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Everything iDon't, Droid Does. - GeekSmack
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 19 Oct 2009 | 4:29 am Firefox blocks and backtracks on 'insecure' MS add-ons - Register
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 19 Oct 2009 | 4:25 am Comes With Spotify? Music Startup Bundled With Mobile Tarrif
The offer will come in at £35 ($57) a month over 24 months plus £99 ($161) for the Hero handset. That tariff includes unlimited use of Spotify Premium on both the handset and the owner’s PC for 2 years. That is a pretty good deal. The announcement hints at Spotify appearing on other handsets and, I daresay, other networks at some point – though the service has yet to launch at all in the US. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. 
Source: TechCrunch | 19 Oct 2009 | 4:23 am International Kindle Now Shipping: The Good, The Bad and The Downright Ugly
Today the Kindle starts shipping internationally. That’s exciting for some folks, as we were waiting until the Kindle to buy our first e-book reader. But the launch hides many disappointments, as well as some significant advantages. Here’s a rundown of what you need to know about Kindle International. GSM This is the big change inside that will let the Kindle work outside the US. It is powered by AT&T (the other Kindles use Sprint’s CDMA network which is pretty much US-only). US owners going abroad will be able to download new books or magazine subscriptions whilst away (very handy for travel guides), and international Kindle owners will of course be able to use the Whispernet service to buy books. But as we mentioned before, despite having an always-on internet connection, most countries outside the US won’t get the “experimental” web browser nor access to blogs (this means Amazon’s for-pay blog delivery). Some countries, including Mexico and Japan, will get the web, but still no blogs. And sure, the Kindle’s browser is pretty poor but hey, what about Wikipedia? The Kindle was supposed to be the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, right? And roaming US owners don’t get away with this, either. You’ll have to pay an extra $2 for international delivery. US-Centric Design The hardware is embarrassingly US-centric. In fact, this is putting it lightly. The “International” Kindle will sport a US power adapter (reports say even that is a lucky break, and Australians have to make do with a USB charger only) and also, according to several of our readers, a US-layout keyboard. As Gadget Lab commenter SimonBP asks, “Is this really an International product or just a legit gray export?” And don’t even get us started on the pricing, which is in US dollars but still varies from place to place. Taxes In the US, Amazon is fighting for the right to not charge sales tax on its physical orders, the excuse being that it delivers (usually) from out-of-state and that the buyer is responsible for declaring taxable purchases (yeah, right). Internationally, on delivery of bits and bytes, tax is being levied. The amount of import tax varies from country to country, and Amazon, presumably because it has to, charges you up-front. By contrast, many physical goods which a friend of mine imports from the US by post never get taxed. No iPhone App (Yet) Hopefully subject to change soon, the Kindle for iPhone application is not yet available outside the US store. It’s highly probable that it has been held up by Apple’s approval process, but then perhaps Amazon should have submitted it earlier. This is one of the Kindle’s most compelling features. You can read the book on the e-ink screen but when you are, say, waiting on line in a store or want to read in bed with the lights out, you can fire up the iPhone app and carry on from where you left off. Hurry up, Amazon. English Right now, the Kindle Store sells English language books. This is bad enough in the US where Spanish is the first language of many, but internationally this is a huge problem. We guess that as the Kindle uptake grows, more publishers will add books in other languages, but right now the international market is limited to English-speakers. On the other hand, for people like me living “abroad”, this is a great feature. I can now buy a wider range of English books than I can from local Spanish bookshops, cheaper and instantly. Previously the best option was Amazon, but the delivery charges killed the value, and I had to wait for days or weeks to get the order. DRM This is common to all Kindles, and to almost all e-books you can buy, but it’s worth a mention. If you think a Kindle can replace your paper books you are dead wrong. DRM means you can’t trade in the books at a second-hand book store, or sell them at all. Nor can you loan them, which is what I do with most of my dead-tree books. And worst of all, Amazon can pull the books of your device at any time, thanks to the always-connected nature of the Kindle (as demonstrated with almost unbelievable irony in the case of Orwell’s 1984 getting recalled). Still, I have one on order, and it should arrive this Wednesday. I also have the desktop version of the excellent iPhone e-reader Stanza, which will convert any text or PDF and add it to the Kindle, free, via USB, thus avoiding the $1 per megabyte transfer fee. Did I mention that fee already? $100 per gigabyte to wirelessly transfer you own documents. Clearly the e-book market will need to go through the same pain as the movie and music industries before us customers finally get hat we want. Photo credit: troyh/Flickr (Yes, we know it’s the Kindle v1 but the picture is awesome anyway). See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 19 Oct 2009 | 4:22 am NASA: Lunar pole-shot plume shows up in pictures - Register
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 19 Oct 2009 | 4:13 am Does Checkbook Blogging Pay Off? "Hard to Measure," Says Gawker Media's Nick Denton [MediaMemo]
This is becoming standard practice for Denton, who announced in July that he was willing to pay for juicy stories, tips and other stuff he could publish. In August, he shelled out for video of Grey’s Anatomy star Eric Dane, his wife Rebecca Gayheart and another woman in various states of undress. Semi-naked semi-celebrities draw more eyeballs than stories about delusional reality show aspirants, apparently: The “McSteamy” clips have generated more than 4 million views this fall, while Denton predicts the Balloon Boy saga will ultimately do 1 million. My question: Does paying for this stuff make sense? After announcing a year ago that advertising was going to fall off a cliff, Denton now says he’s been making good money, after all. So does this kind of checkbook blogging produce more profit? Denton’s answer, via email: Why you think just two bought stories? We paid 10k for that Photoshop expose a couple years ago. Not really a new thing. A story is a story. We’re not squeamish about the means. And the paroxysms of the j-school ethicists add to the satisfaction. You were expecting a more straightforward answer? Hah! But the last part of Denton’s missive — quivering ethicist strawmen aside — is what really rings true. He really does get a huge kick out of this stuff: Entertaining himself with his blog empire, tweaking enemies real and imagined, and shrugging about it publicly. It’d be wrong to say you can’t put a price on that. But whatever that price is, Denton can afford it. Source: All Things Digital | 19 Oct 2009 | 4:00 am Spring 3.0 framework for Java to debut (InfoWorld)InfoWorld - Spring 3.0, a major upgrade to the popular open source Java development framework, is being introduced Monday by SpringSource, featuring full REST support for rich Web applications as well as an expression language.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 19 Oct 2009 | 4:00 am UPDATE 2-Saudi Mobily's Q3 profit soars, bets on data* Post-paid accounts for quarter of overall revenue (Adds executive quotes, stock price, analysts)Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:42 am Facebook 3.1 With Notifications Should Soon Highlight The iPhone Push Problem
While we’ve long suspected that this would be a feature in the next major iteration, developer Joe Hewitt confirmed it tonight on Twitter. And that feature will make what is already one of the best iPhone apps out there, even better. The lack of Push Notifications is probably the biggest complaint users have about the app, right now. Facebook with Push Notifications could be significant in another way as well: It could well be the most popular app people are using with the functionality. Why that matters is that it could start showing everyone what some of us iPhone power users have realized for a while: The Push Notification management system beyond a certain threshold is basically useless. That is to say, when you’re getting a large number of Push Notifications on your iPhone, it’s almost laughable how bad the built-in system is for trying to figure out what you just got notified about beyond the most recent message. That’s why Boxcar, a Push Notification app, is so great, it has a main dashboard where you can see a full list of your recent Push Notifications. I realize that I’m hardly representative of the average user, but I often find myself looking over this list after a few days, and there are a couple thousand Push messages accumulated. But sadly, this only works for notifications run through Boxcar. So if you have say, a notification from Foursquare, one from AIM, and one from BNO News, none of those will be in that list. Boxcar (which also already does Facebook notifications, by the way) also doesn’t solve the issue of smartly displaying various kinds of messages on your main screen when they come in. For example, if I have a text message that comes in, but a Push Notification after it, the Push message will override the text message, so I will not know I have a text at all unless I unlock my phone and look at the Messages app. There also badly needs to be a universal “quiet time” setting, when no Push Notification are sent to your phone. Several apps are starting to build this in, but that’s just more management for users to deal with on an app-by-app basis; it really should be a universal system setting. The Push system is such a mess right now, that many of the most popular developers are letting others deal with it. Loren Brichter, the guy behind the excellent Twitter app Tweetie, tells us that he’s tabled Push Notifications for the time being, letting others like Boxcar handle it, because it’s a potential headache. With iTunes 9, Apple completely revamped the way to organize and manage apps on your computer. It was a much needed, and welcomed change. The next step is to completely revamp the Push Notification management system. And I think Facebook with Push Notifications will go a long way in highlighting that need.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: TechCrunch | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:39 am Facebook 3.1 With Notifications Should Soon Highlight The iPhone Push ProblemSometime soon, Facebook 3.03 for the iPhone will be available in the App Store. It should be a small update with some bug fixes. The bigger news is what will be coming soon after it: Facebook 3.1 for the...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:39 am UPDATE 1-China food firm in largest Singapore IPO since '08* IPO plan comes after funds call off stake sale (Adds quotes, details and background)Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:32 am Radware's LinkProof Multi-WAN Load Balancing Solution Offers Customers Enhanced Connectivity and Application PerformancePowered by Radware's OnDemand Switch, LinkProof can scale from 100Mbps to 4Gbps to meet bandwidth needs based on business requirements MAHWAH, N.J., Oct. 19...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:30 am 3D Renderer is Newest Client Win by News Release ProFast-Growing Online PR Firm Selected to Manage Publicity for Architectural Rendering Firm DALLAS, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- href="http://www.newsreleasepro.com/">News...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:30 am Amidst Third InstallShield Corporate Identity Change, InstallAware Shines as a Beacon of Stability in the IndustryInstallShield has gone through three corporate identities in recent years - Macrovision, Acresso, and now Flexera - and that's not counting the original InstallShield Company;...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:30 am Realistic Digital Slot Cars Seem To Take Some Of The Fun Out Of ItBy Andrew Liszewski I can understand that these digital slot cars are trying to make racing more challenging, but at the same time they seem to take a bit of the fun out of it. Instead of just squeezing...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:27 am Li & Fung says to buy US Wear Me apparel businessHONG KONG, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Leading global consumer goods exporter Li & Fung said on Monday that it will pay up to $402 million to buy the young men's and children's apparel business in the United...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:18 am 46k angry PC gamers sign Modern Warfare 2 petition - CVG Online
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:08 am Blackstone's new fund faces cash shortfall-paperOct 19 (Reuters) - Blackstone Group is finding it difficult to raise money for a new leveraged buyout fund, the New York Post said, citing people familiar with the matter.Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:06 am Google goes global with Apps (Reuters)Reuters - Google Inc said more than 2 million businesses now use its online office software, and the Web search leader is going global on Monday with an advertising campaign to lure customers away from Microsoft Corp and IBM products.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:03 am Hurricane Rick weakens to Category 3 stormHurricane Rick weakened further early Monday and was downgraded to a Category 3 storm as it moved up Mexico's Pacific coast, US forecasters said. "Maximum sustained winds have decreased...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:03 am Unknown Mario Game in the Works - GamersDailyNews
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:03 am MTS sees $200 mln synergies from Comstar purchaseMOSCOW, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Russia's top mobile operator, MTS said on Monday its purchase of a 51 percent stake in Comstar should generate synergy gains with a net present value of more than $200 million...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:02 am MTS sees $200 mln synergies from Comstar purchaseMOSCOW, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Russia's top mobile operator, MTS said on Monday its purchase of a 51 percent stake in Comstar should generate synergy gains with a net present value of more than $200 million...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:02 am PulseAudio Creator Responds To CriticsDan Jones writes "As recently discussed here, Linux sound development has come under fire for being overly complex and, more specifically, PulseAudio has been criticized for not being a 'good idea.' In a lengthy interview, PulseAudio creator Lennart Poettering has responded to the many critics of the new-generation sound server and says such complaints and criticisms about PulseAudio in some Internet forums are not really shared by the vast majority of technical people. While Poettering admits PulseAudio itself is not bug-free, he believes the majority of issues are being triggered by misbehaving drivers or applications."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 19 Oct 2009 | 2:39 am CrunchGear Week in Review: Squid’s Meal Edition
Hey, Google: Check out this ultra-fast book scanner
Source: CrunchGear | 19 Oct 2009 | 2:16 am Healthcare Reform, Chinese Startup StyleBEIJING, CHINA-- Give Yan Zhang (left) credit for honesty. You ask most expats about life in China and they talk up building bridges, mixing with the locals and their valuable expertise in building government...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 2:12 am Healthcare Reform, Chinese Startup Style
Inauthentic? Tell me more. Twenty-nine year old Zhang, who has lived exactly half of his life in China, is a ringleader of a brat pack of smart, well-schooled Beijing expats working in everything from media to tech to education. I’ve twice run into him and a giant gang of friends in the Beijing nightlife scene. Said someone the last time, “Oh, everybody knows Yan.” They genuinely work hard and most have studied in Asian history and Mandarin. What’s more these aren’t the expats of old with rich, corporate relocation packages. Most decided to move here first and figured out what they’d do second—even if many of them have family money that pays the bills in the meantime. But many nights they also play hard—and usually just with other expats. (Ahem, see video here. That’s Zhang at the end.) They toss back drinks at Manhatten-esque nighclubs and British-style pub quizzes. I’m not judging. It sounds a lot like what I do with friends in San Francisco, truth be told. But I didn’t relocate to experience China either. “Are we living the Chinese experience? Not really,” Zhang said. “But neither are expats who live on a Hutong and also go out with other Americans at night.” But unlike a lot of gadfly expats I’ve met in two trips to China, Zhang is building a real company. He’s been at it for two years. It’s actually aimed at the Chinese market, while a lot of expats just seek to leverage China’s workforce. And it’s not a U.S. copycat site. In fact, it’s a site that wouldn’t work in the US. Zhang’s company is Meiloo.com, a site that helps Chinese Internet users find, source and compare doctors and hospitals for elective surgery. It’s not one of those Silicon Valley thank-God-the-URL-wasn’t-taken, nonsense word companies. It means “happy and beautiful.” Elective health care services are a $10 billion a year market in China that already heavily advertises on TV, billboards and the Web. Elective medicine doesn’t just refer to things like plastic surgery here, but also to preventive care like annual physicals and dental check-ups. And unlike in the United States, where HMOs and private insurance companies own or control much of the market, in China’s growing, fragmented market finding a good doctor for a good price is, well, a lot like the challenges in comparing and sourcing travel in the pre-Web days, Zhang says. Will the whole Chinese market jump to use Meiloo? No. But Zhang points out that Chinese travel site Ctrip taps less than 10% of the domestic travel market and is a multi-billion company. And Meiloo’s 15% cut of any service or surgery booked online can add up a lot faster. Plus, the demographics will increasingly work in Meiloo’s favor. The largest base of Chinese Internet users were born in the 1980s, and increasingly that audience is aging and will want – and be able to afford—dental work, plastic surgery, and laser eye surgery that government plans don’t cover. In fact, government health care doesn’t even cover annual physicals. Meiloo is growing transactions at a pace of 15%-25% per month, and has helped book nearly $1 million US dollars in transactions in the last twelve months. Those numbers aren’t massive. But the biggest victory, according to Zhang, is that patients don’t use the system for research and then go around it to actually book services, and that doctors and hospitals actually pay Meiloo’s cut. 90% of Meiloo’s account receivables are resolved in sixty days. “We’ve worked to align everyone’s interest,” he says. “That’s the key to doing business in China.” So far there are 330 clinics on the system and 1,100 doctors listed. A lot, but a drop in the bucket by Chinese standards. There are two other things I like about Meiloo. One: Zhang’s co-founder Jeffrey Wu (right in the picture above) isn’t your typical smart engineer plucked out of a top Chinese school. Within six years he went from a drop-out running a bar in Shanghai to the CTO of DangDang, one of China’s largest e-commerce companies. In my interview with Kai-Fu Lee earlier this week, he noted that all multinationals use universities as a hiring filter and admitted it’s not always the best or most fair way to find talent. Wu’s story proves it. I have a feeling that scrappy gray area is where many of China’s best entrepreneurs will come from in future years. Two: So far, Wu and Zhang have bootstrapped the company, taking only modest funding from a group of angels in California. Zhang let it slip that he’s going to the Valley in early November. Given his anxious behavior as I asked more and more questions about the trip, I wouldn’t be surprised if a Valley funding round is on the horizon for the young company. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Source: TechCrunch | 19 Oct 2009 | 2:12 am Google Enterprise Campaign Shifts Into High Gear on the Eve of Sharepoint ConferenceOn the eve of Microsoft's Sharepoint conference in Las Vegas, Google is launching its international phase to an advertising campaign that is the largest ever for its push into the enterprise and one of...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 2:00 am Apple Approves Another VoIP App, RebtelI just learned that Apple has approved yet another VoIP application, this time from Stockholm-based company Rebtel. You can download it from the iTunes Store. The service also works over AT&T’s...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 1:30 am Baidu Stings Google With China Carrier Search Deal (PC World)PC World - Chinese search engine Baidu dealt Google a blow on Monday as it announced that many of its popular services will be pre-installed on next-generation mobile phones from a local carrier.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 19 Oct 2009 | 1:10 am Wall Street Hopes Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree [BoomTown]
When Apple reports its fourth-quarter earnings today, investors are hoping–actually, expecting–that the iconic computer company will look a lot now as it always has. In other words, don’t go changing and it will please us. Wall Street is anticipating, as it has throughout the econalypse, another estimate-beating performance from Apple (AAPL). While Apple has signaled it would be making up to $1.23 a share for the quarter, the “whisper” number for the quarter is much higher. Revenue is also expected to rise strongly to upwards of $9 billion. The reason for all this happy talk? Strong sales of all of Apple’s innovative hardware products, including iPods, iPhones, computers, as well as big, fat profit margins that come with the upgrades this past quarter by consumers to its new Snow Leopard operating system software. And, of course, the stock has been showing all this investor love by–as BoomTown has noted recently–defying gravity. Apple shares are up just above 120 percent since the beginning of the year. It closed at $188.05 on Friday, giving it a market valuation of $168.5 billion. Whether it will continue going up is a big question of investors, although Apple is entering the holiday season, which is one in which it typically does well. Plus, many are expecting the company to goose excitement for 2010 with the announcement of its secret-but-everyone-knows tablet offering. That said, Microsoft (MSFT) also officially is launching a new operating system out this week–Windows 7–which is expected to give Apple some clear competition. Source: All Things Digital | 19 Oct 2009 | 1:09 am App of the DaySomething we have all been waiting for and that should make our lives easier in spotting the best apps. Written up TechCrunch, the App of the Day website highlights a different application every day...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 1:09 am My Five Favorite Things From Second Life Last WeekWondering what new company Philip Linden will form after (mostly) leaving Linden, and reading what Residents think his absence will do to Second Life. Arguing that only mass adoption will solve Second...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 1:07 am MPAA: Antipiracy is Now 'Content Protection' [Voices]By Greg Sandoval, Blogger, NewsBlog, CNET The six largest Hollywood film studios are apparently dissatisfied with the way their trade group has waged war on illegal file sharing. CNET News has learned that at least three leaders of its antipiracy operations have been fired. Read the rest of this post at the original site
When 2+2 Equals a Privacy Question [Voices]By Natasha Singer, reporter, The New York Times TIME to revisit the always compelling — and often disconcerting — debate over digital privacy. So, what might your movie picks and your medical records have in common? How about a potentially false sense of control over who can see your user history? Read the rest of this post at the original site
The Commercial Speech Arms Race [Voices]By Bruce Schneier, CTO, BT Counterpane A few years ago, a company began to sell a liquid with identification codes suspended in it. The idea was that you would paint it on your stuff as proof of ownership. I commented that I would paint it on someone else’s stuff, then call the police. Read the rest of this post at the original site
"Blue Bell" Democrats Ask FCC to Tone It Down on Net Neutrality [Voices]By Amy Schatz, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal In the long fight over open Internet, or net neutrality, rules on Internet providers, we’re still essentially in pre-game. You’d never know it from the flurry of lobbying across the country last week. On Friday, it was House Democrats’ turn, when 72 members sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, asking him to soften a net-neutrality proposal the agency is expected to approve next week. The lawmakers urged the FCC to “carefully consider the full range of potential consequences that government action may have on network investment,” while crafting the proposed rules. Phone and cable companies have been making similar points to the FCC, arguing the agency should avoid rules that will hobble their ability to manage their networks and stifle investment. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 19 Oct 2009 | 1:01 am "Going Google" with millions of businesses around the worldEach day, thousands of companies choose to "go Google" — that is, switch to Google Apps. Over two million business and 20 million users in over 100 countries and more than 40 languages have adopted Apps for their workplace, and we're happy to welcome companies around the world such as Konica Minolta, Rentokil Initial and TOTO that have just decided to go Google. These companies no longer have to deal with the hassles of managing email servers or rolling out software updates, and their employees now enjoy the convenience of shared documents and calendars, Gmail and more.Since we first asked for your "gone Google" stories in August, we've seen thousands of tweets and hundreds of comments explaining how and why your company decided to go Google with Apps, as well as with other Google enterprise products such as Google Postini Services and the Google Search Appliance. Jeffrey D. from Ottawa, Canada told us that with Apps, he "was able to set up a new business in minutes with email, calendar, docs, and sync with [his] BlackBerry." @happymacs from San Diego, CA tweeted how they liked the ability to "search every single email received in the past 2.5 years in under 2 seconds"; while @Appfrica highlighted the sobering fact that the cost of an alternative software solution would employ a person in Uganda for a month. Today, we're excited to support this global momentum with the expansion of the "Gone Google" initiative to additional countries including the U.K., France, Canada, Japan, Australia and Singapore. We hope our messages — in train stations such as Paddington, La Défense and Shinagawa, and at airports in Singapore, Toronto, Dallas and beyond — help companies, schools and organizations learn all about the benefits of going Google with our enterprise products. Here's a sneak peek at what you can expect to see both here in the U.S. and abroad: If you've already gone Google, you can share your company's Gone Google story with us, or use some of our tools to help spread the word about switching to Google Apps. We hope you'll be part of the story. Posted by Tom Oliveri and Vivian Leung, Google Enterprise Team   
 Source: The Official Google Blog | 19 Oct 2009 | 1:01 am On Mobile Phones, Firefox's Big Bet Is Nokia & AndroidMozilla is betting on two major, if emerging, mobile operating platforms: Mameo, Nokia's new Linux-based operating system, and Google's Android OS. But the not-for-profit organization behind Firefox has...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 1:00 am Amazon Introduces Same Day DeliveryBy Chris Scott Barr When I’m wanting to purchase something new, I usually have to debate on just where to buy it. The biggest decision is whether I want to save money and buy it online, or spend...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 19 Oct 2009 | 12:28 am Solafeet Foot Tanner Probably Doubles As A Foot WarmerBy Chris Scott Barr I’m one of those people that always wears socks. No, I don’t wear sandals with socks, I just don’t wear them at all. I’m generally happy with a nice pair of...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 18 Oct 2009 | 11:59 pm Sf for young readers booklist
Where To Start With Young Adult Science Fiction
Honduran coup in webcomic form Nikal sez, "I wanted to draw your attention to a short webcomic history of the ongoing crisis in Honduras. The comic puts the current situation in historical context and offers an interpretation of how the current de facto government has its roots in the US-Honduras relationship. We believe our comic is artfully drawn, informative, and innovative in its treatment and explanation of the crisis. The authors are Dan Archer, a comix journalist and instructor at Stanford University, and Nikil Saval, a PhD candidate in English at Stanford University and an assistant editor at n+1 magazine." The interface for this slideshow is diabolical (a "next" button would be useful!), but it's still a great and informative read. Striking Graphic Novel Tells Story of Honduras Coup and Unrest  Source: Boing Boing | 18 Oct 2009 | 11:45 pm Man finds "missile launcher" in his back-40Drewva sez, " This guy just outside San Antonio was clearing some brush on his land and finds a discarded 'surface to air missile launcher.' Apparently he called up all the federal agencies to come and pick it up and they couldn't decide what to do." My first thought was abandoned LARP-prop, but that seems unlikely. Man finds missile launcher in Comal County (Thanks, Drewva!) Source: Boing Boing | 18 Oct 2009 | 11:36 pm The Economics of Federal Cloud Computing Analyzedjg21 writes "With the federal government about to spend $20B on IT infrastructure, this highly analytical article by two Booz Allen Hamilton associates makes it clear that cloud computing has now received full executive backing and offers clear opportunities for agencies to significantly reduce their growing expenditures for data centers and IT hardware. From the article: 'A few agencies are already moving quickly to explore cloud computing solutions and are even redirecting existing funds to begin implementations... Agencies should identify the aspects of their current IT workload that can be transitioned to the cloud in the near term to yield "early wins" to help build momentum and support for the migration to cloud computing.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Gizmodo | 18 Oct 2009 | 10:51 pm Rock Band For iPhone Hits The App Store The much anticipated and hyped Rock Band for iPhone and iPod Touch is out! We first scooped the news of the launch of the app a few weeks ago. Shortly afterwards, Rock Band for the iPhone/iPod touch was officially announced by Electronic Arts. The app costs $9.99.
The game features a multi-player mode (via Bluetooth), allowing up to 4 players to rock out on the go. While you can also play via single-player mode, you can use the integrated Facebook Connect to invite your friends to join in.
Source: CrunchGear | 18 Oct 2009 | 10:38 pm Rock Band For iPhone Hits The App Store
The much anticipated and hyped Rock Band for iPhone and iPod Touch is out! We first scooped the news of the launch of the app a few weeks ago. Shortly afterwards, Rock Band for the iPhone/iPod touch was officially announced by Electronic Arts. The app costs $9.99.
The game features a multi-player mode (via Bluetooth), allowing up to 4 players to rock out on the go. While you can also play via single-player mode, you can use the integrated Facebook Connect to invite your friends to join in.
Source: MobileCrunch | 18 Oct 2009 | 10:36 pm Fake security software in millions of computers: Symantec (Reuters)Reuters - Tens of millions of U.S. computers are loaded with scam security software that their owners may have paid for but which only makes the machines more vulnerable, according to a new Symantec report on cybercrime.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 18 Oct 2009 | 10:35 pm Rock Band Hits The App Store
The much anticipated and hyped Rock Band for iPhone and iPod Touch is out! We first scooped the news of the launch of the app a few weeks ago. Shortly afterwards, Rock Band for the iPhone/iPod touch was officially announced by Electronic Arts. The app costs $9.99 and can be found here. The game features a multi-player mode (via Bluetooth), allowing up to 4 players to rock out on the go. While you can also play via single-player mode, you can use the integrated Facebook Connect to invite your friends to join in. Rock Band for iPhone allows players to choose between vocals, drums, bass, or guitar. The game involves tapping the screen on the correct notes and the vocals are also performed through tapping (as opposed to singing). The app features 20 tracks from a varied list of artists and musicians (see the song list below). The app has premium content that can be purchased via an in-game store. Rock Band also includes an in-game message center to check your band’s status and will have push notifications when friends invite you to rock out. In an earlier post, we speculated the impact of Rock Band’s app on Tapulous with their immensely popular Tap Tap Revenge series. Tap Tap Revenge already has a massive following on the platform, but it’s very similar to Rock Band. Tapulous just launched Tap Tap Revenge 3, which focused on premium content through In-App Purchase, similar to Rock Band. Full track listing: Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Source: TechCrunch | 18 Oct 2009 | 10:26 pm New Networks Help Japan Regain Its Wireless Data Edge
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 Washington Post | Hurdles remain as FCC ponders Internet data rules The Associated Press WASHINGTON — With Democrats in charge in Washington, supporters of so-called "net neutrality" rules seem poised to finally push through requirements that high-speed Internet providers give equal treatment to all data flowing over their networks. ... FCC publishes draft broadband report Facebook and Twitter Founders Join Net Neutrality Wars FCC to vote on 'net neutrality' proposal on Thursday; opposition continues |
AP - With Democrats in charge in Washington, supporters of so-called "net neutrality" rules seem poised to finally push through requirements that high-speed Internet providers give equal treatment to all data flowing over their networks.
FROM GAMERTELL - Title: The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Second Season (aka Big Bang Theory: Season 2) Price: $44.98 Format: DVD Release Date: September 15, 2009 Studio: Warner Bros. Rating: Not Rated Pros: Decent acting, complex scientific ideas are embedded in an approachable and funny way, breaks down several stereotypes and has… MORE »
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Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 UberGizmo (blog) | App of the Day Makes It Easier To Find iphone Apps Washington Post The App Store is crowded with tens of thousands of applications, many which do the exact same thing. Just do a quick search on the App Store for Twitter, and you'll find over 170 applications related to Twitter. But how do you figure out which Twitter ... Bristol developer dips toe in iPhone apps Big App-le, indeed: Rush is on to create hot iphone apps Apps that keep you happy on the road |
Section: Computers, Hardware, Software / Applications
Windows 7 is scheduled to launch this week and different retailers are offering a load of specials on the operating system. If you are interested in updating since Windows 7 has plenty of changes like Jump Lists, 64 bit support and simple Windows Search feature, you can check out some of these special offers.
Best Buy is offering a free shipping offer on customers that pre-order Windows 7. Order the program by 11 AM on October 21, 2009 for guaranteed delivery on the 22nd.
Cost Central has the Home upgrade for Windows 7 available for just $80.14. This is about $40 less than most other online retailers. This version allows for upgrades from Vista or higher. However, the site gives ship estimates between two to three weeks.
For a better shipping option on Windows 7 and still a low price, $99.99, you should check out the site, ZipZoomFly. The site offers shipping within 24 hours of the release date.
Allow Microsoft to update your computer for free. If you purchased a PC with Vista installed after June 26, 2009, you may be eligible for a free upgrade. The redemption details are included in your packaging and available through manufacturers like HP, Gateway, Sony and Dell.
Site: [Best Buy]
Site: [Cost Central]
Site: [ZipZoomFly]
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FROM GAMERTELL - Haven’t caught all of the Gamertell news this week? Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles…
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Over the last few weeks there has been an increasing amount of buzz about an unannounced Motorola smartphone due to come out some time between late October and early December. Rumored specs include a powerful OMAP3430 processor, 5 megapixel camera, slideout QWERTY keyboard and touch screen, all housed in a super-compact package and running Android 2.0. A handful of potential names have swirled around, included the Sholes and the Tao, but tonight Verizon has made it perfectly clear what the upcoming phone will be called: Droid. And Verizon is positioning it to be a direct threat to the iPhone in a new advertising campaign it launched at the site DroidDoes.com.
Verizon isn't holding any punches: it calls out basically every major weakness on the iPhone, from its inability to run background applications to the App Store's walled garden. The site kicks off with a stream of things that the iPhone can't do, mimicking the black text-on-white background commonly seen in Apple ads but replacing it with statements like iDon't run simultaneous apps.
Fake anti-virus software has been the scourge of the net for awhile now, but hackers are now taking it a step further and making it even more sinister. Panda Labs says that Total Security 2009 starts out like most fake anti-viruses. It “scans” the victim’s computer and tells them they’ve got a serious infection, then announces it can take care of it for them for a mere $30. If the victim pays, the fake software pretends to remove the non-existent malware it found. The victim feels relieved and the hacker has made money. If the victim smells a scam and doesn’t pay, they are nagged endlessly by pop ups urging them to pay up and download the program.
Total Security takes it a few steps further. First, it demands $79.95 for the program and then an additional $19.95 (a total of a whopping $100) for “tech support.” If the victim won’t pay the program gets very nasty and blocks every file and program on the computer except IE, claiming they are “infected.” IE is then hijacked and redirects them to Total Security’s website, where they are told to pay up if they want their files back. Yep, Total Security has made the jump from scareware to ransomware.
To achieve its goal of blocking the victim from accessing anything on their computer, the program simply intercepts Windows calls to open programs and blocks them before they can. It’s an old tool being used in a whole new way.
“This intercepting technique has been used before in other malware, for instance any rootkit malware, which is specifically designed to hide and kill processes silently in the background. However, this is the first time in history it has been spotted in conjunction with rogueware,” said Panda Security’s technical director, Luis Corrons..
Total Security 2009, like many fake anti-virus programs, isn’t detected by many anti-virus programs. This low detection rate is key to the success of such programs, which have become huge money makers for cybercriminals. The fake anti-virus software industry is booming, and experts say this new ransomware twist should become more and more common. Stick to name brands like Symantec or AVG for your anti-virus needs.
Read [PCWorld]
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Verizon and Motorola finally lifted the curtain on their new Droid Android phone yesterday. Make no mistake, this is Android's flagship product, and the first phone that will pose a significant threat to Apple's iPhone. And it will be available very soon, possibly as early as the end of this month.
MobileCrunch has been tracking the phone, which has also been called the Tao or Sholes, for some time. Just about anyone who has come in contact with the phone can't stop talking about it. And from what we hear, they have good reason.
The phone is a three-way effort between Motorola, Verizon and Google. It looks a lot like the iPhone, and may even be as thin or thinner than the iPhone 3GS. It also has two key advantages over the iPhone - a slide out physical keyboard, and use of the Verizon network.
Unlike previous Android phones, the Droid is rumored to be powered by the TI OMAP3430, the same core that the iPhone and Palm Pre use, and which significantly outperforms Qualcomm 528MHz ARM11 based Android phones that exist today (Engadget has a great overview article on mobile CPUs).
I did find stuff like this in it:
But he was motivated by theories I thought were far-fetched. Like Reptilians — the idea there are alien beings that walk among us and are shape shifters, able to resemble human beings and running the upper echelon of our government.
And this:
Richard’s story doesn’t add up. He is saying he thought Falcon was in the balloon, and that Falcon ran and hid as a result of Richard yelling at him. I’ve spent a lot of time with them, and Falcon is, first of all, not afraid of his father. I’ve never once seen Richard’s children afraid of him — and I’ve definitely never seen Falcon go hide. He was one of the most social of the three children.
Also, someone found Heene positing about the existence of the Richard Geere Gerbil
Apparently his goal is to become an A-List celebrity by faking a UFO landing. Heck, if Orson Welles could do it, why not some dude outside of Denver who was on Wife Swap?
What we essentially learn that the whole thing was either a convoluted flight gone wrong (1. Dad yells during balloon test. 2. Kid hides. 3. Dad thinks kid is in balloon when he can’t find him. 4. Profit!) or a ham-handed attempt at gaining publicity (1. Balloon escapes/is let go. 2. Dad tells kid to hide. 3. World watches balloon race. 4. Profit!). Either way, this whole story stinks and I think we should stop encouraging this strange man and his family.
FROM APPLETELL - Apple has pulled Elgato’s EyeTV app for iPhone from the App Store. Why? They say the official reason is due to its hidden ability to stream live TV over 3G.
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It’s back! Here’s the latest CrunchGear-themed crossword puzzle. You can find the answers to the clues spread throughout this week’s posts. Enjoy!
CrunchWord Puzzle for Sunday, October 18th
| World : News Archives | Business | Entertainment | Sports | Technology | Science | Marketplace Audio |
| India : News | Business | Entertainment | Sports | Telugu | |
| Blogs : Humor pages | Norkay's Blog | Kids Stories | Indian Recipes | Database Tech Blog |
| Sundries : World Video Clips | Songs Clips | Indian Video Clips | |
Mobile operator 
Sometime soon, Facebook 3.03 for the iPhone will be available in the App Store. It should be a small update with some bug fixes. The bigger news is what will be coming soon after it: Facebook 3.1 for the iPhone, complete with Push Notifications.
BEIJING, CHINA– Give Yan Zhang (left) credit for honesty. You ask most expats about life in China and they talk up building bridges, mixing with the locals and their valuable expertise in building government contacts. When I asked Zhang about his expat life over breakfast he looked at me and said, “You do feel a little guilty about this life, because it can feel inauthentic.”
IO9's excellent "Where To Start With Young Adult Science Fiction" booklist won me over as soon as I saw Pinkwater's 
"I had never seen it before," said Schule, a 34-year-old Web developer. "I looked at it, and it kind of looked like a missile launcher."
Google continues to hit milestones with Google Apps – 2 million businesses and 20 million users in over 100 countries and 40 languages (up from 
Apple wasted little time approving Wolfram Alpha’s new iPhone app, which 
And that’s too bad for the team. As I said, the app is a solid one, but this is the reality of the App Store. Games that sell on systems like the Nintendo DS for $30, are $3 on the iPhone. Hell, there are even some games that sell on the bigger consoles for $60 that are less than $10 on the iPhone. They’re not quite as good graphics-wise, but I would argue that they’re every bit as fun. And don’t think for a second that studios like EA wouldn’t sell them for $30 if they could, but they realize that they can’t.
The app absolutely does offer a nice experience, one that yes, is better than the free website. But $50 better? No. $10 better? Maybe. $5 better? We’re getting closer. Again, right or wrong, this is just the reality of the App Store economy.
Last week we wrote about Google’s odd habit of putting the