Source: Gizmodo | 11 Nov 2009 | 8:40 pm

Simple Is As Simple Does: The Risk Of Retweet

Despite starting Blogger, Evan Williams rarely blogs. But yesterday, for the first time in several months, he decided to put the digital pen to the digital paper in order to lay out his thoughts for Twitter’s new Retweet functionality. It’s a great view into the mindset behind what is already becoming a controversial change.

Why is there so much controversy? The answer is simple — literally. When Twitter began, you could do one thing on it: Send a blurb about what you were doing in 140 characters or less. This led to an immediate outcry from a wide range of people who thought that it was just about the dumbest service in the world. Others saw the potential behind such a simple service, precisely because it was so simple, and history has proven time and time again that sometimes simple ideas can explode into the biggest ones.

As Twitter grew in size, its simplicity remained largely intact. While just about everyone had ideas for what features Twitter should add, Twitter stayed the course in its core simple vision. Instead, it decided to rely on both its user base (@replies, RTs, etc) and third-party developers to add functionality. In fact, at points, Twitter began removing features (auto-refreshing, IMing) because it simply could not scale with so much load on its servers.

While some might view this as a failure to innovate. I would argue that this adherence to simplicity is what brought Twitter to where it is today. We live in an age where feature-bloat reigns supreme. Far too many startups replace the word “better” with “more.” That is to say, rather than perfecting the product they have and maintaining a singular focus on what they want to accomplish, they keep adding new features either because rivals are doing them, or because users are suggesting them. This is rarely a good idea. One great feature beats a dozen half-assed ones any day of the week. Keep it simple, stupid.

That’s why the past several weeks have been so interesting for Twitter. With its scaling problems seemingly now solved and with enough funding in the bank to buy a small European country, Twitter finally gained the flexibility to address a terrifying question: What’s next?

Search

The answer actually started coming several months ago when Twitter finally wrapped Twitter Search into its core service. By all accounts, that has been a rousing success. Twitter Search is now perhaps the key way to get a pulse of what the web is thinking about at any given time. Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo have all recognized this, and all now either incorporate tweets into their results, or soon will.

The job is hardly done for Twitter in this regard. The success of search has led to a massive influx of spam, which Twitter now must combat in both the search results and the Trending Topic area. The solution for both, it seems, will eventually be a move to highlight tweet relevancy. Part of this will undoubtedly be based on user reputation (which will be controversial), another part is likely to be based on location (more on that in a bit).

Then there is the question of links. Sharing links is one of the key uses for Twitter, and the company has said in the past that it would like to create a way to better search those links. Twitter has run tests on and off to track clicks on links, but it remains unclear if their intention is still to incorporate links into search results in a way more similar to what the big search engines do. That could be a further off goal now since a few of its bigger third-party developers, like bit.ly and Tweetmeme are also working in that space.

Lists

But search was just the first major change to be implemented. These past several weeks have seen a second, and much larger round of changes. It’s been a phase that I’ll call Operation: Features.

The first of these new additions was Lists. Despite fears that spam would overrun it, or that it would simply be a new vanity benchmark, Lists seem to be a hit. They are proving to be great both used as filters, and for user/content discovery.

There is already a robust developer community swarming around Lists, to both add them to existing services, and create new ones around the functionality. That’s great news for Twitter because it reinvigorates their already strong developer ecosystem.

And, if you’ll allow me to go against my “simple” mantra for a second, it seems like Lists are a natural addition to Twitter just for the filtering capabilities alone. Any community that gets big enough absolutely needs a way to filter. Sure, you could argue that you can just do that by not following anyone that you absolutely do not want to see in your stream at all times, but if Twitter continues to grow and more people you want to follow continue to sign up, that’s simply not really a realistic proposition. Filters, in this case, Lists, are.

Geolocation

Another wave in Operation: Features will come shortly in the form of Geolocation. While the ability to add location information to your tweets will undoubtedly raise privacy concerns, it’s important to note that this feature is entirely opt-in. And while the usefulness of such a feature may not be immediately apparent to a lot of users, there are a ton of things Twitter and third-party developers can use this for to make the service more useful.

For example, as I alluded to above, imagine if you want to do a Twitter search query but want to tailor the results to a specific area. You might say that was possible before because of the location information in users’ profiles, but that is hardly real location information. I could say I’m in China, for example, and no one would know that I’m not. With geotagged tweets, a whole new layer of information about happenings in particular places is possible. And Twitter clearly knows this, as it has just released an API for it.

We’re also on the verge of seeing an explosion in interest in location-based services. Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite, Loopt, and Google are all already in the game. Facebook is likely to enter soon as well. With its Geolocation API, Twitter has the opportunity to become the go-to place to send your location information when you want to broadcast it widely (well, probably not from Facebook, given their little rivalry). Or, to put it a different way, this feature could allow Twitter to become the de-facto location social graph.

In terms of your social information, like it or not, location will eventually play an important role. Twitter has positioned itself well here.

Retweets

But here’s where things get interesting. So far, none of these stated new features have or will significantly alter Twitter’s core simplicity. Each of these is an add-on. They are either shoved to the side (literally, the right-hand side of the page with Search and Lists), or are opt-in (Geolocation). And with third-party apps, these also do not alter the core experience in any meaningful way. But Retweets are an entirely different story.

As we’ve seen with a limited roll-out over the past few weeks, Retweets alter not only Twitter’s main stream, but also users’ actions. That is why Evan Williams wrote his blog post. And that is why we’re already seeing backlash.

As a general rule, users dislike change to the services they’ve grown accustomed to. But that dislike could be amplified on Twitter for two reasons. 1) They haven’t made such a significant change to the core functionality before. 2) Twitter is an extremely simple service that just got a little more complicated.

As Williams notes in his post, users have been asking for a Retweet button ever since it entered the lexicon of Twitter organically, rising out of the collective. But rather than give everyone a simple RT button that might work like the current Reply button (pre-populating the tweet field), Twitter decided it was time to use this new function to alter the user experience.

There are two key things that people don’t like about this: 1) It potentially inserts a user you don’t follow into your tweet stream. 2) You can no longer comment on the retweet.

Strangers In My Stream

To the first point, Twitter is doing more or less what Yammer CEO David Sacks laid out in a guest post on TechCrunch several months ago (which Williams acknowledges). And one level it’s actually not really different at all from what the current retweet mechanism is doing — which is, putting the words of someone you may or may not follow into your stream. The difference, of course, is the icon. Previously, it was the icon of the user doing the retweeting, now it’s of the original author. This can be unsettling since it alters a previous constant: Twitter’s main stream.

Already, we’ve seen users completely and utterly confused as to what is going on with these new retweets. In one high-profile example, Mallory from Family Ties believed users were actually paying to insert themselves in her stream.

As I wrote at the time, this could well be a harbinger of what’s to come. It doesn’t matter if the actual tweet information is fundamentally the same, what matters is the user perception. Users were used to an unwavering constant: That their stream would contain only tweets (and again, their pictures) from those people that they follow. By breaking that, Twitter will have users questioning the integrity of their stream.

Eventually, most users will get used to this. And remember, from Twitter’s perspective, they believe that there are still many more users who have yet to sign up for the service than those who already have and now have to learn something new. And there is also a way to turn off these new-style Retweets from showing up in your stream, but only on a user-by-user basis. It may be wise for Twitter to introduce a universal off-switch, even if that’s silly and against what it’s trying to do, just to give users comfort.

I Want My Say

The second point may actually be even more problematic for Twitter: Users want a way to include their own statements in Retweets. The new way of doing this does not allow for that. The fundamental principle behind this should be obvious: If you share something, that’s a natural desire to explain why you’re sharing it. That’s what a lot of people do with current retweets. Even if they just add “LOL,” it shows that they think the tweet they’re sharing is funny.

We’re also vain. Sometimes retweeting something is more about getting your say in rather than simply highlighting what someone else has said. Or, maybe you’re even retweeting something because you disagree with it. With the new Retweets, you can’t let that be known.

But Williams says that they’ve thought about this commenting functionality for the new Retweets, and notes it could come down the line as an add-on. I suspect Twitter may have to do something like that if it’s serious about getting everyone to use the new Retweets because otherwise, people are just going to keep doing it the old way.

Two Roads Diverge

And that’s another important thing to note in all of this: Nothing is stopping you from retweeting the old way. But that raises a different problem. Because of that, we’re likely to see a bifurcation of the Retweet. Some will do it the new way, some will do it the old way. In fact, it seems perfectly plausible that people may start to use the two types of Retweets for different reasons.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that except that it introduces confusion. And again, when you’ve been sold as a simple service, that’s the last thing you want. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to call this something other than “Retweet,” even though that’s what it is. Maybe you call it “Highlight” and see if users (who again, invented the retweet) switch to using it more than manual RTs.

This would seem to go against my belief of tacking-on new features, but as Williams lays out, clearly Twitter believes this new Retweet structure will fundamentally change Twitter for the better. In that case, a new feature is absolutely worth it because it’s extending core concepts (discovery, trackable data), while cleaning up problems (noise, attribution).

Box Of Chocolates

In fact, none of this is to say that the Retweet change is the wrong call to make. When I first read about it, before even seeing it in action, it made perfect sense to me as a concept. But what I am pointing out is that this is a risky call to make. Actually, I would say that it’s the riskiest call Twitter has made yet.

Remember, this is Twitter taking a component that was invented by the users, and altering it. While Twitter has adopted user-created elements in the past such as @replies and hashtags, they didn’t actually alter anything about what the users had created, they simply enhanced them. (And when they did sort of alter things, by removing the option to see @replies for people you don’t follow, there was a mini-shitstorm.) They’re enhancing Retweets too, to an extent, but they’re also changing the idea and making it more complicated. It might ultimately pay off, but again, it’s risky.

But it would seem that Twitter is doing this at an opportune time. As has been discussed a lot in the past few months, Twitter’s growth has been slowing. If everything were still growing like gangbusters, it would probably be ill-advised to change core functionality. But in a slow period, it’s easier to justify risks, and all of these changes are things that could actually help kickstart growth again.

Since Twitter has started Operation: Features, I find myself visiting the actual site all the time now, whereas before I would often use a third-party client. More importantly, I find my overall usage has kicked up a notch. That’s the key. Twitter has known about the problem where people would sign up and then not continue using it, all of these things should help. (Maybe none more than a small new feature: That damn new tweet notification box, which has me refreshing every few seconds.)

But here’s the key question that will play out over the next few months: If a service is predicated on being as simple as possible, and then moves away from that, even just a little, will it still be the same service? Will it maintain its appeal with its rabid user base? Will it pick up new users?

Facebook changes all the time, but it’s ultimately okay because Facebook has always been a mess of things going on. They’ve improved some messes, made others worse, but they didn’t go from simple to that mess. Facebook was not built for one purpose, Twitter was.

Is Twitter still Twitter when the features roll in? You never know what you’re gonna get.

[pictures: Paramount Pictures]

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

Source: TechCrunch | 11 Nov 2009 | 8:38 pm

Gearbox talks Borderlands 2

In a recent interview, Mike Neumann from Gearbox software was asked about DLC and the possibility of a Borderlands 2. And while Gearbox was pretty vague about the future of the franchise, I sincerely doubt that any game that has been selling so well that it’s hard to find at retail outlets won’t have a sequel.

Apparently there really is no rest for the wicked. Gearbox confirmed that “there’s a chance of a Borderlands 2″. Currently though, they are focusing on downloadable content and other such horse beating projects. It’s quite obvious that there will be a sequel, however considering the fact that the game has only been out for a very short time, I think it’s safe to assume that we’re looking at a year or more before we see it.

Source: CrunchGear | 11 Nov 2009 | 8:30 pm

StuffBuff: Real-Time Auctions With A Viral Twist

When it comes to online auctions, most people think of the lengthy, generally unexciting (at least until the last few minutes) auctions found on eBay. But in the last year we’ve seen some more interesting action in the space — Swoopo is one site that comes to mind, but it is an “entertainment shopping” experience that has an element of gambling to it (you can walk away empty handed and still lose money). StuffBuff is a new site that’s taking a different approach: it’s looking to combine the real-time nature of sites like Twitter with traditional auction sites like eBay. The company made its debut in the TechCrunch50 Demopit, and is today launching in private beta. We’ve got 500 invites for TechCrunch readers. To join, use the invite code “TechCrunch”.

A standard StuffBuff auction (called a ‘Live Haggle’) looks quite similar to a chat room, with a few key differences. The top of the chat window shows a ‘time left’ indicator that lets you know when the auction ends, and there’s a bidding window below the chat box where you enter how much you’re willing to pay (entering a bid is considered binding). Whenever you create an auction, you’re responsible for staying active in the chat as viewers come online and bid and ask questions (because of this auctions only last a matter of hours or minutes, as opposed to the day or week-long auctions you’ll find on eBay). And because of the public nature of the chat everything is transparent — you don’t have to worry about back channel discussions.

Aside from the real-time nature of the auction, what sets StuffBuff apart from tradional auction sites is the potentially viral nature of their auctions. Any time you create an auction, you can embed it in your website to share with friends. Visitors will be able to bid on these auctions directly from your site (they’ll be able to use Facebook Connect or Twitter OAuth to sign up, though these aren’t implemented yet). Payments are done through Paypal’s payment platform.

StuffBuff also has a second kind of auction called ‘Blink’ that does have some similarities to Swoopo. The auction invites users to watch as the price of an item falls down over time. The more people watching, the faster the price falls, until someone pulls the trigger and buys the item. These can be embedded as well.

StuffBuff makes money by charging around 25-50 cents to set up an auction (which is substantially less than eBay), $1.50 to set a reserve, and then 5% of the final value. The pricing of the Blink auctions is still be determined.

StuffBuff has done some interesting things to help make creating auctions easier than on some other services. The site has a feature that lets you either plug in a USB barcode scanner or use your computer’s camera as one: point it at a product, and StuffBuff will enter it into your sellable inventory. When you’re ready to sell an item the site will try to pre-populate your auction’s details with known information about the item, like size and weight.

StuffBuff has an interesting idea, but there are are few obstacles that immediately come to mind. Founder Michael Langer says that he wants StuffBuff to be like “eBay 2.0″, explaining that he sees eBay’s 95% marketshare as an opportunity since that site hasn’t changed much in years. But launching an auction site isn’t easy — it’s going to take some time to get users to trust these embedded widgets enough to actually start handing money over to them. My other concern involves the real-time nature of the auctions. Because auctions only last a few hours, unless you have some mechanism to really spread them virally (say, through a popular Twitter account) it seems like it would be challenging to get more than a few people bidding, and even then they might well be your friends, who aren’t always the best people to do business with. That problem might go away once the site has a sizable user base that will expose your auctions to strangers, but StuffBuff needs to get over that initial hump.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 11 Nov 2009 | 8:23 pm

Report: 1 mil Xbox Live members banned for piracy - GamePro.com

Telegraph.co.uk

Report: 1 mil Xbox Live members banned for piracy GamePro.com According to a recent report, Microsoft has banned a sizable amount of its Xbox Live members, under suspicion that they are playing pirated software. Information Week released a story earlier today revealing that Microsoft has banned ... Craigslist brimming with banned, 'modded' XboxesCNET News Microsoft boots lots of Xbox 360 “modders” from Xbox LiveVentureBeat 1 Million Xbox Live Players BannedInformationWeek BBC News -Neoseeker -msnbc.com all 154 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 11 Nov 2009 | 8:20 pm

Video: Checking out the Zune HD’s new 3D games

A major and valid criticism of the Zune HD when it launched was the utter lack of apps. Weather, a calculator, and a game that’s been on the Zune for like a year. It had nothing on the thousands upon thousands of apps and games available for the iPod touch… and it still has nothing on that. But slightly less nothing. There are now a dozen games available for the sexy little player, and they’re really not bad at all. I downloaded the interesting-looking ones and put them on video so you can see just how they perform.

Somehow I missed the skating game, but I already shot and rendered my video before even seeing it, so if you’re waiting on that one, best look elsewhere. But I checked out Audiosurf Tilt, Project Gotham Racing, Checkers, Lucky Lanes Bowling, and Goo Splat. I skipped Chess, Sudoku, and for some reason Space Battle 2, which sounds right up my alley.

The games are all free, and they all display an ad beforehand. That’s a bit ugly, but we knew it was coming, and I have to stick to my guns — the ad-supported world is coming and we’d better get used to it.

Source: CrunchGear | 11 Nov 2009 | 8:01 pm

Churchill Downs buying YouBet.com (AFP)

AFP - Churchill Downs Inc., owner of the horse racing track which hosts the famed Kentucky Derby, announced it has agreed to acquire online betting website YouBet.com.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 11 Nov 2009 | 7:49 pm

Mimicking Materials and Structures In Nature

eldavojohn writes "From special organic molecules to organic surfaces with special properties to organic concrete, MIT's Technology Review takes a look at inspirations in nature that materials scientists are currently mimicking for human purposes. You may be able to name other fields that have turned to evolution for inspiration as well."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 11 Nov 2009 | 7:39 pm

The New Palm Pixi Commercial: The Mystery Witch Is Dead!

It’s a new day at Palm. The Pixi, Palm’s Treo-esque addition to the WebOS line-up, is getting new commercials without Miss Crazy Face and her magical Pre. Instead, you get hot people taking pictures of each other and having fun. This is the kind of commercial that I call the McCafe (or Devin’s lifestyle in Seattle) - excited people doing something exciting. It’s a big departure from Palm and a points to a move towards the mainstream. Video after the jump.
Source: TechCrunch | 11 Nov 2009 | 7:08 pm

Price Is Heavier, but These Laptops Are Very Sleek [Personal Technology]

PC makers this fall are trying to get consumers who want small laptops to move up from low-profit netbooks to larger, costlier models called “ultrathin” or “thin and light.” These models are lighter and thinner than many regular laptops, but they have bigger screens and keyboards than most netbooks do.

The slim portables tend to start at around $500 and many fall into the $600 to $900 range. You can easily find bigger, heavier laptops for less. But the manufacturers are hoping mobile consumers will be willing to pay a premium for sleekness and long battery life.

I’ve been testing three examples of the new class: the Toshiba Satellite T135, the Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) Pavilion dm3t and the Lenovo IdeaPad U350. All came equipped with bright 13-inch screens, power-sipping Intel (INTC) processors and Windows 7 Home Premium. The particular configurations lent me by the manufacturers for testing were priced at $600 for the Toshiba, $840 for the HP and $700 for the Lenovo.

I found the trio a mixed bag, with notable pros and cons for each. These trade-offs left me unable to declare a clear winner. The one you’d like best would depend on your own weighting of various qualities, like the feel of a keyboard or touchpad.

Nevertheless, I found that all three were capable, easy-to-carry laptops. In my tests, each easily handled common consumer tasks at acceptable speeds. The three weighed between 3.5 and 4.2 pounds. All were about an inch thick, or a bit less, at their thinnest points.

I ran all three through my tough battery test, where I turn off all power-saving features, set the screen to maximum brightness, leave Wi-Fi on and play a continuous loop of music.

The Toshiba and the HP turned in excellent results in this battery test, while the Lenovo was disappointing, mainly because it comes with a smaller standard battery. In a re-test, with a $50 optional larger battery, the Lenovo also did very well, but at the cost of added weight and thickness.

In normal use, with power-saving turned on, the Toshiba and HP could easily last for a full work day of typical activities, and the Lenovo could, too, with the optional battery.

Toshiba Satellite T135

This is a sleek, glossy machine that starts at around 3.9 pounds for the 13-inch models. It got the best battery life of the three with a standard battery: five hours and 38 minutes, which I estimate would easily translate into more than seven hours in normal use. It also cost the least, at $600, of the three I tried. My test model came with three gigabytes of memory and a 250-gigabyte hard disk. It was very fast at resuming from sleep, but took more than two minutes to perform a restart with just three common programs running, and nearly two minutes to start up cold.

My main beef with the Toshiba is its keyboard and touchpad buttons. The keyboard felt too rubbery and flexible, and the buttons under the touchpad were in the form of a single, slippery, hard-to-use bar.

HP Pavilion dm3t

This laptop, the most expensive of my test models by far, at $840, was also the heaviest, at 4.2 pounds. The chassis is metal, instead of plastic. Its battery life clocked in at five hours and two minutes in my test, which means you could easily exceed six hours in normal use. My test model came with 3 GB of memory and a huge 500 GB hard disk.

The keyboard felt solid, but the fatal flaw of the dm3 for me was its metallic touchpad, which made the cursor move slowly and even stop at times. Like the Toshiba, the HP took a long time to get going: almost 2.5 minutes for a restart and about two minutes for a cold start.

The HP dm3 also is available for about $100 less when equipped with AMD (AMD) processors, though HP says those have weaker battery life.

Lenovo IdeaPad U350

In many ways, I liked the U350 best. It was sturdy, but thinner overall than the others because it lacked a bulging battery. The keyboard is firm and well designed, and the touchpad and buttons are comfortable and easy to use. It came with 4 GB of memory and a 320 GB hard disk for its $700 price. It was the only one of the three to restart in under two minutes. It also weighed the least, about 3.5 pounds.

But the IdeaPad’s downfall is its small, flat battery, which offered only two hours and 38 minutes of life, or maybe 3.5 to four hours in normal use. With the optional $50 battery, the battery life in my test zoomed up to nearly six hours, which means maybe 7.5 or eight hours in normal use. But that extra battery brought the computer’s weight to four pounds and made it thicker.

These thin, light, machines perform adequately and can last a long time unplugged. But I urge you to test them personally before choosing one, to make sure you’re comfortable with their designs.

Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com

Source: All Things Digital | 11 Nov 2009 | 7:03 pm

The new Palm Pixi commercial: The mystery witch is dead!

It’s a new day at Palm. The Pixi, Palm’s Treo-esque addition to the WebOS line-up, is getting new commercials without Miss Crazy Face and her magical Pre. Instead, you get hot people taking pictures of each other and having fun.

This is the kind of commercial that I call the McCafe (or Devin’s lifestyle in Seattle) – excited people doing something exciting. It’s a big departure from Palm and a points to a move towards the mainstream.

It’s a nice change and look forward to our Palm Pixi review shortly.

Source: CrunchGear | 11 Nov 2009 | 7:02 pm

Software Executive Acquires Controlling Interest of GuestMetrics, Inc.

LONDON, Nov. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GuestMetrics, Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 11 Nov 2009 | 7:01 pm

Jeff VanderMeer and SG Browne in San Francisco, Nov 14

The last of this year's excellent "SF in SF" reading series is coming up on Nov 14, at 7PM:

Jeff VanderMeer, recent Guest of Honor at the World Fantasy Convention 2009, is touring for his final novel in his Ambergris Cycle, "Finch," published by Underland Books, and for his writers' guide "Booklife," published by Tachyon Publications. His associated Booklifenow website focus on sustainable creativity, and is a unique writing guide to sustainable careers and sustainable creativity - the first to fully integrate discussion of the role of new media into topics that have always been of interest to writers.. With his wife, Ann VanderMeer, he's edited the charity anthology "Last Drink Bird Head," "New Weird," and "Steampunk." His short fiction has appeared in Conjunctions, Library of America's American Fantastic Tales, and several year's best anthologies. He writes nonfiction for The Washington Post Book World, Omnivoracious, The New York Times Book Review, the B&N Review, and many others.

S. G. Browne, is the author of "Breathers: A Zombie's Lament," a dark comedy about life after undeath told from the perspective of a zombie. His second novel, "Fated," is a dark, irreverent comedy about fate, destiny, and the consequences of getting involved in the lives of humans. His take on zombies, "So what happened to make them so popular today? I'll tell you what happened. Zombies were taken out of their proverbial archetypal box. No longer are they just the shambling, mindless, flesh-eating ghouls we've known and loved for most of the part four decades. They've expanded their range, become more versatile. More well-rounded. And who doesn't enjoy a well-rounded zombie?" Introduce the modern complications of a zombie trying to find himself in this mad, mad world, and how best to bring your undead girlfriend home to meet mom, and you've got yourself a story!! Check out the blog on http://www.sgbrowne.com, and ask him your own zombie apocalypse questions.

Seating is limited - first come first seated

The Variety Preview Theatre
The Hobart Bldg., 1st Floor - entrance is between Quiznos & Citibank 582 Market St. @ 2nd and Montgomery, San Francisco
phone, night of event - 415-225-7445

SF in SF Reading/Event (San Francisco, CA) (Thanks, Rina!)


Source: Boing Boing | 11 Nov 2009 | 6:41 pm

Facebook Coming To PS3 In Mystery Update

Some leaked screenshots from Sony show a PS3 running with what looks like a native Facebook client configurable. There's also a new photo browser and the ability to change the color of your gamercard, but at those features I make a dismissive gesture— thusly. A Facebook app would be handy, though a constant stream of status updates from heavy players might be lead to mutings by less gaming-orientated friends. "Devin found a new item!" There's one small picture of Facebook on the PS3 (yes, that's all there is), and it's not even of a client. It's a user accounts configuration screen that happens to include Facebook. So it's not much to look at, but it was traced to Sony UK's site, so we're pretty sure it's legit. Sony "doesn't comment on rumor or speculation," obviously, so we won't be hearing from them, but it would be ridiculous to think that a all-in-one entertainment device like the PS3 wouldn't have Facebook on it eventually.
Source: TechCrunch | 11 Nov 2009 | 6:40 pm

Facebook coming to PS3 in mystery update?

Some leaked screenshots from Sony show a PS3 interface with what looks like a native Facebook client configurable. There’s also a new photo browser and the ability to change the color of your gamercard, but at those features I make a dismissive gesture— thusly. A Facebook app would be handy, though a constant stream of status updates from heavy players might be lead to mutings by less gaming-orientated friends. “Devin found a new item!”

But that’s just the usual pain that comes with convergence. Facebook integration was announced for the Xbox 360 back at E3, though it’s not yet to the point of an actual client. It’s been given a few test runs, and I have to say it looks a bit ugly in NXE form, but what doesn’t? I think what irks me the hipshot way the avatars stand. It isn’t right.

See?

The one small picture of Facebook on the PS3 is at the top (yes, that’s all there is), and it’s not even of a client. It’s a user accounts configuration screen that happens to include Facebook. So it’s not much to look at, but it was traced to Sony UK’s site, so we’re pretty sure it’s legit. Sony “doesn’t comment on rumor or speculation,” obviously, so we won’t be hearing from them, but it would be ridiculous to think that a all-in-one entertainment device like the PS3 wouldn’t have Facebook on it eventually.

While the ability to post interesting things to Facebook would be pretty limited with a Dual Shock and other inherent console limitations, I’m really loving the development of a meta-layer to the consoles that’s always floating just out of sight. Hit pause, check the latest tweets and status updates, grab another Fresca, and then back to the game. I’m not a part of it yet since the Super Nintendo doesn’t really have that level of connectivity, but I look forward to it once I actually buy into this new generation of consoles.

[via Joystiq]

Source: CrunchGear | 11 Nov 2009 | 6:34 pm

Exploring the Non-Planet: Journey to the Rim of the Solar System

In 2015, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft finishes a 3-billion-mile journey to the edge of the solar system to get a closer look at Pluto. Astronomers think the most exciting discovery will be something we haven't imagined.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 6:05 pm

Dwarf-Planet Rebranding Contest

Pluto may be a dwarf planet now, but that's nothing to be ashamed of! Pluto and its four fellow dwarfs just need a better name for their category of celestial bodies — and we need your help coming up with one.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm

Underdog Planet: Why We Love Pluto

Alan Boyle, author of The Case for Pluto, talks with Wired Science about why Pluto matters, how the former planet got demoted, and what might be in its future.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm

The Fight for the Ninth Planet

Read an exclusive excerpt from the new book, The Case for Pluto by Alan Boyle.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm

Appletell reviews LaCie’s Sound2 speaker system

FROM APPLETELL - LaCie’s Sound2 speaker system looks great and offers some excellent design features, but it also misses the mark on a couple, and provides only adequate sound.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 11 Nov 2009 | 5:52 pm

World's most awesome cheap Chinese toy

My daughter earned this spinning top for selling wrapping paper in a school fundraiser. It plays the theme from Beverly Hills Cop and draws a laser circle on the floor. Thirty years ago the technology in this toy would have cost $100,000.

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 11 Nov 2009 | 5:52 pm

Macworld Loses Steve Jobs, Welcomes Back Kevin Smith

The famous Steve Jobs has backed out of Macworld for good, and now the trade show has invited a different celebrity face to attract attendees: Kevin Smith.

Indeed, Kevin Smith, the director who brought us such classics as Clerks, Mallrats and Dogma. During the February trade show, Smith will be hosting a Q&A session about his experience creating movies with Apple hardware and software.

Previously, Smith appeared at Macworld 2007, and he said he’s looking forward to engaging with next year’s geeks.

“Can’t wait to talk to this crowd again, as we share a common passion,” Smith said in a press statement. “I identify straight, but I’m gay for Mac. However, let’s be honest: I’m coming back to Macworld for all that free stuff.”

Smith’s session is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010 at 2:00 pm PT. Macworld 2010 will be held Feb. 9 to 13 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

See Also:

• Jobs Won’t Appear at Macworld — 2009 to Be Apple’s Last Show …
• Macworld Expo May Disappear, But Steve Jobs’ Keynotes Won’t …
• Kevin Smith’s Batman: Cacophony Comic Fires Up
• Kevin Smith’s Porno Ads Arouse Controversy

Photo: wvs/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 11 Nov 2009 | 5:48 pm

Google's movie showtimes, digitally remastered

Did you know you can immediately discover movie times and locations by typing a simple search on Google? For example, search for [where the wild things are] and you'll see times and places to watch the film, or try [glendale 18 los angeles] to see movies playing at your local theater. You can also click on the showtimes search result to get more complete movie listings and information.

Today, we're making a few improvements to movie results on Google, including more detailed movie pages, genre filters and a new map view.

Click "showtimes" in your search results for more detailed information.

When you visit google.com/movies, you'll discover a new, more comprehensive resource with all the information you need to decide what movie to see and where to see it:

• Comprehensive movie pages: Deciding what movie to see can take a few searches: What's it about? How are the reviews? Where is it playing near me? Our new detailed layout brings together all the basic information you need with a plot synopsis, trailer, reviews and photos in the same page.
• Genre filters: The new movie pages also give you new ways to explore films by genre and find one you're in the mood for. Sometimes, you might feel like seeing a sci-fi flick or a romance, but you're not sure what's out in theaters. With genre filters you can start browsing right away and quickly find the right movie for you.
• Map view: After you've chosen a movie, the new map view shows you nearby theaters playing that exact film. You no longer need to do a separate search to find out where you're going.

We hope these improvements will help you spend more time at the movies and less time researching. Visit google.com/movies or click through a "showtimes" result to try them out, and treat yourself to a movie!

Posted by Dan Stokeley, Associate Product Manager
Source: The Official Google Blog | 11 Nov 2009 | 5:45 pm

HP To Acquire 3com For $2.7 Billion

An anonymous reader writes "HP and 3Com Corporation today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase 3Com, a leading provider of networking switching, routing and security solutions, at a price of $7.90 per share in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $2.7 billion. The terms of the transaction have been approved by the HP and 3Com boards of directors."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 11 Nov 2009 | 5:39 pm

Interview With Matt Bromberg, CEO of Major League Gaming

This past weekend, thousands of gamers descended upon the Anaheim Convention Center to spectate and compete in one of the biggest video game competitions of the year, put on by Major League Gaming. Over two hundred teams of four individuals competed for the Halo 3 Championship where prize money totaled almost $60,000; while an additional $60,000 was up for grabs for titles such as Gears of War 2, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and EA Sports Madden NFL. An estimated 700,000 people viewed the live stream over the course of the weekend.

I had the opportunity to speak with the CEO of Major League Gaming, Matt Bromberg, about MLG’s continued growth through this recession and their plans for the upcoming years.

In this interview, Matt spoke about many of the misconceptions of the gaming business, including companies continued persistence of trying to bring video gaming to broadcast television; instead of focusing almost entirely on internet streaming.

Additionally, Mr. Bromberg spoke on the possibilities of creating an MLG-branded video game as well as the possible integration of mobile gaming to their circuit of console games.

A transcript of the interview is embedded below.

David Diaz: We’re here at MLG Anaheim with Matt Bromberg, CEO of Major League Gaming. Thanks Matt for taking the time to speak with us.

Matt Bromberg: Thank you for having me David.

DD: My first question for you, is now that we’re down in Anaheim, do you have a rough estimate of how many people are here today and how many will show up this weekend?

MB: Yeah, we typically do about 5,000 people a day, so that’s 15,000 over the course of a weekend.

DD: And that was for Anaheim?

MB: That’s what we typically get, I haven’t gotten the full numbers for this event, but it’s usually around that number. And our broadcast audience is typically between 600 and 700,000 men, under thirty. Who generally speaking watch the broadcast for about an average of 72 minutes each.

DD: And that’s for a day, or the entire weekend?

MB: Over the weekend of programming. So it’s interesting, if you start to think about how big is that. And you look at prime-time audience in that demo, 12 to 30 or 34, for the major cable networks. What you find is that’s between 3 and 7 or 8 times the Nielsens rating in that demo. So directionally it’s getting pretty big.

DD: When I came down here I noticed a lot of sponsors including Dr. Pepper and Old Spice. What is MLG’s main source of revenue? Is it these events, or is it through sponsorships?

MB: It’s 75% sponsorships, and about 25% licensing and direct to consumer.

DD: Do the events themselves make money or are they mainly put on to increase your user base?

MB: They’re mostly a break-even proposition. It’s as you know, because you’ve been here, it’s a big undertaking, it’s a big production. It’s six tractor trailers, and we drive them around the country, so it’s a big deal. But the live event is not really what sponsors are buying. They’re buying integration into our digital media and into the online competitions. And so eighty percent of what they’re paying for, eighty percent plus, is integration into that digital world. Then they come here to have the direct contact with the consumer, which they love. But I think it’s a big misconception about our business is that it’s about the live events, because they’re so big and attractive, but it’s not really what the business is about.

DD: Is MLG profitable at this point?

MB: It is.

DD: How much money have you taken in to date?

MB: We have raised about $42.5M.

DD: Can you take us through the growth of MLG, from when you started to where you are now?

MB: We raised our first round of money in very early of 2006. We we doing live competitions for three hundred people, and we had three-thousand people watching the live streams and i think we had 25,000 monthly uniques on our websites. Now we have 11 million folks every month on the websites, and we talked about the size of the broadcast and the live event audience. It’s been a real explosion. We had one sponsor at that time, and now we have closer to fifteen. It’s been exciting for us to really break through into the mainstream media world, really by almost any measure. It’s not just the number of sponsors, it’s the quality: Doritos, Proctor and Gamble, Dr. Pepper, Bic, Ball Park, really top tier marketers.

DD: And what about ESPN? Are they a sponsor or a partner?

MB: They are a partner, they are our coverage partner. They cover the events, they interview our pros. In fact, we do a weekly chat with our pros on ESPN, and they told us recently that–we had some player shifts a while back–and Walshy did a chat there, and they had more questions submitted for him by users than they’ve ever had for any pro athlete they’ve ever done. I don’t know that it’s because Walshy has more fans than say Lebron [James], but it’s because the audience is so pure and focused in that place–our audience is 100% online–and that’s part of the value proposition from a business perspective is there’s an intensity and purity of our audience and a directness of being able to connect to them. It’s pretty unique out there, and it helps us to sell those partnerships.

DD: When MLG first started, the gaming market was up for grabs–it was a pretty crowded niche–what did you do that either other companies didn’t do, or didn’t do well enough?

MB: We had a lot of competitors, and we drove them all out of business, kind of one by one. And I think that there were a couple of big misconceptions. The first one was that competitive video gaming would be about television primarily. That was a big mistake that a lot of people made. We’ve done television in our day, but we always knew that this was really an online activity. Focusing on television killed a lot of people. The other thing that I think we got that other folks didn’t get, is that in order to succeed in this market, you also have to own the online competition. It’s not enough to have live events, it’s not enough to make content. Because every other day of the year when people aren’t here, you want to be the place where people come to compete. Growing that part of our business was a major differentiator for us. And the third thing was a lot of folks came in from a very top-down corporate perspective, and sort of said “hey, we’re a big company, this is the way it goes.” And what they didn’t recognize is that this is an activity that people are already engaging in. We didn’t create it. What we did was shape it, codify it, package it, and build it up. We came in trying to sort of celebrate and appreciate what people were already doing and what they were already into and add to it; not roll in and change the whole thing because it suited our partners or it suited our sponsors, or anything like that.

DD: I know that a few months ago you acquired a company and raised a new round of funding a while ago…

MB: That’s correct, we acquired Agora a couple months ago, and closed a round of funding at the end of last year.

DD: And there were speculations that the money was for the acquisition of Agora…

MB: There was actually some incorrect reporting about it. The funding is now almost a year ago. And we did the Agora deal only very recently. But because the Agora deal was largely a stock deal, I think there was some reporting about…I think people thought we had sold some stock to buy the company, which we hadn’t. Last fall we had been having some M&A conversations. Some folks had been interested in buying the business and we decided we wanted to double-down and reinvest and continue as an independent entity–and continue to run the company. That’s when we raised the money.

DD: What was that money used for?

MB: We did use it partially for acquisitions. But really, for us, just continuing to invest in the platform. We’ll do many more broadcasts. We we also announced a big deal with Electronic Arts whereby we’re doing all their online and offline competitions for the EA Sports titles, which you saw in the back corner [at the event]. It’s a big new addition. We announced a big deal with Doritos, whereby next year we’re going to do four skills combines across the country. Like the NFL combine where you evaluate amateur players for promotion to the Pro Circuit. We are very heavily reinvesting in our technology around the online tournament business. So we’re using it for all those things.

DD: I noticed that there were no games for the Wii. Is there a reason for that?

MB: There are no games for the Wii, this is true.

DD: Is there just not enough interest out there for the games?

MB: Historically we used to do Smash Brothers. Then the new Smash Brothers that came out was sort of disappointing from a competitive perspective. The competitive community didn’t really embrace it. And so I think for us it’s always a balance of finding titles that have enough of a following that we can sort of sprinkle our pixie dust on it and help it grow. And I haven’t yet seen that title [from the Wii].

DD: Do you see MLG ever sponsoring a video game and helping with aspects of the production process? Is that something that’s in your…

MB: Ya. You know, it’s interesting, when I arrived that was actually a big part of the original business plan that the founders had created. Y’know, hey, lets build a video game. There should be an MLG video game. And I always believed it was an incredible idea, but it was an idea that was too early.

DD: Okay.

MB: And now we actually are actively talking to several publishers about potentially creating an MLG game. Because if you think about… part of the growth of our business is that the world has kind of come in our direction a little bit. Four years ago we said that the whole video game business is going to be about multiplayer. And multiplayer by definition is about competition. There’s gonna be a big media property here and this is what we’re gonna do. People thought at the time that it was interesting, but what’s happened, of course, over the last several years is that multiplayer is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the video game business. And the idea that you’re making a boxed retail product for a single player, which is the historical model for the video game business, is completely out the window. And so if you start to think about what we do, which is, we create rule sets for competitions, you think, well, hey, if I can build a video game without any of the single player aspects to it, just a pure tournament title, and we could bring some of the intellectual property around what you need to do for a game like that to make it great, and we have an installed audience to buy it.

DD: Okay.

MB: Yeah, so we’ve thought a lot about it.

DD: Great. And so, what is your take on the explosive growth in mobile gaming? You see all these iPhone games that are coming out…

MB: Yeah!

DD: Do you see MLG trying to tap that market?

MB: What’s interesting about gaming and competitive gaming is that the consumer behavior is the same across segments. I don’t care if you’re a 40-year-old woman playing Scrabble Online or Word Womp, Puzzle Games, Bejeweled, or, you’re an 18 year-old guy playing Halo – You approach it differently, but the basic idea is: You’re playing a game because you want to keep track, and you want to know where you stand, and you want to get better. And that is a common thread, through iPhone games, through cell phone games, through casual PC games, through more hard core, it’s all the same. So I think for us it’s just a question of building… Our brand is very associated with young men, and that purity is part of why the business works. So, yeah, I think we’ll get there one day, but we want to be really careful for the brand to kind of give us permission to do that over time. So it’ll probably be a little while.

DD: Gotcha. And then, the typical ending question, where do you see MLG in 5 years, 10 years?

MB: The beauty, I think, of our company, is that we understand what the model is. It’s major live events, big broadcast, big media, online competitions. And I think that model is going to continue. What’s really exciting for us this year is that we’ll be re-launching our online properties. And the greater data integration and some of the deals we’ve done with the publishers that enable data directly from the game–you have your results updating your MLG profile automatically–those kinds of things are going to unlock a new area of growth in that part of the business. But by and large the model is pretty straightforward, and we’re just gonna keep pushing.

DD: Well, judging by everyone who’s in attendance, it looks like this is another very successful tournament.

MB: Yeah, I think so. We’ve been lucky to be able to grow really really quickly through the downturn. We’re twice as big this year as we were the year before and we’ll be twice as big next year. So especially in this economy we feel pretty fortunate.

DD: Thanks for taking the time to talk to me.

MB: You bet!

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

Source: TechCrunch | 11 Nov 2009 | 5:28 pm

Shark Performs Cesarian Section

A shark has performed a C-section, according to the New Zealand Herald, Eco Worldly, and other media reports today. According to these sources, a shark at Kelly Tarltons Underwater World bit a pregnant female shark in the stomach. (Image: Albert ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 5:20 pm

iBuyPower outs its first Core i7 gaming notebook, the Battalion 101 W870CU & M980NU

IBuyPower is back with a good looking Core i7 gaming notebook. The 17.3-inch Battalion 101 W8u0CU packs just about everything you would expect from a top-tier notebook with the a price tag to match. Or you could opt for the M980NU and net a huge 18.4-inch 1080p LCD. That is, of course, if you don’t ever plan on moving the damn thing.

The W870CU fun starts out at $2,114 and comes equipped with a 17.3-inch, 1080p LCD three different Core i7 CPU options, up to 8GB of memory, a Blu-ray combo drive option, up to a 500GB HDD or 256 GB SSD options, and a 1GB Nvidia GTX280 GPU. But if you must have the biggest LCD option, the M980NU has the same hardware options but packs a 18.4-inch 1080p LCD instead. This boy has a starting price of $2,505. Both are available now.

Source: CrunchGear | 11 Nov 2009 | 5:04 pm

Behind-the-Scenes Video: James Cameron's Vision for 'Avatar'

Take a behind-the-scenes look at director James Cameron's vision for 'Avatar.'

Source: Wired Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pm

Google Poised to Become Your Phone Company

Google could be your new phone company, now that it's reportedly bought Gizmo5 -- an online telephone company that fits very well with Google's current voice services. Skype and AT&T better watch out.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pm

Optical Cable Corporation Merges SMP Data Communications Subsidiary

ROANOKE, Va., Nov.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:50 pm

Making Carriers Shoulder Smartphone Security

alphadogg writes "Georgia Tech researchers have received a $450,000 NSF grant to boost security of iPhones, BlackBerries and other smartphones and the wireless networks on which they run. And it's those networks where the researchers are really zeroing in. The researchers are looking into ways wireless carriers such as AT&T and Verizon can detect malware on devices and clean up the devices before they do further damage. 'While a single user might realize that a phone is behaving differently, that person probably won't know why,' says Patrick Traynor, assistant professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Computer Science. 'But a cell phone provider may see a thousand devices behaving in the same way and have the ability to do something about it.' Georgia Tech is going to build out a cellular network test bed to try out its remote repair techniques."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:33 pm

Google Plans $750 Million Buyback to Offset AdMob Dilution [Voices]

By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

Google (GOOG) plans to buy back $750 million of its common stock to offset dilution from shares to be issued in the pending all-stock acquisition of AdMob, CEO Eric Schmidt told Bloomberg yesterday.

In a research note, Broadpoint.Amtech analyst Benjamin Schachter notes that this will be the first time Google has ever repurchased any of its own shares, despite its $22 billion cash position.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:30 pm

You Can't Get Whale-Penis Leather Seats After All

The exotic hides are no longer an option on the Dartz super-luxe armored SUV. Thank Pamela Anderson.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:30 pm

Microsoft's Bing to Feature Wolfram|Alpha Search Results

Microsoft's Bing will start featuring the übergeek search engine Wolfram|Alpha in its search results. The intent? To out-geek Google and impress searchers.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:30 pm

Corporate Safe Specialists Announces New Business Development Executive

POSEN, Ill., Nov. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Corporate Safe Specialists (CSS) today announced the hiring of Dan Taylor as Business Development Manager for the Advanced Cash Control System (ACCS) product platform.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:25 pm

Decade’s worst predictions: “The iPod will be dead”

FROM APPLETELL - Newsweek has assembled various “experts” to give what they feel were the worst predictions of the decade, and the list starts off with Sir Alan Sugar’s prediction that “The iPod will die.”
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Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Source: Gadgetell | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:19 pm

Rice Sociologist Looks At Pediatric Physicians' Views On Religion, Spirituality

Pediatricians and pediatric oncologists express differing views on religion and spirituality, largely based on the types of patients they treat, according to a survey that will appear in the current edition of the journal Social Problems.Elaine Howard Ecklund, assistant professor of sociology and associate director of the Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life at Rice University, is a co-author of the study, which is based on in-depth interviews with 30 doctors who practice and teach at elite medical centers around the United States.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:14 pm

Barrow Study Identifies New Way To Biopsy Brain Tumors In Real Time

New microscope is expected to improve the accuracy of intraoperative diagnosticsA new miniature, hand-held microscope may allow more precise removal of brain tumors and an easier recognition of tumor locations during surgery.Neurosurgeons at Barrow Neurological Institute at St.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:11 pm

Googlers receive prestigious ITOJUN Service Award

Googlers Lorenzo Colitti and Erik Kline have received the ITOJUN Service Award while attending the 76th Internet Engineering Task Force meeting in Hiroshima, Japan.

The Itojun Service Award honors the memory of Dr. Jun-ichiro "itojun" Hagino, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 37. The friends of itojun and the Internet Society (ISOC) came together to establish this award last year. The award recognizes and commemorates the extraordinary dedication exercised by itojun over the course of IPv6 development.

Lorenzo and Erik have been the spark plugs and workhorses of Google's implementation of the IPv6 protocol that will help to carry the Internet beyond the anticipated exhaustion of the IPv4 address space in mid-2011. The two undertook, at their own initiative, to analyze the requirements and begin implementation of IPv6 throughout our networking infrastructure. Their leadership has placed us in the forward ranks of companies prepared for this important expansion. They are role models for others around the world, in the spirit of Itojun Hagino who was, himself, a model leader in this domain.

We're all proud to be associated with Lorenzo, Erik and the others at Google who recognized this challenge and took it head on.

Posted by Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist
Source: The Official Google Blog | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:10 pm

Expedia and Choice Hotels International Sign New Long-Term Agreement

BELLEVUE, Wash. and SILVER SPRING, Md., Nov.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:10 pm

IACC Includes Vaccine Research Objective In Strategic Plan For Autism Research

Autism Speaks is encouraged by new language recommending funding of vaccine researchAutism Speaks is encouraged by yesterday's decision of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) to include vaccine research studies in the objectives of the updated Strategic Plan for Autism Research.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:07 pm

New invention addresses lithium battery fires (Reuters)

Reuters - A new technology to prevent lithium-ion batteries from catching fire or exploding in laptops and mobile phones may be on the market as soon as the first quarter of 2010, its inventor said on Wednesday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:05 pm

Mouse Gene Suppresses Alzheimer's Plaques And Tangles

Protein reduces levels of amyloid beta and tau hyperphosphorylation, 2 hallmarks of Alzheimer'sInvestigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and colleagues have identified a novel mouse gene (Rps23r1) that reduces the accumulation of two toxic proteins that are major players in Alzheimer's disease: amyloid beta and tau.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:05 pm

Fist sledgehammer

DesignMartus's portfolio has some beautiful metalwork on display, around a motif of hands and fists. This wonderful fist sledgehammer would be a fine addition to any toolkit.

Early Tools

(via Make)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:03 pm

Early Life On Earth May Have Developed More Quickly Than Thought

The Earth's climate was far cooler – perhaps more than 50 degrees – billions of years ago, which could mean conditions for life all over the planet were more conducive than previously believed, according to a research team that includes a Texas A&M University expert who specializes in geobiology.Mike Tice, a researcher in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Texas A&M, says the findings could change current ideas about the earliest forms of life on Earth.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:03 pm

Aileron Collaborates Study In Nature: Stapled Peptides Inhibit Notch1 Transcription Factor

Aileron Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company leading the development of a new class of drugs called Stapled Peptides, announced today that its collaborators, James E. Bradner, MD of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and Gregory L.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pm

Why Can't Chimps Talk?

A genetic mutation may explain why our closest relatives, chimpanzees, don't speak.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

Wes Anderson Directs The Fantastic Mr. Fox From Afar

While his adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic was being shot in a London studio, moviemaker Wes Anderson directed from a virtual command center and spent the year traveling around the globe.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

New Brain Findings On Dyslexic Children

Good readers learn from repeating auditory signals, poor readers do notThe vast majority of school-aged children can focus on the voice of a teacher amid the cacophony of the typical classroom thanks to a brain that automatically focuses on relevant, predictable and repeating auditory information, according to new research from Northwestern University.But for children with developmental dyslexia, the teacher's voice may get lost in the background noise of banging lockers, whispering children, playground screams and scraping chairs, the researchers say.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 11 Nov 2009 | 3:54 pm

Clock on a bicycle chain

A reader writes, "The Catena wall clock harkens back to traditional mechanical clocks. Copper digits mounted onto a bicycle chain place emphasis on the cyclical nature of time. This clock is a striking clock, literally and figuratively."

Well, not literally. But figuratively. And man, was this thing ever designed to fire up the desiderata center of my brain.

Catena Wall Clock

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 11 Nov 2009 | 3:53 pm

Novel Mouse Gene Reduces Major Pathologies Associated With Alzheimer's Disease

A new study reveals that a previously undiscovered mouse gene reduces the two major pathological perturbations commonly associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 11 Nov 2009 | 3:52 pm

Neural Mechanism Reveals Why Dyslexic Brain Has Trouble Distinguishing Speech From Noise

New research reveals that children with developmental dyslexia have a deficit in a brain mechanism involved in the perception of speech in a noisy environment.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 11 Nov 2009 | 3:50 pm

Remus Project Brings Transparent High Availability To Xen

An anonymous reader writes "The Remus project has just been incorporated into the Xen hypervisor. Developed at the University of British Columbia, Remus provides a thin layer that continuously replicates a running virtual machine onto a second physical host. Remus requires no modifications to the OS or applications within the protected VM: on failure, Remus activates the replica on the second host, and the VM simply picks up where the original system died. Open TCP connections remain intact, and applications continue to run unaware of the failure. It's pretty fun to yank the plug out on your web server and see everything continue to tick along. This sort of HA has traditionally required either really expensive hardware, or very complex and invasive modifications to applications and OSes."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 11 Nov 2009 | 3:48 pm

Aisle Placements Affect Grocery Sales, UB Research Shows

Supermarkets could increase their sales of related items, such as chips and soft drinks, by moving the items closer to each other in their stores, according to research by Ram Bezawada, assistant professor of marketing in the University at Buffalo School of Management."Retailers can benefit substantially by having better placement of items in their aisles," Bezawada says.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 11 Nov 2009 | 3:47 pm

Samsung Launches Bada Mobile Operating System (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - There's another mobile operating system to add to the mix that includes Windows Mobile, Research in Motion's BlackBerry, Palm's webOS, Apple's iPhone, Symbian and Google's Android. On Tuesday, Samsung Electronics announced the launch of its own open mobile platform, called bada.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 11 Nov 2009 | 3:06 pm

Second Beta Release of Firefox 3.6 Fixes 190 Bugs (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - Mozilla's developer community has released the second beta of Firefox 3.6 to fix 190 bugs in the original release. Moreover, all current Firefox 3.6 beta users have been issued an update containing improvements of interest to users as well as web and add-on developers.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 11 Nov 2009 | 3:06 pm

Tracking Features Added To Google Latitude (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - Google has added two features -- Google Location History and Google Location Alerts -- to Google Latitude, which is a feature of Google Maps. Software engineer Chris Lambert wrote in a blog post that the additions are the result of requests from users to upgrade Latitude, which launched in February.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 11 Nov 2009 | 3:05 pm

Brown pelican no longer endangered: U.S. - Reuters

Boston Globe

Brown pelican no longer endangered: U.S. Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The brown pelican, listed as an endangered species even before the 1973 US Endangered Species Act existed, is officially back from the brink of extinction, the Interior Department ... Brown Pelican Removed From Endangered ListWall Street Journal Brown pelicans soar off endangered listDenver Post Brown pelican rebounds2TheAdvocate Santa Cruz Sentinel -NOLA.com -The Associated Press all 439 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 11 Nov 2009 | 3:01 pm

Holiday shoppers going mobile

Section: Gadgets / Other

A still struggling economy and skyrocketing unemployment rates mean this holiday shopping season will be all about finding bargains and reducing spending.  A new study out by Deloitte has found that more consumers then ever plan to use the web and their cellphones to find those bargains.  They surveyed over 10,000 consumers about their holiday shopping plans.

The study found that 45% plan to use their cell phones to research prices and 32% will use them to search for discounts.  25% will even go so far as to actually buy gifts on their phones.

The net will continue to play an increasing roll in holiday shopping.  22% said they will do most of their shopping online with 44% saying they will use online coupons to save money.  39% say they will use online reviews to make purchase decisions and 65% say they are likely to buy a product online after seeing it in a store or catalog.

Social networking will be a big factor as well.  The study found a whopping 54% of consumers plan to use social networking to research gift ideas, 52% will use online wish lists and 60% plan to use social networking sites to find discounts.

What are your plans for your holiday shopping?  Will you be cutting back?  Buying online?  Please leave a comment and share with us!

Read [CNet]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 11 Nov 2009 | 3:01 pm

Apple releases Safari 4.0.4 update (Macworld.com)

Macworld.com - You’re going to have to restart your Mac again. Apple on Wednesday released Safari 4.0.4, an update that addresses “performance, stability, and security.”
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 11 Nov 2009 | 2:55 pm

Online Real Estate Search Leader PropertyMaps.com Acquired by Austin Entrepreneur Jeff Chambers

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Austin entrepreneur Jeff Chambers, former U.S. product director for HomeAway, Inc., has acquired PropertyMaps.com, a leading residential real estate search engine.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 11 Nov 2009 | 2:45 pm

NetDepot Announces Private Cloud Solutions Using VMware vSphere

ATLANTA, Nov.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 11 Nov 2009 | 2:44 pm

Black Friday 2009: Target sale ad and its video game deals

FROM GAMERTELL - Target’s Black Friday 2009 ad has been leaked and it is filled with video game system bundles with gift cards, $59.99 games with gift cards and discount games ranging in price from $7 to $37.
MORE »

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Source: Gadgetell | 11 Nov 2009 | 2:39 pm

Microsoft Patents Sudo's Behavior

Foofoobar writes "Just when you thought all was safe on the crazy patent front, Microsoft has come out of the obvious patent closet to file patent number 7617530, which basically duplicates the functionality of 'sudo' which is found in all Linux systems. PJ over at groklaw has a wonderful writeup on the entire fiasco."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 11 Nov 2009 | 2:38 pm

Review: `Pirate Radio' rolls when it should rock (AP)

AP - No movie can be all bad when juiced up with a soundtrack of more than 50 classic rock tunes.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 11 Nov 2009 | 2:26 pm

Thanks Google, But Airport Wi-Fi Should Always Be Free - PC World

KFBB NewsChannel 5

Thanks Google, But Airport Wi-Fi Should Always Be Free PC World Google's getting more than the usual amount of attention this week for sponsoring free airport Wi-Fi during the holiday season. And rightfully so: During a long layover, no one wants to fire up their laptop and Web browser only to see a Web page ... Free Wi-Fi in Times SquareLos Angeles Times 3 Ways Google Benefits From Its Free Airport Wi-Fi OfferChannelWeb Google smothers stranded US holiday travellers with Wi-FiRegister Winston-Salem Journal -Daily Mail -Peter Greenberg.com Travel News all 602 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 11 Nov 2009 | 2:11 pm

Commemorating Veterans Day at Google

Today is Veterans Day, the annual U.S. holiday honoring military veterans who have served our country in the armed forces. It is also celebrated as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world, falling on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I in 1918. We want to take a moment to highlight a few things we're doing at Google to reflect on the service of our veterans.

YouTube has become an important platform for current service members as well as veterans who want to share their stories. Starting today, you can visit www.youtube.com/veterans to hear from these brave men and women. In addition, on the homepage, YouTube is featuring content from some institutions and organizations that have provided much-needed support to veterans. You can read more about how YouTube is recognizing Veterans Day on the YouTube Blog.

We also launched a Google Voice partnership with Blue Star Families, a group of military spouses who work hard to educate civilian communities and leaders about the hardships faced by military families. We're giving priority Google Voice invites to U.S. members of Blue Star Families to help bring them closer to their loved ones during deployments.

Finally, we're commemorating Veterans Day in Google offices around the country with an event hosted by the Google Veterans Network, our employee group dedicated to veterans' issues. The highlight of the event is a fireside chat with Google veterans discussing the values associated with military service, issues they face at Google and in the world in general, their hopes to end conflicts, similar groups at other companies and the company's efforts to support our Googler service women and men.

We hope to make this Veterans Day a memorable one and we want to thank everyone in the armed forces for their service.

Posted by Carrie Laureno, Learning & Development Manager and Founder, Google VetNet
Source: The Official Google Blog | 11 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pm

Carrier Billing coming to BlackBerry in 2010

Good news, everyone! RIM has used the keynote of their BlackBerry Developer Conference to drop the good word on a fairly important topic: Carrier billing is coming to the BlackBerry App World in 2010.

Carrier billing is quite certainly one of the most important — yet mostly unmentioned — aspect of any App Store’s success. Once a user can just charge an app purchase to their phone bill, a 99c app becomes an impulse buy. As it currently stands, any purchases made through Blappworld require Paypal credentials – and while that’s by no means a monumental obstacle, it requires just enough effort to trigger that little “Eh, not worth it” thought in the potential buyer’s brain. In other words, less hassle = more sales.

RIM also announced that developers could now use Blappworld to sell BlackBerry themes (graphical interface skins), along with the web-based Apps that RIM (confusingly) refers to as “Widgets”.

[Via Intomobile]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 11 Nov 2009 | 1:56 pm

LegalTorrents Launches Copyright-Compliant Tracker

drDugan writes "Many legitimate media providers are using Bittorrent to distribute content, but the recent Pirate Bay legal verdict and closures left many content downloads unavailable. Along with the ongoing legal issues at Mininova and other sites, options have been scarce for legitimate Bittorrent tracking service. Once a torrent is created with a tracker URL, that tracker has to stay running for normal distribution to continue. LegalTorrents.com has quietly launched a solution with three open Bittorent trackers for its members, including a fully automated, community-based flagging system to blacklist and immediately remove copyright-infringing content. Users submit SHA1 hash values for content with infringing materials. Site members can include and track their own published materials regardless of flagging."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 11 Nov 2009 | 1:55 pm

Stress and Sugar -- Are They Linked?

I've been under some stress lately. Not the minor kind that everyday life usually brings, like ferrying kids to and fro, working, or the usual frustrations of owning a house. I'm talking about the big stresses that can clobber us, ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 1:42 pm

Who needs the Droid? T-Mobile G1 hacked to run Google Nav

I like to imagine that a special place exists somewhere on the Web where a bunch of unassuming “ordinary” folks get together to solve world technology issues. A brotherhood (that allows women too, of course) of sorts that uniformly scream, “HACK3RS UNITE!,” and then figure out how to stick it to the man. I’m not entirely sure anything that amazing exists, but there is something close – the XDA Developers Forum.

The latest philanthropic project taken on by these fine young men and women was to port Google’s new Navigation app (which comes pre-installed on the DROID) to the original Android Czar, T-Mobile’s G1. And low and behold…they’ve done it!

I don’t pretend to be any type of haxor whatsoever, so instead of trying to explain how to make the port myself (as if I could even make sense of any of it), I’d suggest giving this entire thread a read through. While they’ve outlined the process for all, it’s not for the faint of heart. With that said, let us know how it goes!

[via Engadget Mobile]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 11 Nov 2009 | 1:17 pm

Verizon to get 2-way live mobile video?

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile

Fed up with trying to convince other manufactures to use their compression software, Saygus went about building their own phone to show it off.  Last night, Saygus opened up on their plans and showed off their VPhone, an Android powered ODI phone that, fingers crossed, will get approved by Verizon soon.

2-way video is the key feature here (though according to Saygus, “the phone does everything better than everything else out there”) and Sayguys says it flies on even lowly Edge network, so 3G shouldn’t be a problem or worry to Verizon.  Popular everywhere else, 2-way video has yet to make a big impression here in the US.  Saygus is out to change that and the Vphone take 24 to 30 FPS.

Working with Verizon, Saygus has put together a hardware project in just six months.  The phone showed off last night was a little bulky but the features were impressive.  All the standard stuff: GPS, touchscreen, Bluetooth, WiFi, 5MP camera, MicroSD slot (to 16GB), and 624MHz processor.  One more stand out feature was the ability to turn the phone into a WiFi hub for up to 8 devices.

Despite lots of phone on the table and a PR team assembled to show us phone, I sensed there was more to the story.  When pressed, a non-subsidized price of $450 was mentioned; should Verizon approve the device, a subsidy will surely bring down the price to a reasonable level.  I asked Saygus if we’d see a VPhone 2 or is the endgame for Verizon to put the software to work on its other phones and the response was Saygus is a software company.

Company site: [Saygus]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 11 Nov 2009 | 12:49 pm

Apple App Store Takes Tiny Step Toward Transparency

Taking a small step toward openness, Apple rolls out a brand new way for iPhone developers to track the status of apps they’ve submitted to the App Store.

While it may not sound like much, the move gives iPhone developers reason to celebrate. Many developers have complained about the difficulty communicating with Apple’s team of App Store reviewers.

“It’s the coolest new feature they’ve added [for developers], in my opinion,” said Oliver Cameron, developer of the popular iPhone app Postman, who noticed the tracking system just a few days ago.

In Apple’s Dev Center website, iPhone app developers can view Apple’s progress on reviewing their apps from start to finish. When an app is in line to be reviewed, the status will read “Waiting for Review.” And when it’s actually being reviewed, the status reads “In Review.” Finally, when the app is launched, the status will read “Ready for Sale.” Each status update is accompanied with a time and date. (In the screenshot above, the developer’s name and app were omitted for the sake of privacy, and to prevent violating a nondisclosure agreement.)

Apple’s previous review status system was terse and impersonal. All developers could see was a status graphic providing the average wait time for submitted apps. The bulletin would read, for example, “Based on current app submissions, 96 percent of applications are being approved within 14 days.”

Now developers can see individual progress reports on the apps they’ve submitted.

Though Apple’s App Store is the most prolific in the mobile space, with over 100,000 apps and counting, the Cupertino, California, company has come under fire for its opaque, inconsistent approval process for iPhone apps.

Apple’s App Store reviewers have made questionable rejections as well as approvals. For example, they rejected an e-book reader app called Eucalyptus because it was able to retrieve the Kama Sutra from Project Gutenberg, a repository of public-domain books. The reviewers later approved the app, admitting there was “confusion.” However, Apple earlier approved Baby Shaker, a game whose objective was to shake a baby to death. The company later pulled the app after it sparked parental outrage.

The new app review status system won’t address the App Store’s inconsistent approval process, but it should improve relations with developers eagerly awaiting to hear back about their app — whether it’s approval or rejection. And that’s a lot better than no answer at all, right?

See Also:

• Apple Rejects Google Voice App, Invites Regulation
• Developer: Apple Denied Health Care App for Political Reasons
• Google Voice App Rejection: AT&T Blames, Apple Denies, Google Hides
• Porn Comes to the iTunes App Store
• School-Shooting iPhone Game Removed From App Store

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 11 Nov 2009 | 12:24 pm

Warm-Blooded Dinosaurs Worked Up a Sweat

Paleontologists for years have debated whether or not dinosaurs were warm or cold-blooded. New research suggests most were warm-blooded like us, according to the following Washington University in Saint Louis release: Were dinosaurs “warm-blooded” like present-day mammals and birds, or ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 12:22 pm

World's Hardiest Life Form Explained

This release just in from The Swedish Research Council: Got food poisoning? The cause might be bacterial spores, en extremely hardy survival form of bacteria, a nightmare for health care and the food industry and an enigma for scientists. Spore-forming ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 12:01 pm

World Bank public data, now in search

When we first launched public data on Google.com, we wanted to make statistics easier to find and to encourage debate based on facts rather than intuition. The day after we launched, a friend who worked at the World Bank called me, her voice filled with enthusiasm, "Did you know that the World Bank also just released an API for their data?" Excited, I checked it out, and found an amazing treasure trove of statistics for most economies in the world. After some hard work and analysis, today we're happy to announce that 17 World Development Indicators (list below*) are now conveniently available to you in Google search.

With today's update, you can quickly access more data with a broad range of queries. Search should be intuitive, so we've done the work to think through queries where public data will be most relevant to you. To see the new data, try queries like [gdp of indonesia], [life expectancy brazil], [rwanda's population growth], [energy use of iceland], [co2 emissions of iceland] and [gdp growth rate argentina]. For example, if you search for [internet users in the united states], you will see the following chart at the top of the results page:


Clicking on the result will bring you to an interactive chart where you can compare the United States with other regions around the world. We've also added a new feature to enable you to embed these charts in your own website or blog by clicking on the "Link" button in the upper right-hand corner of the chart page. You have the option to either embed the chart with static data, or you can also set the chart to update dynamically when new data becomes available. To give you a sense of what these charts look like, we've embedded the chart below comparing Internet users in the United States and South Korea:



We hope this new data and our new embedding feature will help facilitate quick and easy access to public statistics. There are still many other data sets and sources out there, and we're excited about the possibilities for the future. If you're a data publisher interested in making your data more easily discoverable in Google, please contact us.

* Complete list of World Bank indicators currently available: CO2 emissions per capita, Electricity consumption per capita, Energy use per capita, Exports as percentage of GDP, Fertility rate, GDP deflator change, GDP growth rate, GNI per capita in PPP dollars, Gross Domestic Product, Gross National Income in PPP dollars, Imports as percentage of GDP, Internet users as percentage of population, Life expectancy, Military expenditure as percentage of GDP, Mortality rate, under 5, Population, and Population growth rate.

Update at 11:26am: We've updated this post to include a better example.

Posted by Chung Wu, Software Engineer
Source: The Official Google Blog | 11 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

Motorola DROID causes a disturbance in Android-based web traffic

According to Web analytics company, Clicky, Motorola’s flagship DROID handset has already caused a major disturbance in the Force Android-based web traffic. The new hotness purportedly already accounts for more than 23 percent of all Android web traffic here in the States.

Not too shabby for the new kid ‘droid on the block. The less than scientific data collected by Clicky is “calculated from all mobile traffic across the 150,000+ sites that are tracked by getclicky.com.” But still, as BGR points out, this is a pretty respectably sized sample to base some very broad generalizations on.

Just goes to show what can happen when a solid piece of hardware is paired up with the nation’s “best” 3G network and an enormous marketing budget. Definitely a good sign for Motorola and Verizon, and a fantastic indication of what Android 2.0+ is poised to do to the smartphone market, in general.

[via BGR]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 11 Nov 2009 | 11:52 am

A Mona Lisa Created from Motherboard Bits

An unexpected tribute to Leonardo da Vinci’s incomparable work of art lies in the lobby of PC maker Asus’ headquarters in Taiwan. It’s a Mona Lisa collage created from old motherboards and computer chips. It’s no patch on the real thing but is still an amazing work of geek art.

Asus designers reportedly dreamed up this Mona Lisa. The work represents two things: a reminder of the technology that Asus built its fortune on and the company’s ethos to encourage and support “any kind of crazy ideas.”

The Mona Lisa in its digital glory

A close-up of the collage

Photos: (Alex Watson/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 11 Nov 2009 | 11:50 am

Speech Gene Shows Its Bossy Nature - New York Times

DAWN.com

Speech Gene Shows Its Bossy Nature New York Times Of the 20000 genes in the human genome, few are more fascinating than FOXP2, a gene that underlies the faculty of human speech. All animals have an FOXP2 gene, but the human version's product differs at just 2 of its 740 units from ... Why Can't Chimps Talk? It's More Than Just GenesABC News Gene found that seems key in evolution of speechThe Associated Press Human Speech Gene FoundLiveScience.com Wired News -New Scientist -Telegraph.co.uk all 189 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 11 Nov 2009 | 11:42 am

Clinton Calls Climate Talks in Copenhagen a 'Steppingstone' - New York Times

Telegraph.co.uk

Clinton Calls Climate Talks in Copenhagen a 'Steppingstone' New York Times Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today called UN climate talks in Copenhagen a "steppingstone" toward a global, legally binding climate agreement, and spelled out US priorities for the talks. A blog about energy, ... China seeks 'fair' climate dealAFP PREVIEW-Climate takes back seat at APEC, focus on tradeReuters Muted Optimism on Copenhagen Climate TalksU.S. News & World Report Los Angeles Times -The Associated Press -Jakarta Post all 715 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 11 Nov 2009 | 11:33 am

AT&T CEO says tethering coming soon for iPhone

FROM APPLETELL - AT&T’s CEO Ralph de la Vega made the announcement at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Fransisco this month that tethering for the iPhone 3G is coming “soon.”
MORE »

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Source: Gadgetell | 11 Nov 2009 | 11:32 am

New Apple Takes a Bite Out of Rot

Find a bad apple in the bunch? Researchers in Australia want to fix that. A Queensland team has spent 20 years developing a deep red variety that they claim is naturally long-lasting. The new, sweet apple with the decidedly non-catchy ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 11:15 am

Fool's Gold a Golden Opportunity for Solar

Fool's gold, or pyrite, could be a real gold mine for the solar panel industry.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 11:15 am

Arctic Circle: The Loneliness of Coal Town

Take a desktop journey to a very different place: An icy Russian coal mining town on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen. David Rothenberg does a great job bringing this remote outpost home in his OnEarth blog post. I'm still shivering. ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 11:08 am

Vimeo begins to play nice with iPhone, Android devices

The lack of Flash support on the iThings (i.e. phone, touch) and all but one Android device has made it rather difficult for Flash-based video sites to penetrate the ever-expanding smartphone video-consuming market. While YouTube has implemented a workaround for this problem (by encoding each uploaded video in both Flash AND as .mp4 files), other sites (arguably with less resources) have been much slower to rollout a fix while waiting for Adobe and Co. to get this mess straightened out.

That was, until today. Blake Whitman, Vimeo’s director of community, told CNET News earlier today that the popular video sharing site is rolling out support for both iDevices and Android, albeit on a limited basis. More specifically, Vimeo has re-encoded all of its staff picks and HD video showcase for playback on your iPhone/iPod touch/Android handset.

According to Whitman, “[Vimeo has] been working on it for the last few weeks. This is sort of the prelude of offering Plus members iPhone support; and in the future, an app.” At the moment, Vimeo’s editors handpick which members’ videos will get the mobile “treatment,” but over time the site will slowly allow its Plus users the option to transcode their videos to an iPhone/Android version.

Clearly, this is not an end all, be all solution, but it is nice to see (and probably a must for the site’s future viability) Vimeo make an effort to accommodate the surging iDevice/Android community. Although I was unable to see it, the mobile-friendly site should be ready to rock (er, become available) for iPhone/Android users today. Oh, and one last caveat – some videos that work on iThings may not work on Android at the moment.

[via CNET]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 11 Nov 2009 | 10:54 am

The Relative Size of Things

Back in the 70s or 80s, IBM made a video called The Power of 10, which showed the relative size of things from the universe to the cell and the effect of adding a zero. In other words going from ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 11 Nov 2009 | 10:46 am

2 new must-have gadgets:  flip-down iPod dock car stereo and iPod touch GPS adapter

Section: Audio, Car Audio, Portable Audio, Gadgets / Other, GPS/Navigation

Last night at CES Unveiled, Dual showed off two products to take note of.  One was a stereo head featuring an innovative flip down iPod dock that costs just $99 and is found at Wal-Mart.  The other was a GPS adapter every iPod touch owner should have.  Both products looked to be priced below what I’d be willing to pay for them.

The XML8110 in-dash stereo head is pretty clever.  While many of us rely on a cradle and cables to broadcast our tunes over FM radio, this stereo head flips down to reveal an iPod dock and specific iPod controls.  At just $99, I can’t vouch for the sound quality yet, though I’d guess it is better than the FM transmitter I’ve got working now.  Beyond clever, the company is building an iPhone app to allow easier music controls at arms length.  The dock charges the phone in addition to relaying the sound to your system.  The head is available at Wal-Mart.

The XGPS300 is even more clever.  Besides being a GPS unit that connects to iPod touch (both generations), it can function as a back up battery.  The GPS works as you’d suspect, a whopping 2.2GB but free app from the app store turns your iPod touch into a sweet personal navigation device with ease.  The GPS/battery case also comes with a dashboard mount.  The case can be plugged in to both DC power when in the car and has an AUX output for your tunes.

Every question I fired at the rep came back with the answer I hoped for.  The unit is impressive and costs just $179.99 and should be shipping by months end.

 

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 11 Nov 2009 | 10:11 am

Locking SafeSearch

When you're searching on Google, we think you should have the choice to keep adult content out of your search results. That's why we developed SafeSearch, a feature that lets you filter sexually explicit web sites and images from your search results. While no filter is 100% accurate, SafeSearch helps you avoid content you may prefer not to see or would rather your children did not stumble across. We think it works pretty well, but we're always looking for ways to improve the feature.

Today we're launching a feature that lets you lock your SafeSearch setting to the Strict level of filtering. When you lock SafeSearch, two things will change. First, you'll need to enter your password to change the setting. Second, the Google search results page will be visibly different to indicate that SafeSearch is locked:


Even from across the room, the colored balls give parents and teachers a clear visual cue that SafeSearch is still locked. And if you don't see them, it's quick and easy to verify and re-lock SafeSearch.

To use SafeSearch lock, go to the "Search Settings" page on Google. For detailed instructions, check out this video.



We hope you and your family find exactly what you’re looking for in Google search results — and nothing more.

Posted by Pete Lidwell, Product Manager and Aaron Arcos, Engineer

Source: The Official Google Blog | 11 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

Kindle for PC now available

Section: Computers, Software / Applications, Gadgets / Other, ebooks

I am not really sure how this one got by me yesterday, but given I tend to obsessively follow ebook reader news and still missed it, I figured someone else may benefit from the news. With that, Amazon has released the promised Kindle for PC app.

Which means that Kindle readers will now have one more option for reading, and the PC app will also include Whispersync. For those not familiar with the Kindle or Whispersync, that is the technology that allows you to read across multiple devices without having to worry about where you left off. Whispersync also keeps your notes and bookmarks in sync between devices.

Personally, and despite being an avid reader and Kindle user I am not sure how much use this will get from me. That said, it does seem to be a nice addition, and could serve readers in a way similar to that of the Kindle app on the iPhone—as a backup device that is used to read for a few minutes when the random opportunity pops up.

Anyway, users can go ahead and download the Kindle for PC app now. The app itself is free to download, but the books are not. Instead those will have to be purchased, however they are typically priced at around $9.99.

Read [Amazon]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 11 Nov 2009 | 8:59 am

Google cuts Picasa photo storage prices - CNET News

TFTS (blog)

Google cuts Picasa photo storage prices CNET News Google has cut the price to store photos at its Picasa Web Albums site by a factor of eight. The photo-sharing site offers 1GB of photo and video storage for free, but now going beyond that limit costs less. ... Increase Your Gmail and Picasa Storage for as Little as $5Washington Post Google's Cheap Cloud Storage: Worth the Price?PC World Google reduces extra-storage cost of photo-sharing site PicasaTopNews United States PC Magazine -TG Daily -USA Today all 53 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 11 Nov 2009 | 8:39 am

Appstand Turns Your iPhone into a Picture Frame

You know those tacky wooden cabinets that people of “taste” use to hide their TVs, pretending that we are living in some pre-electrical age where everything was better? Now you can get one for your iPhone: It’s called the Appstand, and it’s only $20.

Fire up a slideshow application, for example, stick your iPhone into the waiting hole and you have a picture frame. Or perhaps run a video of a fish-tank and make your own tiny, iPhone -sized Macquarium. The possibilities are limitless. Almost.

The product’s specs are padded somewhat. The claim of “enhanced speakerphone experience with exposed microphone and speaker” just means that it blocks neither of these parts, but the in-built cable management does sound useful. The best part of all is that the suggested applications list lead me to the “Ambient Channel”, a $1 iPhone app that does nothing but relax you with video and sound: Koi Fish Pond, Deep Space Travel and Rushing Clouds are amongst the delightful loops, although I don’t think I’ll bother with House Party Background very often. Available December 1st

Product page [Appstand Store]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 11 Nov 2009 | 8:11 am

Star Wars gear at Black Friday prices

Section: Gadgets / Other, Household, Lifestyle

The StarWarsShop.com has issued a whopper of a deal: for 24 hours only, ending at midnight tonight, all in-stock items are 25% off.  The shop carriers a wide range of Star Wars products from common action figures to collectible prints.  This pre-Black Friday sale will be visible in the final stage of checkout and take 25% off your in-stock order.

Here are a couple of my favorites:
Cantina Band Galactic Tour t-shirts: was $16.99 now $12.74
Lego Motorized AT-AT: was $129.99 now $97.49
General Grievous life size bust: was $449.99 now $337.49

The store also has a bunch of unique goods that are shipping in the coming months.  There is a Jawa garden gnome that is fantastic and t-shirts I’ve not seen anywhere else.

Store page: [StarWarsShop]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 11 Nov 2009 | 7:34 am

iPhone malware kinda-sorta dangerous

A new worm, called the iPhone/Privacy.A worm, connects to jailbroken iPhones running SSH with the default password and takes a “treasure trove” of data including email, SMS messages, photos, music files, and everything else on your phone. It then kills your dog.

OK, the last part was a joke but come on. If you jailbreak your phone, change your password. Real simple. You can follow these directions or simply SSH into your iPhone and type “passwd” and enter a new password. Easy peasy.

via Intego

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 11 Nov 2009 | 7:32 am

$99.99 Xbox 360 Wireless N Networking Adapter now available

FROM GAMERTELL - Microsoft has released the Wirelss N Networking Adapter for the Xbox 360, and it supports wireless 802.11 a/b/g/n protocol. The previous model, which only offered 802.11 a/b/g support, is being discontinued.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 11 Nov 2009 | 7:08 am

Mac and PC Calculators Rendered in Reality

These wonderful whimsies come from Mintpass, a design company “founded to create the future”. And in that future, we will delve into our computer screens and fish out an actual, working version of the picture on-screen. Think of it as scanning in reverse.

These “OS Calculators” could also be called “physicalcs”, but we don’t recommend it. Modeled on the software calculators the come with Windows and OS X, they appear as fully functioning (prototype) pocket calculators. Here’s what the designer has to say: “It will produce a big empathy and therefore inducing smiles and laughter.” I love them, and I did indeed feel laughter and smiles induced when I first saw them.

The folks at Mintpass are looking for a manufacturer (and hopefully and IP lawyer). They may already have been waiting a while: the brushed aluminum calculator was dropped from OS X a few years ago, and that Windows calc looks distinctly XP to me.

Product page [Mintpass via BBG via Raw Feed]

See Also:

• IPhone-Connected Weighing Scale for Your iDiet
• Wooden Photo Frame Mimics Photoshop Window

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 11 Nov 2009 | 6:31 am

Ikea Hack: DIY, Double-Decker Bike Rack

If there was an opposite to “hemorrhaging”, that’s what I’m doing with bikes. The recent addition of a fixed-gear beater to the “stable” is testing the Lady’s patience and causing house-guests some painful collisions on their night visits to the bathroom. I need an intervention.

Or a home-made, double-decker bike rack, just like the professional looking Ikea-hack seen here. This simple bike-hanger consists of a powder-coated, aluminum Stolmen post ($30), a couple of brackets, some square-section tubing and a some hooks. The post stretches between floor and ceiling like a vertical shower-curtain pole and the two brackets are clamped on and used to mount the hooks. A half-hour job that comes in at around $40.

I’d be all over this for the apartment, but I don’t actually think it is the growing family of bikes that is the problem — it’s the tools in the kitchen and the oily hands I take to bed with me.

Stolmen Bike Rack [Ikea Hacker]

Product page [Ikea]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 11 Nov 2009 | 5:33 am

Ceramic Toaster Concept Improves Almost Everything

Marcus Sandeman’s Product Tank toaster prototype is a minimal, modular design that would be welcome in my kitchen. The list of innovations is long, so let’s get started.

The two sides “clamp” the target food between them like a hot vise, allowing the elements to stay at minimal distance from the food’s surface and also accommodate anything from a tortilla to a baguette. The knob that winds the sides too and fro is duplicated in the toast lowering mechanism, a spring-free design which is similar to the lever on that toaster of ages, the Dualit.

The elements are hidden behind ceramic vents to keep crumbs away and prevent burning, and any un-scorched crumbs that do fall will make it to the crumb-tray, itself an improvement on the slide-out kind we know and hate. The tray is actually a slotted block on which the toaster sits, making it easy to remove and toss in the dishwasher as well as acting as an insulating pad.

We’re sure that a production model would be colored or besmirched with logos, but imagine this as a white ceramic monobloc sat on your counter-top, shaming all your other fancy, over-decorated gadgets. And I have already started thinking about hacking it: a combo of heat-resistant ceramic and that wonderful tray/mat should let you put this on its side and make grilled cheese. Yummy!

Product page [Product Tank via Core77]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 11 Nov 2009 | 5:14 am

Wi-Fi Scale Tweets Your Weight

Withings Wi-Fi Body Scale already stands out in your bathroom: sleek, smooth and fully functional, the very opposite of the sagging meat sack you drag into the shower every morning. Now it can beam your insecurities to your poor Twitter followers, automatically, before you have even thought about brewing a wake-up cup of coffee.

The Withings scale, you may remember, records body mass, fat levels and other paranoia-inducing statistics and compiles them for presentation on the web or on your iPhone. Now, the $160 scale adds Twittering to its list of “encouragements”.

Set up your account details and the scale will reveal your weight to the world every time you hop on. It can be configured to Tweet daily, weekly or monthly and will post the amount of lard you have to shed before you reach your goal. The upscale scale has support for up to eight people and their accounts, making it easy to organize an ongoing bulimia marathon amongst housemates.

The most amazing part about this story, though, is that it features a weighing scale that can receive software updates over the air. We’re clearly living in the future.

Product page [Withings. Thanks, Jessica!]

See Also:

• IPhone-Connected Weighing Scale for Your iDiet

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 11 Nov 2009 | 4:18 am

Origami-Like Folding Laptop Stand Is Perfect for In-Bed Movies

Seeing as most ergonomics guides tell you not to tilt your keyboard up, a laptop stand may not be such a good idea for the desk, but AViiQ’s “Portable Laptop Stand” has other uses.

The obvious feature is that this stand folds, and when collapsed to its quarter-inch minimum can easily be slid into a laptop bag. The mechanism itself is quite neat, almost origami-like: The aluminum sheet is hinged with plastic. Two hinged sections swing under the main body and then the corners tuck through a pair of holes. These corner tabs both secure the “leg” in place and act as feet for the notebook above.

Aside from folding, the stand will keep the screen slightly higher if using the computer with an external keyboard. Most important, though, in these days of red-hot “laptops” is cooling, and the thin aluminum and ample air circulation whips away heat and lets your computer’s fans stay off for longer. It would also be perfect for in-bed movie watching: those warm sheets play hell with a notebook’s heat dissipation.

I’d probably grab one right away to replace the inverted baking-tray I normally use when working from bed, but the AViiQ Portable Laptop Stand cost $80. Ouch.

Product page [AViiQ]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 11 Nov 2009 | 3:21 am