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OS Xbox Pro: The Ultimate Hackintosh?
When PC lover Will Urbina was finally forced to switch to a Mac by market forces (he’s a video editor, and most everyone these days wants you to use Final Cut Pro), he didn’t give up easily. In fact, he spent the next few months kicking and screaming his way through a rather painful process, a process which finally gave birth to a mutant: The OS Xbox Pro. Faced with “the distasteful choice of either setting foot in an Apple store” or building his own, Urbina went the home-made route, building a PC into a first-gen Xbox Dev Kit he picked up for pennies, and then hackintoshing it. The case of the Dev Kit is taller than the retail box, which turned out to be helpful: Urbina wanted to match the specs of a $2,500 Mac Pro. With some literal hacking and rebuilding, he managed to squeeze in four hard drives (a pair of 7200rpm, 500GB drives in RAID 0 configuration for Final Cut, plus slower 160GB drives for both OS X and Windows 7), external USB SATA, and Firewire ports and even a rather odd-looking Apple logo on the top. The hackintoshing aspect was taken care of by the amazing EFi-X dongle, a little plug-in widget that lets you install a retail copy of OS X onto any PC hardware. Urbina made a few curious decisions, especially given that OS X 10.6 is moving towared moving much of its heavy lifting to the GPU, or graphics card. Because the case is so small (even an optical drive was left out), Urbina had to use a 300 Watt power supply, 100 Watts short of the juice needed for his chosen NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT card. Instead, he popped in a lesser card and beefed up the CPU to an Intel Core 2 Duo Q9550s. This reliance on the CPU to do the work clearly shows his PC bias. The specs:
Not bad for $1,500. Urbina says that the equivalent Mac Pro would run to $4,500. We think it a little odd that a professional would go down such a route to build a work machine, though: If your wages rely on a working machine, a hackintosh is a little scary. Still, this thing looks awesome, and with all that hardware inside such a tiny case, we imagine that the fans will stay true to the noisy, leaf-blowing Xbox original. OS Xbox Pro product page [Will U Design] See Also:
Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 30 Nov 2009 | 3:37 am How 'Modern Warfare 2' Vanquished 'Harry Potter' - AdAge.com
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Nov 2009 | 3:25 am Features Chrome For Mac Beta Will Be Missing
It’s been known for a while that Google would have to trim some features from the initial Chrome for Mac beta launch to get it out before self-imposed “end of the year” deadline. But what’s on the chopping block? A scan through the Chromium logs on Google Code seems to reveal what will and won’t be a go for Chrome for Mac beta. So what’s out? The biggest feature that is currently not slated to be done in time for “milestone 4″ (aka Chrome version 4, which Chrome for Mac beta will be, at least initially) is the Bookmark Manager. Current Chromium (and dev Chrome) testers will know that this option has been grayed out forever on the latest builds of the browser, and as of September, it was moved from a M4 (milestone 4) to a M5 target. It would appear that Google will launch Chrome for Mac beta without it working. Another feature moved to M5 is App Mode. This is the Chome mode that allows you to run web apps in their own basic browser window. Fans of Fluid, a free program for OS X that works with Safari, will appreciate this being built into the browser eventually, but it doesn’t appear that will be ready for the beta launch either. Likewise, the Task Manager has been moved from M4 to M5, but recent chatter about it makes it seem like it’s possible that it could be done in time. Gears, which allows for offline web app functionality, is completely off the table as a Chrome for Mac feature right now, according to project lead Mike Pinkerton (he actually noted this back in July). Apparently, Google plans to push ahead with full HTML5 support rather than rely on Gears, at least on the Mac. Sync for Mac (bookmark syncing) is another feature that currently works on the PC version of Chrome, but is slated to be a M5 project for the Chrome for Mac team. Still, this thread shows that significant progress has been made on it, and it looks like you can even enable it to try it out, but it won’t be on by default yet. Multi-touch gestures that are built into OS X and used by MacBook trackpads and the new Magic Mouse are another M5 project. The two listed gestures, “Three-finger-swipe up” and “Pinch in/out to zoom in/out” are still being debated as to what they should actually do. While one of the highly touted features of Snow Leopard is that it’s 64-bit, Chrome for Mac beta will not be initially supporting it. In fact, this may not even be a M5 project, it all depends on how well Google’s V8 JavaScript engine is able to perform in a 64-bit environment, apparently. Full extension support will also not be a part of Chrome for Mac beta, Pinkerton tweeted out tonight. While many extensions are working in the latest builds of Chromium for Mac, some are apparently not. Pinkerton promises that the team will get to this “soon,” but needed to “draw a line somewhere.” Another feature currently disabled in the Mac builds of Chromium is Full Screen mode. It would seem this too has been pushed to M5. So those appear to be the big features that will be missing with the launch of the Chrome for Mac beta. There’s a larger list of other M5 projects here. Again, Chrome for Mac beta will be a M4 (version 4) release, so all of these appear to be off the table for now. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors 
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Nov 2009 | 3:20 am Royal Society offers all-time top boffinry selection online - Register
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Nov 2009 | 3:17 am Apple next gen iPhone appears in logs - TG Daily
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Nov 2009 | 3:13 am Large Hadron Collider sets world energy record - BBC News
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Nov 2009 | 3:02 am Samsung Beats 2009 Handset Forecast on Touchscreen Demand - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Nov 2009 | 3:00 am Walmart.com Announces 'Cyber Monday' Online-Only Specials, Available Now and Every Day This Week Through Friday at www.walmart.comUnbelievable prices on top online gifts with savings up to 50 percent, and many items available for Free Shipping with Site to Store Even more, Walmart.com offers 97-Cent Shipping...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 3:00 am TopCoder Names Nicholas M. Donofrio to Company's Board of DirectorsFormer IBM Technology Strategy Team Leader Joins Executive Roster of World's Largest Competitive Software Development Community GLASTONBURY, Conn., Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ --...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 3:00 am Diamond Microwave Devices Closes GBP1.3m Commercialisation RoundLEEDS, England, November 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Diamond Microwave Devices (DMD), a spin out from the diamond electronics team in Element Six Technologies (E6), has closed a...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 3:00 am CERN: Big Bang machine sets power recordScientists say the world's largest atom smasher has broken the record for proton acceleration, sending beams of the particles at 1.18 trillion electron volts. A statement by the EuropeanSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 2:51 am CERN: Big Bang machines sets power recordScientists say the world's largest atom smasher has broken the record for proton acceleration, sending beams of the particles at 1.18 trillion electron volts. A statement by the EuropeanSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 2:50 am In Motor Learning, New Brain Connections Form RapidlyScience Daily has a report on research demonstrating directly that new connections begin to form between brain cells almost immediately as animals learn a new task. A team lead by researchers at UC Santa Cruz performed "...detailed observations of the rewiring processes that take place in the brain during motor learning. The researchers studied mice as they were trained to reach through a slot to get a seed. They observed rapid growth of... synapses between nerve cells in the motor cortex... The study used mice that had been genetically altered to make a fluorescent protein within certain neurons in the brain. The researchers were then able to use a special microscopy technique (two-photon microscopy) to obtain clear images of those neurons near the surface of the brain. The noninvasive imaging technique enabled them to view changes in individual brain cells of the mice before, during, and after the mice were trained in the seed-reaching task."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 30 Nov 2009 | 2:48 am Climate research e-mail controversy simmers - USA Today
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Nov 2009 | 2:46 am Google Checkout Now Deals In Holiday Savings
And while Microsoft has been making many online shoppers happy the past few days with the Bing Cashback system, Google has now set up a special ‘Checkout Deals’ page where you can get discounts on products purchased using Mountain View’s Internet payment system. Savings range from $5 to $20 and involve hundreds of participating stores, including Buy.com, Petco and Toys”R”Us. I’m left wondering why that Deals page wasn’t launched a week ago. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Source: TechCrunch | 30 Nov 2009 | 2:46 am Chocolate PhonesSpotted on The Raw Feed, NTT Docomo's cell phones designed to look like melting chocolate candy bars.Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 2:29 am Large Hadron Collider Makes History with 1.18 TeV ProtonsThe Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has made history and become most powerful particle accelerator on the planet. In the early hours of Monday morning local time, the LHC accelerated protons to a record-breaking 1.18 TeV (tera-electronvolts). The previous record sat ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 30 Nov 2009 | 2:18 am What's New For the 2011 Mustang? LA Auto Show Preview - Popular Mechanics
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Nov 2009 | 2:17 am Five Favorite New World Notes Posts From Last WeekAre popular, bruised-up female avatar skins misogynist, or making a feminist point? Be sure to read the fascinating conversation in Comments. Second Life pricing policies seem to be sorely hampered by...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 2:11 am Nokia plans just one Linux phone next year: source (Reuters)Reuters - The world's top cellphone maker, Nokia, plans to install Linux software on just one new smartphone next year, a source with direct knowledge of Nokia's product roadmap told Reuters.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Nov 2009 | 2:05 am The UK Digital Economy Bill is Deeply Flawed, Says Don TapscottLONDON, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- "As the person who coined the term The Digital Economy in my 1995 book of that title I do feel obliged to comment on the UK government'sSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 2:00 am C-motech (CEO Jae-Man Lee, www.cmotech.com) Released a Dual-Mode 'U-301' Modem That Supports 3G CDMA and Mobile WiMax in the Last Half of This YearSEOUL, South Korea, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- 'U-301' is a dual-mode USB modem that supports both 3G technology CDMA and 4G technology WiMax 2.0. Compared with the...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:49 am UPDATE 2-Takeda: eyeing M&A for generics in emerging markets* Takeda head: eyeing M&A for generic biz in emerging marketsSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:39 am UPDATE 1-Creston H1 headline pretax profit rises; rev falls* No interim dividend; to review final dividend paymentSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:38 am Lotos turns on new unit on Dec.18WARSAW, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Poland's No. 2 refiner Lotos is planning to turn on a new unit on Dec. 18, the company's spokesman said on Monday.Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:37 am Inside An Emirates A380By Evan Ackerman When the gigantihugenormous Airbus A380 was still in the prototype and demonstration phase, there were all kinds of wild ideas about what manifestations opulence would get stuffed inside...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:33 am Sony: World’s first TransferJet-compatible LSI for fast data exchange are ready
TransferJet is a close-proximity wireless transfer technology that was introduced by Sony in 2008. Toshiba announced during IFA in Berlin this year they are planning to use the technology in their products soon. The idea is to let two electronic devices quickly exchange data, theoretically at up to 560 Mbps, just by bringing them close together (touch is possible, too). And today, Sony announced in Tokyo [press release in English] that the first LSIs supporting the standard will be shipped to manufacturers before December starts. The “CXD3267AGG” (pictured on the left) and the “CXD3268AGW” will cost $17.45 each. Sony says they managed to optimize the technology so that TransferJet can now be integrated into smaller electronic devices, too. The LSIs can be used by makers of cell phones, digital cameras, computers and HDDs. Toshiba and Sony are just two of the 19 companies of the so-called TransferJet Consortium Promoters. Other members include powerhouses such as Panasonic, Sharp or Samsung so it’s possible we’ll get to see a slew of new TransferJet-compatible electronic devices next year.
Source: CrunchGear | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:25 am Iain Banks and other prominent Scots call for reform of Royal Bank of Scotland: "Royal Bank of Sustainability"Iain Banks, the acclaimed Scottish sf and thriller writer, has joined with an illustrious list of prominent Scots in calling on the British government to reform the Royal Bank of Scotland. RBS received a titanic tax-funded bailout (much of which was diverted into a stupendous pension for Fred Goodwin, the bank's erstwhile CEO, who led it to ruin), which means that the taxpayer is now a major shareholder in the bank. But the bank is still refusing to lend to Britons who need mortgages, preferring instead to make dirty investments in climate-wrecking tar-sands in Alberta, as well as taking the astonishing step of loaning money to Kraft's, an American firm, which is trying to buy Cadbury's a British firm -- if Hershey's succeeds, then RBS will have funnelled British workers' pay into a loan that resulted in the shut-down of British factories and sent British jobs to America.More than 30 signatories, including Gordon Roddick, who founded the Body Shop with his late wife Anita, leading green campaigner Tony Juniper and Rev Ian Galloway, convenor of the Church of Scotland, take the government to task for failing to push RBS and the other bailed-out banks into supporting socially useful investments.Celebrities, MPs and clergy urge government to rein in RBS
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 Source: Boing Boing | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:15 am Iain Banks and other prominent Scots call for reform of Royal Bank of Scotland: "Royal Bank of Sustainability"Iain Banks, the acclaimed Scottish sf and thriller writer, has joined with an illustrious list of prominent Scots in calling on the British government to reform the Royal Bank of Scotland. RBS received...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:15 am Yahoo Mobile Head David Ko Takes Over Audience Job Too (But Mobile Product Development Moves Under Balogh) [BoomTown]
David Ko (pictured here), head of Yahoo’s mobile division, has also added the Internet giant’s vast media properties in the U.S. to his portfolio, according to several sources. BoomTown recently reported that Ko was the likely person to take over as North American Audience head at Yahoo (YHOO), reporting to U.S. EVP Hilary Schneider. With purview over programming and more for the main Yahoo media properties, such as News and Finance, he fills a slot left by the departure of Jeff Dossett in May. Since then, the key Yahoo content division has been run jointly by Jimmy Pitaro, who heads Vertical Audience Experiences for Yahoo, and Tim Mayer, who is in charge of Search & Social Applications, as well as the powerful homepage of Yahoo. Both now report to Ko, who joined Yahoo in 2000, sources said. But, in a related move, product development for mobile has moved from under Ko to CTO and EVP of Products Ari Balogh. A similar move of Yahoo’s media properties took place earlier this year, shifting tech key development responsibility to a global product organization at Yahoo’s HQ in Sunnyvale, Calif. Previously, as it has been done in mobile, such development had been mostly carried out by individual media properties. The argument for the shift posits that centralizing the product development of a Yahoo offerings drives efficiencies, saves money, eliminates redundancies and accelerates growth across the world. Those who do not like the idea think it is wrong to separate the development of a product from the programming, because the two are intricately dependent and need to be tweaked delicately. But, said one source, mobile has been deemed by CEO Carol Bartz as a “part of the core” at Yahoo, instead of more of an experimental offering it has been seen as internally. Thus, it apparently needs to be closely aligned to all product development going forward. Ironically, one of Yahoo’s more high-profile mobile efforts, its Yahoo Go mobile software application and portal that was launched to much fanfare at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas almost four years ago, will be shuttered on January 12, 2010. Now, under Ko, Yahoo’s mobile efforts have been centered around building apps for smartphones, although that market has become increasingly dominated by players such as Apple (AAPL) with its iPhone, Google (GOOG) and its Android effort and many others. Google also just bought an innovative mobile advertising company, AdMob, which gives it a head start in this nascent arena. Without its own device and a dominating strategy, Yahoo must use its Web heft to push its content into the mobile space. Presumably, that is the thinking behind giving Yahoo’s mobile and media properties the same boss. Ko, who has worked on a variety of areas at Yahoo, took over as SVP of Yahoo Mobile, after Marco Boerries left in late February as EVP of the Connected Device Division, which now does not exist under that name. He had run Yahoo’s mobile business in the Asia Pacific region. According to his Yahoo bio, before joining the company, Ko worked at Salomon Smith Barney as a senior associate and also as an analyst. He is a graduate of New York University’s Stern School of Business. Ko, who lives in San Francisco with his family, the bio notes, inexplicably “enjoys reading tech blogs.” Well, then, Dave, we hope you have enjoyed this post! Source: All Things Digital | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:13 am Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Get Free Pass From Potential Rivals [Voices]By Todd Bishop and Eric Engleman, Contributors, Tech Flash After watching the rise of YouTube, Microsoft (MSFT) launched its own Soapbox video site. After seeing Craigslist pull in huge amounts of traffic, the Redmond company launched its own online classifieds, Windows Live Expo. Its Evite competitor? That would be Windows Live Events. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:05 am Screenwriter Roger Avary Moved From Work Furlough Program to Jail After Tweeting Episode [Voices]By Raja Abdulrahim, Contributor, L.A. Times Blog “Pulp Fiction” co-screenwriter Roger Avary is behind bars at the Ventura County Jail today — several days after what is believed to be the writer/director’s tweeting revealed that he was serving his sentence for a fatal car crash in a furlough program rather than in jail. In September, Avary was sentenced to a year in jail for causing a car crash in Ojai that killed a passenger and injured Avary’s wife. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:04 am The Future of TV [Voices]By Brian Steinberg, Television Editor, Advertising Age In its heyday, “This is Your Life” was seen by a broad swath of viewers tuned into their Philcos all at once, never dreaming that someday it could be rebroadcast, paused live, accessed on another gadget, or that its entire run could be contained on a thin metal disc. Almost 50 years later, we’re almost similarly in the dark. Those Samsung flatscreens in our living room might still be the go-to device, but they are fast being joined by computer monitors, laptops, gaming consoles, iPods and mobile phones distributing content once solely accessed by TV, or in some cases, content that competes with TV. It’s conceivable—and probably inevitable—that TV/web convergence will lead to us ordering up movies, pizza and even advertising while watching custom-tailored content and interacting with social-network buddies at the same time. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:03 am Journalism Schools Can Push Coverage Beyond Breaking News [Voices]By Nicholas Lemann, Dean, Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University In the minds of most journalists, the work we do is indispensable, and has always been indispensable, to the successful operation of a democratic society. A democracy requires an informed public, which journalism generates, and because we monitor the performance of government, we ensure that it honestly and capably serves the people. Journalism schools often have rhetoric to that effect emblazoned on their walls—certainly ours does. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:02 am The Dark Side of the Internet [Voices]By Andy Beckett, Writer,Guardian Fourteen years ago, a pasty Irish teenager with a flair for inventions arrived at Edinburgh University to study artificial intelligence and computer science. For his thesis project, Ian Clarke created “a Distributed, Decentralized Information Storage and Retrieval System”, or, as a less precise person might put it, a revolutionary new way for people to use the internet without detection. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:01 am Shopping by Mobile Phone Picks Up on Black Friday [Voices]By Karen Talley, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal This year may go down as the period that shopping by mobile phone during the holidays came into its own. Black Friday saw greater use of mobile phones by consumers to zero in on and make purchases, industry data reviewed by Dow Jones show. From a very small base last year, mobile online payments through PayPal surged nearly 650 percent, said Amanda Pires, senior director of marketing at the online payment service. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:01 am Holiday savings with CheckoutThis holiday season, Google Checkout can help you save time and money. You can shop quickly and easily with one secure login for thousands of stores across the web. And through December 17, save with exclusive discounts of $5, $10 or $20 at hundreds of participating stores, including TigerDirect.com, BlueNile.com and Petco.com.And for Cyber Monday, you can take advantage of special limited-time offers available at Toysrus.com, Babiesrus.com and Buy.com. Visit our new Checkout deals page for more details and to browse participating stores. Finally, if you're looking for gift ideas, check out the Product Search team's list of popular products. May your "shopping season" be easier than ever! Posted by Anita Barci, Google Checkout Team   
 Source: The Official Google Blog | 30 Nov 2009 | 1:01 am Chinese eBay rival to launch branded mobile phoneChina's biggest online auction and retail Web site, Taobao.com, plans to stamp its brand on a new mobile phone, reports MisASIA. The phone, which will be co-branded by Lenovo Mobile and come with a...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 12:46 am Today Only: Eye-Fi Card For $40By Evan Ackerman We’re all big fans of Eye-Fi cards, and rightly so: these SD cards include a wireless antenna that automatically sends pictures you take to your computer and to any number of photo...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 12:44 am PayPal mobile payments surge nearly 650 percentMore consumers used their mobile phone to make purchases and compare prices on Black Friday than ever before, according to data reviewed by Dow Jones, reports mocoNews.net. Some amazing numbers: --...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 12:40 am Baidu Targets Google With Mobile Search App (PC World)PC World - Top Chinese search engine Baidu.com has taken another swing at Google by launching a mobile service application it will pre-install on handsets, responding to fast growth in China's mobile search market.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 30 Nov 2009 | 12:30 am Paul Pope illustrates Japan's grooviest concept carsJohn sez, "Batman: Year 100 creator Paul Pope illustrated three Japanese concept cars for GQ, as well as a flying car of his own design. You can see all the illustrations at the GQ link." It Will...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 12:24 am Paul Pope illustrates Japan's grooviest concept cars 
John sez, "Batman: Year 100 creator Paul Pope illustrated three Japanese concept cars for GQ, as well as a flying car of his own design. You can see all the illustrations at the GQ link."Superpunch's gallery of photos of the actual cars
(Thanks, John!)
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Source: Boing Boing | 30 Nov 2009 | 12:24 am Xbox Live iPhone appA new Xbox Live iPhone app called 360 Live is now available in the Apple Store for hard coregamers. The app allows you to retrieves your friends Xbox Live stats such as their gamerscore, online status,...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Nov 2009 | 12:20 am Viral Video: A "Twilight" Spoof With an Actual "Twilight" Star [BoomTown]
There has been plenty of online hay made over the latest of the “Twilight” movies, “New Moon,” which has turned out to be a blockbuster for Hollywood over the last two weekends, pulling in $474 million in worldwide box office. Of course, there are the spoofs, including this pretty funny one about what’s coming up in the next two in the series, called “Eclipse” and “Breaking Dawn,” in which the Romeo and Juliet of the Undead move onto marriage and children, with some decided Wolfman complications. What’s unusual about this one, from “Attack of the Show,” is that it stars Peter Facinelli, who plays “Twilight” paterfamilias vampire and doctor Carlisle Cullen as the doctor here too. Here’s the video:
Source: All Things Digital | 29 Nov 2009 | 11:49 pm The Technology Behind Last.fmCNET's Crave has up a detailed interview with Last.fm's Matthew Ogle, the company's head of Web development. Reader CNETNate notes that Last.fm has streamed 275,000 years of audio around the world. From the interview: "We stream all music directly off our servers in London. We have a cluster of streaming nodes including a bunch of powerful machines with solid-state hard drives. We have a process that runs daily which finds the hottest music and pushes those tracks on to the SSDs streamers that sit in front of our regular platter-based streaming machines. That way, if someone is listening to one of our more popular stations, the chances are really good that these songs are coming off our high-speed SSD machines. They're fast because every song is sitting in memory instead of being on a slow, spinning platter." The interview is actually on two pages but pretends it's on three.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Nov 2009 | 11:35 pm Appstand iPhone Picture FrameBy Andrew Liszewski I’m proud to say I’ve never bought a digital photo frame as a gift for someone, even though they’re a particularly popular item around the holidays. But I would consider...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Nov 2009 | 11:11 pm Bing’s 2009 Top Search Terms: Michael Jackson Beats Out Twitter
Top 2009 Bing Trending Topics:
Here are Yahoo and Google’s top search terms for 2008. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:43 pm Infographic: the compleat and astounding history of storage
Geekologie's superb "Evolution of Storage" infographic traces the history of data, music and photo storage from the wax cylinder to the 2TB hard drive. I think I'll print this out and hang it on the wall of my office, for the same reason poets kept skulls on their writing desks*: "this too shall pass, all is hubris and folly, the future rushes up upon you."
Incidentally, why is a raven like a writing-desk? Because Poe wrote on both of them.
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Source: Boing Boing | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:37 pm Steampunk fiction for your mobile
John sez, "Steampunk Tales, the electronic magazine of original steampunk pulp fiction, just released its 4th issue. Selling for only $1.99 on most platforms, Steampunk Tales: Issue 4 delivers 10 tales of adventure and daring for less than the cost of a good cup of coffee."
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Source: Boing Boing | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:31 pm Twitter Doesn’t Track The Zeitgeist. Only 2 Percent Of Tweets Overlap With Search Trends.
Whenever you want to take a reading of the current zeitgeist, popular search terms can tell you a lot about what’s on people’s minds. Right now, for instance, the hottest search terms on Google Trends include “lakewood police shooting,” “tiger woods mistress,” “surviving Christmas,” and “cyber monday 2009 deals.” If you look at Trending Topics on Twitter, however, you’ll see “#isitme,” “Google Wave,” and “Soul Train Awards.” I suspect only the last one might make it as a trending search term.
The overlap between trending search terms and Tweets is remarkably low (even if Twitter itself is a popular search term). A couple weeks ago I was moderating a realtime search panel when Vik Singh (the engineer behind Yahoo Boss, soon to be an EIR at Sutter Hill Ventures) declared that only 2 percent of all Tweets match trending search terms. His stats came from an analysis of 10 million Tweets he crawled last summer. He looked at all Tweets, not just trending topics. When he stripped out the non-essential words, he found that the average Tweet consists of 6.28 terms, or the equivalent of a really good search query. But there is not much overlap between what people are Tweeting about and what the general population is searching for. Maybe that is because people tend to search for what they don’t know, whereas they Tweet about what they do know or think they know. Or maybe it’s just because people on Twitter are not normal. Some other data Singh found:
Again, this data is based on a crawl of 10 million Tweets, but those Tweets were from the end of July, which was way before Twitter made retweets an official feature of the service. So I’d be surprised if the retweet rate is still so low. There are also a lot more people on Twitter now, so maybe the subject of people’s Tweets now overlaps with search trends more than the 2 percent Singh found. It would be illuminating if someone ran the same analysis today. Until Twitter becomes a daily habit for everyone on the Web (not just tech-heads and other early adopters), Tweets will not reflect the general zeitgeist. But it does already reflect the zeitgeist of the people you care about and follow. And maybe in the end that is all that matters. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:31 pm Keychain screwdrivers of stern utilitarian beauty R. "Diesel Sweeties" Stevens sez, "These steel keychain-mounted screwdrivers are the ultimate in unbranded, unbreakable gadget gifts. I've had mine since the summer and they work like a charm and make great boxcutters. Planning to pick up a few more sets for stocking stuffers! Unlike a Swiss Army Knife or the like, I've never had trouble flying with these." Purdy, too.
Previously:
Source: Boing Boing | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:19 pm App Developers Not Happy With Android - GigaOm (blog)
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:17 pm High-mag pollen photos highlight the invisible beauty of plants' reproductive spritz Marilyn sez, "Until 375,000 years ago, plants had be by physically close to each other in order to reproduce. Pollen changed all that. From the article by Rob Dunn in the Dec. issue of National Geographic:" In the 300,000 pollen-bearing plant species on Earth, there are 300,000 different forms of pollen. The great variety in colors, shapes, and textures of the grains has evolved in accordance with each plant's biological particulars. Beetle-pollinated plants tend to have smooth, sticky pollen, the better to adhere to the lumbering beetles' backs. Plants pollinated by fast-moving bees or flies may have spiny pollen that lodges easily between the insects' hairs. Plants pollinated by bigger animals, such as bats, sometimes have bigger pollen, though not always -- perhaps not even most of the time. In the details of pollen's variety, more remains to be explained than is understood.A friend with allergies once compared living through high-pollen-count days as "being the involuntary star in a vegetage-kingdom bukkake movie." I haven't been able to think of pollen the same way since. Love Is in the Air (Thanks, Marilyn!) Source: Boing Boing | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:16 pm Sad, hurdy-gurdy Happy Birthday rendition from dying electronic candleA reader writes, "This was our birthday candle a year ago, one day the candle just started playing again (maybe heat change...) and was pathetically trying to get "happy birthday" to sound right... You can't imagine how badly one candle can get this tune." It's got a sad, defiant, haunted hurdy-gurdy sound to it, like the ghost of Tom Waits was trapped in it, playing a Casiotone.
Happy Birthday to YOU Trintech Partners With Safeplay in Sweden to Boost Nordic Market PresenceDALLAS, Nov.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm Buying a Notebook? Here's What You Need to KnowShelling out cash for the right notebook involves a maze of choices that can be confusing. No need to drop tons of cash — plenty of great options exist to fit your needs and budget. Wired gives you the tools to make the notebook purchase that's right for you.
Source: Wired: Gadgets | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm Climate Change Is Inevitable — It's Time to AdaptWired contributing editor Spencer Reiss hits us with the bad news about climate change: "We're toast." But luckily, he says, technological change is also accelerating, and we can still come out OK.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm Buying a Notebook? Here's What You Need to KnowShelling out cash for the right notebook involves a maze of choices that can be confusing. No need to drop tons of cash — plenty of great options exist to fit your needs and budget. Wired gives you the tools to make the notebook purchase that's right for you.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm Virgin Galactic's Space-Grazing Aircraft Is Ready for LiftoffFor a mere $200,000, well-heeled adventurers can book the ultimate escape — from gravity. You are now free to float about the cabin.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm Un-Google Your Most Embarrassing MomentsYou can't get Google to stop crawling the internet, but you do have some control what content it can see. Here's a guide to making sure Google searches for your name show only your classy side.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm Nov. 30: A St. Andrew's Day Salute to Scottish InventorsThe Scots paved the way (figuratively and literally) for the modern world, and let's not forget one of their earlier contributions.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm Mini Microbe Portraits From the Micropolitan MuseumThe Micropolitan museum brings the invisible to light in beautiful photographs. This gallery features the watery world of microbes: From water fleas to skeleton shrimp, these tiny creatures are truly amazing.
Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm Samsung set to beat 2009 handset sales target (Reuters)Reuters - Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), the world's No. 2 mobile phone maker, gave an upbeat forecast for 2009 mobile phone sales due to sharp growth in touchscreen models, but surging sales may not guarantee higher margins.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Nov 2009 | 9:36 pm Lessons From Recession Will Help SMEs' Future RoadmapNEW DELHI, November 30 /PRNewswire/ -- - Learning Lessons From Recession Important for Future Upswing. - SMEs Should Graduate From Growth by Default to Growth by Design. - SME Credit Rating Can Act as Bridge Between SMEs and Lending Institutions. The issue of raising a robust tech-aligned SME in India came in for intensive discussion at the "Envisioning the Wired SME" conference, organized by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and IndiaMART.com, at the Sheraton, Saket, in New Delhi on Saturday. Discussing the issue of propelling the growth of SMEs in a focused session, Mr.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Nov 2009 | 9:25 pm Air Cannon Ties Pirates In KnotsHugh Pickens writes "Numerous high-tech devices have been proposed to help ships cope with piracy on the high seas. Now a company has developed a ship-borne launching device that fires a net or coiled rope into the path of pirate vessels using compressed air with a range of up to a range of 400m. The payload net or rope, which has a parachute attached to the end, will unravel and lay out across the surface of the water so that as the pirate boat travels through the water its propeller shaft will pick up the line and become entangled. 'With the trials and testing we've done, it has taken us some 45 minutes to cut and disentangle the line from the propeller itself,' says Jonathan Delf. 'Within that time of course, the target ship is on its way and hopefully help has arrived in the form of naval forces or helicopter support.' The system can be fired up to five times off just a cylinder of air like a simple scuba tank." The video mentions that the device can also fire a payload of golf balls. The systems have recently be sold to "several large shipping companies that travel near the oil-rich Nigerian Delta, which, like the Somalian coast, is rife with piracy."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Gizmodo | 29 Nov 2009 | 9:18 pm Jay Leno losing his audience to DVR machines (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Nov 2009 | 9:04 pm Email Of The Week: Journalism School Language Police
Gabrielle, a student at Drake University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, writes to tell us that, according to the Associated Press Stylebook, the word website really should be written as Web site:
We have of course banned the AP from our site for inappropriate Internet behavior, and so we don’t often refer to their stylebook. In fact, tonight was the first I’d heard of it – if anyone owns the book please check p. 287 for me. Why in the world it would be considered definitive in journalism school baffles me, but everything about journalism school tends to baffle me. As usual the AP is woefully behind the times. But here’s our response to Gabrielle anyway: First, the word “website” is perfectly acceptable, and in fact it is the proper way to spell and capitalize the word:
Second, I don’t give a damn. Also, are your parents really emptying their savings account for this educational experience? Past Winners Of The Email Of The Week Award: Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Nov 2009 | 8:53 pm Calling Twitter’s Bluff
Ever since FriendFeed was sold to Facebook, we’ve been told over and over again that the company and its community were toast. And as if to underline the fact, FriendFeed’s access to the Twitter firehose was terminated and vaguely replaced with a slow version that is currently delivering Twitter posts between 20 minutes and two hours after their appearance on Twitter. At the Realtime CrunchUp, Bret Taylor confirmed this was not a technical but rather a legal issue. Put simply, Twitter is choking FriendFeed to death.
What’s odd about this is that most observers consider FriendFeed a failure, too complicated and user-unfriendly to compete with Twitter or Facebook. If Twitter believed that to be the case, why would they endeavor to kill it? And if it were not a failure? Then Twitter is trying to kill it for a good reason. That reason: FriendFeed exposes the impossible task of owning all access to its user’s data. Does Microsoft or Google or IBM own your email? Does Gmail apply rate limiting to POP3 and IMAP?
So the reason Twitter is killing FriendFeed is because they think they can get away with it. And they will, as far as it goes, as long as the third party vendors orbiting Twitter validate the idea that Twitter owns the data.
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Nov 2009 | 7:43 pm Abroad, they know Murdoch wellAlt-history hypothesis: if the news industry was already being subsidized by search-engine exclusivity, Murdoch would be itching to upend the market and go to Google. Slash-and-burn, not desperate weak-partner deals with assimilators like Microsoft, is his way.Source: Boing Boing | 29 Nov 2009 | 7:40 pm Where the Global Warming Data IsSeveral readers noted the latest fallout from the Climate Research Unit's Climategate: the admission by the University of East Anglia that the raw data behind important climate research was discarded in the 1980s, "a time when climate change was seen as a less pressing issue" according to the Times (UK) article. The Telegraph quotes Phil Jones, beleagured head of the CRU: "Our global temperature series tallies with those of other, completely independent, groups of scientists working for NASA and the National Climate Data Centre in the United States, among others. Even if you were to ignore our findings, theirs show the same results. The facts speak for themselves; there is no need for anyone to manipulate them." Some of the data behind these other results can likely be found in a new resource that jamie located up at the Real Climate site: a compilation of links to a wide variety of raw data about climate. From the former link: "In the aftermath of the CRU email hack, many people have come to believe that scientists are unfairly restricting access to the raw data relating to the global rise in temperature. ... We have set up a page of data links to sources of temperature and other climate data, codes to process it, model outputs, model codes, reconstructions, paleo-records, the codes involved in reconstructions etc."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Gizmodo | 29 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm Can India “Jugaad” Its Way To More Angel Investing?
Now, truth be told, that’s a complaint I also hear in the American heartland, in Canada, in Europe, in Africa, in China and, well, pretty much everywhere I’ve traveled to over the last few years. I’m not sure people ever feel they’ve got enough money being thrown their way. But there is definitely something that makes Silicon Valley and Israel different from almost everywhere else I’ve been. Both have a wide base of people who made lots of money in the late 1990s Internet boom: The Yossi Vardis and the Marc Andreessens, but also hundreds of lesser known stock option recipients who may not want to start another company, but want to stay in the game $10,000 or so at a time. Sure, Europe has had some big hits, but a culture of being tight-fisted with stock options has kept the wealth from getting spread widely enough to create a large base of millionaires who feel comfortable backing startups. Bebo’s Michael Birch and Skype’s Niklas Zennstrom are more exceptions in London than the rule. Even a city like Seattle, which had two colossal wins in Microsoft and Amazon doesn’t see a critical mass of angel activity—or even venture activity according to Dow Jones VentureSource. Typically just under one hundred startups raise venture capital in the entire state of Washington each year. For all the talk that Boston’s venture scene is “dead,” Massachusetts still gets nearly three times as many deals. Note, this isn’t a question of wealth. There are plenty of pockets of the super rich throughout the world. But unless you earned it from a high tech start-up, you’re culturally loath to give it out to a guy you don’t know with an unproven idea. Angels may be considered a crucial ingredient in today’s modern startup ecosystem, but if you think about it, asking strangers to write you a $20,000 personal check for no guarantee and a chunk of stock is a pretty new phenomenon. It’s the result of a decade or more of broad-based success, not the result of one big hit. That means a healthy angel environment isn’t necessarily a sign that a place is about to take off, rather, it’s a lagging indicator of a healthy startup scene. That brings us back to India—a place that venture capital has been pulling out of in recent years as the burgeoning 1.2 billion person domestic Alok Mittal, a partner at Canaan Ventures in Delhi, agrees with the numbers and says the angel totals are far worse. If there’s about $1 billion in true venture capital in India, he says there’s only about $50 million in angel deals. Compare that to the United States where there’s roughly $20 billion in venture capital and another $20 billion in angel deals that primes that VC pump. That’s a disconnect that gives Indian entrepreneurs fits. “Indians are inherently very risk adverse and many of the entrepreneurs who’ve made money just put it in stocks,” Mittal says. It’s all the more frustrating to entrepreneurs on the ground because there are so many prominent Indians who’ve had huge success in Silicon Valley and talk a big game about the opportunities in India and their desire to help give back to their native land. The cash just never seems to make it over. What gives? For a start, angel investing is a local phenomenon, as much about mentoring and connections as it is about the thousands of dollars invested. An Indian who’s made billions in the Valley doesn’t necessarily know the first thing about mentoring an inexperienced kid with an idea in Mumbai. Until Indians start having more big hits in India, it will struggle to improve its angel landscape. So India—or any region like it that has money, desire and opportunity but a lack of sustained big wins— has two choices: Muddle along without the help of early money and wisdom and churn out some big hits or figure out a way to hack space and time. Not surprisingly, I met several parties in India trying to do the latter. Can it work? Maybe, but there are inevitable tradeoffs. The most common hack is creating so-called angel networks and there are a slew of them in India. They tend to do a few dozen deals a year. The advantage is by sharing the risk, angels get more comfortable with this type of investing and can pool their resources, and diversify across several deals. But there’s a clear disadvantage: True angel investing is when a self-made individual with no one to answer to makes a gut decision to back an entrepreneur. Institutionalizing the process makes raising angel funds like raising a small round of venture capital. There are still the same hoops to jump through and demands of near term revenues, there’s just a smaller pot of money at the end of the gauntlet. Mittal is part of one of these angel groups and admits it’s not nearly a big enough solution. “We have done twenty deals, but what’s twenty deals?” he says. Another idea is a Y-Combinator style incubator being hatched by former Valleyite Freeman Murray (above, right) in Bangalore. Murray ran something similar in Pune, and has relocated to the South where there’s generally more startup activity as kids watching Web 2.0 glamour from afar are quitting boring jobs with multi-nationals to start mostly Web and service companies. Murray sees the slow growth of India’s Web market as a potential advantage, giving him plenty of time to handhold and mentor smart kids with a good idea but little else. And just $10,000 each can keep these companies running and experimenting for a while. Where does Murray get the money? Some of it is his own savings, and some comes from those very same Indian Valley successes who want to seed companies in the motherland but need someone to be the feet on the street. A similar approach is being launched by Indus Khaitan, a former Symantec executive who moved back to India and joined Morpheus Venture Partners, which recently closed a new fund thanks also to Valley-based Indian wealth. He’s also based in Bangalore. Khaitan is one of those natural networkers with an easy smile and an ever-available credit card to buy group dinners. But Murray gets the laid-back, hippie points—he’s constructed a huge Burning-Man like complex in downtown Bangalore where he’ll put on community art and startup events. It’s wrapped in Chinese tarps with a multitude of metal stairs leading to different floors and levels inside. It’s got wifi (natch), and soon, a garden for a roof and solar panels to replace a power chord that’s now being piped in from the neighbors. There’s something in India called Jugaad — it’s an innate creativity for problem solving that some worry the Zippo-lighter-flashing kids working for multinationals in Bangalore have lost. Murray may be a California native, but he has jugaad in spades. But even if each effort is successful, they are still just tiny drops in the bucket—and India has a pretty large bucket. Vishal Gondal, founder of IndiaGames and a rare Web entrepreneur who’s made money in India, has had it with the partial solutions. He’s sick of attending startup events where three smart kids win the competition and the so-called “early stage VCs” judging it all say the companies are still too early stage for them to invest in. “Why are they even there?” he says of the VCs. At a recent competition Gondal stood up and personally committed $100,000 to the winner on the spot—giving his wife palpitations.
Having seen loads of cities try to “recreate” Silicon Valley and fail, it’s hard to be too optimistic about any plan to short-cut the natural development of the primordial soup that leads to a complex ecosystem of entrepreneurs, VCs, angels, advisors and startup worker bees. But the fact that these efforts are coming from disparate, frustrated grassroots groups and not some top-down government grant or well-meaning, fair weather rich outsiders, lends some hope that things could change in corners of India’s entrepreneurial world. The truth is India’s dream of building the next big fast-growing powerhouses will have less to do with angel money or Western venture money and more to do with getting around that ingrained fear of risk-taking. There’s still a strong cultural stigma to failure in India. Walking away from a prestigious and high-paying multinational job when you don’t have an angel to catch you isn’t easy, especially in a year when India has seen some of the first corporate layoffs. But jugaad is all about finding a way, and the best Indian entrepreneurs will. The others should probably just stick with the high paying job at Microsoft anyway, angel investor or no. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Nov 2009 | 5:49 pm Department of Defense orders 2,200 PS3sGood thing the PlayStation 3 dropped in price. The US Department of Defense ordered 2,200 more of the consoles to crank up their PS3 supercomputer, currently consisting of 336 of the devices in a Linux cluster. According to the official Justification Review Document (cache link) required for the purchase of the PS3s, the game platform, with its IBM Cell microprocessor, is a much better value for the money than IBM's Cell-powered products designed for supercomputing applications. Ars Technica points out that the price difference comes in part because the PS3 is a loss leader for Sony. From the Justification Review Document:With respect to cell processors, a single 1U server configured with two 3.2GHz cell processors can cost up to $8K while two Sony PS3s cost approximately $600. Though a single 3.2 GHz cell processor can deliver over 200 GFLOPS, whereas the Sony PS3 configuration delivers approximately 150 GFLOPS, the approximately tenfold cost difference per GFLOP makes the Sony PS3 the only viable technology for HPC applications."Sony still subsidizing US military supercomputer efforts" (Ars Technica, thanks Rob Rader!)
Source: Boing Boing | 29 Nov 2009 | 5:25 pm Scribd Important Stuff List Revealed (Humor)
“Scribd doing 43M revenue this year??” was the subject line of an email sent to me last week, along with a link to this photo, taken in Scribd’s San Francisco offices, showing a list of “important stuff” on a whiteboard. Our tipster must not have read the whole list, though, because I was immediately suspicious. The items on the list, as best I can read them: Important Stuff
The chart also shows a graph showing profit hitting $1 billion. The first thing I did, of course, was call the phone number (it’s busy/disconnected). Then I emailed Scribd CEO Trip Adler to ask if the photo was actually taken in their office, and what the story behind it was. His reply: “I just put that stuff up on the whiteboard as a joke. At the time we joked that TechCrunch or some other bloggers would somehow pick it up, and it’s pretty funny that that’s what actually happened. If you want to write a post on it, you can try to guess what information is actually real. Oh, and if you can’t read the last one, it is “install waterslide in office”. Haha.” Mission accomplished. But remember, we have spies everywhere, Trip. Oh, and call Arnold back. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Source: Gizmodo | 29 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pm Chrome OS Presents and FuturesMany readers are submitting stories related to Google Chrome OS. ruphus13 points out a GigaOm opinion piece about how, if users end up rejecting its current cloud-only focus, the nacent OS may succeed as a netbook secondary operating system alongside Windows (in company with secondaries based on other Linux flavors, including Android). Engadget reviews a Chrome OS on a USB key setup that is claimed to offer eye-opening performance compared to running under virtualization. And an anonymous reader notes the 0.1 beta release of ChromeShell, which installs a "Chrome OS-like" environment that boots to the Chrome browser in ~3 seconds; users can switch to Windows later as desired.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Nov 2009 | 4:53 pm Apple Says No to the Droid's Red Glow (PC World)PC World - Don't expect the "glowing red eye" of Motorola's Droid smartphone to show up on your iPhone anytime soon. Apple has rejected an application called "iDroid," that would have save displayed the Droid's red eye on an iPhone and linked to information about the flagship Android phone.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Nov 2009 | 4:39 pm Bigfoot and Yeti Christmas tree ornaments
These handsome Sasquatch and Yeti ornaments for the Christmas Tree are around 4.5" tall and made from glass and resin. They're available from Loren Coleman's International Cryptozoology Museum gift shop. Coming soon on BB, an interview with Coleman about the new public museum!Bigfoot & Yeti Ornaments
Source: Gizmodo | 29 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm Tweetie 2.1 Hits The App Store With Lists, Retweets, Geolocation And More - Washington Post
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Nov 2009 | 3:51 pm Antarctic Eye Candy (video)What better way to end/start your week than an eye-popping video of a seal carcass being devoured by a menagerie of starfish and ten-foot long carnivorous worms? You've got to love the camerawork, especially the stop-motion bits, which makes this ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Nov 2009 | 3:36 pm G-WAN, Another Free Web Servermssmss writes "Has anyone used G-WAN — a free (as in beer), supposedly fast and scalable Web server? The downside is it supports only C scripts, which the author claims is a plus since most programmers know C anyway. There is currently only a Windows release and no clear answer in their FAQs whether there would be Linux/Solaris releases. As an interesting aside, releasing a Web server while at the same time fighting a losing battle (PDF) with a large bank over a piracy claim of $200 million (the bank is alleged to have done the piracy) is quite a feat."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Nov 2009 | 3:30 pm Only 8 Bugs Stand In The Way Of Chrome For Mac Beta
This means that there are only 8 things standing in the way of Chrome for Mac going beta. “M4″ stands for “milestone 4,” which is how they phrase “version 4,” which the Mac beta build of Chrome will be (the current dev channel version is 4.0.249.12, for example). It’s not entirely clear what these 8 things are as the Chrome Mac Status page hasn’t been updated in a while, and the known issues listed include things that are meant for milestone 5, not 4. But in early November, Pinkerton noted that there were 20-some M4 blockers. So it’s possible we’re just a couple weeks away, and maybe even days (again, depending on the bugs) from those getting wiped out and Chrome for Mac going beta. In the latest Mac Chromium (the open source project Chrome is based on) builds, everything appears to be really solid. A few notable things still not working include the Bookmark Manager and full screen mode. But extensions are working, and an extension manager was recently added. The browsing experience is fast, and seems quite stable. Earlier this month, Nick Baum, a Chrome Product Manager, wrote on a Google Group page for Chrome extensions that Chrome for Mac would have a “Beta launch in early December.” That appears to still be on track. Update: As commenter Andrew points out below, it would appear that these are the 8 bugs. It’s worth noting that only one of them is “priority 1.” When Pinkerton sent his update in early November, the 20+ bugs he mentioned were all priority 1. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
Source: Gizmodo | 29 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm Tweetie 2.1 Hits The App Store With Lists, Retweets, Geolocation And More
Previously, we went over the way Tweetie 2.1 integrates new-style Retweets and Geotagging, but another big addition that developer Loren Brichter was able to squeeze in is new Twitter List support. While it’s perhaps not as obvious as it should be (it’s in the “more” tab at the bottom of the app), Lists are not only viewable in Tweetie 2.1, but you can edit/create them as well. Another nice addition is the ability to report spam right from the app. Since Twitter recently created an API for this, a lot of apps are starting to integrate it in. But one of the coolest new features may be “gap detection.” Basically, Tweetie remembers the last time you updated your tweet stream and it now makes it very obvious where the new tweets start when you open the app after it being closed for a bit. Previously, these old and new tweets sort of blended together, so you had to pay attention to time stamps. You can also not click in this new gap area to load older tweets and bridge the gap between the old ones you’ve seen and the new ones. Tweetie’s handling of geolocation functionality has also been improved since we did the preview. Now that the service has been turned on by Twitter, you can tag each tweet with your location and if you decide to do that, Tweetie will remember your preference for doing that. Another Twitter iPhone app, Birdfeed, still handles case-by-case geolocation a bit better, but if you’re going to want to geotag every tweet and not worry about it, Tweetie is solid. Find Tweetie 2.1 here in the App Store. Again, it’s a free upgrade — a point which caused some controversy when Tweetie 2 came out since it required Tweetie 1 users to purchase it separately. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: TechCrunch | 29 Nov 2009 | 2:40 pm Network Security While Traveling?truesaer writes "I'll be spending all of next year backpacking through South America. In the past I've used Internet cafes while away, but this time I plan to bring a netbook and rely primarily on Wi-Fi hotspots. I'll be facing the same issues and risks that business travelers in hotels and airports face, as well as those encountered by millions of other backpackers, gap-year travelers, and students. Since my trip is so long I'll have no choice but to access my banking, credit card, and investment accounts on public networks. I will not have a system at home to connect through. Other than an effective firewall, a patched system, and the use of SSL, what else should I do to protect my information? Keep in mind that many places have very poor bandwidth and latency."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Gizmodo | 29 Nov 2009 | 1:20 pm Real time, real discussion, real reporting: choose two
I’m not going to speculate on Woods’ injuries, the cause of the crash, or rumors of fights and affairs. I don’t care, personally. But how the information proliferated makes for interesting dissection. And the fun part is that there’s something for everybody’s agenda! Many will choose to ignore or emphasize unduly one party’s role in this drama, but the fact is that it very neatly exposes both the strengths and weaknesses of both traditional and so-called new media. I hope you’re sitting comfortably. Thus far fact. Now, you recall the headline: real time, real discussion, real reporting — choose two. My idea, which that punchy little epigram roughly approximates, is that there is only so much a given source of information can provide, and that if it has certain attributes, it by definition cannot have certain others (with exceptions, of course). Don’t get me wrong, however: each source is valuable, but we must be careful not to assign one qualities it does not possess. Since this is a blog ostensibly covering tech and Web 2.0, we should probably talk about Twitter first. Twitter: real-time discussion
MG has already lionized Twitter in this affair, and rightly so. It deserves a pat on the back for doing admirably what it was made to do: propagate a meme as quickly as possible. However, his stronger assertion that Twitter is the real time web’s Walter Cronkite warrants a dissenting response, though I don’t think it is, as some suggested, an insult to the late, great journalist so much as a mischaracterization of Twitter. Twitter’s mode of operation is a lot like that of fire. A spark is struck elsewhere; in this case (and, let’s be honest, in many cases) it is a piece of celebrity gossip. Whether it catches and spreads, and how fast it does so depend on the conditions. This particular spark landed in a bed of tinder and flared up almost instantly. The fact that the entire story (such as it was then) could be contained in 140 characters helped, of course. Its spread was practically instantaneous. But that’s where Twitter’s role ends. Consider that local TV news was on the scene quickly enough to take pictures of the accident site before the car was towed, though these were likely not widely reported because at the time, a statement had yet to be released. This kind of coverage is obviously impossible for a decentralized news mechanism like Twitter or Google News. Yet it is the source for a large proportion of the coverage which spreads via those mechanisms. Before a fire can spread, it must be started. And it is very rare that Twitter starts any fires. A legitimate objection to this idea is that of citizen journalism. Hasn’t Twitter enabled Iranians to broadcast their discontent? Wouldn’t it be handy in an emergency situation, provided it was accessible? To some extent, yes. But in the first case, what reason is there to think, even taking into account how well it was applied in Iran, that Twitter is somehow immune to censorship or outright ban? It’s new, is all, and once someone in charge takes it seriously enough to decide it must be stifled, you can be sure Twitter will have no further use there. An earthquake situation provides a better opportunity for Twitter to be used by itself to report; tweets from around the city saying “gas main broken at 13th and Pine” or the like could certainly be of use to a fire department. It’s questionable, however, whether a hashtag could reliably be established in good time, whether the authorities would be able or willing to sort through the noise, and whether such content as could be found would be capable of being transmitted to those who need it. Still, I’m happy to admit its possible utility in such a situation. The question, really, is whether one has valuable information to report. If so, then for a moment, one becomes a reporter. And that information is welcome, if it can get where it needs to be. But the truth is that the bulk of users rarely have content to contribute; their role is promotion and discussion. Compare this to a journalist, who makes it his business to either be present at or go immediately to wherever news occurring, then broadcast it via established methods and outlets. More on them later. Lastly, it’s troubling that what news is spread depends on the population at large. This is more of a personal objection. I have commented that Twitter is the perfect vessel which which to sate the public’s appetite for sensational minutiae. What spreads on Twitter is what’s popular, not what’s important. The last few years have been calamitous for mainstream news integrity for several reasons, but among them is the increasing emphasis on color stories and special interest news, which Twitter seems tailor-made to propagate. This is also the reason why Twitter is not Walter Cronkite. Cronkite may have worked in real time, and he may have reported unconfirmed information, but the reason he was trusted to do so was because he was the exact opposite of Twitter. His personal discretion and experience made him a trusted individual. Wisdom is not arrived at by consensus, nor the truth, no matter if ten people weigh in or a thousand. No synthesis of opinion or automated sifting of information is a replacement for a discerning, informed, and familiar human being. Broadcast media: real time reporting
The mainstream (i.e. broadcast) media is supposed to be formed of such human beings. This is, of course, not the case. However, that does not mean the model is broken. The companies comprising it — that’s another matter. The current deplorable state of mainstream news is more, if I may venture a guess, due to a continued financial investment in an obsolete ratings and advertising structure than any real decay of principle. Or rather, the only principle that is really decayed is the networks’ independence from private money. The BBC presents a partial solution in a state-sponsored network, but private bankrolling is simply replaced by public, but that’s not an ideal solution to say the least. I don’t have a better proposal, but I’m happy to point the finger, and our mainstream journalists aren’t doing a hell of a lot of journalism. That said, the mainstream media were the first on the scene at Woods’ house, and the fact is they will always be the first on the scene. What would Google News or Twitter aggregate if there was no journalist there in the first place? Citizen reporting can only go so far; the idea of a completely decentralized press is hopelessly naive. Access to the public’s information is increasingly important, but there will always be someone, many people in fact, whose job it is to work at something that, if it’s not a local news station, will look a hell of a lot like one. What will be the source for firsthand news if we don’t have a journalist class? Local news teams, mainstream media at their most mainstream, are the only ones with the experience, the resources, and the staff to cover anything of magnitude. Doubt that? Don’t confuse the death of traditional media distribution with the death of traditional media. The former is happening; the latter is an illusion. What the mainstream and local media lack is scope and perspective. Imagine a thousand little rooms, each with its own goings-on and a person broadcasting live from each one. They see what’s around them and report it, but their scope is limited. Their first responsibility is to their “room,” their community — hence their journalistic myopia. They know they can’t cover everything in the world, but they don’t have to. Because the world relies upon them when something like this Woods incident occurs in their vicinity. It’s centralized decentralization. Print and other delayed media: reporting and discussion
What’s left is the news you read the next day in the newspaper — or, really, the next hour on CNN.com or BBC News. These, the most traditional forms of media of all (essentially newsprint or a virtualized version thereof), provide comparatively complete, one-stop reporting and analysis of the event in question. I don’t mean to suggest that the AP, New York Times, or other article outlets are infallible, far from it. But they provide the perspective and context that Twitter (or your favorite social news aggregator) and broadcast news usually lack — and from individuals that have an interest in accurate reporting. Of course, this comes at a cost of timeliness, which may or may not be critical. Obviously newspapers are having a lot of trouble, and the herd is being thinned, but delayed media (my term), whether distributed as inky tree pulp or otherwise, will continue to have a place in the party. The skills of newspapermen are still required, whether you like it or not, and will be for a long time to come. Think of the recent story in which President Obama bowed to the Japanese Emperor when visiting that country. Twitter could alert instantly you to the fact that this event occurred, but little more, and only if you’re glued to it. Mainstream media will be the source for the story and video, but is capable of only basic commentary. Delayed media would give you the event, the reactions, the context, and anything more required to make a complete story — but not for at least a few hours. Which of these methods you use depends on your profession, location, age, and a hundred other factors. Whether such trade-offs as each offers are welcome to you is a personal decision — but it’s unwise to write off a category altogether (as I catch myself doing with Twitter). To use one and not another may forgo or convey an advantage in some situations, but none embodies every aspect of news — content, promptness, and analysis. Nor will any of the three worlds of information distribution go down without their essence being absorbed, Mega Man-like, into the being of the others. Will Twitter wither without the substantial content of delayed media? Not likely. Will delayed media croak if it doesn’t learn some lessons from Twitter? A little more likely, but that lesson is being learned. Will mainstream and broadcast media go extinct? Not for decades, though they will certainly have some adaptation to do. The myth of medium
The truth is that there is no old media. And no new media. There is only the present media, its aspect as confused and shifting as any compound creature from legend. I have to quote Hawthorne here:
That sounds about right! Now, if you can stomach the unbearable pretension of likening of the complex media world to a monster (be grateful I didn’t quote Lovecraft), you can see that it is unlikely that one head will just up and consume the other, though they may quarrel and gnaw on one another frequently. One significant difference: while the creature Hawthorne described combines the speed of all three, the present media finds itself limited by its own strengths. There is no popular discussion that does not cause sensationalism, for instance, and there is no expert inspection that does not cause delay. The nature of the beast, however, does change over time, and you may safely lay your bets on Twitter (social media in general, really — any “real time discussion”) being an important (but limited) part of it. Finally: blogs are the real wild card here. The issue is that they qualify for each category but aren’t fundamentally limited to any — which makes them both versatile and unreliable. This blog, for example, has pieces that fall under every category: tweet-like posts about some Apple rumor, rehashes of press releases, and interminable editorials like the one you’re just about to finish. Yes, the credibility (and readability) of the blogosphere is still questioned, puzzlingly enough, but who knows — the Chimaera may grow a fourth head yet. [Note: For anyone confused: I chose the three outlets shown in the top diagram as visible representatives, and am not necessarily talking specifically about each one; you'll notice that there are shots from MSNBC, Fox News, and the newsroom photograph is of the Daily Telegraph.]
Source: CrunchGear | 29 Nov 2009 | 1:07 pm Top 10 Gamertell posts for the week of November 22, 2009FROM GAMERTELL - Haven’t caught all of the Gamertell news this week? Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles! Man marries Love Plus DS game“Maybe those Japanese dating simulation games are dangerous after all. Konami’s Love Plus DS dating sim has seen unprecedented popularity and creepy devotion since… MORE » Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 29 Nov 2009 | 1:00 pm Click Away: Holiday Web Shopping Bounces Back [MediaMemo]
Here are the latest numbers from comScore (SCOR), which says that online holiday shopping is up a bit this year. That’s not saying a lot considering that last year’s sales were soft. But for the record, sales are up three percent so far, and Web sales were up 11 percent on Black Friday.
But note that consumers say they’re spending less overall than they did less year: They told interviewers they intend to spend eight percent less than in 2008. Not surprisingly, people spent a whole lot of time on the Web’s most popular retail sites on Friday: Traffic at Amazon (AMZN), Wal-Mart (WMT), Apple (AAPL), Target (TGT) and Best Buy (BBY) sites were all up, comScore reports. Next up: Dutiful reporting on “Cyber Monday,” tomorrow’s artificial construct. Still, I’m not complaining. This is way better than trudging out to the mall for the annual “interview of shoppers in a parking lot” piece that newspapers still insist on assigning. Source: All Things Digital | 29 Nov 2009 | 12:51 pm German President Refuses To Sign Censorship Lawthetinytoon writes "German federal president Horst Köhler has refused to sign a law to block child pornography that passed Parlament earlier this year, stating that he 'needs more information.' In Germany, the federal president has the right to reject a law only if its passage violated the order mandated by the constitution, or if it is obviously unconstitutional — he can't veto a law simply because he disagrees with it. The law was passed under a coalition government, but a different coalition took power before the law reached the president's desk. Political observers guess that the political parties would like to get rid of the law without losing face, but since it has already passed the Parlament, they can't simply abandon it."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Nov 2009 | 12:46 pm Sunday Giveaway: See the world with your very own Vue camera system
We reviewed this kit a few months ago and were impressed. It’s completely wireless and the cameras are battery powered.
Source: Gizmodo | 29 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm Archos Releases Dev Edition Firmware For TabletsCharbax writes "While Archos' current 'Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android' is a 4.8" WVGA tablet that runs Android 1.5 (and perhaps 2.0 soon with the full Google Marketplace Experience), users of last year's 4.8" and 7" Archos Linux tablets have been complaining that Archos' firmware updates to its proprietary, embedded Linux OS were too infrequent, and added too little of the requested functionality. Under pressure from hackers demonstrating jailbreak methods, Archos has just now officially released (PDF) the open-source Special Developer Edition firmware based on Angstrom Linux, generated from a customized, open embedded build for last year's Archos 5 and 7 Internet Media tablets. If many talented developers join the community of Archos hackers to make software for this new Archos SDE firmware, then Android, Angstrom Linux, Maemo Mer, Qt and Ubuntu Linux could be expected to run smoothly on it soon. That could make it the ultimate pocket Linux Internet tablet for Linux hackers. Installing Archos' new SDE firmware permanently disables DRM playback and voids the warranty."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Nov 2009 | 11:23 am Flood Insurance, Climate Change, and the "Public Option"As the idea of a "public option" for health insurance has risen to become one of the most contentious political issues of the decade in America, perhaps it would be useful to point out a rarely acknowledged fact: we already ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:52 am Black Friday Boasts $595 Million in U.S. Online Holiday Spending, Up 11 Percent Versus Year AgoRESTON, Va., Nov. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- comScore (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 27 days of the November - December 2009 holiday season.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:42 am Observation Of Confinement Phenomenon In Condensed MatterForce of interaction between magnetic particles grows stronger with increasing distanceAn experiment has confirmed that spinons, particle-like magnetic excitations, can be confined in a magnetic insulator similar to the way elementary quarks are confined within individual protons and neutrons.Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:19 am Traditional Indigenous Fire Management Deployed Against Climate ChangeCarbon credits bring millions for new jobs in indigenous communities; Australian project a model of opportunity, especially for AfricaA landmark Australian project that mitigates the extent and severity of natural savannah blazes by deploying traditional Indigenous fire management techniques is being hailed as a model with vast global potential in the fights against climate change and biodiversity loss, and for protecting Indigenous lands and culture.The enterprise is expected initially to generate at least 1 million tons worth of carbon credit sales annually, creating over 200 new jobs in traditional Northern Australia Indigenous communities.Proponents heading to the December climate change talks in Copenhagen say similar projects can be adopted in the savannas of Africa, where the potential for reductions is very high.Supported today by modern technologies like satellites, Indigenous fire management involves controlled early dry season fires to create fire breaks and patchy mosaics of burnt and un-burnt country.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:16 am NASA Campaigns For Safer Launch RequirementsNASA officials will speak before members of Congress this week in an effort to gain support for more stringent launch safety considerations for the space shuttle's successor. Crew safety remains a major concern for lawmakers while they debate NASA's future and the potential integration of private companies into US space flight plans. "The demonstrated probability of a shuttle launch disaster is 1 in 129. NASA's 83 astronauts think those odds can be improved to 1 in 1,000. Independent safety experts agree. 'None of us want to repeat the accident history of the shuttle,' said retired Navy Vice Adm. Joseph Dyer, chairman of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, a group organized to oversee NASA programs after three astronauts died in the 1967 Apollo 1 launch pad fire. ... NASA's Astronaut Office began a re-evaluation of next-generation launch vehicle safety after the loss of Columbia's crew. The guiding principles laid out in a May 2004 report remain current, astronauts said. Launching astronauts into low Earth orbit is dangerous. But an order-of-magnitude reduction of risk is achievable 'and should therefore represent a minimum safety benchmark for future systems,' the report says."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:04 am Appletell interviews Ari, developer of iJailBreakFROM APPLETELL - Ari Weinstein—commonly found around the internet as AriX—is the developer behind iJailBreak. We recently had the opportunity to talk to him about what’s next. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 29 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am GPS cell phone apps challenge standalone devices (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Nov 2009 | 7:52 am Amazon’s Black Friday game deals last until the end of the monthFROM GAMERTELL - Shop Amazon now through the end of the month and get some great deals on video games and accessories… Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 29 Nov 2009 | 7:00 am African Rodent Captures The Eye Of ScienceA resilient rodent from the horn of Africa has begun charming scientists around the world. Resistant to cancer and aging better than Sean Connery, the remarkable, if somewhat unattractive, naked mole rat is proving to be a biological wonder and a new source of scientific inquiry.“They really are from Mars, I think,” Thomas Park, biological sciences professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told the Associated Press.Able to live up to 30 years, these 3 to 4 inch East African critters are being used to study everything from strokes to cancer to aging in hopes that scientists might find new insights into human health complications.At the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, researcher Rochelle Buffenstein is responsible for tending a 1,500-member-strong mole rat colony that makes its abode in series of large clear tanks connected by long transparent tubes. Though the San Antonio colony is by far the largest in the U.S., a number of other universities around the country have begun founding their own mole rat communities for research purposes. Buffenstein is particularly concerned with keeping track of the longevity of these tiny, blind, buck-toothed rodents who exhibit a form of intense social organization, known as eusociality, that is extremely rare in mammals.Despite significant levels of inbreeding within their colonies — a phenomenon that usually tends to weaken genetic integrity and thus decrease longevity — naked mole rats can live to be 30 years old, or more than 15 times longer than the average lab mouse.Yet another bizarre and intriguing biological feature of these creatures is their inability to experience pain. Researchers can place a drop of corrosive acid on their transparent pinkish skin and they don’t even react. This, according to scientists, is because they lack a specific neurotransmitter known as substance P that is necessary for feeling the sensation of pain.Park and his colleague John Larson will release a report in next month’s issue of the science journal NeuroReport in which they discuss the remarkable ability of the naked mole rat to survive oxygen deprivation for over a half an hour without suffering brain damage and the potential implications this phenomenon for studies on human strokes.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Nov 2009 | 6:30 am French, British Premiers Push Climate Change FundOn Friday, French and British premiers Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown gave their thumbs up to a global program that would provide the world’s poorest nations with billions of dollars in aid to help them reduce their carbon emissions. Both European leaders say that donations from the wealthiest nations to less developed countries should be an integral part of the new climate treaty which U.N.Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Nov 2009 | 6:17 am IBM to buy start-up Guardium for $225 million: report (Reuters)Reuters - IBM , the world's biggest technology services company, is expected to announce this week the acquisition of database security start-up Guardium for $225 million, Israeli financial newspaper TheMarker reported.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Nov 2009 | 1:52 am
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As we’ve 
It’s the Monday after Thanksgiving / Black Friday, which means many people will dub today 
It’s that time of year again when we see each search engine roll out their top search queries for the year. Scrubbed for pornography and other NSFW stuff, of course. And also manipulated in other ways, like taking out old popular terms, to make sure the list is interesting, if not actually representative of anything, statistically speaking. Here are 
It’s that time again – for the ridiculous email of the week award. And while 
There was one complaint I heard over and over again from Indian entrepreneurs during my three weeks shuttling between Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune: There aren’t enough angel investors in India.
market hasn’t adopted new technologies, goods and services as quickly as outside investors would have liked. (With the noted exception of 
Like Mittal, Gondal (left) sees scale as the only way to push India out of this early stage funding rut. Twenty new deals is nothing—India needs to be minting 
We know that a beta version of 
Earlier this month we did 
