Source: Gizmodo | 8 Oct 2009 | 8:00 pm

Rumor: Android will power Barnes & Noble’s eReader

With the success of the Kindle clear, it’s no surprise that other booksellers want in on the action too. Barnes & Noble already launched its ebook store and the iRex DR 800SG will be the first device to run it. However, a WSJ report is suggesting that Barnes & Noble is prepping its own, self-branded device. And get this, it might run Android.

The device itself has already made its way to the FCC last month, who is kind enough to provide no details at all. So far we hear though that the reader will rock a 6-inch touchscreen and might come as soon as next month. But this latest rumor about it running Android is kind of novel. (I know)

Think about: Android is a wonderfully open platform. Designers could easily adapt the software to run on an e-ink display. It has been designed for wireless, portability and customization. The system could even be opened up to 3rd party developers who could code new and innovative programs for the reader. If this rumor is true, and Gizmodo claims the source seems knowledgeable enough, B&N might be aiming this at not only the general book reading public, but those of us that love to hack, mod and totally customize our gadgets.

Source: CrunchGear | 8 Oct 2009 | 7:47 pm

If Teens Don’t Use Twitter, Then Why Do I Have To Read About Miley Cyrus?

You’ve probably read the headlines over the past month stating that teens don’t use Twitter. If not, go here, there are dozens of stories about it, including no less than two TechCrunch posts. What I’m wondering today is if that’s the case, why is there all this fuss over Miley Cyrus quitting Twitter?

Okay, yes, it’s possible that there are plenty of — how do I put this…perverted — gentlemen out there begging for her to come back. And undoubtedly seeing as #mileycomeback has been the top trending topic all day on Twitter, the spam bots are out there latching on to the trend. But still, I’ve seen the story like a dozen times today all over the web. Reuters has it, the AP has it, the Wall Street Journal has it, the Telegraph has it. Then of course, the entertainment press: MTV, Entertainment Weekly, Extra, etc. And I saw it on CNN earlier. Why does anyone care if teens, Cyrus’ audience, aren’t using Twitter?

Looking over the #mileycomeback results, most tweets (and there are a truly massive amount), do appear to actually be from real teens tweeting about it. Many are asking her father (yes, former Mr. Mullet, Billy Ray Cyrus) to persuade her to come back, others are just mad that she quit her nearly 2 million followers. But most do appear to be real people, and yes, most appear to be teens.

So maybe teens don’t use Twitter except when Miley Cyrus quits, to get her to come back to a service they don’t use? Or maybe the idea that teens don’t use Twitter is simply not true. I kind of wish it were true at this point, so I could stop hearing about Miley Cyrus.

Going back to the entertainment press, I’m a little concerned about them encroaching our beat. Normally, its the tech press that gets to bitch about Twitter being down (like this morning) and come up with conspiracy theories as to why that’s the case. But now outlets like Extra are getting on board. “Did Miley Break Twitter?,” they ask. No real evidence to support that — other than, Kirstie Alley not tweeting for over 16 hours? What?

It has come to this.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 8 Oct 2009 | 7:44 pm

Amazon Already Taking International Kindle Orders - PC World

Telegraph.co.uk

Amazon Already Taking International Kindle Orders PC World Amazon plans to start selling its Kindle reader in over 100 countries and territories on October 19, and the company has already started booking pre-orders for the device on its Web site. Amazon is selling the Kindle with US & International Wireless to ... Kindle Goes International — With a Little Help From AT&TReuters Amazon Kindle's Switch To AT&T Network A Blow To Sprint >STWall Street Journal Amazon to offer wireless access to e-reader content in BulgariaSofia Echo CNET News -V3.co.uk -PC Magazine all 942 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 8 Oct 2009 | 7:30 pm

DOE's Chu plugs solar and building efficiency - CNET News

CBS News

DOE's Chu plugs solar and building efficiency CNET News WASHINGTON--Energy Secretary Steven Chu is an accomplished scientist, but he's apparently happy to use low-tech home energy-efficiency tricks, too. Chu was one of the featured speakers at the opening ceremony of the Solar Decathlon, ... Going for gold in the Solar DecathlonCNN What's Happening Solar DecathlonWashington Post OSU builds solar home, Buckeye spirit on MallColumbus Dispatch San Jose Mercury News -Washington Examiner -CBC.ca all 120 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 8 Oct 2009 | 7:13 pm

It’s a light that clips onto your glasses. I can’t really think of a witty title.

The latest in German engineering, the Nachteule (”night owl” for you non-German-speakers) is a handy little LED light that clips to your glasses for those late night-reading sessions. It looks a bit unwieldy, but I’m sure it’ll get the job done. So will a flashlight. Or using your phone. Or turning the light on.

I imagine this is the sort of device you’ll see in Brookstone, or in  SkyMall magazine right next to the Lord of the Rings sword replicas and Truck Antlers.

Although this does open up a whole realm of solutions in the need-illumination field. Glasses with an integrated camera, which fed data to a HUD mounted on the lenses. You could switch between infrared mode, ultraviolet mode, all sorts of possibilities. Or you could go get some custom eyeballs made.

Source: CrunchGear | 8 Oct 2009 | 7:11 pm

B&N e-book reader reportedly in the works - CNET News

Financial Post

B&N e-book reader reportedly in the works CNET News Bookseller Barnes & Noble reportedly plans to release its own e-book reader to challenge Amazon.com's Kindle. The wireless device, which is expected to have a 6-inch touch screen and virtual keyboard, could be offered for sale as early ... Report: Barnes & Noble to sell its own e-readermsnbc.com Colour eBook readers coming by SpringPC Pro Barnes & Noble's Sales Down In Aug-Sep; New View GivenWall Street Journal BusinessWeek -ABC News -Pocket-lint.com all 124 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 8 Oct 2009 | 7:06 pm

Do your panoramic photos suck? Read this book

There’s more to a good panorama than switching your camera to autopano mode. Or at least, that’s what author Harald Woeste would have you believe. I struggled with my first panoramas, mainly because I was using a 50mm lens on a 1.6x FOV body for all of them, but there was a science to it as well. Not to close, but not too far apart — turning your body the right way to avoid shifting — how to have people in just one part — there’s a lot to know, actually. I found out by trial and error, but that doesn’t have to be your lot.

Whether he’s got more packed into this book than you can extract from various photo sites and forums, I don’t know. But it might be nice to take with you if you’re going on a picturesque tour somewhere without internet. There are places like that, you know.

[via Photography Bay]

Source: CrunchGear | 8 Oct 2009 | 7:00 pm

Expect AT&T, Others to Make Peace with Google Voice - PC World

ABC News

Expect AT&T, Others to Make Peace with Google Voice PC World Ever since its launch this summer, Google Voice has presented carriers with some potentially thorny issues. The biggest potential pitfall for carriers is that widespread adoption of Google Voice could render their networks "dumb pipes" that don't offer ... From the Desk of David Pogue AT&T Does the Right ThingNew York Times Google,AT&T Blocked-Call Spat Gets Louder;Reps Seek FCC ProbeWall Street Journal Business Digest: Lawmakers Seek FCC Probe Into Google VoiceWashington Post InformationWeek -ChannelWeb -Macworld all 733 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 8 Oct 2009 | 6:37 pm

Charge4All folding power strip

Ok road warriors, here’s one for you. This is a little gadget I wish I’d had back in the day when I used to travel constantly for work. It’s essentially a power strip, with adapters for multiple electronic devices, that zips up into a folding case. Pretty straightforward really, but a cool device none the less.

The Charge4All is designed to work with the more popular mobile electronic devices. You plug the device into the wall, and then your phone, iPod, ZuneHD or whatever into the strip, using the included cables. And you’re charging.

The device is currently available from the Charge4All website for $49.95, and if I still traveled all over the place, I’d definitely pick one up.

[via GadgetReview]

Source: CrunchGear | 8 Oct 2009 | 6:30 pm

Paul Kedrosky: Why I Love Venture Capitalists

I (Michael Arrington) recently had a conversation with venture capitalist and tech pundit Paul Kedrosky about all the criticism being heaped on venture capitalists these days (much of it here on TechCrunch). He has a slightly different view than some others on what VCs are supposed to be doing, and how well they’re doing it. And frankly I tend to agree with him. VCs supply much of the capital that drives the entire startup ecosystem. The world would be a much less interesting place without them.

You can follow Kedrosky on his Infectious Greed blog, or get the cliff notes version on twitter at @pkedrosky.

Hating venture capitalists is profoundly satisfying. After all, they are slack-jawed, monied, oily, know-nothings who carom off innovation, fire capable founders, squash angel investors, and exist mostly to make commercial bankers look smart and interesting.

Or at least that’s the story we like to tell. By “we,” of course, I mean all of us who lovingly poke venture capitalists in the eye with sticks now and then. They are such easy targets, what with making up numbers about how many jobs they create, missing great investments, delivering awful ten-year returns to investors, having higher failure rates among companies they fund than among the ones they don’t, and generally being so self-important and irony-unaware.

But that doesn’t mean VCs are quacks. Or that what they do isn’t hard. Or that it’s unimportant. Because it is important, and the good ones are smart, and what they do is very, very hard.

Creating a successful startup is among the hardest things you can do in a capitalist economy. Entrepreneurs must successfully navigate a sea of multi-dimensional uncertainty, from technology (will it work?), to people (do I have the right employees?), to market (will anyone care?), to financial (can I finance doing this, and can I then sell the product or service for more than it costs?) At big companies you can fail at launching a product, fail at hiring people, fail at making money on a product, and fail at figuring out whether something will work. Your big company will probably be unaffected, and you may even get promoted. Do any of those things wrong at a startup and, in all likelihood, you’re dead. You are wandering a maze of dark and twisty passages — most of which are paved with trapdoors to hell.

The idea that anyone at all would build a business around funding startups is the remarkable thing. No revenues, no sure market ahead, no collateral, no liquidity, and doe-eyed founders who were in high school when Enron blew up. It all adds up to more ways to break down than an old Winnebago. Far from wondering why so few companies get venture capital, we should perhaps wonder why any do, and how venture capitalists remain so damn optimistic. To borrow an industry adage, the best venture capitalists retain the capacity to fall in love despite having had their heart broken over and over again.

And the opportunities for heartbreak are legion. Even if the mortality numbers you usually hear are wrong, failures rates are high for startups. Across all sectors, about one-quarter of startups die off in the first year, while half-ish make it to the five-year mark. The numbers are different, however, for venture capital-backed companies. Failure rates among venture-backed firms are lower in the first few years, but higher later on.

Does that sound nasty and mean-spirited? I don’t think so. Matter of fact, it sounds like VCs are being precisely the sorts of patient investors that people say they aren’t. They are giving risky companies a chance to experiment and find something that works, which is crucial, given that most successful startups don’t end up doing what they started out trying. It is a luxury that markets don’t afford other companies.

Another favorite club with which to whack venture capitalists is their supposed inability to create innovative new companies. Just look at Bessemer’s well-known anti-portfolio, with them turning down Google and Apple and Federal Express (seven frickin’ times!).
Imagine if those innovative companies had actually been funded and…oh wait, they were. The companies still happened, and succeeded, even if some venture capitalists said no. Given how often the average VC must say no in a given year – a bazillion times, give or take – it should come as no surprise that they sometimes say no when it turns out they should have said yes (and vice-versa).

The “VCs as innovators” problem wouldn’t be so bad, of course, were it not for the scene-stealing entrepreneurs. Those bastards keep creating risky startups and getting all the glory. Damn you Sergey Brin and Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs. Just in case you needed a reminder, it’s not VCs who create companies, it’s entrepreneurs. Blaming venture capitalists for their capital not changing the world is like blaming Pfizer’s treasury department for Viagra not saving your marriage. Yo, you have bigger problems, so to speak.

Wouldn’t it be nice if venture capitalist drove more innovation? Of course it would. But that’s like saying “Wouldn’t it be nice if supermodels followed you home?” Of course it would, but it’s fanciful. Innovation is one input into the startup business, not its main output. For startups or VCs to pretend otherwise is a speedy path to going bust. Venture capital investing is hard enough without turning it into a Disney-style dream factory for self-styled social engineers.

Here is what we should want from venture capitalists. They should be trying to find and help early-stage companies at rising above the muck and dirt and crushing difficulties of being a startup. At the same time they must produce hefty profits in a timely way for their own impatient investors. That VCs can’t do the preceding, while simultaneously satisfying their critics by making no funding mistakes and changing the world with every deal, is a feature, not a bug.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 8 Oct 2009 | 6:24 pm

More Features Piling In The Minivan As Circle Of Moms Expands

Parenting communities are becoming increasingly common on the web as mothers and fathers turn to social networks to share stories and elicit advice about raising children. Circle of Moms, a social network for yes, moms, is celebrating its year anniversary with steady growth numbers and a few new features. The site is what you’d expect from its name— a community that lets moms connect with friends, talk about their kids, and join topical Q&A communities, with subjects ranging from recipe swapping, special needs children, and discipline for toddlers.

Since the site’s launch last October, Circle of Moms has accumulated 7 million registered moms and is adding 150,000 new moms per week, according to the site’s co-founder and CEO Ephraim Luft. And the social network saw 2.1 million unique visitors last month, according to Quantcast.

One powerful strategy that has helped Circle of Mom’s growth is its Facebook application. Luft says that Facebook has definitely contributed to the site’s viral growth over the past year. With 2,362,352 monthly active users, the site’s Facebook app sees significant amount of interaction with the site’s social network and and also helps pull in friends on the website and vice versa.

And today, Circle of Moms is launching an upgrade of its popular feature, Child Spaces, which is a centralized online space within the network where moms can share child’s special moments, photos and memories with close friends and family online. In the past year over 5 million “Child Spaces” have been created. Now, you can share updates through Facebook and Twitter from the site, define a set of “followers” who get regular updates on what’s going on in the child’s life, and have greater access over privacy controls of who can see the site. Luft says that the network will be adding enhanced customization features, such as personalized templates and vanity URLs; as well as the ability to import content from other social media sites, such as Flickr, Picassa, and YouTube, shortly. And the site will soon let moms print photos and make other photo products (i.e. memory and scrap books).

Circle of Moms creates revenue through advertising on the site, and Luft says that because of the demographic well-known companies like Nickelodeon, Old Navy and Nestle are all regular advertisers. Funded by Maples Investments, SoftTech VC and a number of angel investors. Circle of Moms faces competition from another popular mommy social network CafeMom. But Luft maintains that Circle of Moms has been able to gain a loyal and growing following despite having only received seed funding. CafeMom has received $17 million in funding over the past three years. Luft is onto something; it’s impressive that a niche social network like Circle of Moms has been able to see viral growth within a year.

Photo credit: Flickr/gsf747

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

Source: TechCrunch | 8 Oct 2009 | 5:53 pm

Rock Band ready to rock out on the iPhone this month (Macworld.com)

Macworld.com - Rock Band’s unstoppable march toward dominating every gaming platform will soon include the iPhone, as EA Mobile announced that the insanely popular music game will make its App Store debut later this month.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Oct 2009 | 5:53 pm

Microsoft Plans Largest-Ever Patch Tuesday

CWmike writes "Microsoft said it will deliver its largest-ever number of security updates on Tuesday to fix 13 flaws in every version of Windows, as well as Internet Explorer (IE), Office, SQL Server, important developer tools and Forefront Security client software. Among the updates will be the first for the final, or release to manufacturing, code of Windows 7, Microsoft's newest operating system. The 13 updates slated for next week, eight of them pegged 'critical,' beat the previous record of 12 updates shipped in February 2007 and again in October 2008." Update Reader Kurt Seifried writes to correct the math a bit, pointing to Microsoft's Advance Notification page for the release, which says that rather than 13 flaws, this Patch Tuesday involves "13 bulletins (eight critical and five important), addressing 34 vulnerabilities ... Most of these updates require a restart so please factor that into your deployment planning."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 8 Oct 2009 | 5:49 pm

'til Email Do Us Part: Sharing Online Accounts With Your Spouse [Voices]

By Rachel Emma Silverman, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Earlier this week, my colleague Elizabeth Bernstein wrote a Bonds column about people getting in touch with old flames online, especially via the magic of Facebook. In the piece, she describes how some couples have devised new rules governing their online activities, like promising to inform their spouses when they contact an ex online or limiting their online “friends” to people of the same sex.

Other couples, meanwhile, share their passwords or even their accounts and email addresses. “If your bank accounts are common, why not your Twitter and Facebook accounts?” said one man in the article.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 8 Oct 2009 | 5:46 pm

Owl tape measure

Bone tape measure from Gold Bug in Pasadena, California. (Via Kimagure Gaki)


Source: Boing Boing | 8 Oct 2009 | 5:42 pm

Gama-Go's Tape Measure

Following up on Mark's earlier post about the fancy owl tape measure, here's Gama-Go's brand spankin' new Tape Measure. It's $8.



Source: Boing Boing | 8 Oct 2009 | 5:35 pm

Big sale on vinyl Obama Hope Rebel flag

Attention white supremacist Obama supporters: this attractive vinyl Obama Hope Rebel Flag has been marked down from $24.95 to $12.95. As a bonus, they'll throw in a few dozen unsightly fold creases for free! (Via Reddit)


Source: Boing Boing | 8 Oct 2009 | 5:30 pm

'Project Runway' to become Wii game (AP)

AP - "Project Runway" is strutting to Nintendo's Wii.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Oct 2009 | 5:21 pm

Digg Testing A Way To Surface Older Content And Get Paid For It

Apparently, not only is Digg feeling the need for speed, but it’s feeling the need to make money too. And that’s good because this new idea is rather interesting.

Digg is testing a new type of advertisement on its site that basically surfaces old content submitted to Digg that is relevant to certain advertisers. So, as you can see in the example below, if Norton wants to advertise its new security software, it can find a few old Digg items related to Internet security and put them in the ad box along with their banner. This not only advertises their product, but gives users something potentially useful to click on.

The whole ad area is sponsored by the advertising company, but it’s not clear if clicking on one of the Digg stories in the ad space takes you to that actual story, and more importantly, if the advertiser is actually paying for all of those clicks. If so, that seems like a great deal for Digg. Regardless, this seems like a good way to build brand awareness through content that Digg users have already found useful by themselves.

One thing I’ve been thinking about recently is that while Digg is full of interesting information, the lifespan of that information is very short. Once a story disappears from the homepage, the liklihood that anyone is going to see it again is very small. Digg has some methods to surface really popular items again, such as the “Top In” areas, but there’s plenty of information that is not a top item on Digg for whatever reason, but would still be interesting to some users to see again. This is one potential way of surfacing such information and making money for doing it.

Digg notes that only a small percentage of users will see these ads for now. These are not the same as its Digg Ads platform, which asks users to vote on actual advertisements.

It’s also worth noting that advertisers are not allowed to submit their own content to use in these ads. Any content used has to have been already submitted to Digg, though it doesn’t necessarily have had to have been on the homepage.

[photo: TriStar pictures]

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

Source: TechCrunch | 8 Oct 2009 | 5:13 pm

Microsoft introduces Starter version of Office 2010

Section: Computers, Software / Applications

Microsoft really seems to enjoy putting out multiple versions of products.  There’s Vista and Windows 7, each with a large number of versions, two SKUs for the Xbox 360 (recently down from three, excluding limited-edition versions).  Not content with those, Microsoft had decided to announce Office Starter 2010.  To be fair, however, Office Starter is a free version of the office suite.

Office Starter 2010 will serve as the Microsoft Works replacement for the next version of the office suite.  Unlike Works, it will sport full compatibility with the standard Microsoft Office 2010 and will be easily upgraded.  Like Windows 7 Starter, Office Starter is fairly limited at the start, offering only Word and Excel, both of which are ad-supported.  So after Microsoft finally killed off Clippy, it’s brining ads into the free version of the software which could possibly be even more annoying.  This is on top of the online version of Office 2010 that will also be ad-supported.

While offering a free copy of Word and Excel in computers for those who don’t want to pay for Office 2010 is nice, it seems like it could cause some backlash.  Ads can be annoying and depending on when the pop-up, it will more than likely annoy people into not using the software.  Also, while Word and Excel are useful, it’s surprising that there’s no PowerPoint, though between it and Excel would be a tough decision.  Perhaps PowerPoint is just so important that we have to pay for it as opposed to Word and Excel.  Either way, we now definitely have Office Starter 2010, Office 2010, and the online Office 2010; I wonder how many more versions Microsoft can squeeze out of an office suite.

Read [CNet News]

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

---

Source: Gadgetell | 8 Oct 2009 | 5:10 pm

Piano stairs: I can’t think of a better way to make people fall to their deaths

On the surface, it’s a cool concept, even one with some merit: when the stairs are funner than the escalator, people will take them more often. So some clever Swedes (with a serious budget) retrofitted this underground transit stop with a keyboard staircase. You know, like in Big, but stairs. That’s right. You’re beginning to see the problem, aren’t you?

See, it’s all well and good when the keyboard is flat and people want to jump all over it and play songs, but this one is really an invitation for people to fall on their faces. Want to play a chord? Try not to die. There’s also the consideration that when there are more than a few people on the stairs, the result must be the most hideous cacophany. Think about it: someone on every stair? It’d be like someone pounding on every key on a piano, again and again. There’s a reason they don’t have audio for that part.

So, while I’m with them in spirit, there are probably a few bugs they should work out first.

[Via Gizmodo and GearFuse]

Source: CrunchGear | 8 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm

iPhone Software Update Addresses Sporadic ‘Coma’ Issue

Apple on Thursday afternoon released a minor update for its iPhone OS, fixing a major bug many affected users referred to as “coma mode,” whereas the handset would not awaken from sleep.

In Apple’s support forums, many iPhone customers complained that the iPhone OS 3.1 update rendered their phones unresponsive in sleep mode arbitrarily. As of this writing, there are 410 posts in the forum thread related to this issue. Apple claims the iPhone OS 3.1.2 update will fix the problem.

The update fixes two other bugs as well: an issue that interrupted the cellular network, requiring a reboot of the device, and a bug causing crashes during video streams.

“iPhone OS Software Update 3.1.2 is a free update for all iPhone customers that provides a number of bug fixes,” an Apple spokeswoman said in a statement provided to Wired.com. “We encourage all iPhone customers to keep up to date with the latest version of iPhone OS via the free download from iTunes.”

To run the update, connect your iPhone to your computer via USB, launch iTunes and click on the “Update” button in the iPhone menu screen. The update is compatible with all iPhones (original, second-gen and third-gen).

In its description of iPhone OS 3.1.2, Apple makes no mention of a fix for reported battery reduction in iPhone OS 3.1. In September, the AppleCare help desk contacted some iPhone customers who reported shortened battery life after upgrading to iPhone OS 3.1, presumably to examine the problem. When contacted, Apple did not comment on its progress investigating reported battery issues.

See Also:

• Everything You Wanted to Know About iphone 3.1 But Were Afraid to …
• Hackers Release iPhone OS 3.1 Jailbreak Tool for Third-Gen iPhone …
• Latest iPhone OS May Cause Battery Problems; Apple Investigates …

(Thanks, Carli!)

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 Oct 2009 | 4:56 pm

FCC Chairman Warns of Wireless Spectrum Gap

locallyunscene writes "'We are fast entering a world where mass-market mobile devices consume thousands of megabytes each month,' FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski warned at CTIA Wireless yesterday. 'So we must ask: what happens when every mobile user has an iPhone, a Palm Pre, a BlackBerry Tour, or whatever the next device is? What happens when we quadruple the number of subscribers with mobile broadband on their laptops or netbooks?'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 8 Oct 2009 | 4:52 pm

Tech industry braces for more antitrust scrutiny (AP)

AP - After eight years of light antitrust scrutiny under a Republican White House, the technology and telecommunications industries are bracing for stepped up oversight by the Obama administration's Justice Department.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Oct 2009 | 4:49 pm

Hands on with the Verizon Razzle: I don’t get it.

Immediately after the Verizon Razzle was announced, it was quite clear that this wasn’t a phone made for me. That said, after spending a bit of time with it, I’m not sure this phone is really made for anyone.

The Razzle’s gimmick (really – that’s what it is) is that it twists in the center to allow the user to switch between a QWERTY keyboard and a loudspeaker. Thing is, we can’t really figure out why the heck you’d want to do that. In what situations do you want music blasting directly into your face where you couldn’t just as easily turn the device over?

In speaker mode, the device lays flat. When you rotate into keyboard mode, however, the bottom portion juts out a bit. This made it a bit more comfortable to type on, though I’m not sure if that was just in my head. The loud speaker didn’t seem very, well, loud – but admittedly, our music selection was fairly limited, and the rumble of conversation in the convention center likely drowned it out a bit. The user interface was about as basic as could be, covered from edge to edge in green gradients.

Would I buy it? Nah. Would I recommend it to anyone? Probably not. But if you’re into it, and you can see yourself using the front-facing speaker for more than the first five minutes after you take the phone out of the box, we didn’t find anything too glaringly wrong.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 8 Oct 2009 | 4:43 pm

Tyco Electronics Shareholders Approve Two Quarterly Dividends to Shareholders at Extraordinary General Meeting

SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tyco Electronics Ltd.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Oct 2009 | 4:34 pm

Iomega announces new StorCenter ix2-200

Iomega just announced the latest addition to their rapidly growing NAS line, the ix2-200. This is the latest iteration in the line is focused on being easy to set up, something that is fairly uncommon in the small business storage market. The new model also includes a new “Green desktop” mode, which allows the NAS to spin down the drives when not in use, thereby reducing power consumption.

The ix2-200 is available now from your favorite e-tailer, and prices vary based on storage size. The 1TB version is priced at $269.99, the 2TB version is at $369.99, and the price goes up for there.

From the press release:

SAN DIEGO, October 8, 2009 – Iomega, an EMC company (NYSE: EMC) and a global leader in data protection, today announced the next generation of its popular double-drive desktop NAS appliance with the worldwide launch of the new Iomega® StorCenter™ ix2-200. Based on industry-leading enterprise-class EMC® storage technologies, the versatile yet affordable StorCenter ix2-200 wraps ease-of-use around big business data management functionality and advanced media serving and other consumer features that make it the ideal NAS appliance for small business users and home users.

Available in 1TB*, 2TB and 4TB capacities, the new ix2-200 utilizes a very simple four-step setup to be operational in a matter of minutes – be it in a business setting or in the digital home.

Starting at less than $270.00, the ix2-200 employs an easy-to-understand interface to provide robust data management and protection for the serious business user, as well as the latest in multimedia serving and remote access features that makes it a breeze to access your own data, whether in the office, the home, or anywhere else in the world.**

Among the standout business features of the new StorCenter ix2-200:
· Device-to-device replication for business continuity and file recovery
· iSCSI block-level access for efficient storage utilization
· RAID 1 configurations for optimized data protection
· Windows® Active Directory support
· A new front panel QuikTransfer button for easy copying of selected files
· User replaceable hard drives
· Multiple IP security camera support
· And for the forward-thinking small business, VMware® certification for virtualization installations.

The new StorCenter ix2-200 also has a treasure trove of features for the digital home, including:

· A DLNA® certified UPnP® AV Media Server that makes the ix2-200 the central repository for serving up all your movies, pictures, music and other files to any compatible device on your network
· Serves as a Time Machine® target for Apple® computer backups
· Built-in torrent support for file-sharing without the need for a dedicated PC
· Bluetooth® capability for uploading all kinds of digital content from a smart phone
· Cooliris™ slide show plug-in allows for easy photo viewing
· And remote access to the ix2-200 from anywhere in the world

“The new StorCenter ix2-200 is definitely the easiest to use small office and consumer network storage appliance in the marketplace today,” said Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega and the Consumer and Small Business Products Division of EMC. “Combining EMC’s world class enterprise storage and security technologies with advanced media serving features makes the ix2-200 a versatile and affordable NAS appliance that gives smaller organizations, work groups and home users not only cost-effective and robust network storage but some of the same sophisticated data management capabilities as a Fortune 100 corporation – but without any need for IT experience.”

The new Iomega StorCenter ix2-200 NAS appliance is now available in the Americas and Europe from retailers, VARs and IT resellers, including valued Iomega partner CDW.

“When it comes to managing and protecting digital content, small businesses today face many of the same challenges as much larger organizations,” said Matt Troka, vice president, Product & Partner Management, CDW Corporation. “Iomega’s new StorCenter ix2-200 delivers cost-effective network storage with advanced enterprise features at extremely affordable prices. For the budget conscious small business with a need for dependable network storage that is easy to setup and maintain without any internal IT expertise, the compact StorCenter ix2-200 offers a great value proposition, which makes it a viable data storage and back-up solution for our customers.”

The Little Compact Desktop NAS Appliance with Lots of Capabilities

The new StorCenter ix2-200 NAS desktop appliance utilizes the acclaimed EMC LifeLine™ software, a fully-developed Linux operating environment and suite of applications that is designed for cross-platform support with Windows®, Mac® and Linux computers.

The LifeLine operating system presents a simple-to-use graphical interface that makes it easy to perform valuable business tasks while remaining confident that your data is securely stored, protected, and accessible whenever and wherever you need it.

Small office users will enjoy the ix2-200’s fast Gigabit Ethernet connectivity and high-performance embedded architecture, which boosts productivity by making data readily accessible and secure over a local network at the office or in the home. The ix2-200 also boasts the versatility of three USB 2.0 ports for adding printers or additional storage capacity with external USB drives.

Source: CrunchGear | 8 Oct 2009 | 4:30 pm

Contest Winners Show Potential For Pressure-Sensitive Keyboard

Chris Harrison writes "About a month ago, Microsoft sent out prototype pressure sensitive keyboards to 40 international teams. They had four weeks to hack and cobble together some cool ideas. The innovation contest that centered around the keyboards released the winners last night (after a voting period Monday night at the ACM UIST conference). Some pretty neat ideas, ranging from pressure-sensitive password entry (Safelock), magnetic pens for cursor control (Hidden Forces), and even cool climbing (Rock Climbing) and land-deformation games (BallMeR)."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 8 Oct 2009 | 4:01 pm

Remove the special effects from the 2012 trailer and this is what you get

2012 will be a horribly bad movie. This clever trailer proves that once you take out all the special effects, you’re simply left with John Cusack’s acting, which isn’t worth whatever the hell they are charging to see movies these days.

Source: CrunchGear | 8 Oct 2009 | 4:00 pm

iPhone Grabs Top Rank in Smartphone Satisfaction Survey

Apple’s iPhone grabbed the no.-1 spot in a recent customer-satisfaction survey rating smartphones, beating rivals LG and RIM BlackBerry.

Conducted by JD Power, the survey polled customers worldwide on satisfaction with their smartphones between January and June 2009. Customers rated their smartphones based on factors including ease of operation, operating system, features, physical design and battery life. 3,221 smartphone owners, who have used their current smartphone for less than two years, participated in the survey.

In the smartphone survey’s point totals, Apple scored 811. LG scored 776 for second place, and RIM BlackBerry scored 759 for third.

In separate surveys, JD Power also polled customers on satisfaction with smartphones in business as well as satisfaction with traditional cellphones (i.e. non-smartphones).

Apple nabbed the no.-1 spot for smartphones in business, with a score of 803, followed by RIM BlackBerry with a score of 724. This portion of the survey polled 1,148 enterprise smartphone users.

For overall satisfaction with traditional cellphones, LG ranked highest with a score of 723, based on responses from 12,595 cellphone owners.

Most interesting are the results for customer satisfaction with smartphones in business: The iPhone beat the BlackBerry. In the past, critics have said the iPhone was inadequate for business use, citing its lack of security features and a physical keyboard. And for a while, the RIM BlackBerry has been hailed as the smartphone of choice for professionals. Perhaps iPhone OS 3.0, which introduced copy and paste, combined with the slew of business-related iPhone apps available in the App Store, are winning over enterprise smartphone users.

See Also:

• Great Geek Debates: iPhone vs. Blackberry
• Hacker Says iPhone 3GS Encryption Is ‘Useless’ for Businesses …
• Survey: iPhone Users Satisfied; Using BlackBerrys Anyway
• Survey: People Love iPhone Despite Its Imperfections

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:59 pm

Lawmakers Ask FCC to Probe Google Voice [Digital Daily]

Should Google be able to offer voice services unfettered by regulations that apply to broadband carriers simply because Google Voice is a free Internet application? AT&T certainly doesn’t think so, and it seems at least a few Congressional representatives agree.

Yesterday, A group of House members from rural districts called on the Federal Communications Commission to investigate Google’s practice of blocking calls to numbers that use rural exchanges to charge inflated prices–something regulation prevents traditional telecom carriers from doing.

In their letter to the FCC, the lawmakers–among them Reps. Steve Buyer (R., Ind.), Charlie Melancon (D., La.), Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.) and John Barrow (D., Ga.)–claim that rural consumers will be harmed if Google is allowed to “evade compliance with important principles of access and competition.”

“We understand Google has asserted Google Voice is not a ‘traditional’ telephone service–despite its use of 10-digit telephone numbers and its ability to connect calls between telephones through a local exchange carrier,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter. “Instead, Google maintains it ought to be allowed to block calls to rural telephone exchanges–a position we find ill conceived and unfair to our rural constituents.”

This, of course, is pretty much what AT&T (T) said in September when it slagged Google (GOOG) as “one of the most noisome trumpeters of so-called net-neutrality” and asked the FCC to order it to “play by the same rules as its competitors.” Google, however, insists those rules don’t apply in its case.

“The FCC’s open Internet principles apply only to the behavior of broadband carriers–not the creators of Web-based software applications,” Google telecom counsel Richard Whitt wrote in response to AT&T’s complaint. “Even though the FCC does not have jurisdiction over how software applications function, AT&T apparently wants to use the regulatory process to undermine Web-based competition and innovation.”

Source: All Things Digital | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:59 pm

Twitter Roundup: Goodbye to Legendary Fashion Photographer Irving Penn [Voices]

By Elva Ramirez, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Legendary fashion photographer Irving Penn created some of fashion’s most iconic images over his six decade collaboration with Vogue magazine. He died last night at age 92. Goodbyes and eulogies started on Twitter late last night and continue through the morning.

@womensweardaily (Women’s Wear Daily): Master photographer Irving Penn dies at 92. WWD looks back on his career

@Fashionista_com (fashion blog): RIP Irving Penn. You will be so greatly missed.

@vanityfairmag (Vanity Fair magazine): RIP Irving Penn. Here are six covers he did for Vanity Fair in 1983/84

@NARSissist (NARS cosmetics): We’ll miss you Irving Penn….

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:53 pm

Mobile data services pushed to limits: Qualcomm (Reuters)

Reuters - Speed increases in mobile data services will require more densely built networks, executives from wireless chip and technology supplier Qualcomm Inc said on Thursday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:50 pm

Bankruptcy judge approves Sun-Times sale for $5M (AP)

AP - The way The Rev. Issac Whittmon sees it, a vital piece of his city was saved Thursday when a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of the Chicago Sun-Times, a newspaper he's been reading since he was a child.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:49 pm

Valders, Wis., Residents to Benefit From Verizon Wireless Network Enhancement

VALDERS, Wis., Oct.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:45 pm

The Lightstone Group Enhances Communication in the Industrial Market

LAKEWOOD, N.J., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lightstone Group today announced that it has signed R Install Co. to a three-year lease at 7402 Reindeer Trail in San Antonio, Texas. A marketer and distributor of telephone equipment, R Install Co.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:31 pm

Hands On with the Windows Mobile Marketplace - PC Magazine

BBC News

Hands On with the Windows Mobile Marketplace PC Magazine Along with the Windows Mobile 6.5 launch on Tuesday, Microsoft launched the long-awaited Marketplace, its version of a mobile app store. The new catalog can only be accessed from Windows Mobile 6.5 phones currently. ... Microsoft Pushes Windows Phone for Business UsersPC World Why Is Steve Ballmer Downplaying Windows 7?ChannelWeb Qualcomm chips rule Windows Mobile roostCNET News Wall Street Journal -Register -BusinessWeek all 1,054 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:30 pm

Europa, Jupiter's Moon, Could Support Complex Life

Europa may have enough oxygen to support complex, animal-like organisms.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:30 pm

ClickSoftware to Host an Analyst and Investor Day on October 29, 2009

BURLINGTON, Massachusetts, October 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:25 pm

The Kindle DX is going international as well

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:19 pm

Ultra Clean Reports Revised Third Quarter Guidance and Announces Earnings Conference Call

HAYWARD, Calif., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:12 pm

Patent Claim Could Block Import of Toyota's Hybrid Cars

JynxMe writes "Paice is a tiny Florida company that has patented a way to apply force to a car's wheels from an electric motor or internal combustion engine. Paice thinks that Toyota is infringing on its technology, and is going after the automaker in court. The legal spat became much more serious for Toyota this week, when the US International Trade Commission decided to investigate the matter. In the worst-case scenario for Toyota, the commission could ban the hybrid Camry, third-generation Prius, Lexus HS250h sedan and Lexus RX450h SUV."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:10 pm

iPhone tops J.D. Power smartphone customer satisfaction surveys (Macworld.com)

Macworld.com - If there’s a name associated with customer satisfaction, it’s J.D. Power and Associates. I mean, come on—with a name like J.D. Power, the firm is practically the superhero of customer satisfaction. So the news that the iPhone has maintained its head-of-the-class standings in both the company's consumer and business smartphone satisfaction studies is no small matter.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:08 pm

Fall bike tech: 3 hop ups

Section: Gadgets / Other, Transportation

Bugs, tourists, muggy heat.  The absence of these horrible ride-killing nuisances are gone in fall and make it the best season for riding a bike.  This fall, I’ve built what I consider the pinnacle of current fashion and tech and what’s more, it doesn’t have to cost a lot.  Here are 3 upgrades of the latest tech to help you get the most out of fall.

Carbon fork

Many of us learned to mountain bike on a completely rigid machine - no shocks up front or in the rear.  Today, a trend going back to rigid is happening thanks to the ever-dropping price of carbon parts and offshore labor.  I got a hold of an eXotic carbon 29er fork that at once lightens up the rig but adding some give.  Its sexy looks are a freebie.

The eXotic is not only beautiful but disc-compatible and is almost unbelievably light in your hands.  Road bikes have been using carbon forks for years now and I’ve been riding a carbon fork on my cyclocross bike that sees both on and off roads, so I figure it was time to try one out for full-time off road duty.

The result?  My bike flies up hill.  I know a lot of that has to do with a light rig.  The give in the fork seems to be better than the old steel fork I road back in the day.  A quick lesson is learned on how critical tire inflation becomes: too much and you’ll be bounced around,  too little and pinch flats rear their head.  Is the light compromise worth the loss in the comfort and luxury of not watching the trail quite so well?  I am not sure yet.  The eXotic fork costs $199.

29 wheels

The 29er revolution is here.  At Interbike this year, more and more companies showed off the larger wheel size and for good reason: it makes sense.  For eastern riders struggling with downed trees to west coast speed runs, the larger 29er size makes it easier to get up and over while holding speed better.  I chose the Mavic Cr29ssmax wheels, they run $779 approximately.

I was sold on the size after riding the Carver 96er and so far, the 29er size is working for me.  Rock gardens present a challenge, but if I am honest, I was no good at them on the traditional 26” either.  So far, 29” wheels are making me a more efficient (faster) rider.

Runkeeper iPhone app

Originally designed for runners (duh), the Runkeeper iPhone app is pure genius.  Hit start at the beginning of your ride and put the phone in your pocket (or secure spot) and go ride.  The app collects GPS data and calculates your speed, position, altitude, and even computes calories for you.

After the ride, users hit stop and the data is synced automatically with the Runkeeper website.  You can also view a map of your ride, which is crazy fun for mountain bikers who usually don’t have such trail maps outside of their head.  Clicking along the timeline, you can see your position and speed on the map.  Very neat and free.  A pro version is available that adds some voice prompts to runners listening to music.

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

---

Source: Gadgetell | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:05 pm

J.D. Power calls Apple best in consumer/business smartphones, LG best in feature phones

According to a J.D. Power study, Apple has been named number one in consumer satisfaction in the consumer and business smartphone market while LG is number one in the traditional feature phone market.

First, a bit of explanation of terms. In this case, a smartphone is a phone with an operating system that is able to run more than the built-in application deck. A feature phone is a phone with a pre-set deck that perhaps can allow downloads but is not considered a smartphone. The Blackberry is a smartphone while the Moto RAZR is a feature phone.

Based on a set of criteria, Apple scored highest over LG and Blackberry in the business category and highest in the consumer smartphone category, over second-place RIM.

LG ranked highest in satisfaction in the feature phone market.

Consumer smartphone users ranked Wi-Fi, touchscreen, and GPS as the most important features in a smartphone and 40 percent of the 1,148 respondents claimed to have replaced their landlines with cell phones. About half download entertainment software while 46 percent have downloaded travel apps like weather and maps.

You can read more about the study here.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:02 pm

SonicWALL Announces Timing of Third Quarter Earnings Release

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SonicWALL, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNWL) will host a conference call and web cast to report its third quarter 2009 earnings results on Thursday, October 22 at 4:15 pm Eastern Time (1:15 pm Pacific Time).
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Oct 2009 | 3:00 pm

Utica College's CIMIP Welcomes Newest Stakeholder

TASCET Adds ID Protection Expertise to Center for Identity Management and Information Protection UTICA, N.Y. Oct.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Oct 2009 | 2:50 pm

Twitter In Talks With Google, Microsoft Over Data-Mining Deal

Twitter is in separate late stage discussions with Google and Microsoft about a data-mining deal that would allow both companies to incorporate Twitter’s 140-character messages, known as "tweets," into their respective Internet search results, according to a story reported Thursday on a blog associated with the Wall Street Journal.Real time search, the ability to search through the plethora of tweets as they are posted, is becoming an increasingly popular way to search the Internet for the latest information on news events and other happenings.The posting on the AllThingsDigital blog cited unidentified sources that said the companies are discussing several types of agreements.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Oct 2009 | 2:40 pm

iPhone OS 3.1.2 available now

FROM APPLETELL - The bug fix update is available now from within iTunes via the usual method. It’s around 241MB in size, and is for the iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPod touch.
MORE »

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

---

Source: Gadgetell | 8 Oct 2009 | 2:33 pm

Maxwell Technologies CEO David Schramm to Present at Roth Capital Investor Conference in Miami

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- David Schramm, president and chief executive officer of Maxwell Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: MXWL) will present at the Roth China Conference at 11:00 a.m. EDT on October 13, 2009 at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 8 Oct 2009 | 2:31 pm

Comcast's War On Infected PCs (Or All Customers)

thadmiller writes "Comcast is launching a trial on Thursday of a new automated service that will warn broadband customers of possible virus infections if the computers are behaving as if they have been compromised by malware. For instance, a significant overnight spike in traffic being sent from a particular Internet Protocol address could signal that a computer is infected with a virus, taking control of the system and using it to send spam as part of a botnet." Update: Jason Livingood of Comcast's Internet Systems Engineering group sent to Dave Farber's "Interesting People" mailing list a more detailed explanation of what this trial will involve.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 8 Oct 2009 | 2:21 pm

MicroHoo Answers Some Deal Questions for Critic: A Q&A! [BoomTown]

Yesterday, BoomTown wrote about the status of the regulatory approval for the Microsoft-Yahoo search and online advertising pact.

While none of the key constituencies wanted to comment or make predictions about the outcome of the government scrutiny, most seem to agree that the MicroHoo partnership is more likely to be approved than not.

One of the few vocal critics of the deal, though, is Jeffrey Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a public interest group.

CDD, along with several other consumer groups, recently sent a letter to the Justice Department’s antitrust head, Christine Varney, expressing concern about the control and collection of consumer data in the deal.

CDD also has been querying Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO) directly about the data collection and privacy implications of the deal, which is something the government should be doing.

So, to further get a glimpse into MicroHoo’s arguments, here is a set of important questions Chester asked then that were answered in a memo by the pair:

What specific data collection, interactive ad technologies and targeting applications will be used for search under the 10 year deal?

Today, Yahoo! collects data about Yahoo! visitors to our search product and uses that information to deliver products and to customize advertising and content, among other purposes described in its Privacy Policy. Microsoft and Yahoo! have each adopted industry-leading privacy practices with respect to search. For instance, under Yahoo!’s global data retention policy, Yahoo! anonymizes user log data within 90 days with limited exceptions for fraud, security and legal obligations. For search specifically, Yahoo! will convey certain data to Microsoft to fulfill a user’s search request. This includes the query and the IP address. Microsoft will anonymize this data sent to it by Yahoo! in accordance with Yahoo!’s announced data retention policies. Microsoft is only permitted to use search data that it obtains under the deal to operate and improve its search services and for no other purpose.

Will Yahoo’s behavioral targeting technologies for search still be used?

Yahoo! does not currently employ behavioral targeting in search. [Ed. note: Not completely true; see press release from Yahoo here on new targeting capabilities.]

Will any of Yahoo’s targeting apparatus be incorporated in any way with Microsoft Advertising, including with Bing?

No. This deal is limited to search, and as noted above, Yahoo! does not employ behavioral targeting in search.

Will search ads be sold by either Yahoo or Microsoft that provide for multimedia results, such as video?

Video advertising is still a small and growing area and as such, it’s impossible to predict what video ads in any form, including what a potential video search ad, could look like several years from now.

How may this deal affect the Yahoo! Newspaper Consortium?

The partnership Yahoo! has with the newspapers is broad and includes everything from content distribution, advertising cross sales, and technology platform development, to the display of Y! sponsored search listings on the newspapers’ own Web sites. Yahoo! Does not see the Microsoft deal as having an immediate impact on its newspaper consortium dealings. However, by combining its platform with Microsoft’s, Yahoo! and Microsoft will be in a position to offer the Newspaper Consortium and other web publishers more competitive bids for search syndication deals than either company can offer separately.

What ad research and development will be shared or done in common?

It is premature to speculate about the exact research that will be done, but the increased scale that will result from this search deal is expected to significantly enhance the ability to conduct meaningful research in a timely manner.

What rationale was used to embrace the 3 month data retention time? Why isn’t a shorter retention time adopted?

Yahoo! did an extensive analysis and review of all our data systems globally in 2008. Yahoo! arrived at 90 days retention as the right timeframe for most of its log file data that allows it to deliver the industry-leading products and services its users expect from them, but that also minimizes the duration of time Yahoo! holds data in identifiable form. It’s important to note that some of Yahoo!’s log file systems retain identifiable data for less than 90 days but none will hold data longer except for a limited number of specific systems dedicated to fraud and abuse and to meet legal obligations.

How do you envision Yahoo remaining viable when it no longer has a meaningful independent search service, given the need to have a coordinated search/display environment for digital marketing?

Future growth in online marketing will come from shifting spend from offline advertising to the online world. Offline advertising spend is disproportionately held by the largest advertisers and they control the vast majority of ad spend. Yahoo! has the leading position in branded advertising and Yahoo! also serves the needs for the growing market of performance advertising. So this deal with Microsoft enables Yahoo! to deliver a fully integrated solution that meets marketers’ needs at scale. Through this deal, Yahoo! retains a revenue stream in search without incurring the costs of developing a search platform or engine. Yahoo! will get paid an 88% TAC rate while eliminating significant expenses, enabling Yahoo! to invest more heavily in other areas of focus: amazing audience properties, web products, enhanced display advertising capabilities, and fantastic mobile experiences.

Source: All Things Digital | 8 Oct 2009 | 2:20 pm

Prehistoric Mammal Hints at Ear's Evolution

A 123-million-year-old chipmunk-sized mammal may explain how human hearing evolved.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Oct 2009 | 2:20 pm

Babytattooville 2009 - a terrific, intimate art experience

Over the weekend, I attended Babytattooville, an amazing and intimate art event produced by art book publisher Baby Tattoo. The idea is brilliant -- 45 people sign up to spend the weekend with 11 lowbrow/pop surrealist artists at the stunningly beautiful Mission Inn resort in Riverside, California.

Everyone painted, drew in sketchbooks, ate meals together, sat around talking late into the night, watched a documentary about Robert Williams, and even played an cool alternate reality game that began in the catacombs of the hotel.

The invited artists were all extremely gregarious, and it was impossible to distinguish between the artists and the fans; the artists are all fans themselves and everyone mingled.

Bob Self, publisher of Baby Tattoo Press and producer of the event is really on to something here. This kind of authentic, unmediated experience can't be reproduced online or traded on P2P sites. Many of the attendees were there for the 3rd time -- they told me the $1800 price was well worth it (the price included two nights at the hotel, meals, and a huge goodie bag loaded with books, prints, and original art, including one of these Audrey Kawasaki original drawings on wood). It would be fun to see this kind of model used in other spheres of interest -- a Makerville, or Cookerville, for instance.

I've never been to ComicCon, and I never want to -- it's way too crowded and noisy. Babytattooville was the exact opposite. It's more like joining a club. (If you want to go in 2010, hurry up -- only 5 new memberships are available.)

I took a lot of photos and shot some video, which I'll post in the coming days. To get started, here are some photos of one of the events from the first day of Babytattooville: a figure drawing session produced by Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School, and held at the Riverside Art Museum. Founder Molly Crabapple was their to direct the event, and the model, Mosh, was a big hit with everyone there.

Babytattooville 2009 Dr Sketchy figure drawing

(Ken Harman took 110 photos of Dr. Sketchys, every one of them much better than any of mine.)


Source: Boing Boing | 8 Oct 2009 | 2:07 pm

Twitter in Google, Microsoft licensing talks: report - Reuters

TrustedReviews

Twitter in Google, Microsoft licensing talks: report Reuters SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microblogging service Twitter is in advanced talks with Google Inc (GOOG.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) about licensing its data feed to the companies' search engines, a Web blog associated with the Wall Street Journal ... Twitter Talks Data With Microsoft, Google — All Things DigitalWired News Google, Microsoft In Search Engine Talks With Twitter?ChannelWeb As Google and Microsoft vie, Twitter could turn tweets into dollarsComputerworld eWeek -Inquirer -FOXNews all 143 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 8 Oct 2009 | 2:01 pm

Has YouTube Finally Figured Out How to Play Nicely With Big Media? [MediaMemo]

YouTube sneaked up on big media, then scared the hell out of them, then tried to do business with them, more or less unsuccessfully.

Now, three years after Google (GOOG) plunked down $1.6 billion for the video site, it seems to have figured out an approach that works for at least some big players: Hand over a chunk of the site to content creators, who get to control it, sell ads on it, program it with their stuff and share some of the ad dollars.

It’s a pretty straightforward compromise: YouTube gets some of the ad dollars that “premium” content–stuff you’d see on a TV screen, basically–can generate; content creators get access to the the gazillion eyeballs that the world’s biggest video site attracts. Examples: See the pacts that Sony (SNE), Disney (DIS), Time Warner’s (TWX) Turner, Warner Music Group (WMG) and Universal Music have hammered out in recent months.

And that sounds like the deal that YouTube and Britain’s Channel 4 have reached. Telegraph:

YouTube and Channel 4 have been in talks for at least the last six months and a contract is expected to be signed imminently. The Telegraph understands that Channel 4 has negotiated the right to sell its own advertising around its content on YouTube and share the revenue with the Google-owned site.

A senior television source close to Channel 4 said: “It was key for Channel 4 to be able to sell the advertising around its own inventory so it could extract maximum value from the deal and retain commercial control over its own property.

“When the Channel 4 content formally appears on YouTube, it will be branded exactly the same way as it is on the Channel 4 website. It will be a fully Channel 4 branded space and look as if someone has picked up 4 on Demand (Channel 4’s online catch up service) and put it on YouTube.”

…The partnership will be the first formal arrangement YouTube has agreed with a British broadcaster in which the majority of its content will be shown in full on the video-sharing site.

No comment from YouTube. If the report doesn’t pan out, I’m assuming it won’t have any impact on anyone reading this in the U.S.: The Web is worldwide, but these content deals tend to be specific to various territories, which means you won’t be able to watch British programming from the States. Fair enough: My non-U.S. readers always gripe about not being able to watch Hulu clips.

Source: All Things Digital | 8 Oct 2009 | 1:52 pm

Scientists Measure Volcanic Magma's Rate Of Ascent

Plinian volcanic eruptions are notoriously destructive. These very powerful eruptions often occur after long periods of quiescence and are preceded by relatively short periods of seismic restiveness. Volcanoes that tend to show this kind of behavior include Mount Vesuvius in Italy, Mt.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Oct 2009 | 1:34 pm

Real-LIfe Distributed-Snooping Web Game To Launch In Britain

corerunner writes "A new internet game is about to be launched which allows 'super snooper' players to plug into the nation's CCTV cameras and report on members of the public committing crimes. The 'Internet Eyes' service involves players scouring thousands of CCTV cameras installed in shops, businesses and town centres across Britain looking for law-breakers. Players who help catch the most criminals each month will win cash prizes up to £1,000."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 8 Oct 2009 | 1:23 pm

iPhone OS 3.1.2 now available

(Yeah. My iPhone’s name is Sancho. So what. Wanna fight about it?)

Alright, folks; it’s that time again. If you’re not a jailbreaker, get to hittin’ that update button in iTunes (if you are a jailbreaker, you probably want to wait to make sure this update is safe.) Apple just pushed version 3.1.2 of the iPhone OS down the pipes. It’s a minor update, but it fixes a couple little bugs that have personally driven us bonkers.

The Fixes:

• Fixes a “sporadic issue” that kept the iPhone from waking up after it’s in sleep mode
• Sometimes, the iPhone loses cell connectivity and won’t reconnect without a restart. Thats been fixed.
• An issue with streaming videos crashing has been fixed.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 8 Oct 2009 | 1:16 pm

AT&T Wireless CEO drops hints about possible data caps for iPhone users

Section: Communications, Email / IM

AT&T Wireless CEO Ralph de la Vega raised eyebrows during a speech to industry professionals in Las Vegas yesterday.  De la Vega was quick to point out that 40% of all smartphone data is used by just 3% of the company’s smartphone users.  While he didn’t go into specifics, it’s safe to say that 3% is made up of iPhone users, and those users have not been shy about voice their displeasure about AT&T’s foot dragging where MMS was concerned (it was finally rolled out last month),  lack of VoIP services, and their general unhappiness with the network in general.

De la Vega went on to make a statement that many iPhone users found ominous:

“We have to manage the network to make sure that the few cannot crowd out the many,” De la Vega continued. He said the words “crowded out” at least five times in that part of his keynote address.

What exactly he means by managing the network is not yet clear but it certainly sounds like price increases on data plans, data caps or throttling could be in store for the future.  While such moves may certainly ease the burden placed on the network, it will most certainly anger iPhone users, many of who are already unhappy.  If a cap or throttling is put in place and Verizon or another carrier is successful in getting the iPhone, AT&T could see a huge loss in customers, even though it could mean having to buy a new iPhone if it ends up on one of the CDMA carriers.

Data managing has not gone over well in the past. Comcast found itself in hot water after it began quietly throttling the bandwidth of users who regularly used bittorrent or streaming video services.  Time Warner introduced data caps and tiered data plans in some cities as a test, and it has not done well.  While it’s clear that the iPhone is a data hog and as such is placing a huge strain on the network, a solution that would solve the problem without angering users will be hard to come by.

Read [PCWorld]

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

---

Source: Gadgetell | 8 Oct 2009 | 1:05 pm

OMFG: 4.1 Billion Text Messages Sent Every Day in U.S. [Digital Daily]

Some 740 billion text messages were sent in the first half of 2009 in the U.S. This according to the CTIA’s semiannual wireless industry survey, which helpfully breaks down that astonishing figure to an even more astonishing 4.1 billion texts per day. That’s about double the number sent during the same period last year. And keep in mind, we’re only talking about the United States here, not the rest of the world.

According to the CTIA, there are more than 246 million wireless data-capable devices at large in the U.S. today. Of these, 40 million are smart phones or PDAs, and more than 10 million are laptops. Little wonder that wireless data service revenue rose 31 percent to more than $19.4 billion in the first six months of 2009.

Revenue will no doubt continue that trend in the months ahead as wireless devices become more ubiquitous. Wireless carriers, then, would be wise to put some of their windfall toward building out their networks to cope with future demand lest they end up the butt of a joke in a rival’s advertisement.

Consider these remarks from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, spoken Wednesday at the CTIA wireless industry convention in San Diego: “We are fast entering a world where mass-market mobile devices consume thousands of megabytes each month. So we must ask: what happens when every mobile user has an iPhone, a Palm Pre, a BlackBerry Tour, or whatever the next device is? What happens when we quadruple the number of subscribers with mobile broadband on their laptops or netbooks? The short answer: We will need a lot more spectrum. The biggest threat to the future of mobile in America is the looming spectrum crisis.”

Source: All Things Digital | 8 Oct 2009 | 12:59 pm

Solar Powered Homes On Display In Washington

Image Caption: Student Anna Osborne from Team Missouri paints the ceiling in her team's solar-powered house. U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, Oct. 07, 2009. (Credit: Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon)
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Oct 2009 | 12:55 pm

Rock Band for iPhone officially announced

Seems like just yesterday when we started to get a funny feeling about an official Rock Band for iPhone release. Turns out, our very own Inspector Gadget, one Mr. Kumparak, was spot on with his sleuthing – Rock Band for the iPhone / iPod touch was officially announced by Electronic Arts earlier today.

As expected, the game will feature a multi-player mode (via Bluetooth), allowing up to 4 dudes and/or dudettes to rock out together, while on the go. Of course, you can always shred on your own in single-player mode, but when you get lonely, you can use the integrated Facebook Connect to lure invite others to join in.

Just like its big brother, Rock Band for iPhone allows iMusicians to choose between vocals, drums, bass, or guitar (some screenshots below). The latter three offer pretty obvious game play – tapping the screen on the correct notes. The vocals, too, are performed through tapping (rather than actually singing, as with the console versions of the game), which was a bit surprising – but likely better for the sake of humanity. No one wants to hear some dude singing an off-key version of “Everlong” at his iPhone on the bus.

The game will come with 20 integrated tracks (see below), 15 of which are available right off the bat, leaving the other 5 to be unlocked in World Tour mode. There will also be other songs available for purchase (for an unknown amount).

In traditional fashion, the game was announced without any pricing or availability information. However, the game has been submitted to Apple and is pending approval. EA expects it to hit the App Store sometime in mid-October.

Full track listing:
“Attack” – 30 Seconds To Mars
“Girls Not Grey” – AFI
“Move Along” – All American Rejects
“Sabotage” – Beastie Boys
“All The Small Things” – Blink-182
“Hanging on the Telephone” – Blondie
“Learn To Fly” – Foo Fighters
“Everlong” – Foo Fighters
“Bad to The Bone” – George Thorogood & the Destroyers
“Hymn 43″ – Jethro Tull
“Bad Reputation” – Joan Jett
“Simple Man” – Lynard Skynard
“Ace of Spades ‘08″ – Motorhead
“Debaser” – Pixies
“Ladybug” – Presidents of The United States of America
“Give It All” – Rise Against
“Lazy Eye” – Silversun Pick Ups
“Cherub Rock” – Smashing Pumpkins
“Take The Money and Run” – Steve Miller Band
“We Got The Beat” – The Go Go’s

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 8 Oct 2009 | 12:40 pm

BIG PIC: Asteroid ID'd as Baby Planet

One of the largest asteroids in the asteroid belt gets protoplanet status after new analysis.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Oct 2009 | 12:20 pm

K: Y’all sent 740 billion text messages in the first half of 2009

So CTIA does this little survey twice a year just to measure how well (or poor) the wireless industry is doing. The result of its latest survey just hit the wires, and what immediately jumped out at me was this stat: around 4.1 billion (yes, billion with a “b”) text messages per day (!) were sent in the first half of 2009. I wonder how many of those are the always useful “k” message.

That of course works out to some 740 billion text messages over the course of those six months.

Other things that may pique your interest:

• Some 1.1 trillion minutes were used in the first half of the year (or 6.9 million minutes per day)

• There’s 246 million mobile data capable devices out there. You know, phones, 3G cards for your laptop, etc.

• Carriers made $19.4 billion in gross revenue from data plans in the first half of the year. Again, that’s gross revenue, so you’d have to take into account how much it costs to keep everything working, salaries, etc.

That does seem to be about it. And really, all of that could have been summed up with one giant bullet point: the wireless industry is doing pretty well for itself.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 8 Oct 2009 | 12:05 pm

Feds Launch Antitrust Probe of IBM [Digital Daily]

Source: All Things Digital | 8 Oct 2009 | 12:00 pm

Rumor: BlackBerry Onyx to be announced October 21?

Well, well. What do we have here? Apparently, Engadget has it on “good authority” that the BlackBerry Bold successor, aka Bold 2 / Onyx (it’s not clear which name will hit the streets, but either way it’s the 9700), will be announced on October 21…for AT&T and T-Mobile.

We were already pretty sure that the Onyx would be hitting AT&T’s shelves, but as for T-Mobile, that was less certain. And in case you forgot why you cared, just take gander over these speculated specs: quad-band GSM, 3.2MP camera with auto-focus (and rumored image stabilization), 480 by 360 display, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3.5mm audio jack, and an optical trackpad. Guess we’ll all find out in just under 2 weeks.

[via Unwired View]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 8 Oct 2009 | 11:36 am

Printing and Binding Your Blog for Posterity [Voices]

By William M. Bulkeley, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Some bloggers are beginning to save their words on paper after all — collected between hard covers in a bound volume to pass along to their children.

A service, Blog2Print, from New York custom-book maker SharedBook, prints blogs into books and says that demand has been been growing 50 percent every month, although from a small base.

“When we launched, people would say, ‘Who would want to print their blog?’” said Caroline Vanderlip, chief executive of SharedBook. But while demand was slow when the service was first introduced, she said after Google (GOOG) featured Blog2Print in a communication called “Blogger Buzz,” some 5,000 people clicked the link in 24 hours. It also works with other blog services such as TypePad and WordPress.

“It’s the modern equivalent of writing a journal in a black, bound book,” she said.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 8 Oct 2009 | 11:35 am

As Reactions to Threats Fade, Fear Does Too

Emotions make us fear newer threats more than old ones, according to research.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Oct 2009 | 11:30 am

Nuclear batteries coming soon to power your gadgets?

Section: Gadgets / Other, Green

Researchers from the University of Missouri are now working on bringing nuclear powered batteries to the masses.  The goal of the engineers is to create batteries that are longer lasting, lighter, and smaller.  These new batteries will use liquid semiconductors instead of traditional solid semiconductors.  According to Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU, “The nuclear battery can provide power density that is six orders of magnitude higher than chemical batteries.”

The prototype that the team is currently working on is about the size and thickness of a penny.  Kwon assures that the nuclear battery would be safe and points out how nuclear energy has powered underwater systems and space satellites in the past.

The researchers have applied for a provisional patent and hope to improve their design even more.  Ideally, Kwon hopes that they will be able to make the battery hold even more power and have the dimensions as small as a strand of human hair.

Read: [University of Missouri]

Image Source: Gizmodo

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

---

Source: Gadgetell | 8 Oct 2009 | 11:11 am

Beating Apple, Start-Up Wins ‘Mighty Mouse’ Trademark

A small start-up has conquered Apple in a battle over the “Mighty Mouse” trademark.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office earlier this week granted Man & Machine, a computer-peripheral company, the trademark for “Mighty Mouse,” the name of the start-up’s waterproof mouse.

Apple also sells a mouse called the Mighty Mouse, a white mouse with a roller ball in the upper-middle. In light of Man & Machine winning the mark, Apple will have to use a new name for its next mouse. Conveniently, a recent rumor suggests that Apple is planning to ship a new multitouch mouse with upgraded iMacs very soon.

Perhaps Man & Machine’s victory sheds a glimmer of hope on the story of Daniel Kokin, who is battling Apple over the “Pod” trademark. Kokin is hoping to sell a video projector called Video Pod, and recently the USPTO denied Apple’s motion for summary judgment, meaning the two parties must finish this battle in court in front of a judge.

As for Apple’s mouse, we’re going to make a random guess that the next one will be called iMouse. The iPhone delivered multitouch technology to the mainstream, and we think people would see the connection with “iMouse” if the rumored mouse is indeed multitouch capable.

USPTO Mighty Mouse Trademark Certificate [pdf]

See Also:

• Rumor: Apple to Ship Multitouch Mice With New iMacs Soon
• Apple Mighty Mouse - Wired Magazine
• iSuck: Apple’s Five Worst Products, Ever

Photo: riddle/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 Oct 2009 | 10:52 am

U.S. Senate: It’s cool to jam cell phones in prisons

Oh, U.S. Senate. Just when we thought you had turned your collective attention to the plethora of incredibly important issues to tackle (read: healthcare, 2 wars, global warming, education, etc), you go and pass the Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009.

Source: MobileCrunch | 8 Oct 2009 | 10:50 am

Analyst: Android to become #2 mobile OS by 2012

According to Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney, Google’s fledgling Android OS has the potential to become the number two mobile operating system (behind Symbian OS) by 2012.

This certainly sounds like a bit of a stretch considering that currently Android is operating on less than 2% of the world’s smartphones. However, in a recent interview with Computerworld, Dulaney said that he sees Google’s open mobile platform expanding to upwards of 14% market penetration over the next 24 months.

He supports his claim by citing the fact that some 40 new Android-powered devices are expected to be launched over the next year alone.

“Android rises to number two simply because, unlike Apple, they license their OS to multiple OEMs,” Dulaney said. “They have the number 2 OEM, Samsung, and strong players like LG, Motorola, HTC and now Dell. There are others in the works.”

Combine all the new handsets with the enormous draw that Google itself brings to the table, not to mention the anticipated release of Android 2.0, and the fact that Android is open source and has slowly but surely become more attractive to developers, and Dulaney may be on to something here.

[via GigaOM and AppleInsider]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 8 Oct 2009 | 10:45 am

Tropical Regions To Be Hardest Hit By Fisheries Shifts Caused By Climate Change

Major shifts in fisheries distribution due to climate change will affect food security in tropical regions most adversely, according to a study led by the Sea Around Us Project at The University of British Columbia.In the first major study to examine the effects of climate change on ocean fisheries, a team of researchers from UBC and Princeton University finds that climate change will produce major shifts in productivity of the world's fisheries, affecting ocean food supply throughout the world.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Oct 2009 | 10:35 am

Somebody should make a phone like this

The Sinclair Sovereign, a pocket calculator
from 1976. [Planet Sinclair]

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 8 Oct 2009 | 9:52 am

INQ To Build Spotify Branded Phone

Wow, if nothing else, new European music service Spotify, which is yet to launch in the U.S., has captured everyone’s attention. TechCrunch Europe reports that Swedish telecommunication service provider Telia will soon release a Spotify-branded mobile phone. A source with knowledge of the deal tells us that London, UK based INQis developing the Spotify-branded phone. The company already creates phones with tight integrations to social networking services like Facebook, Skype and Windows Live Messenger. INQ is backed by Li Ka-Shing, who recently invested in Spotify. We’re still gathering details on this, such as date of availability and price. The phone is in the design stage right now, and there are plans, we’re told, to roll it out to all markets via partnerships with various carriers.

Source: MobileCrunch | 8 Oct 2009 | 9:45 am

'Whatever' Tops List of Most Annoying Words

A recent poll of the most annoying words places the slacker term "whatever" on top.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Oct 2009 | 9:45 am

BlackBerry Bold bits: The Bold 2 coming October 21 and a new white Bold

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

CTIA seems to have been good for BlackBerry news, or more specifically BlackBerry Bold news.  It looks like Bold fans will soon have a few more options when it comes to picking the model, color, or carrier of your choice.

To begin with, the Bold which was previously rumored in white has now seen a real world confirmation complete with images.  Overall nothing is all that surprising with this, it is still the Bold, except it is now white, complete with the leather back and silver trim.  As far as when and where you will be able to pick this one up, well the jury is still out on this, or at least still waiting for an official word to come from RIM or AT&T.  That said, it is rumored to be heading to AT&T on October 18 for $200.  Of course, it is also noted as being a limited release that will be available online and in select stores.

Moving on, we also have some details on the BlackBerry Bold 2, although they are still coming on this release, however this is the model that has been going by the codename of Onyx.  Anyway, according to what we have so far it looks like the Bold 2 will be available with both T-Mobile and AT&T.  An announcement is rumored to be coming on October 21, but as of now there has not been any mention of a release date or pricing.

Read [Gizmodo] and [Engadget]

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

---

Source: Gadgetell | 8 Oct 2009 | 9:03 am

Peering Under The Ice Of A Collapsing Polar Coast

Low-level aerial surveys aim to understand rapid Antarctic meltingStarting this month, a giant NASA DC-8 aircraft loaded with geophysical instruments and scientists will buzz at low level over the coasts of West Antarctica, where ice sheets are collapsing at a pace far beyond what scientists expected a few years ago. The flights, dubbed Operation Ice Bridge, are an effort by NASA in cooperation with university researchers to image what is happening on, and under, the ice, in order to estimate future sea-level rises that might result.Since 2003, laser measurements of ice surfaces from NASA's ICESat satellite have shown that vast ice masses in Greenland and West Antarctica are thinning and flowing quickly seaward. Last month, a report in the journal Nature based on the satellite's measurements showed that some parts of the Antarctic area to be surveyed have been sinking 9 meters (27) feet a year; in 2002, one great glacial ice shelf jutting from land over the ocean on the Antarctic Peninsula simply disintegrated and floated away within days.NASA's satellite reaches the end of its life this year, and another will not go up until 2015; in the interim, Operation Ice Bridge flights will continue and expand upon the satellite mission. In addition to lasers, the plane will carry penetrating radars to measure snow cover and the thickness of ice to bedrock, and a gravity-measuring system run by Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory that will, for the first time, plot the geometry and depth of ocean waters under the ice shelves. The gravity study is seen as key because many scientists believe warm ocean currents may be the main force pulling the ice sheets seaward, melting the undersides of ice shelves and thus removing the buttresses that hold back the far greater masses of ice on land."What our colleagues see from modeling of these glaciers is that warm ocean water is providing the thermal energy to melt the ice," said Lamont geophysicist Michael Studinger, a co-leader of the gravity team who will be on some of the flights. "To really understand how the glaciers are going to behave, we need the firsthand measurements of water shape and depth." Earlier this year, an icebreaker cruise co-led by another Lamont scientist, Stan Jacobs, sent an automated submarine to look under the region's Pine Island Glacier, which has been moving forward rapidly in recent years. Its bed, where the ice contacts rock, is below sea level, and scientists are concerned about what would happen if a sudden large movement were to introduce seawater underneath. The plane flights, over some six weeks starting Oct. 15, are aimed at providing a wider-scale picture of Pine Island and other targets.  For each of some 17 flights, the 157-foot DC-8--too big for runways on Antarctic bases--will make an 11-hour round trip from Punta Arenas, Chile, with two-thirds of each trip spent getting to Antarctica. There, the plane will fly survey lines as low as 1,000 feet, some of them along sinuous glacial valleys that may test the nerves of both pilots and scientists. Some flights will investigate the region's open sea ice, which also seems to be in decline. The campaign will cost about $7 million."We learned how fast the ice sheets are changing from NASA satellites," said Lamont geophysicist Robin Bell, who is helping lead the project. "These flights are a unique opportunity to see through the ice, and address the question of why the ice sheets are changing.""A remarkable change is happening on Earth, truly one of the biggest changes in environmental conditions since the end of the ice age," said Tom Wagner, cryosphere program scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington. "It's not an easy thing to observe, let alone predict what might happen next. Studies like this one are key."Investigators from the University of Washington and University of Kansas will run their own suites of instruments. The scientists and engineers will narrate the progress of the mission on several blogs, including one hosted by NASA, and another by Lamont, as well as via twitter. Press teleconference, Thursday, Oct. 8, 11:30am EDTLive audio: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudoDial-in instructions: Sonja.r.alexander@nasa.govSpeakers:Seelye Martin, chief scientist, University of WashingtonWilliam Krabill, physicist, NASA Wallops Flight CenterThorsten Markus, cryospheric sciences branch, Goddard Space Flight CenterRobin Bell, geophysicist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory---Image Caption: Antarctica' Larsen Ice Shelf has deteriorated in recent years, and it is one target of the flights. Credit: NASA
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Oct 2009 | 8:56 am

BLOG: More South Pacific Quakes = Armageddon?

A recent string of tremors may trigger much larger quakes in the future.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Oct 2009 | 8:30 am

NASA Bombing Moon in Search of Water

A 2.5-ton deadweight will be crashed into a lunar crater to see if it holds water.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Oct 2009 | 8:30 am

Scientists Find Quantum Fingerprints Of Chaos

Chaotic behavior is the rule, not the exception, in the world we experience through our senses, the world governed by the laws of classical physics.Even tiny, easily overlooked events can completely change the behavior of a complex system, to the point where there is no apparent order to most natural systems we deal with in everyday life.The weather is one familiar case, but other well-studied examples can be found in chemical reactions, population dynamics, neural networks and even the stock market.Scientists who study "chaos" - which they define as extreme sensitivity to infinitesimally small tweaks in the initial conditions - have observed this kind of behavior only in the deterministic world described by classical physics.Until now, no one has produced experimental evidence that chaos occurs in the quantum world, the world of photons, atoms, molecules and their building blocks.This is a world ruled by uncertainty: An atom is both a particle and a wave, and it's impossible to determine its position and velocity simultaneously.And that presents a major problem.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Oct 2009 | 8:26 am

Huelva Swallowing Up Coastal Lagoons In Doñana

A team of Spanish scientists from a variety of fields has analyzed the effects of human activity on the peridunal lagoons in the Doñana National Park.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Oct 2009 | 8:22 am

IBike: iPhone Wrist-Mount for Motorbikers

Wrist-mounted control panels are a sci-fi staple, used to remote control anything from spacecraft to cars to time machines. And while the French iBike might not actually remote control anything, it certainly looks like a movie prop.

The system is modular, and at its most basic (and cheapest — around $40) is simply a waterproof, arm-mounted case for motorcycle riders. Spend a little more and you can add in an extra battery and a helmet-mounted mic and headphone for cellphone conversations (a terrible idea on a motorbike) or for listening to turn-by turn GPS instructions.

The full kit will cost just under $140, plus shipping (and it ships from France, so make sure you check those prices.) Bat-Tastic!

Product page [So Easy Rider via Cult of Mac]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 Oct 2009 | 8:21 am

Bacterium Helps Formation Of Gold

Image 1: A C. metallidurans ultra-thin section containing a gold nanoparticle. Credits: Reith et al, PNAS 5-9 October 2009.Image 2: This image shows maps of pure gold with other elements. By determining what elements there are, scientists can see where the gold is located in relation to the cells. These maps are quantitative X-ray fluorescence maps showing the distribution of gold, calcium, copper, iron, sulphur and zinc in an individual cell after a minute exposure to Au(III) at pH 7.0 (the quantified area is marked in the image, and concentrations are in the image). Credits: Reith et al, PNAS 5-9 October 2009.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Oct 2009 | 8:05 am

Buying Green Can Cause Bad Behavior

Those lyin’, cheatin’ green consumers.Just being around green products can make us behave more altruistically, a new study to be published in a forthcoming issue of Psychological Science has found.But buying those same products can have the opposite effect.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Oct 2009 | 8:00 am

BLOG: Could Zombieland Really Happen?

Could an unknown virus really turn humans into zombies?
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Oct 2009 | 7:30 am

BIG PIC: Black Holes Face Off

In a few million years, in a galaxy far, far away, two black holes will collide.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Oct 2009 | 7:30 am

AI Helps Doctors Diagnose Deadly Conditions

Artificial intelligence programs help doctors diagnose heart infections and treat wounds.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Oct 2009 | 7:15 am

Typhoon Melor, Tropical Storm Parma Mean Double Trouble

1 NASA satellite gets 2 storms in 1 imageThere's double-trouble in the Western Pacific with one typhoon and one tropical storm bringing soaking rains, dangerous surf and gusty winds to two different locations. Typhoon Melor is affecting the east coast of Japan and watches and warnings are up today. Further south, Tropical Storm Parma continues to rain on Luzon in the northern Philippines.Typhoon Melor is currently affecting southern Japan and bringing gusty winds, heavy rains and high waves there. High Wave and Gale Watches and warnings have been posted in Japan in the prefectures of Miyazaki and Kagoshima today.At 11 a.m. EDT, Typhoon Melor had sustained winds near 75 knots (86 mph). It was located 350 nautical miles southwest of Tokyo, Japan, near 32.7 North and 135.4 East. Melor is moving northeast near 25 knots (28 mph) and is generating 30-foot high waves. At 11 a.m. EDT, the storm was almost due south of the city of Wakayama. Melor is currently becoming extra-tropical as it approaches Honshu. It will accelerate northeast to the west of Tokyo and reemerge over the Pacific as a strong non-tropical low pressure system.At 11 a.m. EDT on October 7, Parma had been downgraded to a tropical storm with sustained winds near 35 knots (42 mph). Parma was located 225 nautical miles north-northeast of Manila, Philippines, near 18.1 North and 122.4 East. Parma has tracked north-northeastward at 4 mph. Parma is still generating waves up to 22 feet high.Parma's forecast track is still somewhat questionable, as different computer forecast models take Parma on different tracks. However, forecasters at the U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center are forecasting Parma to slowly crawl from northeastern Luzon back across the northern island and finally into the South China Sea sometime on October 9. The slow movement across the northern Philippines means more unwelcome rain in the region over the next several days. Warnings are posted in the Philippines today. Public storm warning signal 1 is in force in Batanes Group of Islands, Cagayan, Babuyan Island, Calayan Island, Ilocos Norte & Sur, Apayao, Abra, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Isabela, Ifugao, Nueva Vizcaya, Northern Aurora and Benguet.An instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite captured both typhoons in one image. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) captured both Parma and Melor in a visible and infrared image October 7 at 0453 UTC (12:53 a.m. EDT) as Parma continues to rain on northern Luzon in the Philippines, while Melor is now bringing rains and winds over southern Japan.The infrared imagery revealed that the cloud tops of Parma are not as cold as they are in Melor, indicating that Parma is a much weaker storm. Typhoon Melor has some strong thunderstorms, where temperatures are colder than -63 Fahrenheit.Infrared imagery has also shown that Tropical Storm Parma has made its track over Luzon, and is now back over the open waters of the Philippine Sea. Although Parma's track over land weakened the storm, the open waters are expected to power the storm's convection and thunderstorms back up. In fact, infrared imagery has shown that convection is already redeveloping near the low level center of the storm. ---Image 1: NASA's Aqua satellite captured this visible image of Tropical Storm Parma (lower left) and Typhoon Melor (top right) on Oct. 7. Credit: NASA JPL, Ed OlsenImage 2: NASA's Aqua satellite captured cold thunderstorm cloud tops of both Parma (lower left) and Melor (top right) in this infrared image Oct. 7. Parma continues to rain on northern Luzon in the Philippines, while Melor is now bringing rains and winds over southern Japan. Credit: NASA JPL, Ed OlsenImage 3: The Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument on NASA's Terra satellite captured this image of Typhoon Melor as it was approaching Japan on Oct. 6 at 9:40 p.m. EDT. Credit: NASA MODIS Rapid Response Team
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Oct 2009 | 7:10 am

Wireless charging comes to netbooks

Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Netbooks, Wireless

Wireless charging is finally a reality.  At CTIA, PureEnergy is showing off wireless charging of popular netbooks from HP, Lenovo, Acer, and Dell.  Their product is a charging mat, much like the Powermat Iyaz reviewed on Gadgetell.  The PureEnergy product will charge up to 2 netbooks and five mobile phone simultaneously.

Typically, wireless charging involves an adapter or jacket for your gadget so it can receive the wireless power and PureEnergy offers several of these to fit popular phones as well as jackets for phones to remove a step for users.  Adding netbooks to the list of gadgets that can be charged wirelessly is a handy move.

It looks like PureEnergy’s strategy is to hook up with a carrier and provide their goods rebranded with the carrier’s name.  That could be a tough sell as carriers are very leery to add significant cost and without products designed specifically for wireless charging, like the Palm Pre, the benefit of simple wireless charging starts to fade into the background.

From Iyaz’s review of a similar product, “If you a person who carries multiple electronics or live in a house with more than one cell phone, the Powermat is pretty much a no-brainer.”

Press release: [PureEnergy]

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

---

Source: Gadgetell | 8 Oct 2009 | 7:08 am

Henri Born In Eastern Atlantic - Could Be Short-Lived

Image Caption: NASA's Aqua satellite AIRS instrument captured an infrared image of Tropical Storm Henri's clouds on Oct. 7 at 1:29 a.m. EDT. Henri already had some strong convective activity in his center as indicated by high thunderstorms (in purple) that were as cold as -63F. Credit: NASA JPL, Ed Olsen
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 8 Oct 2009 | 7:06 am

Memory-Chip Camera Sensors Are 100 Times Smaller Than CCDs

If you read yesterday’s post about the inner workings of the CCD, you’ll know that the camera sensors store images in an analog form. The subsequent amplification and conversion to digital introduces all sorts of noise, and is one of the reasons big chips are expensive, and why sensors in general don’t usually do well in low light.

But did you know that a memory chip, the kind found in any modern-day electronic device, is actually very sensitive to light? Pop one open and as the photons stream in, they kick up a particular storm and excite the electrons inside.

These two facts are behind the invention of the Gigavision by Edoardo Charbon and his team at the Technical University of Delft, Netherlands. They discovered that if you actually focus light on a memory chip, each cell therein will store a charge proportional to the amount of light that hits it.

Why is this exciting? Because that data is already digital. What memory chips do, after all, is store digital information and send it quickly to the computer’s brain. And because the data doesn’t need to be converted to be used, the number of components needed at each photo-site falls dramatically. In fact, the chips will be two orders of magnitude smaller. This means that, where only one pixel would fit before, 100 pixels can now take its place.

There are drawbacks. While these chips would be as cheap to produce, there are technical problems. First, the tiny pixels are not very sensitive to light — the bigger the pixel, the more light it can gather. Second, because these are digital pixels, they store a 1 or a 0. This means black or white, with no grayscale. Charbon is currently using oversampling to average a gray value from arrays of 100 pixels. As it turns out, this works pretty well.

“It’s turning out to be a lot more accurate than the greyscale values you get from regular CMOS sensors,” Martin Vetterli, a member of Charbon’s team, told New Scientist. “Analog-to-digital conversion gives only poor estimates of the actual analog light value.” Low-light and highlight performance is also better than that of current technology.

And while we won’t be seeing 100-megapixel cellphones anytime soon, Vetterli says that the team should have a large-scale chip by the end of the year, and could be snapping pictures with it early in 2010.

Cheap Naked Chips Snap a Perfect Picture [New Scientist]

Photo: jurvetson/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 Oct 2009 | 6:46 am

Magazine’s Product Of Year Doesn’t Actually Exist

And the product of the year 2009 is… The Apple Tablet! No, wait. The Sony Unicorn! Erm, Duke Nukem Forever?

In fact, Popular Mechanics product of the year is the Crunchpad, from Tech Crunch’s Michael Arrington, and distinguished by being just as non-existent as the products listed above.

Surely Popular Mechanics just means products announced, or in the prototype stage in 2009? Sadly, no. “Popular Mechanics awards the top 10 most brilliant gadgets, tools and toys that you can buy in 2009” says the tagline. And here’s the caption, which at least points out that the machine is not yet in your local Best buy:

Tech blogger Michael Arrington wanted a low-cost tablet computer—something to handle basic Web-oriented tasks from the comfort of his couch. No company offered one, so he designed it himself. The Linux-based PC, which is edging toward release, is promising—but the best part is the proof that today a tech fanboy can take the director’s chair and quickly prototype a smarter product.

Other winners of the Breakthrough Awards are at least available to buy, from the Palm Pre to Nikon’s S1000pj projector-cam. We suppose that we could be eating our words if Arrington manages to birth his machine by the end of the year, which still has three months left to run. On the other hand, perhaps we detect a whiff of vapor?

10 Most Brilliant Products of 2009: Techcrunch Crunchpad Tablet [Popular Mechanics. Thanks, Mr. Abell!]

Photo credit: Robert Scoble/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 8 Oct 2009 | 6:07 am

Touchscreen PCs Prompt Interface Innovations

Touchscreen displays are going to get a big boost from Windows 7’s built-in support for multitouch tech — but there’s a hitch: Flicking, scrolling and opening programs can be cumbersome when stubby fingers meet Windows’ tiny icons and menu items.

“PCs with touchscreens look cool, but what do you do with them?” says Jennifer Colegrove, a director at Display Search. “When it comes to the iPhone there are 50,000 applications that use touch — but what do you do on a PC with touch?”

To help answer that question, some companies are building touchscreen-centric “skins” for Windows aimed at making tactile navigation more pleasant. Two big PC companies, HP and Lenovo, as well as a startup called BumpTop, have built touch-oriented user interfaces that will run on top of Windows.

“The question is, can we rethink the touch interface as a first-class citizen and provide a fresh approach to the desktop?” says Anand Agarawala, founder and CEO of Toronto’s Bumptop. “Not only is touch a more natural way to interact with your desktop but it also adds to your productivity.”

Touchscreens are not as popular on PCs as they are on smartphones.  Only about 3 percent of the desktop and notebook PCs available today have a touchscreen, says research firm Display Search. But it is a growing market. Driven by their experiences with touchscreen-based smartphones such as the iPhone and Palm Pre, consumers are craving to reach out and touch their PCs — or so PC makers think.

On Thursday, Sony announced a new touch-enabled, multimedia PC called the Vaio L Touch HD PC. The device has a 24-inch touchscreen display. Last month, Lenovo introduced the a tablet PC and a ThinkPad laptop with a touchscreen display. HP is expected to offer updated versions of its TouchSmart computers in time for the holiday season.  Even Dell now offers a touchscreen option for its all-in-one desktop or nettop.

But the touch-sensitive hardware is only half the battle, because touchscreens can be difficult to use with an operating system designed for mice and keyboards.

HP was among the first to take on this challenge. The company introduced the TouchSmart PC, a desktop with a touchscreen, in 2007. Since then it has added its own user interface on top of Windows and created applications such as Recipe Box, a slickly designed program that presents each recipe in the form of a recipe card. The program also allows users to search for recipes online and save them in a similar format.

And, despite its identity as a hardware company, HP has built all the software for its touch interface. The company hopes more independent developers will jump in to create similar applications for the touchscreen.

Touchscreens UI Takes Root

• TouchSmart: HP’s custom UI for its line of Touchscreen PCs boasts apps such as recipes, calendar, weather, notes and RSS feeds — all accessible with a flick and a swish.
• SimpleTap: Lenovo’s newly designed interface is available on its latest tablet PCs and desktops. A grid of icons allows users to customize it to access programs they use most often, or to have presets such as volume and webcam.
• BumpTop: The startup’s UI is created just for touchscreens and offers more touch gestures than competitors. Swoosh with your left finger, crop photos with a single motion across the screen, and crunch documents into a pile with a five-finger “squish.”

Disclaimer | About

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

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

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

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