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Debut of Google's Nexus One Phone Expected This Week - TopNews United States
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 3 Jan 2010 | 2:45 am Scambaiting Gets Comical; Internet Scammers All Dressed UpNurse Nasty writes "Scambaiting is a fun and relaxing full-contact email sport. It's all about baiting Internet and email scammers into exposing themselves and sharing that humiliation with the entire world. Recently I baited four different groups of Internet scammers into being comic book action super-heroes, and then giving them their own 10-page graphic novel. It's a bit of fun and eduction through entertainment." (Warning: The comic contains a bit of naughty language.)Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 3 Jan 2010 | 2:40 am iPhone sheetsSpotted on Gizmodo. Sweet dreams iPhone fans.Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Jan 2010 | 2:16 am engadget exclusive: hands on Nexus Oneengadget got their hands on Google's Nexus One Android powered phone. Read on for hands-on first impressions and view video and photos.Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Jan 2010 | 2:09 am Spirit rover clocks up six years on Mars - Register
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 3 Jan 2010 | 2:02 am Remains of early 1900s plane found in AntarcticaRemains of the first airplane ever taken to Antarctica, in 1912, have been found by Australian researchers, the team announced. The Mawson's Huts Foundation had been searching for the...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 3 Jan 2010 | 12:54 am Explorers hail historic Antarctic plane findAustralian explorers on Sunday credited record low tides and a blue moon for the "one-in-a-million" discovery of one of the world's first aeroplanes buried in Antarctic ice. The...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 3 Jan 2010 | 12:16 am Climate change far worse than thought before - Times of India
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 2 Jan 2010 | 11:46 pm Google Sets Censorship Precedent In Indiaeldavojohn writes "Censorship varies from country to country but India, home to a sixth of the world's population, appears to be shaping up much like China. Not far behind everyone else, Google has increasingly censored websites with an incident where a very popular politician died and Google forcibly deleted and dissolved a group on Orkut where offensive comments about the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh were posted. An official from India's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said, 'If you are doing business here, you should follow the local law, the sentiments of the people, the culture of the country. If somebody starts abusing Lord Rama on a Web site, that could start riots.' The lengthy opinion piece calls attention to the beginnings of a definitive lack of free speech online for Indian citizens. A spokeswoman for the 'Do No Evil' company explained, 'India does value free speech and political speech. But they are weighing the harm of free speech against violence in their streets.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 2 Jan 2010 | 11:27 pm CES 2010: What to Expect - PC Magazine
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 2 Jan 2010 | 10:02 pm Shell CO2 stocking plans under fireA plan by oil giant Shell to store 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year in a depleted gas reservoir beneath the Dutch city of Barendrecht has drawn the ire of residents and local...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 2 Jan 2010 | 8:58 pm Chrome Web Browser Inches Past Safari - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 2 Jan 2010 | 8:56 pm Bono calls for control over Internet downloads (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 2 Jan 2010 | 8:42 pm Google Nexus One Hands-on, Video, and Impressionswkurzius writes "Engadget has gotten their hands a Nexus One, and have put the first impressions up for the world to see, including whether or not they think it's the 'be-all-end-all Android phone / iPhone eviscerator.' Their opinion? 'Not really.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 2 Jan 2010 | 8:18 pm Tablets and netbooks to be electronics show stars (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 2 Jan 2010 | 8:14 pm The World Doesn't Need Someone Telling Us What We Don't Need In TechIf Joe Wilcox ran the computer industry, we'd still be using typewriters. Wilcox hasa lengthy post today on BetaNews saying that the world doesn't need an Apple tablet. And while Wilcox does have some...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Jan 2010 | 7:48 pm The World Doesn’t Need Someone Telling Us What We Don’t Need In Tech
Wilcox has a lengthy post today on BetaNews saying that the world doesn’t need an Apple tablet. And while Wilcox does have some decent general points mixed in with some bad ones, this is hardly a new thought. In fact, it’s little more than an extension of a concept that has been around for a while, but has been reinvigorated recently as the hype around Apple swirls: That tablet computers are a niche product. Of course, it’s easy to argue that when you have history on your side up until this point. But Wilcox’s post completely overlooks what is likely to be the larger point, and in general is a dangerous way of thinking. Now, let me just state right off the bat, that Wilcox’s conclusion could absolutely be right: That Apple’s tablet device may well turn out to be a bust. While Apple has a great recent track record, a new product is still always going to be somewhat of a crapshoot, even for them. That said, Wilcox seems awfully close-minded about the product’s potential, and frames his argument around that. He argues, for example, that an Apple tablet will be little more than a less-compelling version of the iPhone because it is less portable. Meanwhile, users who want more computing power will continue to use laptops. Again, that’s the basic premise behind the most of the recent arguments against Apple’s tablet. But Wilcox doesn’t even for a second imagine something that is very obvious to most people who follow Apple closely: The likelihood that they’re going to release a product exactly as we’re currently thinking about it, is very small. There is a reason that no less than Steve Jobs is said to be running point on this project, and has been for the several years that it has been in existence. The thought that Apple is simply going to settle, and release a product that is largely the same as all the other tablet computers that have come before it, is laughable. Jobs himself has supposedly shot down the product a few times because it wasn’t up to snuff. Don’t think that he won’t do it again, if he has to. But the indications now suggest that this product may finally be up to what he considers to be Apple’s standards. And if that’s the case, we can all expect something that’s at least somewhat unexpected. And it’s potentially even bigger than that. Last week, I argued that the reason everyone is so excited about this tablet is because there is the very real possibility that it will alter the role of computing in our lives just as the iPhone has. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber took that concept further: “I think The Tablet is nothing short of Apple’s reconception of personal computing,” he wrote. While both of those concepts may sound a bit extreme, stop to think what is more likely: That Apple is happy to create a standard offering in a niche category, or that they’re trying to redefine the category and possibly the entire market? It’s Apple, they’re trying to hit a homerun. That doesn’t mean they won’t strike out, but make no mistake that they are swinging for the fences. To create a bland tablet in the image of those that existed before it would be the equivalent of a bunt with no one on and two outs. Something else to consider: There is the very real possibility that this could be Jobs’ last major new product launch. Health issues aside, Jobs will sooner or later retire from Apple. As we all know, products take a long time to come into existence from beginning to end — especially at Apple. And while I’m sure they have other new projects in the pipeline, it certainly seems possible that this tablet could be the last major one for a least a few years. Does anyone really think Jobs is going to go out betting on a niche product? No. Wilcox argues that Apple’s recent hits like the iPod and iPhone were both just extensions of markets that already existed and were proven: Portable music players and mobile phones. That’s true, and Wilcox does acknowledge that Apple did make both of those markets better with their offerings. But he says that the tablet market won’t be the same because it’s “niche,” and Apple won’t be able to jump start it. Of course, this completely overlooks perhaps the best example: That Apple did jump start the personal computing revolution in the 1970s and 1980s. Before that, the best way to describe the PC was “niche.” The most peculiar aspects of Wilcox’s post: His constant asking for readers to argue with him in the comments (we call this “baiting”), and his thought that if the tablet flops, it will demolish Apple’s stock price (I mean, it’s not like they’re making billions in profit each quarter off of all their other businesses and have more than enough leverage for even large risks now), simply distract from the rest of his post. Wilcox often likes to take the contrarian approach with regard to Apple, and that’s fine, it stirs interesting thoughts and discussions. But he’s often wrong, simply because it seems like he’s wants to reach a certain conclusion. But all of this goes deeper still. The main problem I have with Wilcox’s post is the implication is that no company should step outside of its comfort zone. The arguments that Apple shouldn’t build a tablet simply because other companies have tried and failed in the past, or that they shouldn’t make a tablet because they failed with the Cube, are both troubling. Apple clearly believes that the future of computing is touch-based, and the tablet is a step in that direction. Maybe they’re wrong, but it would be a disservice to everyone to suggest they not even bother to try and find out. The potential upside is far too high. It’s the kind of stuff that keeps technology exciting and advancing. [photo: flickr/rego] Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Source: TechCrunch | 2 Jan 2010 | 7:48 pm Nintendo DS distracts robberFROM GAMERTELL - A burglary was partially thwarted in Joliet, Illinois on December 28, 2009, thanks to a Nintendo DS. The intruder got so caught up playing a game that he only made off with a pink iPod Touch before the apartment’s resident came home. 
Source: Gizmodo | 2 Jan 2010 | 7:30 pm 'Google phone' debut expected this week (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 2 Jan 2010 | 7:24 pm HP leak gives us a taste of what’s to comeSection: Computers, Desktops, Mobile Computers, Laptops, Netbooks It seems the closer we get to CES, more and more people can’t hold their tongues. And now, Logic Buy has given some details (only names for some) on 13 new laptops/desktops. Now, when we say some we mean really not that much but still something. So here goes.
So HP isn’t very good at keeping secrets it seems. Though they managed to hold out everything but a name on the last five, we got a decent amount of specs on the other eight. But I guess they couldn’t leak everything with CES just around the corner. We’ll have more soon. Read [Engadget ]
Full Story » | Written by Greg Billetdeaux for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 2 Jan 2010 | 7:22 pm Google may offer VOIP serviceSection: Communications, Cellular Providers, Mobile, Web, Google
Via [AndroidGuys] Full Story » | Written by Nicole Cozma for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 2 Jan 2010 | 6:41 pm Liquid Image to display the Summit Series Snow Camera Goggle at CESSection: Video, Accessories, Portable Video, Imaging, Accessories, Trade Shows, CES  At CES 2010, Liquid Image will have on display an interesting product that combines goggles needed for skiing, snowboarding, or sledding, but also a camera to capture all the action. The Summit Series Snow Camera features a 5MP camera that captures the footage either in still images or HD video in 720 x 480 resolution at 30 FPS. Essentially, you just need to press a button to turn the camera on and to release the shutter. To toggle between photo and video mode, the mode button will have to be pressed a few times. In case you forget which mode you are currently on, the LED lights within the goggle itself will indicate which mode the camera is set to. Since the goggles are designed to be used when skiing, snowboarding, or sledding, the buttons are larger than they would normally be to account for users wearing gloves. One negative aspect about the device is the fact that the internal memory is only 16, not GB, but MB of flash memory. However, it can be expandable via SD card up to 16GB. The problem with 16MB of memory is that one 5 minute video will most likely take up that much space, so expanding it is practically a must. Videos and photos may be transferred via USB to your computer. In terms of battery length, it can take 2200 images on a single charge, or record 2 hours and 20 minutes of video. Not sure how long a complete recharge takes. Finally, the Summit Series Snow Camera Google 335 will start shipping by the end of the summer season 2010, with the price beginning at $149. Be sure to check this nifty product out at their CES booth. Full press release below:
Source: Gizmodo | 2 Jan 2010 | 6:00 pm A nook without the wait?Section: Gadgets / Other, ebooks
Full Story » | Written by Nicole Cozma for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 2 Jan 2010 | 5:31 pm The Ariel Atom, a $40K face melterThis thing is only 20,000 GBP or about $40K. It uses a Honda Civic R-Type engine with a supercharger. It clearly will kill you sooner than later, although because it’s a car you’re not dealing with the possibility of sliding under a truck. Amazing stuff.
Source: CrunchGear | 2 Jan 2010 | 5:27 pm Googlle Opens A School In India. Wait. Read That Name Again.
Yes, it appears that some jokers in India are attempting to leverage not only Google’s name, but their logo and even favicon to trick people into thinking they their quite-possibly-bogus online university is related to the real Google somehow. Dubbed the “School For Future Software Engineers,” the Googlle Institute has a website that looks like it could some sort of legitimate online training school — if it weren’t for the sketchy naming, branding, and plethora of dead links. They apparently offer two certifications: “GCPA – Googlle Certified Professional in Advanced Computing,” which promises to teach you technologies related to “Windows Professional” and “Linux Professional.” The other certification is “GCPE – Googlle Certified Professional in E-Commerce,” which gives you more consumer-oriented skills, such as Photoshop. These courses take two years to complete, but the site notes that they also offer “Modular courses – duration 60 days to 90 days that can enhance your computer skills and offer you “GOOGLLE” certification, no matter what your specific requirement.” Oh goody, a Googlle certification. The site also features a bunch of pictures of students sitting around outside at a campus, sitting in a classroom, graduating, the works. The only problem? As far as I can tell, there is no actual campus. Actually, almost every link on the site leads to dead end pages that don’t actually exist. This “Googlle” is apparently a division of C.B.Online Pvt. Ltd., which is some sort of online business “solutions” provider based in India. Googlle’s headquarters is apparently in Orissa, India at the Rajarani Petrol Pump Complex. That sounds a lot like a gas station to me, but who knows. Regardless, I’m sure it’s not as nice as Google’s actual offices in India (they have four main hubs for the bustling and burgeoning tech scene there). Hopefully they have something to say about this site.
[thanks Deb] Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: TechCrunch | 2 Jan 2010 | 5:27 pm Googlle Opens A School In India. Wait. Read That Name Again.The idea of working at Google is a dream job for many engineers all around the world. So where better to go to get ready for this career than the Googlle Institute of Software of Software Studies, right?...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Jan 2010 | 5:27 pm iPhone apps for your New Year’s resolutions: Find a new jobFROM APPLETELL - Whether you’re out of work or just looking to move up in the world, these iPhone and iPod touch apps can help you find the job of your dreams. Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 2 Jan 2010 | 5:23 pm This Week On TechCrunch: The seventeen best ‘best-of… …of the year’ (and the decade) lists, of the week
Apparently in the days between Christmas and New Year, the world stops demanding actual journalism – or writing. Instead, stuffed large with leftover turkey and re-gifted booze, we’re happy to accept any old rehashed crap, provided it’s appended with the words “…of the year” (2.5 billion results on Google) or “…of the decade” (72.8 million results). But not so at TechCrunch. There’s a reason why we had more stories on Techmeme’s list of the ‘ten objectively biggest tech stories of 2009‘ than any other single news source, and that’s because – even in a week when no one is reading anything we write – we retain our passion for real journalism and impassioned campaigning, along with our hatred of lazy, crowd-pleasing bullshit. Nah, just kidding. Here’s this week’s list of the best lists published on TechCrunch this past week… 2010: My Fifth Annual List Of The Tech Products I Love And Use Every Day Snapstream’s Top TV Trends of 2009 Amazon’s Best-Selling Products of 2009 370 Passwords You Shouldn’t (And Can’t) Use On Twitter Ten Technologies That Will Rock 2010 X-ray sunglasses? Cybergeese? Come on! … Still hungry for lists? Here are twelve Lists That Didn’t Make My Top List Of TechCrunch Lists… Six New Years Resolutions For Apple And The iPhone In 2010 …and of course… Have a great year! Of the decade! Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: TechCrunch | 2 Jan 2010 | 5:15 pm This Week On TechCrunch: The seventeen best 'best-of... ...of the year' (and the decade) lists, of the weekWhat is it about the dawn of a new year - and, in this case, a new decade - that inspires such an interminable parade of lists? The 100 best albums of the decade (The Strokes? Seriously?), the 30 best...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Jan 2010 | 5:15 pm New Zealand Cyber Spies Win New Powerscaeos writes "New cyber-monitoring measures have been quietly introduced in New Zealand giving police and Security Intelligence Service officers the power to monitor all aspects of someone's online life. The measures are the largest expansion of police and SIS surveillance capabilities for decades, and mean that all mobile calls and texts, email, internet surfing and online shopping, chatting and social networking can be monitored anywhere in New Zealand. The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS or SIS) is an intelligence agency of the New Zealand government."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 2 Jan 2010 | 5:12 pm Our top 30 apps for the arts - The Guardian
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 2 Jan 2010 | 5:05 pm A Credit Card Reader for your iPhone?Section: Apple, Communications, Accessories, Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle  Keep your eyes peeled at the coming CES 2010 for a gadget that may revolutionize credit card-based payments. Mophie, a renowned retailer of Apple iPhone and iPod accessories, will be revealing their new iPhone credit card reader, dubbed the “Credit Card reader”. There are not much information regarding the Credit Card reader at this point, apart from the picture above. It appears that this device will be encasing the iPhone, with a protrusion at the bottom that acts as the credit card scanner. The case looks very much like the juice pack air, with the exception of the larger protrusion for the card reader. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a glimpse of the software portion of the Credit Card reader. Some other alternatives to the Mophie credit card reader are VeriFone PAYware and Square. Square’s solution involves a hardware device that plugs into phones via audio jacks. VeriFone PAYware is pretty much similar to Mophie’s credit card reader; both utilize a credit card reader attached to the iPhone, and an iPhone application that works in conjunction with the hardware. Let’s hope for more information to surface as we are advancing closer to CES 2010. Via [Mashable]
Source: Gizmodo | 2 Jan 2010 | 5:00 pm Hackers mimic Huffington Post's Twitter feed (AP)AP - A Huffington Post spokesman says the left-leaning news and opinion Web site was not hacked when a Twitter social network feed emerged in its name and began issuing insults with a conservative bent.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 2 Jan 2010 | 4:42 pm Hackers mimic Huffington Post's Twitter feedA Huffington Post spokesman says the left-leaning news and opinion Web site was not hacked when a Twitter social network feed emerged in its name and began issuing insults with a...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 2 Jan 2010 | 4:42 pm Weekend Machinima Double Feature: A Child's Music Fable and Ass-Kicking ActionHere's two recently uploaded Second Life machinima worth watching, both of them narrative. The first, "The Joy Of Music" by Chantal Harvey, is a weirdly whimsical child's fable, evoking a Dr. Seuss story...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Jan 2010 | 4:07 pm The Amiga, Circa 2010 — Dead and Loving ItOrion Blastar writes "While many Amiga users have moved on to Linux, Mac OS X, and even, gasp shock, Microsoft Windows some of us don't want to give up so easily. There are two open source projects that are keeping the Amiga legacy alive even if Amiga Inc. seems to be deader than a doornail and not really doing much but selling old Classic Amiga games for new platforms. Like WINE, there was a project to run AmigaOS 3.1 software for Linux and other platforms, but it evolved instead into an open source operating system named Amiga Research OS, or AROS. AROS is best run inside an emulator, and while it is not a modern OS like Linux, it can be downloaded and run inside of Linux (and the downloads section has more). While it is not ready for prime time yet, it is a promising OS that is being ported to many platforms and uses the user friendly Amiga GUI we Amiga users grew up with." Read on for more.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Gizmodo | 2 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pm Firefox Mobile RC1 released for Nokia N900Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile, Computers, Mobile Computers, Web, Web Browsers  Remember the Fennec? In case you forgot, Fennec is another name for Firefox Mobile. It won’t be long before the final version of Firefox Mobile arrives. With the release of the first release candidate version, Nokia N900 is the first to get its hands on Firefox Mobile RC1. The RC1 runs on mobile devices running Nokia’s Maemo platform, optimized for the Nokia N900. We usually think of a mobile version of a software as a stripped-down version of the desktop version. Thankfully, Firefox Mobile is far from that. It is built based on the same browser engine as the desktop version of Firefox 3.6, which means that most of the familiar features are all present in the mobile version. The mobile version even has an Awesome Bar! Hell, this Awesome Bar is even Awesome-er. With Weave-sync, the Awesome Bar will even search the Web history from Firefox on your PC! There may be some privacy issues here, depending on how that feature works. The Firefox Mobile takes advantage of a mobile device’s touch screen feature by implementing a touch-enabled user interface. Some of the things you can do using the touch screen are: swipe left to view controls (Back, Forward, Addons, Preferences, etc), swipe right to view your open tabs, pan up or to the sides of your controls to make the Awesome bar reappear (the Awesome Bar automatically hides to save screen real estate), and double tap to zoom in and double tap again to zoom back out. Other notable features include: Addons (Yay!), popup blocker, password manager, clear private data, and even a download manager! There’s also an optional feature called “Location-aware browsing”. With your permission, your mobile device shares your current location with the website that you’re currently browsing, then it will find nearby points of interest for you and return additional data like maps in your area. Mozilla is also investigating development of the Firefox Mobile for Android. If you’re itching to try out Firefox Mobile, but you don’t have a mobile device capable of running it, don’t fret. You can still test it out on your desktop! Head over to the download page and download a copy that matches your OS. There’s one for Linux, Macs and PCs. Read [Mozilla Firefox] Via [ZDNet] Full Story » | Written by Cheng Hung for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 2 Jan 2010 | 3:54 pm The Essential Startup Reader: 10 Lessons In EntrepreneurshipHere is a short (and by no means a complete) list of ten articles by the startup luminaries such as Paul Graham, that encapsulate the art of the start-up. Most of these were published during 2009 and are...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Jan 2010 | 3:47 pm 35 One-of-a-Kind Vacuums - From USB Desk Vacuums to Space Rover Vacuums (CLUSTER)(TrendHunter.com) Household cleaning products and appliances are a necessary part of life; these one-of-a-kind vacuums are sure to earn their place in your broom closet. From USB desk vacuums that clean...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Jan 2010 | 3:40 pm Number-Centric Short Films - 'Number' by SKILLLAB Proves Our Day Revolves Around Digits (VIDEO)(TrendHunter.com) 'Number' by SKILLLAB is a supercharged short film that makes the viewer realize how often numbers appear throughout our day. Whether it's time on a clock, portions of food or numbers...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 2 Jan 2010 | 3:30 pm Free Apps roundup for January 1st, 2010FROM APPLETELL - Now that it’s a brand new decade and everything, it’s time for some new free apps, right? I have some fun apps, some games, a dieting app, and even a new LEGO app.
Source: Gizmodo | 2 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm Finding Someone To Manage Selling a Software Company?rrrrw22 writes 'My company has spent the last year developing a framework for creating games on Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. While we had originally planned to release the product to the public and take a percent of the revenue, we have realized that we can make more money by selling the application to a funded company entering the social gaming space. Our problem is we don't have many other contacts in the social gaming space and would like to find someone to manage selling the company for us (in exchange for a percent of the sale.) Where can we go about finding someone with the skills and contacts to sell a product like this? What experiences have others had trying to sell a company that we can learn from?'Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 2 Jan 2010 | 2:50 pm Review: BookEndz Dock For MacBook Pro
Mac users really haven’t had the chance to use a docking station. Most PC’s come with an option for a docking station but Apple has never followed suit. Third-party manufacturer BookEndz has a suite of docks for Macs ranging from the first generation MacBook, to the PowerBook, all the way to the latest unibody MacBook Pro. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been playing around with the BookEndz dock for the first generation unibody 15″ MacBook Pro. Overall, the dock is well built. It adds some functionality that might be needed in the future, including extra USB ports, etc. Previous versions of the docks did have both a DVI port and a VGA port, so that you could hook up two external monitors to your Mac, but with this version, you can only hook up one monitor through the Mini Display Port. Many people will argue what’s the point of having a dock for your MacBook or MacBook Pro? Well, it’s really just convenience. Some people may think that plugging in all their peripherals is a tedious process, which it can be if you have a lot of cables, etc. So once you pop into the office you slide the dock in, and you’re off and running. Plus, with a $299.95 price tag, not too sure how many folks will actually want to dive into one of these bad boys. My only complaint is multiple monitor support. Us Mac users have been plagued with not having the ability to run multiple monitors via a laptop unless it’s through USB, which is pretty slow, especially when watching videos. But, that might all change with USB 3.0, which DisplayLink, the makers of the fine technology that power multiple monitors through USB, promise will fix. The only real way to get multiple monitors is to either upgrade to an iMac where I have the ability to use the iMac’s screen, plus an external display, or get an unnecessary Mac Pro, so I can have dual 30″ monitors. Oh, and anyone who does have a Mac Pro with dual 30″ monitors — I am very, very jealous. Bottom Line
Source: Gizmodo | 2 Jan 2010 | 2:00 pm FMyLife Starts Clamping Down On Its API, Has Some Developers Saying FML
For those who haven’t been introduced to the FMyLife phenomenon, the site invites users to leave brief personal stories that generally end in catastrophe or extreme embarrassment. All of the stories conclude with “FML” (or F*** My Life), which has become a catchphrase outside of the site as well. It’s a great Schadenfreude fix, and you may even wind up feeling some empathy for your peers (or not). The site, and the third party applications it has spawned, have proven to be extremely popular. Now, FMyLife disallowed paid applications and advertising when its API launched in February 2009, but the company has been inconsistent about enforcing those rules. Some developers have offered their applications with advertising for some time. And FMyLife has even approved the use of advertising and premium versions in some cases, without anticipating just how popular these applications could become. As it turns out, some of these applications have turned into big businesses in their own right, and some have proven to be drains on FMyLife’s servers. Rather than kill off all applications that are monetizing the service, FMyLife has decided it wants a cut. Here’s how FMyLife co-founder Didier Guedj is describing the changes to the policy:
The recently policy changes are directly related to a conflict FMyLife has had with Enormego, a developer that built two applications for the iPhone: “F MyLife and” “F MyLife Pro”, (the free version was briefly ranked as the top application on the App Store) . Here’s how Guedj describes the situation:
We’ve reached out to Enormego for their side of the story. FMyLife’s motivations for implementing a more restrictive API are obvious: they want to make money off the site they’ve built. At the same time, the FMyLife service has certainly benefited from the efforts of these third party developers — you can be sure plenty of people who downloaded these mobile apps are also frequent visitors of the service’s homepage. FMyLife can do what they want with their data, but it’s clear that they should have been consistently enforcing their policies from the start. Some applications have already been discontinued (or removed FMyLife support) since the change. All of that said, it does sound like FMyLife would be willing to work something out if a developer has already built an application using the API and objects strongly to the changes. From Guedj:
Image via sjdvda on userlogos. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Source: TechCrunch | 2 Jan 2010 | 1:53 pm Canada's Airlines Face a Privacy DilemmaInteroperable writes "Canada's airlines are caught between a rock and a hard place in the face of new US regulations that require them to collect and hand over personal information about passengers. Handing over information regarding a passenger's name, gender and birth-date may violate Canadian privacy laws but merely flying over American airspace is conditional on doing exactly that. It seems that the long arms of the TSA are eager to grope at Canadians taking a shortcut to Toronto; no doubt to prevent any terrorist attacks on Lake Huron."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 2 Jan 2010 | 1:43 pm 10 Million Apple Tablets? A Glance Back for Perspective - PC World
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 2 Jan 2010 | 1:42 pm Weekend Update 01.02.10–The First Oh-Ten Edition [Digital Daily]
Walt was back in action after a week off and delivered a new year’s review of a different sort of netbook. The Litl’s big twist on the now-ubiquitous netbook is its absence of a standard operating system in favor of complete reliance on the cloud. While Walt praised the device for innovative features and thinking, he thought it wasn’t quite there. Also a big sticking point: The Litl is about twice the price of a standard netbook and doesn’t deliver as much. After a week on hiatus, John was back, and Digital Daily delivered some awesome year-end perspectives. Early in the week, John posted that Nokia’s (NOK) official new year’s message read something like, “Dear Apple: It’s on.” The Nordic electronic behemoth filed legal documents stating that Apple (AAPL) violated Nokia patents on virtually every mobile device it makes. Sounds like it’s going to be a good year for the legal industry. The costs of future litigation may be high, but Apple’s fourth-quarter profits may take some of the sting out. John reported that everyone’s favorite brushed aluminum retailer was expected to post huge Q4 sales figures for 2009, buoyed by record iPhone sales and brisk Mac shipments. John rounded out the week with a post-mortem of the year in venture backed IPOs. The short version is that they were DOA. With only one more venture-backed IPO than in 2008, John is sure it’s going to be a long climb out of the hole. MediaMemo was a little more positive last week with some posts about the new tech world we’ve created. This new decade may see dollars spent on e-books outpace those spent on hard copies, but Peter reminded all the Amazon (AMZN) Kindle-heads out there that that doesn’t mean that book sales are going up. 2009 saw a major move from buying a book to licensing an electronic copy. It’s a line in the digital sand that etailers may never again want to cross. In a post that brought just the right amount of luster to the old year, Peter reported that retailers had an all-right quarter to round out a so-so year. The superlatives continued. He added that they did a little better than predicted, though only in comparison to last year’s colossally dismal numbers. And to round out the old year and ring in the new, Peter took the reliably self-obsessed temperature of twitter and delivered some tweets bearing the novel hashtag, #10yearsago. It wasn’t all about people’s cats or whatever else people tweet about, as all the world’s tweets seemed to be reflecting on what they were doing back when Y2K was king. In a year when downs outnumbered ups, Weekend Update’s resolution is a netbook for every lap and a smartphone in every pocket. Happy New Year. Source: All Things Digital | 2 Jan 2010 | 1:30 pm iConvert Photo Scanner promises simple 4×6 snapshot archiving
Designed for 4×6 photos, the iConvert Photo Scanner turns your old pictures into 100, 300, or 600dpi digital images. It’s both Windows and Mac compatible and costs $100 though SkyMall or Brookstone. iConvert Photo Scanner [SkyMall]
Source: CrunchGear | 2 Jan 2010 | 1:30 pm Skimble’s iPhone App Helps You Track Your Gym Workouts And Outdoor Activities On The Go
We recently wrote about Skimble, an online destination for anyone who wants to plan and track an activity or workout goal. Today, Skimble has launched a free, companion iPhone app to help track sports activities and monitor your athletic progress on the go. You can download the app here. Skimble’s online and mobile tools let you discover activities, by giving you information on popular outdoor active trips, i.e. a hiking trip to Lake Tahoe; and gym workouts, i.e. indoor rock climbing. You can join one of these trips or you can create your own. When you create a trip, you can create a feed of news and updates about the trip and share the page with other friends. The feed also pulls in any Tweets about the subject of the trip. Skimble’s app taps into the iPhone GPS to allow users to set your workout and activity trip location and share geotagged “action shots.” Skimble’s activity tracking tool focuses on helping you create a calendar and schedule of your activities, and will chart out your performance based upon time spent on the activity. You can also compare your progress to a friend’s. Skimble, which was incubated in The Funded’s Founder Institute, was co-founded by Maria Ly and Gabriel Vanrenen. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: Gizmodo | 2 Jan 2010 | 1:00 pm LaSalle Extension University, snail-mail generations' University of Phoenix
Look who's smiling now: this ad helped generate $440 million (in 2010 dollars) in just one year.Correspondence schools took root in the United States after the University of Chicago began an innovative home study course for non-resident students. This inspired copycat businesses, and the granddaddy of them all was La Salle Extension University. In 1908, founder J.G. Chapline set up offices a few blocks from University of Chicago and began trading on their good reputation, often running ads right next to theirs in Cosmopolitan, Pearson's, National Geographic, Popular Mechanics, etc. LaSalle offered a valuable service that helped many people. In segregated America, LaSalle offered opportunities for many African-Americans who might have had problems matriculating at their local schools. Many hard-working people with full-time jobs, including future governors, congressmembers, and senators, obtained degrees from LaSalle. LaSalle's most controversial program, their at-home bachelor's degree in law, was their greatest success, but also led to their eventual downfall in 1979. Between its meteoric rise and its decline and fall, LaSalle became the template for both University of Phoenix-type distance learning schools and diploma mills. Like modern academia, a big part of the revenue involved selling overpriced books authored by instructors, so Chapline set up his own publishing company and recruited established authors to write textbooks. The result was remarkable. By the time the Federal Trade Commission stepped in during the 1970s to curb industry excesses like diploma mills, LaSalle had well over 100,000 active enrolled students and was clearing $75 million annually (over $440 million adjusted for inflation). Their aggressive direct response ad campaigns converted about 20% of inquiries. I pulled a few examples from their ad campaigns.
Money poured in, and LaSalle began to refine their message as advertising got more sophisticated. Ads became about setting oneself apart from competitors: "Are You the Ten-pin --or the Ball?" or "The Only Way Out of a Pit-- --UP!" quoting Jack London (noting he was "penniless and with only a scanty education" when he uttered this). One insidiously clever ad from 1930 was targeted at bosses, advising that a great way to blow off raise requests was to suggest the underling enroll at LaSalle and come back when he was done.
Alas, all the ads in the world could not help them escape the FTC, who sued them for misrepresentations about obtaining law degrees through a correspondence course. Following further litigation, LaSalle finally folded in 1980. Out of the ashes of the regulatory firestorm during the Carter Administration, a new challenger appears, rising like a... well, a phoenix. The University of Phoenix, founded in 1976, took over where LaSalle left off, eventually making the leap into the digital age. Their aggressive advertising uses the LaSalle model and has been even more successful than LaSalle: their holding company Apollo Group (NASDAQ:APOL) clears about $3 billion a year. I created a Flickr set of LaSalle ads for those interested. This piece is based on several articles I originally wrote for Wikipedia. Source: Boing Boing | 2 Jan 2010 | 12:56 pm BOOM! Top Apple news for the week of 12-27-2009Section:  We may not cover Apple 24x7… but we know someone who does! Here’s a few of this week’s hottest from Appletell to get you started…
Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article » Source: Gadgetell | 2 Jan 2010 | 12:49 pm Google Chrome Displaces Safari As Third In SurveyAzureflare writes "According to a Net Applications survey, Google Chrome has replaced Apple's Safari as the number-three browser. This may be partially explained by the release of the Chrome beta on Mac and Linux, but may also be due to users jumping ship from IE. More analysis on this topic can be found at ComputerWorld. As anecdotal evidence of Google Chrome usage gaining steam, Bank of America has apparently recently added Google Chrome to their list of officially supported browsers."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 2 Jan 2010 | 12:36 pm Snow camera goggles film your epic crashes
The camera is a 5 mega-pixel still, but it’s capable of shooting video at 720×480 and 30 FPS. It comes standard with 16MB of built in, but you can have up to 16GB using the SD expansion slot. In addition to the ski goggles, Liquid Image has already applied this technology to swim goggles and scuba masks, so it’s not limited to just the ski crowd. Good thing since they won’t be available until this summer. Prices will start at $149. From the press release:
Source: CrunchGear | 2 Jan 2010 | 12:30 pm Blizz helps bust WoW playing drug dealer
Law enforcement officials contacted Blizzard, who found the dealer in their player database, and then provided the IP address the guy was using to the U.S. Marshals. The player was located in Canada, so the marshals then contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP then arrested the suspect, who was then deported to the U.S. to face drug charges from 2007. Hats off to Blizz for doing the right thing and helping bring a drug dealer to justice. If you want to take a look at the dealer’s character, it’s in the armory. [Via The Kokomo Perspective]
Source: Gizmodo | 2 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm A Look At The Science Of 'Avatar'This past holiday season's movie blockbuster Avatar was great for getting the public thinking about the possibility of extraterrestrial life. When discussing the movie on the drive home from the cinema, folks must wonder if there could be such a ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 2 Jan 2010 | 11:49 am NSFW: The Evolution of the Vibrator
“Vibration is Life,” read a print commercial from 1910 advertising a vibrator. This hot new technology became available at the turn of the century when household electricity swept through America. Vibrators were originally developed to replace the tedious task of manual stimulation used by the doctors who were treating women with what they called “hysteria.” The original booty calls, these doctors, were put out of business with the advent of the consumer friendly vibrator in 1900. And one hundred years later, the technology just keeps getting better. The first vibrator made for medical purposes was released to doctors in 1880, with a consumer friendly version available in 1900, making the electric vibrator the 5th consumer friendly electric product available. The idea was to plug the bulky thing into the wall and let it pulsate for external or and sometimes internal stimulation. A metal device with a little rubber tip, these vibrators didn’t resemble the real thing but rather a dentist’s drill or hand held egg beater. Besides the electric vibrator, there were both hand crank and battery versions available as well. The most interesting was the air powered vibrator that plugged into a lady’s vacuum cleaner. Imagine walking in on that one. Vibrators became taboo sometime around the 1920s when porn was considered not suitable for polite conversation (it’s not?). Between the 1920s and 1980s, vibrators were marketed as “personal massagers” or “blood circulators,” with their true purpose concealed. Vibrators really began to evolve in the 1970s with the invention of the Hitachi Magic Wand. Much like the original vibrators, this vibrating device was originally marketed for medical purposes as a personal body massager. Probably now one of the most infamous sex toys, this bad boy is a couple’s favorite and was discreet enough to pass as a massager from the Sharper Image back in the day. In the 1980s when Americans began to become more sexualized, vibrators went from being ambiguous looking items to more realistic looking vibrating dildos. When mainstream stores like the Condom Store in NYC and TV shows like Sex and the City started promoting vibrator use in the 1980s and 1990s, vibrators began to again popularize in the mainstream. Since the 1980s and 1990s when the flood gates really opened, every type of vibrator under the sun has surfaced. Jelly dildos, the Pocket Rocket, discreet vibrating lipsticks, and the now iconic Rabbit Vibrator have become commonplace in the U.S. The Rabbit, a vibrating, undulating, dildo, filled with pearls to stimulate the G-spot and clit, took vibrator technology to the next level by combining clitoral stimulation, internal penetration, and G-spot action in one – setting the bar high for future vibrators. Since the invention of the Rabbit, vibrator technology has taken off. Vibrators made by companies like the Swedish design firm Lelo, are investments focused on design, functionality, ease of use, and material. Companies like OhMiBod take regular looking vibrators to the next level by offering vibes that sync with your iPod and pulsate to the beat. Remote controlled body worn vibrators have also become commonplace, great for couples looking for that extra oomph in the bedroom or while out to dinner. And vibrators aren’t just for women anymore, instead, male versions are surfacing such as the Fleshlight Vibro. The main trend in vibrator technology is to create a device that more closely mimics a real sexual experience, to go beyond a standard phallic shaped vibrator focused on clit or internal stimulation. Companies try to titillate and excite by mimicking the surprise and variation of real life sex. For example, the Sqweel was a completely new design in vibrators that mimicked oral sex with ten spinning tongues. Even cooler, is the Sasi vibrator that moves like an actual tongue with different variations and speeds. If you dislike a certain motion, you can press a button to skip it and the Sasi will be less likely to use that move in your next session. This smart learning toy remembers what you like and dislike to provide you with a super satisfying and varied oral sex like stimulation from a toy who’s jaw doesn’t get tired. We can only imagine what the future of vibrators might be: possibly a Facebook and Twitter connect? Hey, it could happen. Guest columnist Lydia Leavitt writes about sex and, oddly enough, social media. For more information on the latest intimate technology, check out 69adget.com.
Source: CrunchGear | 2 Jan 2010 | 11:29 am China Moving To Restrict Neodymium SupplyGuyFawkes writes with this quote from the Independent: "Britain and other Western countries risk running out of supplies of certain highly sought-after rare metals that are vital to a host of green technologies, amid growing evidence that China, which has a monopoly on global production, is set to choke off exports of valuable compounds. Failure to secure alternative long-term sources of rare earth elements (REEs) would affect the manufacturing and development of low-carbon technology, which relies on the unique properties of the 17 metals to mass-produce eco-friendly innovations such as wind turbines and low-energy light bulbs. China, whose mines account for 97 per cent of global supplies, is trying to ensure that all raw REE materials are processed within its borders. During the past seven years it has reduced by 40 per cent the amount of rare earths available for export."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Gizmodo | 2 Jan 2010 | 11:00 am Fox, Time Warner Cable agree to deal: Your NFL football is safe!
Fox an Time Warner Cable struck a deal last night that prevented the unthinkable: no NFL football (and Fox News, and Fox Soccer Channel, etc.) for millions of Americans in the some of the biggest TV markets in America, like New York City and Los Angeles! The terms of the deal weren’t announced, but at last check-in, Time Warner Cable was prepared to give Fox between 20 and 30 cents per subscriber (Fox was asking for $1 per subscriber). You knew the deal was going to happen, didn’t you? So yeah, Fox had threatened to pull the many channels it owns off Time Warner Cable systems, the biggest ones being New York City, Los Angeles, and Dallas. Fox, looking to make up for the loss of revenue it has seen for a variety of reasons, including a downturn in ad revenue, was looking to bully Time Warner Cable into paying $1 per subscriber in order to have Fox-owned stations on its systems. Other providers had taken advantage of the mess. Dish Network had been offering next-day installation to people in the affected Time Warner Cable market. (Though let’s face it: it would be a pain in the ass to convince the average New York City landlord to install a dish.) The beauty is that there may well have been a riot had tomorrow’s NFL games not aired in the affected markets. The lesson is, don’t mess with people’s NFL. All in all, crisis averted.
Source: CrunchGear | 2 Jan 2010 | 10:58 am Palm’s WebOS Now Has 1,000 Apps. Only 99,000 To Go To Catch Up To Apple.
Palm’s App Store has reached a milestone. According to WebOS School, Palm now offers 1000 apps to its mobile users on its App Catalog. Of course, this number has to be taken with a grain of salt. Apple’s App Store has over 100,000 apps and the Android market has over 16,000 apps, making Palm’s achievement a little less thrilling. The relatively small amount of apps for Palm isn’t surprising; Palm has had a lag in adding apps to its store for some time now and has not been able to match the speed or breadth of Apple’s App ecosystem. But it’s safe to assume that Palm may be adding apps more quickly now, after the company announced an easier approval process for apps and the ability to allow developers to fully distribute their apps via the web. What this means is that developers can simply submit their apps to Palm, and Palm will return to them a URL that they can then blog, tweet, do whatever they want to share it. When a person then clicks on that URL they can easily install the app, bypassing any kind of store. Palm realizes that it has to play nice with developers in order to get them to build on top of its software. Will the App Catalog ever catch up to Apple’s App Store? Probably not, but Palm’s strategy could definitely still make the mobile device company a player in the mobile device world. Here’s a list of the most downloaded apps from Palm’s App Catalog (they are all free) and a breakdown by type of app: 1. The Weather Channel  Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Source: TechCrunch | 2 Jan 2010 | 10:47 am Why Apple Denied the Google Latitude Appawyeah writes "A recently revealed Apple patent looks remarkably similar to the functionality of Google Latitude, which Apple relegated to WebApp status earlier this year. Obviously if Apple is working on their own version of Google Latitude (or owns the IP rights to this functionality), they'd be hesitant to put an app with the same functionality on their devices from another company."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Gizmodo | 2 Jan 2010 | 10:00 am The Tyranny Of Government And Our Duty Of Confidentiality As Bloggers
As bloggers, we have a duty of confidentiality to our sources. And that means keeping information confidential even if threatened with the tyranny of government. And even if the legislatures and courts haven’t decided that as bloggers we have real rights protecting us from that tyranny. I’ll never be surprised by a tyrannical government. In a sense, it’s their job. It’s our job as bloggers to stand up to that tyranny, even if our liberty has been threatened. Journalists have gone to jail rather than disclose their sources. If bloggers want the same level of respect, and protection from government by the courts, they need to stand up for what’s right. And Frischling, when faced with the decision to do what’s right and go to jail, flailed badly. He willingly handed his laptop over to the government. Easy To Say, Hard To DoYou could argue that it’s easy for me to make statements like this, since we blog about technology. The Department of Homeland Security doesn’t knock on my door very often demanding to know my source for the latest Google acquisition rumor. But if they did, I’d like to think I’d tell them to go to hell. Even if that meant they dragged me out of my house and put me in jail. We have received a number of threats of lawsuits unless we revealed our sources around various sensitive stories. In each case we’ve either ignored the threats or told them to pound sand. In each case the other side backed down. We’ve also had other situations where we’ve had to consider revealing sources. In March 2008 we wrote about acquisition negotiations between Digg and Google. The companie’s CEO Jay Adelson effectively called us liars, and we were sorely tempted to reveal our original source. But to do so would mean that people would know that under certain circumstances they couldn’t trust us. We want that trust to be unconditional, and so we took our lumps and never revealed the source. Later we had our vindication anyway. We were challenged yet again in 2009 with the Last.fm/RIAA story where we believe at least one source, including an executive at Last.fm, lied to us. We haven’t, and never will, publish that information. Even though there’s an email string that would make excellent reading. And there is a whole book I could write around the Twitter document fiasco from 2009. That book will never be written either. I think I can understand how frightened Frischling must have been when the TSA agents showed up at his house. Even though he has has worked for Life, Time, Newsweek, New York Times, and was embedded with troops in Iraq, he “didn’t know what to do.” He caved, and he gave the agents his computer. From Wired:
His argument is that he received the email from an anonymous source via Gmail, so he wasn’t really handing over confidential information. But the TSA, seeing the email, can then easily get Google to hand over information around that Gmail account, and can likely track down the source. Any anyway, it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, he lacked the courage to stand up for what’s right. Anyone working with Frischling now knows that he’ll respect your confidentiality, just so long as it’s not inconvenient to his liberty. And that’s not respect at all. He let all bloggers down the other day when he willingly handed over his computer to the government. It was his duty to stand up to those agents, and even spend time in jail. Perhaps if he fought the whole situation in court it would lead to stronger laws protecting all bloggers. But Frischling didn’t do that, and the tyranny of our government went unchecked once more. If I’m ever in the same situation as Steven Frischling I hope I have the courage to do what’s right. Not just what’s right for me right then. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Source: TechCrunch | 2 Jan 2010 | 9:32 am Eight boring HP computers leak out before CES
>Now all of this info should still be classified as a rumor until HP makes it official next week. But each system seems like the next evolutionary step for HP. There is nothing out of the ordinary here like, say, a tablet with a revolutionary content delivery system. LogicBuy, the deal site that originally posted the leaks, states the ship date for the systems is January 7, 2010, so expect word before then. [via Engadget]
Source: CrunchGear | 2 Jan 2010 | 6:31 am Future TruckBusinesses can be so busy doing what they do, they don't have time to do what they do, better. Take the trucking industry. Things that have been around since the sixties (the cab mounted roof deflector to be specific) still ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 2 Jan 2010 | 5:54 am Harmonographs
 One of my favorite series in print comes from Wooden Books. They are beautifully designed and printed books on various esoteric topics. My favorite in the series is Anthony Ashton's Harmonograph, a visual guide to the mathematics of music. The harmonograph was a popular 19th-century parlor pastime that created art similar to a Spirograph, but with a much wider range of variables. Ashton purchased one and illustrated his book with it. He also gives a history of math and music dating back to Pythagoras, and includes schematics for building your own harmonograph. You can generate them by computer these days, but there's something hypnotic and amazing about watching one in action. The Wooden Books website lets you browse the series for free for 20 minutes a day, but if you're like me, you will want to experience the tactile pleasures of these lovely little pieces of art. The whole series is first-rate!
Wooden Books website (2nd image via Wikimedia Commons) Remains of Early 1900s Plane Found in AntarcticaAn Australian explorer had once hoped to use the single-propeller plane as a motorized sled.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 2 Jan 2010 | 5:03 am Ferrero discusses Cadbury with Hershey, pvt equityMILAN, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Italian confectioner Ferrero has met with private equity firms as well as Hershey Co to discuss a possible bid for Britain's Cadbury Plc , Il Sole 24 Ore daily reported on Saturday...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 2 Jan 2010 | 3:57 am
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If Joe Wilcox ran the computer industry, we’d still be using typewriters.
Lately there has been a lot of talk about ETFs at cellular carriers, with most of this chatter being customers on the offense about not wanting to pay outrageous amounts of money. While several of the major carriers have managed to wise up and offer decent alternative choices to those who don’t want a contract, it doesn’t seem that all are on board with this idea. Google looks as though they may step in to solve this dilemma. A few months back they opened their Google Voice service to many users, and then added more people to their userbase by giving the original account holders invites for their friends. Couple that with the Android application (and rejected iPhone application) and Google is really making a stir in the communications world. Bradley Horowitz, a Google Executive, recently pointed out that Google is looking to create a more unified experience on the web, in an interview with eWeek. By adding VOIP, Google could provide those with Google Voice accounts with voice service, in addition to call re-routing, SMS, and voicemail. In order to use VOIP, consumers would only need to have a data connection. The only problem we see here is that many companies require a voice plan with any phone, so is this the void the Nexus One plans to fill?
So you want a nook but don’t want to wait until February 1st for it to ship to you? Well, you definitely aren’t alone. However, there is some hope for you to get a nook before February, and we’re not talking about Ebay. If you live near a Barnes & Noble store, there might be a nook waiting there for you to purchase. Some people, but not many, are taking their nooks back to their storefront vacation home. We guess that those who ordered nooks early on had some buyer’s remorse, or those who received them just aren’t feeling the digital book vibe. This is good news for you, though, nook-seeker. Fortunately, Barnes & Noble stores that take back unopened nooks can resell them to their in-person customers. There is no discount on them, because they’re in brand-new condition, but they’re available “right now” as opposed to “in the future,” and that’s definitely good news. As for the nooks that come back opened, those customers are charged a restocking fee and the opened nook is shipped back to the Barnes & Noble warehouse. We’re going to guess these opened models will be used to replace any defective ones that are returned, but no official word on that has been given yet.
The idea of working at Google is a dream job for many engineers all around the world. So where better to go to get ready for this career than the 
You don’t really have to start in on your New Year’s resolutions until Monday. Friday was pretty much a gimme and now it’s the weekend, so just rest up for whatever thing you’re going to try to do for a week before quitting. If digitizing old-timey family photos is on your list, this new-ish scanner is powered via USB cable and features simple one-button operation.
You gotta check this out bro, it’s a pair of sweet snow goggles with a camera built in. What a great way to record those gnarly shreds and crashes on the slopes. These come from Liquid Image, who released them before CES to try and stand out from the other announcements we’re expecting this coming week.
You can run, but you can’t hide (in cyberspace). In one of the strangest stories of 2009, it’s been reported that Blizzard worked with law enforcement to help catch a drug dealer.
Last week two bloggers, Steven Frischling and Chris Elliot, were visited by TSA agents and threatened with jail time if they did not reveal their source of the TSA Travel Directive that they each published shortly after the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas day. Frischling 
