Source: Gizmodo | 10 Dec 2009 | 8:00 pm

Tension grows as publishers target Amazon Kindle pricing - USA Today

ABC News

Tension grows as publishers target Amazon Kindle pricing USA Today By Jennifer S. Altman for USA TODAY By David Lieberman, USA TODAY NEW YORK — E-readers, those thin, portable devices that can hold the texts of hundreds of books and newspapers, were supposed to be a feel-good story for consumers this holiday season. ... Kindle vs. NookBusinessWeek Latest on e-book readers: News, reviews and moreComputerworld Reviewers: The Nook Needs Some WorkPC World New York Times -San Jose Mercury News -The Associated Press all 200 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 10 Dec 2009 | 7:33 pm

StealthSwitch: it’s a button… that you step on

So you’ve got a G19 keyboard with 3 sets of 10 macro keys and a mouse with 15 (or more) buttons. That will allow you to take any one of dozens of actions instantaneously with twitch of your hand. But you need more. Well, what are you doing with your feet right now? Probably not pressing buttons. Can you smell what I’m cooking here?

The StealthSwitch II is a button for you to step on. That’s it. It can be assigned to a keystroke or macro, and… it goes when you put your foot on it. Now, I have to say I’m a little disappointed by this thing. You’re trying to add a whole new dimension of interactivity with a computer, and you give the thing one button? A foot can do more than stop, guys. Why not hair triggers on the left and right so we could assign them to lean directions? In fact, that’d be pretty awesome.

But no, it’s just one button. Sure, you can daisy chain them and stuff, but there’s a lot of potential for a truly custom device here. For $15-$30, though, you can’t expect miracles.

I appreciate the idea, but come back when you’ve done more than execute it perfunctorily.

[via Gadget Review]

Source: CrunchGear | 10 Dec 2009 | 7:30 pm

Frazetta's son busted for trying to steal his father's art

Police report that Alfonso Frank Frazetta (above) was caught red handed stealing 90 of his famous father's paintings. They said he and an accomplice had broken into the Frank Frazetta museum in rural Pennsylvania and were loading the paintings, worth $20 million, into a trailer.

Alfonso, 52, told the police his father had instructed him to "enter the museum by any means necessary to move all the paintings to a storage facility." But Frazetta, who is 81 and was in Florida at the time of the alleged theft said he did not give his son permission to remove the paintings from the museum. (Thanks, Antinous!)

Source: Boing Boing | 10 Dec 2009 | 7:27 pm

Copenhagen: The Drowning Mouse Roars

With deliberations at the Copenhagen climate change summit now reaching the end of their first week, tension, a colleague of mine in the meetings tells me, "is high." The tiny Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, the fourth smallest and third ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 7:11 pm

Craigslist founder says eBay reneged on promises (AP)

AP - Internet auctioneer eBay Inc. began reneging on its promises to Craigslist shortly after taking a minority interest in the online classifieds site, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark testified Thursday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:46 pm

U.S. video game sales down 7.6 pct in November: NPD (Reuters)

Reuters - Sales of video game equipment and software in the United States fell 7.6 percent in November to $2.7 billion, research group NPD said on Thursday, as the struggling industry limped into the crucial holiday sales period.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:45 pm

Apple, Google Vie for Start-Ups - Wall Street Journal

Pocket-lint.com

Apple, Google Vie for Start-Ups Wall Street Journal Google Inc. and Apple Inc., which have long thrived without treading on one another's turf, are vying to acquire some of the same Silicon Valley start-ups and developing products that put themselves in ... Apple to fold Lala into itunes, transform into Web serviceArs Technica WSJ: Apple to Use Lala to “Reboot” iTunes Into Web-Based ServiceThe Mac Observer Google Vs. Apple in Fight for Start-UpsTheStreet.com VentureBeat -CNET News -msnbc.com all 114 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:42 pm

DRBD To Be Included In Linux Kernel 2.6.33

An anonymous reader writes "The long-time Linux kernel module for block replication over TCP, DRBD, has been accepted as part of the main Linux kernel. Amid much fanfare and some slight controversy, Linus has pulled the DRBD source into the 2.6.33 tree, expected to release February, 2010. DRBD has existed as open source and been available in major distros for 10 years, but lived outside the main kernel tree in the hands of LINBIT, based in Vienna. Being accepted into the main kernel tree means better cooperation and wider user accessibility to HA data replication."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:36 pm

Nook E-Reader Promises, But Doesn't Deliver

The Nook's hardware is promisingly sleek, but it's marred by software that — at least in its initial version — is sluggish and sometimes unintuitive.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:30 pm

Nook E-Reader Promises, But Doesn't Deliver

The Nook's hardware is promisingly sleek, but it's marred by software that — at least in its initial version — is sluggish and sometimes unintuitive.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:30 pm

November video game sales fall 8 percent to $2.7B (AP)

AP - Americans reached into their pockets — though not as deep as last year — to spend $2.7 billion on video games in November, according to figures reported Thursday by market researcher NPD Group.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:09 pm

Apple’s Next Media Frontier Will Be Streaming Video

Video entertainment was “the one that got away” from Apple, but recent moves reveal the company is taking a second stab at the category, and that streaming video will play a major role.

The addition of video cameras to Apple’s latest iPhone and iPod Nano were just the first hints of the company’s new personal-media strategy. The company is also building a 500,000 square-foot data center in North Carolina, which could provide the massive bandwidth required for ubiquitous streaming video. And Apple’s recent acquisition of Lala suggests it’s interested in rebooting iTunes into a streaming service, according to Wall Street Journal. That means music, in Lala’s case, but the same infrastructure could be shared with streaming video.

The final piece of the puzzle was Apple’s approval this week of iPhone apps with live video-streaming capability. The company previously forbade this functionality, reserving live video as a private API. But a letter from an iPhone developer convinced Steve Jobs to release Apple’s restrictions, and now live video-streaming apps Ustream and Knocking Live Video are available for download in the App Store.

All these recent developments point to a significant new strategic market for Apple: personal broadcasting, or sharing personal experiences. YouTube and Flip are already big players in this young space, and the logical competitive move for Apple is to make personal media deliverable and accessible anytime, anywhere.

That means in the next few years, we’re likely to see video cameras with live-streaming software built into future iPods and iPhones (and the rumored touchscreen tablet, if it ever exists). These features will likely be integrated into iTunes, which Apple would convert into a social experience with real-time sharing services, in addition to being a storage tool.

It’s no wonder Jobs gave the green light on live video-broadcasting apps for the iPhone: He could use app developers to help Apple get started.

In a September iPod event, Jobs made it clear Apple was entering the consumer video market.

“We want to get in on this,” Jobs said when he presented the video-equipped iPod Nano’s main competitor: the Flip camcorder.

Building a data center, putting a video camera on the iPhone and approving iPhone apps with live video-streaming functionality are all precursor steps necessary for Apple to build for an always-connected, share-everything future.

“I would look at it and say, ‘You’re Apple. You can’t just refresh your existing line. What’s your game changer?’” said James McQuivey, a Forrester analyst who focuses on consumer video. “It’s getting into personal broadcasting, which is essentially what this is.”

Live video in its current state is mostly a bunch of niche applications. Satellite trucks enable broadcast journalists to televise live scoops. In the business space, professionals use live video conferencing to communicate remotely. Consumers use live video broadcasting with webcams to video-chat with each other, and a few exhibitionists broadcast themselves over websites like Ustream and Justin.tv.

So what’s the big deal if you put live-video capability in a phone? You can carry it everywhere and broadcast live from anywhere, and that opens a whole new world of applications for the technology. John Ham, co-founder of video-streaming startup Ustream, predicts live video will give birth to a new world of citizen journalists.

“People always have a cellphone on them,” said John Ham, co-founder of Ustream. “You can’t always predict life, and there are going to be moments where you want to share…. We’ve seen people take out devices and streaming earthquakes or planes landing, and now there are going to be all sorts of citizen journalism events now if we have millions with this application over iPhone.”

The developer of Knocking Live Video, an app that broadcasts live video between iPhones, said anywhere-video broadcasting is the evolution of Twitter.

“We are focused on phone-to-phone, not uploading to the web,” Pointy Head developer Brian Meehan explained to Ars Technica. “Who really cares about fleeting moments other than friends and family seeing it as it happens? With Knocking, people share what they are doing right now. Our testers have referred to Knocking as a ‘visual tweet.’”

And then there are those who are already using video cameras in phones and point-and-shoots to capture events like concerts or soccer games, which eventually get e-mailed or posted on Facebook. Sharing his personal experience, McQuivey said he went to a concert with his daughter recently and saw about 100 pocket video cameras shooting the show on the main floor.

“The performers even said, it used to be what goes on tour stays on tour, but now it ends up on Facebook,” McQuivey said. “Apple would be foolish not to try to be the center of that buzz.”

“Google is going to want to go with this, too: They have YouTube,” McQuivey noted. “This could be really interesting.”

And what about Lala? According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple is working with Lala’s engineers to revamp iTunes into a streaming music service that lets users buy and listen to music through a web browser.

“For consumers, such changes could make it far easier to manage and access large libraries of music, which need to be stored, maintained and backed up on computer hard drives and portable devices,” The Wall Street Journal wrote.

Why stop with music? Adding video to the mix would turn iTunes into a personal media hub.

In a nearer term, McQuivey says Apple has an easy opportunity to integrate video from the fifth-generation iPod Nano into iTunes, enabling users to share recordings with one another through the software.

“This puts Apple in an important place it hasn’t occupied until now: It makes Apple software the potential hub for personal media, something that is poised to explode in the next 2-3 years,” McQuivey wrote in a blog post when the video-equipped Nano was released in September.

“Even Flip’s success has not guaranteed that people use Flip software to manage the videos they capture,” he added. “But Apple’s iTunes has always been the glue that makes Apple’s ecosystem work. And now it just acquired superadhesive properties.”

See Also:

• Apple’s New Data Center Likely to Focus on Cloud Computing …
• Rhapsody to Apple: ‘Get Off of My Cloud’
• Apple’s Purchase of Lala Could Signal Cheaper, Streaming iTunes …
• Dropbox Brings Cloud Storage Within iPhone’s Reach

Photo: michaelhilton/Flickr

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:00 pm

Wear Your Geeky Heart on Your Sleeve With Nerd Apparel

Fashionistas, take note: Not everything you wear has to be made by Prada or Tom Ford. This year it's in vogue to wear a hoodie shaped like Boba Fett.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:00 pm

Apple's Next Media Frontier Will Be Streaming Video

Apple's recent moves reveal it's building toward a share-everything future, and that live streaming-video technology will likely be a key weapon to compete with Google and Flip.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:00 pm

Apple's Next Media Frontier Will Be Streaming Video

Apple's recent moves reveal it's building toward a share-everything future, and that live streaming-video technology will likely be a key weapon to compete with Google and Flip.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:00 pm

Wear Your Geeky Heart on Your Sleeve With Nerd Apparel

Fashionistas, take note: Not everything you wear has to be made by Prada or Tom Ford. This year it's in vogue to wear a hoodie shaped like Boba Fett.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:00 pm

Cloud Engines Raises $3 Million For Global Expansion Of Pogoplug

Cloud Engines, the company behind Pogoplug, the device that turns any USB hard drive into a network accessible drive, raised $3 million in funding according to an SEC filing. We’ve confirmed the investment with the company with existing investor Foundry Group and others participating in the round.

According to the startup’s CEO, Daniel Putterman, Cloud Engines will use the money to kick start their international plans for retail, specifically in Europe. The company will also expand retail operations in the U.S.

Cloud Engines just last month updated the Popoplug by adding four USB ports, a new address book feature, global search across all the drives attached to a Pogoplug and all the devices associated with a single account, and a host of other improvements.

The Pogoplug comes with a handy iPhone application, that allows users to stream music (or movies) that they don’t have room to store, back up photos as they’re taken, or read docs stored at home.

You can also check out CrunchGear’s review of the Pogoplug, and their coverage of the NAS Adapter that comes optional with Pogoplug.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 10 Dec 2009 | 5:15 pm

FCC Considers Opening Up the Pipes [Voices]

By Amy Schatz, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Should the U.S. adopt rules that would require Internet providers to share their broadband lines with rivals, like other countries?

Debate over that controversial idea took center stage at the Federal Communications Commission Thursday, where agency officials are considering a Harvard study that suggested the approach would help improve U.S. broadband availability and affordability.

“U.S. performance [in Internet speeds and availability] is not at the kind of level that we can say no matter what others are doing, we’re doing better. We’re not doing better,” said Yochai Benkler, co-director of Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, at an FCC workshop.

The workshop was the latest in an exhaustive series held by FCC officials as part of their efforts to write a National Broadband Plan for the U.S. The plan would offer a blueprint for what the government could do to improve the availability of high-speed Internet service.

The agency has estimated it could cost anywhere from $20 billion to $350 billion to ensure every American has access to high-speed Internet service.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 10 Dec 2009 | 5:10 pm

Alphabet updated with new letters

I had no idea that typography industry lobbyists were so powerful!


Source: Boing Boing | 10 Dec 2009 | 5:00 pm

Old Hard Drives Get Sculpted Into Cars, Bikes, Robots

Miguel Rivera, a systems administrator has taken used hard drives, gutted them and creating beautiful steampunky art out of them.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 10 Dec 2009 | 4:45 pm

Old Hard Drives Get Sculpted Into Cars, Bikes, Robots

Miguel Rivera, a systems administrator has taken used hard drives, gutted them and creating beautiful steampunky art out of them.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 4:45 pm

Old Hard Drives Get Sculpted Into Cars, Bikes, Robots

Hard drives gone bad don’t always have to end up in the trash. Miguel Rivera, a systems administrator, took a pile of used drives, gutted some and turned them into beautiful sculptures.

“The overall concept was to make something out of just hard drive parts and pieces,” says Rivera. “I wanted it to look solid and heavy so I leaned towards just using metal — no plastic or gluing things together.”

The results are creations that almost take your breath away in their complexity and beauty.

Rivera’s first sculpture was made out of a standard 3.5-inch hard drive, and designed to evoke a car. “It wasn’t really difficult putting this one together since I didn’t have to modify anything other than the cover — everything else just screwed on,” he says. It took 33 hard drives — each wheel made of eight discs from gutted drives, and one intact drive for the body — and a whole weekend to make.

From there, he created his second project, a mini car that took 29 hard drives. The third project, the “fat boy motorcycle,” was even more complex. “This one was a bit tricky for me because I just couldn’t get parts to mix well at first to reflect the look I wanted,” he says.

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 10 Dec 2009 | 4:44 pm

NeoMagic(R) Corporation Announces Appointment of Acting Chief Financial Officer

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NeoMagic Corporation (Pink Sheets: NMGC), announced today that on December 7, 2009, NeoMagic Corporation (the "Company") retained James D.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Dec 2009 | 4:43 pm

SeeqPod’s Assets Are Finally Being Sold, And Its Team Is Coming Back For More

The tumultuous story of music search engine Seeqpod is finally coming to a close. Last June, we wrote that the company was looking to sell off its domain name, with evidence suggesting that it was about to be acquired by Microsoft. That didn’t happen. We’ve just heard from CEO Kasian Franks that the technology assets of SeeqPod are now being sold to a “large Japanese media company” (he wouldn’t divulge the name). And now the SeeqPod team is back building another company: the Mikojo music search engine.

Before we get to that though, a recap of SeeqPod’s difficult year. In February SeeqPod was slapped by lawsuits from EMI and Warner Music, as the record companies looked for billions of dollars in damages. In March, Seeqpod filed for bankruptcy protection and put itself up for sale.

There were strong rumors that the company was going to be acquired by Microsoft in a firesale, but that apparently didn’t pan out and Franks says that the company decided not to sell the domain name. But SeeqPod is now close to closing a deal with the unnamed Japanese media company, with the only holdup being the patent rights to the technology behind Seeqpod, which is owned by Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. Negotiations are ongoing, but it sounds like they’ll be reaching a conclusion soon.

So what about the new project? Three of Seeqpod’s lead engineers are now working on Mikojo, a music search engine that Franks says wants to be the comprehensive music search engine. But rather than only serving audio files, as SeeqPod did, Mikojo is meant to search all things music related. Run a search for “Led Zeppelin”, and you’ll see listings for lyrics, merch, tickets, and yes, links to songs. But unlike Seeqpod, which let you stream music directly from the site, Mikojo links you off to sites like Songza, which will keep them clear of the music labels’ wrath. Franks wants Mikojo to be the place people go when they want to find a music video from Vevo, or a song on MySpace Music.

One last (and unique) thing to note about Mikojo: the site has already IPO’d. Mikojo went through a reverse merger and is now listed under the ticker symbol MKJI. Franks says that the company did this because he’s not interested in “the romantic startup phase”. Rather than rely on speculation that leads to wildly varying acquisition prices (see Last.fm and imeem), he wants to “derive the real valuation based on a reflection in the stock price”.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 10 Dec 2009 | 4:25 pm

Porn-Free Playboy iPhone App Is Here, But Who Will Buy It?

Apple has approved the official iPhone app for Playboy magazine — for fans of the articles, of course.

Although the iPhone has a parental controls feature, Apple’s policies still prohibit nudity from appearing in apps. That means you’ll get access to Playboy interviews, feature stories, a behind-the-scenes preview video (nope, no naked bodies there) and other material that’s PG-13 at best.

“The pictures are all non-nude or cropped, either from the magazine pictorial or from the Playmate’s Playboy.com pictorial,” a Playboy spokesman told Krapps, a blog that reviews iPhone apps.

With only eight reviews in the App Store, the $2 app is showing limp performance, which is no surprise. The current version of the app includes the November and December issues. Future issues will be sold through in-app purchasing for $2 a piece.

Download Link [iTunes]

(Thanks, Alex!)

See Also:

• Porn Comes to the iTunes App Store
• Apple: No Porn Allowed in iPhone’s App Store
• Child Porn Is Apple’s Latest iPhone Headache (Updated)
• Child Porn App Disappears from iTunes App Store

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 10 Dec 2009 | 4:19 pm

Very young kid is a great ukulele player

He barely knows how to talk yet, but he's already a better ukulele player than I'll ever be. (Thanks, Gabe!)


Source: Boing Boing | 10 Dec 2009 | 4:12 pm

"Universal Jigsaw Puzzle" Hits Stores In Japan

Riktov writes "I came across this at a Tokyo toy store last week, and it's one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. Jigazo Puzzle is a jigsaw puzzle, but you can make anything with it. It has just 300 pieces which are all just varying shades of a single color, though a few have gradations across the piece; i.e., each piece is a generic pixel. Out of the box, you can make Mona Lisa, JFK, etc, arranging it according to symbols printed on the reverse side. But here's the amazing thing: take a photo (for example, of yourself) with a cell-phone, e-mail it to the company, and they will send you back a pattern that will recreate that photo. This article is in Japanese, but as they say, a few pictures are worth a million words. And 300 pixels are worth an infinite number of pictures."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 10 Dec 2009 | 4:02 pm

AOL Off to a Wobbly Start [Digital Daily]

AOL set out on its own today, spinning off from parent Time Warner (TWX) and bringing an end to one of the most disastrous combinations in corporate history.

“As an independent company with a recognized global Internet brand, we will be competing for the future of content, communications and advertising and that is a very exciting and significant opportunity,” CEO Tim Armstrong enthused in a statement this morning.

Sadly, investors didn’t quite see it that way. AOL’s (AOL) shares dipped around 2.5 percent in morning trading, rose a bit in the afternoon and then finished the day in the red at $23.52.

That said, the share price has risen a bit after hours, though it’s anyone’s guess if that trend will continue on Friday. As UBS analysts Brian Pitz and Brian Fitzgerald said in a research note today, it’s likely to be a while before AOL wins investor confidence.

“We believe AOL is in the early stages of a turnaround and though we like management’s vision for the aspects of the business it can control (advertising), we expect the strategy to take at least a year before it begins to translate into sustained positive user and advertiser metrics,” the analysts wrote. “In the short term, we expect shares to trade down due to technical issues.”

Source: All Things Digital | 10 Dec 2009 | 4:01 pm

Playboy Gets A Sexy iPhone App. Sorry Guys, No Nudity.

Playboy is a magazine that actually does have really good content, I swear. But yes, most people know it as the magazine that each month features nude pictures of their Playmates. And now the magazine has an iPhone app in the App Store. But those concerned that this might ruin Apple’s prude stance with the store, fear not: There is no nudity.

Instead, the app features easy access to some of the main articles in the magazine each month. And it does so in a very slick and sexy way, the app is among the fastest I’ve seen in terms of transition between the different areas. The app also shows you who the featured Playmate of the month is, but all you get is the introduction, the data sheet (which I’m actually kind of surprised Apple even let through), and a series of sexy, but clothed photos. Each Playmate also has a video about their shoot, but again, no nudity.

The plan is for the app to use in-app purchasing so that you can easily buy hard copies of older issues. But that apparently won’t be available until the next version of the app hits next week on the same day that the next issue of Playboy goes on sale. Humorously, to buy other things from Playboy, the app makes you go to the web, with a warning that you’ll be entering a page that contains content which may not be appropriate for children under 17. Of course, anyone with an iPhone can browse to that site directly without the warning from Apple.

Despite apps like this, Apple continues to straddle a difficult line of hypocrisy with regard to the App Store approval process. For example, apps that do satire are rejected, while apps that allow you to see up the skirts of asian girls are just fine. Also fine: Apps that simply showcase Asian Boobs, which is the name of the app. Oh, and Mein Kampf is also fine. But there can be no nudity in an app for a magazine known for its nudity. That kind of stuff which you see today in PG-13 movies is just too much for a device which has built-in parental controls.

The app is $1.99 in the App Store. You can find it here.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 10 Dec 2009 | 4:00 pm

Jargon Watch: Prayer Tweet, ROS, Bokodes

Impress your friends with new lingo like "prayer tweet," a supplication to God via Twitter.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 4:00 pm

Mr. Know-It-All on Family Help Desks, Boob Jobs, Expired Meds

Wired's Brendan Koerner lets you know it's OK to cut the cable on playing tech support for Dad, just do it respectfully and bring along one of those For Dummies books.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 4:00 pm

New IBM Cloud-Computing Lab Will Focus on Security (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - Projecting 28 percent annual growth in cloud computing, IBM this week opened its 10th laboratory focused on developing products and services for global Web 2.0, collaboration and mail services. The facility will support IBM's LotusLive division, which it says has gained 18 million users in its first year and will be geared toward clouds for government and companies. The monthly cost for companies is $3 per user.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Dec 2009 | 3:57 pm

Apple Kicks Out Chinese App Developer [Voices]

By Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

With more than 100,000 apps in Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone App Store, developers have come up with many creative ways to stand out. But the experience of a prolific Chinese app company called Molinker offers a cautionary tale.

An Apple spokeswoman says it removed Molinker from the App Store “for falsifying product reviews and violating the terms of the iPhone Developer Agreement.” Efforts to reach Molinker for comment were unsuccessful.

Blogs such as TG Daily reported earlier this week that Apple had taken action against Molinker–which boasts more than 1,000 apps–following complaints that the Chinese firm was posting fake reviews. Another site, iPhoneography, reported earlier that a reader had pointed out that the majority of Molinker’s five-star reviews for an app called “NightCam Pro” came from people who have only reviewed this app or other Molinker apps.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 10 Dec 2009 | 3:48 pm

The Social Times/AllFacebook Acquired By WebMediaBrands

The Social Times, the company behind AllFacebook.com, has been acquired by WebMediaBrands. We’ve confirmed the news with Social Times founder Nick O’Neill, who will be joining WebMediaBrands as Director of Social Times. O’Neill couldn’t comment on the acquisition price, but says that he is pleased with the deal.

A big congratulations to O’Neill, who started the company two and a half years ago with the launch of AllFacebook, which extensively covers Facebook news. He followed that up around six months later with the launch of The Social Times, which covers a broader array of social media issues. O’Neill is the company’s only full time staff member, though he has a number of contractors contributing content to the sites.

Along with AllFacebook and the Social Times, the deal includes New Media School, a site that helps with social media strategy that launched in August. It also includes the company conference.

The news comes as WebMediaBrands, which is perhaps best known as the onwer of Media Bistro, goes through a major transition. The company has divested the majority of its properties, including its recent sale of Internet.com for $18 million. With today’s acquisiiton, WebMediaBrands is looking to expand into the social media space. O’Neill will be given resources to hire more writers to continue expanding his sites (he says they’ll probably be hiring ten more in the next few weeks). And we may well see more deals in the near future.

The Social Times currently draws around 500,000 unique vistors and 1 million page views a month.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 10 Dec 2009 | 3:44 pm

Princeton Scientists Find Way To Catalog All That Goes Wrong In A Cancer Cell

A team of Princeton University scientists has produced a systematic listing of the ways a particular cancerous cell has "gone wrong," giving researchers a powerful tool that eventually could make possible new, more targeted therapies for patients."For a very long time, cancer therapies have been developed by trial and error to essentially kill a broad variety of rapidly dividing cells, good and bad -- that's why they have massive side effects," said Saeed Tavazoie, a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, who led the research.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Dec 2009 | 3:37 pm

UCLA Researchers Engineer Bacteria To Turn Carbon Dioxide Into Liquid Fuel

Global climate change has prompted efforts to drastically reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas produced by burning fossil fuels.In a new approach, researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have genetically modified a cyanobacterium to consume carbon dioxide and produce the liquid fuel isobutanol, which holds great potential as a gasoline alternative.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Dec 2009 | 3:33 pm

Facebook Is Totally Down

In case you are wondering, it’s not just you. Facebook is down. Want to know more? Try checking Twitter (which is uncharacteristically up).

Update: It looks to be back up now. Just a hiccup, everyone back to work, er, socializing.

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

Source: TechCrunch | 10 Dec 2009 | 3:27 pm

Vermicompost From Pig Manure Grows Healthy Hibiscus

VC provides organic, economical replacement for conventional nutrientsVermicomposting, the practice of using earthworms to turn waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer, can be an economical, organic waste management practice.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Dec 2009 | 3:26 pm

100,000 iPhones Sold in China as Uphone Gets Backing (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - After a disappointing launch, Apple is starting to get some traction in China with its iPhone. China Unicom, the second-largest wireless operator in the Asian nation, reports it has sold more than 100,000 iPhones since it launched on Oct. 30.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 10 Dec 2009 | 3:25 pm

Anticipated Closure of BitTorrent Sites Spurs Panic Downloads In China

hackingbear writes "Beijing Internet users are scrabbling for downloads from BitTorrent websites following speculation that authorities will shut them down as early as this week. Internet experts told China Daily the failure might be caused by an overload of users seeking last-minute free downloads. As the largest BT download website in China with 5 million downloads each year, VeryCD has been on the verge of closure after the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) shut hundreds of similar peer-to-peer file sharing sites, including the 50 million-user BTChina, during the last 10 days in its latest attempt to fight pornography and piracy online."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 10 Dec 2009 | 3:13 pm

yFrog Launches Twitter Clients For BlackBerry And Android

yFrog, an image and video sharing site for Twitter, is furthering its mobile strategy by launching both BlackBerry and Android apps. Yfrog for Blackberry lets you Tweet text, images and video to Twitter, view tweets, search Yfrog, view followers and people you’re following, and view messages and mentions The Android app is more feature-rich, and lets you Tweet text, images and videos, view Tweets, mentions and followers, and search Twitter. You can also download multiple files at the same time, and upload videos up to 15 minutes long with high quality video encoding. And GPS location will be included with every upload.

Source: MobileCrunch | 10 Dec 2009 | 3:05 pm

NASA sky-mapping mission delayed - Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

NASA sky-mapping mission delayed Los Angeles Times A problem with a rocket engine pushes back the launch of the WISE project from Friday to Saturday, but bad weather could cause further delays. The WISE spacecraft is scheduled to launch Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the Central Coast of ... NASA Sky-Mapping Satellite Will Pinpoint Near-Earth AsteroidsBloomberg NASA delays launch of spacecraftCNN Rocket glitch delays nasa's sky-mapper launchRegister The Associated Press -Space.com -Jet Propulsion Laboratory all 167 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 10 Dec 2009 | 3:04 pm

Chrome Extensions Are Cool, But They Can't Match Firefox

Google Chrome now has add-ons, but limitations on what developers can and can't do to extend the browser may end up holding Chrome back while Firefox, which has fewer restrictions, flourishes.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 3:00 pm

Taking the Kuiper Belt Census

Out near the orbit of Pluto, the Kuiper Belt holds thousands of minor bodies. But what can they tell us about the origin of the solar system? Quite a lot, according to veteran Lowell Observatory astronomer Larry Wasserman.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 2:33 pm

4 Ways One Big Database Would Help Music Fans, Industry

The music industry needs a big, open, free database to help everyone just get along -- something made clear as imeem users wonder when MySpace Music will reconstruct their playlists.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 2:30 pm

Best Way To Clear Your Name Online?

An anonymous reader writes "About fifteen years ago, I did something that I've come to regret on a university computer system. I was subsequently interviewed by a Federal law enforcement agency, although no charges were pressed and I have no criminal record as a result of my actions. At the time, I discussed the matter with a friend of mine who went on to mention it briefly in a text file zine with a small distribution list. I've generally tried to keep a low profile online and until recently there's been very little information about me available from the major search engines. Unfortunately, that zine mention was picked up by textfiles.com at some point and mirrored across the world. I've tried to address this with the owner of the site, but couldn't get anywhere. Even if my name in the source file is altered, cached copies will continue to link me with my youthful mistake. Have any other Slashdot readers had a similar experience? What practical steps would your readers recommend to prevent this information from hurting me? I am concerned that future employers may hold my past actions against me should they look for me online as part of their screening process."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 10 Dec 2009 | 2:21 pm

Why Copenhagen Still Matters - BusinessWeek

Telegraph.co.uk

Why Copenhagen Still Matters BusinessWeek Two years ago this week, on the island of Bali, representatives of 180 nations agreed on an ambitious timeline for reaching a global agreement to address climate change. The Bali Road Map, as it was called, identified key issues to ... Questions and answers on the climate e-mail controversyMiamiHerald.com Many UK Scientists Confident Of Global Warming EvidenceWall Street Journal On Sarah Palin's climate stanceWashington Post Christian Science Monitor -TG Daily -Toronto Star all 1,388 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 10 Dec 2009 | 2:18 pm

Merriman Curhan Ford Initiates Coverage on AOL Inc.

We are initiating coverage of AOL with a Sell rating. All of the company's segments are in decline, including the largest and most profitable one, Subscriptions, which is in secular decline. Moreover, as the subscriber base shrinks, it will also drag down the pageviews in the AOL Media segment, making the turnaround even more challenging. The Google contract (18% of revenue) will expire in 2010 and likely renew at less favorable terms. We believe that revenue and cash flow declines (organically) will not stabilize until 2012. We would be buyers of the stock approximately $15-18 per share.Our DCF analysis yields a $25 share price; however, with no visibility into the AOL Media segment turnaround, we see the stock going to $15-18 range before it stabilizes.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Dec 2009 | 2:06 pm

Stimulus Spending Won't Help 49 Percent of US Rural and Urban Households Currently Without Broadband, Says Insight Research

BOONTON, N.J., Dec. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Analysis of most recent FCC data (Jan.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Dec 2009 | 2:04 pm

Celestica Receives Market Leadership Award for the Aerospace and Defense EMS Market

TORONTO, Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Celestica Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Dec 2009 | 2:00 pm

USPTO Asking For Ideas To Enhance Patent Quality

dtmos writes "Tired of seeing poor-quality patents issued? Have a great way to solve the problem? Well, here's your chance to be part of the solution. The USPTO has issued a Request for Comments on Enhancement in the Quality of Patents (PDF), seeking public comment on ways to improve 'the process for obtaining the best prior art, preparation of the initial application, and examination and prosecution of the application.' Comments should be sent to patent_quality_comments@uspto.gov by February 8, 2010."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 10 Dec 2009 | 1:56 pm

Rare Fossil Sheds Light On Dinosaur Evolutionary Tree

Image 1: A reconstruction of the newly discovered Triassic, carnivorous dinosaur, Tawa hallae. Credit: ©Artwork by Jorge Gonzalez.Image 2: Based on an analysis of how Tawa relates to other early dinosaurs, researchers hypothesize that dinosaurs originated in what is now South America, and soon after diverged into ornithischians (like Triceratops), sauropodomorphs (like Apatosaurus) and theropods (like Tyrannosaurus rex), before dispersing across the Triassic world more than 220 million years ago. The theropods evolved into modern-day birds, although Tawa split off from the ancestral branch early on and was not a direct bird ancestor. Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science FoundationImage 3: A reconstruction of the Tawa hallae skeleton. Credit: Sterling Nesbitt
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Dec 2009 | 1:55 pm

ITEX Announces Results for First Quarter of Fiscal 2010

BELLEVUE, Wash., Dec.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Dec 2009 | 1:54 pm

Tussle in Brussels: The EC’s Oracle-Sun Hearing, Day 1 [Digital Daily]

Oracle is defending its planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems before the European Commission this week, and according to the company’s legal team, the first day of arguments went quite well. “I am extremely happy,” Oracle attorney Thomas Vinje said of the first half of the two-day hearing in Brussels.

And evidently for good reason. Oracle (ORCL) has managed to muster a substantial list of customers willing to argue that its purchase of Sun (JAVA), and more specifically, of Sun’s open-source MySQL database software, will not undermine competition in the database market.

Among the eight companies helping Oracle defend the deal: Vodafone (VOD), the U.K.’s National Health Service, Sabre Holdings and Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBV). “There can’t be a better voice than customers,” Vinje said. “The customers said that there is robust competition in the market.”

But that’s today. Tomorrow will be a different story entirely. Tomorrow, Microsoft (MSFT) and SAP (SAP) will comment on the $7 billion deal, and neither company is particularly fond of it, or of Oracle for that matter. Both will presumably argue that Oracle’s acquisition of Sun could hinder MySQL’s development since Oracle has little reason to support a database technology that competes with its own–though some, like IBM, disagree.

One last bit of news worth noting, here. European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes seems confident the EC will resolve its differences with Oracle. “I am still optimistic that we can reach a satisfactory outcome that will ensure that there is no adverse impact on effective competition in the European market,” she told a news conference.

More tomorrow.

Source: All Things Digital | 10 Dec 2009 | 1:48 pm

T-Mobile Starts Rolling Out Carrier Billing Support In The Android Market

Good news, Android App developers! You can probably expect an uptick in sales this month – and not just because of the Holiday bump. Just in time for the season of spending, T-Mobile has begun to roll out carrier billing support for the Android Market, allowing us all to buy up apps by charging them back to our cell phone bills.

Back in November, T-Mobile disclosed that carrier billing was “coming soon”. Flash forward to last night, when a handful of users began noticing that they now had a “Bill My T-Mobile Account” payment option. Not everyone will see the update hit their handsets immediately – in fact, T-Mobile’s giving themselves until December 30th to get it out to all of us. Perhaps frustratingly, there’s no notification if your Market app has been updated; unlike nearly every other Android-related update, this one happens silently. In other words, you get to keep checking.

One odd caveat: If the app you want to buy is sold in euros/pounds rather than dollars, you’ll still need to use a credit card. T-Mobile and Google are still “working on a solution to properly convert these applications into US Dollars”.

[Via AndroidAndMe]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 10 Dec 2009 | 1:47 pm

New NASA Sky Mapper to Hunt Stars, Galaxies, Near-Earth Asteroids

NASA's new infrared sky mapper is set to launch Friday. The WISE craft will find more asteroids, stars and other objects than have ever been seen before. It's the most comprehensive census yet.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 1:35 pm

FiberTower Announces Receipt of Nasdaq Listing Compliance Notice

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Dec 2009 | 1:31 pm

Peerless Systems Announces Results for the Third Quarter of Fiscal 2010

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Dec.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Dec 2009 | 1:24 pm

Nationwide Retailer InkStop Closes 150 Stores and Locks Employees Out. Court Orders Stores to Re-open and Begin Liquidation Sales.

CLEVELAND, Dec. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Cleveland, OH -based InkStop Stores, a nationwide retailer who abruptly locked employees out of stores in October, starts liquidation sale this week by court order to return money to creditors.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Dec 2009 | 1:23 pm

Google Mobile iPhone App gets a minor bump

If the little gleaming update notification badge on the App Store hasn’t already caught your eye, it’s time to update the ol’ Google Mobile app – especially if you’ve got an accent.

The biggest change is in how the app gets things done. Where as it used to boot into Safari as soon as you tapped into any search result, they’re now keeping it all within app – tap a result, and it’ll open in an in-app web view.

If you’ve got an accent, Google’s voice search results might not always be spot on. Looking to improve upon this, they’ve added manual accent selection. The app already knew to fine-tine itself to accents specific to a certain area by way of GPS – but if you’re an Australian in London, for example, you can now tell the app to prep itself for your specific vocal twang.

Finally, they’ve moved a few minor visual customization settings out of the once somewhat-hidden “Bells and Whistle” preferences screen. You can now set the Google Mobile app’s overall theme to just about any color you’d like, or set the app to display a “live waveform” as you speak your commands. The latter option only works well on “faster iPhones” – so don’t be surprised if things get a bit chunky on your 1st generation antique.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 10 Dec 2009 | 1:18 pm

National Semiconductor Reports Results for Second Quarter Fiscal 2010

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: NSM) today reported sales of $345 million and net income of $47.0 million, or 20 cents per diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2010, which ended Nov.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 10 Dec 2009 | 1:07 pm

Find Your Phone's IMEI Number

Your phone can be tracked by a long serial number located on your phone. If your phone is ever lost or stolen, carriers can prevent the phone from ever making a phone call again. Want to protect your phone? Better write down that IMEI number now.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 10 Dec 2009 | 1:00 pm

Amazon offering free digital downloads with select DVD & Blu-ray purchases

Section: Video, Content, DVD/DVR/Blu-ray

Have you ever purchased a DVD or Blu-Ray on Amazon.com and felt anxious as you waited several days for the item to ship to your house? Well, Amazon has a solution: Disc+ On Demand.

Amazon is offering shoppers a chance to double dip their movie-watching needs through a “Gift with purchase” on certain items. When customers purchase select DVD and Blu-ray titles, they can receive a free digital download of the film. The On Demand download is only standard definition, but it can play on a PC, Mac, or stream to compatible television units.

Disc+ On Demand is a happy medium for people who want the immediacy of digital downloads and those who want to purchase a high-definition physical copy of the film to watch at a later date. The library of Disc+ On Demand titles is just a small portion of Amazon’s store, but customers can browse through a list of available titles. Most of the selections are from Mystery & Suspense or Sci-Fi & Fantasy categories, but other categories are also represented in the more than 300 available films.

Disc+ On Demand is available only to U.S.-based Amazon customers.

Read [Amazon]

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Source: Gadgetell | 10 Dec 2009 | 12:59 pm

Panelists for CNN/YouTube Climate Debate announced; CO2 Cube "Powered by YouTube" unveiled

Last week, we announced the CNN/YouTube Climate Debate in Copenhagen, an effort to make sure that your voice is included in the climate debate — and that your questions are posed to decision-makers on an international stage. Today, we want to inform you that panelists will include former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, journalist Thomas Friedman, U.N. Executive Secretary Yves de Boer and author Bjorn Lomberg.

To submit your question for these leaders, upload a short video of yourself posing the question and submit it here: www.youtube.com/cop15. We've already seen some top-notch video questions like this one from Angela in Italy who wants to know about the consequences of climate change, and this question from Mo in Florida who is concerned about the cost of going green:



The top questions will be posed to leaders during the debate, and also projected onto the CO2 Cube, a 3-story art installation now residing in the center of Copenhagen, built to represent one metric ton of carbon and powered by YouTube videos related to the climate crisis. Here's an in-depth look at this stunning artistic display:



You can submit your video at www.youtube.com/cop15 and vote on questions for potential inclusion in the debate and on the Cube. The debate will be live-streamed in full on the COP 15 channel, and onto the Cube, on December 15 so make sure to watch and see if world leaders answer your question.

Posted by Ramya Raghavan, Nonprofits & Activism, YouTube
Source: The Official Google Blog | 10 Dec 2009 | 12:56 pm

Appletell reviews Wondershare’s iPod Toolkit for Mac

FROM APPLETELL - Wondershare’s iPod Toolkit bundles three of their most useful Mac products: Video to iPod Converter for Mac, DVD to iPod Converter for Mac, and TransPod for Mac.
MORE »

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Source: Gadgetell | 10 Dec 2009 | 12:32 pm

University Of Maryland Technology Could Help Find IED Weapons Caches

University of Maryland researchers have developed and successfully tested new computer software and computational techniques to analyze patterns of improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in Iraq, Afghanistan or other locations and predict the locations of weapons caches that are used by insurgents to support those attacks.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Dec 2009 | 12:18 pm

Argonne Scientists To Control Attractive Force For Nanoelectromechanical Systems

DARPA to provide funding to quell Casimir forceScientists at the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Dec 2009 | 12:15 pm

Tiny Molecule Slows Progression Of Lou Gehrig's Disease In Mice

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that a molecule produced naturally by muscles in response to nerve damage can reduce symptoms and prolong life in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)."We believe we can apply this research toward drug development," said Dr.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Dec 2009 | 12:12 pm

New Russian missile may be behind Norwegian lights - The Associated Press

Telegraph.co.uk

New Russian missile may be behind Norwegian lights The Associated Press MOSCOW — The failure of a new Russian intercontinental ballistic missile during testing was the cause of spectacular spiraling blue lights in the skies over northern Norway, analysts said Thursday. Russia's defense ministry said a Bulava missile was ... Light show sparks UFO buzzmsnbc.com Norway spiral: A rocket scientist explains the mysteryChristian Science Monitor Russian missile test launch failsBBC News FOXNews -TG Daily -CNN International all 549 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 10 Dec 2009 | 12:10 pm

New Approach To Emissions Makes Climate And Air Quality Models More Accurate, Major Study Finds

It's no secret that the emissions leaving a car tailpipe or factory smokestack affect climate and air quality. Even trees release chemicals that influence the atmosphere.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Dec 2009 | 12:09 pm

Genetic Ancestry Highly Correlated With Ethnic And Linguistic Groups In Asia

73 Southeast Asian and East Asian populations genetically mappedSeveral genome-wide studies of human genetic diversity have been conducted on European populations.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Dec 2009 | 12:04 pm

Reaching The Summit Of Protein Dynamics

Brandeis researchers reveal the hidden, transient life of a protein between active statesUnderstanding the incredibly speedy atomic mechanisms at work when a protein transitions from one shape to another has been an elusive scientific goal for years, but an essential one for elucidating the full panoply of protein function. How do proteins transition, or interconvert, between distinct shapes without unfolding in the process? Until now, this question has been a hypothetical one, approached by computation only rather than experimentation.In a groundbreaking study this week in Cell, Brandeis researchers reveal for the first time computationally and experimentally the molecular pathway that a protein takes to cross the energy barrier, the "climb over the mountain." The study reports how folded proteins can efficiently change shape while avoiding unfolding, a critical requirement for any protein in the cell.Using computation and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, the researchers were able to experimentally measure how fast the signaling nitrogen regulatory protein jumps from one shape to another, and to shed light into the atomistic pathway."If you think of crossing the energy barrier as reaching the summit of a mountain, what we revealed is the molecular "hiking" path the protein follows from a deep valley, to the area around the summit, and then back into another not quite-as-deep valley," said Brandeis biophysicist and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator Dorothee Kern.Historically, scientists had proposed that proteins must break apart, or partially unfold, between distinct active shapes. "That never made sense to me," said Kern, "because if you break the shape of the protein, you have to build it new again and that is too complicated and energy-inefficient; it would take too long."Kern said they discovered that the signaling protein unfolds on the minute timescale, once every five minutes, while interconversion between the functionally active states happens on the microsecond timescale (10,000 times per second).First computationally and then experimentally, Kern and her colleagues showed that the protein actually never unfolds on the way, but rather goes through transient, or bridging, states that last less than a nanosecond. The proof? In the transient states, hydrogen bonds, which do not exist in the protein's ground states (the valleys), enable function while circumventing the risk of unfolding."This is a proof of principle paper; it changes the paradigm of protein dynamics because these transient nonnative atomic interactions were really hidden before," said Kern. "This paper underscores the need to develop an iterative approach between computation and experimentation."Understanding protein dynamics is essential to improving protein design for all kinds of applications, including engineering, materials science, and pharmaceuticals. "We don't understand how to make proteins change their shape; the missing link is understanding how nature very efficiently and specifically changes the shape of proteins," said Kern. "If we knew the physics of proteins better, it would help us design functional proteins."The study was funded by grants from HHMI, National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the Keck Foundation.---Image Caption: This image shows the molecular path of the signaling protein from the active to the inactive state. Credit: Francesco Pontiggia and Dorothee Kern
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 10 Dec 2009 | 11:57 am

Foxit unveils ebook store for eSlick users

Section: Gadgets / Other, ebooks

It looks like Foxit is trying to make some headway in the ebook market, or more specifically it looks like they are at least trying to keep up with the current giants of Amazon, Sony and Barnes & Noble by having an ebook store carrying their name.

Yes, similar to those three big players, Foxit has recently announced an ebook store for eSlick users. The strange part here is that the eSlick already offers support for the current Barnes & Noble ebook store. Given that, I cannot help but wonder why the new store.

That said, my curiosity aside, the new Foxit ebook store is going to boat 60,000 available titles. As far as the name, it has been dubbed the eSlick Store and was launched in partnership with Fictionwise LLC. And yes, for anyone keeping track and playing along at home—Fictionwise LLC is also owned by Barnes & Noble.

Bottom line, more choice is generally better, but this move just seems a little redundant and possibly confusing for any customers.

Read [Business Wire] Via [Engadget]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 10 Dec 2009 | 11:46 am

Surprise! There will be another iPhone next year

After 3 years of back-to-back new iPhones, it probably doesn’t take a whole lot of guts (or brains, for that matter) to predict that Apple will be announcing a new iPhone in 2010.

But when this guy comes along and says that the orders been placed, pretty much all doubt goes out the door.

Early today, mobile maven Eldar Murtazin tweeted out the following:

Foxconn received order for next generation iphone

Anyone else, and we’d chalk it up as an attempt to make an incredibly vague prediction for the sake of attention. But this is Eldar Murtazin we’re talking about here, and he’s more accurate than the walls of a squash court.

[Via Engadget]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 10 Dec 2009 | 11:38 am

Can’t Decide Which Smartphone To Get? Measy Can Help.

With new smartphones hitting the shelves what seems like each and every week, it’s getting harder and harder to figure out which one’s right for you. Sure, you, dear Tech blog reader, probably know exactly what you want 6 months before it even comes out – but for the vast majority of the population, it’s a big confusing world jam-packed with crazy acronyms and shockingly greasy sales representatives.

We’ve written about Measy, the process-of-elimination gadget finding engine, a few times in the past. When it went live back in October, we mentioned that Measy’s next goal was to add support for smartphones. About an hour ago, they did just that.

They’ve got the process pretty fine-tuned at this point; you start with the big-picture questions (Budget? Carrier? Brand?), and then dive right into the details (Multimedia? Camera? Enterprise features?). They don’t get too specific – they don’t, for example, ask if you need remote wipe, or any other ultra-specific feature. While the technically-obsessed may see this as a bit of a fault, remember that Measy is built for those who have a tough time picking their own device – chances are, its primary audience wouldn’t have the damnedest idea which boxes to check.

Alas, it’s not perfect quite yet. It just launched today, so their database of smartphones seems to be rather small. I said that I wanted a Nokia smartphone, for example, and it recommended the iPhone. In fact, most recommendations tend to point to the iPhone 3GS or the Motorola Droid – which, fortunately, is a pretty solid representation of what most living, breathing recommendation engines (that is, the family geek) would suggest for the time being.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 10 Dec 2009 | 11:15 am

Through a Lobster's Eyes

From the annals of "How did I miss that story?": While reading a news snippet about how scientists hope to mimic the structure of a mantis shrimp's eyes to improve on the next generation of Blu-Ray players, I stumbled on ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 11:11 am

Million Dollar Fish Hurt By Lookalike

The white marlin is so prized that it can sometimes earn fishermen $1 million in tournaments. Look over the mantelpiece at lodges and the homes of fishermen and you might even see one of these lean and mean fish, preserved ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 11:05 am

Solar Panels In Aisle Three

What to get that person who has it all? Maybe some solar panels. In California, at least, it's now possible to haul a box of do-it-yourself solar power off the shelf. Home improvement retail giant Lowe's announced that it's started ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 10:51 am

Nice Guys Finish First

Survival of the fittest is so two centuries ago. These days it's all about survival of the kindest. So all of you cut-throat, road-raging, self-absorbed, Wall Street, pirating, war-mongering, greedy jerks out there, take note: Your "every man for himself" ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 10:41 am

Tron Legacy: Official poster, screenshot and movie synopsis released

Section: Gadgets / Other

Its not often that we offer up a post about a movie here on Gadgetell, but I think that in the case of Tron Legacy we can make an exception. After all, this is a geeks movie and the release date, while still some time away is getting closer. OK, so in all fairness, the movie is not slated for release until December 17—of 2010, but that should not be any reason for us to not get excited now.

And with that, we have the official synopsis as well as the movie poster and a screen shot.

TRON: LEGACY is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that’s unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (GARRETT HEDLUND), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (JEFF BRIDGES), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the digital world of Tron where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin’s loyal confidant Quorra (OLIVIA WILDE), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey of escape across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.

Read [Hey U Guys!] Via [Gizmodo]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 10 Dec 2009 | 10:31 am

Walking with Dinosaurs Dino Stolen

A thief in Mexico walked away with a Walking with Dinosaurs remote-controlled dinosaur, according to show spokeswoman Karla Arrollo. Various media reports value the stolen dinobot at anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000. It was a model baby Plateosaurus, but it ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 10:30 am

Hurricanes 2010: Harsh Forecast

The next hurricane season could be a harsh one, according to Colorado State University hurricane forecasting team. They predicts the United States will fall prey to between three and five major hurricanes in 2010, well above the 2.3 average. Why? ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 10:17 am

Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group announce 4 month delay on new ebooks

Section: Gadgets / Other, ebooks

Have a Kindle, Sony Reader or still waiting to get your Nook? Well listen up because it seems that publishers are beginning to impose a delay in the availability of ebooks.

The decision so far has been formally announced by Simon & Schuster as well as the Hachette Book Group.

According to Carolyn Reidy, CEO of Simon & Schuster;

“The right place for the e-book is after the hardcover but before the paperback,”

Personally, I am not sure I can agree with her “right place” but what that really means is that those looking for an ebook that is published by Simon & Schuster can expect to wait about 3-4 months after it is released as a hard cover. So far, this move looks like it will affect about 35 titles expected to be released during 2010.

Additionally, the second publisher Hachette Book Group has announced that they will be doing something similar, and those looking for one of their titles can expect a 3-4 month delay.

According to David Young, who is the chief executive of the Hachette Book Group, they are doing this in an effort to “preserve our industry.” Going on to further state that he “can’t sit back and watch years of building authors sold off at bargain-basement prices. It’s about the future of the business.”

If you ask me, this seems like an old model at work, and as much as many will hate to admit things are changing. I can only say that as a Kindle user, I would rather just wait for the release. Honestly, this move, except for maybe a very rare case would not be any cause for me to put my Kindle down and pick up a hard cover book. Which means that at least for me, they are just delaying the inevitable ebook sale. 

Read [WSJ]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 10 Dec 2009 | 9:29 am

Weird Spiral Caused by Russian Nuke Test

The spectacular white plume that appeared over Norway was not of alien origin, but Russian.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 8:45 am

Shrimp Eye Tech: Coming Soon to DVD?

This is quite a crustacean. It's called a mantis shrimp. Colorful little devil, huh? Well, get this. Humans see in three colors, but some species of mantis shrimp can see in as many as twelve. Yeah, I know. That's cool. ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Dec 2009 | 8:20 am

Shields Up!: Facebook’s new “Privacy Tools” actually take away privacy, causing uproar

Section: Web, Web 2.0 / Social Networking

Facebook unveiled its new set of “Privacy Tools” and the sites’ users are in an uproar. On Facebook’s official blog and fan page, there are nearly 1,000 comments from angry users furious about the changes. What is behind the outrage? The new “privacy” tools actually take some of your privacy away from you. You can still keep your Wall, status updates, and most personal and contact info private, but the site now insists on making certain information, including your name, gender, city, friends list, profile photo, pages you are a fan of and groups you are a member of totally public. There is absolutely no way to change that. Previously, it was up to the user to decide exactly what information they wanted shown when they were searched for in the Facebook directory. Now they no longer have much of a choice. It seems Facebook is actually trying to make the site more public in order to compete with Twitter and many users are down right enraged. I can’t blame them.

It may not seem like a big deal to have your profile photo or friends list shown to the world, but think about parents who use photos of their kids as their profile pics. Fine for friends to see but most absolutely do not want those photos made public. Public friends lists can be a problem for those dealing with cyberbullies, stalkers or abusive spouses/partners, who may then use that information to contact those friends in an attempt to get to or harass their victims. Having the pages and groups they are a part of made public is problematic also. For example user may not mind if their friends know they are involved in the Alcoholic’s Anonymous group on Facebook but probably doesn’t want the whole world to know.

I am an avid Facebook user and love the site but I am among those who are very unhappy with the changes. Before these new “tools” were pushed on us I had my settings exactly how I liked them. Only friends and friends of friends could see my personal information and none of my personal info showed up when I was searched for. Now Facebook has decided the whole world needs to see my personal info and I highly resent that. When the new tools are presented to you you are given two options. Keep your “old settings” or “everyone”.  Facebook is pushing hard for its users to allow their info to be displayed to everyone else on the site. Previously when you clicked on Privacy Settings and then on Search, you were given a list of things you could make available to anyone who searches for you on the site: Profile Photo, Friends List, Add as a Friend, Send Message, Groups I Belong To, Pages I’m a Fan Of, etc. Now that is all gone. Now we only have the ability to decide who can see us in a search (Friends, Friends of Friends, Everybody) and asked whether we want to allow our public information to appear on search engines. That’s it.
Most users find this completely unacceptable.

What can be done? First go to Facebook’s official page and blog and complain loudly.  Then click on Settings, Privacy Settings and go through each option carefully making sure nothing is set to “Everyone” unless you’re okay with the entire site seeing it. (Make sure to set each of your photo albums to “Friends” or “Friends of Friends” unless you want them made public too.)The only way to keep the personal information Facebook has now made it mandatory to keep public from being seen by the entire site is to set the Facebook Search results to “Friends” or “Friends of Friends” when you get to the Search option. Keep in mind that anyone that knows your Facebook URL (like people you removed from your friends list) will still be able to see the personal info that Facebook is now forcing us to make public. The only way to prevent that is to place those people on your block list. There is now no way to stay in the search directory without having your friends list, profile pic, groups, pages and gender/location revealed.

Finally, unless you want to see your Facebook information show up on Google, Bing, and other search engines, absolutely do not check the “Allow Indexing” box!

While the new tools do have some interesting features like being able to make certain status updates public and others viewable by your friends list only, overall Facebook has seen to it that they have actually taken away some of their users privacy and that is not acceptable at all. C’mon Facebook, wake up. These new “tools” are a horrible idea!

What do you think of the new tools? Post your opinions!

Read [San Francisco Chronicle]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 10 Dec 2009 | 8:15 am

Seeing the forest through the cloud

Today, at the International Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen, we demonstrated a new technology prototype that enables online, global-scale observation and measurement of changes in the earth's forests. We hope this technology will help stop the destruction of the world's rapidly-disappearing forests. Emissions from tropical deforestation are comparable to the emissions of all of the European Union, and are greater than those of all cars, trucks, planes, ships and trains worldwide. According to the Stern Review, protecting the world's standing forests is a highly cost-effective way to cut carbon emissions and mitigate climate change. The United Nations has proposed a framework known as REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries) that would provide financial incentives to rainforest nations to protect their forests, in an effort to make forests worth "more alive than dead." Implementing a global REDD system will require that each nation have the ability to accurately monitor and report the state of their forests over time, in a manner that is independently verifiable. However, many of these tropical nations of the world lack the technological resources to do this, so we're working with scientists, governments and non-profits to change this. Here's what we've done with this prototype to help nations monitor their forests:

Start with satellite imagery
Satellite imagery data can provide the foundation for measurement and monitoring of the world's forests. For example, in Google Earth today, you can fly to Rondonia, Brazil and easily observe the advancement of deforestation over time, from 1975 to 2001:
Source: The Official Google Blog | 10 Dec 2009 | 8:06 am

Samsung bringing its familiar charging stations to colleges around the U.S.

Well here’s ones way to get your “brand” out there. Samsung will install its mobile chargers (you might have seen them at airports here and there) at 15 colleges around the U.S. That’s just step one. Step two is installing said chargers at more than 50 colleges around the country.

There’s no real catch, I suppose: Samsung gets to put its brand in a terribly helpful manner in front of many pairs of eyes.

The charger will first be installed at Louisiana Tech, Northern Iowa University, Northwestern University, San Diego State University, Texas Tech University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Miami, the University of Minnesota, the University of Texas at Dallas, and the University of New Mexico.

Again, this is just the first wave of such installations. Samsung has it in its plans to install the chargers at more than 50 colleges and universities around the country in the future.

I can’t think of a single bad thing to say here. You never used to be able to find a cellphone charger when you needed one, and now one will be next to the vending machine at the student center. Handy, if nothing else.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 10 Dec 2009 | 8:04 am

Cheap British Supermarket to Sell iPhone

Tesco, the UK supermarket known and loved for both cheap prices and for (allegedly) ousting almost every independent grocery store from Britain’s streets, is days away from selling the iPhone in its stores.

The offering isn’t, as you might assume, just one more place to pick up a handset. The iPhone will actually be on Tesco’s own-label network, Tesco Mobile, a joint venture between Tesco and the original UK iPhone provider, O2. Tesco has just announced the tariffs for its plans and while they aren’t much different to what you’d get from either O2 or Orange, they are straightforward and cheap.

Monthly plans begin at £20 ($33) and get you £60 ($98) worth of calls and text messages (all outgoing — in the UK nobody charges to receive an SMS) and unlimited data (which we believe is actually unlimited). £60 a month will buy you unlimited everything (with a £500 “fair use” policy).

The Pay As You Go options are as excellent as they almost always are in Blighty: buying £10 of credit a month is enough to get you a year of free internet, and if you buy £15 or £20 then Tesco will double your call and SMS credit to £30 or £40.

The iPhone will be in Tesco stores from next Monday, December 14th, and will run from free up to £538 ($874) depending on tariff and model.

iPhone 3GS now available from the 14th December”) [Tesco Mobile]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 10 Dec 2009 | 7:40 am

Gadgetell Contest: Enter to win an HP Envy 15 notebook

Section: Computers, Laptops, Features, Contests

Its time for another giveaway here on Gadgetell, and as you will see, this one is just a little different than our last. That said, we do have to thank HP. But with that out of the way, the contest is for a brand new HP Envy 15 notebook and will run from today (November 30) through December 13.

In terms of the notebook, again, it is an HP Envy 15 and here are some bullet points that should get you excited.

• This is HP’s fastest consumer notebook and the world’s thinnest, lightest quad-core notebook PC.
• It offers maximum speed and mobility with the upcoming Intel Core i7 Processor and up to 16GB of DDR3 1066 MHz system memory with four SODIMM memory slots.
• Versatile storage options include the ability to add two solid-state drives in a RAID-0 configuration to improve the overall speed of the ENVY 15 while providing ultimate disk performance.
• A choice of two 15.6” HP Brightview high-resolution LED backlit displays, including the Full High Definition LED HP Ultra BrightView Widescreen Display with up to 300 nit, provides the best display experience for a notebook in this class.
• But this beauty is also a beast. Envy features the new Intel Core i7 processor which delivers ultimate mobile performance for the most demanding tasks from video editing to intense games. A 15.6” diagonal Brightview widescreen display and ATI Mobility Radeon™ 4830 discrete graphics processor produce the clearest, brightest visuals for viewing Blu-Ray5 and 1080p content.

This contest is also a little more involved, and will require more than just a simple comment or tweet but at the same time it should also be lots more fun. In short, its time to create a video! Here is a list of the guidelines that you will need to keep in mind.

• Videos may be SD or HD, live-action, or animation, and must be under 100 MBs in size.
• Videos must clearly answer the question “What do you want the new HP Envy to do for you?”
• Videos must be posted to YouTube, and announced on Twitter with the hashtag #HPEnvy and @gadgetell
• Due to this video contest being run on multiple blogs, entries are limited to a single submission on one blog only.
• All content must be owned by entrant.
• Anything depicting violence, bodily harm (including cigarette smoking), profanity, nudity or explicit sexual content, or unlawful activity, including underage drinking, binge drinking, or gambling is not permitted in any video submission.

Finally, this one is only open to US residents.

Product [HP Envy 15] Images [HP Envy 15 on Flickr]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 10 Dec 2009 | 7:02 am

Chrome extensions off to a good start. Mac support on the way

Section: Computers, Software / Applications, Web, Web Browsers, Google

Just yesterday, Google officially released the new extensions feature for Chrome, allowing web services of all kinds to finally extend their product to Chrome. There have already been over 500 extensions built for the new feature, and the number keeps growing.

One gripe that has plagued the extensions for the past two days is the lack of support for OSX. That will change very soon as Google does expect that extension support for Mac should be available by the end of the week. Now that Chrome has branched out to OSX and added the extensions feature, it is on par with all of the other web browsers as far as content available to consumers. But it does have the definite advantage of speed over the rest of them.

You can check out all of the extensions here.

My favorite so far: Adthwart, One Number, Brizzly, and Google Apps Shortcuts.

Read [TechCrunch]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:31 am

Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Art of (Cubicle) Warfare

If I’d had this design back when I was a cubicle-bound temp then, well, lets just say I would have been fired even sooner than I was. The Pencil Crossbow is one of the designs for the book Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction by John Austin.

The crossbow is fashioned from just four pencils, a biro and seven rubber-bands, cunningly combined to make a deadly-accurate launcher which is guaranteed to take somebody’s eye out. The book allows for some escalation of inter-office wars with trebuchets, catapults and even printable targets to practice before an all-out assault on your boss.

We love this MacGyverization of office supplies, and the book is probably the perfect Christmas gift for the man who has nothing, or the cubicle monkey in your life. Especially if you want them to be spending more time at home. A lot more time at home. $17.

Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction [John Austin via Noquedanblogs]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:30 am

Small, Fast OCR Scanner Perfect for Expense Account Scams

We kind of hate scanners, having thrown ours in the trash in favor of a pocket digicam. But with CES coming up the Gadget Lab crew is about to engage in its traditional field-work contest: who can collect the most expense-able taxi receipts?

This game is fun, but the aftermath of scanning and totting up totals is tiresome torture. Better to do it with Plustek’s brand-new MobileOffice D428, set - fortuitously - to debut at the CES show. The device is a super-fast scanner which is also small, just wide enough to fit in a sheet of A4 or legal paper and only 3.7-inches deep. It’s also light, at 2-pounds.

But that wouldn’t matter if it wasn’t quick enough for me to power through Las Vegas taxi receipts. Set to 200dpi (the max is 600dpi) the scanner can scream through a page every two seconds, converting the document to pretty much whatever type of file the accounting department has decided on that day (including Word, Excel and even WordPerfect). It also reads any text using bundled OCR software so I can just copy-and-paste the totals into my expenses.

In fact, it seems perfect for the Gadget Lab crew in our race to scam the man, all except for one thing: It’s PC only, and the Gadget Lab is, with the noted exception of the Jägermeister-and-Red-Bull swilling Priya Ganapati, a Mac-only shop. $350.

MobileOffice product page [Plustek. Thanks, Kaitlin]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 10 Dec 2009 | 6:07 am

AT&T blames poor service on customers

Section: Communications, Cellular Providers

AT&T does not exactly have the most available network. Customers have constantly complained about the service, or lack there of, all over the country. Poor infrastructure coupled with one of the most popular and data hungry devices, the iPhone, and you have a recipe for disaster in heavily populated areas.

AT&T executive Ralph de la Vega has blamed the bad service on bandwidth mongols who make up 3% of smartphones. However, these heavy music and video consumers claim over 40% of its network, therefore causing the limited connectivity in populated areas. Now that the iPhone now will be able to stream live video over 3G, we can only expect this to get worse.

The two particular areas AT&T referred to were the New York and San Francisco areas where the network sees tremendous use. AT&T’s solution to the problem: “incentives” to reduce network stress. Whether these are actual incentives such as a deduction on your wireless bill, or threatening incentives like tighter caps, AT&T is basically blaming their network on the users of the iPhone.

I find this particularly strange considering AT&T should be praising Apple for allowing them to carry the phone that has no doubt increased their business by ridiculous numbers. AT&T should do everything in their power to mold their network around the features of the iPhone maintain all available the features on the phone. Here’s one simple solution for AT&T: stop selling the iPhone and give it to a network worthy of carrying the stress on the network. Otherwise, I see no reason why service issues should be blamed on the user because, get this, they used their phone!

Read [Wired]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 10 Dec 2009 | 5:55 am

Silent Vacuum Cleaner With iPod Dock Makes Cleaning Fun

When Electrolux came up with the Silence Amplified, the “most silent vacuum cleaner ever made”, it decided to do something useful with all that extra quietness (the machine operates at just 68dB) that it had left in its wake: Fill it with music. And because today, “music” means “iPod”, Electrolux put in an iPod dock and integrated speakers.

At first, this seems absurd, but why not? Electrolux ran some tests with real, live people to see how they vacuumed with and without music. The result is predictable, but still wonderful: vacuuming becomes fun! The subjects in the video (below) wiggle and dance to the music, burning extra calories, getting the job done faster and generally having a great time.

Think you could do this with your regular vacuum? Think again. Just this week I was hoovering (what the Brits call vacuuming) our cow-skin rug. The Lady wanted to watch me dance, so of course I put on Queen’s “I Want to Break Free”, the anthem of housework. Utter failure. The noise drowned out the music, and I ended up just looking like I couldn’t stand up properly.

Two things make the racket normally associated with a vacuum cleaner: the motor itself and the air swooshing around the internal pipes and bends. Electrolux’ Silent Air Technology straightens as many kinks as possible and hangs the motor to keep it isolated, suspending it by its own suction.

The iPod-dock version of this appliance won’t, sadly, be made, says Cecilia Gustavsson, Product Line Manager at Electrolux. “Mind you,” she adds “if
we were to get a million pre-orders through our website, we would start production.” There are, however, a couple of silent vacs you can buy without the dock, starting at 2550 Swedish Krona, or $360.

I’ll probably never have need for this machine. We sweep in the summer and, in the winter, when the tiled floors suck the heat from your feet, we just let the dust build up into a thick insulating layer we call a “carpet”.

Product page [Electrolux. Thanks, Per!]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 10 Dec 2009 | 5:34 am

Gorillacam, A Tripod Application for iPhone

The iPhone presents a unique opportunity for accessory makers. Never before has a tripod maker, for example, been able to actually reach inside a camera and tweak its software. But that’s exactly what Joby has done with Gorillacam, an iPhone app which lets you get the most out of not just Joby’s iPhone tripod but any tripod on which the phone may happen to be perched.

The functions are skewed towards tripod-mounted pictures, of course, and you get such smart additions as a bubble level at the top of the screen, grid lines, a press-anywhere shutter release and auto-save to let you keep shooting instead of waiting for a save between snaps.

As this is a tripod application, you also get an easy to adjust self-timer, a burst-mode (three shots) and best, a time-lapse function which will take pictures at intervals of anywhere between one second and two minutes.

I wish that this kind of thing could be done to real cameras. My Nikon DSLR, for example, could do with some easier to use software, especially if it was as nice-looking as Joby’s application.

Gorillacam is free, presumably as a great advertisement for Joby’s hardware, so you can go grab it even if you don’t own a GorillaPod.

Gorillacam [Joby. Thanks, Mark!]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 10 Dec 2009 | 4:58 am

Nikon’s New Shoulder-Busting, Shake-Free 300mm Telephoto

You want short depth of field? Can’t be bothered to walk closer to your subject? Need to work on those weedy biceps? Hands shaking from a little too much of the good stuff last night? Nikon has you covered, with its new 6.4-pound, 300mm ƒ2.8 monster, a lens which packs in just about every new technology that Nikon has cooked up in the past few years.

Despite the weight, the lens is not that huge, and amazingly has just a 52mm filter thread. Inside you have a Silent Wave motor so the camera doesn’t have to shift the elements into focus and a VRII shake-reducer which adds up to four stops worth of wobble control (and has an auto-detecting tripod mode which optimizes the anti-shake for non-handheld shooting).

There is also a rather odd but possibly very useful feature: AF Memory Recall, which despite its name is not for remembering to take sharp pictures of Arnold Schwarzenegger on Mars. Instead, it lets you flip instantly back to a pre-determined point of focus. We’d like to see this on some shorter lenses, too — it would be dead handy for popping to the hyper-focal distance of a lens for fast street-shooting, for example.

Otherwise, there is a range of coatings on the elements, from ED to Nano Crystal to SIC. These all help the light get through to the sensor quickly and cleanly.

The price? This is a pro level lens, and has a pro-level price of $5,900. Nikon also has a 2x teleconverter out today, with an aspherical element which is a world first in converters. That will be going for an equally painful $500.

AF-S NIKKOR 300mm ƒ2.8G ED VR II [Nikon USA]

AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III [Nikon USA]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 10 Dec 2009 | 4:42 am

AT&T says you’re using too much bandwidth! Bad you!

All you punks out there watching Internet video and downloading monkey porn had better stop! There’s a current 5 gigabyte cap on data right now but soon, friends, AT&T is going to close up that “unlimited” plan and hopes to educate the consumer on proper data use.

This, interestingly enough, is absolute bullshit. The idea that 5GB can be considered unlimited and that the punks at AT&T can’t handle “3 percent of users using 40 percent network capacity” is even bigger bullshit. Listen: mobile is how we’re going to be using the Internet in the next decade. The fact that AT&T can’t handle that and isn’t ready for it is highly disconcerting. Considering all the recent excitement about their call quality sucking, this can’t be good for the company.

People don’t need to be educated to use less data. They need to be educated as to which carrier can handle the coming mobile data glut.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 10 Dec 2009 | 2:12 am