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[ CES 2010 ] SuperTalent Ships First USB 3.0 Flash Drive (And It's Fast!)By Chris Scott Barr Over the last year or so, we’ve heard a lot of talk about USB 3.0. The new standard has the obvious advantage of speed over its earlier versions. While we’ve seen manufacturers...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jan 2010 | 3:33 am INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW: Techs expecting big 2010 - Las Vegas Review - Journal
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 8 Jan 2010 | 3:06 am Palm Faces Uphill Battle to Grow In Crowded Smart-Phone Market - Wall Street Journal
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 8 Jan 2010 | 3:04 am GREEN SLIM: Casio announces pretty, eco-friendly friendly projectors
One of the few product announcements by a major electronics maker that’s not been made at the CES: Casio has unveiled the XJ-A series, which consists of nine projectors that are not only pretty cool-looking but also eco-friendly: The company says the devices are the first to be completely mercury-free. Casio also claims their so-called GREEN SLIM projectors are the world’s first devices of their kind that are bright enough to be used in a well lit room – without using a mercury lamp. At 43mm, the projectors are very slim, and weighing just 2.3kg they can be called portable to some extent, too. Casio uses a laser & LED hybrid light source in all of their new devices, which also feature wide-angle 2x optical zoom. Buyers will be able to choose between four versions boasting WXGA Real resolution (1,280×800) and between 2,500 and 3,000 lumens brightness (XJ-A255, XJ-A250, XJ-A245 and XJ-A240). The other five models (XJ-A155, XJ-A150, XJ-A145, XJ-A140 and XJ-A130) have XGA Real resolution (1,024×768) and feature between 2,000 and 3,000 lumens. All nine models have a contrast ratio of 1,800:1 and come with a lamp that features a 20,000 hour life span. Depending on which GREEN SLIM you choose, you’ll get USB or Wi-Fi connectivity. Casio America hasn’t revealed any pricing details or release dates yet. In Japan, the projectors will hit stores starting January 29 with prices ranging from $1,600 to $3,500 (according to Casio Japan’s press release). Via Akihabara News
Source: CrunchGear | 8 Jan 2010 | 3:00 am Comcast, Federal Communications Commission take network neutrality dispute to courtWASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission staked out new ground nearly three months ago when it began drafting rules that would require Internet providers to give equal treatmentSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jan 2010 | 2:44 am France Considers 'Pirate Tax' For Online Adsangry tapir writes "A report commissioned by the French Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterrand urges the introduction of a tax on online advertising such as that carried by Google, which would be used to pay the creators of artistic and other works that lose out to online piracy."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 8 Jan 2010 | 2:36 am RPT-UPDATE 1-Cimpor shares down after rejects CSN takeover bid(Repeating to additional subscriber services with no changes to text)Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jan 2010 | 2:28 am Ten Favorite 2009 NWN Posts on Content Creation, Controversy, CommunityTen of my favorite 2009 New World Notes posts on the content, controversies, and communities which make Second Life real: Disputed Territory: War in Gaza Provokes Protest (And Conversation) In Second Life...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jan 2010 | 2:16 am CES 2010: Dell's Android Tablet in Pics - Techtree.com
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 8 Jan 2010 | 2:15 am Earthquake! Waves Of Tweets, But Where Are The Ads? [Voices]By Zoran Basich, Editor, Dow Jones VentureWire “Earthquake!” “Did you all feel that?” “What the f— was that?” “OMG, an earthquake!” Okay, so no one said the nearly instantaneous Twitter-sphere reactions to the medium-sized temblor that struck the San Francisco Bay Area Thursday morning were going to be full of insight and analysis. But it was another example of a tectonic shift in media – how quickly so many people have grown accustomed to turning to the service before anything else, before CNN or local radio or, don’t be silly, newspapers, to confirm our observations or just connect with others when a shared experience strikes. Within seconds of the quake, which caused the San Francisco bureau of VentureWire to sway and jolt for a few brief seconds, up on the 10th floor above California Street, thousands of Tweets had already been posted. But one couldn’t help noticing what a massive opportunity awaits the famously non-revenue-generating Twitter when it finally figures out its business model. Read the rest of this post on the original site
Source: Gizmodo | 8 Jan 2010 | 2:00 am REFILE-Q+A-Japan Airlines flirts with bankruptcy, seeks aid(Corrects punctuation in third paragraph of third question to separate Maehara from comment on JAL's CEO)Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jan 2010 | 1:59 am Moot FTW in Wired.com’s Sexy Geeks 2009 Contest [Voices]By Lewis Wallace, Contributor, Wired.com, Underwire After surprisingly intense voting, 4chan founder moot walked away with top honors in Wired.com’s 2009 Sexy Geeks competition. Hundreds of thousands of votes were cast in this year’s edition of the annual competition. More than 500 nominees made the list before submissions were closed at the appointed hour, including many geeks with sexy brains to go with their fetching photos — scientists, coders, mathematicians and the like. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 8 Jan 2010 | 1:55 am Comcast, FCC take net neutrality dispute to court (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Jan 2010 | 1:50 am Mobile Phones Eliminate Single-Serving Devices [Voices]By Nick Bilton, Lead Blogger, Bits Blog, New York Times As chips and sensors become smaller and more advanced, mobile phones are beginning to swallow and adopt any number of new functions. As a result, they are quickly replacing other single-serving devices, including GPS units and cameras. The first big shift took place a few years ago when mobile phones added headphone jacks and consumers began leaving their dedicated music players at home to conveniently play music directly from the phone. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 8 Jan 2010 | 1:47 am Journalist, Freelance and Sci-Fi Authors Groups Take Aim at Google Book Settlement [Voices]By David Sarno, Internet Culture and Online Entertainment Writer, L.A. Times Three national authors groups comprising more than 4,000 writers and journalists today decried the controversial agreement between Google (GOOG) and author-publisher groups that would allow the tech giant to sell access to millions of books online. In a letter to Congress, the three groups — the National Writers Union, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America — pointed to what they saw as the overly confusing and ultimately unfair rules that would govern what Google could do with the books if the settlement were to be approved in federal court. In language by turns wry and outraged, the writer groups accuse Google of inadequately explaining the terms of the agreement to the many authors it could affect, and the Authors Guild and publishing industry of fashioning a deal that favors current authors, while leaving less lucrative out-of-print authors behind. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 8 Jan 2010 | 1:43 am Casey Johnson's Grief Tweets [Voices]By Mary Elizabeth Williams, Writer, Salon.com When the rambunctious socialite Casey Johnson died Monday at age 30, she left behind her adopted 3-year-old daughter and a slew of grieving family members and friends. She also picked up 4,000 new followers on Twitter. The Johnson & Johnson heiress and daughter of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson had, in life, been known mostly for her attention-grabbing exploits and the company she kept — she was friends with Paris Hilton and, more recently, became engaged to the volatile reality star Tila Tequila. Read the rest of this post on the original site Source: All Things Digital | 8 Jan 2010 | 1:39 am FACTBOX-China becomes the world's No.1 auto marketBEIJING, Jan 8 (Reuters) - China's auto market, which overtook the United States as the world's largest earlier this year thanks to a raft of policy incentives, has been a major bright spot amid a global...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jan 2010 | 1:25 am DEALTALK-Geely's next challenge: selling a made-in-China Volvo* A challenge to re-position Volvo brand (For more Reuters DEALTALKS, click [DEALTALK/])Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jan 2010 | 1:24 am DEALTALK-Geely's next challenge: selling a made-in-China Volvo* A challenge to re-position Volvo brand (For more Reuters DEALTALKS, click [DEALTALK/])Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jan 2010 | 1:24 am M.U.L.E. Is Backjmp_nyc writes "The developers at Turborilla have remade the 1983 classic game M.U.L.E. The game is free, and has slightly updated graphics, but more or less the same gameplay as the original version. As with the original game, up to four players can play against each other (or fewer than four with AI players taking the other spots). Unlike the original version, the four players can play against each other online. For those of you not familiar with M.U.L.E., it was one of the earliest economic simulation games, revolving around the colonization of the fictitious planet Irata (Atari spelled backwards). I have fond memories of spending what seemed like days at a time playing the game, as it's quite addictive, with the gameplay seeming simpler than it turns out to be. I'm sure I'm not the only Slashdotter who had a nasty M.U.L.E. addiction back in the day and would like a dose of nostalgia every now and then."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 8 Jan 2010 | 1:04 am Daily Crunch: Ride the Arc Edition
And now you can fabricate objects in full color
Source: CrunchGear | 8 Jan 2010 | 1:00 am REFILE-Formula 1 boss Ecclestone joins bid for Saab -BBCLONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Formula One motor racing boss Bernie Ecclestone is part of a bid to buy General Motors' [GM.UL] struggling Swedish carmaker Saab, the BBC reported on Friday.Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jan 2010 | 1:00 am VASCO To Release Q4 and Full Year 2009 Results On February 18, 2010Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jan 2010 | 1:00 am Qualcomm and TSMC Collaborating on 28nm Process TechnologySource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jan 2010 | 1:00 am Solarfun Announces 2010 Capacity ExpansionSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 8 Jan 2010 | 12:54 am Yahoo BOSS To Survive Microsoft Deal In Some Form; Details Still HazyAfter months of silence, Yahoo's BOSS team is opening up to frustrated third party developers about the future of the powerful search platform. A few hours ago, Yahoo's Ashim Chhabra left a post on the...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jan 2010 | 12:53 am Yahoo BOSS To Survive Microsoft Deal In Some Form; Details Still Hazy
Chhabra’s post was clearly prompted by the actions of some frustrated BOSS developers, who grew tired of being left in the dark and approached the Department of Justice to talk about how BOSS will be impacted by the Yahoo/Microsoft search deal. The DOJ heard their complaints, scheduling a conference call with them for next week. Chhabra’s post may help placate them for the time being. We’ve included his full post below:
Information provided by CrunchBase
Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Source: Gizmodo | 8 Jan 2010 | 12:08 am WikibumpsThe elegant and useful Wikipedia article traffic statistics utility is a great poor man's Q score, but it has a lot of delightfully useless uses as well. One of my favorites is monitoring "wikibumps,"...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Jan 2010 | 12:07 am Wikibumps
The elegant and useful Wikipedia article traffic statistics utility is a great poor man's Q score, but it has a lot of delightfully useless uses as well. One of my favorites is monitoring "wikibumps," the jump in traffic that happens when an article is in the news.It turns out that wikibumps usually peak in the first 24 hours, then taper off in about a week, giving further evidence for the hypothesis that the public's memory generally extends back to the last issue of People magazine. In some cases, the article achieves stasis at a higher level than it had before the wikibump. For instance, Kanye "Imma Let You Finish" West's bump was 300,000. Taylor Swift's was 250,000, but Taylor probably came out ahead, as she achieved stasis at more than twice Kanye's views in December, the last full month of reporting. More observations below. What wikibumps can you find? The best way to get a Wikibump is to:
2. Be involved in a controversial incident Alleged terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had a delayed Wikibump due to low-traffic pantsbombing during the holidays. Travis the rampaging chimpanzee got the same wikibump as Mr. Sizzlepants, about 10,000, up from 0. Beauty pageant bigot Carrie Prejean had a highly unusual trifecta of wikibumps in April, May, and June following her comments on gay marriage and the ensuing fallout. What I like most is to compare paired Wikibumps. For instance, cartoonist Sean Delonas and Travis the chimp had connected Wikibumps after Delonas did a controversial political cartoon about the Travis incident. Delonas' was more of a wikibump echo. Wikibumps are also closely tied with article improvement. Articles tend to have a flurry of editing during a wikibump, demonstrating that the fastest ways to get an article expanded are death or controversy. Or nominating it for deletion. Please share wikibumps you discover in the comments! Source: Boing Boing | 8 Jan 2010 | 12:07 am Ford offers Twitter for carsA couple of week ago, Ford announced that cars with its next-generation SYNC system will be turning the entire car into a Wi-Fi hot spot, or as I see it, encourage distracted driving. Yesterday, USA...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Jan 2010 | 11:39 pm 'Twitter Oscars' open for public votesOn Monday, the voting for the second annual Shorty Awards honouring the best writers on Twitter began. Categories range from serious topics such as government, health and politics to lighter ones such...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Jan 2010 | 11:34 pm Full Body Scanners Violate Child Porn Lawsgandhi_2 writes "The Guardian has a story about an ongoing legal battle over the use of full body scanners in the UK. The Protection of Children Act 1978, includes provisions in which it is illegal to create an indecent image or a "pseudo-image" of a child....which a full body scanner does."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 7 Jan 2010 | 11:33 pm Ben Silverman's Electus signs deal with Yahoo: report (Reuters)Reuters - Former NBC Entertainment Co-Chairman Ben Silverman's Electus production house will develop and produce content for Yahoo Inc in a deal that will likely be announced later on Friday, the New York Times said on its website.Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 7 Jan 2010 | 11:07 pm China Mobile dismisses vice chairman amid probe
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 The Guardian | Pressure builds against mountaintop coal mining Los Angeles Times The Obama administration, which has pledged to heed scientific expertise on the issue, should reject all new mountaintop removal permits, scientists say, citing environmental and health effects. By Tom Hamburger Reporting from Washington - Mountaintop ... Time to ban mountaintop mining due to externalized costs Experts Urge Officials To End Mountaintop Mining Scientists say mountaintop mining should be stopped |
 Digitimes | Intel: 27 New Laptop, Desktop CPUs Arrive in January PC World It's official. Intel CEO Paul Otellini launched a volley of 32-nanometer cannonballs at AMD today with the official release of the company's latest dual- and quad-core Clarkdale (desktop) and dual-core Arrandale (laptop) CPUs. The launch--spanning 27 ... Intel's Otellini Talks Up 'Westmere' Chips, WiDi Intel unveils new microprocessors Intel Core i3 and i5 hit UK shops |
FROM APPLETELL - Monster Cable, like many other technology companies, is riding the wave of CES 2010. Let’s take a look at what Monster Cable have brought to the table this week.
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CrunchGear is live from ShowStoppers in Las Vegas and we’ll be interviewing folks from Plastic Logic, MadKatz, Iomega and more. We’ve got a nice table, some cool gadgetry, and lots of bandwidth so you can expect some quality stuff. We’ll be bringing folks up to our area for about five minutes each so take a gander and keep checking CrunchGear for more CES 2010 coverage.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Section: Video, Content, Portable Video, Video Providers
Straight out of England is the new MUVI micro camcorder, capable of 640x480 resolution with 30 frames per second. This micro camcorder is tiny, standing only a 55mm tall. Geared for action sports, the MUVI has smart accessory cases so it can be handlebar mounted, helmet mounted, waterproof shell. The unit saves in the .avi format, has 2GB Micro SD card included and can take a 8GB or about 4.5 hours of footage, more than the lith-ion battery can last (3 hours)
The unit is alarmingly small and had me wondering how my gloved fingers would start recording and learned the unit has voice recognition. Simply speak louder than 60DB and the recording begins. Fantastic for us danger freaks where stopping to begin filming would be a drag.
Expect $100 retail and available this spring.
Company site: [Veho-UK]
In July 2008, Yahoo announced a radical new product called BOSS, or “Build Your Own Search Service” that lets developers tap into Yahoo’s core search index with an unprecedented amount of flexibility. Now, in light of the Microsoft/Yahoo search deal that was announced last summer, the future of BOSS is uncertain. That’s bad news for the many developers who have built projects on the BOSS APIs, some of whom are building businesses off of the service. Now, after being met with months of silence and uncertainty, some BOSS developers are taking action: they’ve scheduled a conference call with the Department of Justice to discuss their concerns.
Update:: A Yahoo team member has posted that BOSS will live on.
It’s understandable why the developers are agitated. Google and Bing both offer APIs, but they limit monetization options, limit the ways developers can change the way their search results are presented, and have myriad other restrictions that BOSS doesn’t. All of which means that developers can’t easily port their applications over to one of the alternatives.
A developer identifying himself as “Phil” on the BOSS Yahoo Group sent a letter to the DOJ outlining his concerns. The DOJ has apparently responded, saying that they will hold a conference call with any concerned developers (the group contains instructions for any BOSS developers who wish to join). We have a request in with the DOJ to verifiy that the call is scheduled, but it sounds legitimate.
We’ve reprinted Phil’s letter to the DOJ, which outlines the developers’ concerns, below:
Dear sir/madam,
I represent a group of people who are concerned about a certain aspect of an
antitrust issue which we understand is currently being examined by your office.
The matter at hand is the Microsoft-Yahoo deal. Our concern is the following:In July 2008, Yahoo introduced a new program called Yahoo Boss. Boss is a
programming framework (called an API) which allows developers to create new
search engines which use the Yahoo database. In Yahoos own words:“BOSS (Build your Own Search Service) is Yahoo!’s open search web services
platform. The goal of BOSS is simple: to foster innovation in the search
industry. Developers, start-ups, and large Internet companies can use BOSS to
build and launch web-scale search products that utilize the entire Yahoo! Search
index. BOSS gives you access to Yahoo!’s investments in crawling and indexing,
ranking and relevancy algorithms, and powerful infrastructure. By combining your
unique assets and ideas with our search technology assets, BOSS is a platform
for the next generation of search innovation, serving hundreds of millions of
users across the Web.”(Quote from http://developer.yahoo.com/search/boss/)
The reason this program is so important is because before Boss, tens, if not
hundreds of millions of dollars would be required to start a new search engine.
Boss changed all that by making Yahoos own servers and search results available
to third parties. In the year and a half since, tens, if not hundreds of
companies and web developers have spent thousands of hours developing new
websites, web applications and search engines using Yahoo Boss. By May 2009,
Yahoo Boss was serving 30 million search queries a DAY through these websites
(http://www.ysearchblog.com/2009/05/19/key-milestones-for-searchmonkey-and-boss/
). Clearly, Yahoo Boss is a unique program which has been the biggest catalyst
in search engine innovation and competition in years.Google and Microsoft do have their own similar APIS, but they are severely
limited. Googles API gives the user but a small number of search results, while
both Google and Microsofts apis disallow open monetization, thus rendering them
meaningless from a competitive point of view.Over the many months since the Microsoft-Yahoo deal was announced, countless
developers have been asking Yahoo for information on the future of Yahoo Boss,
yet in vain. Yahoo refuses to tell us whether the framework will be shut down or
not. This is even after the two companies announced that all the details of
their deal had been fleshed out. This has given us the distinct feeling that the
decision to shut down Boss has already been made, but that they prefer to keep
that quiet in order to not “rock the boat”.Obviously, this is of great concern to us. In addition to all the time and work
we have put in, Boss is the ONLY factor which has allowed broad and viable
competition in the search engine industry. Shutting down Boss would by default
mean shutting down all the websites using it, in addition to signifying the end
to the aforementioned competition.
Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Yahoo has inked a premium content deal with former NBC entertainment programming head Ben Silverman, in which he will create content for the Internet portal.
Yahoo (YHOO) will sell the branded advertising for the online programming made by the controversial Hollywood exec.
Yahoo confirmed the deal, but did not elaborate on the financial details of the partnership.
Silverman left the broadcast television network under a cloud last year, but immediately announced he had struck a deal with Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI) to form a studio–called Electus–to make multiplatform content that is backed by big brand advertisers.
If you think about it, Silverman is essentially copying a new kind of production company started several years ago by former ABC and Yahoo exec Lloyd Braun and his partner, Gail Berman.
Braun has created online programming for Microsoft (MSFT), including an innovative celebrity site called Wonderwall, as well as producing television shows for networks.
Silverman has talked more about doing online programming in episodic style, but much of what has been done online so far in this genre by many others has been only moderately successful.
Nonetheless, Joanne Bradford, SVP of North American revenue for Yahoo, told me in an interview that advertisers have been looking for opportunities to put their brands near quality content online.
“It is an area of great interest,” said Bradford. “And Yahoo, with its huge traffic, is a leader in selling premium ads on the Web.”
Yahoo is putting its hopes here in Silverman, who had been a successful producer of television programming in his early career.
But his tenure at NBC was marked by a lot of negative publicity about him personally and, more importantly, by a sharp downturn in ratings.
It will be interesting to see if the golden-child side of his talent is ascendant in the content he makes for Yahoo, which should begin to appear in several months.
FROM GAMERTELL - Here’s a bullet-point list of all the gaming announcements Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer and Robbie Bach had to offer. Will it be the “biggest year in Xbox history?” You decide…
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Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Section: Communications, Accessories, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile
At CES, Mogo showed off their new attached headset that is winning so many iPhone fans is now porting their device to BlackBerry devices. Mogo by Newton Peripherals makes a headset that snaps into the back of a slim case so you’re less apt to lose the headset. Even better, many of the new BlackBerry Mogo headset-case combos will charge both the BlackBerry and the ear piece simultaneously.
If you’re like me, you’ve probably got 3 or 4 Bluetooth headsets in your possession but have no idea where there are. Mogo sets out to make an easy and always there spot to keep your Bluetooth headset. The result is a slick looking, slim form that does the job.
The headset is high quality stainless steel and sound is said to be excellent in quality. We’ll have a review up soon.
Mogo also showed off a netbook mouse that hides away in a similar fashion to their Bluetooth headset. The mouse can function as a remote control for video viewing, which is pretty handy.
Expect the BlackBerry Mogo unit to sell for $129.
Company site: [Mogo]
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Section: Video, Gadgets / Other, Household
In addition to the Zaggsparq, the other big news from Zagg at CES is its new Zaggbox. As should be expected this year at CES, the Zaggbox is a set-top box that can store and stream your media. Users will be able to access their content from any mobile Internet device, and stream any content on their home network using the Zaggbox. The distinguishing feature of the Zaggbox over tall the other set-top media streaming devices is the fact that it’s remote is a true universal remote. Using either the remote packed in with the Zaggbox or the upcoming iPhone/iPod touch app, control any device connected to the Zaggbox, which is quite impressive.
Read [ZAGG]
Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Every day I troll SEC Form D Filings to discover new startups, fundings and investments. I put everything I find into CrunchBase. For everyone else I give you the daily digest, a quick hit of the latest and greatest SEC Form D filings in the TechCrunch sphere:
Wisair - UWB and Wireless USB Products
Sunlight Photonics - Solar Power Technologies
Carbonite - Data Backup Provider
packlate.com- Last-minute Vacation Rentals
AP - When most people think of electronic book readers, Amazon's thin, white Kindle probably springs to mind. But that could be about to change.
Watch and tremble at Doug’s amazing PC building prowess.
Section: Communications, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile
Nokia and AT&T have announced that AT&T’s Nokia users now have access to the Ovi Store. Users of the Nokia E71x, Nokia Surge, Nokia Mural, Nokia 6650, Nokia 6555 and Nokia 6350 can visit store.ovi.com from their phones and download the Ovi Store app.
Additionally, users will enjoy the convenience of having their app purchases charged to their phone bill rather than needing a credit card or Paypal account as users of Apple’s App Store and RIM’s BlackBerry App World do.
“Nokia is happy to bring the exciting content available through Ovi Store by Nokia to AT&T customers in an easy way with a convenient billing solution,” said David Petts, Vice President and General Manager, AT&T account, Nokia. “Ovi Store provides consumers with mobile content and applications from some of the most recognized developers and publishers from around the world, and we are now thrilled to deliver compelling content to AT&T customers with a payment solution that simplifies access and use.”
Over 50 million Nokia owners have access to the Ovi Store, which is available in over 180 countries and 30 languages, with over 100 devices currently supported and more on the way.
Read [Nokia]
Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
When you own domain names associated with the trademarks of a large company, more often than not, they’re going to file a complaint with the ICANN UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy). And more often than not, they’re going to win control of the name. Such was the case yesterday with 16 names related to Apple that one man happened to own.
Specifically, Daniel Bijan, a Los Angeles-based “mega producer, singer, and entrepreneur,” owned 16 domains that Apple wanted. Apple filed a complain to UDRP in November, and won the rights to all of them yesterday. The domains are all related to iPods, iPod accessories, iPhones, iPhone accessories, Macs, and MacBooks, with the crown jewel being macbookpro.com.
According to the court document, Bijan didn’t even bother to submit a response to Apple’s complaint, so it was an easy call. But Apple was likely to get the names anyway since it owns the trademarks on iPod, iPhone, MacBook, and Mac. Apple argued that each of the domains was “confusingly similar” to Apple’s trademarks. Others, Apple claimed Bijan was using in “bad faith” as he was forwarding them to pages that featured products which compete with Apple’s own. Bijan had registered the names between 2006 and 2009 at various times.
Beyond the macbookpro.com name, none seem particularly interesting. There are none, for example, that point to a new supposed Apple product, such as the “iSlate” names we dug into a few weeks ago. Here’s a full list of the domains Apple now owns with the win:
blueipod.com
iphonecheap.com
iphonetoys.com
ipodaccessories.info
ipodkits.com
ipodsbaratos.com
macbookpro.biz
macbookpro.com
macbookpro.net
macbookpro.org
macfriend.com
redipods.com
macbook.us
macbookpro.us
macbooks.us
macpro.us
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
The Crunchies award gala, tomorrow night in San Francisco, is sold out. But there are a limited number of slots still available for the after party, held at City Hall’s Grand Rotunda immediately after the event (approximately 9 pm) until midnight. All attendees of the main event get into the after-party.
If you can’t attend the event in person, please join us for the live stream, hosted by Ustream and filmed by Future-Works. Plymedia will provide live captioning of the ceremony.
The simple fact is that the party holds about 100 more people than the Herbst Theater, where the main event is actually held. And since a lot of people would rather go to the party than not attend the event at all, we’re putting those 100 tickets on sale. You can get them here while they last.
There’s lots of good stuff to enjoy at the after-party, co-hosted with Microsoft BizSpark and award benefactor Founders Fund. DJ Inertia (aka Ryan Jeffs) is flying in to spin music for us. Ryan is one of us, a tech engineer by trade. He leads a double life as an electronic music DJ with a new startup label Republik Records. He’s been featured in the playlists of artists like Paul Van Dyk, Paul Oakenfold, Pete Tong and countless others.
Grey Goose Vodka has designed some custom celebratory cocktails for us to enjoy. Cannonball is hosting wine, and LewisPR is providing embargo-free beer. The North Light Court of City Hall will have casino games: thanks to Armor Games, Betfair, Kosmix, Outcast Communications, SecondMarket, SGN and Zong. Stop by the DailyBooth photowall. We’ll also have start-up demos for you to enjoy from SGN, Tap11 and select fbFund companies. Big thank you to Solana and the talented team at DesignAboutTown for making us look great.
See everyone tomorrow!
Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
 Sydney Morning Herald | Tablet? Slate? New devices emerge as Apple looms Reuters LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Call it a "slate" or call it a "tablet," the technology world is suddenly awash with a novel category of mobile devices seeking to grab the spotlight from a hugely anticipated product launch by Apple Inc later this month. ... The Dawn of the Tablet PC: CES 2010 Roundup Tablet PC mania hits Steve Ballmer's CES 2010 Keynote |
FROM APPLETELL - The only real downside to this WiFi digital picture frame is its high price tag, but I can almost guarantee you’ll forget how much it costs when you see what it can do.
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Section: Gadgets / Other, Miscellaneous
Sungale, the company that brought us the Cyberus Smart Info Engine, is launching another PMP. Actually, the Kula is closer to a competitor for FloTV, though it works only on Wi-Fi. The small 4.3-inch screen makes it more portable than the Smart Info Engine, but not as easily usable as the FloTV.
The Kula seems to be powered by an OS similar to the Smart Info Engine, though it does seem like a better experience overall. I wasn’t able to view any media on the device, as it wasn’t able to get a signal to work well enough for the Internet TV to work, though there did appear to be a decent amount of options available when it did work. It has 2GB of storage built in for any media (video, audio, photos) you want to put on it, and it can be expanded though the use of a microSD card. The Kula supports a wide array of file formats including popular MP3, AAC, AVI, DivX, WMV and less popular ones such as OGG and RM/RMVB.
The Kula will be launching sometime in late Febuary/early March.
Read [Sungale]
Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Section: Audio, Home Audio, Speakers, Communications, Accessories, Smartphones, Trade Shows, CES
Wirelessly streaming music from your BlackBerry/iPhone/iPod Touch onto high quality speakers is now possible with the NAO Music System by Cignias. This task is made possible by the NAO Symphony/NAO Symphony Noir, and a newly released free app called MusicNAO which is available for the BlackBerry, iPhone and iPod Touch. The NAO Symphony and NAO Symphony Noir are music stations capable of receiving audio wirelessly and are able to playback music using its high quality speakers, the difference being that the Noir has a limited edition, premium black grill finish. Both devices are priced at $299. Wireless connectivity options include Bluetooth (A2DP) and WiFi. The LED indicator turns blue when it is in Bluetooth mode, and green when it is in WiFi mode. According to Cignias, you can wirelessly stream music, while still making phone calls or sending email with negligible impact to the BlackBerry battery, and presumably the iPhone and iPod Touch battery.
Other audio input methods include a docking bay for an iPod (LED indicator turns yellow), and an auxiliary input which allows you to connect to pretty much anything (LED indicator turns purple). Another interesting feature of the NAO Symphony/NAO Symphony Noir is that connected smartphones can control the docked iPod. You can do things like accessing playlists, albums, artists, genres, and a whole lot more from the docked iPod. Cignias also boasts a system that automatically updates the NAO Symphony/NAO Symphony Noir by itself, allowing users to access the latest technology.
Product Page [Cignias NAO Music System]
Full Story » | Written by Cheng Hung for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
LAS VEGAS — Everybody is showing off new e-readers at CES this year, and Samsung is no exception. But there is one reason for you to keep reading this post. With Samsung’s e-book, you can write on the pages.
We knew e-books would be a hot item at this year’s show, but the surprise is that there are so many large format readers. Samsung’s small range tops out with a 10-incher, which joins the Kindle DX in its new international clothing, and Plastic Logic’s enormous 8.5 x 11-inch Que proReader.
Samsung’s e-books, the E6 and E101, look just like any other black and white e-ink device. When you’re done reading either of the 6 or 10 inch books, though, you can pull out a stylus and start scrawling. These sticks come in various thicknesses and use “electromagnetic resonance” to draw lines on the page.
The smaller readers also have secret, slide-out controls hidden behind the screen, and an on-screen, soft QWERTY lets you type real text — your stylus scribblings remain just that, and are not automagically transformed into actual text. Still, its a lot easier to jot notes on top of your pages than to do it the Kindle way and tortuously tap out text on the chiclet keyboard.
The readers grab content over Wi-Fi (no 3G) and can display PDF, ePub and plain text files. I played with them briefly at Samsung’s stand (“No pictures, sir. It’s our policy this year.”) and took some pictures. The e-ink screen is much the same as any other, but when using the stylus to navigate, the local refreshing that draws menus is cleaner (but no quicker) than, say, the Kindle.
The navigation itself is clunky, and you never know whether you should be pressing an actual button, touching the stylus to the screen or using a finger (hint — fingers don’t work). Drawing, though, is responsive, and just like using a real pencil.
The e-readers need some work, and feel like the prototypes they are. Hopefully there will be some additional polish before these go to market, otherwise it will be yet another rushed product hoping to grab some sales from the flawed leader, the Kindle. Also, a quick question to the visitor at the Samsung stand who asked “Just what is the main difference between this and the iPod Touch?”: Are you serious?
$400 or $700, depending on size. And don’t say “Magna-doodle”. The pictured prototype with a hardware keyboard does not yet have a price.
See Also:
Samsung Unveils Its First E-Book for Reading, Writing and Sharing On-The-Go [Samsung]
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
And we have another ebook reader! This time around it’s the Que from Plastic Logic. Just because it’s not the Kindle or Nook, don’t write it off. This device, and the software it runs, might be special enough to make a mark in the ebook reader scene.
It’s not the hardware that’s unique — although it is nice and I’ll get to that in a bit — it’s the software that formats publications to the device while retaining the feel of the print version. Watch the video above to see a demo of USA Today. You’ll see that it looks and feels like the real thing. Headlines are up top along with buttons to different sections. It even embeds the news story’s image in a familiar fashion.
As for the hardware, it’s damn thin — like so thin breakage might be a concern. But the screen size is large enough that reading a newspaper or magazine article feels right. The USB port, SD card slot, and speaker are located on the bottom and are the only ports on the otherwise sleek device.
There is a bit of lag when navigating. Actually, it’s more than a bit, but that’s the norm in ebook readers right now. They are laggy, but that will likely improve.
Plastic Logic is targeting an April release with Barnes & Noble as the retail partner. The 4GB version will run $649 while the 8GB version with 3G will cost $799. Yeah, ouch.
AP - Intel Corp. rolled out new computer chips Thursday that highlight the company's lead over Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in its ability to shrink the circuitry inside its processors.
Uh oh, looks like the mobile TV might be heating up. Vizio announced today that they are launching a mobile TV unit, the “Mobile Razor LED”.
Vizio has announced three versions of the product, one with a 7-inch screen, one with a 9-inch screen, and one with a 10-inch screen.
The 7-inch version has a 7-inch LED, an supports resolution of up to 800×480. It features auxiliary inputs for a DVD or other device, and the internal battery will run for about 3 hours. MSRP is $149, and it’ll be available sometime later this year.
The 9-inch and 10-inch versions also support 80×480, but they include an HDMI jack, as well as a USB port for viewing images or listening to music. The 9-inch version will cost $199, and the 10-inch version will go for $229.
If you’d like to read the press release, click here.
 Sydney Morning Herald | Plastic Logic's Que E-Reader Revealed PC World Plastic Logic has been teasing us with previews of its e-reader for sixteen months. This morning at CES, it formally announced the product. Plastic Logic has been teasing us with previews of its e-reader-now dubbed the Que proReader-for sixteen months. ... Plastic Logic joins the e-reader Que CES: Plastic Logic flexes newspaper muscle for its Que business e-reader Que e-reader |
Who knew Asus made bags? And tasteful ones, at that? Not me. So I took some pictures. They also had a shining pink hard drive with that fashionable design we saw on the new Eee PCs. The hard drive itself is unremarkable, but some people really need these things to match, so the design was necessary to implement on accessories as well as the computers themselves. They come in chocolate and strawberry.
And of course the Eee Keyboard was there, so I took its picture too. Looks pretty much like we left it last. No purchase information on this stuff yet, but we’re going to drop by the booth live tomorrow and I’ll get it updated. Gallery follows.
Two days ago, the knives came out in full view between Apple and Google. On the same day that Google launched its latest Nexus One Android phone, Apple announced the $275 million acquisition of Quattro Wireless, a mobile advertising platform. It was as if Steve Jobs was sending Eric Schmidt a very public message: You mess with my business, and I’ll mess with yours.
With the Nexus One, Google basically designed its own phone and is selling it directly to consumers through a new Google online phone store. It is getting into Apple’s territory: making devices and merchandising them. Likewise, by buying Quattro, Apple is moving into Google’s territory: namely, advertising. The Quattro deal was also a response to Google’s previously announced $750 million acquisition of mobile advertising network AdMob, which Apple also tried to buy.
Apple and Google have been warily circling each other since last summer when Eric Schmidt left Apple’s board of directors because Google was becoming too much of a direct competitor. As I noted back then:
Asked to choose between furthering Apple’s mobile agenda or Google’s, Schmidt must choose Google’s. It is his fiduciary duty. That conflict is only going to grow.
This week that conflict came to a head. Both companies are on uncertain ground. Google is not a device company any more than Apple is an advertising company. Of course, Apple doesn’t like the threat that Android represents. It’s Windows all over again: a single OS on many devices.
But Apple is also afraid of Google’s blade coming dangerously close to its own heart. Many of the iPhone’s core apps are made by Google, such as Gmail, Maps, and YouTube. Apple cannot afford to cede more control of the iPhone over to Google. This is the reason why it blocked the Google Voice app from the iPhone, and it is the reason why it bought Quattro. To the extent that advertising is going to be a revenue stream for iPhone apps, Apple needs to have a play there. And that is what the Quattro deal is about—ads in apps, not on mobile Websites. If Apple hadn’t bought Quattro, it would just be handing over advertising dollars on the iPhone to Google and AdMob. Now watch as Apple tries to make Quattro the preferred advertising network for iPhone apps.
Google is equally out of its element. I’s taking a huge risk by pushing its own Android phones at the expense of its partners like Motorola. That strategy could backfire if other mobile phone manufacturers decide Android is just not worth supporting. You know how most knife fights end. Both parties usually end up pretty bloody.
Photo credit: Flickr/Daniel R. Blume.
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You guys asked for more stream, and you have to admit you got it. We've been live almost without interruption since before 1:00, and we're only stopping to change batteries, get our poor camera guys off their feet, and get to our next location. We'll start the stream back up at 7 o' clock sharp to watch Doug take on all challengers in a PC-building race for charity. He's quite good at this sort of thing. Then we'll be walking around the corner to hit Showstoppers, another press event where we'll go hands-on with unreleased gadgets, new services, and delicious hors d'oeuvres.
Now, if you haven't been watching, then don't worry: as soon as we shut down the stream to head over to the Wynn, you'll be able to peruse it at your leisure. We've seen 3D displays, earbud attachments, 360-degree camcorders, and about a hundred more devices and accessories. But we're live again in an hour, people. You don't want to miss this.
First, walrus auto-fellatio. Now, turtle orgasms. Today is just going GREAT, isn't it? (Possibly NSFW. But much, MUCH less NSFW than that walrus.) (Thanks, gnat!)
By Marisa Taylor, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
If Polaroid wanted attention by hiring Lady Gaga as its new creative director, it certainly succeeded.
I arrived 45 minutes early for Polaroid’s CES event Thursday, only to find 200 people already crowded into a press pen. The pop star’s music, with lyrics such as “I love your psycho, your vertigo stareschtick,” blared from the speakers (sadly, I know all the words).
While the brand that created the iconic instantaneous film remains well known around the world, Polaroid filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and was purchased and relaunched in 2009 by PLR IP Holdings. The troubled company made a splash on Tuesday prior to CES with the announcement that Lady Gaga, the 23-year-old singer known as much for her eccentric costumes as for her hit songs “Poker Face” and “Paparazzi,” would serve as a creative director for a “specialty line of Polaroid imaging products.” Whether or not she will actually have strong creative input remains to be seen.
Read the rest of this post on the original site
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Two Gentlemen of Lebowski, by Adam Bertocci (thanks, chris arkenberg, PLEASE PLEASE let this end up as a live stage performance for yea, verily I should like to see it)WOO: Rise, and speak wisely, man--but hark; I see thy rug, as woven i'the Orient, A treasure from abroad. I like it not. I'll stain it thus; ever thus to deadbeats.
[He stains the rug]
THE KNAVE: Sir, prithee nay!
BLANCHE: Now thou seest what happens, Lebowski, when the agreements of honourable business stand compromised. If thou wouldst treat money as water, flowing as the gentle rain from heaven, why, then thou knowest water begets water; it will be a watery grave your rug, drowned in the weeping brook. Pray remember, Lebowski.
THE KNAVE: Thou err'st; no man calls me Lebowski. Yet thou art man; neither spirit damned nor wandering shadow, thou art solid flesh, man of woman born. Hear rightly, man!--for thou hast got the wrong man. I am the Knave, man; Knave in nature as in name.
BLANCHE: Thy name is Lebowski.
A city renowned for its excesses, Las Vegas provided the perfect backdrop for the chip bacchanalia held by Intel Thursday. At an event at the Consumer Electronics Show under way here, the chip maker unloaded a slew of new processors, chipsets and wireless adapters–many built with its latest 32-nanometer manufacturing process, which produces faster and more energy-efficient products.
The 25 newcomers shown off include Intel’s (INTC) Core i3 and i5 processors, the former rated at 2.93 and 3.06 gigahertz, the latter at 3.2GHz. Also, talked up at the event: Intel’s new Turbo Boost technology, which allows processors to substantially increase clock speed as high-bandwidth applications come online.
“Turbo is something we’re very proud of,” Sean Maloney, executive VP of the Intel Architecture Group said during the event. “It’s the first time in the mainstream computer industry that we’re dynamically changing the frequency based on the workload.”
An impressive showing for Intel, which is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results next week. And a nasty blow to rival AMD (AMD), whose 32-nanometer chips won’t arrive at market until 2011.
Do you wish that you were famous? Know what famous people do? They get hired to sit at events like Santa Claus in order to provide photo opportunities to rabid fans. Such is the case of comic book legend Stan Lee. He’s here at CES, sitting like Santa Claus while rabid fans stand in line for photos.
I’d think that it’d be much nicer to be a minor celebrity. Some people recognize you, but you don’t have to sit if you don’t want to. Major celebrities make more money, though. But, again, there’s more sitting.
Stan Lee [Wikipedia]
Here’s a first. VitaminWater has just announced that its newest flavor will be called “Connect”, complete with a Facebook logo and a full paragraph description loaded with references to untagging, friend requests, and photo stalking. It’s black cherry-lime flavored, with caffeine and “eight key nutrients”. And it’s coming to stores nationwide in March.
The new flavor and label were a result of a contest VitaminWater has been conducting on its Facebook page over the last few months that invited fans to design their own flavors (check out the video below featuring Steve Nash for an intro). Here’s the message VitaminWater used to announce the news on its Facebook page. You can blame them for the lack of capitalization:
unlike the never-ending debate over whether it’s rock-paper-scissors or paper-rock-scissors, based on your votes and your designs, the latest flavor of vitaminwater has FINALLY been decided… introducing the black cherry-lime flavored vitaminwater named… connect! check out this new package- flavor & ingredients, name & label design- all inspired by you- our fans. it’s got 8 key nutrients plus caffeine. thanks for all your help- especially to the grand prize winner Sarah from Illinois and the four other finalist http://budurl.com/q27w. vitaminwater connect will be available in stores nationwide in march this year- so until then, stay hydrated- and keep your eyes here for news, updates and special offers for connect, including a possible sneak tasting opportunity. and btw… it’s rochambeau!
One amusing thing worth pointing out: the bottle’s label prominently features a fingerprint on it, which isn’t really something you’d normally associate with sharing or a safe online environment. And it will look especially odd if Facebook’s privacy fiasco ever comes to a head.
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 The Guardian | The Nexus One's Seduction Secret PC World Nexus, oh Nexus, you sultry little vixen. You've had the Web in a tizzy ever since you showed your sleek and slender form to the world this week. Mind you, not everyone's drooling over your silky smooth curves -- plenty of people are bashing your brain ... Google Phone May Add to Network Strain as Use Surges Google Clarifies Nexus One Service Plans, Store Idea Come on, Google, subsidize me |
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
BLDGblog has published a series of photographs by Noah Sheldon that capture what remains of Biosphere 2, "a semi-derelict bio-architectural experiment in the Arizona desert." Looking at these images, it's hard to believe some 200 million dollars went into this thing. The site was sold to private developers in 2007. It is still open to visitors. More images on Sheldon's website. Official Biosphere 2 website is here.
Source: Boing Boing | 7 Jan 2010 | 4:09 pm
Verizon’s MiFi was one of our favorite products of 2009: It takes a 3G wireless data signal and turns it into a Wi-Fi hot spot.
Now Sprint has one-upped Verizon with the Overdrive, which takes a 4G signal and turns it into a Wi-Fi hot spot.
On Sprint’s WiMax-based 4G network, the Overdrive, which is about the size of a drink coaster, will reliably deliver 3 to 4 Mbps of download bandwidth, Sprint executives say, with peak speeds as fast as 10 Mbps. Upload speeds will be slower, but could peak as fast as 4.5 Mbps.
Because the 4G network isn’t available everywhere yet, the Overdrive also works with Sprint’s widely deployed 3G network, which delivers 600 Kbps down and 100 Kbps up, Sprint says.
The router then takes that internet connection and blasts it out as an 802.11b/g signal, with an “extended range” of up to 150 feet. It will support up to five simultaneous device connections.
In demos, the Overdrive router was used to deliver streaming Netflix movies, Skype conversations, and webcam views simultaneously.
Overdrive also contains a GPS receiver (accessible to network applications via a programming interface Sprint provides) and a MicroSD card slot, which can be used to store up to 16 GB of data for local access.
Overdrive will sell for $100 with a 2-year contract at $60 per month for unlimited 4G data downloads, and up to 5 GB of monthly data on the 3G network.
See Also:
Photo: Dylan Tweney/Wired.com
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
By Don Clark and Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal
There are conflicting signs about how good a year 2010 may be for the technology world, but attendants of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show appear to be more upbeat than last year.
A bumper crop of new products, full hotel rooms and respectable crowds at the annual technology conference here are some of the most obvious differences from the CES held in January 2009, when the recession still seemed to be deepening.
Many consumer-electronics companies reported substantial improvements in the third quarter and say business continued to improve as the year ended.
“Compared with the same time last year, we feel much better,” said Zhou Houjian, chairman of the Chinese electronics manufacturer Hisense Co. Ltd., which is sending more than 80 employees to CES this year, compared with 40 last year. “We feel the U.S. economy got a lot of new energy.”
Read the rest of this post on the original site
LAS VEGAS — Dell is poised to flood the market with a whole range of tablets, from tiny iPhone-sized handsets to big media players. At CES this morning, Dell’s marketing boss Michael Tatelman gave us a teasing sneak peek.
The handset he showed us, seen above, is a skinny sliver with a 5-inch screen and runs the Android operating system. It will probably never make it into stores, but Tatelman said that there are plenty of tablets, of all shapes, sizes and operating systems living in the Dell labs and aimed at going on sale as soon as possible.
What really surprised us, though, is how Tatelman referred to it. He introduced the handset and said “I believe they are known as slates.” He’s not the only one. At Microsoft’s CES keynote yesterday, CEO Steve Ballmer also called his company’s new line of tablets* “slates”.
John Gruber of Daring Fireball has one take on this. “I honestly think Microsoft renamed these things on the basis on a rumored name for Apple’s tablet, just to try to fuck with them” he writes.
What is extraordinary is that, whatever their reasons, both Dell and Microsoft are naming devices based on rumors that Apple has the trademark and domain name for “iSlate.” The mythical tech-unicorn that Apple may or may not announce later this month is has already created an entire new product category based on nothing but speculation. How’s that for influence?
*Which are exactly the same as the failed tablets of yesteryear, only running Windows 7 instead of XP, both of which are designed for desktop computers.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
LAS VEGAS — Microsoft and Dell aren’t the only ones trying to beat Apple to releasing a tablet. Sony has introduced a sort-of tablet, too. It’s called the Dash.
The 7-inch, wedge-shaped touchscreen device is designed to stand upright for viewing on a table or a nightstand, or laid down flat on your lap. The gadget displays content via widgets from Chumby.com, which provides access to sites such as Yelp, Facebook, New York Times and Google News. The Dash connects to Wi-Fi networks.
Wired.com tried to get some hands-on time with the Dash, but Sony was only playing a demo video on the device due to a lack of consistent Wi-Fi connection in the conference room. We can tell you this much: The screen looks nice, but we can’t imagine this will pose as competition to Apple’s touchscreen tablet, rumored for an announcement Jan. 27.
Sony is marketing the Dash as a “personal application viewer.” Surprisingly the company did not call the Dash a “slate,” like Steve Ballmer did with a Windows 7 tablet he introduced Wednesday playing off rumors that the Apple tablet is called iSlate. And here we thought Sony was trying to reclaim its coolness.
Shipping in April, the Dash costs $200.
See Also:
Photo: Sony
Britain is unusually warm for its latitude because of the gulfstream. This week, however, the gulfstream is on vacation in Greenland. So this is what Britain is like without the gulfstream. [NASA via Metafilter]
Puget Systems makes old-school boutique tower PCs for gamers. The last time I looked at one, it brought performance, heft, multiple video cards, and coolant tubing packed into a giant enclosure. It also came with something else: noise. Wired puts it so: performs like a Ferrari, sounds like a Mack Truck.
Its latest, the Serenity gaming PC, fixes it for who hate the hum.
On the outside, it's a classy, if nondescript Antec case. Inside, however, it's calmed with acoustic foam panels, dampered screws and other vibration-reducing handiwork. And while Puget's online configurator lets you change most components, it defaults to selections tested for quiet operation. The result is a pleasing murmur, if not complete silence -- the optical drive spinning up is by far the loudest thing in it. But silence doesn't come cheap. Starting at $1,682, it's about $400-$500 more expensive than a standard, similarly-specced desktop from Dell or HP. And while buying boutique means you get better customer care (including a logbook of system construction, burn-in tests, gaming becnhmnarks, and even Robocop-vision thermographs of the completed system under load) it's also true that configuring the same stuff into Puget's own standard gaming PC configurator results in a similar discount, albeit on an AMD platform instead of Intel Quad Core.
Tested at the base Serenity Gaming configuration, it has an i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM and an XFX Radeon HD 5770 video card with 1GB RAM. A fanless video card option is available, but those defaults are already as modest as most gamers will likely want to settle for. Heading in the other direction, a faster CPU or more RAM shouldn't result in more system noise, but moving to a top-shelf video card will.
It performs well enough, and has a nice clean Windows 7 installation, but the real plus to buying from a boutique retailer is getting a reliable custom machine without having to put the damned thing together yourself. Noise reduction is as much a time sink as squeezing an extra FPS or two from marginal hardware ever was, but with the added irritation of it always being hands-on process involving pads, washers, glues, icky thermal pastes, heatsinks, incantations... Envisage the woe-pregnant nightmare of building your own computer, but where labor's diminishing returns lie not in easily-diagnosable config issues but in inexplicable vibrations and weird noises emanating from nowhere in particular. Finding that last whining component is like when you have a dying battery in a smoke alarm, but there are eight smoke alarms inside a box and each one must be individually unscrewed before you can figure out which is making the infernal squeak, and ... you get the idea. So you get the point of the Serenity PC, for those who care about these things.
The pros being clear, the cons for Serenity are its price, its heavy case, and (for those of you who still buy games on disc and don't NOCD) the whirry default optical drive. Get it if you want quiet, custom, upgradeable gaming without the hassle, but not if budget performance--or preserving desktop space--is your real priority.
Here's an account of buying from Puget from a paying customer.
Serenity Gaming PC [Puget]
Nearly three years after Viacom sued Google over copyright infringement, the case may finally be ready to start moving again. Both sides have asked a federal court for summary judgment, which means there’s an opportunity for the legal system to actually make a decision in what could be a landmark case.
Both sides filed the requests, as has been expected for some time, at the end of last month and is a sign that years of laborious discovery and depositions have come to a close.
There’s not much to the filings themselves:
Wonder what that says? Me too.
Viacom filing:
Via 1710
Google filing:
Goog1710
We just did some live video from the Palm lounge where we saw the Pixi and Pre Plus, two improvements to the current WebOS line-up. Notable points? The 3D gaming was quite impressive and the design has been considerably improved in this iteration.
This model also includes WiFi built-in for both models.
We can expect these to drop on January 25th on Verizon, an interesting development.
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LAS VEGAS — Along with the tiny, powerful Alienware M11X, Dell has also updated the Mini 10 netbook, proving the company’s CES PR spin that it is obsessed with cramming hot tech into tiny boxes.
The new Mini 10 comes with the usual netbook accouterments: an Atom N450 processor, a gig of RAM, up to 250GB of HD space and a small ten-inch screen. What is new, though, is the souped-up high-def hardware.
Being a Dell, the hardware is almost infinitely customizable at point-of-sale, so we’ll talk about the hypothetical best configuration, which is the one Dell wants you to buy. The tiny screen can playback 720p movies (1366×768 pixels) and the machine has an HD processor chip in there to handle it. Also inside is a hi-def TV tuner, and GPS for location services.
I took a look at the new machine, in fetching hot pink, at Dell’s CES lounge, located out in the wilds of Vegas at the Palms Resort Hotel (it feels like the low-rent casino in Swingers). Windows 7 choked on a weirdly encoded video, but once working it looked great. I thought HD on a ten-inch screen was a waste of time, but it is actually a nice way to watch video, and with the nine hour battery life, a good companion on a plane or train.
This unit had a Dell sound-bar running along the top, to boost the sound. It boosted it indeed, making the thin, hissing, music thinner, hissier and louder. It beats the standard netbook speaker setup, but you’d do better plugging in a pair of headphones.
Available this month, prices rise from $300 as soon as you add any useful features.
When the lights went out at Microsoft’s CES keynote Wednesday, wags quickly dubbed it the “Black Stage of Doom” — a reference to the so-called black screen of death glitch that reportedly affected a small number of Windows 7 users last year.
Lights at the conference were quickly restored, and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s presentation went off without another glitch, but that didn’t stop some audience members from having a field day.
“Massively underwhelming,” commented one Wired.com reader of the keynote, posting under the handle RabidAppleFanboi. “But I liked the melodramatic Black Stage of Doom, as some have described it. It added an edginess, a steely tension to the entire presentation. Would the stage be plunged into darkness again? Would this new and previously unseen form of BSOD strike twice at the very heart of CES?”
Microsoft has fended off criticism over catastrophic OS failures since the mid-1990s, though the occurrences are far less common these days. The original BSOD was the “blue screen of death,” a notorious operating system crash prevalent in earlier versions of Windows. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates even saw Windows 98 crash during one of his presentations on live TV.
The company told Wired.com the temporary blackout at CES was unrelated to Microsoft’s products.
“It was a problem with the hotel’s HVAC system,” a Microsoft representative said. “It was a silly, non-Microsoft problem that had a pretty big ramification for the keynote. That’s really all it was.”
Read more: Microsoft Touts Home Entertainment at CES Keynote
Wired.com’s Brian X. Chen contributed to this report.
A Microsoft employee works to restore power after the lights went out just prior to CEO Steve Ballmer's keynote presentation at CES on Jan. 6, 2010.
Photos: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com
Top photo: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com
LAS VEGAS — Dell has managed to pack an entire Alienware gaming rig into a tiny, 11-inch notebook body, and it kicks ass. It will also cost less than $1,000.
Regular readers will know I’m a Mac user. Normally, no matter how good a PC might be, if it doesn’t run the Mac OS I’m not interested. The Alienware M11X is the first machine to tempt me to the other side.
Dell decided not to bother with a heavy, power-thirsty CPU. Instead, the M11X is tricked out with a Core 2 Duo and hardware to push graphics. The NVIDIA GT35M can be switched in and out, so you can pick the internal graphics hardware for your e-mail and a 6.5-hour battery life, or fire up everything for two glorious hours of on-the-go gaming on the 720p, 1366 x 768 screen.
The M11X even goes one better than the MacBook Pro, which has a similar GPU-switching trick, but requires a logout to do it. When I asked Alex Gruzen, Dell’s VP of consumer products, if you had to restart the machine to change modes he smiled. “No, you just hit a switch,” he told me, “it takes about two seconds.”
I took the machine for a spin. On battery power, the M11X was running Modern Warfare 2 at full tilt, with almost everything turned on, at 30fps. It looks gorgeous. Kick up the volume and the sound thunders, crisp and clear, from a pair of speakers under the front edge, and when you pick it up and flip the thick but compact body over, there is even a glowing red light inside the fan-hole. Classy.
So nice is the output that, through the press conference, there was a Star Trek game running onstage on a big screen. We all assumed it was powered by the huge Alienware desktop next to it. It turned out that it was powered by the little M11X, which outputs via HDMI, DisplayPort or VGA.
It’s probably the best netbook you could buy, and it comes in at under $1,000. I wonder if I could Hackintosh it?
Fresh out of Las Vegas, Palm just confirmed the existence of the long-rumored Pre Plus and Pixi Plus. They’re not announcing pricing details yet, but they did spill the beans on the launch date: January 25th. We’ll update you as we hear more.
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 The Guardian | TV makers bet big on 3D, payoff uncertain Reuters LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Television manufacturers are banking on 3D TVs for their next sales boost, with sets capable of adding that extra visual dimension expected to hit US store shelves in force by the middle of 2010. Top TV makers including Sony Corp, ... CES: New-generation TVs are loaded with 3D and other features Panasonic Unveils 3D TV Product Arsenal 3-D Mania Today, Format Skirmishes Tomorrow? |
LAS VEGAS — After months of offering tantalizing bits of information, Plastic Logic has finally launched its new e-reader Que.
The Que proReader has an 8.5 x 11-inch touchscreen display and the ability to handle a range of documents such as Microsoft Word files, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, digital books, PDFs, magazines and newspapers.
It can also synchronize with Microsoft Outlook to display e-mails and calendar.
“E-readers today are reading devices for the casual reader,” says Richard Archuleta, chief executive of Plastic Logic. “What about folks who need it for business and reading lots of different documents? We are trying to create a paperless briefcase for them.”
The Que will be the latest entrant into what’s become of the hottest consumer electronics product categories. Last year alone, about 5 million e-readers were sold. Amazon, one of the largest book retailers, has said for the first time on Christmas day more e-books were sold than physical books.
Beautiful, Pricey Hardware
The Que e-reader designed by industrial design firm IDEO is the best-looking device in its category. It is extremely thin, lightweight (weighs less than a pound) and has a large shatterproof display that’s feels better than its rivals, such as Amazon’s Kindle DX.
The Que is driven by its touchscreen so it does not not have any buttons on it, except for a discreet home button at the upper right corner. The effect is similar to that of Apple’s iPhone.
The result is a sleek and rather sophisticated-looking gadget. But in the brief hands-on time that we spent with it, we noticed smudge marks and fingerprints all over the device.
Still from a design perspective, Plastic Logic’s Que is undoubtedly a beauty.
But open your wallets wide for it.
The 4-GB version of the Que with Wi-Fi and storage for about 35,000 documents will retail for $650. An $800 8-GB version that can store 75,000 documents and includes both Wi-Fi and 3G capability — powered by AT&T– will also be available.
The Que will start shipping mid-April but the company is taking pre-orders now.
Versatile and Format-Agnotisic
Unlike the Sony Reader or the Barnes & Noble Nook, the Que is targeted at business users. So the device offers a number of features that are missing in its counterparts.
The e-reader syncs with your Microsoft Outlook account to display e-mails and the day’s appointments. It also pulls in attachments so you can click on and view them on the e-reader.
The top half of the screen features different documents, while the lower half shows those marked as favorites.
Plastic Logic inked partnerships with major content publishers so users can read magazines such as Fast Company and newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and USA Today on the device.
Que’s biggest asset is that it can handle an e-book in the ePUB format with the same ease as a document from the Microsoft Office suite. It’s a feature that is likely to endear it to users who don’t want to carry multiple devices and pull up a laptop just to look at an Excel spreadsheet.
“The Que is not committed to a specific format,” says Archuleta.
Other features include search that looks through both your e-mail and documents, ability to create notes and annotate documents.
Plastic Logic will also have an app for BlackBerry phones so users can wirelessly sync content from their phones with the Que.
Photos: Priya Ganapati
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LAS VEGAS — A crowd of gadget enthusiasts gathered at the entrance to
the Consumer Electronics Show here Thursday, awaiting admission to one
of the world’s largest gadget shows.
Organizers expect 110,000 people to attend this year’s show, a decline
of about 25,000 from last year. Despite the downturn, hundreds of
exhibitors will still be showing thousands of new products, from watch
phones and giant 3-D televisions to USB humping dogs and electronic
air fresheners.
It will be just as hard to get a taxi, and healthy food will be just
as unavailable as in previous years.
We’re live from Palm’s CES 2010 Press Event, where they’re expected to announce … something. Will they tell us which two phones AT&T will be carrying? Will they finally confirm that they’ve got handsets heading to Verizon?
We’ll keep the live blog goin’ as long as the mighty mobile broadband overlords allow – follow along after the jump.
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Remember the HTC Touch.B, the slick Touch2 lookalike that surfaced last month? The one running that nifty, minimalist interface over Qualcomm’s BREW operating system? Well, it looks like it’s finally ready for primetime with a brand-new (if not the most accurate) moniker.
The HTC Smart is gunning for the budget-minded phone nerd, and for a lower-end phone, it brings a decent amount of oomph to the table. WiFi is noticeably absent, as is video recording, but Bluetooth 2.0 and 3G support isn’t too shabby. The original Zune-esque interface, which was noticeably slow last time we saw it, has been replaced by HTC’s now classic Sense UI. This could be a bit of an issue – if the spec sheet leaked back in December was accurate, then the Smart’s 300 MHz processor is slower than its earlier variant. How fluidly the Smart will handle the Sense UI and all its eye candy is still up in the air, but we’re hoping for the best. The whole package is rounded out with a 2.8-inch QVG display, 256 MB of onboard memory, and a 3 MP fixed focus camera with flash.
Full press release can be found after the jump, if you’re in to that sort of thing.
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ — Consumer Electronics Show (CES) — HTC Corporation, a global smartphone designer, today unveiled HTC Smart(TM), a new type of smartphone that creates a new category of easy-to-use, connected smartphones that are accessible by people all over the world. The HTC Smart will be available this spring across Europe and Asia.
“HTC has always focused on listening to customers and setting the stage for new mobile categories, and HTC Smart is the response to customer demand around the world for an easier-to-use, affordable smartphone,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation. “Just adding a touch interface doesn’t mean a phone is a smartphone. The integration of HTC Sense brings an unparalleled smartphone experience for people looking to do more on their phone.”
Bringing HTC Sense to the Masses
HTC Smart begins with a friendly, compact touch design and integrates an intuitive user experience that is centered around HTC Sense(TM), an HTC design philosophy that puts people at the center by focusing on three core areas: Make It Mine, Stay Close and Discover the Unexpected. HTC Smart enables personal customization of each person’s own phone experience. It also provides a quick and easy way to see what friends are up to via various social networks as well as quickly communicating over the phone, through text messaging or e-mail.
“HTC Smart breaks new ground in delivering the powerful, in-demand smartphone features that consumers want on a more accessible device for global markets,” said Paul Jacobs, chief executive officer, Qualcomm Incorporated. “We are pleased to be supporting HTC as they utilize the capabilities of Qualcomm’s Brew Mobile Platform open operating system to offer high-end capabilities and a compelling mobile user experience at mass-market price points.”
Qualcomm Brew Mobile Platform (Brew MP)
HTC Smart utilizes Qualcomm’s Brew MP, a popular mobile operating system that enables smartphone devices to be offered at more aggressive price points, providing HTC with the flexibility to deliver smartphone features on devices across multiple tiers.
About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry and continues to pioneer industry-leading mobile experiences through design, usability and innovation that are sparked by how the mobile phone can improve how people live and communicate. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.
The names of companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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We’re rolling two separate announcements into one post, if you don’t mind.
Fandango this morning announced the official release of its free app for the Android platform, enabling owners of Google’s Nexus One and other devices that run Android to check out movies showtimes and more on the go. The news comes a couple of weeks after the company put out a beta release of the Android app.
Mobile movie fans can use the app to find movies playing nearby by using Android’s GPS feature and connect straight to Google Maps for driving directions to the theatres, watch trailers, view fan ratings and buy tickets for more than 16,000 movie screens. Fandango is waiving the service fee for tickets purchased through the app from now until March 7, 2010.
Translation and dictionary software maker Babylon, on the other hand, has today released its application for BlackBerry. At least, we’ll take their word for it, since we couldn’t find it in the App World catalog yet.
Conceivably, it’s only offering the application to large-volume Babylon-Enterprise corporate customers who will now be able to host Babylon’s dictionary application locally on their own BB smartphones.
Babylon says it is currently in the process of developing an application for the private sector as well, and expects it to be available within a few months.
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After months of silence, Yahoo’s BOSS team is opening up to 
Apple and Verizon. Two star-crossed lovers.
Way back in the South Hall at CES, a small booth with Taiwanese gentlemen has a special laptop running Windows 7. What makes this laptop special is the USB-connected overlay that sits over the screen, rather crudely.
We’re almost through day one of CES here in sunny Las Vegas and we’re pretty pumped. The mood of the show is tempered and realistic. There’s no froth and it seems that CE manufacturers are just glad they made it out of 2009 alive and are now looking forward to a quiet but strong new year.
