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Ringz: First (free) Android app with in-app purchase
Apple made it possible for iPhone developers to offer in-app purchase five weeks ago, an option Android devs currently don’t have. But now Shanghai-based mobile technology company Urbian found a work-around to enable in-app purchase, saying they’re the first developers that did. The app in question is Ringz, a puzzle game that’s available for free on the Android market (the iPhone version is in review by the way). Ringz lets you buy and download more levels (so-called Level Packs) from within the app. If the extension is returned or deinstalled, the extra functionality disappears from the base application. Urbian says some users tried copying the Level Pack files to a different path on an SD card to return them later and then use the extension for free – but this won’t work with their app. Please click on the following graphic Urbian prepared for MobileCrunch to see how the work-around works. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: MobileCrunch | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:38 am USB Travel Mug Keeps Your Beverage Warm, AgitatedBy Evan Ackerman If that magical coffee cup we posted about a couple weeks ago isn’t getting commercialized fast enough for you, here’s something that could take its place (at least until the...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:35 am Facebook Soon To Enable You To Comment On Status Updates Via E-mailAnnoyed because you have to leave your e-mail inbox every time you would like to respond to someone else's Facebook status update? Good news: the social network is testing a brand new feature that will...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:21 am Facebook Soon To Enable You To Comment On Status Updates Via E-mail
It appears as if the new feature is currently being tested only with a very small subset of users; we haven’t seen it at the bottom of any Facebook notification e-mails yet and there are only about 4 tweets from the past couple of days mentioning the new feature. We asked the company about the apparent bucket test, and they’ve acknowledged that they’ve started roling out the feature again for a small percentage of users after running similar brief tests a couple of weeks ago and making some improvements. Facebook hasn’t provided more information (e.g. how they plan to prevent autoresponder messages from being posted to Walls all the time) but said it was hoping to release the new feature to all of its users in the coming weeks. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 
Source: TechCrunch | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:21 am Darwin book found in lavatory, expected to sell for $100000 - The Money Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:01 am Five Facts About Second Life the BBC Doesn't UnderstandThe BBC's recent magazine article, "What Happened to Second Life?", written by Lauren Hansen and edited by Jonathan Duffy, is so incandescently bad, to read it is to feel the entire institution's credibility...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 2:56 am Ciena buys Nortel ops for $769 million: sources (Reuters)Reuters - Ciena Corp will buy the optical networking and carrier ethernet business of bankrupt Nortel for $769 million, sources told Reuters, after it trumped Nokia Siemens Networks in a three-day auction.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Nov 2009 | 2:51 am Australia's CSIRO To Launch CPU-GPU Supercomputerbennyboy64 contributes this excerpt from CRN Australia: "The CSIRO will this week launch a new supercomputer which uses a cluster of GPUs [pictures] to gain a processing capacity that competes with supercomputers over twice its size. The supercomputer is one of the world's first to combine traditional CPUs with the more powerful GPUs. It features 100 Intel Xeon CPU chips and 50 Tesla GPU chips, connected to an 80 Terabyte Hitachi Data Systems network attached storage unit. CSIRO science applications have already seen 10-100x speedups on NVIDIA GPUs."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 23 Nov 2009 | 2:40 am Spotify lands on Symbian phones from Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung - TechCrunch (blog)
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 23 Nov 2009 | 2:34 am Spotify Arrives On Nokia's Symbian, Sony Ericsson And Samsung PlatformsThe much hyped music streaming service Spotify has extended its mobile reach significantly today with the release of an app for phones powered by the Nokia-led Symbian operating system. This follows earlier...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 2:29 am Spotify Arrives On Nokia’s Symbian, Sony Ericsson And Samsung Platforms
This follows earlier clients for both iPhone and Android and means that the service will now be accessible on millions more handsets from Nokia, obviously, along with Sony Ericsson and Samsung which also support the platform. Unfortunately, for once users in the U.S. will have to wait longer as Spotify has delayed the launch of it’s service there until the new year. Phones powered by Symbian far outstrip the iPhone and Android (for now) in Europe where Spotify is currently available. Today’s release should see the company strike further carrier deals or at least extend their current offering with mobile network 3, leading to more ‘back door’ or ‘feels like free’ premium subscriptions. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
Source: TechCrunch | 23 Nov 2009 | 2:29 am Phil Schiller Grants Interview About Apple's App Store, Claims Devs Actually Like Approval ProcessPhil Schiller, Apple's SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing, is back on his one-man crusade to defend the App Store from the latest wave of criticism pointed in its direction. This time, Apple is having...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 2:15 am Phil Schiller Grants Interview About Apple’s App Store, Claims Devs Actually Like Approval Process
This time, Apple is having to battle the news of Facebook’s all-star developer Joe Hewitt quitting the platform, more high profile app rejections, and the rise of Android as an increasingly viable alternative to the iPhone. Schiller has granted BusinessWeek’s Arik Hesseldahl what the publication says is his first “wide-ranging interview on the matter”. Unfortunately, Schiller doesn’t really say anything to quell the growing unrest in the developer community — instead, he’s offered some finely-tuned PR-speak that will placate the vast majority of iPhone users, who are only vaguely aware of the App Store controversies and just need a reminder that Apple is still one of the good guys. But it may only make developers angrier. The article kicks off with quotes from Hewitt’s recent denunciation of the App Store’s approval process, which he says sets a “horrible precedent for other software platforms” (an assertion I wholeheartedly agree with). The article then transitions into Schiller’s response to the complaints that are frequently levied against the App Store. None of Schiller’s defenses for the approval process are surprising: he says that Apple has built a store that people can trust, and that between the downloading, billing, and transfering to the phone “it all just works.” Schiller also points out the App Store’s ability to offer parental controls because screeners can categorize apps into different age ratings. Of course, he doesn’t mention that Apple also likes keeping control over the platform because it lets them block anything that could potentially compete with its own products. As he’s done before, Schiller did admit to some of the App Store’s faults. Hesseldahl asked about the recent Rogue Amoeba debacle, which saw the popular Mac developer’s app rejected because it used some icons that Apple objected to for clearly ridiculous reasons apparently having to do with copyright. Schiller didn’t comment on that case in particular, but addressed some of Apple’s issues with copyright: “We need to delineate something that might confuse the customer and be an inappropriate use of a trademark from something that’s just referring to a product for the sake of compatibility… We’re trying to learn and expand the rules to make it fair for everyone”. The article then notes that Rogue Amoeba will be resubmitting its application with its original icons, presumably with the understanding that it will be approved. But to developers who have been dealing with the frustrations of Apple’s platform for many months, none of this is particularly novel or encouraging. Schiller has previously stepped in to fix highly publicized App Store blunders, but nothing changes for the vast majority of developers. Likewise, Schiller has previously said that Apple is working on improving the App Store’s submission process, and while I honestly do think they’re making some improvements, their lack of transparency makes it nearly impossible to tell how much progress has been made. And the steady stream of App Store horror stories isn’t showing any signs of letting up. Even worse, Schiller implies in the interview that developers actually like the approval process:
This is a laughable statement. Developers may like the concept of having an external QA safety net that helps catch bugs, but not one that’s incredibly inconsistent and penalizes them with extended delays and notoriously bad communication. Schiller’s interview highlights how badly Apple is underestimating the negative impact the App Store is having on its reputation in the developer community, as Paul Graham recently detailed. Apple may not care about losing a handful of developers to Android, but their shortsighted strategy of answering developer complaints with PR spin rather than transparency and action may hurt them in the long run. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Source: TechCrunch | 23 Nov 2009 | 2:15 am 51job, Inc. Reports Third Quarter 2009 Financial ResultsSHANGHAI, Nov. 23 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- 51job, Inc. (Nasdaq: JOBS), a leading provider of integrated human resource services in China, announced today unaudited...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 2:05 am Trimble(R) Pairs AgCam(R) With AgGPS(R) FmX(TM) Integrated Displayhttp://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml ">http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml " xmlns:xn="http://www.xmlnews.org/ns/">Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 2:00 am 51job, Inc. Announces Resignation of Chief Financial Officerhttp://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml ">http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml " xmlns:xn="http://www.xmlnews.org/ns/">Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 2:00 am While Microsoft Is Talking to Publishers, Paying Up to "Rent" Content for Bing to Thwart Google Is Unlikely [BoomTown]
While it might be a dream of publishers–hard hit by the digital tsunami and blaming Google for the crisis–Microsoft is not likely to fork over the big bucks they’d need for exclusively indexing their content. “Microsoft isn’t the monopoly guy anymore,” joked one source close to ongoing talks between Microsoft and publishers, most especially News Corp. (NWS) and Associated Press. “So, it’s not going to be the bank for publishers.” While a spate of reports has Microsoft (MSFT) execs girding the globe offering gobs of cash to content companies to block Google (GOOG) and favor its Bing search service, sources close to the situation caution that it extremely unlikely that the software giant would pay giant sums for that pricey privilege that many inside the company think will not help it gain much search share. “While there is a lot of mutual interest, it’s doubtful Microsoft is going to pay to ‘rent’ a corpus of content that it does not own,” said one source close to the situation. “The economics are not there for anyone.” Nonetheless, that has not stopped AP and News Corp. from aggressive public agitating recently about how their content has been treated online, accusing Google of a wide range of crimes against them and threatening to “de-index” their content from the search giant. For example, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch–who has been on what seems like a televised campaign against the search giant–accused Google of pilfering stories from his publishing properties. Presumably, by yanking Google’s access to them and offering it to Microsoft, balance will be restored in The Force.
Except, not so fast, since such a deal would end up costing Microsoft a fortune, which is why several sources said its execs don’t seem to be keen on doing that without getting a lot in return. The swirl of chatter about it, these sources said, is coming from publishers–who initiated the very early-stage talks–who are keen on playing Microsoft and Google against each other, in hopes the warring tech titans will loosen their fat wallets to battle each other. Another source used YouTube as an example of Google getting a mass of videos, when it paid $1.65 billion in 2006 for the online video company. “That made sense, since Google got all that content to use,” said the source. “But it is hard to see publishers getting the advertising economics and revenue they want from Microsoft for lending their content out, even exclusively.” Still a third source noted that the only way such a deal could be envisioned by Microsoft is if a majority of publishers were able to band together to block Google from indexing their sites. “If it was everyone, that might become interesting,” said the source. “But even that has issues, since Microsoft is not interested in having exclusive news for a temporary period of time by overpaying for it.” Added the source, noting how much money Microsoft has lost in its online efforts so far: “It’s essentially a marketing expense, and there are a lot better ways to spend that money to win market share than giving it to publishers.” (Full disclosure: News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.) Please see this disclosure related to me and Google. Source: All Things Digital | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:55 am Mobile multimedia revenues tipped to dethrone text (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:44 am Murky ocean depths hide abundance of lifeThousands of animal species thrive in the ocean depths beyond the reach of sunlight, between 200 to 5,000 meters below the surface, an international team of scientists has reported after...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:43 am US astronaut on spacewalk while child is born - USA Today
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:36 am EarthLink Customers Suffer Email Outages [Voices]By Marisa Taylor, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal EarthLink email customers experienced outages over much of the weekend, according to numerous online complaints. Starting Friday, Twitter users began to post updates about service outages. Alex Mendez tweeted “33:40 minutes on the cellphone dealing with TW / earthlink. UGH,” and Diane Fischler wrote, “Not getting email messages again. Woke up to about 60 left over from yesterday’s Earthlink outage, now seems to be down again. Who else?” On Saturday and Sunday, EarthLink users continued to complain about their lack of service. Jim Rattray wrote: “#Earthlink email has been down for 24+ hours. ‘We’re aware and working on it.’ Not good enough,” while romeneskoblogs said, “I haven’t received Earthlink email since Friday night. Customer service rep (in India) said could be 72 hours b4 restored.” Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:30 am Frost & Sullivan Recognizes China Entercom 2009 IP VPN Solution of the YearSHANGHAI, Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan Best Practice Award-2009 IP VPN Solution of the Year is presented to China Entercom Company (China Entercom) at Frost &Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:30 am FACTBOX-Reliance Industries, India's biggest conglomerateMUMBAI, Nov 23 (Reuters) - India's Reliance Industries has made a cash offer to buy bankrupt U.S. basedpetrochemicals firm LyondellBasell Industries [ACCEIN.UL].Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:27 am UPDATE 1-Gulf Keystone finds additional oil in Iraqi well* Says new Triassic reserves flowed at 10,000 boe per daySource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:21 am Viacom's Top Lawyer Thinks Lawsuits Were "Terrorism" – But He's Learned Nothing From the Experience [Voices]By Cory Doctorow, Co-Editor, BoingBoing.net Michael Fricklas, Viacom’s (VIA.B) General Counsel, gave a lecture to a Yale Law class in which he confessed that suing people for copyright infringement felt “like terrorism.” He says that this was bad strategy on the entertainment industry’s part, as was “bad” DRM. That’s the good part — an admission that suing customers is bad news. But lest you think that Fricklas has learned anything from this experience, consider the rest of his talk. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:05 am What Happened to Second Life? [Voices]By Lauren Hansen, Writer, BBC News Magazine Once upon a time Second Life had a Twitter level of hype. Even those without a cartoon version of themselves couldn’t plead ignorance due to blanket coverage in newspapers and magazines. Second Life is a virtual world started by the US firm Linden Lab in 2003, in which users design an avatar to live their “second life” online. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:04 am Maybe Instead of Two Cars, You Just Need a Car and a Bicycle [Voices]By John Gruber, Editor, Daring Fireball One thing that strikes me about Chrome OS and Litl is that neither bother trying to do everything Windows or Mac OS X can do. Not even close. I don’t think either even bothers trying to serve as one’s primary computer. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:03 am AP Copies Google: "If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em" [Voices]By David Weir, Blogger, bnet In what I must admit is a shocking turn of events, the Associated Press has moved beyond attacking Google (GOOG) and others it has branded as content “thieves” to embrace a page from its opponents’ playbook. Literally. In an internal AP memo obtained by Talking Points Memo, a senior managing editor, Mike Oreskes, states that when two AP reporters found that one bookstore had inadvertently placed Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue” on sale five days before the official release date, “They bought a copy, ripped it from its spine and scanned it into the system so it could be read and electronically searched. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:02 am AOL CEO Armstrong Talks About New Branding Effort and the Investor Road Show! (Plus Internal Aol. Logo Video) [BoomTown]
After AOL CEO Tim Armstrong unveiled the newly punctuated AOL logo–big A, little o, little l, period–last night, he got on the horn with BoomTown to chitty-chat about the change in image and, more pertinently, how it’s going on the road show to sell investors on the soon-to-be independent company. First off–while many suggested it–Armstrong said he never considered dumping the AOL moniker for another name, in an effort to rid the company of the 1990s feel of the brand. “I wanted to keep AOL as the the brand, because bottom line there was a lot of good will around the name,” he said, noting the billions of dollars invested in it. “As a consumer brand, there was a high level of affection.”
Of course, I have a lot of nostalgic affection for Beanie Babies and the kids from “Saved by the Bell.” But, in no way does that mean I want them back, especially Screech. But Armstrong prefers to use the revival of the Apple (AAPL) brand as a better comparison. “We think that kind of comeback is the way we’re looking at it,” he said. In that case: Calling Steve Jobs, stat! Of course, the AOL name has also forever been linked with Time Warner (TWX)–its current owner–in perhaps one of the worst mergers in history, another ding on the brand. Armstrong agreed that corporate debacle left bad taste in the mouths of investors, which is one of the things he has to change in the road show he is now on to sell the new and improved AOL. And, while he is only two days in, Armstrong said he is encouraged by the response. “A lot of initial reaction is what we expected and we have had to do an update on AOL to change perceptions,” he noted. “People did not know we were doing so much…and, I think, they really like our strategy.” That would be a leaner, meaner staff with a big focus on content.
Still, Armstrong said, investors are going to take some convincing. “Basically, they want to know where we are on the AOL turnaround and are asking us if we can get this company growing again,” he said. “AOL is still the ‘Show Me’ state.” Actually, that’s Missouri. Perhaps a better goal would be Florida: The Sunshine State! In any case, Armstrong said it will be critical that AOL show investors that its change is authentic, innovative and meaningful. The idea of transformation is obviously and sadly clear with AOL’s recent announcement of massive layoffs and the deleveraging of assets. In other words, it’s not your father’s bloated online company. On the more positive side, Armstrong said communicating a new brand image and accompanying logo–whose motto is: “one logo/countless ways to reveal” and will include a marketing and advertising campaign–is also key. “We want to use the new logo to highlight other things within the service,” he said. “And that would be all the things that you can pivot to that come after the dot.” Here is a first look at a video of Armstrong talking to his employees about the new logo–and, no, I have no idea what the fawn, the goldfish or the weird-looking ghosts mean–as well as images of some older AOL ones (only the yellow running man is staying put): [ See post to watch video ] 
Source: All Things Digital | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:02 am Smoking Near Apple Computers Creates Biohazard, Voids Warranty [Voices]By Laura Northrup, Assistant Editor, Consumerist Unless you’ve just arrived in 2009 on a time machine, you know that smoking isn’t good for you. Did you know, that smoking isn’t good for your computer, either? It’s true, at least according to Apple (AAPL). Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:01 am Glasses-Free 3-D Set to Grow, Thomson Reuters Says [Voices]By Lauren Goode, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal The term “3-D” has been largely synonymous with Hollywood blockbusters, buttered popcorn and ill-fitting cardboard glasses since the 1950s, when three-dimensionality was introduced to draw TV owners into theaters. Over the past 20 years, 3-D-capable devices like set-top boxes as well as 3-D programming have become available at home. A lack of standard broadcasting formats, relatively little content and the need for 3-D glasses, however, have kept it from a broad audience. Tech companies are betting that will all change, and when it does, you’ll be able to lose the glasses. According to new data from Thomson Reuters, 3-D-related patents have risen sharply in recent years, led by companies such as Samsung, Panasonic and Toshiba. “It will only be a matter of time before 3-D televisions start showing up in the home,” the report says. Patent activity in the 3-D television space grew 69 percent over a five-year period, with more than 1,000 unique invention patents filed last year alone. This year is on par, with 486 filed in the first half of 2009. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:01 am Astronauts get set for spacewalk No. 3It's another spacewalking day for the crew of space shuttle Atlantis. Astronaut Randolph Bresnik _ the father of a new baby girl _ will venture outside for the second time in three days.Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:00 am TED Talks: Living with DataGood talk and demos from the just-completed TED India about living with data, including such stuff as coffee cups that can help you find coffee. The speaker is MIT grad student Pranav Mistry. ...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 12:52 am Bill Joy: The Promise of Green TechnologiesFrom a recent speech at the University of Michigan, here is KPCB (remember them?) investor-guy (and Sun co-founder) Bill Joy talking about the promise of green technologies.Full video after the jump. ...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 12:45 am TowerJazz Signs Definitive Agreement With Asian Entity to Provide Know-How, Training, and Turnkey Manufacturing Solutions at a Revenue of US $130 MillionMIGDAL HA'EMEK, Israel, November 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- - Contract Accretive to Company's Strategy for Growth in Asian Markets ...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 12:45 am Multi-carrier iPhone in France doubles salesThe elimination of the iPhone's exclusivity to Orange in France has resulted in "more than double" the sales of the device and dealt a blow to the Blackberry. [via Electronista]Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 23 Nov 2009 | 12:21 am Tweets or bleats? Tool measures importance on Twitter (Reuters)Reuters - You've got followers and post regularly, but ever wondered how popular you are on Twitter? An online tool that evaluates "tweets" can tell.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 23 Nov 2009 | 12:05 am Melting icecaps to damage major port cities: WWFFlooding in the world's major port cities caused by melting icecaps could cause up to 28 trillion dollars (18 trillion euros) in damage in 2050, environmental group WWF said in a report...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 22 Nov 2009 | 11:56 pm Textbook Rental Market Heats Up: BookRenter Raises $6M Series A
Earlier this month college textbook rental company Chegg raised $112M as part of a combined Series D and debt round, bringing the total raised by the company to a massive $144M. Competitor BookRenter will tomorrow announce a Series A round of $6M, raised from Storm Ventures and Adams Capital Management. BookRenter has only raised a fraction of the capital of their competitor Chegg, but the company claims that it is growing at over 300 percent, year-over-year. The companies are loading their war-chests to fight over a fiercely competitive college textbook rental market. Both Chegg and BookRenter work on a similar principal – students are able to save money by loaning textbooks for a fixed duration, usually a semester, and end up spending only the fraction of the cost of outright purchases. Textbooks are expensive, and often have a limited lifespan – these attributes, combined with a market of poor students looking to save a few dollars, have resulted in the textbook rental market exploding in recent years. BookRenter claims a competitive advantage over Chegg and others by offering more flexible loan schedules and faster delivery (they offer next-day delivery on many titles, and use UPS). The system is simple: a student searches for a book on the website using a title or ISBN, and places an order by selecting a rental period and delivery option. The book(s) are delivered complete with return UPS labels for easy shipping. BookRenter was founded in 2008, and is based in Campbell, California. The new round of funding to be announced tomorrow is the first significant round of financing that the company has raised. There are not many points in the market where BookRenter is able to squeeze out significant differentiation – for college students, it comes down to size of catalog, delivery speed and price. Chegg has raised enough capital to fund a large-scale, low-margin market grab. Despite being a recent entrant in the market and having a very significant and heavily-capitalized competitor in Chegg, BookRenter has managed to sprout up and see strong growth. One of these companies is likely to become the Netflix of textbook rentals. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Source: TechCrunch | 22 Nov 2009 | 11:52 pm Textbook Rental Market Heats Up: BookRenter Raises $6M Series AEarlier this month college textbook rental company Chegg raised $112M as part of a combined Series D and debt round, bringing the total raised by the company to a massive $144M. Competitor BookRenter...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 22 Nov 2009 | 11:52 pm Does Second-Hand Smoke Really Void Apple's Warranty? - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 22 Nov 2009 | 11:49 pm Shackleton's Antarctic whisky found Photo: PDVos In 1909, British explorer Ernest Shackleton aborted an attempt to reach the south pole. He abandoned two cases of scotch at base camp. A century on, we've found it. Whyte & Mackay, the drinks group that now owns McKinlay and Co., has asked for a sample of the 100-year-old scotch for a series of tests that could decide whether to relaunch the now-defunct Scotch. Workers from New Zealand's Antarctic Heritage Trust will use special drills to reach the crates, frozen in Antarctic ice under the Nimrod Expedition hut near Cape Royds.Thought discovered in 2006, conservation guidelines impose strict rules on how the ice-embedded bottles may be recovered. Whyte & Mackay's master blender says it will taste extactly as it did 100 years ago. Company Wants To Drill For Whiskey Lost In Antarctic [CBS]  Source: Boing Boing | 22 Nov 2009 | 11:45 pm Shackleton's Antarctic whisky foundPhoto: PDVos In 1909, British explorer Ernest Shackleton aborted an attempt to reach the south pole. He abandoned two cases of scotch at base camp. A century on, we've found it. Whyte & Mackay,...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 22 Nov 2009 | 11:45 pm Modded UX490 UMPC Shows Off Years of Community DevelopmentAn anonymous reader writes "The community at www.MicroPCTalk.com have spent the last few years devising all sorts of mods and tweaks for the Sony VAIO UX-series UMPC. Now they've thrown nearly all of their major breakthroughs into one machine. Using the latest UX model (UX490) as the base, the original SSD has been swapped for a speedy 128GB SSD, the CPU has been unsoldered from the mobo and replaced with a Core 2 Duo U7700 (making this probably the smallest computer to use said CPU). The original EDGE module has been removed and carefully put in it's place is an E169 Huawei terminal which provides up to 7.2mbps 3G (HSDPA), voice, and texting. On top of this, the unit quad-boots Mac OS X, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP (and the Huawei terminal works under Mac OS X as well)."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 22 Nov 2009 | 11:27 pm 7 Windows 7 Printer Installa ... - PC Magazine
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 22 Nov 2009 | 10:58 pm Bing Tries To Buy The News
Rupert Murdoch is pointing a gun to Google’s head, and Microsoft is helping him pull back the trigger. For the past few weeks, Murdoch and his officers at News Corp. have been very vocal about their distaste for Google and their desire to lead other media companies in a boycott of sorts. Murdoch keeps threatening to stop letting Google index the WSJ.com and his other media sites, and wants other news sites to join him in this self-imposed silence. The folks at Microsoft’s Bing think this is a great idea. Not only that, but the FT reports that Microsoft is in fact in discussions with News Corp. and other publishers about the possibility of paying them to remove their sites from Google’s search index. This report comes on the heels of a meeting in Europe where Bing dangled the prospect of premium spots in search results to publishers and outright money for search R&D. Microsoft is not afraid to buy search market share, which is what it’s doing with the Yahoo search deal and even its Cashback program. But with these latest talks, it is literally trying to buy the news, or at least exclusive access to the news. Bing can’t buy all the news, it can only buy certain brands. If Bing can somehow become the only place you can find news results and working links to the Wall Street Journal and other top papers such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the LA Times, for instance, that would be a big reason to switch for a lot of folks. But it’s not clear how much Bing would have to pay the news companies of the world for them to give up all the traffic Google sends them in return for a fraction of that traffic and some cash. Even Google couldn’t afford to strike such deals. Says Murdoch, of Google, “If they were to pay everybody for everything they took from every newspaper in the world, and every magazine, they wouldn’t have any profits left.” In order to actually make a dent in Google’s market share, Bing would have to pay such exorbitant sums to so many different news companies that it would be difficult to recoup its investment. Bing certainly get some marketing buzz out of any such move, but that’s about it. The big problem with a search engine trying to buy market share by buying parts of the news is that information spreads so quickly these days, exclusives last about 30 seconds. That information will end up on a site that is indexed by Google. Or the same news will be broken by someone else on the Web before the WSJ.com even gets to it. Exclusive indexing goes against the Web’s inherent openness. Companies that try to curtail that openness don’t last long on the Web. Image via PhotoXpress. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
Source: TechCrunch | 22 Nov 2009 | 10:29 pm Newspaper circulation may be worse than it looks (AP)AP - While U.S. newspapers are losing subscribers at a staggering rate, a few dailies stand out because their circulation is rising. But they aren't necessarily selling more copies.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm AOL PREVIEWS NEW BRAND IDENTITY FOR ITS FUTURE AS AN INDEPENDENT CONTENT DRIVEN COMPANYNEW Aol.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm Nov. 23, 1963: Doctor Who Materializes on BBCDoctor Who's on first this date in 1963. Who can explain it. Who can tell you why.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 22 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm Backstage Footage With Twitter COO Dick CostoloWe had a great interview with Twitter COO Dick Costolo at the Real-Time CrunchUp on Friday. Costolo always gives the audience a few good nuggets of news and handles the more difficult questions with ease. He’s a pro.
One thing Costolo does clear up – even though I’ve known him for five years now, I apparently have been mispronouncing his name the whole time. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
Source: TechCrunch | 22 Nov 2009 | 9:46 pm KT to Sell IPhone in South Korea (PC World)PC World - South Korean carrier KT will start selling the iPhone this month, the company said Monday, bringing the hit device to another Asian country.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 22 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pm Murdoch-Microsoft deal in the works
Microsoft is ready to pay Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. to remove its news content from Google, according to the Financial Times. Microsoft has also approached other "big online publishers" with similar deals.
"One website publisher approached by Microsoft said that the plan 'puts enormous value on content if search engines are prepared to pay us to index with them",' wrote the FT's Matthew Garrahan. "... Microsoft's interest is being interpreted as a direct assault on Google because it puts pressure on the search engine to start paying for content." This he calls a "ray of light to the newspaper industry." Now, every site in Google is currently there by choice. As it could conceivably change its mind and shank Balldock and Murmer with fair use, let's assume that they're planning on exclusivity. End-user license agreements, paywalls, spider-blocking, that sort of thing. Maybe even encryption and plugins and other delights. Sayonara, RSS! In any case, participating publishers have to become invisible to search engines who don't pay up. Think of all the gambles encoded in that decision: that the U.S. ad market won't rebound enough to go it alone. That subsidized foreign competitors like the BBC aren't a domestic threat. That people will change their surfing habits to find them. And so on. But there's one gamble which does make some twisted sense: that Microsoft is an irrational consumer. It's easy to believe that it may spew senseless riches into publishers' pockets, radically distorting the news market, just to spite Google. In this case, Murdoch could be wringing cash out of a market he knows is doomed to implosion or assimilation. And he doesn't even have to be an evil genius, either: he just has to be smarter than Steve Ballmer.
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 22 Nov 2009 | 9:09 pm PROCON Partners With Joe Gibbs DrivenKNOXVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- 2009 PROCON, Inc. ("PROCON"), the US leader in Mobile Resource Management, proudly announces a new partnership with JGD Investors, Inc. (Joe Gibbs Driven).Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Nov 2009 | 9:01 pm EXCHANGE MOBILE enters into potential third party strategic allianceWEST PALM BEACH, FL, Nov.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 22 Nov 2009 | 8:22 pm TurkeyTimer App Helps With Your Bird-Cooking Needs
To use TurkeyTimer, just enter the weight of your turkey, whether it’s stuffed, your desired internal temperature, and whether you plan to baste the turkey. Just to clarify, basting is a cooking technique, and usually involves cooking meat with either its own juices or some type of preparation such as a sauce or marinade. (Thanks, Wikipedia) So get ready for your holiday meals with TurkeyTimer, which of course is available on the App Store today for $2.99. [iTunes Link] Pro Tip: Use TurkeyTimer to impress your in-laws during Thanksgiving dinner. I do not speak from personal experience. Crunch Network: TechCrunch obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies
Source: MobileCrunch | 22 Nov 2009 | 8:20 pm After 35 Years, Another Message Sent From Arecibo0xdeadbeef writes "Two weeks ago, MIT artist-in-residence Joe Davis used the Arecibo radio telescope to send a message to three stars in honor of the 35th anniversary of the famous Drake-Sagan transmission to M13 in 1974. It was apparently allowed but not endorsed by the director of the facility, and used a jury-rigged signal source on what will now be known as the 'coolest iPhone in the world.' The message encoded a DNA sequence, but no word yet on whether it disabled any alien shields. You can get the low-down on Centauri Dreams: Part 1, Part 2."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 22 Nov 2009 | 8:11 pm Meet the New AOL Logo: "Aol." (Plus the Press Release) [MediaMemo]The new AOL will differ than the old one in several ways: New boss, smaller headcount, different owners. So, of course, it also gets a new logo. This one will look awfully familiar, since it is the same trio of well-known letters, and if you’re not paying attention you won’t notice a thing. But look closely:
See? Yup: Two lower-case letters and a period. The idea is that the type will remain consistent, but will be “revealed” when it sits on top of different images. The old AOL swoosh triangle goes away, although its sort-of iconic “running man” will stick around in some form, the company said. Here’s a canned quote from CEO Tim Armstrong about what this means: “Our new identity is uniquely dynamic. Our business is focused on creating world-class experiences for consumers and AOL is centered on creative and talented people–employees, partners, and advertisers. We have a clear strategy that we are passionate about and we plan on standing behind the AOL brand as we take the company into the next decade.” Branding outfit Wolff Olins gets credit (and money) for figuring this one out. But let’s see what investors think of the work when the company spins off from Time Warner (TWX) next month. Here is the full press release:
Source: All Things Digital | 22 Nov 2009 | 7:51 pm Roku adds more 'channels' of video and other digital content - San Jose Mercury News
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 22 Nov 2009 | 7:46 pm PASSINGS: Konstantin Feoktistov - Los Angeles Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 22 Nov 2009 | 7:30 pm Will Chrome OS Lead to More Powerful Win7 Netbooks?
|
 TG Daily | Scientist: Leak of climate e-mails appalling The Associated Press LONDON — A leading climate change scientist whose private e-mails are included in thousands of documents that were stolen by hackers and posted online said Sunday the leaks may have been aimed at undermining next month's global climate summit in ... Hamilton: Why media tell climate story poorly Hacked E-Mail Is New Fodder for Climate Dispute Hacked E-Mails Fuel Global Warming Debate |
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 guardian.co.uk | East Antarctic ice began to melt faster in 2006-study Reuters LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - East Antarctica's ice started to melt faster from 2006, which could cause sea levels to rise sooner than anticipated, according to a study by scientists at the University of Texas. In the study published in ... East Antarctic ice sheet may be losing mass Ancient ice provides clues to future climate change Antarctic ice loss vaster, faster than thought: study |
"The AP was determined to get the first copy," Oreskes [a senior managing editor] wrote, detailing how the writers learned a store had "inadvertently placed the book on sale five days before its official Nov. 17 release date." "They bought a copy, ripped it from its spine and scanned it into the system so it could be read and electronically searched," he wrote.As Rebecca Tushnet notes, this is fair use. And so is quoting the AP.
Actually, the AP likes fair use after all (via @CathyGellis)
Going West is a beautiful short film illustrating the worlds in a book, incorporating papercraft to make something dreamlike and wonderful. It was animated by Andersen M Studio.
NZ Book Council - Going West
(via @GreatDismal)
Source: Boing Boing | 22 Nov 2009 | 11:51 am
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Yesterday I spent the day at TechCrunch’s ‘Real Time Crunch-up’. This despite having no idea what a ‘Crunch-up’ actually is.
The important thing is that Erick had asked me to help moderate his panel about marketing within ‘real-time streams’, which is a subject close to my heart. So close in fact, that had he asked me to help moderate a panel about child rape and its place in the public school system I couldn’t have been keener to weigh in.
I’ll get back to my own contribution in a moment, but first, as a courtesy to my paymasters, I should probably relate a few of my ‘key learnings’ from the event.
1) There is such a thing as a ‘key learning’, a phrase which I heard at least three times during the day, and which I gather is what an ‘opinion’ becomes when spoken by an idiot.
2) Gabe Rivera from TechMeme loves bookmarks. How else to explain his glee when he discovered that each of the four million free copies of Marc Benioff’s ‘Salesforce.com Playbook‘ scattered about the conference contained a little strip of cardboard sponsored by Amazon. “Cool. I can use these for my other books,” he exclaimed, removing each bookmark and pocketing it before carefully placing the books back on the table.
3) Even with a back-cover quote from Neil Young, you apparently can’t give away Marc Benioff’s ‘Salesforce.com Playbook‘. At the start of the day, there were towering piles of the thing on every surface – one free for every attendee. By the end of the day: towering piles of the thing on every surface, ready to be returned to the publisher. Perhaps Benioff should have taken a leaf out of his own playbook: Play #42 reads “Don’t Dis Your Product With A Discount”, with Benioff explaining that “I wouldn’t even give my own grandmother a discount.” Yet apparently he wouldn’t think twice about giving the whole book away to a room full of the only people who are likely to actually buy the thing. (My book didn’t win its Congressional Medal Of Honor by being given away free).
4) At TechCrunch conferences, even the food is patriotic. After the American flag next to the judges table debacle at TechCrunch50, I was worried that Arrington might shy away from overt displays of Americanness at future events. Not so – inside the meal box provided to each attendee was a disposable handwipe, packaged inside a little stars and stripes pouch. To reaffirm my love of this country, I stuck one of the pouches to the front of the podium on the stage.
5) Dogs frighten room service waiters, but love Gabe Rivera from Techmeme.
And so to my panel – and to be honest, I was a little anxious at the thought of it given that my fellow participants were Erick and five marketing experts – Sean Rad of Ad.ly, Ryan Amos of DailyBooth, Jesse Engle of CoTweet, Philip Nelson of NewTek and Robin Bechtel who acts as ‘digital agent’ to Britney Spears amongst others.
Erick was on my side, of course, but even he and I have a checkered history, due in large part to the fact that I keep finding excuses to bring up his Last.fm story. Keen to smooth things over beforehand, I went via CBS’s San Francisco HQ on my way to the conference and picked up a Last.fm tshirt for him. You know, as a peace offering. He didn’t wear it, but I know he appreciated the gesture. (”You fucker,” he said, which I gather is New York for “thank you.”)
Even with Erick placated, I was still terrified by the marketers. I’m an editorial person and so these are not My People – in fact I’m obliged to close my ears whenever the subject of monetizing my words is raised. What I do is Good and Pure; what they do is Bad and Dirty.
Worse still, these weren’t even the usual kind of marketers – people who sell banners and display ads and the like – but rather a new breed who made their living by trying to slip commercial messages into our every day interactions. Take Bechtel – her most recent professional triumph was convincing a gaggle of Perez’ Hilton’s celebrity friends – Lady Gaga, Katy Perry et al – to promote a new Warner recording artist by Tweeting the words “Who is Sliimy?” to their armies of followers. Sure enough, within a few hours, the question made it to the top of the trending topics list, presumably resulting in a whole load of record sales for Sliimy. To Bechtel this is a great result, whereas to my mind the idea of one Warner artist whoring and shilling for another that they hadn’t even heard of is just about the most hideous abuse of fandom since Jordy Chandler.
(Sliimy, by the way, is pronounced ‘Slimmy’ rather than the more appropriate ‘Slimy’. Also, he’s French, famous, and entirely irrelevant to the wider digital conversation. I expect he’ll be at Le Web.)
And then there was Ad.ly’s Sean Rad. If you’re not familiar with Ad.ly’s product, then put a pencil between your teeth and read this profile of them by the NYT’s Brad Stone. I quote… “Tuesday was another typical day for John Chow, blogger and Internet entrepreneur in Vancouver, British Columbia. Mr. Chow treated his 50,000 Twitter followers to a photograph of his lunch (barbecued chicken and French fries), discussed the weather in Vancouver and linked to a new post on his Internet business blog. Then he earned $200 by telling his fans where they could buy M&M’s with customized faces, messages and colors.”
Get thee behind me, Ad.ly.
During the panel, Rad explained more about his business and his view that Twitter streams should be seen as ‘real pieces of content’ that should therefore be ‘monetized’. In response to Erick’s suggestion that people might not welcome this ‘monetization’ of their conversations, he responded that many of the company’s advertitweets included an appeal for followers to ‘please retweet’ the ads posted in their friends’ streams. According to Rad, thousands of people did precisely that, proving that people were embracing the ads. I politely disagreed, pointing out that people – by and large – are fucking idiots who will retweet anything if you tell them to. A couple of weeks ago, as a comment against the ridiculousness of those who beg their followers to ‘please RT’ the most mundane of messages, I twittered the message “I’m going for lunch. Please RT!”
And yet, despite the jovial back-and-forth – at one point I accidentally called Rad a dick – we actually managed to end the session with something approaching a consensus. The trigger for this consensus was Erick inviting Robert Scoble to come on stage and explain his vision of the future of monetized twittering.
Scooby’s vision is the ‘Super Tweet‘, a taggable, more contextual tweet that would enable advertisers to serve commercial messages based on what people were already talking about. Critically, these messages would appear in a separate panel in the Twitter client, rather than invading the stream itself. It’s a vision that seemed at odds with that of Twitter’s COO Dick Costollo who, speaking earlier in the conference, hinted that the company’s upcoming ad strategy might blur the old church and state lines. “We want to do something that’s organic and in the flow of the way people already use Twitter” he said, “and not Here’s the tweets and here are the ads.’”
Scoble argued that “you can display ads in the Twitter client but you don’t fuck with editorial” – and as such his idea seemed totally fine to me – why shouldn’t Starbucks deliver ads to people who tweet about going for coffee, as long as those ads appear in a clearly demarked window? And, hell, why not go one stage further: perhaps some of that revenue could get kicked back to the people making the tweets – the “content creators”? That would certainly be better than sponsored tweets.
It’s a testament to Scoble’s vision, and the marketers’ passion that I left the stage agreeing that, even if we disagree on format – there was nothing inherently wrong with monetizing the Twitter stream through targeted advertising. To his credit, Rad even offered to share with me some of their raw numbers so I could see how people interacted with the various commercial messages generated through Ad.ly.
I’d say my feeling of agreement lasted about ten minutes before it was replaced with one of searing outrage.
What the hell was I thinking? Nothing wrong with monetizing the Twitter stream through targeted advertising? There’s everything wrong with it. And here’s why…
A tweet isn’t a “piece of content”. It isn’t editorial. No matter whether we’re talking about what we’re having for lunch or suggesting a new movie or sharing a piece of news, what we’re really doing is having a good old-fashioned conversation. Following people on Twitter is like organising the world’s largest cocktail party – we’ve decided who’s opinions we trust, and we’ve invited them to come into our homes and talk to us about things they are genuinely interested in. The moment people start screwing around with that principle, the whole system collapses.
Just look at the conceptual abortion that is the new retweet functionality: everyone in their right mind hates it, but few of us can quite explain why. Let me try. When someone retweeted under the old system, it was the equivalent of standing at the cocktail party and saying to our friends “oh, Dave said something interesting the other day…” and then going on to quote Dave, along with our own comments on what Dave had to say. The quoting of Dave was contextual and appropriate.
By contrast, the new retweet function is the equivalent of us snapping our fingers and making Dave himself suddenly appear in the middle of the party. And, then, without so much as an introduction, Dave starts talking. No context, no invitation – just some crazy dude called Dave talking at us, at our own party.
Adding sponsored tweets will have an even more poisonous effect on the party. There we are, listening to a friend talking about the weather or sports and suddenly – boom – he’s trying to sell us a personalised pack of M&Ms. It doesn’t matter if he explains that he’s been paid by the company to promote their products – the fact is, there’s some dickhead at a party trying to sell us M&Ms. He’s even more unwelcome than Dave.
One of the most popular ideas amongst social marketers is the idea that we will listen to commercial endorsements from our friends because we trust them. Thus, by putting brands into our friends’ mouths, we will somehow trust those brands more by extension. Not for the first time, the marketers have got it backwards. The reason we trust our friends so strongly is precisely because we know that their opinions are not commercially motivated. The moment that ceases to be the case – or we even suspect that it has ceased to be the case – the bond of trust between friends is destroyed. The cocktail party is ruined, society crumbles, the apes take over the world.
Separating the ads from the conversation might be a less egregious solution but it doesn’t alter the fact that our words are triggering the appearance of commercial messages on the walls of a party. Inevitably marketers will try to further affect these messages by paying commission to popular tweeters, and the less principled of our friends will sign up to whichever ad networks provide the best incentives for monetizing their updates. From then on they’ll be constantly wondering if there’s a way to wedge in a brand, or a product that could bring them a few cents into their tweets. Even if they think they’re just making pocket money from the things they’d talk about anyway, their conversations will become inevitably altered by the presence of commercial influences.
Meantime, the anti-commercial-minded amongst us will resist this new development by avoiding using certain brand names in our conversations, knowing that they are simply giving an excuse for those brands to make money from our friends. Instead of Starbucks and McDonalds, we’ll be sure to criticize S*arbucks and McD%nalds so as to deprive them of the click-throughs. And yet by the simple conscious act of avoiding commercial pressures, we’re forced to consider them – and so the spontaneity and purity of the conversation is destroyed. Either way, the cocktail party is ruined, society crumbles, the apes take over the world.
Our blogs are already affiliated-linked up to the eyeballs, our TV shows are product-placed to hell, radio has succumbed to payola, even our schools are brought to you by the letters COCA COL and A. Human conversation is the last area of communication to hold out against the relentless march of commercialisation and it’s our duty, as humans, to make sure it stays that way. So, screw consensus. And shame on me for starting to lean towards it yesterday. Give me ad-free conversation, or give me death.
(Please retweet.)
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
FROM GAMERTELL - Sony has outlined its plans to bring 3D gaming to the PS3 within the next couple years. It also unveiled a new strategy to bring the PlayStation Network to new devices.
MORE »
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile
Sprint has announced it will kick off the holiday shopping season with the launch of the Sanyo Incognito. The latest offering from Kyocera is a sleek messaging phone with a full QWERTY keyboard. Its selling point however is the glossy Titanium Black mirrored external surface that boasts a glow through keypad and OLED display. The glow through keypad is further set apart by the vibrating feedback it gives as each button is pressed. Inside, along with the full keyboard is a 2.6’ QVGA display.
The handset is designed for Sprint’s EVDO network and also offers video and music players, a 2.0 MP camera, a MicroSD slot, and provides easy access to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, GPS Navigation, email, and other popular apps.
“I’m sure Incognito will be topping many holiday gift lists this season,” said Atsushi (Andy) Kodera, vice president and deputy general manager at Kyocera Communications Inc. “It’s such a clean, sophisticated looking phone but there are so many features at your fingertips when you turn on the glow-through display and open the QWERTY flip. With its amazing combination of style and functionality for less than $50, it’s about as foolproof a gift idea as you’ll see this year.”
The Incognito will be on sale starting Cyber Monday (11/30) and will sell for $49.99 after a $50 MIR and with a 2 year contract. There’s no word yet if Sprint will require one of their Simply Everything plans as well.
Read [BusinessWire]
FROM GAMERTELL - If you’re interested in the Walmart 2009 Black Friday sale ad, pick up the Sunday, November 22, 2009 edition of your local paper. The Walmart ad may be in it - it’s in the Sunday edition of the Chicago Tribune.
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Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
This petition has been set up in response to the Government's proposal to cut off internet access to those who are caught illegally downloading copyrighted files. We think this has one fundamental flaw, as illegal filesharers will simply hack into other peoples WiFi networks to do their dirty work. This will result in innocent people being disconnected from the internet. What's more, such a punishment should be dealt with in the proper way, in a court of law. This guilty until proven innocent approach violates basic human rights.
Tell your friends.
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Email / IM, Smartphones, Mobile
Can any phone hold onto its price longer than one month? We’ve seen several phones as of late launch at one price only to be blown out of the water by another retailer just weeks or even days. The price chopper strikes again, this time with the Motorola Droid which is now $119, down from $199.
The Motorola Droid is Verizon’s hottest smartphone of the moment. Running Google Android 2.0, the phone features several new features not the least of which is Google Navigation providing turn by turn directions for free. The phone’s slide out keyboard and extreme customization are among its chief stand-out features.
Dell offers the Droid through Simplexity, an authorized reseller and carriers the same restrictions to new customer and 2-year contract. The price includes the device as well as FedEx shipping.
Interested? Just drop the Android in the Dell shopping cart, enter in your zip code and the price is shown at $119. Sweet.
Product page: [Dell] via [IntoMobile]
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
FROM GAMERTELL - Your Sunday, November 22, 2009 paper for this week may contain a Best Buy ad proclaiming a pre-Black Friday 2009 sale. There are a number of PC and Mac games on sale, and Wii, Wii game and Wii accessory offers announced.
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Marc Owens's augmented reality project "Avatar Machine" puts its users in VR helmets that display the world around them as though they were playing a third-person game, so that their own body is seen from behind. Owens theorizes that "The system potentially allows for a diminished sense of social responsibility, and could lead the user to demonstrate behaviors normally reserved for the gaming environment."
Avatar Machine (via Beyond the Beyond)
Sex Advice From Dungeons & Dragons Players (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)
What's the best way to pick up a D&D player?
If you're a geek and you see a girl geek browsing the comic books and players' manuals, don't make assumptions. Nothing irritates me more than having someone tell me what I'm holding. I know what I'm holding. Aside from the fact that I came in here specifically looking for it, I CAN READ. Instead, try a trivia tidbit or a commentary on the quality/author/whatever. Your goal is to sound interested, not condescending. For the non-geek, we're really not that strange and different, but we tend to be a little defensive. Be willing to listen, stumble through some conversation you don't have the lingo for. Don't mock. Unless your romantic candidate starts talking about their characters in detail. No one finds that interesting. Really. Get out while you still can.
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Annoyed because you have to leave your e-mail inbox every time you would like to respond to someone else’s 
The much hyped music streaming service 
After the conference I reviewed some of the backstage footage we shot of Costolo before he went on stage for the formal interview. We ask lots of great questions – about Twitter’s revenue, business model, details of the search deals, chances of getting bought next year, and the 
Thanksgiving is coming up, and it’s almost time to get your turkey ready for the festivities. And wouldn’t you know, there’s an app for that. 
Your 
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If you ever sit next to me on a plane you will notice that I have a small ritual that I prepare every time I reach cruising altitude. I begin by pulling out my iPod touch and then 
Yet another BlackBerry is now available with AT&T, this time its the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and it is carrying a $199.99 price tag. Unfortunately that price does come after a $100 mail-in-rebate, which means those interested in the Bold 9700 will need to shell out $299.99. That and, as standard practice you will also need to sign a two-year commitment.