PANASONIC UNVEILS THE WORLD'S SMALLEST PHOTO/VIDEO HYBRID SUPERZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA*1 COMPLETE WITH A 25MM WIDE-ANGLE LEICA LENS AND POWERFUL 12X OPTICAL ZOOM

With New Built-In GPS Feature, Panasonic LUMIX ZS7 Digital Camera is Ultimate Travel Companion, Allowing Users to Geo-Tag Photos and Videos

Secaucus, NJ (January 26, 2010) – Panasonic today introduces the LUMIX DMC-ZS7, the newest member of the acclaimed superzoom ZS-Series of digital cameras that have gained worldwide popularity. Complete with its hallmark 25mm ultra-wide-angle Leica lens and a powerful 12x optical zoom (operable in video recording mode), this 12.1-megapixel powerhouse performer, also includes a new built-in GPS (Global Positioning System) feature that embeds photos and videos with the latitude and longitude location details, a useful feature when using an online photo-sharing website. The LUMIX ZS7 is also the world's smallest photo/video hybrid superzoom digital camera*1, which can also record High Definition (HD) video using the recording capability in AVCHD Lite, which includes a dedicated video record button and new to the ZS-Series is a manual shooting mode.

"As a successor to the Panasonic LUMIX ZS3, which was last year's most popular compact model, we are confident the Panasonic LUMIX ZS7 will continue the success, thanks to big features like HD video, 12x optical zoom and the newly added GPS capabilities and it's super-fast Auto Focusing," said David Briganti, Senior Product Manager, Imaging, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. "Panasonic is excited to introduce our first GPS-enabled digital camera, and it adds to the ZS7's appeal as the ultimate travel companion – from its range of shooting options, both far and wide, and now the ability to record exactly where photos were taken. We are confident consumers will have all the features they need to capture high quality photos and video and share their travels with their friends and family."

The Panasonic LUMIX ZS7 features Sonic Speed AF (Auto Focus), which enables a super-fast response time, and a shutter release time lag as short as approximately 0.006 second. The camera's quick response makes it easier to capture sudden, spur-of-the-moment photo opportunities and together with the Sonic Speed AF that lets users lock on the subject minimum in approximately 0.35 second (wide-end) / 0.41 second (tele-end)*3. The LUMIX ZS7 also features a short startup time of approximately 1.1 second.

With the new GPS feature, the Panasonic LUMIX ZS7 is the ultimate travel companion, and can record the latitude and longitude in the EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) data, while also displaying the location information real-time while shooting and during playback. These geo-tagged images can be pinpointed on maps common in photo-sharing websites and social media sites – so travels can be archived and also visually represented on a map – and easily shared with friends and family. The Panasonic LUMIX ZS7 also shows the name of the city, country and state, and information for more than 500,000 popular landmarks, covering 73 countries, are stored in the camera's internal memory. For instance, when users are taking photos of the Eiffel Tower or Empire State Building, landmarks stored within the camera, these locations will be displayed on the screen while taking it and tagged in the data. Users can also refer to the locations using the included software PHOTOfunSTUDIO HD Edition Version 5.1. The LUMIX ZS7 automatically adjusts its internal clock to the local time, so there's no need to set the clock manually when traveling.

The Panasonic LUMIX ZS7 also features a new image processing technology, Intelligent Resolution, which is incorporated in its Venus Engine HD. With the Intelligent Resolution technology, three areas – outlines, detailed texture areas and soft gradation – are examined pixel by pixel and automatically detected to enhance any degradation created during the digital zoom process or in high-sensitivity shooting. The outline areas are enhanced effectively to give the edges more clarity, while simultaneously giving a moderate accent to the textured areas so it looks accurately detailed. To the soft gradation area, such as a face, the increased noise reduction system of the Venus Engine HD II is applied to make it smoother. As a result of Intelligent Resolution, images are naturally clear and crisp in both photo and video recording. The Intelligent Resolution technology powers Panasonic's new Intelligent Zoom feature, which extends the camera's zoom ratio by approximately 1.3x while maintaining the picture quality – and enhancing the digital zoom and making it comparable to the quality of an optical zoom. With Intelligent Zoom, the Panasonic ZS7 features a total zoom range up to16x.

For more advanced users, the Panasonic LUMIX ZS7 adds manual control features, allowing for adjustments in shutter speed, aperture and exposure – and encouraging more creative photography options. For digital camera users looking for an easy-to-use setting that still ensures high quality photos, Panasonic's iA (Intelligent Auto) mode is the solution. Panasonic iA is a popular feature on LUMIX digital cameras, making them intuitive to use without changing any settings, as technologies engage automatically. For instance, iA incorporates Panasonic's POWER O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer), which doubles the repression power compared to the conventional image stabilization system, MEGA O.I.S.

Other technologies incorporated into the LUMIX ZS7's iA mode include:
Face Recognition – With new enhancements when compared to previous editions, Face Recognition allows users to register up to three different images for a person, helping to improve detection accuracy. Face detection is also included for up to 15 faces.
Intelligent Scene Selector – Automatically selects whichever of 6 Scene Modes – Macro, Portrait, Scenery, Night Portrait, Night Scenery and newly added Sunset – best suits the shooting situation.
Other iA Technologies: Intelligent Resolution and Intelligent Zoom, AF Tracking, Intelligent ISO Control and Intelligent Exposure.

Panasonic's iA is also available in video mode, and it automatically selects the most suitable Scene mode and helps to reduce blur due to handshake and improves focus, brightness and exposure. In addition, iA in video mode features Intelligent Scene Selector, which automatically switches between Normal, Portrait, Macro, Scenery, and Low Light modes according to the shooting environment.

The LUMIX ZS7 can record AVCHD Lite HD video, which almost doubles the recording time in HD quality compared with the Motion JPEG format. To complement the HD video capabilities, the Panasonic LUMIX ZS7 also features Dolby Digital Stereo Creator to record high quality audio. Also, the Panasonic LUMIX ZS7 has a 3.0", high resolution 460,000-dot Intelligent LCD with a wide-viewing angle with excellent visibility during recording and playback.

Other features of the Panasonic LUMIX ZS7 include:
Happy Mode – New Scene mode that optimizes color, saturation and brightness to make both photo and video more vivid and true to the color the users remember when they took it.
High Dynamic – Newly added to the existing Scene modes. This mode helps to capture a scene with moderate exposure, even though the scene contains both bright and dark area together. The user can select one of three options, Standard, Art, or B/W, depending on the desired effect and personal taste to make the photo look natural to artistic.
Compatibility – Compatible with SDXC Memory Cards, including Panasonic's newly announced 64 GB*3 and 48 GB SDXC Memory Cards – to enable high capacity content storage and fast data transfer speeds. Also compatible with Windows 7*4.
Video Divide – Users can divide video into two sections to shorten or delete the unwanted clips directly on the camera. Users can also grab a still image from a video – all within the menus on the camera.
Battery Life – Can take up to 340 images on a single battery charge*5.

Panasonic also introduces the LUMIX DMC-ZS5, which like the LUMIX ZS7, features a 25mm ultra-wide angle Leica lens, 12x optical zoom and manual controls. Distinguishing it from the LUMIX ZS7, the LUMIX ZS5, has a 2.7-inch, 230,000-dot Intelligent LCD, records HD video in Motion JPG at 30fps, and has a high performance Venus Engine VI. Battery life on the LUMIX ZS5 has approximately 330 photos and does not include GPS capabilities.

Pricing and availability for the Panasonic LUMIX ZS7 and LUMIX ZS5 will be announced 30 days prior to shipping date. The Panasonic LUMIX ZS7 will be available in silver, black, red and blue models; while the Panasonic LUMIX ZS5 will be available in black and silver.

Source: Gizmodo | 25 Jan 2010 | 11:00 pm

Top 20 Trends of the Day (Jan 25) - From Shocking Slashed Dresses to Manga Airport Lounges (COUNTDOWN)

(TrendHunter.com) For the day of January 25th, these are the Top 20 trends, which include Shocking Slashed Dresses, Bardot-Inspired Tattoography and Immaculate Manicures. The rankings are based on...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 25 Jan 2010 | 11:00 pm

Giant spider plush toy

Etsy's Undead Ed continues to produce nightmarishly wonderful plush toys, like this "from scratch" hairy spider.

Kellandra The Spider Gremlin Ooak Plush (via Super Punch)

Source: Boing Boing | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:57 pm

Giant spider plush toy

Etsy's Undead Ed continues to produce nightmarishly wonderful plush toys, like this "from scratch" hairy spider. Kellandra The Spider Gremlin Ooak Plush (via Super Punch) Previously:Mutant teddy...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:57 pm

Chris Anderson: "In the Next Industrial Revolution, Atoms Are the New Bits,"

In a long, thoughful and exciting piece entitled "In the Next Industrial Revolution, Atoms Are the New Bits," Wired's editor-in-chief Chris Anderson describes the way that networks, 3D printers, and other...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:54 pm

Chris Anderson: "In the Next Industrial Revolution, Atoms Are the New Bits,"

In a long, thoughful and exciting piece entitled "In the Next Industrial Revolution, Atoms Are the New Bits," Wired's editor-in-chief Chris Anderson describes the way that networks, 3D printers, and other technologies are reinventing business, from garage hackers to Chinese knock-off factories. Chris's most provocative thesis, a recapitulation of Bill Joy's argument: "working within a company often imposes higher transaction costs than running a project online. Why turn to the person who happens to be in the next cubicle when it's just as easy to turn to an online community member from a global marketplace of talent?"

It's fascinating to see this essentially anti-corporate position emerge from a former Economist editor who now runs a major Conde-Nast publication. It's one of the things I like best about Chris's work: he's multidimensional and willing to challenge all sorts of received wisdom.

One place he doesn't go here is what corporate giants will do in the face of this sort of "creative destruction" -- are they going to roll over and play dead, or will they fight back with the indiscriminate savagery of a cornered record executive?

Alibaba's chair, Jack Ma, calls this "C to B" -- consumer to business. It's a new avenue of trade and one ideally suited for the micro-entrepreneur of the DIY movement. "If we can encourage companies to do more small, cross-border transactions, the profits can be higher, because they are unique, non-commodity goods," Ma says. Since its founding in 1999, Alibaba has become a $12 billion company with 45 million registered users worldwide. Its $1.7 billion initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2007 was the biggest tech debut since Google. Over the past three years, Ma says, more than 1.1 million jobs have been created in China by companies doing ecommerce across Alibaba's platforms.

This trend is playing out in many countries, but it's happening fastest in China. One reason is the same cultural dynamism that led to the rise of shanzhai industries. The term shanzhai, which derives from the Chinese word for bandit, usually refers to the thriving business of making knockoffs of electronic products, or as Shanzai.com more generously puts it, "a vendor, who operates a business without observing the traditional rules or practices often resulting in innovative and unusual products or business models." But those same vendors are increasingly driving the manufacturing side of the maker revolution by being fast and flexible enough to work with micro-entrepreneurs. The rise of shanzhai business practices "suggests a new approach to economic recovery as well, one based on small companies well networked with each other," observes Tom Igoe, a core developer of the open source Arduino computing platform. "What happens when that approach hits the manufacturing world? We're about to find out."

In the Next Industrial Revolution, Atoms Are the New Bits

(Photo: Leon Chew, Wired)

Source: Boing Boing | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:54 pm

Assassin’s Creed II gets a PC release date and all that

I don’t think it’s too controversial to say that the PC version of AAA games often ends up being the definitive one. Tycho said as much in today’s Penny Arcade news post, and I think in many cases it’s true. Better graphics, updates and occasional free DLC, and other perks can even make a game worth buying twice. Assassin’s Creed II is one I’ve been waiting on for a while now, and I’m happy to say it’ll be hitting PC come March 16.

The minimum specs are actually quite reasonable. AC ran like butter on my two-year-old midrange PC, and looked ten times better than Dragon Age, which has just the worst framerates I’ve ever seen. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4 GHz
• RAM: 1.5 GB Windows XP / 2 GB Windows Vista – Windows 7
• Video Card: 256 MB DirectX 9.0-compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher
• Sound Card: DirectX 9.0 -compliant sound card

Recommended stats are higher, of course. The rest are at the link above.

March, though — man, by the time I’ve finished it, AC3 will be coming out! I suppose it’ll be a nice, long wait till the PC version of that comes out as well. Ah, the price we pay…

Source: CrunchGear | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:50 pm

31 Unconventional Kicks - From Sea Creature Shoes to GPS Footwear (CLUSTER)

(TrendHunter.com) These 31 Unconventional kicks represent that pair of shoes we all had at one time or another that now remain in the darkest recesses of our closets. Though I remember having some pretty...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:50 pm

Corporate developers abandon "underwater" property -- why not individuals?

Tishman Speyer Properties and its co-investors just walked away from the largest real-estate deal in US history, simply defaulting on the properties and the loans that bought them and leaving their creditors...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:45 pm

Corporate developers abandon "underwater" property -- why not individuals?

Tishman Speyer Properties and its co-investors just walked away from the largest real-estate deal in US history, simply defaulting on the properties and the loans that bought them and leaving their creditors in the lurch. The properties, Manhattan's 56-building, 11,232-unit Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town, were "under water" (worth less than the debt hanging over them), so the corporate developers elected to simply jettison them.

They're not alone -- Morgan Stanley recently dumped five San Francisco office buildings, stiffing their creditors when the buildings went underwater.

As a business-strategy it makes sense: why repay loans secured by assets that are worth less than the loans? Just turn the assets over and cut your losses.

But individuals are shamed, bullied, and counselled not to do this when it's their private homes that fall underwater. Everyone from former US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to credit counsellors to the Mortgage Bankers Association tell you that defaulting on underwater property is low and dishonest (unless you're a Wall Street player -- then it's just "protecting shareholder value").

Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson once said: "And let me emphasize, any homeowner who can afford his mortgage payment but chooses to walk away from an underwater property is simply a speculator - and one who is not honoring his obligations."

The head of the Mortgage Bankers Association, John Courson, played up the moral argument against walking away, telling the Wall Street Journal last month: "What about the message they will send to their family and their kids and their friends?

But corporations and businesses don't play by those rules. Like CalPERS's McKinley said, "You come to a point where you write it off or stay in the game. If you want to stay in you got to put in more capital. We reached our limit on that. It was not a prudent thing to put more money into it.

"You get to a point where you can't keep throwing good money after bad," he said. "These are illiquid investments. You gotta fish or cut bait."

As for homeowners walking away en masse -- perhaps lenders' biggest housing-related fear -- McKinley added: "We're hopeful that won't happen."

Don't Look Back: Major Players Continue To 'Walk Away' From Poor Mortgages (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

(Image: Friendly's Underwater Restaurant, a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike image from nlnnet's photostream)

Source: Boing Boing | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:45 pm

Keep Calm and Carry Yarn

A fine newcomer to the field of remixes of the WWII British "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON" posters, from Etsy seller jenniegee.

Keep Calm and Carry Yarn poster

Source: Boing Boing | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:35 pm

Intro to TOR: how you can be an anti-censorship activist in your sleep

Here's a nice little introductory article on TOR, The Onion Router, a privacy-enhancing technology that helps you to circumvent national, corporate and school firewalls and enhance your anonymity. Originally developed by the US military to help communications get in and out of countries that heavily filter their networks, TOR is free/open software and is maintained by many volunteers around the world, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

TOR works by passing your traffic through several (theoretically) unrelated computers all over the Internet, using cryptography to keep the origin, destination, and intermediary steps secret from each computer it passes through.

You can run TOR on your own computers and they'll become part of this array of intermediary hosts all over the net, making your network connection into a tool for privacy and free access to information.

Bill McGonigle, of Lebanon, New Hampshire, decided to become a Tor volunteer when he learned that people in Iran were protesting the results of their June Presidential election. They were using the Internet to organize their meetings. The Iranian government was trying to censor their messages to one another. "I have a soft-spot for people trying to gain liberty for themselves," he wrote in an email, "especially against tyrannical regimes. It became known that they were using Tor to get around the censorship, so at that point I put up a relay....The people I'd like to help are those living under violence-based oppression, most commonly orchestrated by dangerous and corrupt individuals posing as legitimate governments. I'd like to see an end to oppression wherever it exists."

Volunteer Your Computer for Global Privacy (Thanks, Rhona!)


Source: Boing Boing | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:31 pm

Media Markt, German retailer, leaks iPad name and price?

Media Markt is large German retailer with, it seems, an overactive Twitter account (and, it must be said, a very red website). Netbooknews.de claims they caught them in the act of tweeting the name and price of the upcoming Apple Tablet.

I’ll not tease you. It says iPad, and the price is €499 with a €120/month T-Mobile contract or €899 without. Hmm. I can’t say this confirms our suspicions, since the carrier is rumored to be Verizon (not T-Mo at any rate) and the price under $1000. And €120/month? Unless that includes free access to, oh I don’t know, everything in the world, I’m thinking nein.

My guess is that Media Markt was getting a Twitter template set up, and put placeholder prices and names in there. Someone hit submit instead of whatever they meant to do, and boom, up it went — only to come down a half hour later.

Commenter Dominik notes below that Apple and T-Mo are buds in Germany and Complete L would be the super-lux mobile package. I was of course foolish to forget that Verizon’s reach does not extend that far — which I found out to my horror when I was traveling. Thanks, Dominik. All the numbers still seem too high to me, though, I’m leaning towards mockup.

Source: CrunchGear | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:29 pm

New Darwin Film Creates Controversy

The new film Creation depicts Charles Darwin (portrayed by Paul Bettany) as a semi-reclusive, frail scientist who spent much of his time watching animals and scribbling his observations in notebooks. He was also of course the man whose work serves ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:18 pm

Apple rockets to most profitable quarter ever (AP)

AP - Apple's holiday quarter was especially sweet this year, but Wall Street's response was muted as investors puzzled through an accounting change and lighter-than-expected iPhone sales.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:09 pm

PSA: Zune system to go down at 10PM Pacific

Just wanted to give you all a heads up, we got an email stating that the Zune system is undergoing scheduled maintenance starting in about an hour, and will be down all night. You should still be able to access and use your locally stored content though. Microsoft promises that everything thing will be fine, and you’ll be able to get back to the social in the morning.

Source: CrunchGear | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:01 pm

IBM steps up Sun conversion program (InfoWorld)

InfoWorld - Just a day before Oracle announces its intentions vis-à-vis its newly acquired Sun Microsystems technologies, IBM plans on Tuesday to expand efforts to help migrate Sun users to Big Blue.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:00 pm

GM to Build Its Own Electric Motors

The automaker underscores its commitment to cars with cords, and stakes its claim in an emerging market.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:00 pm

Jan. 26, 1700: Northwest Quake Unleashes Trans-Pacific Tsunami

An earthquake drops the coast 5 feet in the U.S. Northwest, and a tsunami causes huge damage in Japan. The trees tell us so.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:00 pm

Cloudkick Rolls Out Freemium Model For Server Management System

Cloudkick, a Y Combinator-incubated startup that offers a free server management system to businesses, is rolling out its freemium model and additional features. Cloudkick provides detailed graphs on the health of your servers, and tools to categorize and keep information about what each server is doing. Cloudkick’s dashboard allows you to easily add or remove servers from Rackspace Cloud, Amazon EC2, Linode, GoGrid, Slicehost, RimuHosting, and VPS.NET and then monitor an unlimited amount of instances. You can see all the servers in one place, and color-code and label each server.

Cloudkick will check whether servers are alive and functioning and then alert you, via email, if servers go down. Cloudkick also provides data on bandwith and other metrics on servers in easy to use graphs and tables, allowing you a visual snapshot of server activity. You can also access servers straight from web and can run commands through your web browser remotely, which is handy when you are trying to manage servers from another computer

The new paid features available on Cloudkick include load, CPU, bandwidth, and memory monitoring; advanced performance graphs and diagnostic performance. Cloudkick will continue to offer its original feature set to customers for free with the new advanced features ranging from $99 to $599 per month depending on the number of servers. Cloudkick also offers customized packages for customers with larger or more specific needs.

In addition to the monitoring and management tools, Cloudkick also offers a free Provider Directory that lets customers compare information about multiple cloud providers; from pricing plans to different hardware offerings.

As we’ve written in the past, Cloudkick is part of the birth of cross-cloud applications and management tools. Its management tools allow businesses to optimize their investment in the cloud; and easily compare pricing between various providers. Currently Cloudkick is has over 3700 registered accounts and is adding more clients daily. With its innovative product and fair pricing, we expect to see big things from this startup.

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Jan 2010 | 9:58 pm

Getting Company Owners To Follow Their Own Rules?

techmage writes "Recently we had an issue at our small company that resulted in the loss of a lot of important data. To prevent it from happening again, we created a company-wide policy that all computers would return to IT to have their contents backed up, and the computers would be formatted and reloaded for the next user. Consistently the owners of the company break this and other policies we set up to prevent data loss, theft, etc. How do I get through to the bosses that when they break with the policies, they are potentially shooting the company in the foot?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Jan 2010 | 9:34 pm

DIY: Avatar fiber optic jungle

Inspired by Avatar, this crafty fellow created his own version of the Pandora jungle. Made using conductive thread, fiber optic strands, and LEDs, he built a rather impressive looking patch of grass that lights up when you touch it. I’m not sure what the practical usage of this would be, but it’s one of those projects that is just cool to look at.

Source: CrunchGear | 25 Jan 2010 | 9:30 pm

Leica M9 available for pre-order

Time to bust out that wallet and preorder that new Leica! The M9 is now available for pre-order, and it’s pretty impressive. 18 megapixel, using a custom designed sensor from Kodak, the M9 is a digital viewfinder camera, and part of Leica’s new line.

The M9’s sensor was created by Kodak, and is a full frame size based off of a 35mm film frame. The body also uses the standard Leica M mount, making it backwards compatible with other products from Leica’s M line. The camera is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com for the very special price of $6995.00

Source: CrunchGear | 25 Jan 2010 | 9:00 pm

Latest confirmed Apple Tablet news: There will be no solar panels

There’s been some minor speculation that the Apple Tablet will be one of the greenest devices on the market. Why? Because after a patent surfaced describing an iPod with a solar panel on the front, there were some rumors suggesting that this patent would become active in the tablet, perhaps in the form of a solar panel behind the glass screen.

Sorry, ecology majors, but that was all hot air. We have confirmation that it won’t have solar panels. It may sound silly, but this could have been a big differentiator for the device. Sorry that we’re chasing these rumors, but every little bit that comes in you’ll know about.

Source: CrunchGear | 25 Jan 2010 | 8:56 pm

The Apple Tablet May Come With A Barnes & Noble Bookstore

Of all the rumors swirling around the Apple Tablet expected to be announced on Wednesday, the one most everyone can agree on is that it will be used as a full color electronic reader which will put Amazon’s Kindle to shame. Over the past few weeks, Apple has been negotiating a flurry of last-minute deals directly with book publishers such as HarperCollins and McGraw-Hill.  Magazine and newspaper publishers are salivating to get on the device.  But one unanswered question so far is whether Apple will add books and magazines to iTunes or create an entirely new e-book store from scratch.

We believe there is a good chance there will be a Barnes & Noble bookstore built into the Apple Tablet, either as one of the showcase apps which launches with the device, powering a new book section in iTunes, or integrated directly into the Tablet’s e-reader. The two companies are thought to be working closely together, increasing the likelihood that Barnes & Noble will be part of the announcement on Wednesday. While Apple can run around cutting deals with the larger publishers, a built-in Barnes & Noble bookstore could include up to a million titles in one fell swoop, just like on B&N’s own Nook reader. Barnes & Noble already offers an eReader app for the iPhone (iTunes link) which lets you download and read electronic books on the smaller device. That app could be paving the way for an eReader or book store on the Tablet.

Of course, Amazon also has a Kindle app for the iPhone which allows people to buy electronic books from its store. We don’t know whether Apple is also working with Amazon for Wednesday’s launch, although given the recent moves by Amazon to shore up the Kindle in anticipation of Apple’s technicolor onslaught seeing them on stage would be really surprising.  Allowing Amazon to create a Kindle app for the Tablet, though, seems more reasonable.  After all, Apple wants to sell Tablets.  If it doesn’t have to get into the bookstore business to do that, why should it?

For Barnes & Noble, however, if it can manage to become the default bookstore on the Tablet, or simply squeeze its app into a preferred slot, it could make real inroads against the Kindle. An Apple Tablet tied to a Barnes & Noble digital bookstore must be Jeff Bezos’ worst nightmare.

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Jan 2010 | 8:47 pm

Appletell reviews CarMD for Mac OS X

FROM APPLETELL - The CarMD hardware and software combo aims to make car diagnosis something anybody can do on their own instead of paying an auto mechanic just to tell you what’s wrong.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Jan 2010 | 8:28 pm

AOL buys StudioNow for $36.5 million - Washington Post

ZDNet (blog)

AOL buys StudioNow for $36.5 million Washington Post AOL said Monday it has acquired Internet video firm StudioNow, a move aimed at bolstering the Web publisher's video offerings. In an unrelated announcement, the company said its chief technology officer will be leaving the company. ... AOL seeds future with video buyRegister AOL buys Internet video firm StudioNowAfterdawn.com AOL Snaps up StudioNow to Boost Seed.comPC World The Tennessean -Reuters -CNET all 303 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 8:23 pm

Google Toolbar Tracks Some Browsing Even When It’s Not Supposed To (PC World)

PC World - A bug in Google Toolbar has resulted in the search giant receiving information about users' Web surfing in violation of the product's privacy policy, according to an anti-spyware and privacy researcher. In a report to be released Tuesday, Ben Edelman, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, shows that under certain circumstances the Google Toolbar (versions 6.3 and above) tracks the browser habits of Internet Explorer 8 users who have activated the toolbar's "enhanced features" even when the toolbar is turned off or disabled.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Jan 2010 | 8:10 pm

T-Mobile makes doubleTwist the official sync app for its Android phones

Section: Audio, Communications, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile, Computers, Software / Applications, Web

With Android quickly gaining popularity, the perceived downfall between Android phones and the iPhone are becoming more apparent.  Some will take some time to overcome, as with the app situation, though others are a quick fix.  There’s always the argument for the iPhone that it can sync all the media on the device with iTunes.  There is still no official sync option for all Android phones, but T-Mobile looks to be pushing doubleTwist.

The doubleTwist installer comes preloaded with the myTouch 3G Fender LE, and is now T-Mobile’s official Android sync application.  DoubleTwist, for those who don’t know, can access all unprotected media and playlists in iTunes, and provides an in-app storefront for the Amazon MP3 store.  The application works on both Macs and PCs and will convert media in Android-friendly formats.  It makes syncing just as easy as it is for the iPhone, though without the app syncing.

There’s no word on how T-Mobile plans on distributing doubleTwist outside of the myTouch 3G Fender LE, though it will somehow be incorporated with all Android phones on the network going forward.  The move could potentially help T-Mobile convince more users to switch over to Android.  There’s no mention on if T-Mobile would be able to include doubleTwist into the Nexus One, though doubleTwist does support the phone.  That would really help make some people switch.

Read [Electronista]

Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Jan 2010 | 7:59 pm

Uranus and Neptune May Have "Oceans of Diamonds"

Third Position writes "Oceans of liquid diamond topped with solid 'icebergs' of the precious gems could be on Uranus and Neptune. The first-ever detailed research into the melting point of diamond found it behaves like water during melting and freezing — with its solid form floating on the liquid. A large diamond ocean on one or both of the planets could provide an explanation for an oddity they both share: unlike Earth, they do not have magnetic poles that match up with their geographical poles." The article doesn't mention what the pressures might be like in these outer-planets environments, but the researchers found that liquefying diamond requires 40 million times Earth's atmospheric pressure at sea level.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Jan 2010 | 7:33 pm

MySpace Grew By 7 Percent Last Month, But Was Imeem’s Loss Their Only Gain?

Over the weekend at the MidemNet music event in Cannes, MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta took the stage to talk about the current status of the struggling company. During his keynote interview with Billboard editorial director Bill Werde, Van Natta stated that MySpace was showing an increase in unique visitors for the first time since the middle of last year. In fact, Van Natta said that according to comScore data, MySpace visitors grew by 7 percent between November and December. That may sound like great news for the site, but it may be misleading: many of these new users may have simply been redirected users of Imeem.

MySpace completed its acquisition of Imeem on December 8, and the music service was promptly shut down (Imeem was out of money and its music licenses were expiring). As soon as Imeem shut down, MySpace redirected all of its traffic to its own music site.  Now, we can’t tell exactly how many users MySpace gained from these redirects, but according to comScore MySpace saw a jump in 4.7 million unique visitors in December, which is about the same as what comScore was measuring for Imeem in previous months (it had 4.6M in October and 4.4M in November).  Again, we can’t definitively say how much of MySpace’s growth was due to Imeem, but it’s likely that it represented a substantial portion of it.

To be fair, Van Natta and MySpace aren’t exactly out boasting about their improved traffic stats — Van Natta’s comment was in response to a question that was posed to him on stage, and he followed it up by saying, “We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves here but it’s good that the numbers have stabilized and we hope this will continue”.

It’s worth pointing out that while MySpace’s uniques have stabilized after big drops last spring and summer, it’s unclear if the number of page views the site receives has stabilized (see the comScore graph below).

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Jan 2010 | 7:29 pm

I Surrender, Comcast

I'm just going to take it. That's right, Comcast. This is me, waving my white flag. I'm not going to complain to you any more. Why did I even try in the first place? It's like trying to erode Mount Rainier with licks. So from here on out, I'm just going to take it. All the outages, all the fees, all 20 levels of customer service. Who was I kidding, anyway?

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Jan 2010 | 7:15 pm

Monster Hunter Tri comes with Classic Controller Pro

FROM GAMERTELL - Nintendo has announced that a Monster Hunter Tri bundle with black Classic Controller Pro will be available for $59.99 when the game debuts April 6, 2010. Both the game and Classic Controller Pro will also be sold separately.
MORE »

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Jan 2010 | 7:14 pm

Apple record profits set stage for "latest creation" (AFP)

AFP - Surging iPhone sales worldwide have Apple riding a wave of record-high profit into a Wednesday mystery event at which it will unveil its newest miracle gadget.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Jan 2010 | 7:04 pm

IPhone Hacker Says He's Also Cracked PlayStation 3 (PC World)

PC World - The 20-year-old hacker best known for cracking Apple's iPhone says he's done it again, this time with Sony's PlayStation 3.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Jan 2010 | 7:00 pm

Motorola Powers Far EasTone WiMAX 4G Service

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Motorola, Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Jan 2010 | 7:00 pm

OPPO unveils new BDP-80 Blu-ray disc player, supports BD-Live

Section: Video, DVD/DVR/Blu-ray

The BDP-80 is a Blu-ray disc player which supports BD-Live (BD Profile 2.0). What this means is that it comes with an ethernet port, allowing you to access internet-based content. A built-in 1GB internal storage allows you to do just that, along with access to Bonus View features. The player supports a vast array of formats including DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, Super Audio CD (SACD), HDCD, CD, AVCHD, MKV video files, digital photos and music. You can watch videos directly from your USB drives as it comes with not one, but two USB ports, one on the front panel and one on the back. Video output options include HDMI 1.3, and analog outputs such as S-Video and Composite video, ensuring compatibility with legacy displays. It can upscale standard definition videos up to 1080p to maximize its display quality. For audio, it supports 7.1ch, 5.1ch, coaxial, and optical connections. It also features the high quality Dolby TrueHD audio, via the HDMI 1.3 output. The OPPO BDP-80 is priced at $289.

Product Page [OPPO]

Full Story » | Written by Cheng Hung for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:57 pm

Gates Urges Lift by Nations Giving Aid - Wall Street Journal

New York Times (blog)

Gates Urges Lift by Nations Giving Aid Wall Street Journal Bill Gates, in an open letter Monday, called on governments around the world to boost foreign-aid budgets even as they grapple with the effects of the global recession. In an annual letter outlining the work of the Bill & Melinda ... Gates: Innovations Can Help Poor, Despite RecessionPC World CNET News Daily Podcast: Bill Gates tackles world health with techCNET Gates seems to be everywhere to get feedback from the publicSeattle Times ChannelWeb -PC Magazine -InformationWeek all 442 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:51 pm

Apple Q1 Profits Grow as iPhone Shipments Boom (PC World)

PC World - Apple on Monday reported growth in revenue and net income for the first quarter of 2010, buoyed by strong iPhone and Mac shipments.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:43 pm

Adobe prices $1.5 billion in debt (AP)

AP - Adobe Systems Inc., a software company best known for its Adobe Reader and the PDF document format, said Monday it priced $1.5 billion in new notes, most of which will go to paying down its existing debt.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:22 pm

Rumor: Sony confirms PS3 Arc? (Update)

FROM GAMERTELL - A website has appeared that seems to confirm Arc as the official name of the upcoming PS3 motion controller.
MORE »

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:01 pm

Mental Downturn: Identifying the Symptoms of Economic Uncertainty

The economy is bumming you — and everyone else — out. In fact, our unconscious minds are quickly learning a whole new language for this suffering and adopting symptoms we didn't even notice earlier.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:00 pm

In the Next Industrial Revolution, Atoms Are the New Bits

In the new age of open source, custom-fabricated, DIY product design, all you need to conquer the world is a brilliant idea, says Wired editor in chief Chris Anderson.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:00 pm

Strange Places on Mars: What Do You Want to See Next?

The surface of Mars can look very strange, indeed. We've gathered some of the strangest, most beautiful and interesting images taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. You can help NASA decide what part of Mars to focus on next.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:00 pm

Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger Gets Conditional Thumbs Up From DOJ (Plus D7 Video With TKTM CEO Azoff) [BoomTown]

While many thought it would not sail through regulatory scrutiny easily, and it has taken a year, the merger of two entertainment industry giants–Ticketmaster and Live Nation–can go forward as long as a certain set of conditions is met, the Department of Justice said.

And while DOJ’s antitrust head, Christine Varney, told reporters today that she warned the two companies that the federal government was prepared to litigate if necessary, it–well–did not.

“We concluded the transaction as originally proposed was anti-competitive,” said Varney, a statement that was pretty much negated by her decision not to block the merger, given that the conditions she set were not a stretch for the parties to meet.

Still, Varney noted: “The proposed settlement allows for strong competitors to Ticketmaster, allowing concert venues to have more and better choices for their ticketing needs, and provides for anti-retaliation provisions, which will keep the merged company in check.”

We shall see about that–many are expecting even higher ticket prices and “fees.”

The companies also reached an agreement with 17 State Attorneys General as part of the U.S. consent decree, as well as with the Canadian Commissioner of Competition.

Not surprisingly, shares of both West Hollywood-based Ticketmaster (TKTM) and Live Nation (LYV) of Beverly Hills, Calif., were up about 15 percent today, even though the deal still has to undergo public comment and be approved by a judge.

But after today, Ticketmaster investors will get Live Nation stock, valued at $15.49, and with its ticker retired, Ticketmaster shares will no longer trade.

Now the combined company will be able to do everything from selling tickets to booking artists to selling their T-shirts and more.

And all Live Nation and Ticketmaster have to do to operate like this is sell off a college sports ticketing unit to Comcast (CMCSA) and license ticketing software to Live Nation’s nearest competitor, the Anschutz Entertainment Group.

Also, for a decade, the merged company cannot play dirty, blackballing those who decide they don’t want to use its services.

With 75 big venues across the U.S. under the purview of Live Nation, that’s a lot of places the world’s largest concert promoter could apply pressure.

And because Ticketmaster is the dominant player in ticketing for sports and entertainment events, as well as the manager of a spate of major acts that play at those Live Nation venues, it’s clear you have a very powerful entity.

It will all be led, in part, by Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff, who can be seen below in an interview with BoomTown at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference last May.

One of the most influential behind-the-scenes movers and shakers in the music industry for a long time now, Azoff talked about with me about the merger and digital forces buffeting the entertainment business.

Azoff will be the executive chairman of the merged company, which will be called Live Nation Entertainment, as well as CEO of Front Line artist management. Longtime Hollywood and Internet mogul Barry Diller is set to be chairman, and Michael Rapino will be CEO and president.

Here’s the video of the D7 interview, including the very funny intro that music legend Joe Walsh of the Eagles did for Azoff (and below it, a video of a terrific version of “Life’s Been Good,” sung by Walsh, which it certainly is today for Ticketmaster-Live Nation):

And here’s the press release from Live Nation and Ticketmaster:

LOS ANGELES and WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Jan 25, 2010–Live Nation, Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. today announced that they have reached agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and with the Canadian Commissioner of Competition, clearing the way for the merger of the companies. Upon closing, the company will be renamed Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. to reflect the combination of Live Nation’s concert promotions expertise with Ticketmaster’s world-class ticketing solutions and artist relationships.

Under the terms of the proposed final judgment filed today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the companies have agreed to divest Ticketmaster’s self-ticketing subsidiary, Paciolan, to Comcast-Spectacor and to license the Ticketmaster Host technology to Anschutz Entertainment Group, Inc., as well as to other terms that protect competitive conditions in ticketing and promotions. Seventeen State Attorneys General also participated in the matter and have joined in the U.S. consent decree. The parties’ consent agreement with the Canadian Commissioner of Competition is on substantially equivalent terms.

As previously announced, in connection with the merger, each issued and outstanding share of Ticketmaster common stock will be cancelled and converted into the right to receive a number of shares of Live Nation common stock such that Ticketmaster stockholders will receive approximately 50.01% of the voting power of the combined company. Subject to final confirmation, the companies expect each share of Ticketmaster common stock to be cancelled and converted into the right to receive 1.474 shares of Live Nation common stock in connection with the merger and for Live Nation to issue approximately 84,613,661 shares of Live Nation common stock to Ticketmaster stockholders in the aggregate.

The combined company will be led by Michael Rapino as CEO and President of Live Nation Entertainment and Irving Azoff as Executive Chairman of Live Nation Entertainment and CEO of Front Line. Barry Diller will serve as Chairman of the Board of Live Nation Entertainment. The Board will consist of 14 directors, seven from each company.

Source: All Things Digital | 25 Jan 2010 | 5:46 pm

Thomas Edison's Kindle

harrymcc writes "In 1911, Thomas Edison bragged that he could make a 40,000-page book by printing the pages on thin pieces of metal. In the mid-1930s, newspapers experimented with transmitting special editions into homes via early fax machines. In 1956, Chrysler tried to sell Americans on buying 7-inch records that could only be played on a tiny turntable built into its cars' dashboards. Over at Technologizer, I rounded up these and a dozen other fascinating, forgotten gadget ideas that didn't work out — but which foreshadowed products and technologies that eventually became a big deal."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Jan 2010 | 5:33 pm

Female Educators Teach Math Anxiety to Girls

Young girls may be developing a fear of math based on the way their teachers handle the subject.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 5:15 pm

Video: Model Dinosaur Tests 4-Winged Flight

Scientists build a model-airplane–like reconstruction of a four-winged dinosaur to see how it might have glided through the air 125 million years ago.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 5:00 pm

Scientific Games and Playtech to Jointly Present at IGE 2010 Exhibition

NEW YORK, Jan.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Jan 2010 | 5:00 pm

Apple Execs Downright Giddy About The Tablet (For Them Anyway)

Yesterday, we noted that multiple sources have heard Steve Jobs refer to the soon-to-be-unveiled Apple Tablet as the “most important thing I’ve ever done.” Today brought two statements out of Apple that are just about as close as you’re ever going to get to a confirmation of that.

In Apple’s press release for its strong Q1 2010 earnings, Jobs said the following: “The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.” What’s odd is that not only does Jobs (or anyone at Apple, for that matter) usually make no comments about as-yet unannounced products, but why would he do so in a release about the previous quarter’s earnings — which have absolutely nothing to do with the tablet? He simply had no reason that he had to make that statement. I can only interpret that as he’s just that excited about what he’s going to unveil on Wednesday.

I’ve talked before of the importance of enthusiasm in any product, particularly with regard to Steve Jobs. Clearly, he has it again, and maybe more so than ever before — and that’s saying something.

Perhaps even stranger is what was said during Apple’s earnings call today. Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer fielded a question about unannounced products affecting Apple revenues next quarter, and quickly jumped to his own conclusion. “I think you’re alluding to our event on Wednesday.” While he said Apple had nothing to share on it today beyond “stay tuned,” the fact that he’s the one who brought up the Wednesday event as it relates to a new products also seems to signal his own excitement about it. Again, usually Apple completely stonewalls any questions related to these types of things.

And then there was Apple’s number 2, COO Tim Cook. During the call, he fielded a question more directly about a new product unveiling saying, “I wouldn’t want to take away your joy of surprise on Wednesday when you see our latest creation.”

It’s not that Apple is saying anything hugely revealing about the new product due on Wednesday — it’s that they’re saying anything at all. At times, Apple is a company that tries to dampen its own often-frenzied hype by way of strategic press leaks. But this time, they’re actually feeding it. I just can’t imagine they would do that unless the product really is that good.

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Jan 2010 | 4:52 pm

33rd America’s Cup yacht race to be webcast for free

Section: Gadgets / Other, Transportation

YES!  All you sailboat racing fans can stop worrying about who in their right mind will carry the 33rd America’s Cup thanks to a decision by Consortio Valencia 2007, the event organizers: the event will be streamed over the internet for free.  Taking place next month in Valencia, Spain, this years America’s Cup will pit America’s BMW-Oracle against the defending Swiss Alighi team.  There is nothing traditional about this years edition.

The Cup race has been in court over the past 2 1/2 years wrangling over issues such as boats (BMW-Oracle will race in a 3 hulled boat, or trimaran) while the defender will race a two hulled catamaran.  The race was going to take place in the United Arab Emirates, but complaints on the proximity of potential security threats threw the Cup back into court for a change of venue.

Currently, the Cup is still in court to decide if the Swiss team has violated the nationality rules by having US-made sails on their boat.  The case could penalize the Swiss or push back the event date.

Event site: [America’s Cup]

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Jan 2010 | 4:52 pm

IT Data Center Solutions Company Helps Businesses Cut Costs and Weather the Recession, Offers New Services

SALEM, N.H., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- New Hampshire's premiere web hosting firm, Dynamic Internet, announced the initial availability of new virtual server offerings. The new service offering fills the gap between dedicated servers and traditional shared web hosting solutions.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Jan 2010 | 4:51 pm

Lawyers Challenge Lowered Amount of 'Shocking' File Sharing Award

Lawyers for a music file sharer are challenging a judge’s order reducing from $1.92 million to $54,000 the amount their client, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, must pay the recording industry for copyright infringement of 24 songs. The reduced jury verdict, they say, remains unconstitutionally excessive.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 4:50 pm

Insecure Plugins Ding IE, Safari, Chrome, Opera

krebsonsecurity writes "The Web browser wars often focus on which browser is more secure, but the dirty secret is that insecure plugins are a serious threat to all browsers, from the perspectives of both stability and security. Krebsonsecurity.com features an informative look at the administration page for a popular browser exploit kit called Eleonora, which suggests that plugins like Adobe Reader and Java are leading to successful compromises for users surfing not just with Internet Explorer, but also with Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Jan 2010 | 4:46 pm

Apple Tablet: The 'Leaked Ad' - PC World

Brisbane Times

Apple Tablet: The 'Leaked Ad' PC World Oh. My. God. I just heard the craziest thing. Are you ready? Apple might be introducing a new tablet computing device. Maybe even this week. Wild, I know, but a friend of a friend of my brother's ex-girlfriend's mechanic's step-uncle swears it's true. ... More potential photos of Apple's tablet emergeVentureBeat German Media Markt Tweets Apple iPad Availability For March 1stI4U Report: Apple tablet could earn $3 billion in a yearCNET PC Magazine -Wired News -BusinessWeek all 321 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 4:20 pm

Facebook Or MySpace, Youths' Use Reflect Face-To-Face Interactions

Though parents often have concerns about letting their teens use social media Web sites like Facebook and MySpace, a new study by University of Virginia psychologists suggests that well-adapted youth with positive friendships will use these sites to further enhance the positive relationships they already have.However, they warn, teens who have behavioral problems and difficulty making friends, or who are depressed, may be more inclined to use social media in negative and sometimes aggressive ways, or not to use such sites at all.The study appears in the January issue of the journal Developmental Psychology."We were interested to find that the best-adjusted young people were far more likely to use social media as an extension of their positive friendships, while less socially adept youth either did not have Facebook or MySpace pages, or, if they did, were more likely to use these sites in less-than-positive ways," said U.Va.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Jan 2010 | 4:09 pm

The Cell Phone Has Changed — New Etiquette Needed

CWmike writes to share a recent manners-rant that has some great gems about how not to be "that guy" on a cell phone. What rules of engagement are absolutely necessary and what social penalties should become standard practice for repeat offenders? "It's easy to be rude with a cell phone. A visitor from another planet might conclude that rudeness is a cell phone's main purpose. Random, annoying ring tones go off unexpectedly. People talk too loudly on cell phones in public because of the challenge of holding a conversation in a noisy environment with someone who's not present. Cell phones need their own rules of etiquette, or we'll descend into social barbarism."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pm

Report: AT&T's iPhone Exclusivity Could End - ChannelWeb

Unwired View

Report: AT&T's iPhone Exclusivity Could End ChannelWeb Jan. 27 is the date when Apple will unveil its latest creation, and it may also go down as the date when Apple ends its exclusive US iPhone distribution deal with AT&T. Interestingly, AT&T apparently doesn't have a ... Apple defends AT&T, downplays talk of multi-carrier inevitabilityApple Insider Apple Goes to Bat for AT&T During Q1 Earnings ReportThe Mac Observer A fourth-generation iPhone handsetCNET PC World -PC Magazine -VentureBeat all 327 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:37 pm

Geo-location meets the Dating Game: Urban Signals smartphone app

Section: Communications, Smartphones, Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle, Web, Web 2.0 / Social Networking

Many folks navigate the urban landscape with their heads down, interacting with the smartphone.  Now thanks to Urban Singles, those folks might be scanning the area for dates that meet their profile in a mash up of geo-location, online-dating, and social networking.  It seems the day when you could walk down the street looking for love on your smartphone is here.

By seeing the location, status and “mood” of singles of interest nearby, users can avoid all those missed connections Craigslist is so full of.  The founder of the company behind the application struggled with singles in the city and “I didn’t know what the answer was, but I knew it would have to break down that ‘urban armor’ that discourage singles from approaching someone they found attractive or intriguing,“  says Aubree Nichols, founder and CEO of Urban Signals.

Based on your GPS location, interests and other filtered criteria, possible connections are presented.  Users can send “signals” to these possible targets, er connections, to say hello, express interest or meet up.  Urban Signals provides a 1-month free trial with unlimited Signals, after which they can be purchased for $4.99 for a pack of unlimited Signals per month.

The site already has an app in for the iPhone and Android and BlackBerry are coming soon.

Company site: [Urban Signals]

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:35 pm

Holy Tweet: Pope Urges Priests to Use Digital Tools [Voices]

By Sarmad Ali, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

In a world wrapped up around technology, priests and church figures should make better use of the gamut of digital tools available to them to disseminate the church’s message to the people, Pope Benedict XVI said on Sunday, during the 44th annual World Communications Day.

The pope’s message proclaimed that “priests can rightly be expected to be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel” through means such as “images, videos, animated features, blogs [and] Web sites.” A brief clip of the speech that the pope gave can be viewed through the Vatican channel on YouTube.

This pope’s message this year stood in sharp contrast with a speech he gave late last year when he accused the mass media of poisoning human souls and making us callous to violence.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:15 pm

NASA To Propose Commercial Space Initiative

MarkWhittington writes "The Wall Street Journal is reporting that starting with the FY2011 budget request for NASA, the Obama administration intends to propose a new program to encourage the development of a commercial space flight industry. 'The controversial proposal, expected to be included in the Obama administration's next budget, would open a new chapter in the US space program. The goal is to set up a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar initiative allowing private firms, including some start-ups, to compete to build and operate spacecraft capable of ferrying US astronauts into orbit—and eventually deeper into the solar system. Congress is likely to challenge the concept's safety and may balk at shifting dollars from existing National Aeronautics and Space Administration programs already hurting for funding to the new initiative. The White House's ultimate commitment to the initiative is murky, according to these people, because the budget isn't expected to outline a clear, long-term funding plan.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:11 pm

Superconducting Hydrogen?

Physicists have long wondered whether hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, could be transformed into a metal and possibly even a superconductor—the elusive state in which electrons can flow without resistance.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:09 pm

Gadgetell Announcement: Here was the winning entry for the “win an HP Envy 15 notebook” contest

Section: Computers, Laptops, Features, Contests

Back in December we here at Gadgetell, along with HP ran a contest that was offering an HP Envy 15 notebook to one lucky (and deserving) person. That contest is long since over, but it seems that the winner was never properly announced here on the site.

So, a little late, and without any further adieu, a big congrats goes out to Sergio Molina. You can see his winning entry above, and also feel free to check out his YouTube Channel for some more cool videos.

And in addition I also wanted to send out a big thanks to everyone else that entered. I will say that we had lots of great entries and picking a winner was not an easy task.

 

 

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Say It Ain't Sore! Tips for Preventing RSI

Here's how to prevent repetitive strain injury (RSI), a common ailment among geeks and tech professionals.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

NASA's New Asteroid-Mapper Finds First Target

NASA's new infrared telescope, called WISE, has spotted its first near-Earth asteroid, a .6-mile (1 kilometer) rock recently designated 2010 AB78. The asteroid, located about 98 million miles (158 million kilometers) from Earth, was tracked for about 1.5 days before ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:48 pm

Jobs On Q1 2010 Results: Apple Now A $50+ Billion Company — Major New Product This Week

Apple has just announced its Q1 2010 earnings, and as expected, they’re very good. I’ll get to the numbers in a second, but perhaps more notable are two Steve Jobs quotes in the release:

“If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company.”

and

“The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”

I think we all know what that means.

In terms of the financials for the quarter itself, Apple continued strong momentum in terms of Mac and iPhone sales, while iPod sales continued to slip. The iPhone numbers are the most impressive: 8.7 million iPhones in the quarter, a 100 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter — and up 17.6 percent from the previous quarter. Meanwhile, Apple sold 3.36 million Macs, which was a 33 percent increase over the year-ago period. iPod sales totaled 21 million, which was down 8 percent versus a year ago.

Overall, the company posted revenue of $15.68 billion and a net profit of $3.38 billion. That means revenue was up about $4 billion versus a year ago, while profit was up over $1 billion. Gross margin was 40.9 percent, up from 37.9 percent a year ago.

Apple also notes that it has gained another $5.8 billion in cash for the quarter, which should push its war chest very close to $40 billion.

Also noteworthy is that Apple decided to start adopting the new accounting principles for subscription devices such as the iPhone and Apple TV this quarter. During last quarter’s conference call, Apple noted that it wasn’t sure when it would start doing that, saying that it only had to by the end of the year. But with this new method in place, it “significantly changes” how Apple reports its numbers.

Below find my conference call live notes (paraphrased):

On the call: Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer, Apple COO Tim Cook, as well as Apple’s Treasurer.

• PO: Our best quarter ever. New records for Macs and iPhones.
• We’re using the new accounting standards
• Revenue grew 82%. It was our highest ever. By far.
• Operating margin was our highest ever.
• $3.57 earnings-per-share
• 3.36 million Mac sales, beating our record by over 300,000.
• Portable sales robust – up 18% year over year.
• Desktop sales were way up due to the new iMac.
• Very strong results for education in the quarter.
• Music products
• 21 million iPods. Less than a year ago. Traditional iPods went down, but iPod touch still growing well. Revenue growth due to that.
• Share is still over 70% of U.S. MP3 players. Continues to gain share internationally.
• iTunes Store had a record quarter. Its the largest online catalog with 11 million songs. 8,000 films, 2,000 in HD.
• App Store has more than 3 billion downloads.
• 8.7 million iPhones – 100% growth versus year ago.
• Added 17 new carriers throughout the world in the quarter.
• 86 countries for iPhone distribution
• Japan, UK, Australia, France, Germany growth is strong.
• 70% of Fortune 200 companies deploying iPhones to employees
• Retail: $1.97 billion revenue – 13% increase.
• About half of Macs sold were to new customers
• 10 new stores opened in the quarter – including the Louvre in Paris.
• 283 stores in 10 countries.
• 100 remodels in the calendar year.
• $7.1 million is average revenue per store.
• Record number of visitors to the stores.
• 40-50 new stores in 2010. Half in international.
• Cash: $39.8 billion now. Up from $34 billion
• Investment is all about preservation of capital, and high quality investments.
• With the new accounting principles, we’ve retrospectively tinkered with results back to 2007 (when we started selling iPhones and Apple TVs)
• With the new method, there is now much less deferred revenue for iPhones and Apple TV.
• There is now hardware and software at the time of sale – and future software updates. $25 predicted upgrade price for iPhone and $10 for Apple TV. This is recognized immediately.
• These new rules also change things like educational sales.
• Looking ahead to March quarter: Revenue: $11 – $11.4 billion, versus $9 billion last year. (Apple always low-balls these)
• 50% net income growth this quarter.

Q&A Session

• Before the economic slowdown, Macs were growing faster (40+%) – should they continue in the new ranges?
• Tim Cook: At 33% growth rate we’re 2x the market. In some international markets Mac growth is over 40%. Australia up over 70%. China almost 100%. These are our best products we’ve shipping.
• 40% iPhone users are on AT&T – the bad press impacts you right? What are the benefits?
• TC: AT&T is a great partner. We’ve been working with them since before the first iPhone. It’s important to remember their usage numbers – higher than any carrier in the world. In the vast majority of locations, they give a great experience. But they have acknowledged issues in some cities – we have personally reviewed their plans to make things better.
• Gross margin with the old method would have been higher right?
• PO: Our actual revenue exceeded the guidance we gave by far under the old method. Mac and iPhone fueled this, but iPod touch up 55% as well. Pleased with how fast our teams got up to speed on the new rules.
• Which component prices will be up next quarter?
• TC: Market is constrained in DRAM – which will drive prices higher.
• Does guidance include unannounced products this quarter?
• PO: I think you’re alluding to our event on Wed. Nothing to share today – stay tuned.
• Now that the iPhone has been around a few years, can you forecast?
• TC: 2.7 million units in the channel at the end of the quarter.
• PO: For seasonal: Macs we expect a decline next quarter. For iPods we’ll see a decline too and it may be bigger than we’ve seen before. For iPhone we should see a dip too quarter-to-quarter.
• Question about cash generation – will it change?
• PO: I don’t see it changing. We’re very good at managing that stuff.
• Can you talk about China and the iPhone? Did it meet expectations? Better this year?
• TC: We usually don’t disclose units by country. But I will here. We started at the end of October/beginning of November. Earlier this month we passed the 200,000 unit mark that we’ve activated. We’re very focused on point of sale and customer experience, so we’re moving slow. We’re focused on the long term in that market. I won’t forecast on new partners, but we’re happy with China Unicom.
• Can you comment on iPhone inventory comfort levels? You were worried previously.
• TC: Channel inventory grew by 230,000 units to the 2.7 million level, which we’re comfortable with. I won’t put a target of 4-6 weeks on iPhone, Mac is 4-5 weeks, iPod is 4-6 weeks. But we’re seeing great expansion for the iPhone. And launching with big countries like China.
• Any update on the Nokia lawsuit? Is Apple at any risk?
• TC: We can’t comment on pending litigation.
• iPhone app approval process is under fire. Is it the model itself with you as the gatekeeper?
• TC: We have over 100,000 apps in the store – 90% are approved within 14 days of submission to put it in perspective. It’s about protecting consumer privacy, and to protect children – pornography is rejected outright. But most rejections are bugs in the code itself. This is to protect the customers and the developer. The noise is much higher than the reality. We’re doing pretty good.
• Have you received feedback from iPhone owners who buy at stores about the method?
• TC: I haven’t.
• Everyone knows you’re going to be unveiling something exciting soon. How do you feel about new product opportunities ahead? Will there be a new iPhone, iPod, Mac?
• TC: “I wouldn’t want to take away your joy of surprise on Wednesday when you see our latest creation.”
• I want to revisit China and emerging markets from a broader perspective.
• TC: We’ve just gotten going in China, and I’m really excited. Average income isn’t as high as the U.S. and the European markets, but there is a good size middle-class. We’re also learning about Brazil. 58% of our revenue last quarter was from outside the United States. And our growth rate is much higher.
• What about non-retail store cap ex?
• PO: $1.9 billion in 2010, unchanged from what we said a quarter ago.
• Can you provide more color from developers and customers in the App Store?
• PO: For competitive reasons we don’t want to share much of what you want to know. I will say we are way ahead of our competitors with 100,000 apps. It was a key reason why iTunes set a record in the quarter.
• Can you talk about corporate iPhone usage? Are new apps helping that?
• TC: Early to comment on the halo from the iPhone to the Mac. That did exist with the iPod. iPhone saw a big jump in acceptance in corporate environments with the iPhone 3GS. 70% of the Fortune 100 are piloting or deploying the iPhone. That’s great when we’ve been in the business only 2.5 years. We feel great about it.
• Have you seen a change in financial model when you move beyond one carrier for iPhone?
• TC: In the countries we have done that in, the sales are incremental as we ad carriers. We have multiple in the UK and France – and the numbers are good. Other countries as well. In most cases we’ve selected countries that we thought it would be helpful to have multiple carriers in.
• Anything you’re doing for corporate growth of the iPhone?
• TC: We’ve done a lot in the software with the iPhone OS. We’ve also added sales staff to help the carrier staff. So yes, this is a key focus.
• Can you talk about the acquisitions of Lala and Quattro? Will there be services element to Apple’s business?
• PO: We acquired Quattro to offer our developers a seamless way to make money. We occasionally acquire small companies from time to time for their tech and talent.
• Will tax rates affect things?
• PO: We did have a lower tax rate for this quarter. We expect it to be around 29% in 2010. It’s down a point due to foreign earnings.
• Talk about the cash?
• PO: I don’t really have a change in philosophy there.
• What about App Store revenue?
• PO: iTunes and App Store are still running “a bit over break-even.” We’re investing a lot in these stores – that’s where the revenue is going.
• What would revenue have been under the old practice?
• PO: I didn’t say, and that’s not something we’re going to spend time on working out. Half of the huge rev growth was driven by the accounting change.
• What role will mobile advertising have on the business going forward? What about Google?
• PO: We work with Google in some areas, and compete with them in others. I think mobile advertising is in its infancy. With the great folks we bought at Quattro, we look forward to giving our developers a great way to earn money. I don’t know how big it will actually be, but we’re working hard on it.
• What are you seeing the Pro segment?
• TC: We saw a small year-over-year in Pro software sales (Aperture, etc). I would still describe that as an economically challenged area currently.
• What are you thoughts on education?
• K-12 and higher ed in the US was up 16% year over year – which is the best rate we’ve seen since the recession began.

And that’s a wrap.

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:43 pm

ZigBee Alliance Begins Development of ZigBee Retail Services

In-store Information - Collection, delivery, selection, data sharing with customers, in-store and mobile payment retail applications.Location Based Services - Tracking, arrival alerts and item location assistance. Retail At Home - Establish a wireless network in customer homes for shopping, inventory levels, order availability and a sales process engine.Retail Assistance Device - Support for voice capable employee and customer devices in a variety of retail environments.Health Care - Provide well being, drug interactions, refill orders, refill availability, alerts and recalls.Supply Chain Management - Warehouse management, cold chain management and inventory management providing end-to-end production to customer delivery.Regulatory Compliance - In-store security and monitoring, retail regulatory compliance and freshness tracking for food, pharmaceuticals and other perishables. Energy Management
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:38 pm

Another Blowout Quarter for Apple [Digital Daily]

A subscriber to the underpromise-and-overdeliver school of guidance theory, Apple is reknowned for issuing almost comically conservative revenue outlooks and then exceeding them.

This quarter was no different. Reporting earnings after the bell Monday, Apple (AAPL) posted a fiscal first-quarter profit of $3.38 billion on revenue that rose 32 percent to $15.68 billion. That far exceeded analysts’ forecasts of $12.1 billion.

It was the company’s all-time highest revenue and profit.

Apple sold 3.36 million Macs during the quarter–33 percent more than it sold a year ago. And the company sold 8.7 million iPhones. That’s 100 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter, but a bit fewer than the 9.1 million The Street had been expecting. IPod sales topped out at 21 million, an eight percent unit decline from last year.

“We are very pleased to have generated $5.8 billion in cash during the quarter,” Apple COO Peter Oppenheimer said in a press release issued with the results. “Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue in the range of about $11.0 billion to $11.4 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $2.06 to $2.18.”

And in a nod to the company’s special event this Wednesday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, “The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”

NOTES FROM THE EARNINGS CALL

• Apple saw killer Mac sales this quarter, beating its previous record set in the September quarter by “over 300,000,” Oppenheimer reported.
• The company sold almost 21 million “traditional” iPods, compared with sales of 22.7 million a year ago. Oppenheimer said that decline was expected and was offset by the 55 percent year-over-year growth in sales of the iPod touch, which increased ASP and revenue.
• Apple now has iPhone distribution in 86 countries.
• The company expects to open 45 to 50 stores in fiscal 2010. Half will be in international locations.
• Enterprise demand for the iPhone is increasing. “Business customers have ranked iPhone the number 1 smartphone in the J.D. Power customer satisfaction survey for the second year in a row,” Oppenheimer reported. “And we have continued to see a rapidly growing number of CIOs who have added iPhone to their approved device list.”
• As a result of the new accounting standards Apple has adopted, financial results of each quarter from fiscal 2007 through fiscal 2009 have been revised.
• COO Tim Cook on issues with AT&T’s (T) network and how its bad press affects Apple: AT&T is a great partner. You know, we’ve been working with them since before the first iPhone. In the vast majority of locations, they provide a great experience. But there have been issues in some cities. They have acknowledged this and developed a plan to make things better and we have personally reviewed them. Cook added that he has “very high confidence” AT&T will resolve the issues to which he referred.
• Cook on the “major new product” Jobs hinted at in the company’s earnings release: “We have nothing to share today. Please stay tuned.”
• Apple expects to see a sequential decline in Mac sales next quarter, which is “typical.” The company expects traditional iPod sales to decrease, potentially even more than in the past.
• Earlier this month, Apple passed 200,000 for the number of iPhones activated in China. Cook: “We’re happy with China Unicom.”
• Tim Cook to an analyst digging for details about the company’s upcoming product announcement: “I wouldn’t want to take away your joy and surprise on Wednesday when you see our latest creation.”

Source: All Things Digital | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:35 pm

HipChat Takes On Campfire And Yammer As It Launches To The Public

HipChat, a private business chat service that’s similar to Yammer and 37signals’ Campfire, has just launched to the public. You can find our full overview of the service’s private beta here.

HipChat looks quite a bit like Campfire, but uses a desktop client based on Adobe AIR, rather than a web-based client (Yammer, which we use extensively for internal communication around the TechCrunch offices, is based on AIR as well). Co-founder Pete Curley says that since launching its private beta, HipChat has had nearly 500 companies sign up who have exchanged over 100,000 messages. He also says that many of the companies to sign up have converted to paying customers.

The service is nice looking and easy to get up and running, but it’s still missing a few key features, like mobile applications. Curley says that the HipChat team initially intended to have SMS support and mobile applications developed by the end of the private beta, but that because the product was seeing so much uptake without them, they decided to launch to the public sooner rather than later. He says that HipChat still plans to launch mobile, SMS, and API features in the very near future.

New users can try out the software free 30 days, at which point they have to move up to a paid plan. These range from $9 a month for 12 members up to $99 a month for 100 members.

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:28 pm

Avensys Corporation to Hold a Special Meeting of Shareholders

MONTREAL, Jan.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:17 pm

“Living with Robots” DOES NOT star R2-D2

Section: Gadgets / Other, Robots/AI

Honda debuted it’s new short film, “Living with Robots” at the Sundance Film Festival as part of Honda’s Dream the Impossible series.  Honda’s new film focuses on ASIMO, (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) and Honda’s role in paving the way for future robots living side by side humans.  The film is also available for viewing at http://dreams.honda.com.

“Our new film, ‘Living with Robots,’ features some of the most interesting subject matter we’ve ever covered in the ‘DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE’ Documentary Series. Acclaimed director Joe Berlinger really brought to life the fascinating story of the role of robotics in society. Many people are aware that Honda is researching robotics with the ASIMO project, but this film gives us a thoughtful and artistic glimpse of ASIMO and the future of robots that we’ve never seen before,” said Curt Johnson, creative director at RPA.

The documentary, while perhaps not quite as humorous as seeing the mighty ASIMO fall down stairs, aims to show how ASIMO research blends into other Honda products.  Honda’s always had big expectations on how robots can integrate into our lives to become care givers, assistants and helpful assets to humans and this new marketing push looks to get more recognition of the walking, talking bipedal.

ASIMO spots will run on ESPN, ABC, Hulu and on the web as part of the campaign aimed at “25- to 49-year-old adults with a youthful spirit, who are comfortable with technology, who value authenticity, and who are drawn to brands they can relate to, connect with, or admire.”  Or, translated roughly: “those that would love to have R2-D2 at home.”

Documentary site: [Honda]

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:16 pm

The First Apple Tablet Commercial? No Way.

Earlier today, the French site Nowhereelse.fr posted a video of what looks to be a commercial for Apple’s new tablet device, expected to be unveiled on Wednesday during an Apple event in San Francisco. The video led VentureBeat to wonder if it wasn’t the first real commercial for the device. Unfortunately, I’m not sure VentureBeat even ran a translation of the French post about it, because if they did, they’d see that it reads “In the meantime, here’s what an advertisement might look like…” (emphasis mine). In other words, no way is this real.

And really, that should be easy to tell just by watching the video. Does it have somewhat of an Apple look and feel to it? Kind of, but several things don’t feel right. First of all, it’s predicated around the design of the invites that went out for Apple’s event this week, decorated with paint splashes. The likelihood that Apple would use that same concept in a new ad for the device is slim. Technologizer did a good overview of the history of Apple event invites last week, and as you can see, most have nothing to do with product marketing efforts. Sure, a few use the silhouetted people design that are used in iPod commercials, but those were popular before the events. Still, it’s not impossible that Apple would use this design for a tablet commercial, but several other things are still off.

The biggest problem is the image shown on the display of the device. Clearly, it’s running a full version of OS X, just as Macs run — but that’s not expected to be the case. In fact, given the rumored processor in the device, it’s unlikely that it could even run a full version of OS X (complete with GarageBand, iPhoto, iTunes and other processor-intensive apps) up to Apple’s standards. Instead, the device is expected to use a new version of the iPhone OS (which is Mac OS-based). And if you look at the image, you’ll see that the dock icons are being magnified as if a mouse is moving over them. That concept likely wouldn’t work at all on a touchscreen tablet because how and why would you run your finger over this area without clicking on any of the icons? And let’s not even get into why an (awful-looking) on-screen keyboard would appear as you were hovering over a dock item.

Also problematic: the whole “After 10 years in development…” thing. Is Apple likely to admit just how long it has been working on the tablet? If they do, it will be on stage on Wednesday, not in a commercial. Plus the whole 10 year number is hard to lock down, depending on which reports you believe.

Then there is the design of the device in the video. While its overall look does correspond with reports that it will look similar to a first generation iPhone, the likelihood that it will have all those ports on the back seems pretty small. I mean, that would be okay if the device were always docked, but that’s not the point of it, you’re supposed to be able to hold it. And while it could very well have USB ports, would it really have Firewire and ethernet cable ports? And why wouldn’t it use Apple’s newer Mini Display Port? And why is there a black stripe across the back?

There are a half dozen other little things that are off too: the typography seems a bit off, the “iPad” name is far from certain, it’s an odd song choice, etc. Oh, and then there’s the fact that on the front of the device, the left hand side of the screen has a black border, while there is no border on the right. Even if this was just a picture of a prototype Apple was using for a teaser commercial, do you think Apple would overlook something like that? No way.

So is this the Apple Tablet? No way.

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:14 pm

IDEX Chooses Learn.com to Deliver Global OSHA & ISO9000 Compliance Training

SUNRISE, Fla., Jan.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:03 pm

A Year of Global Shipping Routes Mapped by GPS

Scientists have made the first map of global shipping routes using real ship itineraries.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:00 pm

US-China Tensions Grow Amid Google Attacks, Internet Censorship

China retaliated on Monday against U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:55 pm

Einstein Bros.(R) Bagels Launches World's Biggest Online Bagel Giveaway on Facebook

LAKEWOOD, Colo., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Becoming a Facebook Fan of Einstein Bros. Bagels just got a whole lot tastier with the launch of the "Free Bagel Bonanza," the world's largest online bagel giveaway.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:54 pm

Scientists Achieve First Rewire Of Genetic Switches

Researchers in Manchester have successfully carried out the first rewire of genetic switches, creating what could be a vital tool for the development of new drugs and even future gene therapies.A team of scientists from the School of Chemistry and the Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre (MIB) at The University of Manchester have found a way of hijacking so-called 'riboswitches' and directing gene activity.Working within cells of bacteria, chemical biologist Professor Jason Micklefield and his team have rewired these genetic switches so they are no longer activated by small naturally occurring molecules found in cells – but through the addition of a synthetic molecule.The work builds on the recent discovery that these naturally occurring molecules can turn genes on and off by triggering riboswitches found within a large molecule called 'messenger RNA'.The research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Selective Chemical Intervention in Biological Systems Initiative.In the latest research, when Manchester researchers added synthetic molecules, they bound to the riboswitches and caused the genes to spark into life.The findings are reported in the latest edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).The Manchester team monitored how successfully they had re-wired the cells by observing the creation of a gene product that makes the cells glow green.Dr Neil Dixon, a senior researcher in the team, said: "Being able to selectively activate and regulate genes could have tremendous impact in drug discovery and the emerging field of synthetic biology."This technology could be used to turn on and off important biological pathways and processes, leading to a deeper understanding of how cells function."The next big challenge is to apply this technology to study biological processes within human cells.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:51 pm

Bigger Corn Plants Bully Smaller Neighbors In No-Till Fields

It might not look like there's much going on in those roadside corn fields, but a Purdue University researcher has shown that corn plants are in a fierce battle with each other for resources.Tony Vyn, a professor of agronomy, said it's been known for a long time that young corn plants are, on average, shorter in no-till, corn-on-corn fields, but that doesn't mean there is an overall stunting of growth among all plants.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:48 pm

Small Business IT Systems Automation Spotlighted During Interactive Showcase in Richmond, Virginia

RICHMOND, Va., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Zenith Infotech Ltd., an international company serving over 4,000 IT service providers worldwide, will host an interactive technology showcase February 2, 2010 from 2:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:46 pm

Charles Townes Honored During Celebration Of Laser's 50th Birthday

What would life be like without the laser? No DVDs, no precision laser surgery, no high-speed optical communication, no laser light shows over the pyramids at Giza.We have a lot for which to thank Charles Townes, UC Berkeley professor emeritus of physics and 1964 Nobel Laureate in physics.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:45 pm

MySpace Helping Artists Gain Lost Royalties

MySpace is now helping to pay back millions of dollars in "lost" royalties to artist for songs and performances.MySpace CEO Owen van Natta said Sunday the company has signed a deal with performance rights group SoundExchange to track down 25,000 major, independent and unsigned artists that are owed over $14 million in unpaid royalties.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:40 pm

NSF Grant To Launch World’s First Open-Source Genetic Parts Production Facility

With seed money from the National Science Foundation (NSF), bioengineers from the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University are ramping up efforts to characterize the thousands of control elements critical to the engineering of microbes so that eventually, researchers can mix and match these "DNA parts" in synthetic organisms to produce new drugs, fuels or chemicals.Today, a single designer microbe can take years to create and cost tens of millions of dollars, since each control element – a promoter or transcription factor – has to be identified, characterized and tweaked in order to be reused.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:40 pm

Ticketmaster Is Dead, Long Live Ticketmaster

The United States Department of Justice, after a year’s worth of investigation, approved the proposed merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster on Monday — with strings attached. Also, the Ticketmaster brand is dead: Enter 'Live Nation Entertainment.'

Source: Wired Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:32 pm

Review: Seagate’s USB 3.0 BlackArmor PS110 Portable Hard Drive Kit

The future is here, everyone. Let's check out the just-announced Seagate BlackArmor PS110 Performance kit. It's Seagate's first USB 3.0 product and it's noice -- where noice is slang for nice, and for the sole fact that it's the first USB 3.0 drive I've tested. I'm a little excited.

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:22 pm

No Evidence Of A Post-Olympics Boom Or Bust For Host City Real Estate Prices

Cities that win Olympic bids experience neither boom nor bust in their real estate prices, but gain construction jobs as they prepare for the Games, according to researchers at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.The UBC study is the first to use real estate variables to test the Games' economic impact on host cities.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:20 pm

Reminder: Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus now available from Verizon

Hey! Guess what? The Palm Pixi Plus and Pre Plus are now available for Verizon! You sure as hell wouldn’t know that from looking at Verizon Wireless’ front page today, where there’s no mention of either handset in sight.

This “Eh, whatever” launch approach is the same one Verizon took with the BlackBerry Storm 2, which launched with practically no fanfare – especially when compared to the Droid’s marketing campaign.

As expected, the Palm Pixi Plus and Pre Plus will set you back $100 or $150 respectively. Pick one up already? Let us know what you think so far in the comments below

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:19 pm

Positive Prospects For California's Green Businesses

California's green businesses are more focused on local markets and more likely to stay in the Golden State than are their non-green counterparts, according to a University of California, Berkeley, study released Thursday (Jan. 21).
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:17 pm

Xbox Live Zune Marketplace down for 24 hours

FROM GAMERTELL - If you try to access the Zune Marketplace on Xbox Live later this evening (January 25, 2010), you’ll notice the service is down. There’s no need to panic because this is all part of scheduled maintenance implemented by Microsoft. From 10pm (PST) for up to 24 hours, the Zune Marketplace… MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:11 pm

I will not go, says climate chief - BBC News

Washington Post

I will not go, says climate chief BBC News The chairman of the UN's climate science body said he would not resign in the wake of a row about a mistake on glaciers that appeared in a key report. Rajendra Pachauri told BBC News: "I am not going to stand down, I am going to stand up. ... Climate Change's Latest StormWall Street Journal UN report on climate change and natural disasters was 'balanced'Telegraph.co.uk Climate Chief Staying Put Despite Calls for His HeadFOXNews Times Online -Ars Technica -People's Daily Online all 805 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:03 pm

Surprising Discovery: X-Rays Drive Formation Of New Crystals

Crystals resemble some biological structures; finding opens door to new technologiesX-rays can do a lot of useful things -- detect broken bones, tumors and dental cavities, analyze atoms in diverse materials and screen luggage at airports -- but who knew they could cause crystals to form?A team of Northwestern University researchers has discovered that X-rays can trigger the formation of a new type of crystal: charged cylindrical filaments ordered like a bundle of pencils experiencing repulsive forces, which is unknown in crystals.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:00 pm

Michelle Obama Viewed as "Traditional," on Par with Laura Bush

Michelle Obama is an "amazingly traditional" first lady, according to Wake Forest University Professor of Political Science Kathy Smith, who has studied first ladies over the years. "Michelle Obama offers continuity to the past with her traditional interpretation of the ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:58 pm

Computers Do Better Than Humans At Measuring Some Radiology Images

Scientists have automated the measurement of a vital part of the knee in images with a computer program that performs much faster and just as reliably as humans who interpret the same images.Having more precise information about wear and tear on this portion of the knee – a blend of fibrous tissue and cartilage called the meniscus – could lead to its use as a biomarker in predicting who is at risk for developing osteoarthritis, researchers say.The meniscus consists of two C-shaped disks that rest between the thigh and shin bones.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:54 pm

Police Bust Massive Antiquities Smuggling Ring

Tens of millions of dollars worth of stolen, ancient artifacts were seized by authorities in Cyprus.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:35 pm

Virgin Shark Birth Pups Living Long, Healthy Lives

Over the past three years I've told you about virgin female sharks that have been giving birth to seemingly healthy pups. This was documented in 2007 and then again in 2008. (A bonnethead shark, born in a virgin birth, is ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:11 pm

'Space-Divers' Plan to Break Sound Barrier With Their Bodies

The world record for the highest skydive is held by Joe Kittinger, an Air Force Captain who in 1960 jumped out of a balloon from an altitude of 102,800 feet; about 20 miles up, or three times as high as ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:06 pm

Got Dust? Acoustic Levitation Might Clear It

Scientists at the University of Vermont think they have a solution to the Mars dust problem: acoustic levitation, a method that could -- quite literally -- lift dust off any desired surface.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:06 pm

Pope asks priests to become more Web savvy - CNET

Seattle Post Intelligencer

Pope asks priests to become more Web savvy CNET The pope is asking priests to become more media savvy by preaching to the faithful from the Internet as well as the pulpit. In his message for the Catholic Church's 2010 World Day for Social Communications, Pope Benedict XVI called on ... Pope Benedict Backs Blogs, the WebPC Magazine Pope asks Catholic church to take to the webV3.co.uk Pope urges Catholic priests to Twitter God's wordThe Tech Herald Catholic Culture -USA Today -Catholic News Agency all 445 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 11:58 am

Sony Battles Myth of Hardware ‘Kill Switch’

Are Sony products ticking “fail” bombs just waiting to go off? Many consumers in Japan still subscribe to the belief that the tech titan purposely designed its devices to break immediately after their warranty expires, according to a report.

The Telegraph reports on the “timer” myth that has plagued Sony for 20 years. It started out as an urban legend that the tech-obsessed Japanese had joked about in manga and vented about in online forums. But in 2006, the recall of more than 4.1 million Dell laptops containing faulty Sony batteries drove the rumor into social consciousness as a serious theory. (If you include laptops made by Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo, Fujitsu and Apple in addition to Dell, the grand total was actually 9.6 million laptop batteries worldwide, according to a previous Wired report.)

Explosive batteries greatly damaged Sony’s reputation. The company has been working to dispel the timer myth for years, but every incident of product failure post-warranty perpetuates the legend. Sony’s PlayStation 3 still remains highly popular because it is allegedly exempt from the timers’ curse, according to the Telegraph. (My PS3 hard drive died 3 months post-warranty, mind you, but that was probably due to my two-month-long obsession with playing Borderlands.)

“For a nation proud of their technological innovations, burning laptops and the biggest product recall in history were not exactly easy to deal with,” the Telegraph wrote. It’s a fascinating story by the Telegraph definitely worth a read.

See Also:

• Sony Flaunts 3-D TVs, Taylor Swift to Regain Its Cool
• Laptop Fires Prompt Sony Battery Recall — Again
• Sony in Bad Need of Recharging

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Jan 2010 | 11:55 am

Pluto's Little Sister Found?

When it comes to objects in the Kuiper Belt, the vast, icy ring that encircles our solar system, size matters.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Jan 2010 | 11:49 am

Leaked: HTC Bravo looks like a Nexus One with more Sense

Considering that the much heralded Nexus One is being sold as a pure Android experience by Google themselves, it wasn’t at all surprising to see that it didn’t sport HTC’s oh-so-awesome Android interface overhaul, Sense.

Surprising? No. Disappointing? A bit. The 2.1 build of Android that the Nexus One runs is pretty dang solid – but in the end, we’re still longing for Sense. Looks like we might be in luck.

The guys over at Omio managed to dig up this spy shot of the HTC Bravo, an Android-powered piece of kit they claim is headed for T-Mobile (in the UK, at least). It’s packing the same 3.7″ display as the Nexus One, the same 5 megapixel camera, and a strikingly similar body. The only physical difference, as far as we can tell from this shot, is that it’s toting an optical trackpad instead of a trackball. And check out what’s running on the screen – sure looks like Sense to us!

Alas, there are still things that can’t be told by a single picture alone; will T-Mobile US pick it up? Will it pack the same blindingly fast Snapdragon processor as the Nexus One? Hit is up on our tips line if you know anything – in the mean time, we’ll keep an eye out for updates.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 25 Jan 2010 | 11:42 am

Motorola MOTOSPLIT makes the Backflip look normal

Motorola’s by no means a stranger to phones with wonky form factors. I mean, just look at the Moto Backflip – the keyboard! It’s on the back! What is this, the future?

It gets crazier, friends.

Engadget just got their hands on the above shot, purportedly portraying something called the Motorola MOTOSPLIT. The fact that its a rough render combined with the fact that its twelve kinds of ridiculous makes us think we may very well never see this thing hit the light of day outside of Moto’s concept labs any time soon – but to be honest, I sort of hope we’re wrong.

If it does come out, the rumors indicate it’ll be Android-powered with a Snapdragon processor under the hood.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:35 am

Acer Plans a Million Chrome OS Netbooks, New E-Reader

Google is yet to release its Chrome operating system for netbooks but already Acer is betting big on it.

Acer says it plans to ship about one million netbooks this year running Chrome OS.

“For Chrome, we’re aggressively pursuing to become one of the first,” Jim Wong, Acer’s president of IT products division told Bloomberg, “so there’s a change to the Microsoft-Intel environment.”

The Acer netbooks with Chrome OS are expected to be released in the third quarter of the year.

For the fledgling operating system, Acer’s support will ensure it debuts with a bang.

Google introduced Chrome OS two months ago as a lightweight, browser-based operating system that would boot up in seven seconds or less. The first Chrome OS netbooks will be available in late 2010, the company said, through hardware from manufacturers Google has partnered with.

Acer’s support is important for Google as the former is one of the biggest netbook makers. Acer’s also an ambitious company that has set its sights on overtaking HP to become the leading PC maker.

Acer hasn’t mentioned pricing for its Chrome OS netbooks but Google has said that it will cost about the same as those running Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

Acer’s ambitions extend beyond netbooks. At the end of June, the company plans to launch an e-reader with a 6-inch black-and-white screen.

Though Acer has been one of the pioneers in the netbook market, it is a late entrant to the fast-growing e-readers segment. So, instead of competing with rivals such as Amazon’s Kindle, Sony’s Reader and Barnes & Noble’s Nook in the U.S., Acer plans to focus on Europe and Asia.

The company says it will target its e-readers at customers outside North America and build partnerships with publishers in other countries.

See Also:

• Five Things Google’s Chrome OS Will Do for Your Netbook
• Why Google Should Cool It With Chrome OS
• Google Chrome OS Netbook Specs Leaked?
• Google FAQ Reveals Chrome OS Hardware Partners

Photo illustration: Charlie Sorrel/Wired.com; Original photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Jan 2010 | 10:35 am

Extensions, bookmark sync and more for Google Chrome

Today we're excited to introduce a new stable release of Google Chrome for Windows, which includes two of the browser's most frequently requested features: extensions and bookmark sync.

Extensions let you add new features and functions to your browser. Some provide one-click access to some of your favorite web applications like eBay and digg, or news and information sources such as NPR and Time.com. Others are useful tweaks for performing common online tasks such as browsing photos, getting directions or shopping.

We previously launched extensions on the beta channel, and many new extensions have since been contributed by developers from all over the world. Now you can browse over 1,500 in our extensions gallery and install them on the stable version of Google Chrome.


Bookmark sync is a handy feature for those of you who use several computers — say, a laptop at work and a desktop at home. You can enable bookmark sync to synchronize your bookmarks on all of your computers so that when you create a bookmark on one computer, it's automatically added across all your computers. This means that you won't need to manually recreate the bookmark each time you switch computers.

You can read more about today's stable release — including performance improvements — on the Google Chrome Blog. Or if you want a look under the hood at what this update means for web developers (including new HTML and Javascript APIs), check out the Chromium blog.

To those using Google Chrome on Linux, extensions are enabled on the beta channel. And for those using Google Chrome for Mac, hang tight — we're working on bringing extensions, bookmark sync and more to the beta soon. Those currently using the stable version for Windows will be automatically updated within the next week (or you can check for updates manually).

If you're on a PC and haven't tried Google Chrome yet, you can download Google Chrome and give all these new features a whirl.
Source: The Official Google Blog | 25 Jan 2010 | 9:09 am

Belkin’s latest FM transmitter uses GPS and user feedback to find best channel

The “TuneCast Auto Live” FM transmitter from Belkin costs $80. That’s a lot of coin for an FM transmitter. It works with most iPhone and iPod devices, but you get extra features if you use it with your iPhone – most notably, there’s a free app that uses GPS and a ratings system populated by other TuneCast/iPhone users to find the clearest FM channels in your area.

Source: MobileCrunch | 25 Jan 2010 | 8:30 am

Touchgrind Multi Touch Skateboard Game Shown on Mac

Touchgrind, the iPhone skateboarding game I briefly loved last February, could be coming to the Mac. Normally Mac games are cause for disappointment, but this one has a new angle: multi touch.

The oversized MacBook trackpad can recognize up to eleven fingers at once (we’ll leave the precise positioning of those fingers to your imagination). So far we have seem little more than fancy swipes and pinch-to-zoom, but gaming seems an obvious use for all that detection power, especially as we’re far more willing to learn new input methods for games than we are for word processors.

The Touchgrind demo, like the iPhone game, lets you ollie and kickflip your way around a course using some very intuitive finger movements. The big advantage of the MacBook is that it has a much larger screen: the lack of warning of upcoming obstacles is what made the iPhone game get frustrating very quickly. Here’s the video, with the exact same music as the iPhone demo video of the game.

To be clear, this is just a tech demo at the moment, but we’d love to see it as a cheap pick-up-and-play title for the Mac. And you know where else this game would be welcome? The Apple Tablet.

Multi-Touch Trackpad Gaming Demonstrated on MacBook [Mac Rumors]

Touchgrind for iPhone [Touchgrind/Illusion Labs]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Jan 2010 | 8:11 am

50 Apple Tablets Already Online, Apps Downloaded: Analytics Firm Flurry

Flurry, an internet analytics company which tracks mobile applications, has tracked down 50 devices it says are almost certain to be Apple’s expected tablet. It says these machine have downloaded some 200 different apps, and Flurry places them inside Apple’s Cupertino campus.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:54 am

Apple ‘Tablets’ Sniffed by Analytics Are More Likely iPhones

A mobile analytics company has come forward with what it touts as evidence that Apple tablet prototypes are being tested — without offering any solid details suggesting the mystery devices are tablets at all.

Analytics firm Flurry has tracked down 50 devices that it believes are Apple’s expected tablet. The devices’ IPs and GPS data give away they have not left Apple’s Cupertino campus, according to Flurry, which raises the firm’s suspicion that these are prototypes in testing. Flurry goes on to say its app tracking matches the “characteristics of Apple’s rumored tablet device” even though the analytics don’t provide any data about the characteristics of the prototypes.

Flurry concludes the devices being tested are tablets because games, entertainment and book apps are being launched the most, according to analytics tracking, corroborating rumor reports that the tablet will have a strong focus on gaming and e-reading. But those are the types of apps you would expect to be tested the most on any iPhone-related prototype device to gauge performance and display quality. And there are more games in the App Store than any other kind of app. Moreover, Flurry’s data set — 200 apps — is extremely scarce relative to the App Store’s 100,000 offerings.

Flurry’s analytics state the devices are running a newer, unreleased version of the iPhone OS, version 3.2. Current iPhones run OS 3.1.2. That’s where Flurry’s argument falls apart, because a tablet would be unlikely to run the exact same OS as the iPhone. More realistic is a modified version of the iPhone OS that would probably be called something else, such as “iSlate OS.”

Flurry’s blog post then quickly gets lost in rumor territory, reporting claims on screen size and other unsubstantiated nuggets, even though its analytics do not retrieve any data about screen size or resolution.

Flurry tracks mobile applications and offers its customers usage stats and other handy numbers. It also knows what applications are being downloaded, to what device and where. It works like Google analytics: developers add Flurry to their applications and then their usage can be tracked, including geographic location, time spent online and even which mobile carrier they are on. This data is then aggregated so the developer sees just how their software is used.

“[We] identified approximately 50 devices that match the characteristics of Apple’s rumored tablet device,” Flurry said in a blog post. “Because Flurry could reliably ‘place’ these devices geographically on Apple’s Cupertino campus, we have a fair level of confidence that we are observing a group of pre-release tablets in testing.”

So Flurry’s analysis is such: Prototype devices aren’t leaving Apple’s campus, and they’re running iPhone OS 3.2. Out of a sample of 200 apps, they’re launching games, entertainment and e-reader apps the most. Therefore, they are tablets. To believe that conclusion, you’d have to take a few logical leaps of faith. First, you’d have to assume the tablet is running the same OS as the iPhone, and that’s unlikely. Or you could assume the tablet launches the iPhone OS in the background of its own OS, which is why it’d register as iPhone OS. (Good-bye, battery life.) Then you’d have to believe the 200 apps being tested are a strong representative sample of the App Store’s 100,000 wares.

If we were to make an assessment, these sound more like fourth-generation iPhones in testing. But there is no solid assessment to make, based on such a small sample of data that offers zero insight into the device’s hardware.

The figures just raise more questions. Do we assume that the tablet can run existing iPhone apps? Or are there, as we have heard, already larger, tweaked versions of current apps already in existence?

In just a couple of days, we’ll know for sure. One thing that can be predicted with almost 100 percent certainty: Whatever Apple shows us, we will all suddenly have to go buy one.

Updated 8:20 a.m. PDT: Wired’s Brian X. Chen contributed his skepticism about the report after contacting Flurry.

Insights from Tracking 200 Apps Across 50 Apple Tablets in Testing [Flurry]

See Also:

• What to Expect From Apple’s Tablet Unveiling
• Everything We Know About Apple’s Touchscreen Tablet

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:39 am

Portable speaker turns your iPhone into an electric guitar (sort of)

Japan-based Bird Electron has announced [JP] the Ezison 100 today, a quite unusual speaker for the iPhone (or iPod touch) that's supposed to turn those devices into some kind of electric guitar. The Ezison 100 is (hand)made in Japan, with Bird Electron saying they used mainly wood and acrylic fiber in the production process.

Source: MobileCrunch | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:06 am

SLR SLoop: A Camera Bag For Normal Folks

Still searching for the perfect camera bag? Of course you are. Now Photojojo has lent its hand to the insoluble problem, and the result - the SLR Sloop - actually looks pretty good.

There are a zillion good camera bags out there for photographers or amateurs actually going out on a photo-shoot. But for those of us who want to tote a camera along with our everyday cary-around junk, and to throw it all in the same bag, the options are more limited. And if you want a bag that doesn’t say “here’s my camera” then things get even worse.

The SLR Sloop addresses the last problem first, looking more like a bag for carrying diapers, or for lugging some cold beers to the beach. Open it up and you find a capacious cavern into which can be nestled cameras, lenses, a flash, along with keys, cash, cellphones and the other everyday essentials. Four zippered pockets, two in and two out, keep the sharp-edged stuff away from the delicate photo gear.

The padded insert, which comes with five dividers, is removable, so you really could load this up with beers. The water-resistant fabric is cut from the same stuff as a sailboat sail. The Sloop actually looks rather carry-able, if a little deep from front to back. The soft-sides, though, should mean that it shrinks to fit when not too full.

So the bag is, in most ways, a real departure from gadget-bag design. In fact, the only thing that the SLR sloop carries over from “real” camera bags is the price: At $150 each, only serious bag-nerds will be interested.

The SLR Sloop, a Camera Bag to Love [Photojojo]

See Also:

• DIY Camera Hand-Straps From Photojojo
• Kata 3N1 Camera Bags Now Carry Netbooks
• Gadget Lab Reader Makes Stealth Camera and Netbook Bag
• Three Of The Best Camera Bags You Can Buy

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Jan 2010 | 5:33 am

Book-Light Holds a Kandle to Kindle

Any book-light will work with your e-reader, but a purpose-made one will at least grip properly to the slim top of your Kindle, Sony Reader or Nook without wobbling loose. And if you own an actual Kindle, the Kandle is the perfect aesthetic match.

The clip-on LED Kandle costs $40 (current sale price $25) and folds down into a small, white, pocket-sized pod. A glance a the photos shows that it casts the usual cold light that comes from LEDs, a crying shame when all you want is the warm and cosy 3,000 Kelvin of an incandescent bulb, something easily done with a filter.

Still, as book lights go, this one looks pretty good. I remain a fan of reading in the almost-dark, choosing to believe that this will exercise my eyes (just as exerting any other muscle will improve its tone), and not destroy them as everybody in the world likes to (mistakenly) tell me. And when I’m actually in bed, I read from my iPod Touch so as not to disturb the Lady. One day, though, when I am single an almost blind, I shall buy myself a Kandle.

Kandle LED Book Light with new WideLip grip designed for the Amazon Kindle [Amazon via Oh Gizmo]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Jan 2010 | 5:01 am

Poken Attempts to Replace Business Cards

Business cards work because most everyone has them. And if they don’t, it doesn’t matter: the transaction still works with a single card. Electronic business cards, like Poken, do not work. And they never will until everybody you want to swap details with is using the exact same application or widget.

But that isn’t stopping Poken from trying. The Poken itself is a little USB keychain in the shape of a “cute” character, with a large, fold-out hand. To exchange details, each Pokenator (we made that word up) must flip open the hand and then touch it to the other Poken in an annoying this-is-what-the-hip-kids-are-all-doing high-five.

Once precious bodily fluids have been successfully intermingled via RF, a light will flash green and you can promiscuously move on to the next hot thing in the room, for up to 50 different people. Once back at the computer, you can plug in and enjoy all the new contact details, as well as profiles for most social networking sites.

There are two main Poken models, the Spark and the Pulse. The $20 Spark is Poken-only, and the $35 Pulse also has 2GB of flash memory. Both, we predict, are doomed to failure, although the Poken FAQ does address the problem of critical mass: The entry points out that no cellphone based interchange has worked because they are unwieldy, or don’t work cross platform. We’d agree, and add that for this to even begin to work, the device and software should be ubiquitous.

So we present our solution. Apple should build this in to the contacts app of the iPhone and iPod Touch. So many people already have these that the tipping point has already been reached. But that software has to be already there, baked in, and not even a free download from the app store.

Poken Beta [Poken. Thanks, Alan!]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Jan 2010 | 4:21 am

Retro-Tastic Pentax Optio Pictures Leaked

Three unknown Pentax Optio cameras appeared on the internet yesterday, and then quickly disappeared. But not before the intrepid Photo Rumors managed to grab some pictures from the Google cache of the pages. Behold, the Pentax L-10 and H-90.

As always with Photo Rumors, there is nary a detail to be had, let alone an actual link to the now-defunct pages from which these pictures came. But as these pictures are in keeping with Pentax’s retro-styling of the Optio line, and its love of oddly hideous color schemes in general, we’ll bite. Add in an expected announcement from Pentax tomorrow for rumor-checking purposes and we’re all over this.

In the absence of more concrete specs (and because we want to), we shall instead wonder at the inspiration for these “designs”. I’m saying they’re based on movies, and for the boxy orange and silver H-90, I’m going with Silent Running, Douglas Trumbull’s 1972 low-key sci-Fi masterpiece. And for the white and weird L-10, which has a pale, irritating lack of real substance, what better than Breakfast at Tiffany’s?

Pentax Optio H90 and Optio L10 cameras [Photo Rumors]

See Also:

• Pentax Optio W60

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:56 am