, but if it’s the only FriendFeed App you buy, $3 ain’t too shabby.

[Disclosure: Devin here. I know the app's primary developer since we go to the same bar. He was working on this and I said it looked sweet and should be on the network. Other than suggesting he implement the Konami code somewhere in the app, that's the extent of my involvement. He also asked to have it noted here that he'll continue to adapt Stir to work with whatever FaceBook's got up its sleeves.]

One final thing: we’ve got a few extra copies (8 to be precise) to give away. Send an email with “Stir” in the subject line to contest at crunchgear dot com and we’ll hook you up. I’ll update this when we’re out of stock. We’re out! The lucky (or quick on the draw, really) 8 will get an email in the next couple minutes.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:56 pm

Breast Cancer Intervention Reduces Depression and Inflammation

 A psychological intervention for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients with symptoms of depression not only relieves patients' depression but also lowers indicators of inflammation in the blood.Those are the findings of a new study by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC-James) and the Ohio State University Department of Psychology involving patients with stage II or III breast cancer.Patients who received a psychological therapy that reduced stress and enhanced their ability to cope experienced significant relief of depressive symptoms.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:55 pm

Scientists Deliver Bee Toxin To Tumors Via "Nanobees"

ScienceDaily is reporting that Washington University School of Medicine researchers have found a way to deliver bee toxin to tumors using nano-spheres they call "nanobees." The results in mice showed a cessation of growth or even shrinkage of tumors while the surrounding tissue was protected from the toxin. "The core of the nanobees is composed of perfluorocarbon, an inert compound used in artificial blood. The research group developed perfluorocarbon nanoparticles several years ago and have been studying their use in various medical applications, including diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis and cancer. About six millionths of an inch in diameter, the nanoparticles are large enough to carry thousands of active compounds, yet small enough to pass readily through the bloodstream and to attach to cell membranes."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:48 pm

Beaterator also heading toward the iPhone (and iPod Touch)

Man, Rockstar is bringing the thunder today. A little bit after dropping word that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is being developed for the iPhone (and iPod Touch), it also announced that Beaterator would be coming to the iPhone (and iPod Touch). I don’t know why (I do that).

If you were with us last week, you’ll remember that Rockstar also released a video showing Timbaland (and his son!) messing around with the “game.” Again, game is in quotes because it’s more Ableton than Rock Band.

The iPhone version is slated for “this fall.”

Not that it matters, since most of the CG crew has been pushing Greg’s Button all day long.

That is to say, we’re easily entertained.

Source: CrunchGear | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:45 pm

UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

NASA: Astronauts busy aboard the ISS HOUSTON, Aug.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:44 pm

Did Google Street View spot rapist/kidnapper Garrido?

A followup on this earlier BB post about the wacko blog and gadget hallucinations of kidnapper/rapist (now also a murder suspect) Phillip Garrido.

Weighing in on that post, an astute BB commenter noticed that if you do a Google Maps search for 1554 Walnut Avenue, Antioch, CA -- the address of the Antioch home where Garrido detained Jaycee Dugard (and her children, fathered by rape) -- you can see an overhead view of all the tents, tarps and sheds that Garrido's parole officer(s) and local police were too incompetent to bother checking, despite the fact that the guy was a convicted rapist. The overhead view in Google Maps has since been widely reported and blogged, so that's old news 4 days later.

But not this. Check out what another commenter noticed. When you're at that address in Google Maps, switch over to Street View mode. You'll see something chilling. Right in the 1554 Walnut Avenue driveway, you see a beat-up van with a rusty, trashed exterior, and what looks like a man behind the steering wheel. Follow the van. Pull your POV out of that driveway, moving away on Walnut toward Bown, and look backwards toward the house on Street View. For what I think is, like, 6 blocks or more, that guy in that van is following the black Google VW with cameras mounted on it. Was that Garrido in the van? Is it possible he saw the Google van with all the gear on top, freaked out about being surveilled, and followed it for a while with interest and fear?Maybe, maybe not. IANALEO (I am not a law enforcement officer) so I don't know. Maybe I'm imagining this, and I probably need to stop obsessing about this story. But it's the creepiest thing I've ever seen on Google Street View.

Photos: Here's the Flickr set I created of the sequence within Google Maps. The final shot, before the van veers away, is at the top of this post.

Previously on BB: The blog of Philip Garrido, serial rapist and kidnapper: "sound control" gadget hallucinations.


Source: Boing Boing | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:43 pm

NIST certifies three new soil materials

The U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:41 pm

Tiny I-SWARM robots

Over at BB Gadgets, Steven has the details on these I-SWARM robugs. They're 4 mm long, wide, and tall and solar-powered. Swarm Bots: Now W/Solar Power, Complex Behaviors!




Source: Boing Boing | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:31 pm

Hands-on with the Pentax K-7 at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix

One of the downsides to covering gadgets on a daily basis for as long as I have is the fact that I think everything is crap. Very few things excite me and anything that does usually ends up falling short of my expectations. It’s unfortunate, but once in a blue moon does something not only impress, but also exceed my expectations. Case in point, the Pentax K-7.

I had the pleasure of taking it along with a DA* 300mm f/4, DA 17-70mm f/4 and my trusty FA 50mm f/1.4 to the 2nd Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix race over the weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I knew the K-7 was a good camera and based on all the reviews I’d seen for it, I knew it was right up there with the Canikons. But I never imagined that it would make my jaw drop.

I really only used the 300mm telephoto and that sucker rocked my socks off. All photos were taken at f/5.6 and ISO 800. There’s a bit of smearing at ISO 800, but I pulled a rookie move and didn’t take my laptop with me on the trip. I would have changed my setup for the final day, but you live and learn. Anyway, the jewel of the entire weekend is the last image I’ve attached of Jorge Lorenzo on his Yamaha as he’s coming around the first turn in front of the BMW M banner. Of course, I really like the emotion I captured with the Tony Elias crash during qualifying on Saturday. He wasn’t a happy camper after that, but he still managed to qualify fourth and started on the second row. That crash also happened less than 100 yards from where I was shooting at turn 2.

Here are a handful of “test” shots that I thought you guys might want to check out. I’ll have a few more “hands-on” posts throughout the week.

Source: CrunchGear | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:22 pm

GSI Group Reports on Revenue Recognition Review, Preliminary Second Quarter 2009 Bookings, Operating Expenses and Cash Balance

BEDFORD, Mass., Aug. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GSI Group Inc. (Nasdaq: GSIG, the "Company") today announced preliminary results from its evaluation of sales transactions of its Precision Technology Segment during fiscal years 2004 through the first six months of 2008.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:22 pm

Grand Theft Auto Could Be Next App Store Controversy (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - Even as rumors spread about the iPhone coming to new carriers next year, Rockstar Games has announced plans to bring its blockbuster franchise to Apple's iPhone this fall. But will App Store reviewers approve the violent game?
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:11 pm

Samsung’s new app store ready for prime time on September 14

Section: Business News, Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones

Announced today, Samsung plans to make its new and “unique” app store available for all European users starting on September 14, 2009.  Samsung Omnia and the I8910 HD users living in Britain, France, and Italy will initially have access to the app store.  The 30 other European countries will receive the app store update shortly after.  In addition, the Omnia II and the OmniaLITE smartphones will have app store access in due time. 

Like most other app stores, it will be filled with pointless apps ranging from games, references, and quirky material, to some useful apps such as e-books and health related ones.  So far, Samsung has been able to create around 300 apps available for the initial release of the app store, but they have plans for 1700 additional apps by year’s end.  To achieve this goal, Samsung has already signed on with prominent companies such as Gameloft, Handmark, TAITO, Electronic Arts, Capcom, Paragon SW, Prompt, Com2us, Pearson Longman, Bokan Tech and Diotek.  Of course, they are still looking for developers to further facilitate app growth. 

The app store will begin as an on-device software, but Samsung plans to expand the app store to PCs, so users can download apps and sync via PC.  Until then, apps will most likely be purchased and installed through the use of 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity.  Furthermore, in order to install the app store on the Samsung smartphone, users will have to download and install the software from the SamsungApps website or by selecting the Application Download icon on the phone. 

While I don’t expect the Samsung app store entice users into purchasing a Samsung Omnia, simply because too many other phones have app stores already, it will definitely make the phone more attractive to possible buyers; assuming the apps are actually somewhat decent, that is.  No word on an American or Asian release at this time. 

Via [NewsWire]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:11 pm

LG Dazzles With 15-inch OLED TV

LG is set to show a 15-inch OLED TV that is striking in both its luminosity and design.

The TV is expected to be introduced at the IFA 2009 consumer electric show in Berlin in September and launched at the end of the year, says the website, OLED-Display.net.

LG hasn’t revealed the pricing for these beauties but it is not likely to come cheap. Sony’s 11-inch OLED TV costs $2500.

The new LG OLED display looks much like a photo frame with its controls and ports tucked in behind the screen. The screen can be wall mounted and tilted for best viewing angle.

OLED (organic light emitting diode)-based displays are taking off in a big way with companies such as Samsung and Nokia offering mobile phones with small OLED displays. The displays are attractive to consumers because they offer extremely vivid colors and high clarity. But so far the high cost of these screens has meant the technology hasn’t become widely used in consumer products.

The new LG 15-inch OLED TV could be a sign that these displays may now be ready to take the place of LCD and Plasma in HD TVs. With mass production and high sales volume, prices of these TVs could come down rapidly in the next few years. LG is also reportedly working on a 40-inch OLED TV.

More pictures of the LG OLED TV

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:08 pm

Video: Rickshaw-pulling child robot hopes to be a real boy someday

Who doesn’t want their very own a robotic rickshaw driver? Are they called drivers? Pullers?

Doesn’t matter. I just hope they’re working on a version of this thing that can pull a 200+ pound man. I’ll call him Gary and we’ll go everywhere together. Everywhere!

[via Gizmodo]

Source: CrunchGear | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:00 pm

SINA Reports Second Quarter 2009 Financial Results

SHANGHAI, Aug.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 31 Aug 2009 | 3:00 pm

Collagen deficit may cause osteoarthritis

U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 31 Aug 2009 | 2:57 pm

OS Performance — Snow Leopard, Windows 7, and Ubuntu 9.10

BeckySharp writes "With the nearly simultaneous release of Apple's Mac OS X 10.6 'Snow Leopard' (available right now) and Microsoft's Windows 7 (available Oct. 22), you get the inevitable debate: Which is the better operating system, Windows 7 or Snow Leopard? To help determine that, Computerworld's Preston Gralla put both operating systems through their paces, selected categories for a head-to-head competition, and then chose a winner in each category." Relatedly, Phoronix has posted Snow Leopard vs. Ubuntu 9.10 benchmarks. They ran tests from ray tracing to 3D gaming to compilation. Their tests show Ubuntu 9.10 winning a number of the tests, but there are some slowdowns in performance and still multiple wins in favor of Snow Leopard, so the end result is mixed.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 31 Aug 2009 | 2:57 pm

Scientists report how nerve networks form

Canadian scientists say they've found the interaction of a specific protein regulates the development of nerve connections in the visual system of tadpoles. The researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital said their findings help clarify how networks of nerve cell connections
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 31 Aug 2009 | 2:53 pm

BMW's New Vision: 155-MPH Plug-In Hybrid

This wild concept from BMW accelerates like an M3, sips gas like a Prius and is so wild you'd think Chris Bangle designed it.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 31 Aug 2009 | 2:53 pm

They Might Be Giants Keeps Pop Kid-Friendly With Smart 'Here Comes Science'

The duo continues its parade of fact-packed tunes that nourish brains as well as ears.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 31 Aug 2009 | 2:49 pm

Newegg’s Shell Shocker needs many exclamation points: Adobe Photoshop Elements for $49

Newegg has the most ridiculous names for its sales. For example, today we have SHELL SHOCKER, written in some aggressive-looking font, along with a picture of a broken shell, to drive home the theme. As for the deal itself, I spy Adobe Photoshop Elements for $49, a full 44 percent off the regular price.

That leads me to wonder: what are the piracy rates for Photoshop? I don’t know if I’ve seen a computer in the last five years without Photoshop installed, and I can guarantee that Random College Student or Friend of a Friend didn’t shell out the hundreds of dollars necessary to buy the application.

And to quote the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Whoa, shell shocked!

Source: CrunchGear | 31 Aug 2009 | 2:30 pm

For the Best Stargazing on Earth, Send Robots to Antarctica

The best place on the planet for looking into space has been computed from satellite data. The only problem is that it's 600 miles from the closest human settlement. And those humans are living at the American research station at the South Pole.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 31 Aug 2009 | 2:30 pm

Storyboard Podcast: Evan Ratliff Is 'Gone,' Wired Guide to Hoaxes

Go behind the scenes of two feature stories from the September issue of Wired magazine. Get the back story on Evan Ratliffe's disappearance and learn how to hoax your friends. What, can't take a joke?

Source: Wired Top Stories | 31 Aug 2009 | 2:14 pm

Beatles, Stones, Super Mario: big autumn for games (AP)

AP - With a little help from the Beatles, Super Mario and price cuts from Sony and Microsoft, the slumping video game industry is hoping for a sales resurrection this fall.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 31 Aug 2009 | 2:07 pm

Military Helmet Design Contributes To Brain Damage

BuzzSkyline writes "Improvements in helmets have helped modern soldiers survive bullets and blasts that would have killed them in past wars. But increasing numbers of soldiers are suffering long lasting brain damage from explosions, partly as a result of what appears to be a flaw in helmet designs. Although the blast itself may not accelerate the brain inside a soldier's head enough to cause injury, shockwaves that make it through the space between a helmet and a soldier's head can cause the skull to flex, leading to ripples in the skull that can create damaging pressures in the brain. Simulations that relied on 'code originally designed to simulate how a detonated weapon rattles a building or tank' could lead to new helmets that reduce the traumatic brain injuries that many soldiers suffer as a result of improvised explosive devices and other moderate-sized blasts. The research is due to be published in Physical Review Letters, but a pre-print of the entire article is currently available on the Physics ArXiv."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 31 Aug 2009 | 2:05 pm

New technology cuts some industrial odors

A North Carolina State University scientist says he's created a technology to eliminate foul odors and air pollutants emitted by chicken rendering facilities. Assistant Professor Praveen Kolar said his inexpensive treatment significantly mitigates odors from poultry rendering operations.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 31 Aug 2009 | 2:04 pm

Sprint makes their Touch Pro 2 official, shipping September 8th

Rumors had the launch of the Sprint-branded Touch Pro 2 pinned all over the calendar, but all signs as of late have pointed at a September 8th release. Sure enough, Sprint just sealed the deal: the Sprint Touch Pro 2 will be shipping in just over a week.

And just as we’d predicted, Sprint’s price matching T-Mobile here penny-for-penny: after contracts and rebates are said and done, your wallet will be $350 lighter.

Fun fact: For some reason, Sprint sent over the image you see up above as a massive (4800×3600) 8 megabyte JPEG. If anybody ever needs to print out billboard-sized pictures of the Touch Pro 2, let us know!

HTC Touch Pro2 from Sprint offers a sophisticated approach to business by combining the power of Sprint’s National Mobile Broadband Network (EV-DO Rev. A) with access to Windows Mobile 6.1 and the award-winning HTC TouchFlo™ 3D touch-screen experience. The modern design features a large 3.6-inch WVGA tilting touch screen and full sliding QWERTY keyboard, making keeping in contact with colleagues and customers easy and intuitive. Easily switch from e-mail to a call with one touch by simply selecting a friend or colleague’s picture right in your e-mail. Customers can create an instant office with Straight Talk’s noise-filtering dual speakers, and microphones create a professional-quality speakerphone. HTC Touch Pro2 also offers a smooth browsing experience powered by Opera, stereo Bluetooth, Facebook integration, 3.2 MP camera/camcorder with auto-focus, and a built-in 3.5 mm audio jack for music.
PRODUCTIVITY

Integrated HTC TouchFlo™3D user interface
Microsoft Windows® Mobile 6.1 Pro: Offering robust email, calendar and contacts support with over-the-air synchronization
International Quad-Band capability (CDMA, GSM)
Full HTML browser from Opera (v 9.5) and Internet Explorer
Straight Talk™ speakerphone Technology dual speakers, dual microphones and mute button for professional experience
3.2 megapixel camera/camcorder with auto-focus
Stereo Bluetooth® Wireless Technology
Built-in Wi-Fi
Available Sprint Navigation with turn-by-turn driving directions
Business Card Scanner automatically captures information from business cards with camera and converts to contacts

ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC

Facebook Integration - Add Facebook updates to your friends, family and co-workers contact information
Sprint TV®, Sprint Music StoreSM, multimedia messaging and streaming music
Sprint’s exclusive sports applications: NFL Mobile Live and NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile
Downloadable ringers, applications and games

SPECIFICATIONS

Dimensions: 4.56″ (L) x 2.33″ (W) x 0.68″ (D); 6.3 oz.
Main Display: 3.6” TFT (480 x 800 pixels) 262K colors
Internal Memory: 512MB ROM; 288 MB RAM
Standard removable 1500mAh Lithium (Li-on) battery; up to 4 hours continuous talk time

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 31 Aug 2009 | 1:54 pm

Computer Repair Flowchart

From Morris Rosenthal's Computer Repair with Diagnostic Flowcharts. Bonus: On his site, the charts are interactive, so clicking on a diamond jumps you to the text for each decision step.

After the jump, check out all the branches up close...

[via Tech DC]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 31 Aug 2009 | 1:40 pm

Nokia N900 camera quality samples uncovered

Want to see everything the Nokia N900 camera has to offer, months before release? Check Flickr. No, really.

After an officially sanctioned Nokia N900 sample picture made its way to TwitPic, TheNokiaBlog got to sleuthing. Deep down in the photo’s signature data (known as EXIF data) the N900 prototype was identifying itself with a specific, if abstract, model number: 007 001.

Flickr makes this data fairly visible, with each photo having “Taken with a [whatever camera model here].” A quick jump over to Google, a basic search query limited to Flickr.com - and bam, dozens and dozens of N900 camera samples.

The photos don’t look too shabby, especially considering that they’ve still got 2 months to brush up the firmware.

[Via IntoMobile]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 31 Aug 2009 | 1:31 pm

Unpatched Flaw Could Take Down Microsoft's IIS Server (PC World)

PC World - A hacker has posted code that could be used to take over a system running Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Services) server.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 31 Aug 2009 | 1:30 pm

Study may lead to new obesity therapies

U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 31 Aug 2009 | 1:22 pm

The Myths of Security

brothke writes "The Myths of Security: What the Computer Security Industry Doesn't Want You to Know is an interesting and thought-provoking book. Ultimately, the state of information security can be summed up in the book's final three sentences, in which John Viega writes that 'real, timely improvement is possible, but it requires people to care a lot more [about security] than they do. I'm not sure that's going to happen anytime soon. But I hope it does.'" Read on for the rest of Ben's review.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 31 Aug 2009 | 1:19 pm

Honey Bees Threatened By Cell Towers

A study published in India concluded that the electromagnetic waves emitted by mobile phone towers and cell phones can pose a threat to honey bees.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 31 Aug 2009 | 1:17 pm

Evernote to break even in 2011.  Can free win?

Section: Peripherals, Storage, Web, Web 2.0, Websites

The New York Times offers up the interesting tale of Evernote, the company that offers users an electronic shoebox of sorts to store data in.  The story looks into the company and how its “freemium” concept is about to turn the corner.

Evernote offers users, for free, a way to collect data, smart searching so you can find it fast and several different ways to access it.  It is quite a handy tool as many users can attest to.  Its business plan is pretty straight forward: offer something so awesome for free that a significant portion of users will want to upgrade to Premium account ($5/month or $45/year) for more uploading of data (to 500MB).  The company earned $79,000 in July and while they are not covering costs yet, they are on track to break even in January 20210.

“Free is not a loss leader,” he says. “If we can get a small percentage of users to pay we start to make money.” says Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote.  Get this: 4,500 people try the site every day.  That’s added up to 1.8 million users trying the service in the past 18 months.  That’s an amazing feat for a company with no advertising budget.

The company is also committed to remaining free, an impressive feat in today’s tough economic climate. 

Read [NYT]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 31 Aug 2009 | 1:02 pm

BLOG: Wildfires Threaten Mount Wilson Observatory

Fire crews race to prevent wildfires from overtaking the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 31 Aug 2009 | 1:00 pm

Dear Lord: GTA: Chinatown Wars coming to the iPhone this fall

Coming to an iPhone/iPod Touch near you this fall from the creators of the greatest game in history (Editors Note: Well, at least the greatest game in history involving hookers and drugs), Grand Theft Auto, is Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. I guess it’s going to be an exact port of the DS title. Are you excited?

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 31 Aug 2009 | 12:59 pm

Leaked Asus Roadmap Shows Netbook With Ion Graphics and Multi-touch Tablet

Asus, which set the netbooks market on fire with its Eee PCs, has some exciting new products coming up for release this year. Leaked slides of the company’s product roadmap for the U.S. show it is planning to introduce a new netbook with a 12-inch display and Nvidia’s Ion graphics chip and a tablet PC with multi-touch capability.

The new netbooks are expected to be priced from $300 to $500, says the Netbook News website.

Despite an overall slowdown in PC sales due to the weak economic environment, the netbook market has been going gangbusters. Sales of netbooks grew 40 percent in the second quarter, almost twice that of the growth rate of larger notebook PCs, says DisplaySearch, a research arm of the NPD Group.

Asus’ 1201N netbook is likely to have a 12-inch display, an Atom N270 processor, 2 GB RAM and 250 GB storage. It will also include Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capability and at $500 will be among the company’s premium products. The netbook is expected to be available in mid-October.

Around that time, Asus will also have a convertible tablet PC running Windows 7, says Netbook News. The $550 T91 convertible tablet is expected to come with a 32 GB solid state drive.

Check out a slide of the Asus Eee PC roadmap for details about upcoming netbook configurations and the company’s planned releases for the year.

[via Engadget]

Photo: Asus Eee PC (Axel Buhrmann/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 31 Aug 2009 | 12:54 pm

WATCH: Behind the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale

Explore how hurricanes are measured using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 31 Aug 2009 | 12:15 pm

Swarm Bots: Now W/Solar Power, Complex Behaviors!

I-SWARM robots are three-legged solar-powered droids which are less than 4 mm long, wide, tall. Two things to note:

1) I-SWARM stands for "intelligent small-world autonomous robots for micro-manipulation."

Physorg explains:

...a single microrobot by itself is a physically simple individual. But many robots communicating with each other using infrared sensors and interacting with their environment can form a group that is capable of establishing swarm intelligence to generate more complex behavior.

Like foraging...

2) it's now possible for them to be mass-manufactured.

Physorg explains:

The researchers, from institutes in Sweden, Spain, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, explain that their building approach marks a new paradigm of robot development in microrobotics. The technique involves integrating an entire robot — with communication, locomotion, energy storage, and electronics — in different modules on a single circuit board. In the past, the single-chip robot concept has presented significant limitations in design and manufacturing. However, instead of using solder to mount electrical components on a printed circuit board as in the conventional method, the researchers use conductive adhesive to attach the components to a double-sided flexible printed circuit board using surface mount technology. The circuit board is then folded to create a three-dimensional robot...

As this was the first test of this fabrication technique, the researchers noted that they encountered some fabrication problems. The single largest problem was to connect the naked integrated circuit to the flexible printed circuit board by the conductive adhesive. Also, some solar cells did not stick due to weak adhesion...

Many of these complications could likely be corrected, with the important result being that the microrobots can be assembled using a surface mounting machine, whereas prior robots have usually been manually assembled with a soldering iron...

In the future, the researchers hope to move from building academic prototypes to manufacturing the robot on a commercial basis, which is necessary for overcoming some of the technical issues. By mass-producing swarms of robots, the loss of some robotic units will be negligible in terms of cost, functionality, and time, yet still achieve a high level of performance. Currently, the researchers hope to find funding to reach these goals.

"Right now the robots need a new ASIC [application-specific integrated circuit] and some other redesigns to be able to work properly," Edqvist said. "We have, however, (in a not yet published article) shown that the robot would have been able to walk at 3.0 V (the solar cell delivers 3.6 V), so with new funding, they could be up and running and be produced in large numbers."

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

[via BotJunkie]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 31 Aug 2009 | 12:13 pm

Review: A shower with the SimpleHuman bamboo adjustable caddy

I recently switched out my dinky plastic Target two-tiered caddy for this $50 bamboo adjustable shower caddy made by simplehuman. They're both the type that hang over the showerhead, so it didn't seem like it would be a huge change &mdash but it turns out that a quality shower caddy is one of those things that I didn't know I needed until I got one. Now I'm not sure how I showered without it for so many years.

The coolest aspect by far is the adjustable shelves &mdash there are two shelves that are already generous in length and width, but the most space-saving thing about them is that they move up and down, left and right to accommodate awkward-shaped bottles. I was able to move all of those stray shampoo and body scrub bottles from the corners of the tub onto the caddy, which makes the tub feel a whole lot bigger and cleaner. The caddy also has little indentations on both sides for razors to hang from, a small soap tray, and a suction cup for stability with a hook in its center for hanging loofahs and sponges from. The shelves are made of bamboo with a soft brown finish, which gives a nice nature-y touch to my otherwise all-white bathroom.

The only minor issue I have with it right now is that the suction cup isn't as strong as it could be, so it sometimes slips off and the caddy leans to one side. Considering how overloaded it is with shower shit, though, I don't think this is such a big deal.

Product page [simplehuman]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 31 Aug 2009 | 12:00 pm

Infrared Eye to Help Search for Asteroids

An infrared telescope will soon be launched and will help locate asteroids near Earth.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 31 Aug 2009 | 12:00 pm

PSA: SoCal wildfires spread dangerously close to communications towers

Obvious disclaimer: All of us here on the Crunch team are at all times primarily concerned with the well-being of all our friends, family members, and the millions of unrelated noobs who call Southern California home. However, as a site dedicated to bringing you, our favorite people, as much relevant news re: the mobile world as possible, we think it’s also important to provide these quasi-public service announcements from time to time as well.

As of this morning, August 31, 2009, the incredibly dangerous wildfires burning in Los Angeles county have basically doubled in size, claiming 21 homes and 2 firefighters’ lives.

Currently, firefighters are doing all they can to quell the raging fires, which are also threatening cell phone and TV / radio broadcast towers, as well as a historic observatory, situated on Mt. Wilson. In order to try and save these vital communications towers and famed observatory, five engine crews were placed in the fire’s path last night. For more, please tune into your local news station for updates.

image via claimsmantoo

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 31 Aug 2009 | 11:46 am

Samsung Joins the App Store Party

Samsung will be the latest handset maker to get an app store of its own. The company announced plans to introduce a marketplace for games and other applications from developers that will launch Sept. 14.

The app store will initially be available in Europe. And only select models of Samsung phones, including the Omnia and I8910 HD devices can access the app store, says the company.

Samsung is late to the game. Since Apple introduced the iPhone App Store as a centralized clearing house for mobile applications in 2008, app stores have become an important part of the business strategy for most handset makers. BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion, Palm and Nokia have all launched app stores this year. Even cellphone carrier Verizon has been courting developers to create programs for its users.

The lack of Samsung’s app store’s availability in the U.S. is likely to dampen developer interest in its announcement. Earlier this month, the company announced the availability of a mobile widget software developer kit (SDK). The SDK would allow programmers to create widgets for different Samsung phones that use different operating systems, including the company’s own version. The company also plans to hold a widget developer camp in San Francisco from September 11-13.

For Samsung, that may not be enough to woo developers away from Apple, Palm and Android.

See Also:

• Verizon Promises Simpler, More Lucrative App Store for Developers …
• Want to Fool Apple’s App Store? Plant an Easter Egg
• Palm Pre App Store to Get Paid Apps in September
• Nokia Ovi App Store Faces Turbulent Start
• Happy Birthday App Store. It’s Been a Good Year
• Coder’s Half-Million-Dollar Baby Proves iPhone Gold Rush Is Still ..
• Report: Sony Readies PSP ‘App Store’

Photo:  (Aquila/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 31 Aug 2009 | 11:26 am

Dell Mini 3i gets shot up exhaustively

Man - Chinese infotainment portal Sina has really had things locked down lately when it comes to getting crystal clear shots of unreleased devices. They got a full hands on gallery with the LB40 Chocolate two days before it was announced, and now they’re following up with an exhaustive (as in 39 blur-free snaps) gallery of Dell’s Android-powered Mini 3i.

It looks like Dell’s done a bit of Android theme tweaking here, though it seems that its mostly just color changes and new widgets. We’ve torn through the gallery a few times in search of a 3.5mm jack (we have a bit of a thing for’em), to no avail - let us know if you spot one.

[Via EngadgetMobile]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 31 Aug 2009 | 11:20 am

Get caught up in tech with InterrupTech for August 31, 2009

Section: Apple, Communications, Cellphones, Computers, Laptops, Netbooks, Software / Applications, Gadgets / Other, Household, Lifestyle, Web, Web Apps, Websites, Google, Features, Podcasts, InterrupTech

Welcome back to InterrupTech where we catch you up on the most important tech stories.  This week there’s plenty to cover:

• Mac OS X Snow Leopard released
• Motorola’s upcoming Android event
• Sony’s Daily Edition eReader
• Nokia’s Booklet 3G
• Apple says they don’t know anything about the Google Voice app

The best part about the show?  Topics move quickly, but if you don’t like a topic, just skip it.  Keep an eye on that timer to help you along.  Enjoy the show.

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 31 Aug 2009 | 11:00 am

Apple iPod Announcement: Sept 9th

Apple's set to show off its latest iPod on September 9th @ 10am PST/1PM Eastern.

So what's up Jobs' sleeve?

[via Gizmodo]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 31 Aug 2009 | 10:59 am

Birdhouses made from modded roof tiles

These birdhouses were made by combining reclaimed terracotta roof tiles cut by water-jet and laser with wooden boards etched with Victorian facades. Usually, roof tiles aren't recycled, but a team of artists led by Japan's Tomoko Azumi wanted to change that.

[via Designboom]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 31 Aug 2009 | 10:51 am

Apple Confirms September iPod Event

Just as everyone anticipated, Apple has confirmed a Sept. 9 event taking place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The keynote (hopefully with Steve Jobs as emcee) kicks off at 10 a.m. PDT.

What will be announced? Read our previous story “What to Expect From Apple’s September iPod Event” for our predictions.

As always, Wired.com will provide live coverage of the event, so stay tuned. To keep up with the news as it unravels, follow @gadgetlab and @bxchen on Twitter.

See Also:

• How an Apple Tablet Could Pit iTunes Against Amazon.com
• Rumor: 10-Inch Apple Tablet Landing in Early 2010
• Jobs Back on the Job
• Apple Preparing iPod Touch With Camera, Microphone: Source …
• Rumor: iPods Nano and Touch to Gain Cameras
• Analytics Give Clues to Next-Gen iPod Touch
• Cameras in iPods. Game Over?

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 31 Aug 2009 | 10:43 am

Iron Age Butter Discovered in Ireland

Butter from the Iron Age, one of the earliest examples of preserved food, has been found.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 31 Aug 2009 | 10:30 am

Button: An iPhone Game That Just May Make You Better At Your Job

Fans of the television show Lost will remember that a big part of season 2 revolved around the pushing of a button. Every 108 minutes you had to enter numbers and push the button or the world might end, was the line of thought. Of course, as time went on, people started to wonder if it wasn't just some psychological experiment. A new iPhone game that involves pushing a button, is a psychological exercise, of sorts. Called Button, the game is about as simple as they come. There is a big button on the screen, and when it lights up, you push it. So why would anyone want to play that game? No, the world isn't going to end if you don't, but you will potentially miss out on some free prizes. And pushing the button may just help you get through some mundane tasks throughout your day as well.

Source: MobileCrunch | 31 Aug 2009 | 10:09 am

Google Translate now speaks 51 languages

We spend a lot of time thinking about how information travels around the globe. After all, there are Googlers living and working in dozens of countries — and we're pretty sure our products are used in many more. So we're familiar with the need to translate information across borders, and we've been working hard to build the technology to enable you to do just that. Today, we're excited to announce that we've added nine new languages to Google Translate: Afrikaans, Belarusian, Icelandic, Irish, Macedonian, Malay, Swahili, Welsh and Yiddish. That means that Google Translate now supports 51 languages and 2550 language pairs — including all 23 official EU languages.

The translation quality of these newest languages is still a little rough, but it will improve over time — and we're continuously working to improve quality for all languages supported by Google Translate. We're also working to integrate Google Translate into some of our other products; you can already translate emails within Gmail, webpages using Google Toolbar, RSS feeds in Google Reader and most recently, documents within Google Docs. For more information about Google Translate and these latest additions, check out our post on the Research Blog.

Posted by Jeff Chin, Product Manager
Source: The Official Google Blog | 31 Aug 2009 | 10:01 am

A Pair of Mystery Palms show up in Sprint’s inventory

Wuh oh - things just got real. Just last week, two mysterious Palm devices showed up in Verizon’s inventory: the P101, and the P121. The P100 is the Palm Pre, so it’s a pretty safe bet that the P101 is a VZW-branded version of the same handset. But the P121? It may well be the Palm Eos, but no one knows for sure.

Making things that much more complex, a Sprint version of the mysterious P121 has just popped up in their inventory system, going as the P120. Taking it one step even further, it’s joined by another model: the Palm C40. Now we’re looking at three separate model numbers on two carriers, none of which we’ve got any concrete information on. Yeesh.

[Via PreCentral]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 31 Aug 2009 | 9:52 am

Power On Self Test: Beech Wood Flashlight

[via gnr8]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 31 Aug 2009 | 9:23 am

UPS driver, wife charged with with stealing game consoles, $250,000 worth of packages

FROM GAMERTELL - Cape Coral police believe a delivery driver went Grand Theft UPS to the tune of $250,000 worth of consoles, guns, and other big ticket items.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 31 Aug 2009 | 9:20 am

How Snow Leopard Will Make Your Mac Faster

Some have called Snow Leopard little more than a But under its furry black and white skin, the $30 upgrade is worth it, and will reach into every corner of your Mac to speed things up. Surprisingly, Snow Leopard’s biggest improvements are to your hardware. Think of it as a tune-up for your machine.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 31 Aug 2009 | 9:05 am

Bing gets you bling?  Yep, earn money with Bing cashback

Section: Web, Websites

Microsoft is trying to get an edge over Google and one of the ways that they plan to do this is through Bing Cashback.  This program allows you to earn cash on select purchases made using the Bing search engine.  The items eligible for the cashback program will appear within Bing search results and sponsored ads.

To find items eligible for Bing Cashback, look for the Bing Cashback logo: a golden dollar sign on the face of a gold coin.  The amount of cash you will receive is advertised in percentages.  For instance, you may receive 5% cashback on a $500 laptop meaning you would receive $25 in your Bing account.  To receive alerts for cashback deals, you can sign up to follow the program on Twitter. 

The program is free to use and cash will appear in your account within 60 days.  You can receive the cash via Paypal, direct deposit or request a check to be mailed.  To sign up, you simply need a Windows Live ID.

Site: [Bing Cashback]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 31 Aug 2009 | 8:56 am

Space Shuttle Discovery Arrives at ISS

Space shuttle Discovery links up with the International Space Station.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 31 Aug 2009 | 8:10 am

Camping Coffee Maker is One More Thing to Carry

When I go camping, I take a saucepan and the biggest pack of coffee grounds I can stuff into my (or preferably sneak into someone else’s) pack. As long as it’s strong and plentiful, it doesn’t need to be pretty, and running a spoon around the edge of the pan drops the grounds to the bottom (it’s a great trick. Try it out).

For the soft-handed dilettante, though, something altogether fancier is in order. Enter Brunton’s new Flip-n-Drip. The three-part maker takes care of everything. Boil water in the base and then attach the “brew-chamber”, a section which holds the grounds. Flip and wait as the water percolates through, picking up aromatic, life giving flavors and oils as it goes.

The coffee ends up in an integrated cup, ready to drink. The whole thing is made from aluminum for lightness and comes with a carrying bag. I’ll stick with my ghetto method: uni-taskers are even worse in the field than they are in the kitchen. For you wusses who think otherwise, the Flip-n-Drip should be live on the site soon for $45.

Product page [Brunton via Oh Gizmo]

Press release [Doc Stoc]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 31 Aug 2009 | 8:00 am

L.A. Fires Seen From Space

A NASA satellite captures an image of the raging wildfires in Los Angeles County.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 31 Aug 2009 | 8:00 am

Faster, Bigger, Longer: How Snow Leopard Will Improve Your Hardware

Some are calling Apple’s latest version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, little more than a service pack. From a distance, it certainly looks that way: There’s no new eye candy, no big-ticket features and even the ballyhooed addition of support for Microsoft Exchange (ironically, even Windows doesn’t come with it) is, well, boring.

But under its furry black and white skin, the $30 upgrade is worth it, and will reach into every corner of your Mac to speed things up. Surprisingly, Snow Leopard’s biggest improvements are to your hardware. Think of it as a tune-up for your machine.

Longer Lasting Batteries

All of Apple’s built-in software, from Safari to iPhoto, and a lot of third-party applications launch faster, run with less memory and use up fewer CPU cycles. But don’t concern your pretty little heads with that. What it means is a cooler computer and therefore a less thirsty computer. The fans spin slower and juice in the battery isn’t used to scorch your lap.

The difference is striking. For instance, on my MacBook, Safari would run at around 25-35 percent of CPU, and spin up to around 100 percent+ under stress in 10.5 Leopard. Right now, under 10.6, it’s not even showing up in the Top 5 list, meaning it is idling at under 4 percent. This is with 12 tabs open. Make a Skype video call and the battery meter still goes down like a cheap … well, you know, but in everyday use, you’ll get extra battery time.

Bigger Hard Drive

Apple makes much of the reclamation of hard drive space when you install Snow Leopard, unusual in an OS upgrade on any platform. This is achieved by both installing less (printer drivers are downloaded on demand instead of loading gigabytes of them up front) and by optimizing and compressing code. But this alone can’t explain some people’s claims of 20 GB or more being freed up.

In fact, plug in any drive, not just the boot drive, and it will be bigger. How? Because Snow Leopard now reads drive sizes the way humans do, as chunks of 1000 kilobytes. Computers usually define a megabyte as 1024 kilobytes. Not much with a small drive, but when you get up to the terabyte drives we have today, that discrepancy rises to 10 percent, or 100 GB, as big as some whole drives.

Of course, your 500-GB drive is now listed as having 500 GB, but just because 10.6 reports sizes in base 10 instead of in base two doesn’t mean your drive has grown — it just looks like it has.

Faster Everything

The whole OS is snappier. Applications now load instantly instead of bouncing sleepily in the dock for a moment. Menus appear and disappear faster (although this is surely an interface timing trick). And when software vendors update their wares to take advantage of some new tech, slow, heavy applications should scream along.

There are two key features that allow this. Grand Central Dispatch and Open CL, which press into service parts of your Mac that normally spend a good deal of time loafing around, smoking cigarettes and catcalling girls, while the CPU does all the work. Grand Central Dispatch lets apps make use of the multicore processors in modern machines without having to write complex management code. A developer pretty much points its tasks at GCD and everything is taken care of. This speeds everything up.

Open CL does something similar for your graphics card, a device capable of astonishing speed when processing a gazillion tasks at a time. This is usually wasted on rendering graphics (of course), like using a Ferrari to drive to the corner store once a week. With Open CL, now it can be accessed for more mundane computing tasks, and promises a quantum leap in performance. Oh boy.

Tweaks

Along with these big, behind-the-curtain additions, there are plenty of little things that will make your life easier. For instance: when you plug your camera in, you want images to download automatically. Fine. But when you hook up an iPhone, you don’t want Image Capture to open. Every. Single. Time. Now, you can decide how the OS handles all of your cameras: Ignore the iPhone, send DSLR pictures to Lightroom and point-and-shoot pics to iPhoto.

Or Services, the stealth hit of 10.6, which takes the dusty, cluttered old submenu item and lets it add functions to your software. For instance, you can rotate or resize a photo right there in the Finder, or in iPhoto you can right click and tell it to address an e-mail to everybody in the photo (using face-recognition), or to pull up a Google map with all their addresses shown.

Sounds like magic, huh? It is, and you can download or write your own Services in the revamped Automator.

In short, the new OS has more than $30 worth of new features, it’s just that they don’t stick out at first. But think about this. What are the usual reasons to upgrade a computer? Bigger hard drive, faster processor, better battery life, right? For just $30, you get all this on a DVD.

Product page [Apple]

Photo: Tambako the Jaguar/Flickr

See Also:

• 6 Things You Need to Know About Mac OS X Snow Leopard
• Gallery: OS X Snow Leopard Unboxed
• Apple Euthanizes PowerPC Macs with Snow Leopard

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 31 Aug 2009 | 7:40 am

Mysterious Weather Pulses Help Predict Hurricanes

A mysterious weather pattern over the Indian Ocean may help hurricane prediction.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 31 Aug 2009 | 7:30 am

FlyScreen lands on Android (1,000 invites)

Israeli startup Cellogic, makers of the fine FlyScreen software, have spent the last 8 months or so developing a custom version for the Android platform to complement their currently Symbian-exclusive version. Today, the company is debuting the private alpha version of the Android-compatible program, and we have 1,000 invites to offer for those carrying around HTC phones running Android 1.5 (it works on the Samsung Galaxy too but is less optimized for that particular device).

So what’s FlyScreen?

Essentially, a collection of expandable widgets that comprise syndicated content (such as TechCrunch) and small apps that hook into Twitter, Facebook etc. You can use it to fetch the RSS feed of your favorite blogs, and thus be able to quickly access previews of published content, tag articles for later reading or share posts on Twitter and/or Facebook in just one click.

Nothing too out of the ordinary, but here’s the cool part: like with the Symbian version, Cellogic has managed to bolt FlyScreen on top of the lock screen, effectively turning a fairly useless screen that slows you down from accessing your favorite content and apps into a mini Web OS from which you can access your favorite blogs, the weather report, your Twitter account etc. almost instantly after turning on your phone.

Wanna give it a whirl? Simply head on over here and if you’re among the first 1,000 readers to enter the promo code “techcrunch” you’ll soon get an e-mail with a link that’ll take you to the appropriate download page.

Try it out and let us know what you think.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 31 Aug 2009 | 7:19 am

4 new webOS phones from Palm for $1?

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Email / IM, Smartphones, Mobile

Hot on the heels of the Palm Pre launch from Sprint, it looks like Palm has cooked up some new phones that we’ll see this fall.  And even better, we’ll see them on two networks: Verizon and Sprint.  From the looks of the part numbers, we’ll be in for a surprise.

From Verizon, the screen shot leak introduces a P101 which most expect to be a varient of the Palm Pre.  Way back when, Verizon said they would have the Palm Pre, so we can expect this is pretty close to real.  The other part number listed in the leak is P121.  To date, we have not seen anything regarding this part number, though many speculate this the Palm Eos.

Interestingly, a leak I found this morning shows Sprint with some new numbers as well.  In Sprint’s leak, we find the P100 for $549 (the current Palm Pre), the P120 for $1 and the C40 for $1.  Presumably the $1 is just a place holder, but we can dream.  PreCentral suggests the P1xx is the basic Palm Pre, the P12xx is an slightly upgraded (memory?) version, and the C40 is the Centro replacement Eos/Pixie. 

This logic suggests Verizon will have 2 versions of the Pre for launch?  Could they be following AT&T’s logic in launching the iPhone in 8GB and 16GB?  Or is two distinct phones?  We expect all these phones to run the new Palm webOS.  This is their franchise OS now and these phones will aim at bringing its goodness to more users.  More as this develops.

Read [PreCentral]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 31 Aug 2009 | 7:01 am

Microsoft brings back the Ultimate Steal, students can get Office 2007 Ultimate for $59.95

Section: Computers, Software / Applications

Once again Microsoft has come back with the Ultimate Steal for Office Ultimate 2007.  The offer will allow current students (of a registered school) that have a valid .edu email address to pick up a copy of Office Ultimate 2007 for just $59.95.

For the purpose of this offer, the copy of Office Ultimate 2007 that you would be purchasing is a digital download, however you can also add a backup (a physical copy on DVD to be mailed) for an additional $13.

In terms of apps, this version comes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Groove, Publisher, Access, and InfoPath.

Of course, while $60 is a nice price as compared to the usual (approx) $680, it is still $60 and may be more expensive than a college student can afford—if that is the case, you can always check out OpenOffice which is a free download.

Read [Microsoft The Ultimate Steal]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 31 Aug 2009 | 5:10 am