Example search: [pizza palo alto]

Here are before and after shots for the search [bakeries san francisco]:

Source: Gizmodo | 9 Oct 2009 | 5:40 pm

Comcast launching “HomePoint” technology; welcome to 2001

Comcast is preparing to launch their new service, Homepoint, which will provide a VoIP handset with integration to email, news, weather, and other services. Wait, doesn’t my mobile already do that?

Honestly, this technology seems a bit outdated to me. You’ve got a VoIP handset that works with a wireless router to provide easy access to your email, weather, news, and contacts. Most mobile phones already do this, so why is Comcast doing this now? Admittedly the service will only cost $39.95 a month, but still, what’s the point? I mean, most mobile phones have this functionality by default, so it doesn’t really make much sense to offer it on a handset that’s tethered in your home. On top of that, it only works with one phone number, and requires that you also have broadband in order to get the full functionality out of the device.

Rumor is that there will be a $5/month charge for the hardware, and then access to the service will cost you $39.95 a month. I’d be hard pressed to find someone who this would appeal to, even if they do bundle it with other services. Of course, Verizon tried something much like this before, and we all know how that turned out.

Source: CrunchGear | 9 Oct 2009 | 5:30 pm

Hands-On: Android App ‘Layar’ Brings Reality’s Unique Snowflakes to Your Phone

Imagine if you could browse the web through your eye vision: A review of a restaurant when you stare at its sign, or the times that a bus will arrive while standing at a stop.

That’s the idea behind Layar, an augmented-reality browser available for Google Android smartphones. Layar allows a user to view their environment through their camera lens and see real-time Points of Interest (POIs) from the physical world, providing a mixed reality. In the Layar Reality Browser, you can discover and save specific POIs depending on what you are looking for.

Layar is a unique AR app because it allows third-party developers to contribute layers to their platform. Other AR apps pull their data from search engines, Wikipedia or review-based sites. As location-based features grow, such as Flickr and Twitter, allowing you to tag your location to your content, the ability to see how others are interacting around you in real-time is a compelling element in AR technology.

Layar provides an easy-to-use interface with four clear sections that list layers by name and description. For example, “i-Metro, locate the public transportation stations and stops around your area” allows you to judge its relevance without having to open it. You can sort the layers by popularity, search terms and favorites.

During my testing, I found many of the layers were well done and useful. However, the open platform of Layar has attracted some not-so-polished layers with kinks that need to be worked out, mostly involving usability. For example, BuildAR, a layer that allows you to create your own POIs, has a difficult account sign-up process: You need to type their domain into a separate browser, sign up, then return to BuildAR, and it’s not clear where you’re exactly putting your POI.

This small example could serve as a clue for Layar to implement a user-rating system to hold developers accountable and maintain a standard of experience. Personally, I wish I didn’t spend as much time as I did fiddling with BuildAR. The description made it sound interesting, and I initially thought I was doing something wrong; a rating system would have informed me that the problems were with the software.

In November, Layar will be further expanding their platform by incorporating a 3D grid into their layers. Developers will be able to build 3D objects and assign actions such as sounds or clicking on the object for a link.

Layar is a free application available in the Android Market.

See Also:

• At the Dawn of the Augmented Reality Industry
• If You’re Not Seeing Data, You’re Not Seeing
• Digital Contacts Will Keep an Eye on Your Vital Signs

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 9 Oct 2009 | 5:22 pm

FCC To Probe Google Voice Over Call Blocking

Over the past few months, we've been following the FCC's inquiry into Apple and AT&T after they rejected Google Voice from the App store. A couple weeks ago, AT&T did their best to deflect the FCC by dangling a shiny object in front of them — the use of Google Voice to block calls. It now appears the FCC has taken the bait, as they've sent an official inquiry to Google asking why the service restricts connections. "In its letter, the FCC asked Google to describe how its calls are routed and whether calls to particular numbers are prohibited. It also asks for information on how restrictions are implemented, how Google informs customers about those restrictions, whether Google Voice services are free, and if Google ever plans to charge for them in the future." Richard Whitt has already posted a brief explanation on Google's Public Policy blog. "The reason we restrict calls to certain local phone carriers' numbers is simple. Not only do they charge exorbitant termination rates for calls, but they also partner with adult sex chat lines and 'free' conference calling centers to drive high volumes of traffic." The FCC also received a push from members of the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 9 Oct 2009 | 5:15 pm

CNET reviews Psystar's Snow Leopard-based Open(Q) - CNET News

Cult of Mac (blog)

CNET reviews Psystar's Snow Leopard-based Open(Q) CNET News It's been almost exactly a year since we last reviewed a Psystar desktop. During that 12 month gap, Apple's suit against Psystar has steadily advanced through the court system, Psystar entered into and emerged from bankruptcy, ... Apple seeds second beta of Mac OS X 10.6.2 to developersApple Insider Particle Debris (week ending 10/9) Tablet, iPhone and Snow Leopard ManiaThe Mac Observer Mac OS X 10.6.2 Build 10C519f Seeded to DevelopersMac Rumors iTWire -Mirror.co.uk -Softpedia all 16 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 9 Oct 2009 | 5:11 pm

AMD’s Eyefinity reviewed on video for your pleasure

Some day, I too will have three identical monitors for gaming purposes. It’ll have to be in my game cave once I retire as an eccentric millionaire, though. Don’t have room for it here. That’s probably a good thing, though, since I also don’t have the money required, and besides that there are still a few quirks to be worked out. Not to mention the fact that the best games are barely playable on current hardware, since you have to run them at resolutions like 7680×1600.

First, they need to shrink the bezels on some monitors. I’m tired of a big-ass border between my screens. Come on, guys, make it happen! Second, there needs to be no weirdo stretching on the games. Anamorphic widescreen is one thing, but having a 150-degree viewing angle is something you need to deal with more carefully than simply giving the player a fisheye view, or zooming in and giving them a portion of what they’d normally see. I know it’s hard, but do I look like I care? Back in your hole!

Glitches or no glitches, it’s still out of my price range. It’s still enticing to be playing a game with full peripheral vision. Just git them bezels outta here!

Check out the full review and other videos (Resident Evil 5, Left 4 Dead, etc) over at PC Perspective.

Source: CrunchGear | 9 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm

TIMELINE: 'Ardi' and the Human Family Tree

The discovery of our oldest known ancestor sheds new light on human evolution.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm

SLIDE SHOW: The Week's Top Stories

Take a look at the past week's top news in the Flashback Slide Show.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm

Exclusive: MySpace Gets a New Sales Boss–MTV Vet Nada Stirratt (Plus, an Internal Memo, Of Course!) [MediaMemo]

Employees at MySpace have been waiting to find out who their new ad sales boss will be, as All Things Digital reported earlier this week.

And, here she is: Nada Stirratt, who until today was running digital sales for Viacom’s (VIA) MTV Networks. (You can read her goodbye memo to MTV colleagues below.)

It looks as if MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta is assembling a team of MTV veterans at his company, which he’s in the process of overhauling.

In addition to Stirratt, MySpace has brought former digital guru Jason Hirschhorn over as chief product officer. And Courtney Holt, who runs MySpace Music, had run digital music for MTV before Chris DeWolfe, Van Natta’s predecessor, brought him on board last year. Viacom hasn’t named a replacement for Stirratt.

Next week could be Stirratt’s debut in front of the entire advertising sales staff of MySpace, who are set to gather at a new seaside resort about 20 miles south of Los Angeles to get a first glimpse of the fresh direction the company is preparing to take under its new management.

The struggling social networking site, HQed in Beverly Hills, has been trying to reboot its image, spur innovation in its product and–most of all–pull itself out of a too-long slump, even as longtime rival Palo Alto, Ca.-based Facebook has seen explosive growth.

In late August, MySpace sales and marketing head Jeff Berman left the company as MySpace hired MediaLink, a New York- and Los Angeles-based media consultancy, to help get its ad sales business back on track.

That effort has been led by MediaLink President Wenda Millard, who is well known in the ad industry and was longtime leader of the ad sales force at Yahoo (YHOO).

Getting an experienced top ad exec in place will round out a recent spate of new hiring by MySpace, including a new CTO, Alex Maghen, who moved over from its MySpace Music joint venture, and a new CFO, Mark Rosenbaum.

This has been part of a wholesale flushing out of most of the top execs who worked under DeWolfe by Van Natta.

Now, with a new team of execs, the News Corp. (NWS) property is putting the finishing touches on a master plan, which will include a new redesign of its hopelessly messy interface and doubling down on a product strategy that will center on, said one source, “what we own”–namely, music and entertainment.

Music is the obvious key leverage point, the still-bright spot of MySpace, followed by adding big entertainment categories like movies, television, gaming, video and other pop culture arenas.

Once the rejiggered product is in place, it will be up to Stirratt to sell it to advertisers.

Until we see how she does in that key job, here’s her missive to MTVers:

From: Stirratt, Nada
To: MTVN Digital Advertising
Sent: Fri Oct 09 16:34:51 2009
Subject: Thank You for Everything

Hi Everybody–

It is with mixed emotions that I write to inform you that I will be leaving MTV Networks. I have accepted the job of Chief Revenue Officer at MySpace and will be starting there later in the month.

The past 3+ years have been such a wonderful experience and I thank you for the extraordinary work you all have done to make MTVNetworks Digital stand for a best-in-class sales organization unlike any other in the business. Truly. We rocked the industry with our innovation, ideas, relationships and results. And we had a ridiculous amount of fun along the way. So thank you for everything. And a special heartfelt thanks to my leadership team of Kevin, Brad, Jason and Heather: I have learned so much from each of you and will cherish your friendship.

Xo 
Nada

(Full disclosure: News Corp. also owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.)

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Oct 2009 | 4:35 pm

Android Gets Its Own Everything Search Box

We wrote about Google’s Quick Search Box (QSB) a few months ago when the product was officially launched. We found the Twitter plug-in particularly interesting because QSB was able to turn into a Twitter app that let you post Tweets from the search box itself. Now, Google is launching a version of QSB for the Android Phone which provides similar functionality from the phone’s home screen.

QSB on the Android aims to cut down on keystrokes by providing suggestions as you type and provides a single search box to let you search a variety pf content on your phone, including apps, contacts, and browser history, as well as content from the web, like personalized search suggestions, local business listings, stock quotes, weather, and flight status. And QSB is intuitive; the search box will pull up items that you search for and use most often.

On of the most compelling features of QSB for the Andoid is that third-party developers can include suggestions in search, letting outside information from any apps make into searchable content. So if the app is built with QSB support, QSB will index the content in the app and it will show up in the box. For example, you could search a Twitter app for Tweets.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that QSB for the Android has the ability to Tweet from the search box itself, but perhaps that plug-in will be added in the near future.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 9 Oct 2009 | 4:35 pm

Apple, Psystar ask for summary judgemets, looking to avoid trial

This Apple-Psystar business sure is hotting up! Both Apple and Psystar have asked for summary judgments based on what they believe to be What’s Going On. Such an action would avoid a pesky trial, which would necessarily costs both companies a whole lot of money.

Apple wants Psystar to be found guilty of copyright infringement and for violating the DMCA.

Psytar wants Apple’s case thrown out because it says hasn’t violated a single thing. Its evidence? Parts of the EULA found in Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6, as well as part of a Phil Schiller deposition.

Psystar, you’ll recall, is that company that sells computers pre-loaded with Mac OS X. Apple says that doing such a thing is a violation of the rights of man and of the citizen.

If the judge doesn’t issue a summary judgement in the favor of either Apple or Psystar, then we’ll be looking at a trial, and we all know that trials are treated as circuses in this country.

Source: CrunchGear | 9 Oct 2009 | 4:30 pm

FCC Google Voice Probe: Ask, AT&T, and It Shall Be Given Unto You [Digital Daily]

Well, look at that: Google’s Google Voice service has inspired another Federal Communications Commission probe. Days after a group of House members, echoing a call first made by AT&T (T) in September, asked the FCC to investigate Google Voice, the Commission obliged, sending a letter of inquiry to the company.

“Recent reports indicate that Google’s Google Voice service restricts calling from consumers to certain rural communities,” the FCC wrote. “We are interested in gathering facts that can provide a more compete understanding of this situation.”

Though Google (GOOG) has until Oct. 28 to file a formal response, the search giant was quick to thump the tub in its defense on its Public Policy Blog. There, Rick Whitt, the company’s telecom and media counsel, argued again that Google Voice is not a traditional phone service and should not be regulated like one.

“Google Voice is not intended to be a replacement for traditional phone service–in fact, you need an existing land or wireless line in order to use it. Importantly, users are still able to make outbound calls on any other phone device,” Whitt wrote. “…AT&T apparently now wants web applications–from Skype to Google Voice–to be treated the same way as traditional phone services. Their approach is what a former FCC chairman has called ‘regulatory capitalism,’ the practice of using regulation to block or slow down innovation. And despite AT&T’s lobbying efforts, this issue has nothing to do with network neutrality or rural America. This is about outdated carrier compensation rules that are fundamentally broken and in need of repair by the FCC.”

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Oct 2009 | 4:27 pm

Shepard Fairey shirt for Creative Commons

Creative Commons has launched its 5th Annual Fundraising Campaign. Donate $75 or more and you'll get a special edition t-shirt featuring this lovely design by Shepard Fairey! For those who may not know, Creative Commons is an incredibly important non-profit making it easier for people to legally use, share, repurpose and remix creative work. It's about a shift from the default all-or-nothing stance of "all rights reserved" to a spectrum of "some rights reserved." Of course, everything Boing Boing does is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Creative Commons isn't about knocking down copyright, but rather complementing it in ways that support, and fuel, creativity and culture. Donate to Creative Commons


Source: Boing Boing | 9 Oct 2009 | 4:25 pm

Microsoft Moves To Patent Time-Based Software Licensing

theodp writes "Microsoft's Open Value Subscription offering didn't get the warmest reception. Nor did the follow-up announcement of Albany, a planned MS-Office Subscription Service. Now comes word from the USPTO that Microsoft feels it deserves a patent for the 'invention' of 'Time-Based Licensing,' which aims to make the traditional pay-once perpetual license model a thing of the past. Hey, if your customers were waiting nine years between OS upgrades, you'd try touting a three-year lease with a balloon buy-out payment, too!"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 9 Oct 2009 | 4:25 pm

Massive French mechanical marionettes in Berlin

Royal de Lux, the incredible French mechanical marionette street theatre company, performed in Berlin this week as part of a 20t anniversary celebration of the Berlin Wall's fall. The main performers were the massive Big Giant and Little Giantess, which Cory posted about back in June. The Big Picture has a breathtaking photo gallery of the performance, titled The Berlin Reunion. This stunning photo was taken by Philipp Guelland for AFP/Getty Images.
"The Berlin Reunion" at The Big Picture (Thanks, Kenny Montana!)




Source: Boing Boing | 9 Oct 2009 | 4:22 pm

A Tour of the Deepest Cave in the United States

Lechuguilla Cave is part of the Carlsbad Caverns Natural Park in New Mexico and is regarded as one of the most beautiful caves, with some of the most unique geography, in the entire world.

You can't visit.

Because of the delicacy of many of the formations, the cave is only open to scientists and the explorers who are still figuring out what all is down there. Nobody else is allowed in. Or, rather, nobody else but David Attenborough.

This video from the Planet Earth TV series takes you down into Lechuguilla for some amazing sights and fascinating commentary on the chemistry and biology that make this cave so strange and lovely. Even more impressive, nobody knew it was there until 1986.

Psst, Nova has a whole page on Lechiguilla, if you want to read more.

Source: Boing Boing | 9 Oct 2009 | 4:10 pm

Video: Windows Mobile Turns Twitter Into Party Boy

Earlier this afternoon Fake Steve Jobs took one look at Microsoft’s new Windows Mobile commercial and wrote, “Dancing Twitter icons do not translate into cutting-edge advertising.”

I don’t know. I think the commercial is pretty good, but only because it seems to me the strategy here was to turn Internet Explorer, Outlook, Microsoft Messenger and the others into Party Boy from Jackass.

And interestingly, Twitter is the only non-Microsoft product to make that cut. We know Microsoft has been thinking about Twitter lately. It could well be their ultimate Party Boy.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 9 Oct 2009 | 4:06 pm

Venture Firms Making Bets on Forex Start-Ups [Voices]

By Scott Denne, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Foreign exchange trading has grown rapidly in popularity among individual investors in this last decade, and that opportunity has not been lost on venture capitalists who have put their money behind the trend.

Two companies have recently sprung up to address this space: Currensee Inc., which operates a social network for forex traders, and Tradonomi LLC, which operates a Web site that uses a game-like interface to simplify forex concepts.

Read the rest of this post on the original

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Oct 2009 | 4:00 pm

Serious Sam HD’s “Sunshine and Lollipops” trailer is hilarious

If this is real, I’m gonna buy this game all over again, even if it means I have to pick up a 360. I love Serious Sam to an almost unhealthy degree, and this trailer makes the HD upgrade look even more awesome. In “Super Happy Fun Time” mode, the usual gibs and gore are replaced with stars, lollipops, and other pleasant things — not unlike Penny Arcade’s Gears of Conflict Resolution. Watch it in HD over at GameTrailers if you want to get the full effect.

They’ve really gone all out on an advertising campaign for what is essentially a game that came out almost a decade ago. Remember the creepy supermercial from a couple months back?

I’m sad this redux is going to be XBLA-only; I would love to have it on my PC. Who knows, maybe they’ll surprise me yet again.

Source: CrunchGear | 9 Oct 2009 | 4:00 pm

YouTube's Anniversary: How HOTorNOT Started It All (PC World)

PC World - YouTube is celebrating the third anniversary of its acquisition by Google by showing off an awful lot of O's. The little video site that could announced on Friday it was now streaming a full billion video views a day -- the majority of which, I have to assume, consist of cats playing music and teens doing awkward dances.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:54 pm

Comcast tries pop-up alerts to warn of infections (AP)

AP - Comcast Corp. wants to enlist its customers in a fight against a huge problem for Internet providers — the armies of infected personal computers, known as "botnets," that suck up bandwidth by sending spam and facilitating cybercrime.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:49 pm

Sinclair Sovereign

These may look like Bang & Olufsen TV remote controls from the 1980s but they're actually Sinclair Sovereign LED calculators from 1977. Sadly, the Sovereign was a market failure due in part to the nearly simultaneous domination of the category by its technology successor, the LCD calculator. From Planet Sinclair:

Named patriotically for the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977, the Sinclair Sovereign was an attempt to break out of the bottom end of the calculator market and recapture the top end. It was one of the better-engineed Sinclair calculators and was very well-designed - so much so, in fact, that Sinclair designer John Pemberton won a Design Council Award for it. It was available in a satin chrome finish or plated in silver or gold. A few limited edition silver Sovereigns inscribed to commemorate the Silver Jubilee were also produced. Sinclair even produced two in solid gold!

Sinclair Sovereign (1977) (Thanks, Rob Beschizza!)


Source: Boing Boing | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:48 pm

C graffiti

I photographed this graffiti under an overpass near the Palo Alto Caltrain station. It's a C++ program, called FUCKYOURMEMORY.c. Only in Silicon Valley.


Source: Boing Boing | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:48 pm

NASA's LCROSS Moon Impact Mission Provides Great Data

Several sources are sending us reports of NASA's recent LCROSS Moon impact mission. While the visual results seem to be less than stunning, LCROSS Principal Investigator Anthony Colaprete said the initial results produced "the data we need," but refused to say anything about "water or no water." "The goal of this dual impact was to have the Centaur upper stage impact first, allowing the LCROSS spacecraft to observe close-up the results of the impact. In fairness, the view from LCROSS as it approached the moon was amazing — even though there was no obvious visual evidence of impact, which early data from the infrared camera on the craft indicates did occur. What happens next is a whole lot of math and science. The LCROSS spacecraft included nine individual science instruments. This suite of instruments consisted of one visible camera, two near-infrared cameras, two mid-infrared cameras, a visible light spectrometer, two near-infrared spectrometers, and a photometer. All nine of those instruments were gathering data simultaneously and streaming that data back to Earth."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:43 pm

Barnes & Noble May Sell Its Own E-reader - PC World

dBTechno

Barnes & Noble May Sell Its Own E-reader PC World Is bookstore behemoth Barnes & Noble about to enter the e-book fray with its own Android-powered device? I like these rumors: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that bookstore behemoth Barnes & Noble will soon start selling its own e-reader device, ... Barnes & Noble's E-Reader Gets RealWired News Will Barnes & Noble Break E-Reader Price Barrier?San Francisco Chronicle Barnes & Noble's Sales Down In Aug-Sep; New View GivenWall Street Journal CNET News -The Money Times -ChannelWeb all 202 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:37 pm

Google's Wireless Strategy Starts To Take Root >GOOG - Wall Street Journal

Straits Times

Google's Wireless Strategy Starts To Take Root >GOOG Wall Street Journal Already a fixture on most computers, Google Inc. (GOOG) has taken an important step to become a mainstay on wireless phones, too. In a potentially big breakthrough, Verizon Wireless said this past week that it would use Google's ... Android Gets Its Own Everything Search BoxWashington Post Week in review: Android has arrivedCNET News Mobile web polarizes as duellists pick their secondsRegister ChannelWeb -BetaNews -IntoMobile (blog) all 255 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:36 pm

Is this my new laptop bag? The Chrome Buran

I make no secret of my bag fetish. I love ‘em. And what with Seattle winters being as cold and wet as a dog’s nose, I’ve been thinking for a while of getting a weather-resistant laptop bag. My Manhattan Portage is far from a sponge, but I still feel the need to hold my umbrella over it when it’s pouring. I’d rather have something a little more… like this.

The new Buran, from well-known bagmasters Chrome, is lined with “truck tarp,” which sounds pretty waterproof to me. In addition to that, the laptop-holding bit is further protected from the elements, in case… I don’t know. Just in case. It looks like it ratchets down pretty tight, too — I appreciate that, don’t need the cover flopping around all over the place. Makes a noise, and that’s bad news if you’re a ninja.

It’s also a very handsome bag regardless of its ruggedness. I suppose that makes it ruggedly handsome, like Daniel Craig and myself. We’ll see how handsome and rugged it is in real life, anyhow, when I review it.

Source: CrunchGear | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:30 pm

Samsung Sees Major Benefits From Phase-change Memory (PC World)

PC World - Samsung sees size and power benefits in phase-change memory (PCM), a memory type that is being pushed as a replacement for memory that goes into devices like mobile phones today.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:30 pm

WATCH: LCROSS Smashes Into The Moon

NASA just bombed the moon in a search for water. Take a closer look at how it happened.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:30 pm

History of the Wild Child

Colton Harris-Moore, a.k.a. the "Barefoot Burglar," is a far cry from truly "wild" children.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:30 pm

Zappos-inspired startup is all about men's pants (AP)

AP - Brian Spaly's quest for the perfect pair of pants led him and former roommate Andy Dunn to start a Web-only clothing company that wants to sell men's trousers that fit — without the need for fitting rooms.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:24 pm

Peace! Obama v. The CrunchPad

Oh-Bah-Mah!

Hey, don’t get me wrong. I love President Obama as much as the Europeans do (we endorsed him way back when Clinton was still leading the primaries). But Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize is just…awesome. He’s been in office for nine months and hasn’t actually done anything at all yet. Except, maybe, increase the troop count in Afghanistan.

For the record, we still believe Twitter was the best choice for winning the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

Was Obama awarded the prize for his heroic attempts to fight the spread of disease? Or perhaps the fact that he is single handedly saving OpenID from its tragic yet inevitable end? We may never know.

But perhaps in the future the committee should wait a few years to review the accomplishments of a nominee before giving the award. Like they do with the prizes for physics and chemistry, among others. Seven of the last ten Nobel Peace Prizes were awarded for “effort” rather than achievement. And when it comes to just trying your hardest v. actually getting something done, Sean Connery said it best:

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

Source: TechCrunch | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:13 pm

Wireless Carriers Urged To Stop Subsidizing Devices (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - Industry analysts are advising wireless network operators to stop subsidizing devices. While the subsidies let them draw in consumers with free or low-cost devices in exchange for lengthy service commitments, the deals end up squeezing their profit margins, according to Andy Castonguay of the Yankee Group.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:07 pm

FCC launches probe of Google Voice service (AP)

AP - Federal regulators will look into complaints by AT&T Inc. that Google Inc.'s free messaging and calling service, Google Voice, blocks calls to rural communities where local phone companies charge high connection fees.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:07 pm

Bookies think Modern Warfare 2 will be the best seller this year

Anyone who has any doubts over what will be the best-selling video game this holiday season needs to check himself. It will absolutely be Modern Warfare 2. And while I can say that without anything real being put on the line, Irish bookie Paddy Power has given the game 8/13 odds as being the best-selling game.

Here’s the top 10:

1. Modern Warfare 2 8/13
2. FIFA 10 3/1
3. Assassin’s Creed II 6/1
4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (what?!) 6/1
5. Wii Fit Plus 12/1
6. Halo 3: ODST 16/1
7. Uncharted 2 18/1
8. New Super Mario Bros Wii 18/1
9. Need for Speed: Shift 25/1
10. The Avatar Game 33/1

In other Modern Warfare 2 news, that up there is 20 more minutes of gameplay footage. It’s very exciting.

Source: CrunchGear | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:00 pm

Online Shop Til You Drop With Your Friends On Plurchase

Social shopping is a nut that no one has been able to crack. The idea sounds good; people enjoy shopping together in malls and such. But online, there have been many attempts, and many failures. Plurchase, a Y Combinator-backed company, is the latest to take on the task.

Obviously, Plurchase thinks it has what it takes to succeed in the space with a new method of doing things. In the past, social shopping sites have either required you to have a browser plug-in to converse with friends while on shopping sites, or they have been entirely new sites that everyone had to go to. Plurchase simply offers a social overlay to the sites you already use, and makes it easy to invite friends to join you.

Say you want to shop for something on Zappos, you visit Plurchase’s site then hit the button to take you to Zappos. You will see the Zappos site just as you normally would, but with the addition of a Plurchase panel on the right hand side of your web browser. On this panel you will see your buddy list of other Plurchase users, which includes what sites they are currently shopping on. There’s also a link to invite other friends to join you in shopping with Plurchase via email. And below that is a chat area to talk to your online friends as you shop.

If you find an item you like while shopping and want to show a friend, you can bookmark the item and leave a comment. You can also note whether you “like” it, “dislike” it, or note that it’s “cool.” Your friends can do this as well. Anytime you bookmark an item, it shows up in the chat area with a link, so your online friends will see it and can see what you’re looking at.

And if you hook up Plurchase through Facebook Connect, you can also ask you Facebook friends what they think about items by sending them to your Facebook page.

One interesting thing about Plurchase is that although the site just has Zappos, Amazon, and Craigslist integration right now, the plan is to eventually roll it out to all the big online retailers. And when that happens, you will be able to chat with friends while you’re shopping at Zappos even if they’re shopping somewhere else, like Amazon.

“Plurchase requires no download/install/plugin for users, and no sign-up. There’s zero integration work required by the merchants. Plurchase uses some clever technology. We use a custom proxy server to ‘wrap’ our functionality around the retailer site, and that includes proxifying their JavaScript and Flash code,” co-founder Tom Saffell tells us.

The core idea behind Plurchase is that while online retailers are great at selling items, creating their own social integration won’t work well because it is limited to just that one site. “We see Plurchase as part of a broader trend: the distribution of social features across all types of websites,” Saffell notes. He’s written more about that idea here.

The plan is to extend Plurchase’s social feature to include Twitter integration soon as well, we’re told.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 9 Oct 2009 | 3:00 pm

When Do You Fire a Headhunter?

Captain Sarcastic writes "I have been a contract programmer for a few years (with some time off when a contract-for-hire paid off and made me a full-time employee). Currently, I'm between projects, but I'm a little worried about one of the contracting companies who's helping me. First off, a little history. "Zeke" (not his real name) was with ABC Contractors (not their real name) when I first met him, and he took my resume and started processing me through the jobs that ABC had available. A bit later, Zeke left, and his replacement Yvonne (standard disclaimer) submitted me to a company (call them "Acme") for a contract-for-hire. Everything looked like a good fit, and she E-mailed me a copy of the resume they submitted to Acme. Came the interview, I realized that Zeke had left out part of my history and had mis-dated other aspects, to keep me from appearing unemployed. Like an idiot, I tried to correct this at the interview, to find out that Acme had decided that I had fabricated all of my experience, and chewed out the rep for ABC for sending an unqualified applicant. Fine, learning experience for me — double-check what the contracting company says about you, and don't try to correct things in the middle of the interview." Read below for the rest of the story. What other difficulties have others gone through with headhunters and when is it time to leave one behind?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 9 Oct 2009 | 2:51 pm

The AP Tries a "Truthiness" Approach: "We're Not Talking to Google" Means "We're Talking to Google" [MediaMemo]

For a company that delivers information for a living, the Associated Press might want to work on getting its story straight. Earlier this year, AP chair Dean Singleton baffled the Web by channeling Howard Beale. This week, AP CEO Tom Curley told a group of journalists that his company wasn’t talking to Google about renewing its licensing deal. But they have been talking for months and continue to do so.

In fact, reps from Google and the AP linked up in Manhattan on Wednesday to discuss the deal, which expires at the end of this year, people familiar with the meeting tell me. This timing makes sense since Google (GOOG) had flown in many of its top brass to New York for a series of internal meetings this week.

But that would come as a surprise to anyone who took Curley’s words, delivered after a speech in Hong Kong on Tuesday, at face value.

Here are Curley’s comments, recorded by an attendee at the Hong Kong meeting and transcribed by Zachary Seward at Nieman Journalism Lab:

Someone asked Curley if Microsoft was willing to accept the AP’s demands. “They have said very strongly that they would,” Curley responded. A bit earlier, he said of Microsoft, “They know how to have a conversation.” And what about Google? “I’m not talking about Google,” he said. “We haven’t talked. We haven’t talked. We haven’t talked with them in any serious way.”

AP spokesman Paul Colford says he has nothing to add to Curley’s comments. But I’ll try to make a case on his behalf: Maybe this is one of those “depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is” situations whereby Curley doesn’t consider the talks the two sides have been having to be “talks.” Alternate proposal: Maybe Curley is going for “truthiness” instead of “truth.”

I guess that’s possible. The recurring story I’ve heard from sources on both sides of the negotiations, which have been going on for months, is that they’re not moving very far.

The problem: The AP has a list of demands, which start with more money and move on from there, including assurances that its copy will receive better treatment than secondary outlets. And Google hasn’t expressed much interest in changing the existing agreement. The company is “quite happy” with the deal it has now, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told reporters on Wednesday.

I understand why Curley would want to play up his talks with other portals, as well as the notion that he’s willing to pull his cooperative out of the world’s biggest traffic generator. Per above, I don’t think those are particularly effective tactics, but I understand them. But that’s different from creating an alternative reality altogether.

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Oct 2009 | 2:41 pm

Crazy like a fox? Microsoft to release an ad-supported, introductory version of Office 2010

Years ago, when Microsoft started pushing Internet Explorer, it enjoyed favorable adoption rates because, well, it’s already on there, so why not use it? (Law-breaking aside, of course!) That may be what Microsoft is thinking this time around with Office 2010. Redmond will allow OEMs to install Office Starter 2010 on brand new Windows 7 PCs. It will be a pared down version of Office, and one that will be ad-supported. That, of course, has caused the Internet to freak out.

Microsoft is doing this to get people hooked, I guess, on the real version of Office, and to prevent people from using free, online alternatives like Google Docs. The theory is, if you give people a taste of Office, and let them use it without too many restrictions, then why would they go out of their way to find an alternative? Not everyone wants to replace their Windows shell with some fancy thingamajig.

So you’ll have this ad-supported version of Office, which doesn’t include Power Point or Outlook, but then PC vendors will be able to sell license cards at retail, sorta like how you can buy Microsoft Points at Best Buy or Wal-Mart. You buy the card, then use the printed serial number to “upgrade” the starter edition to the Real Deal.

That’s the thing: even though you’re limited in what you can do with the ad-supported version of Office, it’s 100 percent the full software suite residing on your hard drive. That mean cracks will be available within 15 seconds of the first ISO leaking from the manufacturing facilities.

What this means for Microsoft’s online version of Office, which was also supposed to be a sort of introductory version of Office, is totally unknown.

And yet I wonder how many people out there in Radio Land are still running Word 97—Word is the one application that pretty much everyone can use; not everyone needs Outlook or Power Point, you know—because it works just fine?

Source: CrunchGear | 9 Oct 2009 | 2:30 pm

Tweetie 2 Lives! Get It While It’s Hot

A couple weeks ago we did a preview of Tweetie 2, the next version of the iPhone Twitter client. To say there was a lot of interest in obtaining the app is an understatement. And now you can. Earlier today, Apple approved the app, and it just went live in the App Store.

You may not be able to find it through a search right now, but use this link to go directly to it.

As we noted originally, the app is $2.99 even if you bought the original Tweetie. This has been the source of some controversy, as some users (like former Who’s The Boss stars) don’t understand why this isn’t a free upgrade. But we feel the many upgrades in the new app warrant the price.

More importantly, it’s $3, you probably spend at least that on coffee everyday. And you’ve probably spent ten times that on fart apps.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 9 Oct 2009 | 2:26 pm

Patriot Scientific Corporation Announces Major Reorganization

CARLSBAD, Calif., Oct. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Patriot Scientific Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: PTSC) announced a major reorganization today.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Oct 2009 | 2:20 pm

Ralph Lauren admits it needs Photoshop lessons - CNET News

Daily Mail

Ralph Lauren admits it needs Photoshop lessons CNET News I've never seen Ralph Lauren in real life, but when he appeared on "Friends" a few years ago, he looked somewhat diminutive and not entirely in the first bloom of slenderness. So I wonder what he might have thought when a recently ... Use of stick-thin model has Ralph Lauren on defenceCanada.com 11 Photo-Editing Flubs: Ralph Lauren Ad Sparks ControversyABC News Ralph Lauren DMCAs thin Photoshop skillsRegister Huffington Post (blog) -National Post -Irish Independent all 72 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 9 Oct 2009 | 2:15 pm

Smart Grid Would Boost Renewables

A long-anticipated U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 9 Oct 2009 | 2:15 pm

National Semiconductor Announces Retirement of Brian Halla as Chief Executive Officer; Donald Macleod Appointed President and Chief Executive Officer

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: NSM) today announced that Brian L. Halla will retire as chief executive officer effective Nov. 30, 2009. He will remain executive chairman of the company.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Oct 2009 | 2:15 pm

Spoken Expands Voice Technology Offerings With Acquisition of Voicemail Transcription Services From GotVoice

SEATTLE, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Spoken Communications Inc., the hybrid voice technology innovator, today announced it has bought the voicemail transcription service from GotVoice.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Oct 2009 | 2:14 pm

'Rock Band' videogame heading for iPhone (AFP)

AFP - Music videogame star "Rock Band" will soon be touring with Apple's globally popular iPhones.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 9 Oct 2009 | 2:13 pm

Inside the Windows 7 Launch Party Pack

Barence writes to tell us that it seems Microsoft has been grinding away in the corporate world for so long, they have forgotten what "fun" means. PC Pro managed to get their hands on one of the "party packs," and it seems woefully inadequate. Nowhere did we see a pin-the-chair on the Ballmer game, giveaways that you might actually use, or even a few balloons or streamers. Instead, the only reason to get a party pack seems to be the free copy of Windows Ultimate Signature edition, which doesn't do much for your party guests (unless you burn them all copies I guess, but we would never condone that). All-in-all, it seems that Microsoft should have gone to the nearest dorm room and asked for some pointers on how to have a good party.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 9 Oct 2009 | 2:07 pm

Patriot Scientific Corporation Releases First Fiscal Quarter Report

CARLSBAD, Calif., Oct.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Oct 2009 | 2:05 pm

Sound & Vision goes ears-on the Lincoln MKT THX II sound system

The days of automakers shoving the same OEM radio into all of their cars are long gone – at least for vehicles over $20k. Now if you drop enough coin, you can get a system that will rival your home theater gear. Sound & Vision recently spent sometime with the THX II sound system found in the Lincoln MKT crossover. Spoiler: your audiophile dad should like it.

I won’t give you all the details, but the article points out that the system’s sound is clean and detailed no matter what the volume is set at. This is thanks to a dedicated system of amps and processors, along with acoustical enhancements to the vehicle. The system’s single 8-inch sub does not pound per se though. Chances are that the people that can buy the $45k Lincoln new aren’t looking to bump. They just want to make sure El Rushbo comes in nice and clear.

AUTOMOBILES

Source: CrunchGear | 9 Oct 2009 | 2:00 pm

Capgemini and Microsoft Announce ERP+ Initiative

PARIS and REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Capgemini Group, one of the world's foremost providers of Consulting, Technology and Outsourcing services, and Microsoft Corp.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Oct 2009 | 1:55 pm

Amazon to launch an international version of the Kindle DX next year

Section: Gadgets / Other, ebooks, Web, Websites

A couple of days ago, Amazon not only slashed pricing of the Kindle 2, but they announced an international version of the Kindle 2 to be available on October 19.  The product has been exclusively sold in America, but now people all over the world can purchase a Kindle 2 and use it over 100 countries.  Today, Amazon has announced they will also make an international DX model, however, release has been slated for “sometime next year,” and not later this month. 

The DX has been made available in June for Americans and sports a larger screen (9.7 inches), which allows for clear reading of textbooks and magazines.  The larger screen makes it more familiar when reading different texts, among other improvements.  Since the Kindle 2 comes with international roaming charges, it would be wise to assume the same for the DX.  Since the international Kindle 2 is $20 more expensive than the American version, I assume the international Kindle DX to sport a more expensive price tag than the American DX, which is currently $489.  When 2010 rolls around, I’m sure we’ll hear more details in terms of pricing and exact availability for the international DX. 

Read [Slashgear]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 9 Oct 2009 | 1:53 pm

Contest: Tear Apart Old Sony Gadgets, Win a PSP Go or PS3 Slim

Have a Sony gadget lying around, like a broken, original PlayStation or a neglected DVD player? You might as well rip it apart for a chance to win a brand new PSP Go or a PS3 Slim.

Wired.com and hardware repair company iFixit are hosting a contest. All you have to do to participate is take apart any Sony product and snap photos of the teardown process. Post your photos using iFixit’s teardown gallery tool, along with your observations about the teardown process or the gadget’s insides, and you’re good to go.

Trust us, it’ll be a blast! We’re not asking you to pull a MacGyver and turn a ripped up CD player into a remote-controlled boomerang. (Although, that would be kind of cool.) Just impress us with some neat photos and clever analysis.

A panel of five Wired.com staff members will judge your submissions. You can win one of two prizes. The winner of “Most Creative Teardown” will get a PSP Go (along with a T-shirt). And the winner of “Best Overall Teardown” will receive a PS3 Slim (plus a T-shirt). We want you to be imaginative, so we’re not going to list any strict guidelines. Just have some fun and learn a little about hardware while you’re at it.

iFixit will be taking submissions for two weeks, meaning the deadline is Oct. 23, 11:59 p.m. Pacific. Here are the rules in summary:

1. Take apart a Sony product.
2. Post photos of the process, and your impressions of the device, using iFixit’s teardown editor.
3. The teardowns will be judged by the Wired.com staff.
4. Contest ends Oct. 23, 11:59 p.m. Pacific time.

We’ll post pictures from the winning teardowns, plus any notable honorable mentions, right here on Gadget Lab.

Need ideas for what makes a neat teardown? Here are some examples:

• Just last month, iFixit disassembled the new iPod Touch and found a hole that could have been used for a camera. Strange, because Steve Jobs said Apple intentionally left a camera out of the iPod Touch so the device could focus on gaming! Also, iFixit found an 802.11N chip — an even faster module than the Wi-Fi chip in the new iPhone 3GS. No clue why that’s in there yet, but that’s interesting.
• When iFixit ripped apart the iPod Touch in September 2008, the company discovered a hidden Bluetooth module. This was a pleasant surprise, as Bluetooth was not unlocked by Apple until the release of iPhone OS 3.0 just four months ago. This illustrates how teardowns can reveal technology’s fascinating secrets. Who knows what else is out there that we haven’t discovered yet?

Also, iFixit provides instructions for how to write a teardown, and plenty of examples of teardowns for your reference.

For more on the bizarre culture of gadget abuse, check out our previous feature piece “If You Love Your Gadgets, Tear Them Apart.”

What are you waiting for? Dig up your old Sony junk and start ripping!

Photo: iFixit

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 9 Oct 2009 | 1:43 pm

Developing Enzymes To Clean Up Pollution By Explosives

Scientists at the University of York have uncovered the structure of an unusual enzyme which can be used to reverse the contamination of land by explosives.The discovery, by scientists in the York Structural Biology Laboratory and the Center for Novel Agricultural Products, will support the
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 9 Oct 2009 | 1:40 pm

Hearst Launches Aggregator Site LMK [Voices]

By Shira Ovide, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Hearst today launched LMK.com, a low-cost Web roundup on topics from college football to reality television.

(For the youth-challenged, “LMK” is the texting shorthand for “let me know.”)

LMK joins a crowded field of aggregation sites, which cull news and information from across the Web and organize them by topic or in other user-friendly ways. Other aggregators include Topix, Newser and Daylife, and sites like the Daily Beast that combine aggregation with their own content.

LMK will be nearly entirely automated, with just one full-time employee. Initially, the most developed part of the site is about college football, with news, blog posts, photos and statistics. It will roll out new topics every few weeks.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Oct 2009 | 1:16 pm

Kraken Achieves Petaflop

Image Caption: This is the newly upgraded Kraken supercomputer, capable of a peak performance of more than one petaflop Credit: The University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Oct 2009 | 12:45 pm

Future Phones Dazzle With Design

Concept devices go where most product designers fear to tread. They are dream gadgets that hint at possibilities beyond what current technology can support — or what current fashion can accept.

And that’s just why we like them. They may be fantasies, but concept designs point at a future that today’s designers aspire towards.

Some interesting new concept phones made an appearance this week at CEATEC, the Japanese equivalent of the Consumer Electronics Show. These included a chameleon-like phone that could change its skin depending on its surroundings, a phone whose casing is made of wood and a phone with a flexible screen that can assume different configurations (shown above).

A major source of the concept phones this year has been Fujitsu, which ran a mobile-phone–design contest. But other companies such as NTT DoCoMo and KDDI also offered their futuristic phone ideas.

Of course, these phones aren’t real. Some of them aren’t even in the prototype stage.  Yet they are interesting because they provide a glimpse of what lies ahead — even if it’s still only on paper.

Chamelephone

Designer Hiroyuki Tabuchi created this concept with the idea that the mobile phone’s body can mimic and take on the texture of the surface that it is placed on. It’s a neat idea, but there’s no word on how that might be possible. Current material science doesn’t support this, so it would have to be done with some kind of display technology, like e-ink or OLED. As pretty as the concepts look, we won’t count on seeing these phones for a few years — at least.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 9 Oct 2009 | 12:45 pm

Mainframes Remain Lucrative Business for IBM [Voices]

By William M. Bulkeley and Keith J. Winstein, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal

A mainframe computer may seem as out-of-date as a typewriter in the age of Google (GOOG) and iPhones. But the half-century-old business is still crucial and lucrative enough to be drawing scrutiny from U.S. antitrust investigators.

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) is now almost alone in the market for mainframes: high-end computers that run everything from Amtrak’s reservation system to benefits payments for the Social Security Administration. Market-researcher IDC estimated that in 2008 mainframes accounted for 9.9 percent of the world-wide $53 billion server market.

Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein, estimates that IBM’s direct revenue from sales of its System Z mainframes was about $3.5 billion, or less than 4 percent, of its $103.6 billion in2008 revenue.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Oct 2009 | 12:44 pm

Barnes & Noble’s E-Reader Gets Real

There’s yet another e-book reader in the market and this time it is likely to be from retail book giant Barnes & Noble. The company is expected to announce its own e-book reader in time for holiday season sales next month, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Barnes & Noble hasn’t yet commented about the device. But an announcement from the company would confirm months of speculation about it. Like most of its peers, the Barnes & Noble e-reader is expected to have a black-and-white 6-inch display from E-Ink. It will also reportedly have a touchscreen and run on AT&T’s wireless network.

Barnes & Noble’s e-reader will join a crowded market. Since Amazon’s launch of the Kindle in 2007, the e-reader market has exploded with new devices. In the past six months alone, companies such as Sony and iRex have announced newer models. E-book readers are expected to be a hot gadget this holiday season and electronics retailer Best Buy has said it will dedicate a section for these devices. A few weeks ago, Barnes & Noble said it will partner with iRex, a spin-off from Royal Phillips Electronics, to integrate the former’s e-book store into the latter’s e-readers.

So far, Barnes & Noble hasn’t disclosed pricing for its upcoming reader. Sony’s touchscreen reader is priced at $300.

Separately, a Barnes & Noble representative said in a video (above) that the company will  have a color touchscreen reader, developed jointly with Plastic Logic, available next spring.

See Also:

• Bookstores Aim at Amazon With E-Readers of Their Own
• Sony’s E-Book Reader Adds Touchscreen, Wireless Downloads
• Plastic Logic E-Reader is Slimmer than Kindle DX
• Sony to Introduce $200 E-reader
• New Barnes & Noble E-book Store to Power Plastic Logic Reader

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 9 Oct 2009 | 12:29 pm

Bug Splatter On Car's Windshield A Treasure Trove Of Genomic Biodiversity

If you have ever taken a long road trip, the windshield of your car will inevitably be splattered with bugs by the time you arrive at your destination.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 9 Oct 2009 | 12:23 pm

Education Management Corporation Announces Fiscal 2010 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call on Wednesday, November 4, 2009

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Education Management Corporation (Nasdaq: EDMC), a leading provider of post-secondary education, announced today that it will host a conference call at 5:00 p.m.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 9 Oct 2009 | 12:16 pm

Stolen Egyptian Relics On Their Way Home

Five Egyptian relics stolen from Luxor's Valley of the Kings will be returned to Egypt.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Oct 2009 | 12:00 pm

New in Google Squared: quality improvements, sorting and exporting

Today we're launching a number of improvements to the amount and quality of information you can find with Google Squared, as well as new tools to sort and export the data.

As we explained when we first launched Squared in Labs this summer, the product takes on a difficult technical challenge. It's a first step towards automatically extracting useful facts from all over the web and presenting them in meaningful way. It has the potential to be particularly useful for research questions where the answers may not live on a single website, but instead must be combined from many different pages.

Rather than return a list of the most relevant websites, Squared returns a "square" (or table) of facts, sourced from across the Internet. For example, if you search Squared for [us presidents], each row on the resulting table represents a particular United States President, and the columns include relevant facts about him, such as date of birth, a picture and a short description.

At launch, your first square could include at most 30 facts. With today's update, squares display four times as much data — up to 120 facts. For example, instead of seeing only five presidents and three categories, now you'll see a table with 20 presidents and up to six attributes.
Source: The Official Google Blog | 9 Oct 2009 | 12:00 pm

Motorola to LiMo: Sorry, We’re with Android now

Motorola has made no secret of its new-found love affair with Google’s mobile OS, Android. Having just recently kicked WinMo to the curb, word on the mobile street is that Motorola has now dumped LiMo as well.

According to jkOnTheRun, Motorola VP, Christy Wyatt, has abandoned her seat on the LiMo Foundation Board. In order to make sure its new position is clear, Motorola took things one step further by changing its association with LiMo from that of a founding member to lowly associate member.

The company also put out the following unambiguous statement:

“At this time [Motorola] feels that the Android platform gives it a richer, more consistent foundation with strong support for the ecosystem and developer community.”

Let’s just hope the Cliq and Tao prove that Motorola is putting its money where its mouth is…into well-made, desirable, Android-powered devices.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 9 Oct 2009 | 11:58 am

The Customer's Not Always Right [Voices]

By Nitrozac and Snaggy

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Oct 2009 | 11:40 am

Verizon iPhone? Don’t Hold Your Breath

With plenty of heat on AT&T this past year, hopes have been running high for Apple to share its iPhone with Verizon. However, an analyst does not foresee a Verizon iPhone arriving anytime soon.

That’s because Verizon recently announced a partnership with Google to offer two new Google Android-powered handsets this year. That would suggest Verizon’s near-term direction is with Android, said Scott Ellison, an IDC analyst, in a ComputerWorld article.

Ellison added that there’s no sign Apple is ready to share its iPhone with another carrier. Also, three IDC analysts said Verizon probably won’t receive the iPhone until it converts to its fourth-generation Long Term Evolution (LTE) network.

Several months ago, some analysts speculated the iPhone would be shared with the Verizon network by 2010. Many sources have claimed AT&T’s exclusive contract with Apple ends next year, though this remains unconfirmed. Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg told The Wall Street Journal that Apple is more likely to bring the iPhone to Verizon once the telecom company deploys its LTE network. He explained the majority of the wireless industry plans to transition to LTE in the next few years, and it would then make sense for Apple to bring Verizon on board. Verizon has said it is rolling out LTE next year.

Of course, cellular networks take several years to deploy and optimize, so we didn’t believe Verizon would get the iPhone as soon as it began rolling out LTE. Thus, IDC’s reasoning is plausible. Meanwhile, iPhone owners disgruntled with AT&T, or Verizon customers eagerly awaiting the iPhone to land on their network, can keep wishing for the day Apple ends its exclusive relationship with AT&T.

See Also:

• Verizon iPhone Could be Here Next Year
• Verizon Promises Two New Android Phones This Year
• 4 Reasons Apple Should Share the iPhone With Verizon
• Rumor: Apple Developing Two New iPhones for Verizon
• How AT&T Stumbled Through the iPhone 3GS Launch
• iPhone Owner Sues AT&T, Apple for Tricky MMS Marketing

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 9 Oct 2009 | 11:36 am

Monkey Mamas and Babies Communicate

Macaque mothers and infants, like human moms and babies, share exchanges.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Oct 2009 | 11:35 am

Was First Bird Actually A Dinosaur?

Image 1: Archaeopteryx bone microstructure shows flattened and parallel bone cells, or osteocyte lacunae. Credit: Gregory EricksonImage 2: This is the slab and counter slab of the Munich Archaeopteryx. Credit: Mick Ellison/AMNHImage 3: This is a bone samples from the Munich Archaeopteryx. Credit: Greg Erickson
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 9 Oct 2009 | 11:25 am

Qualcomm Calls for Traffic Shaping [Digital Daily]

Add another voice to the cacophony around net neutrality: Qualcomm’s. Speaking at the CTIA wireless industry conference in San Diego Thursday, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs warned of a looming crisis in wireless capacity and said it must be met with some form of traffic shaping.

“It’s very obvious that we are pushing the limits of the amount of capacity we have,” Jacobs said, adding that network neutrality regulations should not restrict operators’ ability to manage their networks.

“Operators should have the ability to say: ‘let’s be fair, this person’s moved a lot of data, this person’s used a little’, if they’re paying the same amount, then the person who’s used less will get more access….We are on the side of, yes, you have to be able to do something to manage your network, but it’s not the right thing to go in and say one service or another is OK.”

In other words, Qualcomm (QCOM) favors usage-based throttling. In theory, this should ensure that all customers get their fair share of bandwidth every hour of the day. In practice, however, it has meant something else entirely. So the question remains: If data traffic is to be shaped (and I am not saying that it should be), who will determine how it will be shaped and, more importantly, who can be trusted to make that determination fairly?

Jacobs’s remarks come a day after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski reiterated the Obama administration’s call for network neutrality.

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Oct 2009 | 11:19 am

Pay $60 a month for unlimited talk and text with the AT&T GoPhone

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers

AT&T has just announced that as of October 12, 2009, GoPhone prepaid customers will have the ability to access unlimited text messaging and talk time for the low monthly price of $60.  Not only will the plan include texting to people in the United States, but in Canada, Mexico, and another 100 countries.

The goal of AT&T is to give their prepaid customers the option of unlimited text and calling without the requirement of an annual contract.  To sign up for the new plan, users can simply call “611” from their mobile phones.  Some examples of AT&T prepaid phones you can use with the new plan include the LG Neon, Nokia 2600, and Samsung A177.  You can manage your plan options online through “Pick Your Plan.”  This feature allows you to pay each month in advance without a deposit or credit check. 

As prepaid calling plan prices drop and become competitive with contract rates, more consumers may make the switch.

Site: [AT&T GoPhone]
Image Source: Engadget

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 9 Oct 2009 | 11:07 am

Nokia N900 unboxed at Maemo Summit ‘09

300+ developers attending the Maemo Summit were given a (pre-production) Nokia N900 for a 6 month “trial” period. One of the lucky attendees was kind enough to share his unboxing video (above) with the world. See, kids. Dreams can come true.

[via UMPCPortal]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 9 Oct 2009 | 10:55 am

CTIA supports Micro-USB and 3.5mm for (future) industry-wide adoption

As anyone who follows the mobile space knows, the CTIA, aka the International Association for the Wireless Telecommunications Industry, is holding its annual conference this week in San Diego. Besides serving as a stage for new wireless products and services, the CTIA Board has convened to discuss a variety of issues that affect the industry as a whole.

Perhaps the most important news to come out of the conference this week is the Board’s decision to back universal standards to “[s]implify input/output features on mobile devices.”

In particular, the Board is looking to “streamline and enhance the customer experience” through this new initiative by promoting the universal adoption of the 3.5 mm audio plug for earbuds/headphones and the micro-USB format for connecting to peripheral devices, such as chargers, laptops, and netbooks. The primary goal is to reduce “the number of audio and data connectors for the majority of new wireless devices introduced to the market after January 2012.”

The governing body, which includes representatives of Nokia, Motorola and Samsung as well as the four biggest mobile operators in the U.S. and other companies around the world, voted unanimously in favor of using the interfaces in future handsets, said Michael Altschul, CTIA’s senior vice president and general counsel.

This is not much of a surprise considering that this past April the CTIA joined GSMA in supporting a universal charging solution for mobile phones and later in June, most of the top mobile phone companies in Europe agreed to adopt micro-USB across the board. However, it is still rather significant for the CTIA as a whole to come together to support industry wide standards, both for the sake of consumers and the environment.

“This initiative builds on the wireless industry’s earlier decision to support a universal charger solution and both initiatives will ultimately provide benefits for our consumers. By simplifying input and output features on mobile devices, economies of scale will reduce consumers’ costs,” said Steve Largent, President and CEO of CTIA-The Wireless Association.

But, and this is a big BUT:

the decision isn’t binding on the member companies of the board nor of CTIA, Altschul said. It’s solely a statement of support for the use of those connector types on devices introduced after January 2012. CTIA believes handset makers will start to standardize on the technologies in response to consumer preferences as well as mobile operators’ specification lists for future devices, he said.

Not to mention the technological issues that still need to be worked out:

It’s not yet clear whether Micro-USB is fast enough for transferring high-definition video, so the CTIA board left aside the question of an interface for that application.

Ultimately, while this is more of a gesture than a firm commitment (come on guys, you can do this!), it is definitely a step in the right direction. The less proprietary charging / audio adapters, the better.

[via Y! Tech]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 9 Oct 2009 | 10:30 am

A tale of 10,000,000 books

The fundamental reasons why the electric car has not attained the popularity it deserves are (1) The failure of the manufacturers to properly educate the general public regarding the wonderful utility of the electric; (2) The failure of [power companies] to make it easy to own and operate the electric by an adequate distribution of charging and boosting stations. The early electrics of limited speed, range and utility produced popular impressions which still exist.

This quotation would hardly surprise anyone who follows electric vehicles. But it may be surprising to hear that in the year when it was written thousands of electric cars were produced, and that year was nearly a century ago. This appeared in a 1916 issue of the journal Electrical World, which I found in Google Books, our searchable repository of millions of books. It may seem strange to look back a hundred years on a topic that is so contemporary, yet I often find that the past has valuable lessons for the future. In this case, I was lucky — electric vehicles were studied and written about extensively early in the 20th century, and there are many books on the subject from which to choose. Because books published before 1923 are in the public domain, I am able to view them easily.
Source: The Official Google Blog | 9 Oct 2009 | 10:30 am

Last Time Carbon Dioxide Levels Were This High Was 15 Million Years Ago

You would have to go back at least 15 million years to find carbon dioxide levels on Earth as high as they are today, a UCLA scientist and colleagues reported Oct.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 9 Oct 2009 | 10:21 am

Researchers Use Nanotechnology In Biofuel Process To Save Money, Environment

Dr. James Palmer, associate professor of chemical engineering at Louisiana Tech University, is collaborating with fellow professors Dr. Yuri Lvov, Dr. Dale Snow, and Dr.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 9 Oct 2009 | 10:00 am

Establishing Standard Definitions For Genome Sequences

In 1996, researchers from major genome sequencing centers around the world convened on the island of Bermuda and defined a finished genome as a gapless sequence with a nucleotide error rate of one or less in 10,000 bases.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 9 Oct 2009 | 9:57 am

Web Privacy for the Dead [Voices]

By Jonnelle Marte, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Who takes down your email and Flickr accounts after you’re dead?

As we increasingly live life on the Web, services are popping up to help people manage their online lives after they die. At the same time, regulators are cracking down on privacy violations for the deceased.

VitalLock.com offers an application that lets people encrypt personal messages on their computers and send secure messages to people now or after they die. The goal is to give people a safe way to share account passwords, wills and other important information, said founder Bob Stewart.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Oct 2009 | 9:47 am

NASA's Big Hit: LCROSS Impacts On The Moon

LCROSS looked a whole lot more like a whimper than a bang, falling far short of the dramatic NASA animation endlessly played on TV to stoke interest in the Moon mission. But fear not: the angels are in the details, and they are yet to be revealed.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 9 Oct 2009 | 9:36 am

Motorcycle iPhone kit can be forearm or handlebar mounted

Trying to use a cell phone while riding a motorcycle can’t be an easy task – maybe it isn’t that hard for experienced riders, I have no idea. I’d be all wobbly thanks to a) never having driven a motorcycle in my life and b) having no business trying to operate a phone one-handed while piloting a two-wheeled moving vehicle for the first time. For those of you who can do all that stuff, though, here’s an interesting iPhone motorcycle kit from France.

Source: MobileCrunch | 9 Oct 2009 | 9:30 am

Chemists Gain Control Of Light-Harvesting Paths

University of Florida chemists have pioneered a method to tease out promising molecular structures for capturing energy, a step that could speed the development of more efficient, cheaper solar cells."This gives us a new way of studying light-matter interactions," said Valeria Kleiman, a UF associate professor of chemistry.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 9 Oct 2009 | 9:09 am

Short Outbursts on Twitter? #Big Problem [Voices]

By Laura M. Holson, Staff Writer, New York Times

Times are tough for the “tweet before you think” crowd.

Courtney Love was sued by a fashion designer after she posted a series of inflammatory tweets, one calling the designer a liar and a thief. A landlord in Chicago sued a tenant for $50,000 after she tweeted about her moldy apartment. And Demi Moore slapped back at Perez Hilton over a revealing photograph of the actress’s daughter.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 9 Oct 2009 | 9:09 am

Who’s on Crack in Tech: 10.09.09

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile, Gadgets / Other, Features, Originals, Columns, Who's On Crack

This week in tech saw a lot of open jaws and head shaking from observers like me.  This week, I’ll point out the top four moves that makes me suspect drugs may have played a role in their decision to move them to the light of day.  Here in tech, things move pretty fast; if you don’t stop and point out the crack heads, you could miss them.

This week:

• “We can squeeze one more release from Windows Mobile 2003”
• AT&T really hates iPhone users?
• Wireless power is here, do you want it?
• Flash on your phone; whether you like it or not<

Windows Mobile 6.5 embarrasses WinMo fans

Ouch!  Windows Mobile fans all over waited for October 6, the heralded release date for the new Windows Mobile 6.5.  Unfortunately, bloggers saw the release a bit differently.  From my post earlier this week:

ZD Net: “...(I) would never recommend anyone actually purchase a new device just to get this update on their smartphone.”
Slashgear says, “Enterprise users will likely find this latest version a decent mixture of the familiar and the new, but Windows Mobile 6.5 still falls short of a knock-out blow against webOS, Android and the iPhone.”
From Engadget: “...it’s very much a stopgap, complete with duct tape, bubble gum, and Bondo.”

For an update that took 18 months to put together, the effort seems less than stellar.  Windows Mobile 7, while looking impressive in pre-production form, is still months off (2010 delivery expected).  So what is a WinMo fan to do?  Here is my top three gems of advice for WinMo fans while they wait for the big 7:

• Stop reading blogs.  Bloggers are all jaded and get free iPhones from Apple in exchange for being fanbois anyway.
• Buy an Android phone for the interim.  It’s not like Google is profiting from it.
• Rethink how much you need a cell phone.  Give it up for a year, tell everyone it is an experiment, you’ll look cooler.  You hipster, you.

AT&T to kill the golden goose?

Let’s say you are a farmer and your prize pig, who earns you a pretty penny at the county fair, is eating up all your feed intended for all the farm animals.  What is a farmer to do?  That seems to be the pickle Higgins from Magnum PI, er, Ralph de la Vega finds himself in.  Our Sue Walsh explains:

“...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. “

Predictably, iPhone users are up in arms over the concept.  Unlimited should mean unlimited, right?  If AT&T wasn’t clever enough to realize that voice was secondary on the device, isn’t that their fault?  Data is king and you are married to it, AT&T.  You reap what you sow.

Powermat ought to scare somebody (else)

I was thrilled with Palm Pre’s Touchstone device that allows the phone to be charged just by placing it on the small toadstool charger.  I am less thrilled with the latest wave of wireless charging mats that everyone is so excited about.  Our Editor, Iyaz reviewed the mat and had this to report:

“If you buy into the Powermat universe, purchase the Powermat home & office mat or travel mat and have an iPhone, this is very handy.  Keeping your phone charged is incredibly easy since you don’t need to search for a fallen iPod cable. “

Your iPhone would have to be in a special case to allow this charging, as do all of the devices you want to charge, that or you have to plug in a wireless adapter prior to charging on the mat.  If you are going to that much trouble, wires seem a bit easier (and cheaper) to me.  Yes, wires are so 1980s but this isn’t the wireless power revolution we’ve been waiting for.  The genius of the Palm Pre method, being designed to do this from conception, seems like a much better path than add-ons.  But that is just one crackheads opinion.  Are you loving these things?

I am worried, largely thanks to my ignorance.  Iyaz left off splash tests.  What if I toss a kitchen magnet at it?  Will my microwave nuke the thing?  For that matter, is it microwave safe?  So many questions unanswered by Iyaz, you’ve got to wonder why he didn’t test out real-world scenarios like these…

Flash on your phone

This week, Adobe announced it was working with major mobile phone operating systems to get their Flash on more devices.  Notably, the iPhone OS was not mentioned by Adobe to be included leaving some to scratch their heads and whine a bit.  Conversation points quickly became mired in two areas: what will Flash support do to battery life and with HTML5, will we need Flash anyway?

Adobe answered concerns about battery life here, “in Active State with Video (i.e. you’re watching a Flash video), Adobe estimates battery life of 3.4 hours. Not fantastic, but enough to get through a movie on a plane with battery to spare. Of course, video isn’t the only thing Flash is used for, and when working with animation instead (e.g. many current Flash games) Adobe estimates that you could get up to 6.5 hours out of the phone. And if you turn down the screen brightness and turn off the radios? 14.5 hours.”

Many believe HTML5 adoption to most sites to be years off and until then Flash will be king.  Google is behind HTML5 in a big way and that is going to speed things up.  Tim O’Reilly casts this light:

“If you’re like me, you had no idea there was so much HTML 5 already in play. When I checked in with my editors at O’Reilly, the general consensus was that HTML 5 isn’t going to be ready till 2010. Sitepoint, another leading publisher on web technology, recently sent out a poll to their experts and came to the same conclusion. Yet Google, Mozilla, and Palm gave us all a big whack upside the head this morning. As Shakespeare said, “The hot blood leaps over the cold decree.” The technology is here even if the standards committees haven’t caught up. Developers are taking notice of these new features, and aren’t waiting for formal approval.”

Can Adobe keep Flash alive despite Safari, Chrome, Opera, and Firefox already support elements of HTML5 such as geolocation, video, app cache, and database functionalities?  I don’t have the answer but it would appear that the wave of HTML5 support is going to have an effect.

Of course, the tech is useless if we don’t use it, no matter what the crackheads say.  So far, America has yet to get really excited about mobile TV.  Slingbox has had some success here but I am not sure it has been a runaway, yet.  Major carriers are still in the early stages of releasing phones that can handle TV.  Honestly, I can’t find much to watch on my 42” much less my 3”.  You?

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 9 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am

Nobel Peace Prize Awarded To President Obama

President Barack Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in an astonishing verdict.Nobel observers were stunned by the unforeseen decision so soon in the president’s term, which began a short two weeks before the Feb.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 9 Oct 2009 | 8:45 am

Sride to unrock: Chinese Palm Pre clones attack

When your country can’t have a Palm Pre you might as well make your own. This is a “half-iPhone, half-Blackberry” device with slide out keyboard running the Ophone OS.

The phone includes a slide-to-unlock feature along with analog TV and FM radio playback and “Java Application.”

The Ophone OS is essentially China’s answer to Android with a number of standard features built-in over the Android kernel. It’s essentially free and is pretty close to what you’d expect out of a smartphone clone. No pricing or availability.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 9 Oct 2009 | 8:43 am

700 euros burning a hole in your pocket? Here’s an Armani-Samsung phone for you.

You’re looking at the latest fashion phone that’s sure to find its way into celebrities’ gift bags at the end of fancy yacht parties. It’s the product of a collaboration between Armani, Samsung and Microsoft. That’s right: a €700 phone that runs WinMo 6.5. Oh, dear.

The phone, I think, doesn’t look bad at all. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, so to speak—QWERTY slider with touchscreen for good measure—nor does it really have it. It’s not like this phone is aimed at you or I or anything.

The specs: 3.5-inch AMOLED screen, built-in GPD, 8GB storage, 5-megapixel camera. Again, nothing crazy, and you could rattle off a dozen other phones to bring more or less the same specs to the table without having to fork over that kind of money.

Armani himself, at the phone’s unveiling in Milan, called the phone “perfect for today’s managers.”

It’s something Ari in Entourage would use.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 9 Oct 2009 | 8:35 am

Obama's Nobel Seen as Award for Potential

Many say President Obama's Nobel award is based on potential, not accomplishments.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Oct 2009 | 8:35 am

QUIZ: Test Your Cyber Crime I.Q.

Test your knowledge of some of most notorious cyber crimes ever committed.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Oct 2009 | 8:30 am

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.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 9 Oct 2009 | 8:29 am

Gamertell Review: Zhu Zhu Pets electronic pet toys

FROM GAMERTELL - The Zhu Zhu Pet series of toy hamsters are certainly cute and entertaining to watch.  Plus, they’re more affordable than a real hamster. However, they can get dirty easy, find their way into hidden locations and require some rather costly accessories.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 9 Oct 2009 | 8:28 am

When Quakes Swarm: Are Quakes Contagious?

A recent cluster of seven big quakes has some wondering if quakes trigger more quakes.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Oct 2009 | 8:14 am

Rhesus Macaque Moms Interact With Baby Like Humans

The intense exchanges that human mothers share with their newborn infants may have some pretty deep roots, suggests a study of rhesus macaques reported online on October 8th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.The new findings show that mother macaques and their infants have interactions in the first month of life that the researchers say look a lot like what humans tend to do."What does a mother or father do when looking at their own baby?" asked Pier Francesco Ferrari of the Università di Parma in Italy.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 9 Oct 2009 | 8:02 am

Study: 54% of Companies Ban Facebook, Twitter At Work

Planning on firing off a short missive on Twitter or posting an update to your friends on Facebook from the office? Better check the rules of your workplace first. More than half have bans during work hours.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 9 Oct 2009 | 7:38 am

Sprint telesales reportedly selling the HTC Hero a few days early

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

Despite having an official release date of October 11, some customers have been reporting positive results when trying to place an order for the HTC Hero.  Simply put, this may or may not work for you, but if you have been waiting, it may be worth a try, after all the worst they can say is no.

Should they allow your order to go through, be prepared to shell out $279.99 and agree to a two-year agreement.  Of course, $100 will be coming back in the form of a mail-in-rebate.

And at worst, they will tell you that the Hero is not yet available and you can call back on Sunday.

Read [Sprint Users]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 9 Oct 2009 | 7:07 am

Video: Motorola’s MotoBlur ported to a HTC G1

Hey, hey. This hack will probably make more than a few G1 owners giddy. Apparently someone got their hands on a leaked copy of a Motorola Cliq ROM, which just so happens to have all the stuff for Motorola's custom Android build, MotoBlur, and has converted it for the G1. Don't ask us where these files are or the install instructions for your G1. We don't know. But what we do know is that this port probably doesn't make the Motorola suits all that happy, but this is the joy of an open platform like Android. Get use to it.

Source: MobileCrunch | 9 Oct 2009 | 7:04 am

Spill-Proof Litecup Glows In The Dark

The big drawback of keeping an open glass of bourbon by the bed as I sleep (to help with the bad dreams, if you’re asking) is that often the side effects of this wonderful sleeping potion (dizziness, poor coordination) mean I often spill a slug on the tiled floor. This gets sticky quickly and can be dangerously slippery should I have to get up for a refill.

What I need is, say, an illuminated, anti-spill cup from which to sip my golden, liquid companion, whilst at the same time not disturbing the Lady sweetly dozing at my side. What I need is the Litecup, a drunken idiot-proof sippy-cup with a nightlight in the base and a lid that needs a good suck to get the juices inside flowing. Better, you can start to pull from anywhere on the rim, meaning no troublesome searching for a tiny slit while in a stupor. Bonus: filtering the light through the whiskey bathes the room in a beautiful amber glow. £6 ($10).

Product page [Litecup]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 9 Oct 2009 | 7:01 am

Moon Hit, Plume With Water Possible

A rocket barreled into the moon, though there was no immediate sign of a dust plume.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Oct 2009 | 6:30 am

USB Multi-Touch Pad and Numeric Keyboard Mashup

Multi-touch is the new, erm, normal-touch, and everyone is getting in on it. It’s easy to see why — moving your fingers over a flat pad is much easier on the wrists than mice and trackballs (for me at least) and you can invoke a lot of intuitive actions (zoom, scroll, twist) without really thinking about it.

Now Elecom is getting in on the multi-touch game, only with a twist. The TK-TCT005BK is a combination USB touchpad and number pad. Press the familiar “num” button on the top edge and it works just like a numeric keypad. Obviously aimed at laptop owners who lack a separate number pad, the device could also add multi-touch to your desktop PC. And PC it will be. Elecom’s pad only works with Windows . Perhaps that’s what the “BS” button is for. ¥4,200 ($50), available in Japan.

Product page [Elecom via CrunchGear]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 9 Oct 2009 | 6:24 am

$200 Matte Screen Replacement for 13″ MacBook Pro

We’re sure that it’s a quirk of the site’s ordering service, but TechRestore’s new option to replace your MacBook Pro’s glossy display with a matte one is listed as a “repair.”

For many, that’s just what it is. The glossy-only option on the 13” annoyed many because of excessive reflectivity, although it does bring some punchy colors, and deeper blacks than you can get with a matte screen. It also has the rather excellent glass cover that runs right to the edge of the entire top lid, and protects the screen as well as adding stiffness and an easy-to-clean coating.

TechRestore’s process costs $200. Send in your MacBook and it will rip out the screen and replace it with a matte one, and because the screen no longer has the glass panel, you also get a matte-black bezel, complete with holes for the iSight camera and LEDs. It takes just 24 hours, and TechRestore will hold on to your old screen, too — not that you’ll be needing it anyway.

The one advantage we see over the Apple-provided option (other than the fact that Apple only offers a matte screen on the 15” and 12” models) is that you get a black instead of a silver bezel. But the loss of that stiffening glass panel is a worry, plus Apple’s option is just $50.

Product page [TechRestore via Rob Galbraith]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 9 Oct 2009 | 5:21 am

Barnes and Noble Plastic Logic ebook reader with color display coming in the Spring of 2010

Section: Gadgets / Other, Miscellaneous

We have seen details before about the upcoming Barnes & Noble ebook reader, most recently was when it made the FCC appearance and although that was a nice step to see, we have something a little more exciting today.

The latest details are coming from Daniel Joresson who is a Barnes & Noble representative.  As to whether or not he was supposed to be spilling so many details, or even if he really knew what he was talking about is an entirely separate story.  That said, he did offer some interesting tidbits which included that the ebook reader is coming from Plastic Logic will be available in the Spring of 2010.

Additionally, there will also be an ebook app that you will be able to enjoy on your cellphone to include the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android.  Sounds like the Kindle app to me, except that it will be available on more than just the iPhone.

In regards to the Plastic Logic device, he unfortunately did not, or would not mention any pricing, however he did state that it will have a color screen that is the approximate size of a paperback book.

Finally, when asked what will make the Barnes & Noble product better than the competition, he noted that it will have new and cool features that were not available when the other was built. And as you would logically guess, the “other” he device was most likely the Kindle.

Now for one final detail, and one that did not come from Daniel Joresson—it is also being rumored that the B&N ebook reader will be powered by Android.  This is not anything official yet, instead it is coming by way of Gizmodo, who are citing that the “leak came from someone who (quite convincingly!) claims to work for B&N developing mobile apps.”

Watch [YouTube]  Via [Engadget and Gizmodo]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 9 Oct 2009 | 5:12 am

Archie’s Grobag, Like a Bag-of-Holding For Bikes

The “Rosie” hip-pouch from Archie’s Grobags might be the most utility-dense bikers’ bag we have yet seen. Archie is a London-based fixed-gear rider as well as a cycle-bag designer (and sewer, we believe). And this bag shows the fixsters’ obsession with hanging nothing from either the frame or the rider’s body - it lets you carry just about everything you’d need for a day out.

Once looped onto your belt, you can load up the inside with cellphone, cash, a spare tube, tire levers, a multi-tool and any other (small and thin) items. On the outside you get a pair of Velcro loops for a pump and another couple of webbing straps on which to hang your lock (although the U-lock in the picture looks like one of those awful, lightweight and easy-to-break aluminum kinds). There’s even a place to clip a rear light, keeping one more thing off the frame.

The bags are £45 (around $70) each. Archie’s site is down right now, but you can check out the full set of photos at Pedal Consumption.

Product page [Archie’s Grobags via Pedal Consumption]

See Also:

• Make It: The $10 Bicycle Saddlebag
• Hands-On With Ortlieb's Bike Panniers
• Rubber Bags Made from Bike Inner Tubes
• Hambone Frame-Bags for Stylish Cyclists
• $220 Messenger Bag Carries Everything, Ever
• Hips-On With Fabric Horse Superhero Utility Belt

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 9 Oct 2009 | 4:53 am

Google, Microsoft Court Twitter as Service Suffers Outage - PC World

TrustedReviews

Google, Microsoft Court Twitter as Service Suffers Outage PC World It couldn't have happened at a worse time. Microblogging service Twitter suffered an outage Thursday, just as it reportedly was negotiating a licensing deal with either Google or Microsoft. The up-and-down day for Twitter mirrors the service's bigger ... As Google and Microsoft Vie, Twitter Could Turn Tweets into DollarsABC News Tweet Heat: Twitter Outage Comes As Microsoft, Google In TalksChannelWeb Twitter Talks Data With Microsoft, Google — All Things DigitalWired News Reuters -TechRadar UK -TechNewsWorld all 180 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 9 Oct 2009 | 4:43 am