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Apple releases Snow Leopard update - Mac OS X 10.6.1 - TopNews United States
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 11 Sep 2009 | 4:27 am France Telecom staff stage protests over wave of suicidesFrance Telecom workers staged protests Thursday over a wave of a suicides that union leaders blame on the company's failure to help staff deal with the stress from restructuring. Total Telecom reports...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 11 Sep 2009 | 4:23 am Google to the rescue?Yesterday I tweeted about Google’s offer to bring its checkout to enable micropayments for newspapers: “A cynical act, I’d say: a tool no one uses used to coopt foes on a useless quest...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 11 Sep 2009 | 4:21 am Nirvana members dismayed by 'Guitar Hero 5' (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 11 Sep 2009 | 4:10 am Justice Dept. to Review Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Further - New York Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 11 Sep 2009 | 4:02 am Twitter Gives Spam Apps a Thumbs Down, Ads a "Maybe" [MediaMemo]
Twitter Kremlinologists are currently scouring Stone’s delphic statement, contained in a blog post yesterday announcing changes to the company’s Terms of Service. My guess: Twitter would like to leave the door open for advertising. One day. Maybe. Possibly. You never know. Or, as the company notes within the new TOS itself: “We’re leaving the door open for exploration in this area but we don’t have anything to announce.” OK. So maybe not quite so mysterious. The rest of the new TOS seems similarly uneventful, and given that Twitter reserves the right to change any of it at any time — that’s boilerplate language for these things — methinks it’s hard to get worked up about any of this. It’s certainly hard to see a Facebook-style flareup in the works. Anyway, if you want to go really, really deep here, go nuts: Twitter has helpfully kept a copy of its old TOS up on the site (nice catch, ReadWriteWeb). So you can compare and contrast to your heart’s content. One change that might actually be a tiny bit meaningful for run-of-the-mill users comes not from the TOS itself, but from Twitter’s new rules for developers that tap into its datastream to create their own Twitter-powered services. The relevant language: “Get each user’s consent before sending Tweets or other messages on their behalf. A user authenticating with your application does not constitute consent to send a message.” If you’ve ever played with a few Twitter apps, you know what Stone and company are talking about here: You try out some app, give it your account name and password, and the next thing you know it’s sent out a Tweet, in your name, that you didn’t approve. It usually says something along the lines of “I’m using Fantasticapp and it’s changed my life. You should, too!” Embarrassing, and/or annoying, but not the end of the world, obviously. And you might even put up with that kind of slippery behavior in another service. But Twitter is both so personal and so public that it needs to be explicit about banning this stuff. Source: All Things Digital | 11 Sep 2009 | 4:00 am Motorola unveils Cliq, the Android-powered smartphone (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:46 am Tokyo’s Gundam statue is history, but you can now buy a 1/60 replica
The giant Gundam statue that has been protecting Tokyo for a couple of months is gone, but now you have the chance to bring back memories in the form of a smaller version you can put in your living room. The original 1/1 statue stood 20m tall, while the replica [JP] is 1/60th of that size (30cm) and weighs 4kg.
The little statue is being offered in Japan only and is exclusively sold through Yahoo Japan, the country’s biggest website. Shipping starts in spring next year, but pre-orders can be placed between today and December 31st. But for $900 (plus shipping), my guess is only hardcore fans will buy the so-called RX-78-2 Gundam Ver.G30th.
Contact Rinkya if you are one of those people but live outside Japan. They even wrote a dedicated blog post about the replica.
Source: Gizmodo | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:40 am UPDATE 1-New data shows promise of German Merck's MS drug* 43-44 pct of patients show no disease activity after 2 yrsSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:27 am A Month With Honl Flash Light Modifiers
After we cheekily offered a how-to on making knock-offs of Dave Honl’s small-flash light modifiers, The Company got in touch. And surprise, they didn’t want to break our knees, or even our fingers. Instead, the folks sent over one of everything so we could try them out and compare to our rather excellent home-made solutions. The Honl gear is a set of light-shaping tools for speedlights. Off-camera, small-light flash is a section of the camera market that has taken off in the last couple of years, thanks in part to the Strobist community and also, presumably, because the instant-replay on our digital cameras takes away the terrifying uncertainties of using lights too fast to really see. This popularity in turn has brought a demand for add-ons, but these have historically been for studio lights, or crazy expensive. The Honl range isn’t dirt cheap, but in the realms of photo gear it is a steal. We checked out a gobo (or go-between, which blocks part of the light), a snoot (a fabric tube which lets you point light in a very tight beam), a speed grid (another directional tool which resembles a wad of plastic drinking straws in a box) and a set of color correcting filters. All of these are attached to the flash unit with Velcro, and here is the heart of the system: the Speed Strap, a semi-rubberized strap which wraps around the head and offers soft fuzzy velcro to the hard hooks on the accessories. It works great. Above you see a picture taken as the sun was going down using a Nikon SB900 sitting on the ground and fired wirelessly using the Nikon D700’s built-in flash. The light is colored using a half CTO gel (CTO stands for color temperature orange — it warms up the flash light). The gels supplied come pre-cut and have velcro on two edges. When the sun is sinking you have to work fast and although the SB900 comes with colored gels and a holder, they’re all too fiddly. With the Honl gear you stick and rip, and it’s fast enough to keep up. In fact, if you leave the straps on the flashes, you pretty much don’t need to think about using the gear, which is the goal of any technology. The snoots, gobos and grids are all perfectly competent. In fact, they’re probably no better at shaping light than what you could make yourself. The twist is that they are so reasonably priced that most people won’t bother with a trip to the hardware store. They are also sturdy. I’m no pro photographer, but neither do I pamper my gear. The review units are looking a little worn, but are holding up fine. The real winner though, is the Speed Strap. A simple idea that makes swapping out light modifiers a breeze. Can you make your own? Hell yeah. We did, and we love the results. But if you just can’t be bothered, or if you want to just buy something that’ll work, the Honl gear will do the trick. Product page [Honl] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:19 am Western Digital Portable Drives Now Smaller (and Bigger)
Western Digital’s My Passport portable hard drives have long hit the sweet spot in the price/size/looks triumvirate. Cheap, small, and plain but good-looking, I have a few around as backups and for general storage. With the latest update, WD has managed not only to squeeze in more bytes (one whole terabyte) to the USB-powered enclosure, it has actually managed to shrink the box and at the same time smooth off some of the sharper corners. This has been achieved by tossing the SATA to USB interface and just hooking the drive right into USB. Another bonus, one increasingly useful with these portable drives, is hardware encryption, which will still keep things safe if the drive is pulled and put into a different box. The 1TB Passport Essential SE will cost $250 when it makes it into stores, and the basic 320GB My Passport Essential will be $100. Product page [Western Digital]
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:19 am Secret folder automatically adds content to iTunes
If you drop an MP3 into there they get sucked into iTunes and disappear immediately, like a magic box. This would allow you to record your own music, for example, and add it to iTunes when you mix down and/or drag all your recently downloaded tunes straight into iTunes. Apple didn’t quite publicize this feature for obvious reasons. Maybe this is the folder where they stuck the part of the presentation on the iPod touch with camera?
Source: CrunchGear | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:18 am Facebook Releases Open Source Web ServerDan Jones writes "Ah the irony. The week Facebook is being asked to cough up source code to satisfy an alleged patent infringement, the company releases an open source Web server. The Web server framework that Facebook will offer as open source is called Tornado, was written in the Python language and is designed for quickly processing thousands of simultaneous connections. Tornado is a core piece of infrastructure that powers FriendFeed's real-time functionality, which Facebook maintains. While Tornado is similar to existing Web-frameworks in Python, it focuses on speed and handling large amounts of simultaneous traffic."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:08 am UPDATE 1-Rockhopper to farm out licence to third party energy coSept 11 (Reuters) - Oil and gas explorer Rockhopper Exploration Plc said on Friday that it agreed on the terms for a farm-in of one of its licences with a third party energy company.Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:05 am Japan sends first cargo spacecraft to ISSJapan on Friday launched its first unmanned cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station, aiming for a share of space transport after the retirement of the US space shuttle fleet...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:01 am ViXS(R) Systems Launches the First Single Chip Multimedia System-on-Chip with the capability of Dual HD Media Processing at IBC 2009Demonstration of Leading-edge Consumer Products based on XCode(R) video processing TORONTO, Sept.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:00 am ViXS(R) XCode(R) 3000 Series Provide Mobile Phone Video Support in Sharp's Latest Blu-Ray PVR/RecordersLatest Docomo and SoftBank mobile phones link to Sharp AQUOS Blu-Ray PVR/Recorders TORONTO, Sept.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:00 am Entropic Communications, ViXS Systems Inc. collaborate to develop MoCA enabled, Network Attached Storage reference designTechnology partnership to deliver high-performance, cost-effective video storage and delivery solution to meet growing home entertainment networking demands TORONTO, Sept.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:00 am BPC says institutional investors buy stake, shrs upSept 11 (Reuters) - British oil company BPC Ltd said a number of "well-known" institutional investors bought over 272 million shares of the company after RAB Special Situations and Edgewater Estates cut...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 11 Sep 2009 | 2:57 am Video: How a Construction Crane is ErectedYou, Gadget Lab reader, love cranes. Of course you do — they can either rear majestically into the sky, balancing on a single flamingo-like leg, or offer the satisfaction of seeing a badly parked BMW lifted and towed off to an expensive overnight facility. But unless you have stopped to watch a construction crane under, well, construction, you probably wonder just how the tall, slim structure gets up there in the first place. The answer is, of course, another crane, which puts us into a chicken and egg situation. The above video will answer your questions (warning: hit mute before pressing play). There are a few tricks. The first is that the crane is actually rather short when the boom is put on, short enough that hanging one side before the other doesn’t tip the whole thing over. The second is that the huge concrete counter weights aren’t added until there is some weight to counter (obvious, really, when you think about it). And third, there is a lift system for adding vertical sections, meaning that the crane can be raised in place as the building grows. The video was put onto YouTube by San Marco Cranes, an Italian company that sells around the world, and which also has a fascinating video demo of a self-erecting crane on its Canadian site. Also, did you know that a self-erecting crane costs $10,000 a month to rent, before adding any other costs? Were you aware of it? Tower Crane Assembly with Climber Demo [YouTube via Noquedanblogs]
Source: Gizmodo | 11 Sep 2009 | 2:30 am Nike Planning iPod Compatible Heart Rate Monitor
The wording is somewhat ambiguous, but it looks like Nike may be about to sell a heart rate monitor which hooks up to the latest (fifth generation) iPod Nano. Apple Insider did some digging inside the new Nike+ iPod User Guide and found possible references to the new hardware. Here’s the text, pasted from the pdf:
As you can see, the description “iPod Compatible Heart Rate Monitor” could mean any third party add-on, but Apple Insider also got a tip-off that the monitor was “initially expected to launch alongside the next-generation iPod nano.” We’re not surprised. That the Nano no longer needs the Nike+ dongle to work left a certain gap in Nike’s product lineup that a heart rate counter would fill, and I’m sure our resident fitness-freak and editor Dylan Tweney will check it out when it becomes available. Me? Nah. I’ll be raising my heart rate the same way my family has raised their heart rates for generations: Whiskey and porn. Nike plans iPod nano-compatible heart rate monitor [Apple Insider]
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 11 Sep 2009 | 2:19 am $70 Gets You Unlimited Data, Texts And Calls To Mobile Phones On SprintBy Chris Scott Barr It’s hard to say who is the best wireless provider here in the US. I’ve used a few, and my vote would be for Sprint. Sure, I use AT&T right now, but that’s because...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 11 Sep 2009 | 2:12 am Another iPod, Another iPod Case
Like death and taxes, there is “one more thing” in this world which is absolutely, utterly certain: after a new iPod is announced, my inbox fills with pitches for new iPod cases. And so, as liquor-spiked coffee follows a delicious dessert, here comes a case. And whose case got pulled out of the hat this time? It’s Scosche’s polycarbonate and rubber kickBACK n5, which wins partially because of its absurd name, and partially because of its absurd design. Now, with its tiny screen, the correct way to watch video on a Nano is to hold it mere centimeters from your eyes and squint. Should you have a small telescope about your person, you could prop it up on the desk before you for more comfortable viewing, and the kickBACK will let you do just that, for it has a “kick” stand on the BACK (such catchy nomenclature). It also has “integrated traction nubs”, something so wonderfully named that we almost don’t care that they “provide grip on flat surfaces”. And don’t forget the other, hidden feature: the kickBACK n5 will add several fractions of an inch to the already slightly fatter Nano. Wonderful, and worth the $25 all by itself. Product page [Scosche. Thanks, Valerie]
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:46 am Twitter's New Terms of ServiceTwitter publishes new terms of service -- you own your tweets & Twitter can show you ads. [via Publish2.com]Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:43 am Logitech Announces Wireless Drum Controller For Xbox 360By Chris Scott Barr What’s this, more stuff from E3? Yes, yes, embargos really are no fun. I assure you that this is the last of my coverage from this year’s show (at least I think it is)...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:35 am Powercurl Cord-Winder Makes Magsafe Heatsafe
If you’re one of those neat-freaks who wraps cords, then may we present to you the Powercurl, a fetching custard-colored, clip-on plastic cord-wrap for Apple’s magsafe power adapters. The original adapters do have a pair of flip-out prongs so you can curl up the smaller of the cables, but the truly obsessive will appreciate the ability to wrap the mains extension, too, as well as the clip to stop it unwinding. Those of you who gently fold rather than maniacally wrap (in other words, the people whose cords last for more than a few days without internal snaps and breakages) will also find something to love: The Powercurl lifts the red-hot plastic brick off the floor, mattress or sofa and lets a little air circulate around it. For anyone who, like me, works from bed, this is a boon. Best of all, the Powercurl is cheap. $7.25 cheap, which means spinning your own is pointless. As with all of Quirky’s products, it was designed by the Quirky community and when enough orders are signed up, the production lines will begin to hum and churn out the goods. Fun fact: The Powercurl went from idea to final design in just 24 hours. Product page [Quirky]
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:30 am Clickatell NHS Healthcare Case StudyClickatell's text messaging service is used by more than 8,000 business customers across the globe. Below is one example of how Clickatell has been used successfully for UK's National Health Service...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:26 am SimulScribe Signs Exclusive $17 Million Partnership Agreement With Ditech Networks
SimulScribe, the scrappy voicemail transcription company, didn’t get acquired exactly, but it just signed an exclusive partnership agreement with Ditech Networks that could be worth as much as $17 million. The deal is $7 million in cash up front with a $10 million earnout, and gives Ditech teh exclusive rights to resell SimulScribe’s speech-to-text transcription services on a wholesale basis to telephone companies and developers. SimulScribe CEO James Siminoff will become the chief strategy officer of Ditech, and his co-founder Mark Dillon will also work there. It is a decent outcome for a startup that raised only $5.7 million and is already profitable on sales of about $4 million, according to SimulScribe CEO James Siminoff. But competition is intense, with Spinvox on the one hand, which has raised an insane $200 million, and Nuance on the other, the speech-recognition behemoth which is nearing $1 billion in sales. SimulScribe offers its own voicemail-to-text service called PhoneTag, which has about 20,000 paying subscribers, and reaches about 80,000 more subscribers through wholesale partnershps with Vonage and British Telecom. The big play is getting those deals with carriers, but with only 7 employees, SimulScribe didn’t have the resources or manpower to go after those deals. Ditech already has equipment sitting in nearly every major carrier’s network. It sells voice processing software that minimizes background noise on calls to the telephone companies. Adding a new service is a software upgrade. Ditech will resell SimulScribe’s service to its existing telephone carrier customers. The companies will also combine their two technologies for more accurate transcriptions. Background noise is one of the biggest contributors to auto-transcription mistakes Simulscribe still supplements its transcriptions with humans, but the more accurate the auto-generated text is, the easier it is to fix. If major telephone companies start adopting voicemail transcription services, it could quickly grow from what looks like it might be a $100 million market this year to a $1 billion million market. A lot of this adoption is being driven by a fear of Google, or more specifically Google Voice. Converting voicemails to emails is one of the great features of Google Voice, but its auto-transcription still needs a lot of work. Google Voice is using a homegrown speech recognition system developed for the GOOG-411 free directory information service (which is why it is not so great for conversational speech). But at least Google Voice is waking up carriers to the fact that the only thing voicemail is good for these days is converting it into emails so you don’t have to listen to them. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors TechCrunch50 Conference 2009: September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
Source: TechCrunch | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:20 am SimulScribe Signs Exclusive $17 Million Partnership Agreement With Ditech NetworksSimulScribe, the scrappy voicemail transcription company, didn't get acquired exactly, but it just signed an exclusive partnership agreement with Ditech Networks that could be worth as much as $17 million...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:20 am New World Notes Fashion Design Contest Deadline Extended To Saturday Noon SLT!If you're interested in submitting Skin/Hair, Accessories, and Outfit designs for the New World Notes RMB Fashion contest, you still can -- judge Iris Ophelia has extended it to this Saturday at Noon SLT...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:18 am Facebook strips down to Lite site - BBC News
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:15 am Yahoo's Bartz (#8), Facebook's Sandberg (#22), Google's Mayer (#44) and More Techies Makes Fortune's 50 Most Powerful Women List [BoomTown]
Fortune magazine–which never met a list it did not like to make–had a solid group of women tech types on its “50 Most Powerful Women 2009″ roster, the annual survey that it posted yesterday. Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz made the top ten this year, clocking in at #8. Other women geek types on the list–many from Silicon Valley–include: Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox (XRX) at #9; IBM (IBM) Global Sales and Distribution SVP Ginni Rometty at #11; Oracle (ORCL) President Safra Catz at #12; Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) Technology Solutions Group EVP Ann Livermore at #13; Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg at #22; Charlene Begley, president and CEO, GE (GE) Enterprise Solutions; Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay (EBAY) Marketplaces at #40; HP CFO Cathie Lesjack at #42; and, finally, Google (GOOG) Search Products and User Experience VP Marissa Mayer at #44. The conference associated with the Fortune issue, spearheaded by Pattie Sellers, will take place next week, starting Monday, in Carlsbad, Ca. Fortune is part of Time Inc., which is owned by Time Warner (TWX). Bartz, Sandberg and others will be interviewed onstage, along with Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett. Will BoomTown be in attendance, with my trusty Flip digital video at the ready? Yes, indeedy, so the lady geeks should beware–and I am talking to you, Sandberg! Until then, here’s a cable television interview that Bartz did today on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” Clocking in at almost 12 minutes, it’s classic Carol, with sassy catchphrases and jokes about being a really tough lady, but with little new news–except her saying that she would have sold to Microsoft (MSFT) when it was offering $33 a share way back when, because she is not “stupid.” Indeed not. Here’s the video:
Source: All Things Digital | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:15 am First Look: Motorola’s new Android-powered CLIQ + MOTOBLUR
The highly anticipated Motorola announcement has come and gone. After all the dust cleared, the world of Android handsets had grown by one – Motorola’s first Android-powered smartphone, CLIQ. We tried to get some time with the new MotoDroid following the presentation, but ended up grabbing some boxed lunches instead. Luckily, MOTO was kind enough to invite us over to its swanky after party @ the SF MOMA for a little hands-on love. Right off the bat, we were impressed with the build quality of the Cliq. The handset has a solid, weighty feel to it, the landscape QWERTY keyboard slides out with confidence and the buttons have good travel, there is a 3.5 mm jack (a must), and the display is covered in glass making it more robust and easier to swipe and do other touch gestures. The device is also more slender than it appears. As for MOTOBLUR, we were very pleased with how quickly it seemed to operate, especially considering that the phone shares many of the same guts as some of its less snappy Android cousins. Motorola, much like Palm with WebOS, has clearly made a great effort to improve the user experience through its implementation of MOTOBLUR. The UI blends many of the hottest social tools (Facebook, Twitter, Last.FM, etc) in a manageable and useful mobile interface. That’s really it for now, until we get to spend more time putting the Cliq through its paces. In the meantime, enjoy some more hands-on photos below as well as the video which provides some more insight into the new MOTOBLUR + Cliq “experience.” Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Source: MobileCrunch | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:07 am Can a Mere Domain Name be Defamation? Glenn Beck Says Yes [Voices]By Nate Anderson, Senior Editor, Ars Technica Hugely popular conservative talker Glenn Beck has sicced his lawyers on a satirical website that’s been up for a week, but the attorneys may have a point on this one. The site, called glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com, toes the line on defamation—and may have stepped across it. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:05 am Listening to Radio on the Web? That’s So Last Year [Voices]By Claire Cain Miller, Staff Writer, New York Times The next generation of radio listeners might not remember the olden days of scrolling through stations by turning a knob on a car or home stereo. Instead, the radio they listen to could very well be on their mobile phones. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:04 am Courtney Love to Sue Over Kurt Cobain Guitar Hero Appearance [Voices]By Sean Michaels, Reporter, guardian.co.uk Courtney Love plans to take legal action over the representation of her late husband in Guitar Hero 5. Love launched a Twitter tirade, insisting that she never agreed to Kurt Cobain’s final appearance in the video game – let alone the functionality that lets him lip-sync to Bon Jovi. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:03 am Forget the iTunes LP, Apps Are the New Album [Voices]By Sarah Perez, Blogger, ReadWriteWeb The “iTunes LP” is just one of the many new iTunes features revealed yesterday during Apple’s announcement at their “It’s Only Rock and Roll”-themed event. But the iTunes LP, unlike the other new features which get to exist as simple and fun enhancements in iTunes 9, has a heavy burden on its shoulders. Source: All Things Digital | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:02 am Lance Armstrong Visits Griffith Park [Voices]By Ari B. Bloomekatz, Reporter, LA Times “Hey LA – get out of your cars and get on your bikes. Time to ride. 7:30 tomorrow am. Griffith Park, LA Zoo parking lot. See you there..” Lance Armstrong wrote Wednesday on Twitter. The message spread quickly, and when 19-year-old Richard Ponce of Silver Lake saw it online, he immediately got on the phone and called his friends to join. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:01 am Daily Crunch: Pigeon’s Delivery Service Edition
Windows 7 to bring more happy says latest ad
Source: CrunchGear | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:00 am Motorola Launches Advanced Multi-Format Encoding Platform for 1080P ContentAMSTERDAM, Sept. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IBC 2009 -- Motorola, Inc.'s Home and Networks Mobility business (NYSE: MOT) today revealed its next generation encoding platform.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:00 am DVI, USB and Audio With Infinite Possibilities?CAMBRIDGE, England and AMSTERDAM, September 11 /PRNewswire/ -- - New AdderLink Infinity Challenges Traditional KVM Approaches Adder (http://www.adder.com/welcome.aspx), the KVM experts will showcase the new AdderLink Infinity at the International Broadcast Convention, IBC (Hall 7, Stand B33) on Sept.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:00 am AIM Brings Your Lifestream To The iPhoneA few months ago AOL found a way to fuse AIM, its popular instant messenger client, with the broader messaging systems like Facebook and Twitter that have begun increasingly important on the web. AIM...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 11 Sep 2009 | 12:52 am AIM Brings Your Lifestream To The iPhone
The new iPhone app will let you monitor updates from all the services supported by the desktop version of Lifestream. The app also lets you simultaneously post your AIM status updates to Twitter and Facebook — while the Lifestream was read-only until recently (you couldn’t post messages to services other than AIM), the service recently enabled this functionality. Other new additions to the app include photo uploading, photo viewing on the Lifestream, and various UI improvements. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009: September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
Source: Gizmodo | 11 Sep 2009 | 12:45 am Vegemite's stupid and clueless linking policyAnaglyph sez, "I was going to do a post on my blog about Kraft's new Vegemite product and I visited their official site to find that before you can get access you're forced to agree to one of the the stupidest legal disclaimers I've ever read on the net. To whit: they expressly forbid anyone to link to them!"You may access and display pages of the Site on a computer or a monitor, and print out for your personal use any whole page or pages of this Site. All other use, copying or reproduction of any part of this Site is prohibited (save to the extent permitted by law). Without limiting the foregoing, no part of this Site may be reproduced on any other internet site, and you are not authorised to redistribute or sell the material or reverse engineer, disassemble, or otherwise convert it to any other form that people can use. You are also prohibited from linking the Site to another website in any way whatsoever. [emphasis added]This is like saying "You are prohibited from giving people directions to the Kraft factory." Putting a link to a URL on your site doesn't require permission of the linkee. You can say it all you want, but it doesn't make it true. Still, goes to show you that all the legendary brilliance and efficiency of the consumer packaged goods giants is vastly overrated -- what a pack of morons. Allow me to remind you of Boing Boing's superior linking policy. Terms of Use, Disclaimer and Copyright Notice (Thanks, Anaglyph!
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 11 Sep 2009 | 12:26 am iPharro Media Partners with Signiant - Joins the Signiant Integrated Product ProgramAMSTERDAM, September 11 /PRNewswire/ -- iPharro Media (http://www.ipharro.com), the German-based leader in video fingerprinting content identification solutions, announced today that it has become a member of the Signiant (http://www.signiant.com) Integrated Product Program (SIPP). The iPharro MediaSeeker fingerprinting technology is a perfect complement to the Signiant Content Distribution Management (CDM) software.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 11 Sep 2009 | 12:00 am Spotify Retreats To Invite-Only In UKBarence writes "Music streaming service Spotify has been forced to enact tight restrictions on new members in the UK, and revert back to an invite-only system. The company has decided to take drastic action following the release of its iPhone and Android apps earlier this week, which have created 'huge demand in the UK,' according to Spotify. People who don't want to put their hand in their pocket and don't have any friends can sign up to a waiting list instead."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 10 Sep 2009 | 11:55 pm Nation Digest: Weather Delays Landing of Space Shuttle Discovery - Washington Post
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 10 Sep 2009 | 11:25 pm Treatment of intersexed African athlete appalling South African athlete Caster Semenya (shown here holding a gold medal she's just won) has been the subject of gender-related cheating allegations. She was forced to take a gender test (perhaps more accurately, a "sex test"), and the results have been released: Semenya is intersexed. For context: we're not just talking about deeply personal medical news becoming very public world news, we're talking about that happening before the person involved was informed or counseled on the results. And, she had no option to keep the very private information private. Mainstream news coverage, within South Africa and worldwide, has reflected ignorance, and worse. Here's a snip from a news article that describes her with the derogatory term "hermaphrodite": The athletics governing body is also expected to advise her to have surgery to fix the potentially deadly condition, the paper reported. The IAAF would not comment on the results that have yet to be released.You stay classy, New York Daily News. Blogger Pam of Pam's House Blend, where I'm reading this news, says, Someone please tell me how the f*ck her natural condition -- which is that of a superb physical athlete -- is deadly? Thankfully Semenya wants no part of this.Update: Some BB commenters have pointed out that the "potentially deadly condition" of which they they speak may be the belief that having male sexual organs "embedded" within the body means elevated cancer risk in intersexed people. Another BB commenter who says they're an intersexed person argues the purported risk is a ruse to pressure intersexed people towards altering themselves through surgery. Semenya, who identifies as female, says, "God made me the way I am and I accept myself. I am who I am and I'm proud of myself," she told [South Africa's] You Magazine, which ran a photo spread. "I don't want to talk about the tests. I'm not even thinking about them."Runner Caster Semenya takes gender test -- she is intersexed; MSM reporting is offensive (pamshouseblend.com, via Kate Bornstein) Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2009 | 11:21 pm Get thee to the Snow Leopard updatery: 10.6.1 is here already
Full fix list:
Source: CrunchGear | 10 Sep 2009 | 11:13 pm Video game sales fell 16% in August from a year earlier - Los Angeles Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 10 Sep 2009 | 11:08 pm Randall Munroe reading to benefit EFF, San Francisco, Sept 21Randall Munroe, creator of the awesome XKCD webcomic, is coming to San Francisco to give a benefit appearance and reading for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Now that sounds like a kick-ass evening.EFF's Geek Reading: xkcd Webcomic Author Randall Munroe Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2009 | 11:02 pm The Auriga Network Expands Global Satellite IP Broadcast Network in Middle East Via iDirect PlatformHERNDON, Va., Sept. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- VT iDirect, Inc. (iDirect), a company of VT Systems Inc (VT Systems), today announced that The Auriga Network has leveraged its satellite communications platform to expand its IP broadcasting service to newscasters in the Middle East.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Sep 2009 | 11:00 pm Dictator Wars: social game where you get to be a despot Dictator Wars is the latest game from GameLayers, the creators of the Nethernet (AKA Passively Multiplayer Online Game). Justin Hall sez, In Dictator Wars you can arrest dissident bloggers, move the national treasury into your home, and subsidize the price of oil to create religious policemen. Players can ban threatening religions, develop domestic drug production, and ride around on aircraft carriers threatening larger nations.Dictator Wars: Your Game of Supreme National Power (Thanks, Justin!)
(Disclosure: I'm proud to serve on the GameLayers advisory board) Sysadmin of the Year 2009 -- nominations openOnce again it's time for the annual Sysadmin of the Year award, and nominations are open. Of course, my vote -- as always -- goes to our very own Ken Snider, the very epitome of everything wonderful about sysadmins. Ken is level-headed and calm, technically skilled, bright and quick, tireless and impassioned. He cares about the systems and he cares about the people who use them. He has beaten DoS attacks, tuned and maintained our hardware to a startling level of reliability, and has gotten out of a warm bed more times than I can count to battle demon entropy. What's more, Ken cares about systems in general, with a deep commitment to justice and freedom on the network. Thank you Ken, you're the sysadmin of the century in my books.We're talking about sysadmins here--the unsung rock stars of IT. The kind of sysadmin that plays the network blindfolded and upside down like Stevie Ray Vaughn, makes ch, ch, changes faster than David Bowie, smashes hackers like Pete Townsend does with guitars, keeps the show going like Bill Graham, and does it all with Ringo's good humor.About - Sysadmin of the Year Contest (Thanks, Barak!)
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:55 pm New Search Engine Targets Muslim Web Users (PC World)PC World - A new search engine, called ImHalal.com, aims to protect the sensibilities of Muslims by filtering out content that is "haram" or forbidden by the faith.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:30 pm Tech giants offer ideas on charging readers online (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:19 pm Brightcove Accelerates Expansion of Global Partner EcosystemContent Management Systems - Integration with leading content management systems provide customers with new efficiencies when leveraging third-party services to operate websites and manage libraries of video assets. The first content management systems to provide interoperability with Brightcove include Ektron and Six Apart's Movable Type. Brightcove is also supporting open source content management systems, such as Drupal and WordPress.Transcoding - New partners like Encoding.com and mPOINT provide Brightcove customers that have specialized encoding needs with access to advanced, high volume video transcoding services.E-mail - Partners like Goodmail Systems present an opportunity for Brightcove customers to deliver video content directly within the body of an email, which expands distribution while helping to drive user engagement and loyalty.Content - Brightcove's content partners, including ScreenPlay Inc. and SundaySky, are empowering Brightcove customers to ingest and distribute third party content from within their Brightcove account, augmenting existing online video offerings.Live -Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:01 pm An Electrifying Tour of the Taser FactoryDespite doubts about their ultimate safety, Taser weapons continue getting more powerful. Wired.com goes behind the scene at the factory where they are made.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:00 pm Sept. 11, 1998: Starr Report Showcases Net's SpeedSept. 11 is remembered in history for that, yes, but also as the day that independent counsel Kevin Starr released is infamous report on the transgressions of President Bill Clinton.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:00 pm Digital Contacts Will Keep an Eye on Your Vital SignsUniversity of Washington researchers are working on a contact lens that could give humans cyborg vision. Their first goal is to enable us to visually monitor our personal health.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:00 pm Straight to the Spam Folder: Astonishing E-Mail Messages You'll Never Open (PC World)PC World - Spamming is an underappreciated art form. In fact, "hated" may be a more accurate adjective.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:00 pm Scott Brown on Saving Sci-Fi From the Friday Night Death SlotAh, the early '90s: that Eden. I was so innocent then, I barely knew which demographic I was. And I certainly didn't know that just by doing what came naturally—staying in on Friday nights and watching The X-Files—I was changing the world. I had no inkling that we, my nerdy ilk and I, were actually saving dozens of unborn science fiction shows from the Sarlacc maw of the Friday Night Death Slot. Surely you've heard of the Death Slot. It's a circle of programming hell traditionally reserved for the weak, the sick, the family- oriented—and the sci-fi-derived. It ate M.A.N.T.I.S., Sliders, and The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. Yes, the Slot especially likes the taste of dorkmeat. No one ever put this in a memo, of course, but they didn't have to. It's a prima facie presumption among network executives: On Friday nights, only the chronically unbangable will be plopped before their sets. So we'll give these lurks what they want: Genre dross we don't believe in and won't pay to promote, regardless. Let them eat aliens! And we did. Then something paranormal happened: Borne on a dorkling tide of eyeballs, The X-Files was lifted from the Slot and deposited safely on Sunday-evening shores. Soon, openly nerdy shows like Lost, Fringe, and Heroes were jockeying for time slots typically reserved for cop/doctor/lawyer skeins—shows about people so doable they don't need spaceships or time travel. Meanwhile, time travel was actually invented in the form of the DVR, which promised to free us from the twin tyrannies of Time and Slot with the click of a Season Pass. Nerds could now bar-hop while their TiVo proxies autodorked at home. The End? Sadly, no. Turns out the DVR was a Faustian bargain. Yes, it would watch our shows for us, and we would "hit clubs," "go on dates," and do other things we'd read about in books not written by Piers Anthony. But even though DVRs are now found in an estimated 30 percent of TV-watching US households, the devices might actually have a ghettoizing effect. Friday shows are still born sick, in the eyes of network execs, and it may be that DVDs, DVRs, and Hulu are only the pallbearers. Take Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which bit the Friday dust despite rating among the most TiVo'd shows of the night. (Perspective check: Lipstick Jungle also made that short list.) And consider the curious case of Joss Whedon, whose late Firefly remains the FNDS poster child. Whedon's newest series, the Manchurian courtesan suspense-thriller Dollhouse, gets major DVRage—reportedly a factor in its hairbreadth renewal this season. Yet it's still slotted shoulder-to-shoulder with such dead-shows-walking as Medium. The message: A trickle of passive DVR fan-love nets you, at best, another season in hell. And so our mission is clear, oh sleeping dweeb legions: We can't expect the assimilation of sci-fi into the TV mainstream to continue apace. We must stay home Friday nights and save Dollhouse, even if we don't like it that much. If Dollhouse dies, let it die on Tuesday—not in an unmarked Friday grave alongside lepers like Ghost Whisperer. By Gwar, let's spend Fridays together again, this one last season, just as we did in those halcyon Clinton-era days. Let's huddle together to celebrate the weird, the wonderful, and the off-kilter, on a night when others are busy mindlessly procreating. We must do what our devices cannot: organize. Take pride. Seize the ratings low ground. Because our DVRs clearly aren't living in a post-dork world. Neither should we. Email scott_brown@wired.com.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:00 pm Digital Contacts Will Keep an Eye on Your Vital SignsUniversity of Washington researchers are working on a contact lens that could give humans cyborg vision. Their first goal is to enable us to visually monitor our personal health.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:00 pm Motorola Cliq - CNET News
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 10 Sep 2009 | 9:47 pm Justice Department to MicroHoo: Please, Sir, May I Have Some More? [BoomTown]
Although it is not a particular surprise, because Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO) execs had previously said they expected as much, the Justice Department lobbed in a “second request” for information about the search and online advertising partnership the pair struck earlier this summer. A Microsoft spokesman confirmed the request to BoomTown. “As expected Microsoft and Yahoo received an additional request about the agreement, as we said when this agreement was announced,” said Microsoft’s Jack Evans. “We anticipated this deal would be closely reviewed and we continue to be hopeful that it will be approved by early 2010.” Simply put, the Justice Department wants more information about the 10-year deal and will do more investigation before approving it–or not. This kind of review is typical in deals of this magnitude, although it is unlikely to be fraught as Yahoo’s attempt last year to form a similar partnership with Google (GOOG). That deal collapsed after regulators indicated that it would oppose the arrangement, which caused Google to pull out. At the time the partnership was announced in July, execs at both Microsoft and Yahoo said a lot of scrutiny was likely from Justice, although they were also confident that it would go through. And, indeed, there seems to be no major objections from publishers and advertisers, as was the case with Yahoogle, even though privacy group have raised some concerns. Even Google has been unusually quiet about the deal, perhaps because it has nearly 70 percent of the search market makes it the behemoth. Together, Yahoo and Microsoft have close to a 30 percent market share. The deal must also be approved by European regulators too, according to the terms negotiated by Yahoo and Microsoft. But since Google’s share there is even higher, roadblocks seem unlikely there. Meanwhile, according to numerous sources, Microsoft and Yahoo are separately working on transition plans, in order to move quickly once it gains regulatory approval. While they cannot work together as yet on a detailed level, Microsoft will eventually be absorbing hundreds of Yahoo search engineers as part of the deal. So as we all wait in breathless anticipation, enjoy this hysterical video version of the famous gruel scene in the movie, “Oliver,” with the lines speeded up and then slowed down: Source: All Things Digital | 10 Sep 2009 | 9:39 pm Dropbox’s Web Interface Gets An Overhaul: Adds Bulk File Management, Search, And More
Among the new features are the ability to select multiple files in the file browser and perform bulk operations on them. You can also select multiple files and have them placed into a new Zip file, which will make it easy to send multiple files at once. Other new improvements include a search feature, Gmail-style keyboard shortcuts, and a version of the site that’s been optimized for mobile phones. Of course, many people primarily use Dropbox through its desktop clients that integrate quite nicely with your operating system, but these are welcome additions for anyone who has to access their files when they’re away from their primary computer. For those iPhone users looking to get their fix, Dropbox submitted an iPhone application to the App Store about four weeks ago which still has not been approved by Apple. This is just one of the many iPhone developers that has been waiting for more then the usual two week waiting period to get their app approved. Dropbox launched almost exactly one year ago at TechCrunch50, and has grown quite a bit over the last year with over 1,000,000 users. Dropbox is based in San Francisco and has raised $1.5 million from Sequoia Capital. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 TechCrunch50 Conference 2009: September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
Source: TechCrunch | 10 Sep 2009 | 9:32 pm Mac News Briefs: Western Digital revamps Mac drives (Macworld.com)Macworld.com - Hard drive manufacturer Western Digital unveiled redesigns for its My Passport for Mac and My Book for Mac hard drives. The My Passport portable drive is now about 20 percent smaller than the previous My Passport. The My Book features a slimmer design, and the Morse-code cutouts that were used as air vents have been replaced.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Sep 2009 | 9:22 pm CrunchDeals: Braid for $5
And for more timestream-bending good times, hit up Time Donkey.
Source: CrunchGear | 10 Sep 2009 | 9:10 pm Sprint Redefines 'Unlimited' Mobile-to-Mobile - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 10 Sep 2009 | 9:04 pm Sprint Redefines âUnlimited' Mobile-to-Mobile (PC World)PC World - In the ongoing battle to capture mobile service customers, Sprint has just thrown down the gauntlet with a potentially game-changing feature: unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling...regardless of mobile carrier.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Sep 2009 | 9:03 pm TechStars Debuts Nine Startups In BostonEditor’s note: The following report comes from Don Dodge, who blogs at Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing and is a business development executive for Microsoft. TechStars is a startup accelerator program that selects about ten companies and provides funding of $18,000 per team, as well as free office space, operational support, and mentoring from top investors, entrepreneurs and business leaders. TechStars operates annually in Boulder, Colorado and Boston, Massachusetts. TechStars has now been operating for three years. Three of the original ten companies from 2007 have already been acquired (SocialThing by AOL, Intense Debate by Automattic, and Brightkite by Limbo). In February, we covered the news that TechStars had expanded to Boston. Today, TechStars debuted nine new startups from the inaugural Boston class. The teams presented on Thursday to about 200 VCs and Angel investors for the first time. These companies are about three months old and have two or three founder employees. Don was in attendance today and these are his notes on the startups that presented at Microsoft’s New England Research and Development Center (MS-NERD)
TempMine is looking to change the temporary staffing market. The company believes that they’ve found a way to make the temps, employers, and agencies happier with a single solution. Temp workers create a profile on TempMine that is automatically updated as placements occur, providing more transparency and traceability to the process. Employers can search directly for temps across the inventory of multiple agencies, finding the right fit. Agencies retain control over placements of their best temps. The temp agency only gets involved after the employer finds the exact temp they want. There is no cost to employers or temps to use TempMine, but they do take a 1% commission from the agencies. It is an $86B industry, so 1% can add up.
TechStars plans to bring about a dozen of the 19 companies from Boulder and Boston to San Francisco on September 30th for a “best of” repeat performance. Here is coverage of the San Francisco TechStars event from last year. Information provided by CrunchBase
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009: September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
Source: TechCrunch | 10 Sep 2009 | 8:57 pm Google to allow booksellers to profit from digital library - Los Angeles Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 10 Sep 2009 | 8:54 pm Australian Researchers Demo Random Access Quantum Optical Memorynuur writes "Researchers at the Australian National University have developed a new form of optical memory that allows random access to stored optical quantum information. Pulses of light are stored on a kind of 'optical conveyor-belt' that is controlled with a magnetic field. By manipulating the magnetic field, the conveyor-belt can be moved, allowing the recall of any part of the stored optical information. The research is published in Nature." You'll probably know after reading the abstract linked whether you'd be in the market to pay for the whole thing.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 10 Sep 2009 | 8:43 pm Extreme DIY: Electric motorcycle built by 22-year-oldI suspect we’re going to be hearing from this kid again. His first project is a motorcycle that’s capable of over 70 mph and a range of 60 miles on a single charge, and that’s just the first version. He put this all together in one semester. The total cost of his little project was $12,000 and half of that was just for the battery and the motor. Again, this is the first version of his project, he’s currently out of school and refining the design to squeeze as much performance as possible out of the setup. This isn’t the first electric bike project we’ve seen but it is one of the more promising ones. The others are not quite ready for prime time, or really expensive. I do expect that the electric motorcycle is going to come into mass production on a large scale before the purely electric car does. [via Autopia]
Source: CrunchGear | 10 Sep 2009 | 8:30 pm Yeah Ok, So Facebook Punk’d Us
Today that changed. They punk’d us, and we fell for it. Hard. Earlier today TechCrunch writer Jason Kincaid noticed something new on Facebook. When viewing any photo, it showed a “Fax This Photo” link on the bottom right of the screen. Ridiculous? Yes. But everyone in the TechCrunch network saw it. He fired off an email to Facebook at 5:05 pm. When they didn’t respond, he posted at 5:29: Facebook Now Lets You Fax Your Photos. I Have No Idea Why Anyone Would Want To Do This. Things went downhill from there. At 5:47 Facebook PR emailed and said “We already faxed you a statement on this??? Didn’t you get it?” Then they emailed again at 5:51, saying:
Uh oh. Our nose hairs started to twitch. Then we asked a bunch of people outside of our network. Not a single other person said they saw the fax-a-photo feature. Definitely not a good sign. Jason then called Facebook PR. Jaime Schopflin took the call and, apparently, couldn’t stop laughing for five minutes. Between laughs while catching her breath she mentioned something about this being a joke, that nobody but us could see it, and that they were placing bets around the office on how long before we noticed it and posted. And something else about teaching us to contact them before posting. So, bottom line, don’t expect to see this feature actually launch. Unless you come to work for TechCrunch, I guess. We still see it. You won this round, Facebook. Enjoy your victory. Oh, by the way, the feature works. Here’s what it looks like: Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors TechCrunch50 Conference 2009: September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
Source: TechCrunch | 10 Sep 2009 | 8:16 pm The iPhone Gridiron Throwdown: EA’s Madden NFL 2010 vs. Gameloft’s NFL 2010
EA is the owner and developer for the best (and only) football franchise in the world, Madden NFL Football. They’ve also kicked ass on the iPhone platform with titles such as The Sims 3, Need for Speed, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, and more. Gameloft, despite having far less success with their football franchise, has managed to dominate the iPhone platform. Gameloft has racked up more than 6 million sales with titles such as Gangstar, Rise of Lost Empires, Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles, and others. This will be a truly epic battle, but nobody can deny that EA, what with more than a decade of experience with the Madden franchise, is favored in the bout of a lifetime: EA’s Madden NFL 2010 head-to-head with Gameloft’s NFL 2010.
Skip to the bottom for a Game Summary as I do not want to spoil it. The Play-by-Play
The main differentiator in terms of controls was selecting players, whether on defense or offense. In these games, if you want to throw the ball to a receiver, you tap on the receiver. If you want to change players on defense, you tap on the player you want to switch into. There was an obvious problem with this on offense (which may or may not be unavoidable given the iPhone’s screen size): if you clump players together then it was damn-near impossible to tap the right receiver. God, how many times did I accidentally tap Arnaz Battle instead of the sellout Michael Crabtree in both games. Defense was a different story, primarily because you don’t have too much clumping of players until milliseconds before they converge on the ball carrier. As such, I rarely had an issue selecting defensive players in Gameloft’s NFL 2010. EA was less perfect, and I occasionally tapped the wrong player and furiously had to tap the screen to switch to the right one. Gameloft scores a touchdown while EA gets a field goal. No extra point for Gameloft, though, because of the receiver issues.
… and we’ve got ourselves a ball game, folks! Gameplay – Defense EA’s coverage also faltered. It didn’t auto-switch you into the defensive back when the ball was in the air and you just plainly didn’t have enough time to do it yourself. Of course, a lot of times you want the computer to handle it, but it would be nice to have the option. Gameloft’s coverage was far better. Once the QB let’s the ball go, two buttons pop up for just a second or two. If you tap it, you have a chance at batting the pass down or intercepting the ball – otherwise, the computer does its thang. That isn’t to say Gameloft didn’t have its issues. Once in awhile a defensive back would completely blow its coverage or a middle linebacker would whiff a non-mobile QB without explanation. Pros don’t do that, and it seemed like an unintentional flaw in the defensive AI (more on that later). Ultimately, though, Gameloft outgunned EA on defense. Touchdown Gameloft, extra point good. Nada for EA.
Artificial Intelligence
In EA’s Career Mode (which is really just a Season mode), you can trade, add and drop players. There are also more options for stats and such. Problem is you can trade anyone for anyone, so it’s easy to cheat. I traded Carson Palmer (don’t ask why I chose him over Tom Brady or Peyton Manning: it was a random test) for a 3rd string Offensive Lineman. It was a joke. So while I’d traditionally give EA 2 points for this, I can only justify 1.
Gameloft’s got a playoff mode that allows you to skip the regular season and go straight into the post-season. Pretty sweet if you’ve got less time on your hands but still want to hoist the virtual Lombardi Trophy. +1.
Summary Bottom line: Either of these games will satisfy your football itch and you’ll find yourself continuing to ask the question: what can’t this little device do? Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: Gizmodo | 10 Sep 2009 | 7:50 pm Windows 7 to bring more happy says latest ad
Source: CrunchGear | 10 Sep 2009 | 7:46 pm Google Voice Creeps Me Out On My Mother’s Birthday
Except that I didn’t catch her call. And then Google Voice, which I have recently adopted, took her voicemail and auto-transcribed it. And then things just got creepy. Her message, as translated by Google Voice:
I listened to the actual voicemail and, thankfully, my mother did not actually say “Gosh I’m gonna have to get up on you or something” to thank me for the flowers. What she really said? “I’m going to have to give up on you or something,” referring to me wasting money on flowers. I love you mom. But Google, this is just wrong. I’m probably going to need therapy now.  Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 TechCrunch50 Conference 2009: September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
Source: TechCrunch | 10 Sep 2009 | 7:41 pm FOLD-E! Clothes-folding robot demoed at SIGGRAPH
Instead of giving the bot LOGO-like step-by-step instructions (go 20cm forward, grab cloth, move 10cm forward), the robot is programmed to interpret graphical explanations like this one:
There’s more info in this PDF, which summarizes their work. Now they just have to release a big one so my building manager will buy it for the laundry room. [via Robots.net]
Source: Gizmodo | 10 Sep 2009 | 7:02 pm IBM and Chinese Deaf Association Launch Real-time, Online Sign Language Interpretation ServiceTAIPEI, Taiwan, Sept.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Sep 2009 | 7:00 pm Hot Or Not War: I’ll Put My Hottest Blond Against Your Brunette Any Day
The game takes two mindless classics and smashes them together. It’s the card game War and it’s Hot or Not, all in one very simple app. Except, the game really isn’t too much like War at all. Instead, you are dealt 5 cards face up, as is your opponent. You then pick whichever one you think has the highest Hot or Not rating (their average rating on a 10 point scale) and so does your opponent. You do this for 30 seconds and the person with the most victories, wins the round. The first side to win a set number of rounds (1, 3, 5, or 7) wins. But also unlike the card game War, when you pick people with the same Hot or Not rating, you don’t actually go to war (throw down more cards). Instead, that’s considered a tie and no side gets any points and you move on to the next set of cards. Also, if you lose, you don’t pick up your opponents cards as the number of cards you have doesn’t matter.
You can play either against a computer oppontent or against a friend on the same iPhone. You can’t, unfortunately, play online against other players. Also a bit annoying is the sign-up and sign-in process, which is several steps. Luckily, you only have to do it once. Just as with the Hot or Not website, you can set what gender you are interested in, as well as what age range. It’s more mindless iPhone fun, looking at attractive (or not so attractive) people. The game is free, available now in the App Store here. And remember: Always pick the girl in the bikini. She always wins. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009: September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
Source: Gizmodo | 10 Sep 2009 | 6:50 pm U.S. video game sales down 16 percent in August
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 Times Online | ATK successfully test fires Ares 1 booster CNET News With the future of NASA's embattled moon program in doubt, Alliant Techsystems test-fired a huge five-segment solid-fuel booster in Utah Thursday, a ground-shaking demonstration designed to collect performance data for a new rocket ... NASA Tests New Rocket Stage NASA's New Moon Rocket Passes First Engine Test Rocket test a success |
The Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics, a massive anthology of old comic book stories for kids, is a big hit around my house. My six-year-old loves it so much she reads it to herself. The oversize format and 350 pages make for a delightful reading experience.
Art Spiegelman (creator of Maus) and his partner Francoise Mouly (art editor of The New Yorker) selected 60 terrific stories from comic books published between the 1930s and the 1960s. Characters include Sugar and Spike, Dennis the Menace, Little Archie, Little Lulu, Pogo, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, Melvin Monster, Gerald McBoing Boing, and a bunch of others who are new to me. Spiegelman and Mouly picked stories that are smart, funny, and warm. Thankfully they didn't concern themselves with finding stories that are overly simple -- the have engaging plots and I enjoy the stories as much as my kids do.
In his introduction to the book, Jon Scieszka writes, "Wow, 'Treasury' is right. You have just entered the bank, the mint, the Ali Baba cave full of gold, silver, ruby, emerald, and diamond toons." I couldn't agree more.
The Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly
Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2009 | 4:54 pm
Is Time Inc. building a Kindle Killer? Nope.
My pal Owen Thomas, late of Valleywag, has published a piece for NBC’s Bay Area local site that suggests that Time Inc. wants to get into the hardware business and produce its own e-reader.
That’s something other publishers, like Hearst and News Corp. (NWS), are actually doing or have at least mulled. But multiple sources familiar with the Time Warner (TWX) unit’s thinking say that’s not the case here.
But the publisher certainly is thinking about ways to create specialized content for e-reader devices and about the best way to distribute that content.
Time Warner executives have talked about this openly for many months–see Time Inc. digital guru John Squires’s comments in June–and Thomas appears to have gotten his hands on an internal document that addresses the same topic.
Most intriguing, according to Thomas’s read of the documents: A Hulu-like spinoff that would do…something:
The presentation concludes that Time Inc. and other partners should form a new, jointly owned company. Time Inc. might spin out its Maghound service, a service which lets consumers bundle multiple magazines together into a single monthly subscription, to form the base of the joint venture. The company is also considering acquiring other businesses to jumpstart the venture.
No comment from Time Inc.
But I do know that Time Inc.’s executives have met with other publishers about collaborating on e-reader standards, etc. And I do know that Time Inc. executives think a special version of their print products, designed specifically for e-readers, is a good idea. Most everyone I talk to in magazine publishing, in fact, believes this.
And I understand why they do. In their minds, the e-reader versions of their products function just about the same way magazines do: People pay to read them and advertisers pay to distribute their messages through them. And–this part is crucially important, from their perspective–publishers retain control of distribution and the billing relationship with their customers.
That relationship gets obliterated in Amazon’s (AMZN) Kindle model: Publishers wholesale the stuff to Jeff Bezos, who deals with consumers directly. This is also one of the music industry’s big regrets about the digital age. Even though labels are selling their stuff on the Web, via Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes and others, they still don’t have direct relationships with its customers.
Which is why publishers are desperately hoping that they’ll be able to push their stuff through someone other than Jeff Bezos. On the surface, at least, it looks as though their wishes are being met: A bevy of Kindle competitors–Sony (SNE), Plastic Logic, iRex, etc.–is surfacing. Surely one or more of those will figure out how to offer publishers the terms they want.
But even if one or more of the Kindle clones succeeds, print publishers still have a core problem: They need to convince consumers that content–in any form, on any device–is worth paying for. That will work in some cases, but for many it’s going be a very hard slog.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Image of one of the window installations created by David Lynch for the Galeries Lafayette du Boulevard Haussmann in France. David Lynch aux Galeries (express.fr, via Susannah Breslin)
Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2009 | 4:31 pm
By Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
How does Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello see the videogame industry shaping up in the recession? He provided a glimpse of his viewpoint in an email to EA employees Wednesday that was obtained by The Wall Street Journal. EA has a strong product lineup for this holiday season, with the Need for Speed Shift racing game, FIFA 10 soccer game and The Beatles: Rock Band music game, so Riccitiello’s tone was positive overall.
But he also indicated that the industry continued to have a tough time in August as demand has slowed dramatically. “This week, market research for August will show that year over year, the industry was down in North America — and that August sales of Madden NFL 10 are down with that trend,” Riccitiello wrote.
Read the rest of this post on the original site
A wonderful infographic over at the LA Times of pot dispensaries throughout greater Los Angeles. I love this. You can even see which have licenses, which don't, and how close some of them are to schools, or to other dispensaries.
I live in an LA neighborhood in which there are far more weed dispensaries per square mile than Starbuckses. Almost without exception, the ones around here are shady, creepy and not professionally run. My favorite is either the one where the "clinic" is split into two parts, one of which doles out 420, the other Botox and Juvederm injections (same doctor doing the prescriptions for both, apparently). Or, the other one where bikini-clad, hard-eyed Euro-hos jump right out at you in the street, grab you by the arm, and squeal, "Hiyeee! Doo yoo vant to get leeegal?" No: I want to punch you.
I don't use the stuff at all (I don't drink or use any recreational drugs), but I'm all for straight-up legalizing pot -- if only to banish the recent proliferation of these gray-market dispenaries, which I believe are directly linked to a spike in crime and black-market drug activity around my 'hood. It's all I can do to not flip those pot-hawkers the bird when I walk by.
Map: Where's the weed?, and related: Mapping L.A.'s marijuana dispensaries (latimes.com)
Source: Boing Boing | 10 Sep 2009 | 4:21 pm
FROM GAMERTELL - PSP owners can go to Network Update for the last time today to upgrade to firmware 6.00. The new firmware adds minor changes. There are new theme colors, folders for games, Network Update is changed to System Update and a security patch.
MORE »
Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Trash cans have always been a challenge in my household. Let me explain. My dog Ruby is a notorious trickster who can climb any counter and knock down any container if there's food to be had. For years, I had no trash can, piled my recycling high above her reach on top of the fridge, then weighted down my previous cylindrical floor can with heavy metal chains so she couldn't knock it down.
Those days are over, thanks to simplehuman's steel bar rectangular step can, new this month with two compartments for separating garbage. Unlike most larger trash receptacles for the house, this one is wider than it is tall, which makes it really hard for a little nine-pound dog to knock down. Also, since it holds both the recycling and the regular trash, there are no more paper bags full of empty yogurt cups and milk cartons for Ruby to go to town on.
My favorite things about this trash can, though, are the little details that make throwing away garbage feel kinda classy. For example, it has a lid that doesn't slam and a hook you can engage so that you can keep it open while you change trash bags without stepping on the pedal. And to minimize stench while keeping it open, it has a little nook on the lid for a carbon filter — it doesn't eliminate the smell of dog poop completely, but it definitely seems to help. Speaking of the pedal, it's really nice and wide and sturdy so you don't have to search for it at all with your foot — and fingerprint-proof stainless steel means smudges rarely show up on its surface. The bins also have holes on the sides that you can tuck excess plastic from the bags into, so little dogs can't tug at its ends. (simplehuman cans have had this for years, but it's still worth noting.)
At $225 for the 38L and $250 for the 55L, this is not a cheap trash can, at all — but if you think of it as an investment into the overall cleanliness of your cooking space, I think it's totally worth it.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Section: Business News, Web, Web 2.0, Websites, Online Music/Video
The company that intends to buy the controversial site Pirate Bay has found itself in some serious trouble. The Swedish stock market, known as AktieTorget, has kicked them off the exchange, claiming they misled investors.
Sweden’s Economic Crime Bureau has launched an investigation into possible insider trading after noticing a dramatic increase in trading of the company’s shares a week before the sale was announced. AktieTorget claims Global Gaming lied about having the money needed to buy the site and also about being in the final stages of signing a content deal with the major entertainment company it boasted about in a recent press release.
“It will be difficult for Aktietorget to explain when we close the deal in two weeks since the funding is not supposed to be in place,” Global Gaming CEO Hans Pandeya wrote to CNET News. “People will start asking questions about what has been going on. I don’t think Peter Gonczi (vice president and head of market surveillance at Aktietorget) will then be as active as he has been with the press.”
Pandeya claims he is going to use his own funds to buy The Pirate Bay, a claim that has been called into doubt after the Swedish press published photos of his car, boat, and motorcycle being repossessed. At this point the purchase looks to be in serious jeopardy.
Read [CNet]
Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Apple could have put the iPhone’s camera in the iPod Touch, but it would have been a very tight squeeze, according to a repair company that disassembles iPods and iPhones.
That’s because the iPod Touch measures 8.5 mm thick, and the iPhone’s camera measures 6 mm, leaving a mere 2.5 mm of wiggle room for the iPod Touch. By comparison, the iPhone measures 12.3 mm thick, leaving plenty of space for its auto-focus camera.
“Unlike the Nano, the iPod Touch could conceivably support an iPhone-sized camera, although it would certainly be an engineering challenge,” said Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixIt.
Apple on Wednesday released updates for its iPod family, including a new iPod Nano featuring a video camera and an iPod Touch with a performance boost. However, many questioned why the Nano gained a camera while the iPod Touch did not. Prior to the event, dozens of photos of third-party iPod Touch cases containing camera holes surfaced on the internet.
Michael Gartenberg, a tech strategist with Interpret, said Apple likely left the camera out of the iPod Touch to create “segmentation” of the products. This move would make consumers desire both an iPod Touch and an iPod Nano, he said.
However, iFixIt’s observations suggest that Apple may have left the camera out of the iPod Touch because it was technically too difficult to install. Prior to the event, a rumor report also said iPods with cameras might see a delay because of technical issues. This engineering challenge may have been the problem delaying a camera-equipped iPod Touch. That means an iPod Touch with a camera could be on the road map, and Apple’s engineers are probably devising a way to cram that camera inside.
Another question that arose from yesterday’s iPod event was why the iPod Nano can only capture video but not still images. iFixIt performed a teardown of the iPod Nano and discovered its low-resolution VGA camera is only 2.75 mm; the iPod Nano is 6.2 mm thick. The iPhone’s 6 mm camera, which must also account for a rubber mount, is thicker than the entire iPod Nano. In short, the low-resolution (640-by-480) VGA camera — with no focusing capability — would produce poor-quality still shots, which is likely why Apple opted to leave a still-shot function out.
See Also:
Photo: Mike Rohde/Flickr
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Oprah! Oprah! Oprah!
Thanks to the queen of daytime television, you can get the Android-powered T-Mobile myTouch 3G for just $99 when you sign up for a two-year contract. This deal is good “for a very limited time,” so pull the trigger if you’ve got the itch.
Promo code is KICKOFF24. You go girl.
Save $100 on the T-Mobile myTouch 3G [T-Mobile via Engadget]
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If our gadget dependency continues to worsen, this could be what our beaches will look like.
[via Yanko Design]
The first footage of Moto Blur, Motorola’s just announced social-network-centric homescreen overhaul for Android, has just gone live. This is the very same footage we saw during the announcement, so you know what we know at this point.
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Section: Communications, Cellphones, Email / IM, Smartphones, Mobile
Today, in San Fransisco Motorola took the covers off their new comeback plan and it is Android all the way. The company announced CLIQ , the first phone to feature Motorola’s new customized Android UI and so far, the response has been impressive. The phone looks to make apps simple, instead of just offering thousands of them.
One of the big features of the phone is no logins. All your social networking, like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace are all right there on the homescreen. Motorola says you can update all your networks at the same time through the same simple interface. The demo over at Moto’s site shows this is pretty simple but very efficient stuff. They call it “streaming your friends”.
The calendar looks to incorporate both your work calendar (confirmed Exchange) and your personal calendar. Sweet. Further, Contacts adds status updates from Facebook, Twitter and MySpace as well as profile images and history. Very impressive. Profile pics and latest status updates appear when contacts phone you, now that is slick.
The messaging app as some cool sorting abilities (group, friend, type of message, where it came from or when it arrived) as well as not needing to open an app. Since the widget is on the homescreen, the latest emails, texts and updates are all right there. Users can simple click on them to respond.
Motorola is also emphasizing security. From Motorola’s site:
MOTOBLUR continuously updates and backs up your information into a secure environment. So you’re connected and protected, even if you lose your phone. Your friends and feeds are back on your new phone in a few simple clicks.
The spec list is impressive: 5mp camera, GPS, 3G, 320x480 HVGA screen, Video, WiFi, 6 hour continuous usage battery. Sounds like everything one could hope for.
Check it out: [Motorola]
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
SAN FRANCISCO — Motorola today introduced the Cliq, the company’s first phone based on the Android mobile operating system. The device will have a custom interface called Moto Blur that will bring together e-mail messages, text messages, Facebook and Twitter feeds, and photos into a single interface.
The phone has a touch screen and a physical slide-out keyboard, a 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, 3G connectivity, the ability to shoot video at 24 frames per second, a standard headphone jack and GPS capability. The phone will be available on T-Mobile’s network in the fourth quarter. Motorola officials did not disclose the price for the phone and would not let any attendees at the Mobilize conference, where they announced the phone, examine it closely.
“This is the first phone with social skills,” said Cole Brodman, chief technology officer at T-Mobile. “Cliq and Moto Blur is the start of the next chapter of Android and shows significance of the platform.”
The phone will also be available internationally under the name Moto Dext.
Motorola also plans to introduce another phone in the next few weeks, in time for holiday season sales.
Motorola needs a hit. Financial problems over the last two years have forced the company to slash its workforce. The company has said it will focus on creating Android-based handsets but this is the first glimpse of what the company has been working on.
The Cliq also helps establish momentum for the Google-designed Android operating system. Last October HTC and T-Mobile released the first phone based on the new OS. Since then HTC has announced three more phones that run Android OS. Other handset makers such as Sony and Samsung are also reportedly working on Android phones.
The new Motorola phone’s biggest asset will be its custom-designed user interface, Moto Blur.
“The Blur makes text, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter feeds and photos from sources like MySpace, Gmail, Yahoo and corporate e-mail appear in a single stream and sync them together with no different logins,” says Sanjay Jha, co-CEO of Motorola. “This means you can focus on what people have said instead of how and where they said it. ”
The Blur also backs up user contacts, log-in information, home-screen customizations, e-mail and social network messages on Motorola’s Blur servers. If you lose your phone, Motorola says you’ll be able to locate it through their online portal using the integrated GPS, and you can even wipe its data remotely. Both features are similar to what Apple offers iPhone users through the Mobile Me service.
Motorola is not the only handset maker that’s seeking to piggyback on the popularity of social networking sites among consumers. While Apple may have kicked off the mobile apps trend, the iPhone puts different services into different buckets and fails to offer its users a smooth and easy way to access all information. For instance, the iPhone makes it difficult for users to get their Facebook and Twitter feed in a single screen.
Apple’s rivals see that lack of integrated social media features as the iPhone’s Achilles heel. And they are trying to fight back by integrating information and add social context for their customers.
Earlier this year, U.K.-based INQ released a phone designed around Facebook. Palm has also designed the user interface in its recently introduced Pre phone around integrated contacts, messaging and Facebook feeds.
But the Moto Blur and Cliq goes one step further. “The phone is really cool,” says Sean Galligan, vice-president, business development at Flurry, a mobile analytics company that has partnered with Motorola.
“We have seen apps and other handsets take on content aggregation and deliver personalization to users but the Blur offers a level of deep integration that is not available in other devices,” says Galligan.
Motorola is also counting on the success of the Android apps marketplace to attract customers.
“By the year end we will have a really good idea of what the consumer thinks. The Android apps are there and growing and social aggregation is clearly the new trend in mobile phones,” says Galligan. “But the true test will be when the consumer decides whether to buy these devices or not. ”
Photo: Moto Cliq/Motorola
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The Cliq might be the first Motorola device with Android, but with a 350-person team, it better be good. At least it looks solid on the surface with a custom Android GUI called MOTOBLUR, slide-down keyboard, 5MP camera, 24 FPS video cam, WiFi, 3.5mm headset jack and a screen that better be able to handle a massive amount of info.
The phone’s interface is built around what Motorola is calling “MOTOBLUR.” Think of this as a social media aggregator kind of like Palm’s Synergy. It syncs Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Picasa and others onto a customizable homescreen that displays info users want from any of the services. Plus, this allows users to interact with their contacts through any of the networks seamlessly. Blur has other tricks too like remote wipe and phone tracking via the Internet along with all the other standard Android goodies like HTML web browser, Gmail, Google Maps, and all the rest.
T-Mobile should have the device sometime in the forth quarter and it will be available in white and titanium. We just don’t know the price yet.
New MOTOBLUR™ solution automatically syncs and streams communications, contacts and content throughout new Motorola devices powered by Android™ beginning in the fourth quarter
September 10, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO – Sept. 10, 2009 – Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today unveiled the vision behind its Android portfolio with the introduction of MOTOBLUR™. Developed by Motorola, MOTOBLUR is the first and only solution to sync contacts, posts, messages, photos and much more—from sources such as Facebook®, MySpace, Twitter, Gmail™, work and personal e-mail, and LastFM—and automatically deliver it to the home screen. Content is fed into easy-to-manage streams allowing you to spend less time managing your life and more time living it. MOTOBLUR will be available first on Motorola’s new 3G Android-powered device, called Motorola CLIQ™ in the U.S. and Motorola DEXT™ elsewhere around the globe.
Sanjay Jha, co-CEO of Motorola and CEO of Motorola Mobile Devices, announced MOTOBLUR today during a keynote at GigaOM’s Mobilize ‘09 conference.
“With MOTOBLUR we are differentiating the Android experience for consumers by delivering a unique mobile device experience designed around the way people interact today,” said Jha. “MOTOBLUR, which will be available on our first Android-powered device and on multiple Android devices in our upcoming portfolio, helps us to create phones that are instinctive, social and smart.”
MOTOBLUR leverages Motorola’s experience in mobile Linux and open platforms, and taps in to the broad Android ecosystem. The proprietary solution differentiates Motorola’s product portfolio of Android-powered devices and supplies the power and flexibility to continuously deliver a variety of new and rich consumer experiences across a wide range of devices with multiple carrier partners.
Life: Organized, Streamed and Delivered
With MOTOBLUR, all conversation threads, friend updates, stories, links, photos and more are automatically delivered to live widgets on the home screen. There is no need to open and close different applications or menus. It’s all organized, streamed and delivered throughout the device in unexpected ways:Happenings: View all your social site updates in one spot with the live Happenings application. Every friend feed, status update, wall post, bulletin and photo upload is automatically delivered and ready for immediate reply, any way you like.
Messages: Quickly scroll through the Messages application for a snapshot of current work or personal e-mails, social site messages, and texts, with the ability to respond to any message however you want no matter how it was sent: text, email, IM and more.
Social Status: Blast your status right from the home screen and even save time by updating your status to one or all your social networks at once.
News Feeds: Keep track of your favorite news feeds, sports scores or even celebrity gossip without leaving the home screen.
Calendar: Integrate your work calendar with Google Calendar™ into one Calendar widget that shows the next appointment right from the home screen.
Integrated Contacts with Context
MOTOBLUR keeps track of all contacts so it’s easy to keep up. Contacts are automatically synced to the phone from personal and work e-mail as well as social network accounts, and MOTOBLUR updates any changes friends or contacts make to their information so you don’t have to. When making or receiving a phone call, your friend’s latest profile picture and status is shown on the screen. In the contacts view, see your communication history with each person and their latest social network broadcasts organized in an easy-to-read manner so you’ll always know the latest info about friends and family. Plus, communicate with them anyway you like, directly from their contact information.Backed Up for Peace of Mind
MOTOBLUR is easy to set up and secure, so there is no need to worry about misplacing the phone. All contacts, log-in information, home screen customizations, e-mail and social network messages are backed up on the MOTOBLUR secure server. Lost or stolen phones can be found with integrated A-GPS from the online owner’s portal, and data can even be wiped clean. Simply enter the account username and password on the next MOTOBLUR phone, and all the information will be ready and waiting.Customize with Apps and Widgets
On Motorola CLIQ, mix and match thousands of applications and widgets from MOTOBLUR, Android Market™ or pre-loaded Google™ mobile services. Everything from messages to news feeds to sports scores to the Happenings widget to Google Maps™ can be added to create custom home screens that fit anyone’s multi-faceted life.Delivered on the First Phone with Social Skills
MOTOBLUR will first be available on Motorola’s new Android-powered device, called Motorola CLIQ in the U.S. and Motorola DEXT around the globe. This QWERTY slider comes packed with all the bells and whistles:Never be out of contact with a full HTML browser, 3G speed and Wi-Fi.
Snap photos with the 5 megapixel camera with autofocus; upload photos simply to your favorite photo sharing or social sites.
Play back your favorite YouTube™ videos or capture them and easily upload them for your friends to view.
Use the 3.5 mm headset jack to plug in your own headphones and easily connect to your music, create your own playlist or discover new music by seeing what your friends are listening to on LastFM.
Availability Around the Globe
MOTOBLUR will be available first on select Motorola devices in the fourth quarter with regional carriers worldwide. In the U.S., Motorola CLIQ™ with MOTOBLUR will be available exclusively with T-Mobile USA. Motorola DEXT with MOTOBLUR will be available with Orange in the United Kingdom and France, Telefonica in Spain and America Movil in Latin America.For specific regional availability and pricing, contact your local Motorola representative. To experience MOTOBLUR, please visit www.motorola.com/motoblur. For the latest Motorola Mobile Devices product news and promotions, now you can also find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Media: For more information, product specifications and images of CLIQ, please visit Motorola Media Center Fact Sheets. For multimedia assets from the keynote, visit MOTOBLUR Press Kit.
Motorola Media Link Bridges Digital World
Motorola also is making it easier to manage your digital worlds with Motorola Media Link. This desktop experience connects your phone, PC and the web, giving you the ability to manage, secure, share and extend your phone’s media. Transfer and organize media such as photos and videos into albums and sync your iTunes and Windows Media playlists and music. Plus, Motorola Media Link helps you expand your phone with new downloads, applications, ringtones, wallpapers and more—directly from your desktop. Motorola Media Link will be available for multiple Motorola devices including CLIQ and DEXT.
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iPod repair business iFixIt has posted its teardown of Apple’s fifth-generation iPod Nano, which hit stores yesterday. Like previous Nanos, this model is tightly packed and held together with copious amounts of glue. iFixIt lays out all the steps for taking the Nano apart, but the company doesn’t recommend trying it.
More interesting is that taking apart iPods gives you better insight into some of Apple’s decisions. For instance, many of us are wondering, why no still-image camera in the Nano? Steve Jobs said the Nano is so small it couldn’t fit a sensor for a still-image camera. Kyle Wiens of iFixIt confirms this is a valid explanation.
“The camera in the iPhone is thicker than the entire Nano,” Wiens told Wired.com. “The AF lenses really bulks it up.”
Makes sense. Hence, there is no option to shoot stills with the Nano, because the low resolution of the 640-by-480-pixel VGA camera would likely make photos look like garbage, which Apple wouldn’t be happy with.
Check out more nude images of the Nano below the jump and the entire teardown process at iFixIt.
See Also:
Photos: iFixIt
(Thanks, Kyle!)
Section: Audio, Home Audio, Video, DVD/DVR/Blu-ray
Yamaha has announced a new range of devices, including a line of Blu-ray disc players, channel network AV receiver and five disc CD changer. You can find these products currently on sale at major electronics retailers.
First up is the RX-V2065, a 7.1 channel AV receiver with five 1080p-upscaling HDMI inputs and two HDMI outputs. It also has the following HD audio decoding formats: Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD. Features installed with the AV receiver include Rhapsody online music service compatibility, Internet streaming radio and music file playback. The receiver has a current MSRP of $1399.95.
The new Blu-ray players include the BD-S1900 (MSRP $699.95) and the BD-S1065 (MSRP $599.95). These players will have compatibility with the new AV receiver in order to provide a dynamic entertainment experience. Both players include BD-Live and BonusView, an enhanced Blu-ray disc commentary feature.
Lastly, the CD-C600 is the new five disc CD changer available from Yamaha. This changer is the first from Yamaha that was designed specifically for compatibility with iPods. You can connect your mp3 player or iPod to the CD-C600 via USB cable. Additional features are 3-Mode CD text display, MP3 and WMA file compatibility, IR in/out terminals and remote. MSRP for the Yamaha changer is $379.95.
Site: [Yamaha]
Full Story » | Written by Heather Wood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
We’re live from Motorola’s Android announcement at the Mobilize conference, where the company is expected to announce at least two new handsets running Google’s mobile operating system.
This is a big day for Motorola – nearly one year ago, the flailing company switched up their game by dedicating a 350-person team to this new endeavor. Have their efforts been worthwhile? Find out in our minute-to-minute coverage.
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Is the games industry missing an opportunity to let concept artists rule the roost? In his latest Ragdoll Metaphysics column, Jim Rossignol points to both success stories and missed opportunities where letting artists spearhead the game either did bring or should have brought the game closer to art, and calls for a new industry arms race to create the best "watercolour FPS games, painterly RTS games, and oil-painting strategies."
Elsewhere, 09/09/09 was a double-header day in games: less celebrated for the 10th anniversary of the cut-down-in-its-prime Dreamcast, which Sega celebrated by announcing a return to Sonic the Hedgehog's roots with a new hi-def 2D game due in 2010, while a group of indies announced Rush Rush Rally Racing, the first new Western-made game for the console in many years.
But 09/09's more prevalent significance to The Beatles didn't go unnoticed by groups other than Harmonix (with the unleashing of The Beatles: Rock Band), as chiptune collective 8-Bit Operators unveiled "WANNA HLD YR HANDHELD", a 20-track 8-bit Beatles cover compilation, nearly half of which they're streaming ahead of its release.
Finally, we listed the 4 things gamers need to know about Apple's Rock'n'Roll keynote, saw two years of glorious technical failures in the making of Polytron's Fez (above), heard Montreal art/game collective Kokoromi would be bringing their indie showcase to GDC, and our 'one shot's: Silent Hill artist Takayoshi Sato does Salome, and a look at the anatomical/biological innards of the Wii-mote.
Thanks to an earlier leaked slide regarding Verizon’s upcoming lineup, we had a good idea that Nokia’s boxy little number, the 7705 Twist, would be joining Big Red’s network sooner than later. Fast forward two weeks and Nokia has officially announced the launch of its 7705 Twist.
Besides its unusual shape, the Twist features a, you guessed it, twist-out full QWERTY keyboard and “a customizable Contact Light Ring (yes, that jumbo button sat on the bottom right), letting you assign colours to identify calls and messages from folk in your contacts book.”
Nokia has positioned this coaster phone to be all about messaging with email, IM, MMS and SMS functionality all on board. But the buck doesn’t stop there:
[T]he 7705 Twist is also blog-savvy, enabling you to communicate with the world via a simple ‘post to blogs’ feature that also can fire out your snaps and text to social network sites.
Along with all its messaging capabilities, the rounded-square also includes a 3.0MP camera, complete with autofocus, flash and self-timer. It also supports V CAST Video Streaming and Video on Demand, as well as VCAST Music with Rhapsody. You can be the proud owner of this unusual, “bite-size square” of a phone when it goes on sale on September 13 online and in stores on September 21 for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement
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Slow and steady wins the race, right? Verizon’s certainly not the first off the gate with the Touch Pro 2, but they definitely just took the lead in our books. Both Sprint and T-Mobile are charging a dang-near-absurd $350 bucks for theirs, with the latter adding insult to injury by not even including a 3.5mm jack. (BOOOOOO!)
As we’d heard last week, Verizon’s Touch Pro 2 is not only coming in at a huge discount – $200 bucks after a $100 mail-in rebate – but it’s also packing the 3.5mm jack we love so dearly. Beyond that, expect all the same specs you’ve seen elsewhere, like the 3.6″ touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS, and that oh, oh, OH-so-gorgeous keyboard. Look for it in stores tomorrow.
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Section: Communications, Cellphones, VoIP, Mobile, Gadgets / Other, Household
While Sprint seems intent on killing off landlines by offering users the ability to call any mobile number from any carrier with their new Any Mobile, Anytime calling option, Panasonic has seemingly gone in the opposite direction with their latest announcement.
The have announced what they are referring to as the “industry’s first bluetooth enabled telephone featuring Cellular Phonebook Transfer.” Now, what that really means is that they are planning to allow users of a specific model phone to import (up to 600) contacts from their cell phone to their landline phone.
Given that, I have to ask, do people still keep contacts in a regular landline phone?
Anyway, this new feature will be available with a phone that (according to the release) goes by the name of KX-TG9382T. Assuming you purchase this phone, you will be able to import your cell phone contacts by selecting the “Phonebook Transfer” option in the menu.
In terms of other features on the KX-TG9382T, it is a “two-line phone that was designed for home-based businesses as well as residential customers” and has DECT 6.0 performance, is Energy Star certified and has a built-in digital answering machine that can store up to 40 minutes worth of messages. As far as pricing, expect to pay $169.95 for a base and one handset.
I would like to say this is interesting, but getting back to the whole contacts in my landline phone, maybe I am the odd one out here but I have never seen anyone really care or want this—especially in todays age of cell phones. In this case I think I will stick with Sprint and remain intent on killing off landlines.
Keep reading to check out the full press release…
PANASONIC INTRODUCES INDUSTRY’S FIRST BLUETOOTH ENABLED TELEPHONE FEATURING “CELLULAR PHONEBOOK TRANSFER”
Two-line DECT system allows transfer of up to 600 phonebook entries at the press of a button; also compatible with Bluetooth-enabled headsets
Atlanta, GA (September 10, 2009) – Panasonic today announced the first-ever landline telephone that enables users to transfer their cell phone contacts (up to 600 names and numbers) to its built-in directory via Bluetooth. It will be available at Amazon.com and major retailers nationwide this month.“Until now, businesspeople and consumers have had to manage their cell phone and home or home office phone directories separately or at best, transfer phonebook entries one at a time, which is time-consuming,” said Bill Taylor, President of Panasonic Communications Company of North America. “With the KX-TG9382T, even a 600-name phonebook transfers in just a few minutes, so it’s easier than ever to keep your contacts at your fingertips.”
To transfer a cell phone address book of up to 600 entries, simply select the “Phonebook Transfer” option from the KX-TG9382T’s menu screen, and then follow the instructions for phonebook transfer onto a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. The KX-TG9382T’s menu screen displays each entry as it quickly and automatically transfers each phonebook entry in alphabetical order, allowing users to track progress.
Additionally, the base unit can be paired with any Bluetooth-enabled headset so users can keep the conversation going in comfort while leaving hands free to write, type, or flip through files.
This two-line phone was designed for home-based businesses as well as residential consumers. It offers DECT 6.0 performance, is Energy Star® certified, includes a 40-minute digital answering machine, three-line conferencing capability, Silent Mode, and has a keypad and speakerphone on the base unit and handsets.
The KX-TG9381T (base unit and one cordless handset) carries a suggested retail price of $169.95 and the KX-TG9382T (base unit bundled with two cordless handsets) carries an SRP of $229.95. The system can be expanded to include up to six handsets, model KX-TGA939T, available individually at an SRP of $79.
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FROM GAMERTELL - Gamertell has put together a list of nine games with “nine” in the title that you could spend the day playing.
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Mobile applications targeting enterprise customers most certainly have their place in platform-agnostic app stores like GetJar, device-agnostic stores like Android Market and vendor-specific ones such as the iPhone App Store and Palm's App Catalog.
But finding enterprise-grade apps on these stores in between the plethora of games, music apps and general-purpose software programs for consumers that are crowding the platforms isn't exactly a walk in the park.
Enter AppCentral, a venture of San Francisco-based Ondeego, which is in essence an enterprise mobile app only store that will be launching today at GigaOM's Mobilize09 event. The goal of the new app store? To address the needs of enterprise workers and their IT departments while at the same time attempting to create a vivid ecosystem of enterprise-focused mobile developers.
Section: Video, DVD/DVR/Blu-ray, Peripherals, Storage
Grabbing a hard drive for video can be somewhat confusing. Do you go with a 5400RPM or 7200RPM drive? Will that hard drive spin be so loud that I’ll have to turn up the volume to 11? Hitachi is trying to reach that consumer who wants to get hard drives for video with its CinemaStar line. There are two new hard drives in the line, the 1TB CinemaStar 7K100.C (at 7200RPM) and the 1TB CinemaStar 5K1000 CoolSpin. These drives are supposed to be quiet, require low power, and handle HD video. Hitachi claims that the 5K1000 is “nearly silent . . . during operation.” These drives seem like a good way to expand your TiVo or home theater PC. They will be available in Q4 of 2009.
Product Site: [Hitachi CinemaStar]
Full Story » | Written by Iyaz Akhtar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
FROM APPLETELL - While the iPod shuffle didn’t receive much attention in today’s Apple press event, it’s worth mentioning the very slight additions that it did gain: colors. Five of them to be precise.
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Let’s just say it: Sprint is back. First the carrier nabs the hottest handhelds with the Palm Pre, BlackBerry Tour and soon the HTC Hero and Palm Pixi. But that’s just the start.
Now, it’s offering up the $69 Any Mobile, Anytime plan which includes – get this – unlimited calls to any mobile phone, unlimited web surfing, Blackberry access, unlimited Direct Connect, unlimited text, picture, and video, and unlimited weekend minutes start at 7pm. Plus, the plan includes all the little extras like GPS Navigation, Music Premier, TV Premier, NFL Mobile Live, and NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile. Wowsers.
Hopefully Sprint is successful with this latest push. If it is, then other carriers will have to follow suit which means everyone wins. Right now most of us pay a ridiculous amount each month for mobile service. My $149 plan on Verizon includes BIS and 1200 minutes, but only a small text messaging package for both lines. With Sprint, I can spend $20 less, but have unlimited everything and more minutes.
Maybe Sprint realizes that people buy into plans more than the handsets. Sure, the iPhone is cool, but the monthly plan is damn expensive which probably turns some folks off. It’s a shame too because the hardware is an amazing piece of technology. But times are tough and not everyone can afford that type of plan every month. An unlimited plan for only $70 is a lot easier and there will be a good amount of quality but affordable hardware to choose from soon anyway.
Well done, Sprint. Well done.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
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A few months ago AOL 
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Holy Mother of Football Heaven. Talk about a head-to-head matchup. Gaming heavyweight 
Controls
Playcalling
Gameplay – Offense
If the rushing game was utter domination by EA, then the passing game was more of a quiet victory. Neither of them had spectacular passing gameplay. For one thing, it was hard to choose receivers (as previously mentioned). More importantly, it was hard to decide which receivers to throw to. Unlike traditional football games where you can see the entire field easily and you feel like a QB going back to pass, the iPhone screen prohibits the same kind of QB-esque vision. Instead, both games employed a red-yellow-green system to tell you which player was fit to pass to. As the receivers ran their routes, a button appeared above them and changed color depending on their availability for a throw. This worked as well as it could on a 3-inch screen, but still wasn’t ideal. But it was the little things that put EA ahead. For example, you can draw on hot routes before the play, directly on the screen. 
Gameplay – Special Teams
Kicking/Punting, the other half of special teams, was solid on both games, with EA edging Gameloft just a tad. Gameloft employed the standard accuracy/power system. There are two dials, one for accuracy and one for power. The dial turns clockwise then counter-clockwise then back again, and you’re goal is to catch it in the middle. It worked well and was sufficiently challenging. EA, on the other hand, brought something fresh and new to the table. Look at the screenshot to see what it looks like. Basically, you draw a line down the kicking icon and then back up. The faster you do it, the more power you get. Accuracy is determined by how close your lines are two each other. Innovation at work, and EA takes the cake on both counts of Special Teams. Touchdown and a 2-point conversion for EA; a field goal for Gameloft.
Graphics
But it didn’t stop at pretty graphics for Gameloft. They’ve got replays, a feature lacking for EA, so you can replay massive hits or extraordinary catches. Hell, if you manage to pull off something like 
Overtime
Like most children I think my mom walks on water. She’s beautiful and kind and makes really excellent cookies. So like any good son I sent her roses today for her birthday. And she called to thank me, because she is always very polite. Everything was just peachy. 
Hot or Not
So, okay, it’s really not anything like War, but still, it is fairly fun and addicting. It’s basically a game of, are your tastes in attractiveness in tune with those of the masses?
Nikon announced today that 
