Source: Gizmodo | 12 Nov 2009 | 8:00 pm

Current TV axes 80 staffers, cuts shows, changes direction.

Current TV lets go 80 employees, cancels some shows. Programming head David Neuman (former D<N exec) is out, a new CEO from MTV is in. Coverage: Variety, SF Chron + LAT. Quote: "As much as you might want to change the world, sometimes there is not that much you can change -- particularly when you are dealing with the world of television."


Source: Boing Boing | 12 Nov 2009 | 7:54 pm

Facebook: Please Back Developers vs iPhone

In July of last year, I wrote about The New Apple Walled Garden. The post was about the irony of developers and advocates who were otherwise open standards and open source champions being absolutely pro-iPhone, a platform that is closed and proprietary in every sense. Since that post, the horror that was foreshadowed by some has been realized – rejected apps, rejected apps, rejected apps. We documented the troubles here at Techcrunch and the overall response was nothing more than long comment threads, complaints, and a few wise people changing their minds. The complaints to date are from some bloggers and a small number of application developers, incidents that Apple are able to write-off as being minor, as they have a dedicated fan base and growing market share to fall back on. That was, until yesterday.

Yesterday, a high-profile iPhone developer became fed up with the nature of the platform and decided it was time to call it quits. Joe Hewitt of Facebook not only pronounced that it was time for him to move onto ‘other projects’, but had the courage to state that his reason was because of the closed nature of the iPhone platform and his frustration with the approval process. Joe is not just the guy who wrote the Facebook application, within 12 hours of the first iPhone launching he released a library for app developers to create iPhone-like applications. This was back in the first generation, when iPhone ‘applications’ were nothing more than websites. Without any documentation from Apple, and with sheer enthusiasm for the new-born platform, Joe created a library for other developers that would help them build applications that would mimic native iPhone applications built by Apple.

As somebody who downloaded the very early releases of Joe’s library, I could immediately see that most, if not all, of the first iPhone applications were built on, or at least inspired by, the iUI library he released. The credibility that Joe has and the work that he did not only inspired developers, but it gave them an easy path to developing the first generation of software for the iPhone. With the statements that Joe made yesterday, Apple has not only lost another developer that it can write-off, but has lost somebody who was an early adopter of their platform and an impetus for others.

Most iPhone and Apple fans would retort that “Apple make great products, and it is winning in a market where the consumer has free choice”. I agree that they make great products, I am writing this post on a Macbook. I was beside myself with excitement when I found out about Rhapsody, about OS X, about the new Mach kernel, about FreeBSD code being used for userland (my code is in there, somewhere). I was so enthusiastic about the second coming of Jobs that I had an email exchange with him about incorporating OpenSSL, amongst other things, when the early dev previews were out. I was totally sold, because an operating system was being built and released that combined the best of UNIX with the best of great interfaces. Finally, the open source on desktops conundrum had been solved, I cheered. The biggest non-Microsoft company had adopted what we knew was good, as a way to compete against the standard. It validated my belief in the BSD license, and I was completely spellbound and a fan (although not in the more recent fanboi sense).

It was not until the iPhone was released that I felt let down. I felt betrayed. I wanted to hack, and I wanted to do so standing on the shoulder of a giant who was gaining market, a giant who was my old friend. I hold a very strong belief in the open market, a concept which at a theoretical level is difficult to argue against. The iPhone took advantage of a market where the competition was completely clueless. It took an intelligent and smart outsider to recognize that. What has shaken my belief in the open market is that an otherwise good company can enter a market, show them how it is done – but do it in a bad way for the overall ecosystem, and at the same time win the support of people who would otherwise philosophically disagree with them, completely on the basis of that company being not-Microsoft and, well, being sexy.

I never believed that Microsoft were evil, first because as a user and developer I had a choice. Second, Microsoft gave me free tools to learn how to code. And last, despite the position Microsoft were in on the desktop they never asked me to send them my code so that they could test it against their black-box of what is ‘compliant’. Microsoft never sent me a letter to say that speech bubbles can not be used in my application. Microsoft platforms let me run whatever-the-hell voice provider I wanted. Microsoft, as far as I can recall, also never told me that I could not have a sense of humor (the ironic 1984 reference has already been done, thanks Jon). Developers today also have a choice with mobile applications, and the sooner more developers raise their blinkers and realize that the popularity of the iPhone is built on the applications they are building, the sooner we can either get rid of this mess and see Apple change, or see a new more open alternative thrive.

Hewitt’s statements, as a model iPhone developer from a large company, can be the tipping point. The only thing holding this back right now are Facebook themselves, who seem keen on preserving a business relationship and casting Hewitt off as a rogue. Facebook came out today, and in a more official capacity (ie. somebody with ‘communications’ in their title, as opposed to ‘developer’), said that “Facebook’s relationship with Apple and our commitment to the iPhone platform remain strong”, and that “There’s been a fair amount of confusion and speculation about Joe’s comments” (chuckle, chuckle) and that “Facebook has a great team of engineers taking over iPhone related development”. Joe is probably taking some heat from his employer right now, and he probably knew he would before he made any comment. Facebook could have simply shifted Joe to another project (Android, I hope), and many wouldn’t have noticed – but he stood up for what he believes in, and what many have been thinking, and he deserves the full support and credit from everybody who believes in transparency and free opinion, regardless of which side of the iPhone debate your opinions may reside.

If it comes down to Facebook vs iPhone, Facebook wins. If Apple hold to their position on being the gatekeeper for everything on their platform, we only win if the developers say no. An iPhone platform with applications only from Apple and no third-parties is no longer a viable platform, and no longer a device that consumers will purchase — because they are making decisions based on applications and access, not on the brand or suburb engraved on the back of it (I hope).

Facebook should recognize this and back Joe all the way. If they do, it will show that that interest of what they want to do takes precedence over what a handset manufacturer wants to do. Apple can squash small developers, but if a big developer were to set aside short-term business interest for a moment, they will win in the longer term. If only we could all do that and not be blinded, perhaps, well, the free market could work again.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 12 Nov 2009 | 7:53 pm

The GeoAPI Launches For Places, Tweets, Flickr Photos, And More

Location, location, location. With the growing ubiquity of GPS-equipped phones, there is a virtual land rush going on right now to put geolocation capabilities in every mobile app. Today, Mixer Labs, the folks behind TownMe, introduced the GeoAPI, aimed at developers who want to add geolocation features to their apps in a plug-and-play fashion.

The GeoAPI is built on top of what was previously called the TownMe GeoAPI, which offered a reverse geo-coder for lat/long coordinates and geo-database of 16 million businesses and points of interest. But now it is its own separate product, and with today’s release the GeoAPI now includes geo-coded Tweets and Flickr photos, improved search, a dedicated short URL (http//:geo.am) for location-specific links, an iPhone SDK, and better intersection data. You can find out more details here.

So a developer who wants to build their own Foursquare/Gowalla-type mobile app with check-ins and geo-Tweets can build it on top of the GeoAPI instead of assembling all the underlying data from scratch. Developers get up to 20,000 queries per day for free. They can also store their own data in the GeoAPI servers and run geo-queries against them.

To get a basic feeling for how this works, check out these simple demos for geo-coded Tweets and Flickr photos in San Francisco. You click on a neighborhood and it shows recent Tweets or photos taken from there.

Mixer Labs co-founder Elad Gil was the first product manager for Google Mobile Maps. He will find competition for creating a geolocation infrastructure for developers from SimpleGeo, founded by Matt Galligan (previously of Socialthing) and Joe Stump (ex-lead architect of Digg). Both Gil and Galligan will speak on the Geo Streams panel at next week’s Realtime CrunchUp, along with geo experts from Twitter, Foursquare, Google, and Hot Potato. (Tickets are still available). I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot about which geo API is going to be better.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 12 Nov 2009 | 7:52 pm

Flight Over Earth's 'East' Pole

The glacier-shrouded mountains of the Tibetan Plateau are sometimes called the Earth's Third Pole. This is because, as reported today by NASA's Earth Observatory, it ranks 3rd -- right after the Antarctic and the Arctic -- for ice content. It's ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 7:51 pm

CNN ends a web news experiment

CNN laid off its four web video anchors today and announced that continuous live video production for CNN.com will end. Thus dies "one of the Internet's biggest news experiments." (NYT, via Andrew Baron)


Source: Boing Boing | 12 Nov 2009 | 7:33 pm

Synthetic Stone DVD Claimed To Last 1,000 Years

Lucas123 writes "A start-up launched a new DVD archive product this week: a disc that it says will hold its data for 1,000 years. The company, Cranberry, says its DiamonDisc product, which can be used in any standard DVD player, is not subject to deterioration from heat, UV rays or material rot due to humidity or other elements because it has no dyes, adhesives or reflective materials like standard DVD discs, and its discs are made from a vastly more durable synthetic stone. Data is laid down on the platter much in the same way as a standard DVD disc, but with DiamonDisc the burner etches much deeper pits. Cranberry said it is also working on producing a Blu-ray version of its 1,000-year disc."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 12 Nov 2009 | 7:33 pm

"Sixth Sense Technology" Will Be Open Source

My husband called me last night all a-twitter and once I got him talking slow enough to understand that he wasn't going on about "six pennies", I could sympathize with the high level of enthusiasm. Earlier this year, "Sixth Sense Technology" from MIT---basically, a visual interface system that allows you and the computer in your cell phone to communicate in some truly astounding ways---was a big hit at TED. This week, at TED India, inventor Pranav Mistry announced that the technology will be released as open source...in a matter of months.

"Rather than waiting for that time to come, I want people to make their own system. Why not?," Mistry says in an article on Rediff Business. "People will be able to make their own hardware. I will give them instructions how to make it. And also provide them key software...give them basic key software layers...they will be able to build their own applications. They will be able to modify base level and do anything".

Makers, start your engines.

Mistry to make digital "Sixth Sense" open source on Rediff Business
The importance of Sixth Sense going open source on zdnet

Sixth Sense augmented reality device goes open source on Singularity Hub (natch)

Source: Boing Boing | 12 Nov 2009 | 7:21 pm

Comcast: TV Everywhere, and a possible $30 billion NBC buyout

More details out today on Comcast's "TV Everywhere" service launching in December. "Yes, this does still count against the 250GB monthly cap if used at home and still no word on HD streaming." Related: NYT on Comcast's $30 billion takeover bid for NBC Universal. (via Andrew Baron)


Source: Boing Boing | 12 Nov 2009 | 7:20 pm

YouTube will soon support 1080HD

I attended a YouTube roundtable in San Francisco yesterday, and learned of many features coming soon, including this: Starting next week, YouTube's HD mode will add support for viewing videos in 720p or 1080p. In this blog post, see how much this enhances one's experience of a dog's snout.


Source: Boing Boing | 12 Nov 2009 | 7:05 pm

YouTube to support 1080p high-definition videos (AP)

AP - YouTube says starting next week it will support the same high-resolution video that can now be seen on flat screen TVs.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 12 Nov 2009 | 6:10 pm

Do you understand my first-grade child's homework?

My six-year-old told me she doesn't understand her homework. After studying it for 15 minutes, I *think* I understand what she's supposed to do, but I'd like a second opinion.


Source: Boing Boing | 12 Nov 2009 | 6:03 pm

Jailbreak Community Battles Apple for Control of iPhone

When he was 17, George Hotz poured hundreds of hours of his summer vacation into a special project: learning the iPhone’s secrets. His unpaid labor eventually paid off. With the help of a soldering iron, he was the first to unlock the iPhone, delivering the handset to international networks before Apple had a chance to.

He got some perks, too. His unlock catapulted him to internet stardom, catching the eye of an entrepreneur who traded his Nissan 350Z car for Hotz’s restriction-free iPhone. Hotz, now 20, makes a living as a “hacker for hire” of sorts — getting paid to break into different types of gadgets. He gets to spend his free time unofficially attending a college, where he pretends to be a student just to socialize.

What’s best, Hotz didn’t think unlocking the iPhone was even hard.

“It did take 500 hours, but thinking back to some of the stuff I’ve done now, the first iPhone was incredibly easy,” Hotz said in a phone interview.

But what was an easy task for a curious teen has turned into a persistent headache for Apple, one that the company has been trying to cure for over two years, with little success. With each new version of the iPhone operating system, a small army of independent programmers and hackers get to work prying it open, removing restrictions and making their iPhones do things that Apple CEO Steve Jobs never intended.

To stay faithful to agreements with telecom partners, Jobs in September 2007 declared Apple was playing a “cat-and-mouse game” to disable unlocked iPhones. Apple regularly issues software updates to disable hacked, unlocked versions of the handset. But within a few weeks, new hacks emerge, freeing the iPhone from carrier restrictions again.

In fact, Hotz just last month released the easiest hacking solution for the iPhone to date. Named “Blackra1n,” his software can hack and unlock an iPhone in just two minutes. All the user needs to do is plug in an iPhone, launch the application and click a button.

It’s safe to say this is a game where the mouse has outrun the cat, and it’s unlikely Apple will catch up anytime soon. That’s because Apple is up against a lot more than an individual hacker. The iPhone and its App Store not only gave birth to a new digital frontier for mobile software, but created an entire underground ecosystem: the Jailbreak community. In addition to multiple iPhone hacker groups pumping out different unlocking solutions on a regular basis, there are several stores hosting unauthorized iPhone apps and programmers developing software strictly for hacked iPhones.

Humble Beginnings

Hackers adopted the word “jailbreak” to describe the act of overriding the iPhone’s restrictions to install unauthorized software in the device. Jailbreaking is the first step an iPhone owner must take in order to later execute the hack to unlock the handset, enabling it to work with any carrier. The original iPhone was extremely insecure and thus very easy to jailbreak, according to Hotz, and hackers almost immediately broke into the gadget after it debuted in June 2007.

Jailbreaking accelerated quickly. Soon, hackers reverse-engineered major parts of the iPhone API, and they opened doors to creating and installing third-party apps for the device. Games, utilities and even custom themes and wallpapers enhanced the capabilities of the handset. To Apple enthusiasts, this was exciting: The iPhone at the time had no App Store, so jailbreaking was the only way to get more than the handful of basic apps provided by Apple.

In August 2007, Hotz announced he had unlocked the iPhone with the Dev Team, a group of hackers that posts jailbreak tools and instructions. Soon after, Hotz released software that anyone in the world could use to make their iPhone work with any carrier’s SIM card.

When Apple in July 2008 opened its official App Store, the urge to jailbreak got less exciting. The App Store grew quickly — with 100,000 apps to date — making the act of jailbreaking seemingly irrelevant to the average iPhone owner, who could download Apple-sanctioned apps without risk.

Reformation

But the App Store didn’t stop the Jailbreak community from proliferating. Now that the App Store exists, jailbreakers have shifted their focus to creating work-arounds for the iPhone’s many restrictions. Most share an open-software philosophy, giving consumers full ownership rights over their product, or the ability to do whatever they wish with the gadget they paid for.

Jay Freeman owns Cydia, an unauthorized app store open to jailbroken iPhones, which distributes iPhone apps Apple would otherwise forbid. Before opening his store, Freeman played an instrumental role in setting up the early groundwork for the jailbreak platform. Often referred to as “Saurik” in the Jailbreak community, Freeman admitted he was initially reluctant about the iPhone due to its stifling limitations.

“Apple seems to have spent very little time looking at previous phones, and left out many features that users, such as myself, have come to expect,” said Freeman, reflecting on the original iPhone. “However, [a friend] insisted to me that jailbreaking was the future. The software it comes with doesn’t matter; I can just rewrite it all to my liking.”

The need for an underground app store became more clear after Apple rejected several iPhone apps. The company faced severe scrutiny when it rejected the official Google Voice app, which would enable consumers to use a single phone number to ring all their phones, send free text messages and make cheap international calls. The move stirred so much controversy that even the Federal Communications Commission investigated the rejection.

Unauthorized app stores served as a way of circumventing Apple’s censorship. And some programmers are even making money coding forbidden iPhone apps.

“People are so annoyed by Apple and their shit, and if you give them opportunity to go around it, then they’ll even pay for it,” said Kim Streich, a developer whose app 3G Unrestrictor earned $19,000 in sales in just two weeks through Cydia.

With more than 10 million jailbroken iPhones registered, Freeman’s Cydia store is the most popular underground app store. Icy and Installer, two previous unauthorized iPhone software distributors, have been discontinued.

Perseverance

Whenever Apple releases an iPhone update, the new software usually erases unauthorized apps and disables unlocked iPhones. In response, the iPhone hacker group Dev Team continues to post regular updates on its blog with instructions and new jailbreak patches for newer iPhone software. The Dev Team’s main jailbreak weapon is called Pwnage Tool, which creates a custom (hacked) patch for Apple’s iPhone firmware and then installs it on the device.

To further combat jailbreaks, Apple has attempted to claim to the U.S. Copyright Office that jailbreaking is illegal. However, the Dev Team skirts around copyright issues by not copying and providing Apple’s software, according to Eric McDonald, a member of the Dev Team. Instead, the Pwnage Tool requires iPhone users to download Apple’s legitimate firmware, and the Pwnage Tool patches it with jailbreak code.

Hotz, who was kicked out of the Dev Team after prematurely publishing information on iPhone hacks, still hacks away the iPhone on his own. Hotz doesn’t demand money for his work, though he does accept donations. He isn’t shy about showing his face to Apple or the world, either: When running Blackra1n, the iPhone temporarily displays a photo of Hotz styled as an angel from a Caravaggio painting (above).

“Blackra1n is only 600K, and 200k of it is my picture,” Hotz said, laughing.

Though the Jailbreak community persistently issues new hacks for iPhone updates, Apple is continuing to fight. A recent Apple job listing reveals the company is seeking an iPhone OS security manager to help prevent exploits, which could block future jailbreak solutions.

Hotz doubted a security expert could block his efforts. In fact, he said he’s already discovered a brand new exploit that will jailbreak and unlock Apple’s fourth-generation iPhone — presumably due in stores summer of 2010 – even though he hasn’t touched it.

“Personally I love that Apple keeps the iPhone closed,” Hotz said. “This is a personal hobby; it’d be no fun if Apple didn’t have it closed anymore. Get a Jailbreak cop and then I’ll show them what I can really do.”

See Also:

• 6 Reasons to Jailbreak Your iPhone
• iPhone Jailbreaking Could Crash Cellphone Towers, Apple Claims …
• False Alarm: New iPhone 3GS Not Jailbreak-Proof
• Geohot Sneaks Out iPhone 3GS Jailbreak Early
• Hackers Release iPhone OS 3.1 Jailbreak Tool for Third-Gen iPhone …
• Rejected By Apple, iPhone Developers Go Underground

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 12 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm

VC-Backed Companies Could Be Next On H-P's Shopping List [Voices]

By Scott Denne, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

When Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) announced the $2.7 billion purchase of 3Com Corp., it let the world know that H-P intends to compete fully with Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) in the corporate data center.

With its strength in Ethernet, 3Com (COMS) gives HP a major piece of the pie, but it still needs a few more slices if it wants to be a one-stop-shop for data centers. One such slice it might go after next is application acceleration, said Catharine Trebnick, a senior research analyst with Avian Securities.

Application acceleration appliances speed up the delivery of programs from a data center to the people using it, using methods such as balancing the workload across machines.

Prior to HP’s announcement yesterday, many analysts speculated publicly traded F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV), a leader in this space, was a likely acquisition target, but most now have soured on that idea.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 12 Nov 2009 | 5:58 pm

Home made Russian water purifier

Take a look at this crazy home water purification system created by a 68-year-old retired engineer.

Above: "magnetic bottle. Plastic bottle with a magnet (I used magnets for the refrigerator). Here are removed from the water surplus of some metals."

Below: "Fig.6 Capacitance cereal saturation. Funnel neck of a plastic bottle filled with millet. Here the water is saturated with vitamins and gets incomparable flavor Russian fields."

Machine for water purification


Source: Boing Boing | 12 Nov 2009 | 5:58 pm

Home made Russian water purifier

Take a look at this crazy home water purification system created by a 68-year-old retired engineer.

Above: "magnetic bottle. Plastic bottle with a magnet (I used magnets for the refrigerator). Here are removed from the water surplus of some metals."

Below: "Fig.6 Capacitance cereal saturation. Funnel neck of a plastic bottle filled with millet. Here the water is saturated with vitamins and gets incomparable flavor Russian fields."

Machine for water purification

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 12 Nov 2009 | 5:57 pm

Livestream's new service streams live video to the iPhone (Macworld.com)

Macworld.com - Live streaming video on the iPhone and iPod touch is neither "madness" nor the exclusive domain of the heavy hitters anymore. Livestream on Thursday unveiled its free service for streaming live video to the popular Apple devices.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 12 Nov 2009 | 5:57 pm

Verizon's $100 Android Phone Is a Hot Mess

Finally, a $100 Android phone! I'll take one. What's that you say? There's a catch?

Source: Wired Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 5:55 pm

October U.S. video game sales down 19 percent: NPD (Reuters)

Reuters - Sales of video game equipment and software in the United States tumbled 19 percent in October to $1.07 billion, research group NPD said on Thursday, troubling figures as the industry heads into the most important selling weeks of the year.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 12 Nov 2009 | 5:51 pm

NPD: October video game sales tumble 19 percent (AP)

AP - After a slight reprieve in September, U.S. video game retail sales slumped again in October, unable to escape the economic turmoil that's cutting into consumer spending and swelling the ranks of unemployed.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 12 Nov 2009 | 5:47 pm

Facebook VP Leaves A Love Letter For Apple

“For every dev that leaves iPhone in frustration, 1000 new ones join up. iPhone is an unstoppable train regardless of how much we complain.” – Joe Hewitt in a tweet yesterday.

How right he is.

Facebook’s VP of Communications Elliot Schrage has just left us a comment on our post from yesterday explaining that while Hewitt may be moving on, Facebook “has a great team of engineers taking over iPhone related development.” May an entire team blossom, apparently.

Schrage left the comment because there has been much brouhaha over developer Joe Hewitt’s decision to stop working on the Facebook iPhone app because he’s fed up with Apple’s App Store policies. Schrage obviously wants to make it clear that Hewitt’s stance does not in any way signify how Facebook as a company feels towards Apple. We don’t really think our story yesterday implied that, but okay, noted.

Here’s the full comment that Schrage left on the post from yesterday:

This is Elliot Schrage, VP of Communications at Facebook. There’s been a fair amount of confusion and speculation about Joe’s comments and whether they reflect the official position of Facebook. They don’t. Facebook’s relationship with Apple and our commitment to the iPhone platform remain strong. IIn fact, though Joe himself will be moving to new projects, Facebook has a great team of engineers taking over iPhone related development. More generally, our work bringing Facebook Connect to the iPhone and with iTunes, iPhoto and other great products over the past year should illustrate our commitment to expanding our relationship with Apple and finding new ways to offer new services and features to the people who use both our products.

A beautifully crafted (minus the typo, of course) piece of PR work there. Are you reading this, Apple? Facebook is asking nicely not to be put in the penalty box.

Seriously though, while Facebook may not be on the same page as Hewitt with regard to the App Store policies, we are. As much as I think Apple generally makes great products, the App Store continues to be rife with hypocrisy and heartache. And it’s only going to get worse as it continues to grow. It’s good to see a developer of Hewitt’s caliber take the stance.

[photo: flickr/appsara]

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

Source: TechCrunch | 12 Nov 2009 | 5:32 pm

Navy Pirates Wired.com With Online Sea-Jacking Game

The U.S. Navy announces it's looking for an online game about Somali pirates. Funny, Wired.com launched something similar in July.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 5:30 pm

Google Buys Gizmo5 Internet Calling Service (PC World)

PC World - Google is bulking up its phone offerings with the acquisition of Gizmo5, a company that offers voice-over-IP software for mobile phones and computers.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 12 Nov 2009 | 5:20 pm

Dell finally brings out Mac Mini competitor

Section: Computers, Desktops, Hardware

With the release of Windows 7 and programs such as Boxee, having a computer as part of a home-theater set-up is becoming more and more reasonable.  The issue has been that outside of nettops and the Mac mini, there haven’t been many options for what that computer should be.  Sure, anything would work, but it’s always much preferred if the device looks nice up there next to an HDTV.  Finally Dell has come through with a computer that can fit that need.

The new computer is called the Dell Zino HD.  The Zino HD actually looks a bit like a Mac mini, if only a bit bigger, measuring 8 inches on each side, all black aside from the top which comes in Dell’s typical myriad colors.  It can come with a variety of AMD Athlon processors (both Dual Core and single core), up to 8 GB of RAM, up to 1 TB of storage, and either a DVD or Blu-ray drive.  It runs on Windows Vista, 7 or Ubuntu for those who want the options, and can output to an HDTV via the HDMI port (something the Mac mini is sorely lacking).  The Zino HD starts at $229, much lower than the Mac mini’s $599, and tops out at $808, also cheaper than the top Mac mini with an HDD that’s half the size with no HDMI.

The Zino HD looks like it could be the computer of choice for any home theater setup for easy access to all those videos on your computer.  Pair it with Boxee, Hulu, Netflix and iTunes, and you have almost everything you could want viewable on your HDTV.  Sure, there is the upcoming Boxee box, but that doesn’t mean having an actual PC hooked up to your TV isn’t a good idea.  There are other uses, of course, like a cheap, easily portable PC for say a college student who doesn’t do a whole lot of PC gaming.  Or, it could be useful for using the Internet on your TV without having to use the clunky Wii or PS3 interfaces.

Read [Dell]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Nov 2009 | 5:19 pm

Harvard Nutrition Expert Offers Family Physician Group No-Cost Alternative To Funding From Coca-Cola

Free link to science-based content on HSPH's popular nutrition source website suggestedIn his November 9, 2009 letter, Willett, chair of the Department of Nutrition at HSPH and a professor at Harvard Medical School, suggests that AAFP provide a link on its website to HSPH's popular Nutrition Source website (www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource), which contains multiple pages of easy-to-read content for lay people on how to achieve a healthy diet.The healthy beverages section of the site, "Choosing Healthy Drinks" (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/), offers advice on how to limit sugary beverage consumption and handy guidelines on the amount of calories and sugar in soda, juice and other popular drinks. It also offers lower-calorie beverage options as a way to decrease the risk of obesity."I'd like to offer your organization the opportunity to link to our website's content and return the funding to Coca-Cola," says Willett in the letter. (For a copy of the complete letter, go to http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/files/willett_coca_cola_letter_final.pdf). AAFP's announcement of its "alliance" with Coca-Cola is available here: http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/media/releases/newsreleases-statements-2009/consumeralliance-cocacola.htmlWillett agrees that it is important to provide information about how people can incorporate foods and drinks they love into an overall healthy lifestyle. He points out, however, that research overwhelmingly suggests that the consumption of sugar-laden sodas is a leading cause of obesity in the U.S. today and that children are particularly at risk.Linking to content that has already been created and vetted by Harvard School of Public Health without industry funding would offer AAFP the opportunity to provide this information to those who visit their website almost immediately, Willett says.---On the Net:Harvard School of Public Health
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 12 Nov 2009 | 5:05 pm

Flash Vulnerability Found, Adobe Says No Fix Forthcoming

An anonymous reader writes "Security researchers at Foreground Security have found an issue with Adobe Flash. Any site that allows files to be uploaded could be vulnerable to this issue (whether they serve Flash or not!). Adobe has said that no easy fix exists and no patch is forthcoming. Adobe puts the responsibility on the website administrators themselves to fix this problem, but they themselves seem to be vulnerable to these problems. Every user with Flash installed is vulnerable to this new type of attack and — until IT administrators fix their sites — will continue to be."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 12 Nov 2009 | 4:44 pm

The ScamVille Lawsuit: Facebook, MySpace, Zynga And More Face Possible Class Action Suit

This was inevitable, particularly after this video surfaced. Sacramento based law firm Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff, LLP is investigating complaints about unauthorized charges imposed social network users who were mislead into accepting offers of dubious quality. Among those being investigated: Facebook, MySpace, Zynga, RockYou, Offerpal Media, SuperRewards and many others.

It’s ScamVille, the lawsuit. And we’ve spoken to one other law firm considering a class action claim against these companies.

Will users be vindicated and get their money back? Maybe part of it. A recent class action settlement against WebLoyalty for post transaction marketing scams led to a $10 million settlement, just a tiny fraction of the total revenue pulled in by these offers. The law firms are the ones who get a payday.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 12 Nov 2009 | 4:33 pm

Should Nintendo fear the Apple juggernaut?

These days, when people aren’t talking about the Apple Tablet, they’re talking about how Apple’s next target is the Big Three gaming companies. The iPhone will topple them! iPhone is a revolutionary gaming device! Well, certainly a little optimism is warranted; the iPhone has inarguably changed the landscape of mobile phones, personal media players, and to a lesser extent personal computers. Why shouldn’t Apple extend its holy sovereignty to gaming?

It already has, in fact. But Apple has come kicking and screaming the whole way. The iPhone, you understand, was not meant to be a gaming device, and in Cupertino, Apple’s intentions are paramount. Apple could never accidentally create a platform for gaming; if it wasn’t meant for gaming (or enterprise, or medical use, or reading e-books, etc.) from the beginning, Apple doesn’t want it happening at all. Because if Apple didn’t intend it, it’s outside of the bounds they set into the platform (regardless of how well it works, much like tethering) — it breaks the mold and, ironically, that’s the last thing Apple wants.

It’s no secret that the Apple ecosystem is a gilded cage. It’s a nice cage, and large, and yes indeed that gilding is very attractive by Jove, but all the doors are shut until Apple opens them. If you think otherwise, you’re probably already scrawling some crude flame in the comment section below. Thank you for your insight. Really, though: Macs are a carefully-tended walled garden of semi-delights (to mix several metaphors), and that’s part of why they’re so good at what they do. Attempts at expanding the garden have been made in fits by Apple, with varying success. Serious music production has never really caught on, nor scientific or medical applications, and any real expansions (personal media, mobile, and video primarily) have been engineered by Apple and not third parties. Why should it be any different for gaming? If Apple doesn’t do it, no one will. And Apple’s not going to do it.

But this is all getting rather vague. There are more substantial objections to an Apple expansion into gaming than my half-baked theories on their corporate philosophy. I’ll just enumerate them here in list form. I’m using the iPhone as the basis for these, but the points apply to the tablet without serious modification.

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Hardware
The iPhone isn’t a gaming machine. It’s a smartphone. This produces limitations which are for some invigorating, and for some troublesome. For instance, you’ll never see a decent platformer on the iPhone. FPSes are awkward. RPGs take up too much space. You’re essentially limited to casual games and things like tilt-to-control racers. There are some notable exceptions; John Carmack loves the platform, for instance, and will probably be making some interesting stuff. The iPhone may be suitable for some games, but it wasn’t built for them, and that makes a difference for Apple.

Battery
Part of the hardware objection, but worth noting on its own, is the fact that battery life would be off-the-charts bad. How long can you really play a high-quality title on the iPhone? An hour maybe, before you’re down to 25% battery? Remember this is also your lifeline to email, the web, and so on. Unlike a DS, you can’t afford to let it run down. A portable game system needs to be as efficient as it can, and the iPhone is already an energy hog. No one wants to be tethered to an outlet to play their favorite handheld. And the thing already explodes when you use it too hard.

Developers
A few developers are putting out real iPhone games, but where is your Valve, your CryTek, your Rockstar? These are the people who make AAA titles that sell millions and make billions. Ubisoft may outsource some company to make a little Assassin’s Creed 2 clone to cash in a bit on the mobile contingent, but it’ll just be a way to sell the real game. They’re not going to spend $50m to develop a truly amazing game for the iPhone. No one will. Hardly anyone does as it is for existing handhelds (Dragon Quest IX notwithstanding). Apple could align itself with developers, but my feeling is they wouldn’t mix well. Apple is pretty much oil to their partners’ water to begin with due to their iWay-or-the-highway (clever, no?) approach to “collaboration,” and I don’t think that the major game studios would take a shine to it either.

Pricing
Do you see people hitting that “purchase” button when a game costs more than $10? Neither do I. Real games cost upwards of $40-50 when they come out. That won’t fly in an App Store or iTunes environment, where the emphasis is on multiple small, easy-to-swallow buys.

Brand
Apple doesn’t do games. They don’t put out games, they don’t make it easy to play games, they don’t encourage developers to make games for their platform. This is the last time Apple and Mac users were excited about games:

Seriously. Ever since the Great Halo Disappointment, nobody has considered Apple’s gaming enthusiasm as being anything other than a lark. Meanwhile, Nintendo is so completely identified with games that one implies the other in almost any context, Microsoft is hard at work building a gaming platform that dovetails with their entire ecosystem, and Sony is actually gathering steam with the PS3, as its lower price leads more people to find that it actually might be the most powerful and versatile system on the market. Apple struck at mobile phone makers when they were at their most complacent and vulnerable; gaming consoles and companies are stronger and more successful than they’ve ever been. It would be an insanely bad time to take a swat at them.

Content
Pop quiz: what game had the most lucrative launch of all time? If you answered Modern Warfare 2, an extremelyviolent and graphic game being accused of turning kids into terrorists, then you are correct! Apple is already choosy when it comes to what appears on its devices, and the kind of ultraviolence that sells games probably isn’t going to fly. Apple isn’t as positively warm and fuzzy as Nintendo usually is, but it would be a pretty major shift to start pushing games like MW2.

They don’t want to
Don’t you think that if Apple had any inclination to make the iPhone or Mac into a gaming platform, they’d have at least shown a little of that by now? Where’s the gamepad accessory for the iPhone? Why isn’t Apple courting the big developers to get some titles on Macs? There’s no indication that Apple is interested in games except as a class of apps to take a cut on. Almost all game development so far has been driven by the “there’s gold in them thar iPhones” mentality.

They don’t need to
This readership more than any other should be aware of Apple’s solvency in this worldwide financial crisis; indeed they have thrived mightily. The iPhone shows continual growth, they gain a tenth of a point of OS market share every month or two, and they’re making money hand over fist via iTunes and the App Store. Why the devil would they want to get into gaming, a market that would expose all the company’s weaknesses, bring their best hardware to its knees, and complicate their entire strategy — one which is working perfectly? I’m not saying that Apple doesn’t like to rock the boat, but they don’t do it when they stand a good chance of being thrown in the drink.

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There you have it. Of course, with my luck, Apple will probably announce a huge gaming initiative tomorrow.

All that said, Apple does have an increasing presence in gaming. It owes this in no small part to Nintendo, which has popularized casual and mobile gaming to a huge extent with the Wii and DS. The iPhone may take a bite out of the more casual games coming out for the DS, but beyond that I don’t see a major effect. And as long as it’s enough for Apple to make a few bills, they’re not going to try too hard to change that.

Source: CrunchGear | 12 Nov 2009 | 4:31 pm

Should Nintendo Fear The Apple Juggernaut?

These days, when people aren't talking about the Apple Tablet, they're talking about how Apple's next target is the Big Three gaming companies. The iPhone will topple them! iPhone is a revolutionary gaming device! Well, certainly a little optimism is warranted; the iPhone has inarguably changed the landscape of mobile phones, personal media players, and to a lesser extent personal computers. Why shouldn't Apple extend its holy sovereignty to gaming? It already has, in fact. But Apple has come kicking and screaming the whole way. The iPhone, you understand, was not meant to be a gaming device, and in Cupertino, Apple's intentions are paramount. Apple could never accidentally create a platform for gaming; if it wasn't meant for gaming (or enterprise, or medical use, or reading e-books, etc.) from the beginning, Apple doesn't want it happening at all. Because if Apple didn't intend it, it's outside of the bounds they set into the platform (regardless of how well it works, much like tethering) — it breaks the mold and, ironically, that's the last thing Apple wants. And there are plenty other reasons not to expect Apple to jump into the gaming arena any time soon.
Source: TechCrunch | 12 Nov 2009 | 4:30 pm

Pingdom Says People Are Tweeting 27 Million Times A Day

Twitter may be having trouble finding new users in the U.S., but its existing users in the U.S. seem to be putting out a majority of the Tweets, which are now averaging 27.3 million a day. According to data provided to us by Pingdom, the pattern of Tweets follows waking hours in the U.S. (see chart), even though comScore data suggests more than half of Twitter’s users are from outside the U.S.

While this data is only a snapshot of the Twitter activity in the three weeks between October 21 and November 11, it does show that the number of messages sent out over the service is approaching a massive scale.  Pingdom estimates that the average number of Tweets per hour is 1.1 million, with fluctuations between 567,000 and 1.8 million Tweets per hour over the period Pingdom sampled Twitter’s public timeline. At the current rate, people are sending out 10 billion Tweets a year.  It was only last month that the 5 billionth Tweet was sent out.

To put that into perspective, Yahoo recently reported about the same number of status update messages going through Yahoo Mail and Messenger, which has at least five times as many users. Tweets still don’t match email however. Yahoo members alone sends out 100 billion emails a month.

It still seems far-fetched now, but one day people may send out more Tweets than emails, a topic we will explore next week at our Realtime CrunchUp. How many of you already do?

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

Source: TechCrunch | 12 Nov 2009 | 4:29 pm

Google Sidewiki: The first 50 days of valuable entries and new API features

It's been just under 2 months since we launched Google Sidewiki and we've already seen a great number of valuable entries that have been written worldwide.

From product tips to online petitions and from expert health advice to programming help, Sidewiki users are finding many useful and creative ways to help others. We've been really excited by these uses of Sidewiki and wanted to share 10 of these great entries with you:

• Jason Young speaks from personal experience and gives detailed insight into tuning a bass guitar on EMG's Bass Tips site.
• Antony Carthy, a programmer in South Africa, wrote tips on how to find latitude and longitude coordinates on Google Maps.
• Google's own Matt Cutts warns visitors about a deceptive website.
• Shalin Gala of PETA calls on readers to sign a petition next to an article about animal mistreatment.
• Ron Burk suggests a missing reference for a medical article.
• The Mayo Clinic uses Sidewiki to welcome visitors with a special webmaster entry on its homepage (this one requires Sidewiki to view).
• Jesse Poe from New York offers up great insights in a review of an iPhone app by Daniel Johnston, one of his favorite musicians.
• Alfonso Grandis from Italy talks about his eye-witness account of a recent earthquake.
• David Davis, a software engineer from California, improves a snippet of code in a programming tutorial.
• Michael Roizen from the Cleveland clinic adds his advice about H1N1 vaccinations.

Source: The Official Google Blog | 12 Nov 2009 | 4:20 pm

Protect Your pcs from Windows 7's Zero-Day Exploit - PC World

KCBY.com 11

Protect Your pcs from Windows 7's Zero-Day Exploit PC World A new zero-day bug has hit Windows 7. Here's how to keep it from harming your pcs. Tony Bradley, PC World It was a notable accomplishment when Windows 7 was not impacted in any way by the vulnerabilities addressed in the six Security Bulletins released ... Microsoft Investigating Zero-Day Windows 7 FlawInformationWeek Windows XP on netbooks to lose life support?Register Microsoft warns of new security perilsV3.co.uk DailyTech -CNET News -Top Tech News all 353 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 12 Nov 2009 | 4:17 pm

Creepy Lady Thankfully Absent From New Palm Commercials [Digital Daily]

In preparation for the official launch of its new Pixi handset, Palm is rolling out a new ad campaign. It’s something of a departure from the ads the company used to tout the Pre, trading their alleged “ethereal beauty” and I-Am-The-White-Witch-of-Narnia-FEAR-ME spokeswoman for a more forthright pitch involving a crowd of friendly-looking hipsters enjoying a new “Alvin and the Chipmunks” mashup.

Below, Palm’s (PALM) new Pixi ad and my favorite parody of Palm’s ad for the Pre.

Source: All Things Digital | 12 Nov 2009 | 4:10 pm

Show your true colors with this crossbones decal

Arrrr, I be an Apple pirate. I download me OS X even though it only costs $29. Arrr [Gearfuse]

Source: CrunchGear | 12 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

Five stars: Wrestling Observer Newsletter/Figure 4 Weekly now has an iPhone App

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of mixed martial arts, also “known” as UFC. It’s less well-known that, back in my youth, I was a very big pro wrestling fan. (Pro wrestling today is largely unwatchable.) When I was 15 I subscribed to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, written by the hardest-working journalist in America, Dave Meltzer (the man doesn’t sleep), a weekly news and analysis publication that detailed, to an incredible degree, the goings-on of the two businesses, pro wrestling and MMA. A little more than a year ago the newsletter entered the online age (while merging with another, similar publication in Figure 4 Weekly, written by Bryan Alvarez), with newsletters being made available online (in addition to the dead trees version). Today the publication enters the next exciting age, the iPhone age. That’s right: there’s now a Wrestling Observer Newsletter/Figure 4 Weekly iPhone App~!

The App is fairly simple at this point, but that’s to be expected since it’s only version 1.0. You load up the App, then you can read the site’s news headlines or listen to the site’s radio shows. As you can see in the screenshots I’ve taken, the news section is specially formatted for the iPhone’s screen, and isn’t merely the Web site shoe-horned onto the screen.

The Radio Shows section could use some work. The site produces a number of different radio shows every week, and there’s no way to sort between any of them. It’d be like if your DVR didn’t group content together by TV show name. There’s also no way to search shows, so if I want to listen to episodes where the guys talk about UFC, I can’t just search “ufc.”

Another problem: you can only listen to the radio shows while connected to Wi-Fi. According to today’s Figure 4 Daily, Apple initially rejected the App because it was using too much bandwidth when used over 3G, so the guys had to move it over to Wi-Fi.

The App is free, so that’s nice. Of course, membership to the site is $10 per month, so you’ll want to factor that into the equation when checking the App out.

The fact is this App has a very small market—iPhone or iPod touch owners who happen to read the two newsletters—so this isn’t exactly a Google Voice-level story. Still, fans will get a kick out of it, which is all you can ask for.

Plus, the App’s home screen is a Dave’s Leather Jacket photo. *****

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 12 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

Playlist: MGMT's Goldwasser Walks You Through Killer Tracks

The musician shares tunes that influenced his songwriting in a podcast chat with Wired senior editor Nancy Miller.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

Jargon Watch: Dark Flash, Galapagos Syndrome, Saser

Win the next round of Balderdash by actually knowing the correct definition of saser or Galapagos syndrome.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

Recovering the Slums of the Internet?

turtleshadow writes "Brian Krebs of Security Fix Blog analyzed the McColo Spamming one year later and asks an interesting question: 'How does one renovate and recoup the lost trust to the slums of the Internet and reclaim back all the domains and IP's that have been blacklisted?' Indeed, the economic benefits abound when a huge swath of illegal and annoying activity ceases — but given the basic design of the Internet, what happens over the long run to IP space and DNS when hosting companies come and go and vary in their trustworthiness? So too, now Geocities is dead [as a business], but does that still live in your filter list? It still appears in OpenDNS under several policy categories. How, in a few years, will I tell if some Hosting/Colo sold me Whitechapel Road/Ventura Avenue for Mayfair/Boardwalk prices, and no one is going to accept my mail from a former slum? When do you, if ever, roll back the blacklists and filters for 'dead' threats and spammers?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:57 pm

Applied Materials: Burned by the Sun [Voices]

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

Applied Materials (AMAT) yesterday afternoon posted stellar results for the fiscal fourth quarter ended October 25; revenue of $1.53 billion was well ahead of the Street at $1.32 billion, and non-GAAP EPS of 13 cents a share crushed the consensus number at three cents. Likewise, the company said FY Q1 revenue would be up 10-25 percent sequentially, which implies $1.68 billion to $1.91 billion, smartly above the Street consensus at $1.4 billion.

As I noted yesterday, CEO Michael Splinter said on the call that he expects the chip industry to spend $18 to $20 billion on capital equipment in 2010, up from $12 million to $13 million this year; at the mid-point, that would be an increase of 52 percent, which while off a nightmarish bottom, is still nice growth.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:55 pm

Black Friday 2009: Walmart’s Black Friday Blackberry deals leaked

Section: Communications, Smartphones

Walmart’s Black Friday deals on BlackBerry smartphones have been leaked.  The big box retailer plans to offer the AT&T Curve 8310 for free and the Bold 9000 for $78.88. Sprint’s Curve 8330 will also be offered for free while T-Mobile’s Curve 8520 and its Pearl 8120 Black Emerald have a price tag of $28.88.

Walmart’s Verizon offerings include the Blackberry Storm for $48.88 and the Blackberry Tour for $148.88.  The latter isn’t much of a savings considering Verizon offers it for $149.99 with a BOGO promo.

While some of these deals offer substantial savings, be sure to read the fine print.  A two year agreement is required on all phones and Walmart may charge an activation fee.  Also be aware that in some cases, if you need repair service you may need to go through Walmart rather than your carrier.

Other retailers like Amazon have already matched some of these deals, but Walmart plans to start offering them beginning next Saturday.

Read [PhonesReview]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:44 pm

Windows 7 Inspired By Mac? Here's the Guy Who Said So (PC World)

PC World - It may be the biggest snafu Microsoft's seen since Vista. In an interview with PCR, a British trade publication, a Microsoft manager implied that Windows 7 was based on the anti-Windows itself: Mac OS X.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:43 pm

AMD Unveils Two-Year Processor Road Map (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - Advanced Micro Devices gave analysts a briefing on its computing platform road map through 2011 Wednesday, with company executives saying they intend to differentiate the company's chips from rival offerings by enabling a complete computing experience featuring stunning graphics and video. The executives also said AMD remains on schedule to deliver a new family of Fusion processors in 2011 that promise to dramatically lower power consumption in server and mobile-device applications.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:38 pm

Sales of Service Contracts and Extended Warranties Strong Despite Economy

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Nov.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:37 pm

Review: BFG Deimos

Short Version: The Deimos is the latest addition to BFG’s new line of computers. Intended as specialist gaming machine, the Deimos is big, beautiful, and very fast. Heat, bulk, and short battery life are to be expected from a gaming laptop, and aside from those it provides an excellent experience.

Pros:

• Fast
• Surprisingly light weight
• nicely designed and set up

Cons:

• Short battery life
• Large size
• Runs hot

Price as reviewed: $4,423

While BFG is new to selling complete computer systems, they aren’t new to high performance gaming. BFG has been producing performance PC hardware for many years, and just this year got into building their own systems. The Deimos was launched at the end of October, and is intended to compete with other gaming laptop lines, such as Alienware’s M17x.

Does it compete? In a word, yes. In some ways, the Deimos surpasses the M17x. For example, when I reviewed the M17x, I had some issues with the biometric security system. Using your laptop’s webcam as a security device is a clever concept — if only it worked consistently. On the Deimos, however, everything worked perfectly out of the box. Performance is comparable. Battery life is about the same. What’s gone is the obvious “I spent $4500 on this computer!” factor that you get with the little alien head on the lid.

Let’s get down to it. Here are the specs on the system I reviewed:

Monitor: 18.4 inch, 1920×1080 resolution
Processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 2.53GHz
Memory: 2x 4GB PC3 8500 (1066 MHz) DDR3 (8GB total)
Graphics: 2x GeForce GTX 280M 1GB (SLI)
Optical Drive: Dual Layer Blu-Ray Disc Reader (BD-ROM, DVD/RW, CD-RW)
HDD 1: Seagate Momentus 500GB 7200 RPM SATA II
HDD 2: Seagate Momentus 500GB 7200 RPM SATA II
LAN: Realtek RTL-WLAN 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth: Internal Bluetooth v2.1
Sound: Realtek ALC883 8-Channel Azalia HD Audio
Video Camera: Bison built-in USB 2 MP Camera
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium – 64-bit Edition

Performance: As you can expect from this configuration, the machine is fast. I ran some benchmarks using Far Cry 2, which averaged a framerate of 54.26 at 1920×1080, Direct3D 10, and Overall Quality set to “Ultra High.” 3DMark Vantage reported 11,799, which is a very close comparison to the M17x at 11,904. Of course, if you’ve read my reviews before, you’ll know I’m not huge on reporting numbers; I prefer to talk about the feel of the system. And basically, the Deimos is a great computer. I’m very much into the gaming, and that’s what’s important to me when I’m using a system. The Deimos is fast, plays games really really well (42 FPS in Dalaran, settings maxed, for you World of Warcraft people) and is surprisingly light for the amount of hardware that’s jammed in there. The system has DVI and HDMI out, and a total of four USB ports (two on the left, two on the right). The back is reserved for cooling vents and the power cord. One thing to be aware of: don’t expect to be able to overclock this machine using the BIOS. The BIOS on this system is functional, yet bare bones. There are no options for overclocking at all.

Controls: The keyboard took some getting used to; the keys aren’t exactly a style that I’d normally prefer, coming from the netbook school rather then a standard keyboard. And the numeric keypad is a hot mess. It’s pretty much impossible to touch type using the number pad because everything is jammed together with the arrow keys and the standard keyboard. There’s more then enough room that they could have provided a little space between the two and made it a bit more user-friendly. There is also a series of “G-keys” down the left side. These are customizable macro keys are much like what is used on the Logitech G-Series keyboards. These too, work as intended, however they do take up quite a bit of real estate on the left side of the keyboard area.

The trackpad (centered, and highlighted with LED light) works as expected, with no major issues. The left and right button (there’s only one, and you click on either side) responds well, and doesn’t feel mushy or too stiff. There is a fingerprint reader centered in the button, which provides biometric login options.

Appearance: Aesthetically, it’s a little bright. Where it’s nowhere near as gaudy as an Alienware system, it does have a touch sensitive strip across the top, and all the icons are lit from beneath with LEDs.The touch activated icons turn on the webcam, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth hardware. You can also control the volume, or activate your web browser or media player. The LEDs in the case (shining out the front and back) and the lid can change color, however the process is less than intuitive. The case is also extremely shiny, and regrettably shows fingerprints incredibly well. BFG is aware of this, even to the point of including a large microfiber cloth for wiping it down. Overall, compared to the Alienware, the Deimos is almost tasteful.

It is interesting to note that the Deimos is a re-branded Sager notebook. Further research showed that were you to go online and order a system with the same configuration, you’d save yourself $100. Despite this fact, I’d still purchase this computer from BFG, due to their excellent record on customer service. From a value standpoint, compared to the Alienware M17x, I’d still choose the BFG Deimos. For around the same price (the M17x, configured the same costs $4,399, $24 less), the Alienware laptop has a smaller screen, weighs twice as much, and a profile that screams “steal me!”. That’s not to say the Deimos is the ideal commuter laptop — it is quite large. But it lacks the ostentatious nature of the M17x.

Final thoughts: I wholeheartedly recommend the BFG Deimos. It’s a fine machine, and doesn’t try to be more then that. I’ve found it to be more then sufficient as a desktop replacement, both for work and play. Yes, the price is high, but if you are buying a performance laptop, you have the budget for it and you probably don’t really care about how much it costs; you want the best. I will admit that I’m not a huge fan of the keyboard, but it was a simple thing to plug an external keyboard in when I was sitting at my desk. The keyboard was just fine for casual use, but perhaps it’s not for the business user.

Source: CrunchGear | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:30 pm

'Project Get Ready' Got Set and Went in Houston

Houston is making an electric vehicle recharge grid. How do you actually go about accomplishing such a massive undertaking? By starting somewhere. By doing something. This month the City of Houston will unveil ten charging stations to go with their ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:13 pm

BlackBerry Gets the Exclusive Official Craigslist App

The BlackBerry app store may be trailing the iPhone and Android app market but it’s got an exclusive that’s sure to leave other smartphone users envious.

The official Craigslist app will soon be exclusively available to BlackBerry users. The $5 app created by Movela and Pyxis Mobile will allow users to browse and search through Craigslist postings across different categories, reply to them and save searches. The app supports all categories and countries available on the Craigslist website. So if you want to read ‘missed connections’ on the go, the BlackBerry will be the only place for it.

“We took about two days to create an initial version of the app and then took it to Craigslist for their approval,” says Todd Christy, president and CTO at Pyxis Mobile, which helped develop the app. “They liked it because we had a working app and not just a concept.”

It’s a big coup for Pyxis, which has been creating mobile applications for businesses for about nine years.

“A number of mobile app makers have applied to Craigslist for licenses and to date there is one authorized licensee,” says Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist.

BlackBerry launched it app store in April. Currently it has a little more than 2000 apps compared to the 12,000 in the Android Market and 100,000 in the iPhone app store. Craigslist apps exist on the iPhone but without official licensing, they are rather limited in their feature set.

Pyxis says the reason it chose BlackBerry is because it’s mobile technology platform is targeted at business users and a large number of BlackBerry users are business customers.

“Its our core platform and we have done a lot of testing of apps on the BlackBerry,” says Christy. “There was also no competition on the BlackBerry front for a Craigslist type app. ”

In the “distant future,” Christy says, the official Craigslist app could make its way to iPhone and Windows Mobile phones.

Check out a video of the official Craigslist app for the BlackBerry

See Also:

• Research In Motion Woos BlackBerry Developers
• Has Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Lost Its Edge?
• InPulse Blackberry Wristwatch Makes Crackberry Even More Addictive
• Great Geek Debates: iPhone vs. Blackberry

Photo: Screenshot of the Craigslist app

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:13 pm

Keeping Pacemakers Safe From Hackers

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control have now developed a scheme for protecting implantable medical devices against wireless attacks. The approach relies on using ultrasound waves to determine the exact distance between a medical device and the wireless reader attempting to communicate with it." I had no idea that things have gotten so bad that hearts are being hacked.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:08 pm

Despite appearances, the PinPhone is not an iPhone

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, yadda yadda yadda. Here we have the latest — and perhaps greatest — imitation iPhone from China. This thing really, really looks like an iPhone. Similar form factor. Similar physical button placement. Astonishingly similar user interface. Heck, even a similar name: the PinPhone 3GS! Clearly you’re not going to have access to iPhone Apps, since this thing can’t possibly be using the iPhone OS, but it should be more than adequate to make the casual observer believe you have an iPhone. And that’s what really matters, right?

More photos over at Shanzai.com! Alas, there are no videos of the interface or any apps in action.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:06 pm

ioSafe(R) Announces the Availability of the Two Terabyte ioSafe(R) Solo - Fireproof and Waterproof USB External Hard Drive

AUBURN, Calif., Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Strengthening its portfolio of fireproof and waterproof data storage solutions for home and small businesses, ioSafe today announced the availability of a 2 TB version of the award-winning ioSafe Solo family of USB desktop external hard drives.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:05 pm

Use Google to Create Graphs and Charts

If you're stuck making graphs with clunky desktop software — or with pen and paper — you’ll be interested to know there are some simple web tools for creating them on the fly. Specifically, Google offers some easy ways to generate graphs without having to pull out the Sharpies.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

Securus Technologies, Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2009 Operating Results

DALLAS, Nov.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

Comet Hunter's Last Look at Earth Is Haunting

The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft took a final look at Earth before heading out to explore a comet.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

Bing And Wolfram Alpha: Too Late To Challenge Google? - ChannelWeb

Telegraph.co.uk

Bing And Wolfram Alpha: Too Late To Challenge Google? ChannelWeb By Samara Lynn, channelweb Many in the blogosphere are likening the pairing of Bing and Wolfram Alpha to that other search engine that threatened to shake the timbres of Google -- the ill-fated Cuil. Wolfram Alpha is impressive but may be too ... Bing vs. Google: Feature WarsPC World 10 Reasons Why Microsoft Has a Chance to Dominate the WebeWeek Bing Adds Wolfram Alpha, Hover PreviewPC Magazine Telegraph.co.uk -Last Click News -ABC News all 424 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:47 pm

Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm hit Xbox 360 on Tuesday - CNET News

BBC News

Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm hit Xbox 360 on Tuesday CNET News We've already had some time with the new Xbox Live Dashboard update, but now we have an official release date. The new firmware, which will bring Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm to the console, will be available for download this Tuesday ... Facebook Aims for PS3, While Twitter Taps XboxPC World Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm to Hit Xbox LivePC Magazine Xbox ban: Gamers speak outBBC News Wall Street Journal -msnbc.com -USA Today all 440 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:45 pm

Show Him the Money

Via New Scientist's awesome new blog, Culture Lab, we learn that controversial conceptual artist Jonathon Keats has turned his keen post-modernist eye to constructing a new economy based on (I kid you not) antimatter. For those unfamiliar with his work, ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:43 pm

MTS Systems Announces Board of Director Change

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., Nov. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MTS Systems Corporation (Nasdaq: MTSC) today announced that Lois M. Martin does not intend to stand for re-election to the Board of Directors of MTS Systems Corporation (the "Company"). Ms.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:41 pm

Drug Makers to Press for Guidance on Web Marketing [Voices]

By Emily Steel, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Eager to expand use of the Web to advertise their products, pharmaceutical giants, including Eli Lilly (LLY) and Pfizer (PFE), are heading to Washington this week to call on the Food and Drug Administration to provide guidelines for marketing prescription drugs online.

Wayne Gattinella, CEO of WebMD, is among the drug-industry leaders expected to attend Thursday’s FDA hearing on online advertising.

Drug companies are dabbling with Internet advertising, but their efforts have been minimal. Most of the ads promote broader health or corporate initiatives, rather than individual medicines. That’s chiefly due to industry fears of running afoul of regulators.

Seeking a bigger piece of one of the country’s largest ad categories, Web companies including Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO) and WebMD Health (WBMD) are also planning to attend Thursday’s hearing at the FDA, which has been scrutinizing drug makers’ digital marketing efforts.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:40 pm

Review: Typekit Delivers Custom Web Fonts to the Masses

This new service, fresh out of beta, lets web authors use creative fonts in their designs without sacrificing accessibility or abandoning web standards. How do they do it? We find out in this in-depth review.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:30 pm

Nstein Technologies announces its 2009 Q3 results

MONTREAL, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Nstein Technologies inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:28 pm

Verizon Doubles Early Termination Fee and More

An anonymous reader writes "If you buy a smartphone through Verizon, be prepared for an increase in the early termination fee. Verizon is doubling the phone-subsidy to $350. What's more, is that Verizon also actively charges customers for accidental data transmissions of as little as 0.02kb. 'They configure the phones to have multiple easily hit keystrokes to launch 'Get it now' or 'Mobile Web'—usually a single key like an arrow key. [...] The instant you call the function, they charge you the data fee. We cancel these unintended requests as fast as we can hit the End key, but it doesn't matter; they've told me that ANY data--even one kilobyte--is billed as 1MB. The damage is done.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:27 pm

Network-1 Reports Third Quarter 2009 Results

NEW YORK, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Network-1 Security Solutions, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: NSSI) today announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2009.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:23 pm

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 said to break sales records - CNET News

New York Daily News

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 said to break sales records CNET News Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is said to have broken the single-day sales record for an entertainment property. According to Activision, the game earned $310 million in North America and England alone in its first 24 hours. ... Dancing with the Devil: Ars reviews Modern Warfare 2 PCArs Technica 'Call of Duty' Brings in More Than $300MABC News Activision: 'Modern Warfare 2' sells 4.7M copies on first dayUSA Today New York Daily News -Toronto Star all 1,985 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:15 pm

Looking for a bargain priced Palm Pixi—head to Walmart

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

Anyone thinking about picking up the soon-to-be-released Palm Pixi may want to head on over to the land of interesting things people, otherwise know as Walmart. Thanks to a recent addition on the Walmart Wireless website we now know that the Pixi will be just $29.99 for new customers.

And the nice part here is that price comes after a $170 instant discount. In other words, nothing to fill out and nothing to send in and then wait 8-10 weeks to get back.

Of course, that $29.99 price tag does require you to sign up with Sprint, and that means a two year agreement. But hey, its a $30 smartphone, I guess you cannot really complain.

Now I am going to go out on a ledge here, but maybe the Pixi or future similar models will end up being the savior of Palm. Maybe Palm is going to take up the role of the low priced smartphone company. And if that is that case, I guess being available for a bargain price through Walmart makes sense.

Product [Walmart]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:10 pm

Longtop Financial Technologies Limited Announces Time Change for Second Fiscal Quarter Financial Results and Conference Call

HONG KONG, Nov.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pm

MPAA Shuts Down Town's Municipal WiFi Over 1 Download

nam37 writes with this BoingBoing snippet "The MPAA has successfully shut down an entire town's municipal WiFi because a single user was found to be downloading a copyrighted movie. Rather than being embarrassed by this gross example of collective punishment (a practice outlawed in the Geneva conventions) against Coshocton, OH, the MPAA's spokeslizard took the opportunity to cry poor (even though the studios are bringing in record box-office and aftermarket receipts)."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 12 Nov 2009 | 1:43 pm

iPhone + Lab Coats + Ghostriding = SCIENCE

This is by no means the first time we’ve seen someone drive a car with an iPhone – but it is the first time we’ve seen it done by a bunch of dudes (and one cute chick) in lab coats using wrenches as robotic feet.

Plus, they surf on the car and crash through boxes all whilst steering with the iPhone – that’s worth at least one post’s worth of attention, right?

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 12 Nov 2009 | 1:33 pm

Dress made with 24,000 LEDs

This crazy-looking dress, created by two designers in London for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, is made of silk chiffon and 24,000 full color LEDs. It's called the Galaxy Dress. It runs on tiny iPod batteries woven into the fabric so no one part becomes extra-bulky or heavy. The catch: it uses as much electricity as two light bulbs and will only stay lit for up to an hour.

Designer duo create a dress with 24,000 LEDS

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 12 Nov 2009 | 1:30 pm

Who Wants a Stylus? Apple Is Thinking About It

A recently published patent from Apple depicts pen-based handwriting recognition software that would work with tablet-like devices.

The described invention (screenshot at right) demonstrates a method to make digital handwriting recognition better than technologies used in the past. An “ink manager” would attempt to recognize full phrases before sending them to the handwriting recognition engine, as opposed to sending separate strokes.

“The present invention, in large part, relates to the observation that client applications and handwriting recognition software in pen-based computer systems can make far more accurate ink-related decisions based on entire ink phrases, rather than individual ink strokes,” the patent states.

Though the patent relates the technology to traditional tablet devices, we doubt we would see it applied to Apple’s touchscreen tablet, which is rumored for an early 2010 release. Tipsters in several reports have described the rumored tablet as a 10.7-inch iPhone.

Assuming Apple’s tablet is indeed a larger iPhone, it’s unlikely it will feature a stylus-based interface since the iPhone was designed for finger interaction. It’s odd, actually, for Apple to be thinking about pen-based computing. Steve Jobs in January 2007 denounced the stylus when introducing the iPhone at Macworld Expo:

Oh, a stylus, right? We’re going to use a stylus. No. Who wants a stylus? You have to get ‘em and put ‘em away, and you lose ‘em. Yuck. Nobody wants a stylus. So let’s not use a stylus. We’re going to use the best pointing device in the world. We’re going to use a pointing device that we’re all born with — born with ten of them. We’re going to use our fingers. We’re going to touch this with our fingers.

A stylus-controlled Apple product, tablet or not, would severely undercut Jobs’ statement now, wouldn’t it?

Via UnwiredView

See Also:

• Apple Patents Clamshell Design — A Sign of iPhone Nanos to Come …
• Leaked: Apple Filing Illustrates Multitouch Tablet Technology …
• Apple Patent Details GPS-equipped Nike+ Shoes

Photo of an R2H stylus (not an Apple stylus): joshb/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 12 Nov 2009 | 1:20 pm

Record Highs Far Outpace Record Lows Across US

Daily record high temperatures occurred twice as often as record lows over past decadeSpurred by a warming climate, daily record high temperatures occurred twice as often as record lows over the last decade across the continental United States, new research shows.The ratio of record highs to lows is likely to increase dramatically in coming decades if emissions of greenhouse gases continue to climb.Results of the research, by authors at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., Climate Central, The Weather Channel, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has been accepted for publication in the American Geophysical Union journal Geophysical Research Letters."Climate change is making itself felt in terms of day-to-day weather in the United States," says NCAR scientist Gerald Meehl, the lead author. "The ways these records are being broken show how our climate is already shifting."The research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), NCAR's sponsor, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Climate Central."This intriguing study provides new evidence of climate change," says Steve Nelson, NSF program director for NCAR. "And it's change that's affecting our daily lives."If temperatures were not warming, the number of record daily highs and lows being set each year would be approximately even.Instead, for the period from January 1, 2000, to September 30, 2009, the continental United States set 291,237 record highs and 142,420 record lows, as the country experienced unusually mild winter weather and intense summer heat waves.A record daily high means that temperatures were warmer on a given day than on that same date throughout a weather station's history.The authors used a quality control process to ensure the reliability of data from thousands of weather stations across the country, while looking at data over the past six decades to capture longer-term trends.This decade's warming was more pronounced in the western United States, where the ratio was more than two to one, than in the eastern United States, where the ratio was about one-and-a-half to one.The study also found that the two-to-one ratio across the country as a whole could be attributed more to a comparatively small number of record lows than to a large number of record highs.This indicates that much of the nation's warming is occurring at night, when temperatures are dipping less often to record lows.This finding is consistent with years of climate model research showing that higher overnight lows should be expected with climate change.In addition to surveying actual temperatures in recent decades, Meehl and his co-authors turned to a sophisticated computer model of global climate to determine how record high and low temperatures are likely to change during the course of this century.The modeling results indicate that, if nations continue to increase their emissions of greenhouse gases in a "business as usual" scenario, the U.S. ratio of daily record high to record low temperatures would increase to about 20-to-1 by mid-century and 50-to-1 by 2100.The mid-century ratio could be much higher if emissions rose at an even greater pace, or it could be about 8-to-1 if emissions were reduced significantly, the model showed.The authors caution that such predictions are, by their nature, inexact.Climate models are not designed to capture record daily highs and lows with precision, and it remains impossible to know future human actions that will determine the level of future greenhouse gas emissions.The model used for the study, the NCAR-based Community Climate System Model, correctly captured the trend toward warmer average temperatures and the greater warming in the West, but overstated the ratio of record highs to record lows in recent years.However, the model results are important because they show that, in all likely scenarios of future greenhouse gas emissions, record daily highs should increasingly outpace record lows over time."If the climate weren't changing, you would expect the number of temperature records to diminish significantly over time," says Claudia Tebaldi, a statistician with Climate Central who is one of the paper's co-authors."As you measure the high and low daily temperatures each year, it normally becomes more difficult to break a record after a number of years. But as the average temperatures continue to rise this century, we will keep setting more record highs."The study team focused on weather stations that have been operating since 1950. They found that the ratio of record daily high to record daily low temperatures slightly exceeded one to one in the 1950s, dipped below that level in the 1960s and 1970s, and has risen since the 1980s.The results reflect changes in U.S. average temperatures, which rose in the 1950s, stabilized in the 1960s, and then began a warming trend in the late 1970s.Even in the first nine months of this year, when the United States cooled somewhat after a string of unusually warm years, the ratio of record daily high to record daily low temperatures was more than three to two.Despite the increasing number of record highs, there will still be occasional periods of record cold, Meehl notes."One of the messages of this study is, you still get cold days," Meehl says. "Winter still comes. Even in a much warmer climate, we're setting record low minimum temperatures on a few days each year. But the odds are shifting so there's a much better chance of daily record highs instead of lows."The study team analyzed several million daily high and low temperature readings taken over the span of six decades at about 1,800 weather stations across the country, thereby ensuring ample data for statistically significant results.The readings, collected at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center, undergo a quality control process at the data center that looks for such potential problems as missing data as well as inconsistent readings caused by changes in thermometers, station locations, or other factors.Meehl and his colleagues then used temperature simulations from the Community Climate System Model to compute daily record highs and lows under current and future atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.---Image 2: The ratio of record daily highs to lows from 1950-2009 at 1,800 U.S. weather stations. Credit: NCAR
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 12 Nov 2009 | 1:05 pm

HTTP Intermediary Layer From Google Could Dramatically Speed Up the Web

grmoc writes "As part of the 'Let's make the web faster' initiative, we (a few engineers — including me! — at Google, and hopefully people all across the community soon!) are experimenting with alternative protocols to help reduce the latency of Web pages. One of these experiments is SPDY (pronounced 'SPeeDY'), an application-layer protocol (essentially a shim between HTTP and the bits on the wire) for transporting content over the web, designed specifically for minimal latency. In addition to a rough specification for the protocol, we have hacked SPDY into the Google Chrome browser (because it's what we're familiar with) and a simple server testbed. Using these hacked up bits, we compared the performance of many of the top 25 and top 300 websites over both HTTP and SPDY, and have observed those pages load, on average, about twice as fast using SPDY. Thats not bad! We hope to engage the open source community to contribute ideas, feedback, code (we've open sourced the protocol, etc!), and test results."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 12 Nov 2009 | 1:00 pm

Holy water dispensers to combat swine flu

No, this isn't about holy water as a miracle swine flu vaccine. Rather, some Catholic churches in Italy are replacing holy water basins with more sanitary electronic dispensers that spurt out a single serving of the magical fluid. From The Telegraph:

It functions like an automatic soap dispenser in public lavatories - a churchgoer waves his or her hand under a sensor and the machine spurts out holy water.

"It has been a bit of a novelty. People initially were a bit shocked by this technological innovation but then they welcomed it with great enthusiasm and joy," said Father Pierangelo Motta...

"After all the news that some churches, like Milan's cathedral, were suspending the use of holy water fonts as a measure against swine flu, demands for my invention shot to the stars. I have received orders from all over the world," (inventor Luciano Marabese) said.

Holy water dispenser combats spread of swine flu

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 12 Nov 2009 | 12:54 pm

Walmart bumps the Palm Pixi down to $30 right off the bat

Considering that Walmart’s already slinging the Palm Pre at $99 bucks, it might have been a bit tough for them to justify peddling the Pre’s new baby brother, the Pixi, at the MSRP of $99. So they’re not.

Right on launch day, Walmart Wireless (through their partnership with LetsTalk) has cut down the Palm Pixi’s entry fee by right around 70%, bringing it down to a nice, round 30 bucks. You’ll still need to sign on to a 2-year contract and, seeing as you’re going through an intermediary, you’ll probably get hit with an extra early-termination-fee if you bail early – but if you’re ready to lock in to the Pixi, you might as well save yourself some ducats.

[Via EngadgetMobile]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 12 Nov 2009 | 12:52 pm

Spirit's Last Stand?

After almost six years exploring the surface of Mars, NASA’s intrepid rover Spirit may have settled in its final resting place. NASA is not overly optimistic attempts to free the rover from a sand pit, where its been stuck for ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 12:42 pm

Fujitsu’s first break-out phone literally breaks apart

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile

Innovation is not dead as is oft reported in tech.  Fujitsu is working on a this break-apart phone that allows the screen to detach from the base revealing a keyboard and making way for add-ons.  The idea is clever but trouble for those of us with a knack for losing things.

The Fujitsu F-04B is no longer just the prototype that was shown at last years CEATECH.  The device was announced by Fujitsu during a press conference.  Clearly the device is super thin and has a slide down numberpad, but it has more surprises than just that.

The device can be used in conjunction with a projector (6 lumens) to show movies, pictures or games.  Users can create their own impromptu theater or even, as suggested by the site, watch movies on the ceiling in bed.  We presume that is all the rage in Japan right now.

We expect this phone to be one of those interesting phones for Japan only.  Sorry US readers.

Read: [Akihabara] via [Engadget Mobile]

Image credit: Akihabara

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Nov 2009 | 12:35 pm

New Water Management Tool May Help Ease Effects Of Drought

Continued improvement of  climate forecasts  is resulting in better information about what rainfall and streamflow may look like months in advance.  A researcher from North Carolina State University has developed  an innovative water management framework that would take advantage of these forecasts to plan for droughts or excess rain in order to make the most efficient use of an area’s water resources.By using climate forecasts for short-term planning, water managers can better plan for potential shortages due to drought, says Dr.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 12 Nov 2009 | 12:31 pm

Greenland Ice Cap Melting Faster Than Ever

Satellite observations and a state-of-the art regional atmospheric model have independently confirmed that the Greenland ice sheet is loosing mass at an accelerating rate, reports a new study in Science.This mass loss is equally distributed between increased iceberg production, driven by acceleration of Greenland's fast-flowing outlet glaciers, and increased meltwater production at the ice sheet surface.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 12 Nov 2009 | 12:26 pm

Scientists Rush to Save World's Smallest Rhino

The world's smallest rhinoceros, the Sabah rhino, is very close to extinction. The following release and images from Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB) detail how scientists are teaming up to save the tiny rhino. International scientists and zoo experts started together ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 12:18 pm

How To DDoS a Federal Wiretap

alphadogg writes "Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say they've discovered a way to circumvent the networking technology used by law enforcement to tap phone lines in the US. The flaws they've found 'represent a serious threat to the accuracy and completeness of wiretap records used for both criminal investigation and as evidence in trial,' the researchers say in their paper, set to be presented Thursday at a computer security conference in Chicago. Following up on earlier work on evading analog wiretap devices called loop extenders, the Penn researchers took a deep look at the newer technical standards used to enable wiretapping on telecommunication switches. They found that while these newer devices probably don't suffer from many of the bugs they'd found in the loop extender world, they do introduce new flaws. In fact, wiretaps could probably be rendered useless if the connection between the switches and law enforcement are overwhelmed with useless data, something known as a denial of service (DOS) attack."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 12 Nov 2009 | 12:15 pm

Leaked: BlackBerry Bold 9700 and Samsung Behold 2 pricing for T-Mobile

There you were, just this morning, sitting over your latté. “When the hell is the pricing for the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and/or Samsung Behold 2 going to leak?”, you thought. Both handsets are coming within roughly a week or so, yet there was still no word on how much you needed to set aside? Pardon my french, friends, but that is shenanigans.

Fortunately, its been dealt with.

TmoNews got their hands on this pricing sheet, which breaks it all right on down: the BlackBerry Bold 9700 (review here) will set you back $199 on contract or, if you’re not lookin’ to sign your mobile life away for two years, a one-time payment of $449 bucks. The Samsung Behold 2 will.. cost the exact same amount on both counts.

Anyone out there preppin’ their wallets for either of these handsets?

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 12 Nov 2009 | 12:06 pm

Designer Duo Create a Dress With 24,000 LEDs

Next time you compliment a woman at a party that’s she glowing, it may literally be so. Two London-based designers have created a dress embroidered with 24,000 full color LEDs .

Called the ‘Galaxy Dress’ it claims to be the largest wearable display in the world  and will be the center piece of an exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

“We used the smallest full-color LEDs, flat like paper, and measuring only 2 by 2 mm,” say designers Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz in an email. “The circuits are extra-thin, flexible, and hand embroidered on a layer of silk in a way that gives it stretch so the LED fabric can move like normal fabric with lightness and fluidity.” The duo run an interactive clothing company called CuteCircuit.

Beyond the LEDs themselves, the Galaxy Dress is crafted in a way that should make the pickiest seamstresses proud.

To diffuse the LED light, the dress has four layers of silk chiffon and a pleated silk organza crinoline skirt. The extra-thin electronics allows the dress to follow the body shape closely like with normal fabric.

Instead of having one large and heavy battery, the dress is designed to run on many tiny iPod batteries hiding in the crinoline, says Rosella. “They are not visible or uncomfortable,” she says.

With the batteries, the Galaxy Dress wearer can walk around–all lit up–for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

The areas without LEDs are decorated with more than 4000 hand-applied Swarovski crystals that range from clear crystal to bright pink.  “The dress looks good even when it is switched off,” say the designers.

So far, the dress hasn’t been worn by any real woman. It went straight from the fittings model to the museum.

More photos and a video of the dress

See a video of the LED Dress that, according to the designers, consumes about the same electricity as two household bulbs.

Photos: J.B. Spector/the Museum of Science and Industry.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 12 Nov 2009 | 11:59 am

Ida Now A Coastal Low Assaulting Mid-Atlantic

Ida is one stubborn girl. Her remnants have moved out to sea and reformed as a powerful coastal low pressure system that's been raining on the mid-Atlantic since Tuesday night, November 10.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 12 Nov 2009 | 11:58 am

Fish Populations In North Atlantic Changing

For years New England fishermen have had to steam farther and farther from shore to find the cod, haddock and winter flounder that make up their catches, The Associated Press reported.According to a new federal study documenting the warming waters of the North Atlantic, the typical fish most often caught for commercial purposes could eventually change to the Atlantic croaker, red hake and summer flounder normally found to the south.Janet Nye, a fishery biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the lead author of the study, said fishermen are businessmen, so if they have to go farther and deeper to catch the fish that we like to eat, eventually it won't be economical to do that.Nye, who works at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Mass, said in the near future the fish we enjoy might not be in our local seafood store, or maybe it will be more expensive.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 12 Nov 2009 | 11:22 am

Gone Google at EDUCAUSE 2009

Last week the Google Apps for Education team headed to Denver for EDUCAUSE 2009 where the higher education community meets annually. It was at this conference three years ago that we first unveiled Google Apps for Education. Since then, we've witnessed staggering growth in the world of cloud computing in education. Lots has happened over the past year especially: more than 100 new features have rolled out in Google Apps, we've engaged well over six million students and faculty (a 400% increase since this time last year), launched free Google Message Security for K-12 schools and have integrated with other learning services such as Blackboard and Moodle.

These developments are just the beginning. According to the newly-released 2009 Campus Computing survey statistics, 44% of colleges and universities have converted to a hosted student email solution, while another 37% are currently evaluating the move. Of those that have migrated, over half — 56% precisely — are going Google.

To toast the students and faculty that are shaping this movement, we hosted our customers and EDUCAUSE conference attendees at the Denver Public Library. Check out the photos to see what these schools have to say:



We also did something different this year and invited some student ambassadors from schools using Google Apps to come to Denver and share how using Apps on campus helps make their lives easier. Daniel Miller who works at University of Washington's Ethnic Cultural Center uses Calendar to let students on campus know about his organization's events. Sociology major Robin Brown uses forms in Docs to collect data for her class surveys at Notre Dame. Taylor Bell at Boise State relies on Gmail's filters and gadgets to seamlessly access to his Calendar, Docs, Tasks and Chat. After losing his journal, Vaughn Parker at Temple University created a Calendar to keep track of his assignments and share them with his classmates and professors. (There are many more of these student stories, too).

Every year, more schools move to Google Apps so they can spend their time focusing on students, not servers; on higher learning, not higher costs. If you're a school, you can go Google, too. Check out www.google.com/appsatschool to learn more.

Posted by Miriam Schneider, Product Marketing Manager
Source: The Official Google Blog | 12 Nov 2009 | 11:13 am

Uniea iPhone case roundup

FROM APPLETELL - Uniea has a lot of iPhone case options, just like always. From minimalistic cases to hip holsters to an exercise armband, they have your iPhone covered, quite literally.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Nov 2009 | 11:12 am

Bounce-Less Bungee Cord Promises Gentler Jump

A synthetic material modeled after the egg cases of snails could have a range of applications from bungee cords to artificial ligaments.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 11:00 am

Space Station Gets New Parking Space

A Russian docking port arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday, becoming the 11th module to be hooked up to the orbiting outpost. The new room, named Poisk -- a Russian word for "search" -- will double as a ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 10:59 am

Vacationing In Thailand Over Greece? That's The Dopamine Talking

People constantly make complex decisions, from the more mundane—which restaurant to go to for dinner or which movie to go see—to the more profound—whether to have kids or not.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 12 Nov 2009 | 10:39 am

Shape Of Things To Come: Structure Of HIV Coat Could Lead To New Drugs, Says Pitt Team

Structural biologists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have described the architecture of the complex of protein units that make up the coat surrounding the HIV genome and identified in it a "seam" of functional importance that previously went unrecognized.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 12 Nov 2009 | 10:36 am

Find H1N1 Vaccine Through Google

I'm recovering from a cold. Some sniffling, coughing. When I first came down with the symptoms this past Monday, I thought for sure I had the flu. I was achey, had the chills. Of course, the first thing I thought ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 10:25 am

We're Feeling the Heat

The warming climate is making itself felt in the daily weather across the United States, tilting the odds in favor of a daily record high temperature to two-to-one over a record low. In a world without a warming climate, the ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Nov 2009 | 10:11 am

Chumby One now available for purchase, selling for $99.95

Section: Gadgets / Other

The Chumby One has officially been released, and for those not following the Chumby related news, the One is the updated model, you know the one that takes the Chumby from a plush little bean bag looking device into a slightly more grown up looking model. In other words, the Chumby One is now sporting a hard exterior casing.

Of course, in addition to the exterior there were also some improvements under the hood. The Chumby One has an updated processor and more internal storage. And for a limited time, it can be purchased for $99.99, which is a nice discount considering it will eventually be priced at $119.95. Additionally, the Chumby One features an internal FM tuner and ships with a 2GB microSD card for additional storage.

As of now, the Chumby One is still noted as being “on backorder” but the estimated shipping date is not that far off—November 25. If nothing else, this could make a nice holiday gift for the geek on your list.

Product [Chumby One]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Nov 2009 | 8:43 am

Dell’s Zino HD is a Candy-Colored Mac Mini Killer

Dell’s new Zino HD mini-computers look good enough to eat. And, even more important if you are the sole geek of the the house, good enough to put in the living room.

The Zino HD wants to sit by your TV, and is a full-on entertainment PC. As ever, it’s hard to get a handle on precisely what a Dell machine will actually do, as the configuration options are almost endless. Here instead, is a list of the options.

All of the 8” x 8” boxes run on some kind of AMD Athlon Dual-Core processor and offer a choice of Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Ubuntu Linux. You can stuff in up to a terabyte of hard drive space, 8GB RAM and opt for a rewritable DVD drive or Blu-ray.

But then the entertainment begins. The HD part comes from the HDMI-out port (we told you this wanted to live by your TV), there are two eSATA connectors for hooking up yet more storage and even a memory card reader for sucking up your photos without an unsightly adapter. And along with the usual computer ports (Ethernet jack, line-out and VGA) you get a full four USB ports, two of which are at the front for easy access.

If you cheap out on everything (and choose the black one), the Zino HD will cost just $230. Maxing out the hardware and OS takes you up to $808. Somewhere in the middle of that lies a computer that is arguably better suited to the living room than the previous champion, the Mac Mini. I’ll take mine in strawberry flavor.

Product page [Dell]

Store page [Dell]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 12 Nov 2009 | 8:29 am

Video Unboxing: Palm Pixi

Full review coming soon. Enjoy!

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 12 Nov 2009 | 8:08 am

Interested in touring Bill Gates’ house? Be prepared to shell out $35,000

Section: Gadgets / Other

It is no secret that Bill and Melinda Gates are generous in terms of charity work, and it also seems that they are willing to open up their home to one lucky bidder. In the name of charity of course.

Each year they participate in a charity auction, at which one of the items that those with more money than they know what to do with, can bid on a tour of Bill Gates’ Lake Washington home (as seen above).

Anyway, last year this tour fetched a top bid of $8,600, but more importantly, this year it topped $35,000. With a number like that, all you can really say is “wow” and be thankful that at least someone has money to spend.

According to TechFlash, the tour covers the “winner and a small group of friends.” It was also mentioned that the tour is done by Bill Gates himself and appetizers are offered at the end. Heck for that kind of money, they should be getting a sit down meal, and maybe a sleepover.

Read [TechFlash] Image Courtesy:

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Nov 2009 | 7:30 am

Activision Blizzard creates CODE, war veteran support organization

FROM GAMERTELL - Activision Blizzard is creating an organization for helping war veterans facing unemployment…
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Nov 2009 | 7:15 am

Eneloop Booster Stick Is Charger and Charged In One

Sanyo’s new “Eneloop Stick Booster” takes two of technology’s ubiquities, USB and batteries, and puts them together into a sleek aluminum stick.

Sanyo’s Eneloop batteries are already a smart choice when looking for rechargeables. Not only do they come fully charged and ready to use, unlike your regular Ni-MH cells, neither do they leak their charge slowly over the days and weeks. Ever thrown a set of charged batteries into a flashgun only to find them empty? That won’t happen with the Eneloops.

The Stick Booster is a charger in a tube. Hook it up to a USB port to top-off the two supplied AAs. From here you can put those batteries into a camera or other device, or hook an iPod or cellphone up to the USB-out directly, offering a versatile emergency charge. There’s also a switch on the side that lets the batteries discharge a higher current for particularly thirsty gadgets like the iPhone.

The Stick Booster will be available in December for ¥3,100, or $35.

Product page [GeekStuff4U via Akihabara News]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 12 Nov 2009 | 7:03 am

‘Stop Thief’ Chair Keeps Valuables Where Nature Intended

The “Stop Thief” chair is a very simple crime-busting seat that formalizes something we all do anyway. The stacking chairs, presumably aimed at bars, cafes and restaurants, have a couple of slots in the seat so you can slip in the strap of your purse or man-bag, thus securing it between your legs, safe from the wandering hands of light-fingered street thieves.

The chair, from UK company Design Against Crime, is made from lacquered wood and steel and comes in 12 colors. The back of the chair is rounded, to stop the foolish from hanging bags there, and those slots are right under your thighs, so nobody could make a successful grab without you noticing.

I live in a city where petty street crime is at ridiculously high levels. While you might be safe, your bag most certainly isn’t. I have one issue with this otherwise excellent chair design, and that is that a bag hanging under your chair can be gotten into. The pickpocket may not get the whole bag, but they can still reach the good stuff inside, which is what they are after anyway.

You don’t think a thief could rummage around in the sack between your legs without you noticing? Think again. It’s happened to me twice, at crowded tables with the bag firmly on the floor amongst everyone’s feet (not my bag, but I was at the table). The bags just disappeared, and nobody saw a thing. Better to hook the straps through the slots in the chair and keep the bag on your lap.

£38, now shipping.

Product page [Design Against Crime via Core77]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 12 Nov 2009 | 6:13 am

Black Friday: Sam’s Club leaks $129 Blu-ray player and cheap HDTVs

Section: Video, DVD/DVR/Blu-ray, HDTV, Gadgets / Other, GPS/Navigation

While there is no scan of the ad posted yet, bfads.net believes these prices will be the real deal on Black Friday.  This year, it looks like the bulk store took a beating as these deals look pretty good.  The site is confident the prices are correct.

Black Friday deals:
JVC 1080 Blu-ray player: $129
Garmin Nuvi 255w GPS: $119
Acer Aspire One 10.5” netbook: $197
Hitachi 1080p 42” LCD HDTV: $598
Vizio 1080p 47” 240Hz LCD HDTV: $997
Olympus FE-4000 12mp camera: $98

Surely the product on hand will be limited.  We’ll update if the site gets hold of the ad.

Read: [BFAds.net]

Image credit: Device Mag

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Nov 2009 | 6:08 am

An evening of confusion with Dell customer service

I got my Dell Mini10V in the mail yesterday. It's small and red and pretty, but I had one minor issue with my order. When I was personalizing my order online, it asked me if I wanted a 24WHr 3-cell battery or a 56WhHr 6-cell battery; the 6-cell was just $35 more, but had double the lifespan. I went with the 6-cell. As soon as I pulled it out of the box, though, I realized it was way too big to fit into my favorite bag. It was my fault; I had ordered the wrong thing. I called Dell's 1-800 number to see if they could process an exchange; it was the beginning of what turned out to be a baffling journey into the labyrinth of Dell's customer service phone line.

After a few minutes of hold music, I got through to a woman who told me I could return the 6-cell, get a refund, and then purchase the 3-cell separately. I wanted to ask her how much the refund would be for, but after telling me she'd email me a UPS label, she hastily thanked me for choosing Dell and then put me on hold so I could speak to a sales rep who would then sell me the 3-cell battery.

The sales rep was a soft-spoken woman named Jame. After asking me about three minutes of questions about what kind of laptop I had purchased and how, she told me I could buy a 3-cell battery for my Mini 10V for $129.99 + tax, how would I like to pay? Before I paid, I wanted to know how much I was going to get refunded for the 6-cell. She said it would be around $135, but she seemed unsure. I asked her to put me back on the phone with the person whom I had talked to about the refund so I could double check.

She refused. "I'd really like to sell you this battery first," she said.

I explained that I didn't want to pay $129.99+ for an extra battery for a $299 computer without knowing how much I'll get refunded for the one I was returning. She kept asking me why I wasn't buying the battery from her, and I repeatedly told her that it was because I wanted to confirm the return amount, and besides, I can buy it on Dell.com for the same price, free shipping, without spelling out my name, address, and credit card number over and over. Finally, she said:

"Ma'am, I didn't want it to come to this, but I'll tell you this, I want to make this sale. If you don't buy the battery, I won't get my commission."

"I understand," I said, politely at first. "But I really don't want to spend that much money without knowing how much I'll be refunded."

"I told you, you'll get about $135."

"Can you please just put me through to the returns person?"

"But then I won't get my commission," she said, refusing to hang up.

"That's really not my problem. Can you please just do your job and put me through to the returns department?"

"I am doing my job. My job is to sell you this battery."

"I'm not going to buy it now. Since you can't answer my question about the refund, I need to talk to the person I was talking to right before you, who might be able to."

"Then is it okay if I call you in 15 minutes to sell you this battery again?"

"Ok, fine, call me back later," I said.

The hold music again. A few minutes later, someone picked up, thanked me for calling Dell, and asked me for some information so that he could connect me to the right person. Two people later, I finally got an answer — I would get $35 for returning the 6-cell battery that retails for $149.99.

"But someone just tried to sell me the 3-cell for $129 and told me I'd get $135 back for the 6-cell," I said. This woman had no idea what I was talking about, so she put me back on hold.

To be fair, I rarely have a good experience calling toll-free customer service numbers for any company. But in the hour and a half that I spent on the phone with Dell, I spoke to about ten different people, listened to an hour of hold music, repeated my customer number, my order number, my address, my return authorization number, my purchase ID number, my phone number, and my computer's service tag number at least two dozen times total, and spelled out my name another dozen times. I got blackmailed into staying the phone with one person eager to make a sale and was commanded to get off of my headset (I'm not kidding — one guy literally yelled at me to get off my headset because he couldn't hear me) by another. At the end of the day, I was left with no idea whether I could exchange my 6-cell for a 3-cell and a conviction that these Dell customer service reps must be unhappy, untrained, underpaid, or all of the above. (I should also point out that I probably never would have encountered this giant battery issue in the first place if the Dell web site made it clear how big and how heavy the 6-cell would be — I mean, I knew it would stick out, but there was no image or metric given to gauge how much with.)

I talked to a Dell spokesperson this morning, who explained to me that the battery can't be broken out of the system and returned or exchanged separately.* "It's part of the components in the system, like the processor, the memory, and the OS; once you receive your system, you can't pull those parts out. Your options are to return the whole thing or to buy a new battery."

But of course! This made perfect sense. What didn't make sense was the wild goose chase that customer service sent me on last night.

*She also said they would use this incident as an opportunity to retrain their service reps, and that it has never been their intention to mislead their customers.

Photos: Disaster Area (Thumbnail) and Ndevil (Mini 10 battery)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 12 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

Palm Pixi shows up at Walmart, and on television

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

With the release of the Palm Pixi getting closer and closer we are now beginning to see it surface in the real world. Just yesterday the Pixi was spotted in both Walmart as well as a newly released television commercial. Of course, that release day is not until Sunday, which means that despite seeing the handset around it cannot yet be purchased.

As far as Walmart, the Pixi was spotted by one eagle-eyed PreCentral reader who was kind enough to not only snap a picture, but also dig a little deeper—he actually spoke to the employees. Shocking, but that aside, it seems that Walmart is listing the Palm Pixi at $400 but do not fully have it in the system. In other words, despite it being out in the open and looking available, it cannot yet be purchased. But with that your mileage could vary, so hit up your local Walmart if you are in desperate need of being one of the first to purchase and own a Pixi. Just remember sometimes being nice will help when dealing with big-box employees.

In addition to the Walmart sighting, the Pixi also made its commercial debut, which you can check out in YouTube format below. The commercial is interesting to say the least, and on a nice note it is entirely less creepy as compared to the Pre commercials.

Read [PreCentral] and [PreCentral]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 12 Nov 2009 | 5:56 am

Confusing Bike-Chain Clock Runs Backwards and Forwards

For a clock that costs $2,388 and is made of not much more than some copper numbers an an old bike chain, you’d expect the Catena (Latin for “chain”) clock to at least work properly.

Unfortunately, it looks like the designer, Andreas Dober, cheaped out and just picked up a standard, clockwise-running movement. Take a look. While the numbers seem to run in the correct direction, when it comes to reckoning minutes you have to read backwards. The time shown in the picture is around ten past eleven, but at first glance appears to be ten to eleven.

Still, the piece itself is certainly a beauty, and if you have almost two and a half grand lying around for a clock you can probably just pay someone to read it for you. They could also warm up by counting the time it’ll take to arrive on your doorstep: the delivery time is 12-16 weeks.

Product page [Unicahome via BBG]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 12 Nov 2009 | 5:26 am

Mysterious Spinning Power Outlet Accepts Any International Plug

You know you have a problem when your editor sends you an email like this:

I’m not saying you should write yet another post about power outlets. I’m just passing this along because I know of your obsession with the things.

Of course, doing something like that is as irresponsible as asking a recovering alcoholic to look after a bottle of scotch for you, so here is the outlet in question, a design so obviously full of utility that it should be a standard feature of hotel rooms worldwide.

The outlet appears to spin like a Vegas slot-machine, only instead of feeding it pennies from a paper cup, you feed it a plug from almost anywhere in the world. I say “appears to” as there is no information hinting at a manufacturer or supplier. The pictures came to us in an email with the subject line: ”iýsÈÅò¸ - ä«ßAäÙå¬çE. Spam, we suspect.

With nothing but a picture to go on, I am enlisting your help. If anyone knows where you can get these things, or (joy!) of a hotel that actually uses them, tell us in the comments, or e-mail me (the link is up there at the top of this post).

See Also:

• Five Dollar Wall Warts Add Individual Power Switches
• Outlet Wall: More Powerful Than You Could Possibly Imagine …
• Gallery Of The World's Power Sockets
• Art Lebedev's 3D Pop-Up Power Socket
• Sweet Revenge: Phone-Jack Powered Lamp Rips Off Telcos

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 12 Nov 2009 | 4:56 am

Eye-Fi Geeks Out with Direct FTP Transfers

Eye-Fi has added a small, nerdy, but significant new feature to its Wi-Fi-enabled SD memory cards: FTP transfers. While beaming your photos straight to a sharing site such as Flickr is a very sweet trick, not everyone wants to send pictures direct to the web without editing them first. Adding FTP uploads gives the benefits of instant (ish), off-site backup, but keeps things private.

Imagine that you are taking photos in a sensitive area: a civil protest, or perhaps in a country at war. Now you could have your photos sent off-site as you take them (if there’s no Wi-Fi, you can use a Mi-Fi) and kept safe, even if somebody confiscates your camera and card.

The new FTP feature can be turned on by using your Eye-Fi Manager application, and works with any of the wireless cards: the Share Video, Explore Video and Pro. You can upload via FTP and FTPS, and right now just JPEG and video files are supported (no RAW). It’s free for current users, so what’s not to like?

How to upload photos and videos to an FTP server [Eye-Fi]

See Also:

• Hands-On With The MiFi Personal Hotspot
• Eye-Fi: How One Little Chip Will Change the Way You Share Pictures

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 12 Nov 2009 | 4:33 am

8-way video card

It's gadgets like this Matrox 8-way video card -- which lets you drive eight 2560 x 1600 displays at once -- that make me think seriously about going back to a desktop machine and abandoning laptops. If only I could find 1) room for eight displays and 2) a graceful way of using the home partition on my laptop as my desktop's home partition as well, without sacrificing speed (NFS), or having to reboot each time I sit down.

The Matrox M9188 PCIe x16 multi-display Octal graphics card addresses the need to visualize large amounts of data at once in order to effectively make decisions. The latest offering from the M-Series family is the world's first single-slot PCIe x16 octal card, featuring the ability to support both DisplayPort and DVI Single-Link outputs to ensure wide compatibility with today's monitors. With 2 GB of memory and advanced desktop management features, such as independent or stretched desktop modes, the M9188 drives energy, transportation, process control, financial trading, and other mission-critical environments with extraordinary performance.

Matrox M9188 PCIe x16

(via Red Ferret)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:58 am

Bioshock Hypo replicas

As Alice at Wonderlandblog points out, it's rare to see official merch as good as these Bioshock 2 EVE Hypos -- you usually have to find some fetishistic fan art. But this is an actual in-store tchotchke, and it's a corker.

(via Wonderland)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:53 am

Kim Stanley Robinson's alternate time-travel life of Galileo, GALILEO'S DREAM

Here's the Guardian's Alison Flood's detailed look at Kim Stanley Robinson's latest novel, Galileo's Dream, a fictionalized biography of Galileo that features time-travel.

What he came up with was three different temporal dimensions - the first moving very fast, at the speed of light, the second very slow and "vibrating slowly back and forth, as if the universe itself were a single string or bubble", the third - antichronos - in reverse. We experience them as one, creating a three-way interference pattern, which accounts for sensations such as foresight, déjà vu, nostalgia and precognition. The compound nature of time, Robinson writes, "creates our perception of both transience and permanence, of being and becoming". He's shown the novel to people who are "much more serious about the time travel stuff" and they're "having a blast". "They immediately map my three strands of time onto their system. They think I've partially discovered the real thing," he says gleefully...

So Galileo makes his telescope. He sees the Seven Sisters constellation, surrounded by "thickets of lesser stars, granulated almost to white dust in places ... No one else in the history of the world had ever seen these stars, until this very night, this very moment". He discovers Jupiter's four moons. He studies acceleration and motion. He observes sunspots. He frequently, frequently rings "like a struck bell" as his genius strikes: "Here it was, the truth of the situation - the cosmos revealed in a single stroke as being one way rather than another. The Earth was spinning under his feet, also rolling around the sun ... Again he rang like a bell. His flesh buzzed like struck bronze, his hair stood on end. How things worked; it had to be; and he rang." He stamps on the ground after he is tried by the Inquisition for supporting Copernicanism: "'It still moves!' he said. 'Eppur si muove!'"

Kim Stanley Robinson: science fiction's realist

(Thanks, Robert!)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:49 am

HOWTO kill wiretaps when making a phone call

CALEA is the terrible US federal law that requires that all switches that carry voice-traffic be built with an easy-to-access remote wiretapping capability so that cops (or bad guys who know cop secrets) can listen in on your voice conversations without cooperation from the phone company. A team of University of Pennsylvania researchers (already notorious for finding flaws in the previous version of the CALEA standard that let callers lock out wiretaps) have found a solid theoretical attack against the newer, shinier CALEA standard.

"We asked ourselves the question of whether this standard is sufficient to have reliable wiretapping," said Micah Sherr, a post-doctoral researcher at the university and one of the paper's co-authors. Eventually they were able to develop some proof-of-concept attacks that would disrupt devices. According to Sherr, the standard "really didn't consider the case of a wiretap subject who is trying to thwart or confuse the wiretap itself."

It turns out that the standard sets aside very little bandwidth -- 64K bits per second -- for keeping track of information about phone calls being made on the tapped line. When a wire tap is on, the switch is supposed to set up a 64Kbps Call Data Channel to send this information between the telco and the law enforcement agency doing the wiretap. Normally this channel has more than enough bandwidth for the whole system to work, but if someone tries to flood it with information by making dozens of SMS messages or VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) phone calls simultaneously, the channel could be overwhelmed and simply drop network traffic.

That means that law enforcement could lose records of who was called and when, and possibly miss entire call recordings as well, Sherr said.

How to Deny Service to a Federal Wiretap

(Thanks, Adam!)

Source: Boing Boing Gadgets | 12 Nov 2009 | 2:40 am