Owen Van Natta Talks About His First 8 Months Running MySpace (video)

I sat down with MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland earlier this week to talk about his first eight months on the job. This is one of Owen’s first video interviews since taking the job last April.

We talk about Van Natta’s vision for the once-mighty MySpace. The site was at one time the worlds largest social network and had more page views than any other U.S. website. But in the last couple of years it has been eclipsed by Facebook’s stunning growth.

Still, Van Natta and team have a plan. The MySpace of the future will be all about the social experience around content, and the company’s strong offerings in music and music videos through MySpace Music will be the cornerstone of that effort. From the interview:

I think we have a unique value proposition for consumers that is about being the place where people socialize around content, and by socialize, I mean the tag line of, you know, discover and share and showcase content. It’s where you learn about content both through your friends and, you know, sometimes it’s more important that the people that you don’t have any connections to in the real world. And one of the big differentiators for MySpace is the fact that we have an open social graph. People expect to connect to people they don’t have connection to in the real world but has similar interests with. And so, it’s a great way to do discovery. It’s a lot of the way discovery happens in the real world. And now the social web is just simply enabling that to happen more increasingly online.

Van Natta has made two acquisitions since joining, iLike and iMeem, both in the music space. And that iLike deal got MySpace Music onto Google search, driving a lot of traffic and attention to the service.

We discuss both acquisitions in the interview.

Van Natta also talks about MySpace revenue, particularly the soon to terminate Google search deal.

The full transcript is below. You can also watch Van Natta’s presentation at the event here.

Michael Arrington: I’m here with Owen Van Natta, the CEO of MySpace. Owen, you’ve been CEO for eight months now?.

Mr. OWEN VAN NATTA (CEO, MySpace): Eight months. About eight months now.

Michael Arrington: We’re sitting down at the luxurious Club Hotel in Davos, Switzerland. You’re at the World Economic Forum. This has become a bit of a tradition for me to interview CEOs here. This is the internet ghetto. This is where they put all the internet CEOs. It’s not like the best hotel in the world. As you found out, there’s no shampoo.

Mr. VAN NATTA: (laughs) No shampoo. And they’ve got beds in the closets.

Michael Arrington: Murphy beds. Yes.

Mr. VAN NATTA: But they also have a great sound track here, so you could hear it matches the decor. It’s very ’70s, very (unintelligible).

Michael Arrington: So, I have a few minutes with you. What I want to start with is, tell me what MySpace is today.

Mr. VAN NATTA: MySpace is a place to share and it’s a place to discover, share and showcase content. That’s what people are doing on MySpace today and that’s what we’re focused on, continuing to provide to people.

Michael Arrington: So, over the last eight months, what have you fixed, what have you pushed forward on, what have you cut? What is your job there?

Mr. VAN NATTA: Well, we’ve – I’m very focused on being a user center’s company. And that means starting with the product, making sure that we have a product plan that matches the mission statement of discover, share and showcase content. We’re focused on the music category. We’re focused on film and television. We’re focused on games. That’s what people are engaged with today on the site. Once we – you start a product strategy, you need to make sure you have the right team. We’ve built a entirely new management team of MySpace. I’m really excited about some of the talent that we’ve brought on board. Now, it’s all starting to be built throughout the entire company, and obviously, you have to have a great technical platform in order to be able to compete in the internet space. And we’ve been doing a lot of work to position ourselves to deliver on the promise of our type of platform. You know, we’re doing a lot of things to improve the experience like decrease page download times and we’re starting to realize some of those games already. I’m excited about our progress so far.

Michael Arrington: Your engineers are mostly in L.A. and San Francisco, right? Or entirely in L.A. and San Francisco?

Mr. VAN NATTA: We actually have a large engineering group in – well, reasonably large engineering group in Seattle.

Michael Arrington: OK. And have you hired a lot of engineers since you’ve come on board? Or has it been mostly keeping the ones that you like or how – what has that been like?

Mr. VAN NATTA: No, we’re constantly bringing new engineering talent at all levels of the organization. We have a new CTO, got an Alex Maghen who has a great background dealing with large scale systems. And I think we have a lot of great news to come in terms of tech (unintelligible) coming in. It’s a big area of focus for us.

Michael Arrington: Before you came on board – in fact, I talked to DeWolfe, your predecessor, here a year ago, and there was a lot of focus on the past before you and your team joined about competition, and particularly Facebook, and how you stacked up against Facebook at different times. I haven’t heard a lot of that from the team, not a lot of focus on the competition, more about what you are and what you’re doing to push forward. In fact, you’ve integrated with, I think, Twitter in some ways, right?

Mr. VAN NATTA: Yes.

Michael Arrington: You’ve done a small integration with Facebook Connect. Are we going to see more of that? How can you use some of the companies out there to make your product better?

Mr. VAN NATTA: Well, a big part of our strategy is to be – is to really embrace openness and let people engage with content where it is that they want to engage with it. So, you know, one of the things that we did early on was we acquired a company called I Like That. I know you’re aware of. It has a…

Michael Arrington: Yeah, just a month before they were integrated with Google Search.

Mr. VAN NATTA: That’s right.

Michael Arrington: Did you know about that when you bought them? Did you know that that deal is going to happen?

Mr. VAN NATTA: You know, those things are always in the works but it wasn’t a done deal. But you know…

Michael Arrington: The timing sort of worked out well, looked like you got a really good deal on that company as well.

Mr. VAN NATTA: Well, I think, you know, the timing of the Google partnership is one that we’re excited about. You know, we’ve even extended, so since then, we announced that we’re going to be part of their real time search initiative and, you know, we’re excited to see what type of collaboration that brings as well.

Michael Arrington: Well, since we’re on the topic of Google, I’ll jump ahead. You have a search deal with them that signed a couple of years ago before you joined, and in, I think, June of next year – middle of next year, the end of your fiscal year next year, it ends, at least the last for a public statement on that. Are you renegotiating that or you think you’re working with another partner? It’s nearly $900 million deal over three years. It’s a substantial amount of revenue. Where do you stand with that?
Mr. VAN NATTA: All those types of partnerships always need to evolve. You know, we’ve continued to evolve the business and building that in a way where we just – we don’t have any dependency on – we don’t have dependency on any one revenue stream. We’re always open to new partnership. We’ll continue to extend our partnership with Google in the areas of music search as well as real time search(ph). So, you know, that continues to be a great relationship that we’re excited about. And we’re going to be looking at lots of different options as we go forward. We’re really pushing on innovation. You know, we’re really in the midst of remaking MySpace into the place where you discover, share and showcase content and partnerships are going to be a big part of that.

Michael Arrington: If you talk about content, and this has been something you and your team is – have talked about almost since day one. Obviously, you have the music property with is great. It’s been around since over a year now. You guys do a lot with trailers. I see trailers all the time. You have lots of video content on the site. Is that what we should be thinking of? Or you’re thinking of more of like a Hulu type of thing or are you actually pulling an actual TV content, like what do you mean by content? And there are games as well. Are these games that you’ll publish? Will you acquire companies? Will you pull in more third party Flash games? Is there a way we should – as a press, should be thinking about what you mean by content?

Mr. VAN NATTA: On the Music Space, having the relationships that we do and the joint venture we do with the major record labels, the publisher, all the independent record labels, give us the ability to have a music experience that really is unparalleled.

Michael Arrington: Music videos, music streaming…

Mr. VAN NATTA: All of it in one location and very, very social which we think is really the foundation for discovering (unintelligible).

Michael Arrington: What about mobile? We see a mobile music initiative at some point?

Mr. VAN NATTA: We continue to look at mobile. It’s a big part of the way that people are interacting with the site today. We got a tonic(ph) growth in mobile, and it’s a big area of focus for us, and I’m really hopeful that we’re going to continue to evolve and innovate and that’s (unintelligible)…

Michael Arrington: And maybe see streaming music and that kind of thing in the future.

Mr. VAN NATTA: I think all those things are the things that users are increasingly wanting and we want to serve those user needs, especially as it relates to discovery around music because that’s one of the underserved areas in the market that we’re uniquely positioned to deliver for consumers.

Michael Arrington: What about TV and films? I mean, actual films and things like that. Is that something that you think YouTube and Hulu will dominate or is that a place that you’ll play or do you know yet?

Mr. VAN NATTA: We consider YouTube and Hulu to be partners today and we have their content integrated all throughout the site. We have over 400 partnerships with different content producers and content creators. That’s going to continue to be an area of focus for us. We host our own music videos, that was something we launched, as you know, last year. So, those models will continue to evolve but it’s really going to be about partnership. We’re building a platform where we want users to come and engage with that content in a highly social environment and that’s going to continue to be our focus in terms of providing great user experience.

Michael Arrington: OK. Do you think – and I know this is a question you’ve been asked many times. But, do you think we’ll see a for Facebook Connect integration? Is it something you’re still considering, something you’re deciding on?

Mr. VAN NATTA: We did a very small Facebook Connect…

Michael Arrington: The European site.

Mr. VAN NATTA: Out of our UK office. Again, I think embracing openness means looking at it everywhere. And, you know, we’re certainly looking at different ways that users want to be able to engage with the content and we’re pretty much open to figuring out the right way to make that available for users, where it is that they want it. 7.45

Michael Arrington: OK. MySpace has always been a bit behind maybe on design and technology. And not your team’s fault, but what are your plans to remedy that? Or do you disagree with this statement?

Mr. VAN NATTA: You know, I think usability and user experience and design are critical areas if you’re going to be a player in the consumer web. One of the first hires that we made was someone that had a user experience for (unintelligible) extensive experience, building great user experiences from some of the top sites out there. It’s something that…

Michael Arrington: Who was that?

Mr. VAN NATTA: That really focused on – she’s a woman named Katie Geminder.

Michael Arrington: OK.

Mr. VAN NATTA: She’s got experience at Amazon and Apple and Facebook.

Michael Arrington: Does she report to Jason?

Mr. VAN NATTA: She does.

Michael Arrington: OK.

Mr. VAN NATTA: She – and so, it’s an area – it’s a big area focused for us. It’s something that we’ve actually been staffing up quite a bit. We’re starting to build a really solid team there. We need to have a technical platform that really enables us to have a great user experience and we’re focused on building that out too.

Michael Arrington: How far away are you from that do you think?

Mr. VAN NATTA: You know, it’s an interactive(ph) process. It’s not something that you can do a big atomic launch around. We have a very large site with a large number of users and we really want to bring them along and have them show us through exactly how it is that they’re responding, give us a feedback exactly what the best user experience is. So, you’re going to see that continue to evolve. We’ve done a number of things in that space already where we (unintelligible) set a number of categories and number of areas on the site that we just didn’t think we’re adding value for users, that usually we’re showing through their actions weren’t the things that they were coming to MySpace to do, things like weather and jobs and classifieds, horoscopes. I know you found out that horoscopes are gone.

Michael Arrington: I was – that was a sad day.

Mr. VAN NATTA: But, you know, that’s something that we’re continuing to focus on and we want to be excellent in usability and design. We were building a really strong competence(ph) there.

Michael Arrington: You know, Facebook talks a lot about how they’re the pipes around social. You guys talk a lot about you’re the content. It seems to be that the one word you use a lot is content and social experience around content. Is that the right way to think about MySpace?

Mr. VAN NATTA: I think we have a unique value proposition for consumers that is about being the place where people socialize around content, and by socialize, I mean the tag line of, you know, discover and share and showcase content. It’s where you learn about content both through your friends and, you know, sometimes it’s more important that the people that you don’t have any connections to in the real world. And one of the big differentiators for MySpace is the fact that we have an open social graph. People expect to connect to people they don’t have connection to in the real world but has similar interests with. And so, it’s a great way to do discovery. It’s a lot of the way discovery happens in the real world. And now the social web is just simply enabling that to happen more increasingly online.

Michael Arrington: So, you were always a startup guy. I mean, even in Amazon, you broke out and started a line for them. You were with Facebook when they were a very small playlist. You’re now at a big company within a big company. Looking back over the last eight months, is the job what you thought it would be when you took it? Was it different than you thought it would be?

Mr. VAN NATTA: I think this is a unique situation. I certainly came in expecting that this is going to be a lot of work but what I am excited about everyday and what gets me fired up and my team fired up everyday is that we have an incredible asset base and we have a really strong user value proposition. It’s something that users are telling us every single day with their time that they really value highly. And as we continue to make improvements, we’re seeing increased engagement around the areas that we are focused on, the content areas that we just talked about. So, you know, look, building these companies is a huge challenge, but I love building teams, I love being part of a team, and I’m really excited about what we have in front of us and really also pleased with the progress we’ve made so far.

Michael Arrington: All right. Thanks very much. Oh, one other thing. You just hired a new chief revenue officer.

Mr. VAN NATTA: We did. Nada Stirratt.

Michael Arrington: Any shifts on your revenue strategy now based on that?

Mr. VAN NATTA: Well, one of the things that we’re seeing in terms of the market is, you know, the economic downturn, as I’ve talked with a lot of CEOs and marketers, you know, brand managers, I think the economic downturn caused a lot of these companies to really reevaluate their advertising strategy and what you increasingly see is more people’s time spent online but fewer brand always being able to be spent online. And one of the areas where I think we’ve been super innovative and where I think we have a strong competency is in the integrated marketing area, some of the things that we do with movie studios or on movie launches or record releases. You know, we released over 200 records in the last 12 months for bands, and really to promote those heavily to millions and millions of people in a very integrated way is super unique. When we talk to users about it, we look at users’ behavior, what we’re finding is they really view that content as valuable as they would view professionally produced content or content that isn’t necessarily advertising content. And, you know, that is what we think is the big opportunity that could bring a lot more brand always on to the web and that’s what we’re working on with our advertising partners on today. So, I’m excited about that. I think it is new in that as more brand always go online, people are going to want those types of experiences and I think we’re really continuing to lead the market in terms of that type of integrated marketing.

Michael Arrington: OK. Thanks very much for your time.

Mr. VAN NATTA: Yeah. Thanks a lot.



Source: TechCrunch | 30 Jan 2010 | 3:24 am

Fertilizer Dump Spoils Intel's Pure Water

An anonymous reader writes "Intel had to shut part of its Irish plant for a while because of the extreme cold and the fact the local council polluted the water supply with fertiliser. Apparently it got down to -12 degrees C at the Intel plant in Leixlip, County Kildare. But to make matters worse, the local council ran out of rock salt to grit the roads and opted for fertiliser instead. There were fears that ammonia and nitrates in the fertiliser might have contaminated the local water supply.The problem for the chipmaker is that it needs extremely pure water for its manufacturing processes."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot | 30 Jan 2010 | 3:10 am

iPad v. A Rock

This speaks for itself. Thanks to Phil Santoro for creating it and sending it us (a play on the iphone v. rock joke).



Source: TechCrunch | 30 Jan 2010 | 2:49 am

Amazon and Macmillan go to war: readers and writers are the civilian casualties


When I woke this morning at 5AM UK time, I discovered an in-box full of emails from people asking if I knew what was going on with Amazon. My books -- and all books from Macmillan and its many divisions, including Tor, my publisher -- had disappeared from the Amazon webstore in both physical and electronic editions.

The New York Times quotes an industry insider as saying that Amazon pulled these books in retaliation for a demand from Macmillan to raise the price of Kindle books from $10 to $15. Presumably, Amazon perceives the $10 price-tag as a way of encouraging people to buy its Kindle platform, which itself is a kind of roach-motel for books: the license terms and DRM on the books in the Kindle store prohibit you from reading your Kindle books on competing devices. So books check in, but they don't check out.

(I believe that Amazon's terms, patents and trade-secrets also prohibit its rivals from making software that converts or renders Kindle books for that purpose. I have asked Amazon whether this was true on more than ten occasions over the past several years, in my capacity as a writer, publisher, and columnist for the Guardian and Publishers Weekly, but they refuse to answer.)

If the NYT's report is true, then this is a case of two corporate giants illustrating neatly exactly why market concentration is bad for the arts:



* If true, Macmillan demanding a $15 pricetag for its ebooks is just plain farcical. Although there are sunk costs in book production, including the considerable cost of talented editors, copy-editors, typesetters, PR people, marketers, and designers, the incremental cost of selling an ebook is zero. And audiences have noticed this. $15 is comparable to the discounted price for a new hardcover in a chain bookstore, and it costs more than zero to sell that book. Demanding parity pricing suggests that paper, logistics, warehousing, printing, returns and inventory control cost nothing. This is untrue on its face, and readers are aware of this fact.


Update: not to say that all ebooks should cost the same. But they should be cheaper than print editions.


* If true, Amazon draping itself in the consumer-rights flag in demanding a fair price is even more farcical. Though Amazon's physical-goods sales business is the best in the world when it comes to giving buyers a fair shake, this is materially untrue when it comes to electronic book sales, a sector that it dominates. As mentioned above, Amazon's DRM and license terms on its Kindle (as well as on its Audible audiobooks division, which controls the major share of the world's audiobook sales) are markedly unfair to readers. Amazon's ebooks are locked (by contract and by DRM) to the Kindle (this is even true of the "DRM-free" Kindle books, which still have license terms that prohibit moving the books). This is not due to rightsholder-demands, either: as I discovered when I approached Amazon about selling my books without DRM and without a bad license agreement for Kindle and Audible, they will not allow copyright owners to modify their terms, nor to include text in the body of the work releasing readers from those terms.


Concentration in media is nothing new -- as far back as the eighties, activists have been sounding the alarm about mergers and acquisitions in publishing and bookselling (and, of course, in film we have the antitrust decisions of the 1940s). In the eighties, we worried that mergers would create corporate giants that would dictate unfair terms in distribution, sales, contracts with writers, pricing, and so on.


But today, we have a deeper worry. For no matter that a giant distributor or a massively agglomerated publisher could distort the market to the detriment of readers and writers -- we could bounce back, through competition and new technology and innovative marketing and sales (and we did, by and large).


But today, we have a much more permanent, and graver risk: contracts and DRM have the power to lock readers and writers into legally unbreakable shackles. There's no such thing as a proprietary book. There's no such thing as a license agreement necessary to read a book. Books are governed by a social contract that is older than publishing, older even than printing. The recent innovation of copyright in books recognizes the ancient compact between readers and writers, and protects your rights to own your books, to loan them, to give them away, to resell them, to read them in any nation, in any circumstance. A publisher or bookseller can't force you to buy Ikea sofas to sit upon while you read your books.


But Amazon can force you to buy Kindles (and Amazon-approved devices) to read your Kindle books on and listen to your Audible audiobooks on.


Forever.


And if one of the five titans that control almost all of publishing gets into a scrap with one of the four or five titans that control almost all ebook publishing, or the one company that rules the audiobook market, the collateral damage is that you will have to choose to eschew a gigantic slice of all the literature ever made in order to hang on to your library, or abandon your library in order to get access to that publisher's work. Or fill your shoulderbag with a half-dozen tablets and readers, one for each permutation of which corporate elephant is trying to crush another.


There's an easy fix for this. Amazon (and its competitors) could allow copyright owners to choose whether they want DRM-by-contract on their books. In a world where readers are allowed to take their books to the platform that offers them the best terms, everybody wins: Macmillan can license to a competitor of Amazon's at a higher price and pull their books from Amazon, and if readers boycott those ebooks, Macmillan will see the light and come down in price -- all without either party having to dictate terms to the other. In a world where there is a competitive market for books and reading devices, Amazon can draw readers who start off as Apple iPad customers into the Kindle store, without having to convince them to switch devices or abandon their collections.


If Macmillan wants to flex its muscle on an issue of substance and moment, an issue that will make it the hero of readers and writers and booksellers everywhere, it can demand that Amazon, Apple, B&N, and all the other ebook readers allow for interoperability and remove contracts that undo centuries' worth of book-ownership norms.


And if Amazon wants to throw its toys out of the pram over a consumer rights issue, let it announce that it will offer a fair deal for any book that publishers and writers will allow a fair deal -- no DRM, no abusive EULA, just "This book is governed by 17USC, the United States Copyright Law. Do not violate that law." Let Amazon label the books that are a bad deal for readers with warnings: "At the publisher's request, this book is licensed under terms that prohibit reading it on other devices, selling it used, or giving it to your children." And let them put a gleaming seal of approval on the books that offer fair terms and a fair shake.


And trust readers to make up their minds.


(Thanks to Jim and everyone who suggested the NYT story)



It feels like a repeat of the same shit Universal Music, and later, NBC Universal pulled with iTunes, trying to counter the leverage Apple had because of iTunes' insane marketshare. Same situation here, really: Content provider wants more money/control over their content, fights with the overwhelmingly dominant, embedded service that's selling the content. Last time, everybody compromised and walked away most happy: Universal and NBC got more flexible pricing, iTunes got DRM-free music and more TV shows for its catalog to sell.

The problem publishers have with Amazon is two-fold: Amazon's overwhelming marketshare in ebooks (because that leads to more control for Amazon, and less for them) and the establishment of $9.99 as the price of a book, which publishers feel cheapens the value of books. (Hardcover bestsellers go for up to $30, after all.)

The difference in this fight is that Macmillan is one of the publishers signed to deliver books for Apple's iBooks store. They have somewhere to run. And credibly. That wasn't really the case with record labels, who tried to fuel alternatives to dilute iTunes power, and failed. (Interestingly, this little episode seems to prove Brad Stone's earlier account in the Times that publishers were looking to Apple to save them from the tyranny of Amazon, since Apple allows publishers to set their own book prices.)

The $15 pricepoint Macmillan's pushing to Amazon is a little curious, though, given two things: Steve Jobs told Walt Mossberg books in the iBooks store would cost the same as they do for Kindle, and the WSJ reported last week $15 was one of Apple's recommended pricepoints for books. Removing Kindle's price advantage would be a smooth way to launch iBooks, no? The publishers get more money, and iBooks in full, eye-straining color cost the same as Kindle books—everybody wins, except Amazon. This is just the beginning. [Bits]




Source: Gizmodo | 30 Jan 2010 | 12:52 am

Publishers embrace iPad, but revolution unlikely - Reuters


BBC News
Publishers embrace iPad, but revolution unlikely
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Book publishers predicted on Wednesday that Apple's iPad would boost interest in online reading. But observers doubted the novel tablet computer would immediately revolutionize electronic publishing like the iPod changed music ...
Apple Tablet Draws Jeers Over NameWall Street Journal
Apple's iPad and the Flash ClashPC World
Adobe heats up iPad Flash bashRegister
Computerworld -Ars Technica -ABC News
all 1,818 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Jan 2010 | 12:46 am

Making It Hard For Extraterrestrials To Hear Us

quaith writes "US astronomer Frank Drake has told scientists at a special SETI meeting in London that earthlings are making it less likely that we will be heard in space. In the past, we used huge ground stations to broadcast radio and television signals which could be picked up relatively easily — according to astronomers' calculations anyway. Now we use satellites that transmit at 75 watts and point toward Earth instead of into space. In addition, we've switched to digital which makes the transmissions even fainter. Drake has concluded that very soon, in space no one will hear us at all. I guess we'd better keep listening."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot | 30 Jan 2010 | 12:27 am

California 'protects' Apollo 11 landing site on Moon - BBC News


Reuters
California 'protects' Apollo 11 landing site on Moon
BBC News
California has named a new site a state historical resource - despite the fact that it is not on Earth, never mind in the US state. The site where Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in 1969, the first US landing, is now included on the state's register. ...
History on the moonSan Francisco Chronicle
California Lists Moon Junk as Historical ResourceABC News
Calif. names moon landing site a historical resourceDenver Post
Los Angeles Times -UPI.com -The Press Association
all 349 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 30 Jan 2010 | 12:25 am

DAVOS-JCDecaux sees Russian opportunity in 2012

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 30 (Russia) - JCDecaux , Europe's largest outdoor advertising group, sees an opportunity to crack the lucrative Russian market in 2012, its co-Chief Executive Jean-Francois Decaux...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Jan 2010 | 12:12 am

Amazon and Macmillan go to war: readers and writers are the civilian casualties

When I woke this morning at 5AM UK time, I discovered an in-box full of emails from people asking if I knew what was going on with Amazon. My books -- and all books from Macmillan and its many divisions,...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Jan 2010 | 12:10 am

Amazon and Macmillan go to war: readers and writers are the civilian casualties

When I woke this morning at 5AM UK time, I discovered an in-box full of emails from people asking if I knew what was going on with Amazon. My books -- and all books from Macmillan and its many divisions,...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 30 Jan 2010 | 12:10 am

240,000 short of water in southern China drought

Officials warned Saturday that 240,000 people were suffering from water shortages in a mountainous region in southern China that has been hit by a five-month-long drought, state media...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 30 Jan 2010 | 12:05 am

Is Oracle Really Killing the Sun Open Cloud?

Larry Ellison may be remembered as the one who steered clear of the "folly" that is cloud computing. Or he may be remembered for ignoring the real and considerable impacts that the cloud brings. Or he...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jan 2010 | 11:47 pm

UN's Global Warming Report Under Fresh Attack - FOXNews


The Hindu
UN's Global Warming Report Under Fresh Attack
FOXNews
A United Nations report on climate change that has been lambasted for its faulty research is under new attack for yet another instance of what critics say is sloppy science -- guiding global warming policy based on a study of ...
Slowdown in Warming Linked to Water VaporWall Street Journal
More bogus "global warming" informationBeaufort Observer
Less Water Vapor May Slow Warming TrendsNew York Times
BBC News -USA Today -BusinessWeek
all 200 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jan 2010 | 11:08 pm

Taste Test: dragon fruit

What a beautiful specimen this thing called the dragon fruit is! Its skin looks like the feathers of an exotic bird or the petals of a tropical flower. Cut it in half and you get the most simple black-and-white...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jan 2010 | 10:44 pm

Taste Test: dragon fruit

What a beautiful specimen this thing called the dragon fruit is! Its skin looks like the feathers of an exotic bird or the petals of a tropical flower. Cut it in half and you get the most simple black-and-white...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jan 2010 | 10:44 pm

Taste Test: dragon fruit

3957332524_d2ecd5efea_b.jpg

What a beautiful specimen this thing called the dragon fruit is! Its skin looks like the feathers of an exotic bird or the petals of a tropical flower. Cut it in half and you get the most simple black-and-white interior imaginable. It's so... interesting. I have to admit that I didn't know anything about it until I got a serving of crappy fruit salad on my Hong Kong-Tokyo flight earlier this week. Maybe it was just the airplane food thing, but I found it to be pretty bland-tasting.

Many of us associate dragon fruit with Southeast Asia because of its prevalence in the region and the use of dragon fruit in some Thai recipes, but it actually has its origins in South America. The fruit is mostly made of water and makes for a great low-calorie snack; it's also a great source of fiber and vitamin C.

I have yet to experiment with dragon fruit in my own kitchen, but my instincts tell me it would be great in a martini glass. Try mixing the mashed-up pulp of a dragon fruit with a spoonful of sugar and some vodka in a cocktail shaker and let me know how it tastes!

By the way, Febreze announced yesterday that they've just added the fragrance Thai Dragon Fruit to their lineup. I'm assuming that it's made based on the smell of the white dragon fruit flower, not the actual fruit part.

Image via John Loo's Flickr


Source: Boing Boing | 29 Jan 2010 | 10:44 pm

Apple takes a bruising over iPad name (AFP)

Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs announces the new iPad as he speaks during an Apple Special Event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California. As Apple takes a bruising over the moniker of its latest creation some technology analysts are shrugging off the fuss over the name to focus on what's inside the iPad: a speedy new chip(AFP/File/Ryan Anson)AFP - As Apple takes a bruising over the moniker of its latest creation some technology analysts are shrugging off the fuss over the name to focus on what's inside the iPad: a speedy new chip.



Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jan 2010 | 10:18 pm

The Entire BoomTown Video of the Mossberg-Jobs Chit-Chat at Apple iPad Launch! [BoomTown]

A video BoomTown posted earlier this week–following around my All Things Digital partner Walt Mossberg at the launch of the Apple iPad–has gotten an awful lot of attention, due to a little over two minutes of him kibitzing about the device with CEO Steve Jobs.

I get the interest in the video, since it is not often you see the highly controlled Jobs just chit-chatting and even making the case about an Apple (AAPL) product, which he did in the video.

Since the Jobs section of my longer video was in the middle, I decided to put all the Jobs clips I had together, all done in my usual shaky spycam style and which you can see below.

In the video, Mossberg asked Jobs about the iBooks application and the price of e-books, with Jobs insisting the price would be the same on Apple as it was on Amazon.

“The prices will be the same,” said Jobs, before getting in a little dig at the maker of the Kindle e-reader. “Publishers are actually withholding their books from Amazon, because they’re not happy with it.”

Jobs also told Mossberg that the iPad will have “140-something hours, I think, of continuous music playback” and that the 10 hours of battery life for the iPad was more than enough for anyone.

“It’s all about the display…Our chips don’t use hardly any power,” said Jobs.

He also said consumers don’t necessarily need even more battery time, “because you just end up pluggin’ it in. You end up docking it or whatever you’re going to do with it. It’s not a big deal. Ten hours is a long time, because you’re not going to read for 10 hours.”

Mossberg also asked Jobs if he should pen his review of the iPad on the iPad and if he could convert it into a Word document, which Jobs endorsed.

“Write it in Pages, you could make a Word version and send it in an email to your editors,” Jobs said.

Asked Mossberg: “All from here?”

“Yeah,” said Jobs.

I also had another video of Jobs talking to Mossberg about why he used the iPad name, which has been made fun of my some.

Unfortunately, my Flip camera ate it–after I watched it and took notes–when I was transferring it.

But, according to my notes, Jobs dismissed all the incoming flack he said he expected to receive about the name.

“You forget, but they made fun of iPod name when it came out,” he said, in part. “What matters is the product and what it means to consumers.”

Jobs noted that in a year’s time, the name iPad would become rote to people, as long as they like the mobile device and consider it innovative and its software useful.

In addition, he said it was an inevitable brand extension from iPod and iPhone.

“Plus the fonts look great together…iPod, iPhone, iPad,” he said.

That particular exchange is not in this video, but here’s what I did shoot in the demo room at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, after the launch on Wednesday:


[ See post to watch video ]


Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jan 2010 | 10:03 pm

Mr. Know-It-All on Swine Flu, Medicinal Weed, iTunes Sales

Do you hug your kid if you have swine flu? Mr. Know-It-All urges caution and common sense, but no bubble. Do you tell you're boss you're using medicinal marijuana? State and federal drug laws could leave you caught in the middle and out of a job.



Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 10:00 pm

Brown Dwarf Hunt Hits Record Low

Brown dwarfs are curious objects. Although they can weigh up to 80 Jupiter masses, they are too small to be called stars yet too big to be called planets. Until the late 1980's they were purely theoretical objects. However, as ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 9:51 pm

Are you the New Twitter? Services to Help Scale your Business

So, you have a great idea. You want to move your vision from whiteboard to web host, but the trade-offs (resources, time, money) make it difficult to decide what to spend your hard earned capital on...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jan 2010 | 9:42 pm

Google Deducing Wireless Location Data

bizwriter writes "When it comes to knowing where wireless users are, the carriers have had a lock on the data. But a patent application shows that Google is trying to deduce the information based on packet headers and estimated transmission rates. This would let it walk right around carriers and become another source of location data to advertisers."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


The wireless device is made of a "lightweight durable fabric that seamlessly aligns itself with the ligaments of your hand and wrist" and will supposedly go for a full week without charging. If you want one though—be it for computing or for some evil deeds—you'll have to wait six to twelve months and spend about $130. [AirMouse via Gizmag via Make]



Either way, rubber projectiles like these have been used by law enforcement agencies for ages, but now they're available to consumers. I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing. [Wired]




Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jan 2010 | 8:40 pm

US Holocaust survivors slam Mussolini iPhone app

What starts out promising soon turns shitty. Before, Best Buy would often advertise computers at a certain price, but only offer them "optimized," which adds $40 for a totally unnecessary process that nobody wants. Now, Best Buy changed their policy, saying that forcing someone to pay for optimization is now an offense warranting termination. Great!

But wait, don't get too excited—the idea is that the salesman will argue, forcefully pushing optimization on you even if you say you don't want it, because Best Buy judges the performance of its sales staff by how many of these ridiculous unnecessary add-ons they sell. So the salesman is going to do everything he can to get you to buy that optimization software. You have to know enough to keep arguing until the salesman gives up, at which point they'll erase the $40 charge and uninstall the software. Of course, that means your brand-new laptop isn't exactly brand-new anymore, since Best Buy has dicked around with the settings and software before you get your hands on it. The letter:

I work for Best Buy and thought you might want to know the Best Buy internal response to the recent article criticizing optimization. The items stated here were discussed on the employee Best Buy news.

To start of with, the policy [of] how many computers should undergo optimization was restated: 40% is the guideline. This should be altered as per demand. So stores offering customers only optimized models are not being properly managed. The article continued to say if demand for optimization is only 15%, then only 15% should be optimized. This is not in the store's interest, I should note. Best Buy does not make a significant profit on computer sales (less than $50 per unit, typically), instead relying on 'services' such as the optimization for a major source of profits. The more optimized computers sold, the more profits.

The article stated plainly, in large, bold letters, that a customer cannot be forced to pay for optimization if they do not want it and that is all that is available. Anyone who forces a customer to pay for it is subject to, and I quote, termination. I should say they did not state to make it easy to get out of paying for optimization, the article encourages salespersons to explain why it is worth the money before not charging it. Management can waive the fee if the customer declines. Optimization software, if any was installed, should then be removed before giving the computer to the customer. Anyone forced to pay should contact the store's management or someone higher up the ladder.

Best Buy considers optimization an important service, and believes it has great value to many customers. I, personally, believe most people can take care of such things on their own with minimal time and would never pay for it. Judging by comments posted below the article, many other employees believe so too, but just as many fervently believe that optimization is the best thing to ever happen since the wheel.

I feel I should stress that it is not a salespersons fault to push optimization and other services strongly on customers. Hours (and this pay, we are not commission) are often determined by the amount of sales made. Someone who isn't selling any optimization will see reduced hours as compared to someone who is. Especially given this economy, many just need a job and this is all they could find, myself included. So just be polite and remember you're giving people a job.

Optimization does just consist of booting up the computer and and putting in a disc that does some random stuff. Some GeekSquad agents may do more manually, some may not. I personally would suggest downloading free software to cleans up registry errors, broken and unused shortcuts, and defrags.

As one final note, the article initially refused to link to the Consumerists for fear of giving more hits. It was later added after complaints in the comments section stated they couldn't respond to customers citing the Consumerist without having read the article.

Way to keep on fighting the lousy fight, Best Buy. [Consumerist]




Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jan 2010 | 8:00 pm

California lists moon junk as historical resource

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Seeking to preserve the site where humans first set foot on the moon, a California state panel on Friday registered a collection of 106 objects left by the Apollo 11
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Jan 2010 | 7:50 pm

Novell Bringing .Net Developers To Apple iPad

GMGruman writes "Paul Krill reports that Apple's new iPad could be easier to write apps for, thanks to Novell's MonoTouch development platform, which helps .Net developers create code for the iPad and fully comply with Apple's licensing requirements — without having to use Apple's preferred Objective-C. This news falls on the footsteps of news that Citrix will release an iPad app that lets users run Windows sessions on the iPad. These two developments bolster an argument that the iPad could eventually displace the netbook."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2010 | 7:50 pm

Apple, here, this is the iPad we wanted

It seems so elementary to all of us around CrunchGear’s HQ that the iPad should have had three simple features: a camera, SD card slot, and external battery indicator. I mean, the iPad missed the mark by a lot in many areas, but it’s just silly that Apple didn’t included those items. I won’t bother with another rant about the iPad because we already vented our frustration here.

Reader Martin heard our cries all the way over in Germany and made this mock up that meets our approval. See, Apple, how hard is that? Just a front facing camera, SD card slot and battery meter would make the iPad so much more useful while not taking away from the device’s aesthetics  at all.

Thanks, Martin. Wonderful job.




Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jan 2010 | 7:20 pm

Study: Distractions, not phones, cause car crashes - CNET


The Money Times
Study: Distractions, not phones, cause car crashes
CNET
A new study suggests that laws banning talking on or sending text messages with cell phones while driving may not significantly decrease the risk of traffic accidents. Instead, experts suggest dealing with the problem of ...
California's hand-held cellphone ban hasn't reduced crashes, study saysLos Angeles Times
Cellphone ban fails to reduce accidents--studyThe Money Times
Study: Cellphone Bans No Boost for Road SafetyTechNewsWorld
Fox40 -PC World -USA Today
all 377 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jan 2010 | 7:16 pm

Starbucks Tries Social Media on Flickr, Fails, Locks Down All Discussion Threads to Silence Their Critics

I was troubled today to see Starbucks take the draconian step of locking down 100% of their group threads in the Official Starbuck’s group on Flickr. All threads were locked today and a note was...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jan 2010 | 7:16 pm

The iPad And Chrome OS Netbooks Are On A Collision Course

“We don’t know how to build a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk.”

“Netbooks aren’t better at anything.”

Those two quotes are both from Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The first was during an earnings call in late 2008 when Jobs fielded a question about why Apple wasn’t cutting prices amid the rising success of netbooks. The second came on Wednesday as Jobs was unveiling the iPad.

Apple has made it clear all along that they had no plans to build a netbook. And true to their word, they haven’t. But that doesn’t mean that Apple didn’t feel there was a need for a device that resided in between a full laptop and a mobile phone — in fact, that’s squarely where Apple is positioning the iPad. With it, they feel that they’ve created a $500 (for the baseline version) device that is superior to every netbook out there.

Meanwhile, Google has decided to target the market in between the laptop and the mobile phone as well. But whereas Apple is anti-netbook, Google is very pro-netbook — they just want to make them better. That’s the reason behind Google’s Chrome OS, as Google clearly laid out during its unveiling event late last year.

And so yes, we once again have Google and Apple on a collision course.

Now, it remains to be seen if people who buy an iPad will do so instead of buying a netbook. At first, I’m not so sure that will be the case. But it stands to reason that eventually, this will happen. And as Jobs’ comments on stage on Wednesday made abundantly clear, that’s Apple’s idea too. In their eyes, you shouldn’t buy a cheap, underpowered PC, you should buy an iPad, their anti-netbook.

Google, which plans to release its first Chrome OS-based netbooks in time for the holiday season next year, can’t like that plan too much. They have promised that netbooks that run Chrome OS will be better than current netbooks because they’re dictating certain minimum requirements (such as big keyboards) to manufacturing partners. But Chrome OS netbooks won’t be able to match the sex appeal of the iPad’s multi-touch screen. However, what they can offer is a familiar experience (much more like a traditional laptop then an iPad), and that will be appealing to a lot of people.

And what’s interesting is that for either of the two to be massive hits, they both will need consumers to continue to feel comfortable moving away from traditional software applications such as Microsoft Office. But their plans to get consumers to do that are very different. Google wants everyone to move towards doing everything on their apps in the cloud. Apple, as they made clear with their overly-long iWork for iPad demo on Wednesday, wants everyone to move towards using iPhone OS-based apps.

And that’s why this battle coming at the end of this year will be interesting to watch. Both Apple and Google are very popular with consumers, but their offerings are very different — while aiming for the same market. And as two companies that were once as close as could be, it’s also fascinating to watch the tension and awkwardness as they now compete in an ever-growing number of areas.

If this market between laptops and smartphones proves big enough, perhaps the two frenemies can once again find a common ground and band together to defeat their common enemy: Microsoft. But the obvious strategy for this used to be that Google would attack Microsoft from the bottom with its Chrome OS netbooks, while Apple attacked from the top with their premium computers, leaving Microsoft squeezed in the middle. With the iPad now clearly aimed at netbooks thanks to its pricing and Apple’s positioning, everything is different.


File downloading and local storage in the browser could be great. Just imagine finally being able to grab a song off the Internet and actually save it on your iPhone. The daydreamer in me wants to believe that files downloaded in such a manner would be accessible by all applications. I'd download a cheesy tune from an artist's website, attach it to an email to my lover, upload it for posting on Twitter, and force my musical preferences onto the whole world without ever needing to set down my iPhone.

The suggestion of multitasking comes from the fact that there appears to be a function to run video calls in "either full screen mode or in just a portion of the screen." Engadget is interpreting this as meaning that you'll be able to "chat and do other things at the same time." We suspect that it's more likely that this function is related to the manner in which a new call comes in. Just as a contact's picture can pop up with a call, a video chat could begin in partial-screen mode. Debate about the actual potential features aside, what's the point of video chat capabilities in devices without front-facing cameras anyway?

With all this way-too-early excitement, an important thing to keep in mind is that the SDK this information is being pulled from is the same for the iPhone as it is for the iPad. It's tough to tell which features would apply to which device. That and the fact we're talking about an SDK and potential options. There's no guarantee that we'll see any of this in the iPhone OS 4.0. Or ever. [Engadget]




Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jan 2010 | 6:58 pm

Apple's IPad, Oracle's Plan for Sun Share Limelight (PC World)

PC World - While it seemed that all eyes were on Apple's unveiling of the long-awaited iPad this week, Oracle on the same day revealed its plans for Sun Microsystems' technology, while those at Sun braced for the merger and began their public goodbyes. We also had a flurry of financial reports this week and some Internet weirdness associated with President Barack Obama's first State of the Union address.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jan 2010 | 6:50 pm

Apple's IPad Marketing Sparks Complaint to FTC

Oh, and according to Jason, "ai" means "love" in Japanese. I don't know if that's supposed to be some sort of comfort or not. [Aipad—Warning: PDF via Asiajin]




Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jan 2010 | 6:40 pm

Firefox Mobile For Maemo Officially Launches

'

Good news, everyone! Firefox is officially available for Maemo devices, like the Nokia N900!

What’s that you say? Firefox has been available for Maemo for a while now? Sure, but now it’s official.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>



Source: CrunchGear | 29 Jan 2010 | 6:36 pm

Video Review of Hivision's $100 ARM-Based Android Laptop

Charbax writes "The Android laptops are coming. Thanks to cheap ARM-powered laptops made in China, and the latest, most optimized Android software, we can soon buy usable $100 Laptops in all the supermarkets. In this video, I test the web browsing speed on the new Rockchip rk2808 ARM9 based PWS700CA laptop by Shenzhen-based Hivision Co Ltd. Web browsing on AJAX-heavy websites is surprisingly snappy, and could only be even faster if ARM11, ARM Cortex A8 or A9 processors were used and if it was configured with slightly more than 128MB RAM. How soon will Google release the $100 Google laptop?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2010 | 6:34 pm

Is the Real Revenue in Printing Money and Trading Sheep?

While many large communities continue to chase ad revenue and subscription models, I can't help thinking the real money is in virtual currency and goods. Yesterday we featured an article about Beijing...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Jan 2010 | 6:31 pm

Topicfire Creates Solid Breaking News Twitter Feeds For All Topics

A lot of people use Twitter as a primary way of getting information quickly these days. Accounts such as BreakingNews are hugely popular because they offer up stories to their 1.6 million followers (and even more through retweets) instantaneously. Topicfire, a realtime news aggregator we covered in December is now trying to extend that concept to all different topics.

While there are no shortage of services attempting to leverage Twitter to distill information for different topics, Topicfire’s streams seem pretty solid thanks to the use of their HeatRank technology, which is the same thing that powers Topicfire itself. While there are a few factors that go into HeatRank, the main driving force behind it are comments on stories. If they’re coming in fast enough, the HeatRank will get pushed to 10.

If a story hits 10, it will then get tweeted out automatically to its specific Twitter account with a link to the original story as well as the story’s page on Topicfire. This method of curation ensures that followers won’t get overwhelmed by stories that perhaps aren’t that important.

You can see the full list of the 24 Topicfire accounts here. As you can see, they range from Apple news, to design news, to skiing news, to surfing news (though ski and surf don’t have a ton of news items).

Information provided by CrunchBase



Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jan 2010 | 6:13 pm

Firefox Mobile For Maemo Officially Launches

'

Good news, everyone! Firefox is officially available for Maemo devices, like the Nokia N900!

What’s that you say? Firefox has been available for Maemo for a while now? Sure, but now it’s official.

Now, that’s not to say that the past releases were “unofficial”; they were just “Release Candidates”, which is sort of a fancy way of saying “really, really late stage Betas that are probably good enough to release”. That means that if you’re already using Firefox Mobile (otherwise known by its codename, “Fennec”), you’re probably not going to notice anything new in this release – but if you were waiting until the development team thought it was ready for public consumption, now’s the time to jump.

Maemo may not be the most obvious choice of platforms to launch on, but it’s one that Mozilla could develop on quickly and without restriction. This release serves as a nice little sneak peak at what to expect as it rolls out to other platforms (such as Android, which I’m hearing should see its first signs of Firefox Mobile in the next month or two).

So what makes Firefox Mobile worthwhile? We’ll let Mozilla do the talking:

  • Awesome Bar – Go to your favorite sites in just a couple of keystrokes with intelligent and personalized searching
  • Weave Sync – Sync your Firefox tabs, history, bookmarks and passwords between your desktop and mobile device for a seamless browsing experience
  • Add-ons – Customize your Firefox by adding small pieces of functionality, like games and news readers, that help make the mobile Web browser your own
  • Location-Aware Browsing – Get maps and information relevant to your location
  • Tabbed browsing – View open tabs as thumbnails to easily identify and select the Web page you’d like to go to next
  • Safe Browsing – Get an Instant Web Site ID and easily access and edit security settings
  • Available in more than 30 languages and counting

So what do you think? If Firefox for Mobile came to your platform of choice, think you’d make the switch? Let us know in the comments below.

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


Look, I'll return missed calls even if you don't command me to do so, I promise. Unless you're annoying. [Doghouse Diaries]




Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jan 2010 | 6:00 pm

Stealth Jets. Now in Russian!

Air superiority hasn’t been top news in a while. But Russia’s got a nifty new stealth fighter jet they’re showing off. Video after the jump.

The Sukhoi T-50 was created jointly between Russia and India, and seems to be aimed at rivaling the United States’ F-22 Raptor. The proposed feature list looks pretty impressive:

  • All-weather flight
  • Ability to use a take-off strip of just 300-400 meters
  • In-flight refueling capable
  • Advanced avionics
  • Simultaneous attacks on air and ground targets.
  • Minimal radar cross-section

But not everyone is raving over it. Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer only said, “It’s just a prototype lacking new engines and a new radar.” No specifications out yet, and we’ll have to wait on a few more flights to see how it really handles.

[BBC]


Lee Brimelow over at TheFlashBlog provides ten examples of pages that will be incapacitated on the iPad due to the lack of Flash, ranging from Disney to Google Finance to... well, to hard core pornography. In fact, it's near the top of the list, at the intersection of Hulu and CNN.

Low blow? Possibly. But the iPad is at heart a content delivery device, and last I heard pornography was pretty popular on these here internets. Then again, given the lack of built-in kickstand, trying to watch porn on the iPad might give a whole new meaning to tablet sutra. [The Flash Blog via Wired]




Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jan 2010 | 5:20 pm

Nexus One hit with nation-wide data outage

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

Nexus One Speed Test

Word is buzzing around the net about data loss for the Nexus One around the nation. When you try to connect to the internet on the Nexus One through T-Mobile, this message pops up: “To connect to the web with the device you are using, you will need a webConnect data plan.” So for the 20,000 people who own a Nexus One, your data plan got jacked for a few hours.

Ok, not really jacked but it was gone. And no one really seems to have an answer as to why its down. The guys over at T-Mobile never gave an official response but as of about 1 PM ET, data was restored.

This outage will be harmful to T-Mobiles reputation if they don’t make an effort to announce the precautions they are putting or already have in place to prevent this. It already has the smallest network (albeit the fastest) in the US; but now if it is having difficulties handling the small amount of people who own the Nexus One, they are going to have problems in the future.

Read [jkontherun]

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


Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jan 2010 | 5:15 pm

Muslims for Haiti: 5 hour LIVE Telethon for Haiti Relief


Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Jan 2010 | 5:13 pm

RIAA To Appeal Thomas-Rasset Ruling

frank_adrian314159 writes "The RIAA will appeal the ruling that reduced Jammie Thomas-Rasset's $1.92 fine for file sharing to $54,000. '"It is a shame that Ms. Thomas-Rasset continues to deny any responsibility for her actions rather than accept a reasonable settlement offer and put this case behind her," said RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth.' Joe Sibley, an attorney for Thomas-Rasset, said his client would not settle for the $25,000 that the RIAA has asked for.'"Jammie is not going to agree to pay any amount of money to them," Sibley said, adding that it doesn't matter to Thomas-Rasset whether the damages are $25,000 or $1.92 million.' In addition, Thomas-Rasset's attorneys say that, win or lose, they plan to appeal the constitutionality of the fine."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2010 | 5:04 pm

iPad makes Apple ~$200-300 per unit


No small margins here. It seems that the iPad, while certainly not a cheap device to make, will end up lining Apple’s pockets considerably — if they sell any. A bill of materials analysis puts the cheapest iPad’s manufacturing cost at just over $270, which of course sends $230 in Apple’s direction. The 3G radio runs for around $36, and of course they sell it for $130.

Now, I know we were all pleasantly surprised by the price, but we were all unpleasantly surprised by the limited capabilities of the device, so I think the surprises kind of cancel each other out. A real tablet computer by Apple would have a higher price point and better parts, and would have a smaller margin since Apple would stand to make money on software and OS sales for it. I mean, the iPad really uses no crazy parts — not a lot of innovation on the actual hardware except for the high-density capacitive screen.

It also leaves a lot of room for taking a bite out of the price if necessary. I doubt Apple will lower it any time soon, as that would be an admission of failure, but I foresee holiday sales and such. Right before they release iPad 2.0, of course.

This is only an estimate, however — iSuppli is going to put their opinion in the pile soon as well, we’ll keep you guys informed on that.


If you'd like to view this gallery as a single page, click here.

I've tested the app and Skype calls work fine over 3G, but right now, I can't seem to connect any SkypeOut calls—that's the paid service, which would allow me to call landlines—which is worrying, since there's no technical difference, client side, between a SkypeOut call and a Skype call. Is there some kind of caveat to the new dev policy, or is this just an early version hiccup? Either way, yes. Free.

Gizmodo helm-man and keen snowman Brian nearly creamed his pants when he heard about RealSki's augmented reality iPhone app, and rightly so-the app uses the camera, accelerometer, compass and GPS to map ski-trails of over 80 US mountains.

You'll need to be running at least OS 3.1.2 on your iPhone 3GS to use RealSki, and to make it work you move the phone around you on the ski-trail, so it can map the location. Then, digital overlays will appear within the app, showing you where the lifts, lodges, restrooms and restaurants are, as well as trails (and their level of skill) and any other parks or features of that resort

The real issue here is that the app isn't really going to be free for many people. That said, the map purchases aren't toooooo expensive, and the concept is co—wait, what do I say here? Rad? Rad.

On January 24th 1984, Apple unveiled the Macintosh. The one and only game Apple ever sold for the Macintosh was also shown that day: Through The Looking Glass.

Steve Capps had sketched out the game a few years earlier, but personal computers in 1980 weren't capable of the type of animation he wanted. Finally, the Macintosh was powerful enough and Capps wrote the game over Christmas 1982. The game quickly was a hit inside the cloistered Mac group and became Capps's "ticket" to joining the exclusive Mac team.

If this means nothing to you, you probably won't get much gratification out of this app. For anyone familiar with the original title, though, this partial adaptation will make you vomit uncontrollably out of pure nostalgic happiness, which is a thing that happens to old Apple fanboys on rare occasions. (I've seen it). $2.

The Classics guys have reduced the app's price to $0 for the time being, to make it abundantly clear who came first, and to make their plight known, or something. So, enjoy? And then enjoy iBooks less, ideologically speaking? Something like that. Free.

This list is in no way definitive. If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our Favorite iPhone Apps Directory. Have a great weekend, everybody!




Source: Gizmodo | 29 Jan 2010 | 5:00 pm

Novell bringing .Net developers to Apple iPad (InfoWorld)

InfoWorld - Novell is positioning its MonoTouch software development kit as a mechanism for building Microsoft .Net-based applications for Apple's new iPad device.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:36 pm

McAfee: Big Business Under Constant Cyber Attack - PC Magazine


PC Magazine (blog)
McAfee: Big Business Under Constant Cyber Attack
PC Magazine
At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Switzerland, McAfee announced the results of a survey of 600 IT security execs in "critical infrastructure enterprises worldwide": that is, in places such as utility companies, banks, ...
Report: Critical Infrastructure Under Constant Global AttackWired News
Critical Infrastructure under Siege from Cyber AttacksPC World
Critical Infrastructure Vulnerable To AttackInformationWeek
DailyTech -eWeek -Christian Science Monitor
all 325 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:31 pm

Goodnight Moon Mission: Obama redefines NASA goals


Well, son, I know you wanted to go to the moon and all, but it looks like that’s just not going to happen. In the meantime, I guess you’ll just have to be satisfied with a sojourn on the International Space Station. It seems that Bush’s moon initiative kind of fell through, and Obama and his advisors have decided not to throw good money after bad. Instead, they’re putting $6bn into extending the life of the ISS and encouraging private spaceflight. Still sounds good to me.

The original plan was to return to the moon by 2020; unfortunately, it seems the project was underfunded to the point where it might not have happened by 2030. And what’s more, there wasn’t enough money to do both the moon and keep the ISS project going. It had to be one or the other, and let’s face it: the ISS is already out there in space, working like a charm, and the moon R&D is still working on a rocket to replace the one we used in the 60s.

It’s a little sad — we like the moon — but at least we’re just changing priorities and not abandoning space altogether.



Source: CrunchGear | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:30 pm

Phone and Text Bans On Drivers Shown Ineffective

shmG writes to share that according to a recent study on the impact of laws banning the use of cell phones during driving, there appears to be no reduction in accidents as a result. "The HLDI compared collisions of 100 insured vehicles per year in New York, Washington D.C., Connecticut, and California -- all states with currently enacted roadway text bans. Despite those laws, monthly fluctuations in crash rates didn't change after bans were enacted, [although] there were less people using devices while driving. An earlier study conducted by the HLDI reported that cellphone use was directly linked to four-fold increases in crash injuries. Also independent studies done by universities have shown correlation between driving while using a phone and crashes."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:30 pm

Study: Distracted driving laws don't stop crashes (AP)

Cars drive by a sign notifying of a new texting while driving law on Interstate 280 in 2008 in San Francisco, California. The US government on Tuesday banned truck and bus drivers from sending text messages while at the wheel in a further crackdown on distracted driving, which claims thousands of lives on US roads each year.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Justin Sullivan)AP - A new insurance industry study has found that state laws banning the use of handheld devices to make calls or send text messages while driving have not resulted in fewer vehicle crashes.



Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:23 pm

iPhone, Mommy's Expecting. [Voices]

By Nitrozac and Snaggy


Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:15 pm

Chartwell Technology cites competition, recession for lower Q4 income

CALGARY - Chartwell Technology Inc. (TSX:CWH), an online gaming software systems provider, cited increased competition and the lingering effects of the recession for lower earnings in its
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:14 pm

Muslims for Haiti: 5 hour LIVE Telethon for Haiti Relief

DETROIT, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD) is going to air a LIVE 5 hour 'Muslims For Haiti' Telethon on ARY Digital that will air worldwide; USA, Canada, Middle East, UK, and Pakistan on Saturday January 30th, 2010 12:00 pm EST.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:13 pm

La Pequeña Gigante

(Video: live Chilean television coverage, shot off TV set on iPhone so pardon quality).

peqth.jpg I'm in Guatemala for a brief personal trip. I was just now sitting here in the family home after lunch, with the TV on. Suddenly, regular programming was interrupted by a live feed from Chile: a giant mechanical doll-girl has taken over the streets of Santiago. There are a bunch of dudes in red velvet suits yanking her cables. WTF.

"La Pequeña Gigante" is what the Chilean TV announcers are calling her. Turns out she's the creation of French mechanical marionette street theatre company Royal de Lux. She, and they, have been blogged here on Boing Boing a number of times. They've performed in Chile before (and many other cities), and the troupe is headed to NYC later this year. I may be the last to know about the takeover of earth by our giant-doll-girl overlords, but I, for one, welcome them.

lapeq4.jpg


They keep dressing and undressing her on TV. She's done more outfit changes in the past half hour than Cher during a live show. They're saying it took 80 horse-tails to create her eyelashes and hair. Her blinking eyes and jointed neck are creepy. The live coverage has been going on for like 2 hours now. I can't stop watching.

peque6.jpg



lapeq5.jpg




Source: Boing Boing | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:10 pm

Tesla’s $100M IPO: Losses Expected Until At Least 2012. Musk Taking $1 A Year.

Electric car company Tesla Motors has filed for a $100 million IPO. There were rumors recently floating around that the company, which is led by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, would go public “soon.” One interesting tidbit from the filing: Musk only takes $1 in yearly salary.

Another interesting factoid: In the filing, Tesla states that it has seen net losses in each quarter since inception. The company expects to continue on the same path until it starts to deliver larger quantities of its Model S sedan, which is not expected until 2010 or later. Tesla took a loss in the first three quarters of 2009 of $31.5 million which is less than its loss for the same period in 2008, which was $57.3 million. Gross profit for the first three quarters of 2009 was $7.8 million compared to $561K for the same period in 2008. Sales for the first three quarters of 2009 topped out at $93.4 million. As of last December Tesla had sold 937 Tesla Roadsters in 18 countries. The company also saw a total of $108.2 million in revenue since its inception in 2003 until September of last year.

Tesla claimed profitability in August of last year, reporting at the time that it made “approximately $1 million of earnings” on revenues of $20 million, and that it shipped 109 Roadsters, its $109,000 all-electric sports car. Although the company took a loss for the first three quarters of 2009, we are assuming that Tesla may have posted a profit in the fourth quarter, which is why the company claimed profitability last year. In June, Tesla was also awarded a $465 million loan from the Department of Energy, which will help it manufacture its more reasonably priced Modern S sedan.

The company went through a bit of a scandal with a scathing law suit filed against Tesla Motors and Elon Musk by co-founder and former CEO Martin Eberhard, which was eventually dropped. Last year, Daimler also took a 10% (or $50 million) stake in Tesla, putting the company’s then valuation at $500 million.



Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:09 pm

We never named a mountain after Avatar. What are you talking about?

Monday could have marked one of the greatest acts of trolling of the decade. An official ceremony was held to change the name of a mountain in the Hunan province to commemorate James Cameron’s Avatar. Seems that now they’re realizing naming national monuments after movies isn’t the best idea.

The peak traditionally called the “Southern Sky Column” and located in the city of Zhangjiajie, is supposedly the inspiration for the floating mountains of Pandora. Well that certainly seems like enough reason for the tourism to rename it as “Avatar Hallelujah Mountain”. Guess the public didn’t quite have the same response. An online poll of 60,000 citizens resulted in 90% being against the change. Oh yeah, and now the officials are denying it ever happened.

[ABC News] via [Gadling]



Source: CrunchGear | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pm

iPod Dock Has Killer Looks, Sound to Match

It's no substitute for a banging home theater system but for filling the bedroom with sweet sounds, this sound dock has little competition.



Source: Wired: Gadgets | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pm

iPod Dock Has Killer Looks, Sound to Match

It's no substitute for a banging home theater system but for filling the bedroom with sweet sounds, this sound dock has little competition.



Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pm

Happy mural in Los Angeles threatened with removal

201001291317

My Backwards Beekeeping buddy, Amy Seidenwurm says:

We are being ordered by the city of LA to paint over our mural by March 1st. You posted Russell's time-lapse video of Philip Lumbang painting it back in the spring and it has become quite beloved in our neighborhood. Sadly, one of our neighbors hates it and complained to the city that he felt it would bring crime to the neighborhood.

Apparently you need a permit to paint a mural on private property in LA, but there is currently no governing body issuing permits. Murals have gotten lumped into illegal advertising and there is a whole city brouhaha about such things that will surely go on for a long while. So, we're screwed and not a little bummed out.

Any ideas on ways to preserve the mural would be great. I've been talking to a couple of people on our neighborhood council and in LA Cultural Affairs and so far they agree that it is silly but that we are caught in a bureaucratic no-win.

I've attached a photo of the highly-offensive art in question. Since he painted the mural and the video got viewed like crazy Philip has had solo exhibitions in SF and LA and his work was on the cover of Giant Robot. He credits this for much of his recent success.

Here's a post about this on Eastsider LA.


Source: Boing Boing | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:56 pm

Teach Workers To Think Like Enterprise Builders (Investor's Business Daily)

Investor's Business Daily - Successful entrepreneurs not only launch fast-growing companies. They also create an environment where workers think like business builders.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:54 pm

Library of Congress Explores Ways To Release OS Software

An anonymous reader writes "The Library of Congress has established an internal process to start creating more open source software which will make it easier for software developers and sponsors within the Library to produce software that can be freely redistributed to users worldwide. The Library has released some open source software to this point, concentrating on developing tools that support digital preservation processes, including the secure transfer of digital files. This includes the release of a full suite of digital content transfer tools that support the Bagit specification."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:49 pm

Cyber crooks cashing in on iPad frenzy (AFP)

Event guests play with the new Apple iPad during an Apple Special Event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts January 27 in San Francisco, California. Hackers and scammers are cashing in on iPad fever by luring the curious to booby-trapped websites with false promises of information about Apple's new tablet computer.(AFP/File/Ryan Anson)AFP - Hackers and scammers are cashing in on iPad fever by luring the curious to booby-trapped websites with false promises of information about Apple's new tablet computer.



Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:45 pm

Tesla Motors Plans IPO [Digital Daily]

Add Tesla Motors to the list of companies planning to avail themselves of what may, or may not, be a fledgling IPO recovery this year. The electric car maker said Friday that it’s planning an initial public offering to raise up to $100 million.

Tesla’s S-1 form doesn’t specify the share price or where the stock will be traded. It does, however, note that stock will be issued “as soon as practicable”–whatever that means. A few other details worth noting:

  • Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), J.P. Morgan (JPM) and Deutsche Bank (DB) are listed as underwriters.
  • To date, Tesla has sold 937 Roadsters in 18 countries.
  • Tesla had sales for the first nine months of 2009 of $93.4 million. Losses for that same period were $31.5 million
  • Since its inception, Tesla has had revenue of $108.2 million, with cumulative losses of $236.4 million.

Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:44 pm

CorVel Announces Earnings Release Webcast

IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In conjunction with CorVel Corporation's (Nasdaq: CRVL) quarterly earnings release, CorVel will be conducting a conference call that will be broadcast live over the Internet on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 am Eastern Time.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:44 pm

Friday News Feedbag Info for January 29th, 2010

If this is your first exposure to the Friday News Feedbag...we're glad to have you in the club. Welcome to Feedbag Nation, which stems from our weekly science news podcast that you can subscribe to here on iTunes and chat ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:32 pm

The iPad: a revolution in Apple mockery

“And these jokes come so naturally that you don’t even have to think about it. You just… mock.”



Source: CrunchGear | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:30 pm

US SMALL/MIDCAPS-Arch Coal hits energy; uranium shares gain

NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Disappointing earnings from Arch Coal Inc dragged midcap energy shares lower on Friday, while uranium stocks were lifted by expectations of higher government loan guarantees...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:28 pm

Fortress founder eyes healthcare, transportation

NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Fortress Investment Group Inc is looking for healthcare and transportation opportunities, areas where it already has significant investments, founder and Co-Chairman Wesley...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:26 pm

Option players brace for volatility on Exxon results

CHICAGO, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Option activity in Exxon Mobil Corp picked up on Friday as investors brace for potential share price movement after the oil company reports quarterly results on Monday.
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:21 pm

Oracle-Sun Merger Could Benefit Small Business (PC World)

PC World - Small business has reason the cheer Oracle's acquisition of Sun, now that it appears OpenOffice.org and MySQL look to do well--perhaps better--under new ownership.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:21 pm

First Round Capital Gives Entrepreneurs A Way To Get In On The Portfolio Action

In case it wasn’t obvious, being an entrepreneur is risky business. Even those that get investments have a relatively small likelihood of a successful exit. So early-stage investment firm First Round Capital has a plan to alleviate some of the risk: an entrepreneur’s exchange fund.

For those not aware, an exchange fund in this regard is exactly what it sounds like: company founders are given the option to give up a small piece of the stock they own in their venture in exchange for a piece of the action of the larger pool of all the First Round portfolio companies that choose to participate. Basically, this allows these entrepreneurs to diversify their own holdings without having to sell any stock. More importantly, it lowers their risk of walking away with nothing while adding an incentive to see other companies in the portfolio succeed.

As First Round managing director Josh Kopelman writes, “One of the benefits of having a fairly large portfolio is that our portfolio companies can offer a lot of value to each other. Whether it is sharing interview techniques, technical management strategies, sales leads, perspectives on the advertising market, or doing deals – it is always great to see portfolio companies helping each other succeed.” And with this exchange fund, all of these companies have more reason than ever to help each other out.

Kopelman notes that First Round itself doesn’t receive any financial benefit from the establishment of this fund.

First Round’s portfolio includes companies like Get Satisfaction, Gnip, Mashery, RockYou, StumbleUpon, Wikia, Xmarks, Xobni, and many others. Notably, their portfolio also contains two hot location properties right now: SimpleGeo and Hot Potato. And they participated in mobile payment company Square’s big first round.

[photo: flickr/michael spencer]



Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:19 pm

Tesla's Going Public

The Silicon Valley automaker files the paperwork needed to get the IPO ball rolling.



Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:17 pm

Northey: Iowa shouldn't buy meatpacking plant (AP)

AP - Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey said Friday he's willing to talk to other government officials about a soon-to-be-shuttered Sioux City meatpacking plant but private industry will have the final say on its future.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:12 pm

Chemistry Creates Self-Stirring Liquids

Simple chemical reactions can cause flows that will stir a mixture of liquids.



Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:09 pm

Wondering Why You Can't Pre-Order an iPad? It's Not Legal Yet

You know you can't obtain an iPad for least three months, but you may not know that the reason you can't even buy one in advance is because Apple has not yet obtained the necessary Federal Communications Commission approval to unleash it on the nation’s airwaves it protects. That's right. It's "illegal" to use one ...



Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:09 pm

Gates Foundation Plans To Invest $10B Into Vaccines

Endloser writes "Bill Gates is going to invest $10 billion to provide vaccines to people worldwide. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation believes that vaccines are the way to a better future for the world. So they have decided to make 'the largest pledge ever made by a charitable foundation to a single cause.' This 10-year, 10 billion dollar project is expected to save 8.7 million lives."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:08 pm

So Hot Right Now: Top 10 Gadgetell posts for the week of January 24, 2010

Section:

Haven’t caught all of the Gadgetell news this week?  Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles!

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


Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Steam steams ahead to 25 million users, 205 percent increase in sales

Steam, Valve’s digital distribution for video games (as well as a kind of “social network” for gamers, though the phrase “social network” makes me nauseous), is really quite successful. In 2009, its fifth year of operation, sales were up 205 percent over the previous year. The service has more than 25 million users, of which 10 million have full profiles. (I’m one of them, by the way.) That means you’re looking at a core user group, or “hardcore” in the gamer lexicon, of 10 million people. That’s a lot of people.

Steam, for the unawares, is an application that runs on Windows PCs. Users use it to download video games directly to their computer, as well as create a profile, join groups, and other social network trivialities. The main focus, though, is the downloading: rather than go to the local Best Buy or Wal-Mart, and deal with all of that, you download the game right then and there. Prices are reasonable—Steam typically has pretty fantastic sales at different points during the year—and, well, who wants to deal with dirty, dirty discs?

Oh, and you can play these games from wherever you have an Internet connection.

It’s pretty cool that the founder of Good Old Games hates Steam. Good Old Games is a similar service, but one that deals exclusively with old video games. You probably guessed that. All of its games are DRM-free, too, which is pretty nifty. (Nobody likes DRM on PC games, and the sooner it’s gone, the better.) Anyhow, the founder, Marcin Iwiński, describedto a Polish video game Web site the nightmare he had trying to uninstall the application.

Steam isn’t universally loved, that is to say.

Universally successful? Yeah, sure.



Source: CrunchGear | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Google Twists Knife In IE6, Pulls Support From Docs And Sites

This has not been the greatest start to the year for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser. Days after news of the latest security flaw in Internet Explorer, Google is adding fuel to the fire by phasing out support for IE6 for two of its Google Apps products, Docs and Sites (which recently got an aesthetic upgrade).

For both the consumer and enterprise versions of Google Docs and Sites, the only browsers that will be fully compatible are Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0+, Mozilla Firefox 3.0+, Google Chrome 4.0+ and Safari 3.0+. The phase out will take place beginning March 1. While you’ll still be able to access Docs and Sites from IE6, you will have restricted functionality and many features won’t work, making the applications for the most part useless. We hear that Google will be phasing out IE6 support for the remainder of Google’s major products, including Gmail and Calendar, over the coming year. This isn’t Google’s first move to phases out IE6 functionality for its products. Last July, the search giant began phasing out YouTube support for the Microsoft browser. For users of IE6, the online video site began pointing to ‘modern’ browsers like Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3.5 as alternatives. A similar prompt will now take place on Docs and Sites for users who are browsing from IE6.

For the most part, the tech community, including web developers and designers, tend to have a profound dislike of Internet Explorer 6. Obviously, the browse has many issues, including low performance and major security flaws. Even Microsoft itself, is recommending that all its customers upgrade to Internet Explorer 8, the latest version of the browser which has better security in place. The main reason why IE6 is still being used at all is because of corporate IT departments across the globe needing to make upgrade decisions. Unfortunately, a number of these companies still have to use the browser because they have systems in place built specifically to run with it. To add insult to injury, IE6 continues to lose market share in the browser world.

And Google isn’t the only technology company that is looking to close off support for IE6. Digg has hinted at wanting to cut support for the browser too. I have a feeling that as Google joins the web in gathering pitchforks around IE6, more companies will flock to join the movement.



Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Courts, Congress Shun Issue of Warrantless Eavesdropping

It's four years since the first lawsuits emerged accusing the National Security Agency of siphoning, without warrants, Americans' electronic communications. But neither the courts nor Congress are eager to resolve the legality of the alleged dragnet surveillance program.



Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

VC Leaderboard: Top 25 Most Active Dealmakers Of 2009

Which venture capitalists funded the most companies last year? We went through our funding data in CrunchBase to come up with the Dealmaker Rankings below. The most active VC was Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which invested in 57 deals throughout the year by our count, followed by Kleiner Perkins (49), New Enterprise Associates (47) Intel Capital (46), Sequoia Capital (42), First Round Capital (34), and Accel (33). You can see all top 25 in the interactive table below, which is followed by another table for just the fourth quarter of 2009. Mohr Davidow and DAG Ventures broke into the top ten for the quarter. You can compare those to the tables we published for the third quarter. The rankings are based on the number of deals each firm participated in during each time period. But you can also you can also re-rank the table by clicking on the different column headings to find the VC firms which participated rounds with the largest total or average values. By doing that you can see that the bigger VC firms with the most capital to deploy, such as New Enterprise, Kleiner, Accel, Venrock, and Sequoia, were the most active in the bigger rounds. The fbFund, True VEntures, First Round, and Charles River Ventures dominated the smaller, earlier stage rounds. And then interestingly, firms like Benchmark, Greylock, and Highland Capital were active at both ends of the spectrum.



Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jan 2010 | 2:35 pm

Developers, Not Apple, Will Make Or Break The iPad

The iPad's fate isn't in the hands of Apple. Jobs & Co. has done their part and made the device. The iPad's success lies solely in the hands of developers. Because unlike the iPhone or iPod touch, the iPad doesn't really have a core function. The iPhone is nothing more than a glorified telephone and the iPod touch is just another PMP. But what's the iPad? A big iPod touch? None of the iPad's functions seem to define it. Ebook reading? That may turn out to be just a novelty feature for many buyers. Web browsing? Maybe, but the Internet is formatted for a mouse and keyboard, a tablet simply doesn't offer much, if any, advantage over a netbook or computer running a full OS. Early reports are even suggesting that the iPad isn't even a solid media player because of its 4:3 aspect ratio. Then there are the millions upon millions of apps Apple has accumulated over the last two years. They, and new iPad-specific ones, are the key to success for the iPad. Without them, the iPad would just be another concept-of-function device, targeted at a small crowd with its limited capabilities of web browsing, task management, ebook reading, and media playback. The apps will likely prove to be the justification many people will need to purchase the iPad.



Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jan 2010 | 2:32 pm

Developers, not Apple, will make or break the iPad

The iPad’s fate isn’t in the hands of Apple. Jobs & Co. has done their part and made the device. The iPad’s success lies solely in the hands of developers. Because unlike the iPhone or iPod touch, the iPad doesn’t really have a core function. The iPhone is nothing more than a glorified telephone and the iPod touch is just another PMP. But what’s the iPad? A big iPod touch?

None of the iPad’s functions seem to define it. Ebook reading? That may turn out to be just a novelty feature for many buyers. Web browsing? Maybe, but the Internet is formatted for a mouse and keyboard, a tablet simply doesn’t offer much, if any, advantage over a netbook or computer running a full OS. Early reports are even suggesting that the iPad isn’t even a solid media player because of its 4:3 aspect ratio.

Then there are the millions upon millions of apps Apple has accumulated over the last two years. They, and new iPad-specific ones, are the key to success for the iPad. Without them, the iPad would just be another concept-of-function device, targeted at a small crowd with its limited capabilities of web browsing, task management, ebook reading, and media playback. The apps will likely prove to be the justification many people will need to purchase the iPad.

Developers have had the last two years to prepare for the iPad. Of course Apple didn’t tell them that eventually they will be able to make apps on a 9.7-inch screen instead of a 3.5-inch one, but most have probably dreamed of a larger platform. Apple better treat these folks better than it did with the iPhone App store. The iPad’s future is riding on them.

Just think of how spectacular some of the iPad’s native apps might look. Almost every iPad hands-on article so far states that the screen is fantastic. Plus, the iPad is apparently speedy, too, although its processor is far from the mystery silicon we all thought. All this, combined with a robust SDK, should give developers everything they need.

Just a few key video streaming apps might push some potential buyers over the edge: Hulu, Netflix, Comcast’s Xfinity. Combine those with the 3G connection, and the iPad finally has a good reason to exist. Then there is the education angle with Wikipedia (it’d make a nice app), classroom screen sharing, and e-textbooks among other things.

But it’s up to the developers now. The iPad launches in 58 days, which should be enough time for coders to pound out a bunch of iPad apps using the just-released SDK. Hopefully Apple has retooled its app review process and is prepared for the onslaught. If not, Jobs might as well step down, and hide in a small cave like Bin Laden because he’s going to have a lot of shareholders and fanboys alike out for his blood.



Source: CrunchGear | 29 Jan 2010 | 2:30 pm

T-Mobile Network Outage Stymies Nexus One Users - PC World


TG Daily
T-Mobile Network Outage Stymies Nexus One Users
PC World
Early Friday morning, Nexus One users across the country began reporting connectivity problems — mainly, that they couldn't connect to the T-Mobile data network at all. Starting at approximately 4:30 am PST, both T-Mobile and Nexus One support forums ...
New wave of outages impacts the plagued Google phoneBetaNews
Nexus One smartphones plagued by widespread data outageTG Daily
HTC Expects to Return to Sales Growth in Quarter on New ModelsBusinessWeek
InternetNews.com -Computerworld -Digitaltrends.com
all 92 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jan 2010 | 2:28 pm

New Touchscreen Technology Like Writing On Paper

An anonymous reader writes "A company claims it has the technology to make writing on touchscreens more like writing with pencil and paper, when the harder you press the thicker the line you produce. The technology uses a material called Quantum Tunneling Composite (QTC), the resistance of which is extremely sensitive to pressure, unlike today's touchscreen phones, which might be fine for basic finger-pointing, but they are poor at gauging the pressure of the touch. The hope is that this will be useful in Asia for handwriting recognition, because Asian scripts use a lot of variation in line thickness. Interestingly, screens with a standard 2D touch matrix can get the extra measure of control using a narrow strip of QTC down the side."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2010 | 2:24 pm

Start a New Career

Don't get stuck in a dead-end gig. Discover what you really like to do and learn how to get paid for it.



Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 2:20 pm

Man asks volunteers to carry him up Manhattan for 9.4 miles


Mark Malkoff says: "I just released a new video entitled, "Man Carried 9.4 Miles by Strangers in NYC". In it I set out to disprove the myth that New York is unfriendly by attempting to transport myself from the southern most end of Manhattan as far north possible only by having people on the street physically carry me along the way. I ended up being carried 9.4 miles from the entrance of the Staten Island Ferry to 141st St & Broadway by 155 different people. The footage is quite incredible!"


Source: Boing Boing | 29 Jan 2010 | 2:13 pm

Electric Car Charging Stations En Route

With all the electric vehicles on deck, I wonder how recharging them all on the road will actually go. Fast and easy, or like searching an old airport terminal for a place to charge a laptop? New stations could settle ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 2:12 pm

In regards to paid web services, here is what I am willing to pay for

Section: Web, Features, Originals

In regards to paid web services, here is what I am willing to pay for With lots of free options available online, the need to pay for a web service is becoming less and less. Some, such as web hosting are hard to avoid paying for and there are some that offer perks for paid accounts. Those perks can vary from service to service but generally include more storage, extra features or a removal of advertising.

Personally I have never been one to shy away from a paid service, that is, assuming I actually use it and find value in it. The services that I pay for vary from time to time, but there always seems to be a core group that I keep.

This reasoning behind this post comes by way of a friend who just criticized me for mentioning that I was considering paying for a Slacker Radio Plus subscription. Hey, as I said before I don’t shy away from paying for something that I find value in and use. And as you may have guessed, my friend does not like to pay—for any web services.

Anyway, I am always interested in seeing what others find value in, in other words, I like to see what services that other people are willing to pay for. Given that, I figured I would share my list and hopefully open this for some discussion.

  • Evernote - $45 a year. The free service is nice and may work well for many but I need the extra storage and prefer the extra features that come with the Premium subscription. I also like the fact that (assuming I needed it) I have access to a higher level of support.
  • Sugar Sync - $24.95 a year for 10GB. I will note that this plan is no longer available, but I have been a subscriber for a while. I guess this would be considered grandfathered in. Sugar Sync does have a free option available, which gives you you 2GB of storage, but I need a little more to make sure my documents and other important files all backed up and secure.
  • Remember The Milk - $25 a year. What can I say, this one is a must have for a person that lives by a to-do list and carries multiple smartphones.
  • MobileMe - $99 a year. I still use the online storage here, along with iWeb for easy family photo sharing however I may end up canceling this. Especially since I have recently switched my email, calendar and contacts to Google and the web. I guess sometimes free options do work better for me. Plus I can also use Picasa for those same family photos.
  • Spanning Sync - $25 a year. Syncs my Google Calendar and Contacts with iCal and Address Book on my iMac. This will likely be canceled because Mac OS 10.6 offers this now. Well, it would assuming I actually took the time to upgrade from OS 10.5.8.
  • Dreamhost - $119.40 a year. What can I say, its web hosting, one that I cannot really avoid.
  • Flickr Pro - $24.95. Again the extra features such as unlimited uploads, unlimited storage and the ability to show all of your photo sets is well worth the money.
  • Zune Pass - $14.99. I am a music fan and a Zune fan, not to mention I like having a subscription based service. Plus I get to download and keep 10 DRM-free tracks per month, so it really feels more like I am paying $4.99 a month.
  • Netflix - I am on the 1 DVD out-at-a-time plan, which is $8.99 a month. Plenty for my use. This is also more a family service as opposed to my service. Although I do like the Watch Instantly a bit thanks to my Roku set-top box.
  • Vonage - I love Vonage. I was an early, early user and feel somewhat loyal to them. I currently have the Unlimited plan which is $24.99 a month although I am considering a switch to an unlimited cell phone calling plan, which may end up seeing this get canceled. Just in case that happens, sorry Vonage, its not you, its me.

Other services that I pay for and use, that are not directly tied to the web include my cell phone(s) and a MiFi. And yes, I realize that some of these are most likely overlapping each other a bit, but they each have their own perks. I also plan to add Slacker Radio Plus to that list, which will add an extra $47.88 a year ($3.99 a month).

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


Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jan 2010 | 2:11 pm

Apple iPad Raises the Stakes for E-Readers

ipad-ereader

Apple’s much-awaited iPad tablet is a good looking, multipurpose e-reader but it is no Kindle slayer, say publishing executives and electronic-book enthusiasts. Instead, the iPad is likely to raise the stakes and help traditional e-readers evolve into more sophisticated devices.

“The iPad is for casual readers and people who favor an all-in-one type of device, while dedicated E Ink-based e-readers are for avid readers,” says Wiebe de Jager, executive director with Eburon Academic Publishers, a Netherlands-based publishing service.

“The iPad is a great device for casual reading, especially magazine-like articles and textbooks, and to a lesser extent for e-books, but there is no way you can compare the iPad’s backlit LCD screen to low-power e-readers’ screens today,” he says.

Apple on Wednesday launched the iPad, a lightweight tablet with a 9.7-inch touchscreen display that brings together web surfing, books, movies and music in an easy-to-carry device. The iPad, which will start shipping in about two months, ranges from $500 to $830 depending on storage and connectivity.

But that’s still almost twice the price of a 6-inch e-reader with half the convenience, says James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research.

“Now that we have seen the iPad, we don’t feel that the e-reader market is going to be hampered by it,” he says. “Smaller sized e-readers are half the price of an iPad and great for reading.”

But McQuivey expects the iPad to hurt the large-screen readers category, which includes the Kindle DX and the Plastic Logic Que. The Kindle DX features a 9.7-inch black-and-white screen and is priced at $490, while the 10.5-inch Plastic Logic Que with E Ink costs $650 or $800 depending on the storage offered.

An iPad Screen for All Seasons?

The fundamental difference between digital-book readers and their electronic peers, such as laptops and phones, is display technology.

Smartphones and laptops use LCD screens that offer vivid color images but are difficult to read in sunlight. Electronic-ink displays, as seen in the Kindle and other e-book readers, are currently stuck in a black-and-white world but they claim a better reading experience. Take a Kindle or a Sony Reader to the park on a sunny weekend and you could have a daylong picnic with just the e-reader.

The iPad can’t offer the same advantages. Vinita Jakhanwal, an analyst with research firm iSuppli say an LCD screen is not as sunlight-friendly as an E Ink display.

The LCD screen also consumes more battery: An iPad promises 10 hours of battery life compared to a Kindle, which doesn’t have to be charged for at least a week. The Kindle’s E Ink screen consumes power only when the page is turned; turn off the wireless and you can go for a week without plugging it in. By comparison an LCD display is said to drink anywhere from 40 percent to 60 percent of the device’s overall power consumption. Backlighting in LCDs can drain power, though companies are trying to use LEDs for the backlight to save on power.

An LCD screen can also be harsher on the eyes. “Reading for a few hours on a handheld LCD screen can be quite a strain,” says Jakhanwal.

Where the iPad does score is in its ability to offer a color display and the ability to embed audio and video files in books. That may not be an advantage for too long. Both E Ink and Qualcomm are working on offering color screens that consume very little power and can be used both outdoors and indoors. At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, Pixel Qi showed a LCD display that can switch between a full-color video mode and a low-power black-and-white display.

A Better Look for E-Books

The Kindle and the Nook’s black-and-white screens may have reduced eye strain but they also stripped the aesthetics out of books. Shorn of the usual typographic tools, e-books on these devices have turned into monotonous blocks of characters.

The iPad will offer publishers a chance to come up with enhanced e-books that contain images, links, background material, embedded audio and even video. It’s a move that’s likely to prompt other traditional e-reader makers to offer tools that will improve the layout of books, says McQuivey. And upcoming color screens for e-readers could help level the playing field between the iPad and other e-readers.

“What the iPad does is say that you don’t have to give up the reading experience when you get the device,” he says.

But some die-hard e-reader fans like Len Edgerly, who hosts the weekly Kindle Chronicles podcast, say pretty e-books aren’t as big a draw as some would think.

“When I am reading, I don’t want to be too distracted,” he says. “It’s about the words, and when I read the Kindle, it seems to bring me closer to the author’s words. That’s essence of reading to me.”

Publishers Battle for the Best Deal

Ultimately, the fight for dominance in the e-reader market is likely to be fought among two giants: Apple and Amazon. And the key to this war will be pricing.

Amazon has been battling publishers to offer electronic best-sellers in its online store for $10. So far, though, Apple hasn’t announced pricing for books in its iBooks store. Reports indicate that it is likely to be in the $14 to $15 range.

“It’s going to be a titanic struggle with publishers trying hard to get Amazon to abandon the $10-bestsellers pricing,” says Edgerly. “But they are unlikely to succeed.”

For Amazon, the success of the Kindle as a hardware platform is secondary to the company’s desire to sell more books, and pricing is the key to the latter.

As a consumer, Edgerly says even if Apple books come with a few extra videos or audios, he won’t pay for it.

“Why would I pay an extra $3 to see a video or hear audio when I get the same book for much less on Amazon?” he says.

Reaching Out to the World

Though Apple’s Steve Jobs has said that books in the iBooks store will be based on the open standard EPUB, which is supported by all e-book readers but the Kindle, he hasn’t talked about digital rights management (DRM).

For now, iBooks are expected to be available only in the United States. That could be because Apple may be using its own DRM system, Fairplay, says de Jager. The iBooks DRM will not be compatible with that of Adobe’s.

“So all those people, mainly in Europe, buying Adobe DRM’ed books will not be able to read them in the iBooks app and vice versa,” he says. “It seems that Apple is trying to create their own e-book ecosystem, just like Amazon did with the Kindle store, Kindle e-book format and Kindle DRM.”

The future of e-reading lies in open e-book systems without DRM, and it is not clear how Apple or Amazon will take to that.

ipad-ereader-comparison

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

See Also:



Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jan 2010 | 2:11 pm

Apple iPad Raises Stakes for E-Readers

Apple's iPad tablet is no Kindle slayer. But it will raise the stakes for this fast-growing category.



Source: Wired: Gadgets | 29 Jan 2010 | 2:11 pm

Apple iPad Raises Stakes for E-Readers

Apple's iPad tablet is no Kindle slayer. But it will raise the stakes for this fast-growing category.



Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 2:11 pm

Review: Video Pal is the looping fireplace for a new generation

Short Version: If you’ve seen the looping fireplace video (made famous by New York’s WPIX and commonly aired on TV around the holidays) or used it yourself, there’s a new video in town. Except instead of a burning yule log, there’s a girl sitting in a chair.

Review:

Nobody knows her name and she rarely speaks during the 1 hour, 39 minute-long Video Pal DVD, but fire up the disc during your next party and watch what happens. I had Video Pal going all night long during the 1st Annual Aamoth Family New Year’s Eve Party and got the following reactions from our guests.

  • What the hell is that?
  • Oh my God! She’s actually moving! I thought it was a photo!
  • This is creepy.
  • I like the fireplace better.
  • Here’s what’s intriguing about this. You have a relatively regular girl – she’s pretty but not overly pretty – sitting in a room for hours. So you start to notice things and ask different questions. Like, what’s up with that horse picture? And the picture frame on the table has no picture in it. And what’s with the giraffe? Man, she’s got long hair. And one of her eyebrows is higher than the other one.
  • She looks bored.

I had the yule log video going on an adjacent screen and there were mixed reactions between the two. Most older guests liked the yule Log, most younger guests liked Video Pal. Hipsters, especially, liked Video Pal. It’s so weird that it’s enjoyable.

The back of the DVD makes promises such as “I play well at parties when nothing else is on TV” and “I play well when you’re feeling alone” – even crazy shit like “I play well when your boyfriend/girlfriend just broke up with you and you just need someone to be there for you.”

It’s all tongue-in-cheek, of course, but I can assure you that it’s definitely something that people will talk about at a party. As for the part about keeping you company, the girl seems pretty bored most of the time, which made me feel embarrassed that I didn’t have anything fun for her to do. But I can’t talk to you, lady! Cut me some slack! It’s a one-way street!

The disc is available for $13. All in all, not a bad purchase for your next party. Here’s a list of things she does and here’s a short demo video.

Product Page: Video Pal



Source: CrunchGear | 29 Jan 2010 | 2:00 pm

Make: Electronics e-book on sale for $9.95

Make-Electronics

The O'Reilly Media Ebook Deal of the Day: Make: Electronics -- Only $9.99! (Regular price: $27.99) Use discount code ME999.




Source: Boing Boing | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:54 pm

Gay Dating Site Airs Super Bowl Ad Online [Voices]

By Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

ManCrunch, a gay dating site, hopes its first commercial will air during the Super Bowl. But if not, it’ll always have YouTube.

The 30-second spot features two rival football fans who brush fingers reaching for the popcorn, which leads to a frantic make-out session. The camera pulls back to reveal a third, bewildered friend watching the commotion. ManCrunch advertises itself as “where many many many men come out to play.”

According to the New York Post, CBS hasn’t said whether it has approved the ad, but a ManCrunch spokesman said the site has been told that all the ad space has been sold–a claim he questioned. The telecast’s advertising is heavy on blue-chip marketers and often rejects racy or political ads, though it’s expected to include one by Focus on the Family this year.

It may not matter, if it goes viral online. ManCrunch, anticipating that it might not make the cut, posted the ad on YouTube Thursday, where it’s already gotten more than 15,000 views.

Read the rest of this post on the original site


Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:45 pm

Convera(R) Corporation Sets Record Date for Liquidating Distribution and Declares an Initial Liquidating Cash Distribution to Shareholders of $0.10 per Share

VIENNA, Va., Jan.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:45 pm

Microsoft CFO confirms Windows Mobile 7 details coming next month

Cut to the Fox green room, as Peter Klein, CFO of Microsoft, prepares for an interview with Fox Business News

Flack: Okay Peter. You can talk about pretty much whatever you want during this interview. Windows 7, Bing, whatever. Just don’t talk about Windows Mobile 7.

Peter: Why not?

Flack: We’re just not talking about it yet. We want to make a big splash and surprise everyone at Mobile World Congress next month.

Peter: Doesn’t everyone already sort of know?

Flack: Yeah, but still. We’ve successfully avoided saying the words “Windows Mobile 7″ for a long while now. Just don’t say anything.

Peter: Fine.

Five minutes later..

Peter: So uh, yeah. That thing I was supposed to talk about.. that wasn’t Windows Mobile 7, was it?

And here we have it, folks; if there were any doubts left as to what Microsoft would be announcing at next month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, let them be cast away. Microsoft CFO Peter Klein just said it himself:

We are heads down working on Windows Mobile 7 and we will have much more to say about that at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.

Cut to around 4 minutes in to hear it yourself.

[via WMPoweruser]

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



Source: MobileCrunch | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:41 pm

Digital Realty Trust Announces Organizational Changes

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR), the world's largest wholesale datacenter provider, announced today that Mike Manos has resigned from the company as Senior Vice President of Technical Services, effective January 29, 2010. Mr.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:37 pm

Adobe Plays the Porn Card in Flash Campaign Against iPad

picture-16

Apple has clearly hurt Adobe’s feelings. When Steve Jobs demonstrated an iPad at Wednesday’s tablet event, its Safari browser clearly did not support Flash. Adobe has published a blog post calling Flash the Apple iPad’s “broken link.” And now Adobe’s platform evangelist Lee Brimelow has compiled an illustrative montage (partly screengrabbed above) in an effort to illustrate what the lack of Flash means for the iPad.

Note row two, column two. Adobe has included a porn site. Though porn is certainly relevant to many people’s web experiences, that’s kind of a desperate move. My friend Matt Drance, Apple’s former iPhone evangelist, summed up what this means on Twitter: “Adobe has resorted to playing the porn card. It’s over.”

See Also:



Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:35 pm

Danny Choo's call for entries for his Otacool 2 cosplayer convention book

201001291211

Boing Boing guest blogger alum Danny Choo posted a call for entries for his book about the Otacool Worldwide Cosplayers covention. He's posted a bunch of cosplayers from around the world on his blog. Shown here: Alodia Gosiengfiao from the Philippines as The Baroness from GI Joe.

Kotobukiya is pleased to announce the arrival of OTACOOL 2: WORLDWIDE COSPLAYERS in April 2010! In collaboration with Danny Choo and the Internet's largest cosplay destination Cure, OTACOOL 2 promises even more stimulating and groundbreaking content. In keeping with the same concept of "OTAKU is COOL", the next volume of OTACOOL will focus on cosplayers from around the world!
Otacool Worldwide Cosplayers
Previously:



Source: Boing Boing | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:23 pm

IBM Works with Walt Disney Imagineering to Create a New Smarter Planet Exhibit

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla., Jan.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:21 pm

Tagetik Positioned in Visionaries Quadrant in Leading Industry Analyst Firm's Magic Quadrant for CPM Suites 2009 Report

Performance Management and Financial Governance plus extended Business Intelligence, Collaboration and Communication. Tagetik 3.0 creates value by simplifying complex business processes for CFOs and CIOs
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:17 pm

PICMG 2.30 CompactPCI PlusIO Specification Adopted

AMBLER, Pa., Jan.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:15 pm

Small Business IT Systems Automation Spotlighted During Interactive Showcase in Houston, Texas

HOUSTON, Jan. 29 /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. at the Hotel ICON, located at 220 Main Street.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:10 pm

Bee My Friend? Depends on Your Face

Bees can be trained to sniff out explosives and cocaine, and here's something else they can be trained to do: tell apart one human face from another, according to a study published in the February issue of Journal of Experimental ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:03 pm

AT&T to begin requiring messaging plans with select feature phones

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Email / IM, Mobile

Assuming we can believe that this AT&T flyer is the real deal, then it looks like AT&T is going to begin requiring owners of select feature phones to have a messaging plan.

The phones have been dubbed as “Quick Messaging” phones and will include the Pantech Reveal, Pantech Impact, Motorola Karma, Samsung Flight, Samsung Impression, Samsung Magnet, Samsung Solstice, Samsung Mythic, Samsung Propel, LG Xenon, LG Neon and the LG Vu.

Price wise, the messaging plan will set you back at least an extra $20 bucks per month, which will be for the Messaging Unlimited plan. Additionally there is another $20 option which includes 200 messages and unlimited data. You can also opt to use an international or family messaging plan, and as you would expect they are both more than $20 per month.

The good news here is that if you are currently using one of the above phones you will not be required to do anything special now. That said, be prepared to spend a little extra money the next time you go in to upgrade.

Via [BGR]

AT&T to begin requiring messaging plans with select feature phones

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


Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:02 pm

Court Preliminarily Approves Partial Settlement of 'In re Atmel Corporation Derivative Litigation'

SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:00 pm

Apple Video Shows iPad Flash Support, But Don't Believe It

In a promotional video, Apple's iPad appears to properly load Flash content. But the sample units at the tablet event, including the iPad demonstrated by Steve Jobs, did not load Flash, leading a consumer to file a complaint to the FTC alleging false advertising.



Source: Wired: Gadgets | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:00 pm

Apple Video Shows iPad Flash Support, But Don't Believe It

In a promotional video, Apple's iPad appears to properly load Flash content. But the sample units at the tablet event, including the iPad demonstrated by Steve Jobs, did not load Flash, leading a consumer to file a complaint to the FTC alleging false advertising.



Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 1:00 pm

Windows Mobile Finally Checks Out Foursquare

For much of the past year, the major criticism of Foursquare was that it only worked in a few select cities in the U.S. and was basically iPhone-only. In the past few months, both Foursquare itself and a growing core of third-party developers have changed that. Today brings yet another expansion in the Foursquare universe with the beta launch of a Windows Mobile app.

To be clear, this app is only meant for touch screen Windows phones, and you need to be running either Windows Mobile 6.1 or 6.5. But if you have those, you can submit your email address here to be let into the beta. Once they kick the tires in beta for a bit, the plan is to submit the app to the Windows Marketplace for Mobile, Windows Mobile Sr. Product Manager Anand Iyer writes today on his personal blog. Iyer has been working on this project on the side for a few months now, and made the app along with the help of development house Touchality.

This isn’t (yet) an officially sanctioned Foursquare app, but Iyer and crew have been working with the Foursquare team since before the public APIs were made available to get it done. Foursquare itself made its iPhone app and the just-launched BlackBerry app, but the Android app and the WebOS app (that works on the Palm Pre) were also done by a team outside the company. This addition of a Windows Mobile app leaves Symbian as the only major mobile OS with a native client, but work is also being done on that front. Foursquare also offers a limited mobile web version.

Foursquare itself is hard at work on a complete revamping of their main website. While it currently serves as a way to view some of your location data, you can’t do things such as check-in from the site. For that, I’d recommend using the excellent FoursquareX application. Unfortunately, that is Mac-only for now.



Source: TechCrunch | 29 Jan 2010 | 12:56 pm

Introducing our 'Games To Get' Page

gamestoget.jpg Over the past few months, I've made more than a handful of scattered game recommendations, whether in the form of yearly wrap-up lists of indie/iPhone and console/handheld games, sketchbook/concept art gallery posts, or more simple compiled reminders of the best releases of the week. And for just as long, there wasn't an easy way to keep all those games straight, especially if you'd just managed to get your hands on an iPhone or PS3 or DS for the first time. And so now, we present, the official Games To Get page. For now, then, it's a compiled list of 2009's top games across all platforms (along with a few extras), with quick descriptions and links to each game's original mention, and a download link that'll take you to the App Store, Amazon, or simply to the freeware/indie download page. In the future, every recommendation will also come with an update to the list, keeping it a dynamic and growing guide to the best the indies and industry proper have to offer, and also, if nothing else, proof positive (as became clear when the page was finished) that there's still, thankfully, a healthy cross-section of developers that believe games can be more than muddied washes of brown and gunmetal grey. Boing Boing: Games To Get


Source: Boing Boing | 29 Jan 2010 | 12:50 pm

$10 Billion Vaccine Pledge From Bill Gates

A ten billion dollar pledge has been made by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to aid in the research of new vaccines that will help the world’s most underprivileged countries. The Microsoft co-founder and his wife announced the pledge at the World Economic Forum on Friday.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Jan 2010 | 12:49 pm

NASA Releases First Free E-Book on History of X-15 Rocket Plane

NASA releases an e-book dedicated to the X-15 hypersonic aircraft, the first in a series of titles coming from the agency.



Source: Wired Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 12:34 pm

Tropical Storm Nisha Being Battered By Wind Shear

TRMM satellite sees light-moderate rainfallNisha is not expected to maintain its tropical storm status this weekend, because it is being battered by wind shear.At 10 a.m. ET, January 29, Tropical Storm Nisha was barely hanging onto its status as a tropical storm, with maximum sustained winds near 39 mph (35 knots). It was located 150 nautical miles west-northwest of Rarotonga, near 19.8 South and 161.9 West. It was moving east-northeast near 11 mph.The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, managed by NASA and the Japanese Space Agency flew over Nisha on January 28 and noticed that most of its rainfall is light to moderate, and spans from the south to the northeastern side of the storm. There were some isolated areas of heavy rainfall where rain was falling at about 2 inches per hour. However, most of the rain was moderate, falling at rates between 20 and 40 millimeters (.78 to 1.57 inches) per hour.Nisha is in an area of moderate to high vertical wind shear which is battering and weakening the storm. Nisha is forecast to move slowly to the east and dissipate over the latter half of the weekend.---Image Caption: The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite captured Nisha's rainfall on Jan. 28 at 1947 UTC (2:47 p.m. ET). The rainfall is occurring from the south to northeast of the storm's center. The yellow and green areas indicate moderate rainfall between .78 to 1.57 inches per hour. Red areas are heavy rainfall at almost 2 inches per hour. Credit: NASA/SSAI, Hal Pierce
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jan 2010 | 12:33 pm

2 Satellites See TD11S Going Extra-Tropical

Image Caption: On Jan. 29 the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite noticed light showers (green/yellow) continue to wrap into TD11S's low-level center from the southwest quadrant of the storm. Note the area devoid of rainfall is the opening in the circulation on the northwestern side of the storm. Credit: NASA/SSAI Hal Pierce
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jan 2010 | 12:30 pm

Forget Gingko: Try Blueberries for Improved Memory

Blueberries contain an antioxidant that could prevent mental health decline as you age.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 12:30 pm

The iPad: Get used to blue Lego tiles

201001291126 (Via TheFlashBlog)


Source: Boing Boing | 29 Jan 2010 | 12:29 pm

Tropical Storm Olga: Three Time A Lady

Image Caption: NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Olga at 11:29 p.m. EST Jan. 28 and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-E (AMSR-E) instrument measured the winds on Olga's eastern side to be around 34 mph or 30 knots (in red), just before she strengthened back to tropical storm status. Credit: NASA/JTWC
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jan 2010 | 12:22 pm

In China, Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattering Google [Voices]

By Sky Canaves, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

In case you’ve missed it, China’s irrepressible shanzhai enthusiasts have been at it again, using imitation to pay tribute to Google (GOOG).

Since Google’s Jan. 12 announcement that it might withdraw from the Chinese market, two knockoff Web sites have appeared in China bearing an intentionally uncanny resemblance to Google sites.

Goojje.com, a spoof of Google’s Chinese site, was founded by a female college student in Guangdong and put together by a group of about 20 people around the country, according to Chinese media. Its Chinese name (谷姐, whose Mandarin pronunciation is Romanized as “gujie”) is a pun that can be translated as either “Google’s big sister” or “valley girl.” (Google’s Chinese name translates as “valley song,” and it also sounds like “valley big brother.”)

On the Goojje home page, the lettering of the logo features nearly identical font and coloring as Google’s main search page, but with the addition of a blue pawprint that nods to Baidu’s similar logo. The home page features a slogan in support of the site that obviously inspired it: “When older brother stayed for older sister, sister was delighted as before.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site


Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jan 2010 | 12:08 pm

1975 Artists' Soapbox Derby


Gopod bless Mayor Mike Haeg for uploading this incredible video of a 1975 artists' soapbox derby in San Francisco. It's like Maker Faire 35 years ago!

I stumbled across and purchased an actual print of this film back in SF while working on a project for the SF MOMA. Amanda Pope did a great job capturing the spirit of creativity and the event itself. I wonder where all of these cars are today?
1975 Artists' Soapbox Derby


Source: Boing Boing | 29 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm

Who’s on Crack in tech: 1.29.10

Section: Audio, Headphones, Portable Audio, Video, Portable Video, Communications, Features, Originals, Columns, Who's On Crack

Welcome back to Gadgetell’s answer to Friday boredom.  This week, we look at the moves in the tech world that are more than just awkward, sweaty, desperation.  No, these moves could only be made by folks on narcotics.  Let’s get to the addicted, er accused.

  • iPad beta tester leak is a hoax
  • More on that iPod touch camera story
  • Hulu could be dead to me
  • First ever Fanboi Award doled out

Calacanis iPad hoax gets them good

Jason Calacanis pulls hoax

If someone twitters in the forest, will it become fodder for the “prestige media”?  If it is Jason Calacanis tweeting about his experience as a beta tester for the Apple Tablet, the answer is a resounding, “yup”.  Calacanis “leaked” the iPad had solar panels, TiVo-like DVR, finger print reader, facial recognition, wireless charging and the kicker: Facebook’s Farmville for iPad a “huge game changer.”

We now know his info was bunk.  Sites such as the Wall Street Journal, Wired, Joystiq, Macworld, Reuters all picked up the story, as they would any other quasi-credible sources talking about the biggest product launch of the month.  Quasi-credible no more Mr. Calacanis.

Is Calacanis yucking it up now with his cronies?  Is there a selfish smug satisfaction in duping puppies who believe a giant meaty bone is just around the next corner?  Or does her really have iPad 2.0, the really expensive version for crack addicts?  My money is on the latter.

2 events and still no freaking camera for iPod touch?

What gives Apple?  I’ve got a few hundred dollars burning a freaking hole through my jeans I’d love to fork over for a new iPod touch.  I’ve waited through two events, one a sure thing where iPod cases were supposed to spoil the surprise of a new video camera on the touch and still nothing.

Did you punk me?  Did you, Apple, go out and leak specs that included a camera on the new iPod touch only to fake us out?  Really?  You would tool up a whole iPod case facility all in a cruel joke on me?  Really?

Are you guys working with Calacanis?

Hulu thinking about capitalization

In our tit for tat exchange yesterday on the iPad, I was quick to grab ahold of Flash as an con for the device.  The single reason for wanting Flash (for me anyway) is Hulu, the video streaming site that has so much of today’s current content.  But, like any good thing, Hulu is thinking the end is near.

Our Greg Billetdeaux reports, “rumors are swirling around the web about Hulu’s possible two new business models. Both of them charging money for our shows.”

And with that, Flash is dead to me.  I will take joy in the broken link images, the fast website downloading when I am on the go and missing out on all those fun Flash games that hold my attention for 30 seconds.

Who's on Crack Fanboi Award

Gaecke wins fanboi award

Congratulations go out to Appletell writer Jack Gaecke who wins the inaugural Who’s on Crack Fanboi Award.  You might recall I poked fun at him over his CES almost non-stop chatter about Monster and how great they are.  Gaecke’s unfettered adoration for all things Monster continue to amaze us.  But it wasn’t his prose that won him the award, oh no.

Though his words were plentiful while expressing his undying love for the Beats by Dr. Dre.  “Amazing” “Beyond mind blowing” ” I’ve never felt headphones have changed the way I listen to music before these”.  Impressive accolades, to be sure, and I know he means every word of them.  But that wasn’t the clincher for Gaecke.  It was this:

Pure audio bliss

A picture is worth a thousand words.  It is rare for a reviewer to have the courage to put an image of themselves in the review, but this image speaks volumes on the level Gaecke is in love with these headphones, almost, perhaps, to an unhealthy level.  I am unsure if I should contact his finace, a doctor or maybe just a hotel that rents rooms by the hour.

Kudos for being brave enough to show the world your level of dysfunction, er love for a product.

 

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


Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jan 2010 | 11:59 am

AMP Releases Statement On Oversight Of Laboratory Tests

Association for Molecular Pathology releases a position statement on the oversight of laboratory developed tests to foster discussion among stakeholders and meets with the US Food and Drug Administration
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jan 2010 | 11:54 am

Toshiba TG02 spotted cruising through the FCC

When the Toshiba TG01 launched way back in July of last year, it seemed like an absolute beast of a handset – and you know what? It still does. Packing a 1Ghz processor into an ultra-slim handset behind a big ol’ 4.1″ touchscreen, the TG01 is still right on the cutting edge if we’re only counting the hardware specs.

Leaked roadmaps made us expect the sequel, the TG02, would launch sometime at the end of last year – but that obviously hasn’t happened. Just when we thought the project might have vamoosed, handset numero dos cruises on through the FCC.

Alas, this doesn’t do much to clarify a launch date, nor does it necessarily mean it’s launching in the US. But at least we know the TG02 isn’t dead in the water, right?

Speaking of water, the purported specs pinpoint this thing as being waterproof. And speaking of specs..

Known TG02 specs, as of the last leaks:

  • 4.1″ WVGA touchscreen
  • 1GHz Snapdragon processor
  • Windows Mobile 6.5
  • 3.2 megapixel camera
  • HSDPA
  • Integrated GPS
  • IPX4 water resistant
  • 9.9mm thickness

[FCC Via Engadget]

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Source: MobileCrunch | 29 Jan 2010 | 11:53 am

Apple Video Shows iPad Flash Support, But Don’t Believe It

Some of Apple’s promotional material about the iPad implies the device’s Safari browser can load Adobe Flash content. However, demonstration units of the tablet, including the one presented by Steve Jobs, could not, and a consumer has already filed a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission alleging false advertising.

9to5Mac’s Seth Weintraub noticed that a Flash-based section of the NYTimes.com front page appears to load properly in the video above. The “Video” section of NYTimes.com that loads around the 1:15 mark is normally a piece of Flash content. Weintraub points out that the rendering and the resolution independence makes it look like the iPad really is loading Flash.

But that’s unlikely to be the case. If the iPad really did support Flash, it would be quite odd. Steve Jobs made no mention of Flash during Wednesday’s tablet event, and you would think he would highlight that since the lack of Flash for the iPhone remains an incessant complaint among customers.

Also, when Jobs demonstrated the tablet and showed NYTimes.com in the browser, it clearly reveals a missing chunk for where the Flash content is supposed to be. (Check out the keynote video at Apple’s website at the 13:10 mark.)

ipad-flash-100129-6First noted by AppleInsider, a second example where Flash appears to be working on the iPad is a press image (right). It depicts an NYTimes.com slideshow that would require Flash support.

Adobe has already reacted to the iPad’s lack of Flash support, and you would think the company would know if Apple was really going to put Flash in the tablet. So while consumers can wish for adequate Flash support on the iPhone and the iPad, in the near term this seems like a pipe dream.

Paul Threatt, a graphic designer at Jackson Walker design group, has filed a complaint to the FTC alleging false advertising. His statement reads:

On the Apple iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch devices, Apple provides a proprietary web browser named Safari. On these electronic devices, Apple computer does not support the web browser extension commonly referred to as “Flash”. The Adobe Flash extension is a popular browser plug-in that has gained wide popularity due to its ability to easily display video and image based slideshows on the web.

In several advertisements and images representing the apple products in question, Apple has purposefully elected to show these devices correctly displaying content that necessitates the Adobe Flash plug-in. This is not possible on the actual devices, and Apple is very aware of that fact. Despite the controversial lack of support for Adobe Flash on these devices, Apple has elected to depict these correctly utilizing the Flash plug-in. This constitutes willful false advertising and Apple’s advertising practices for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the new iPad should be forcibly changed.

“I’m a huge Apple loyalist, so it kind of annoys me that they’re going and doing stuff like this,” Threatt told Wired.com. “Unless they’ve got something up their sleeve to actually give us Flash, it seems like false advertising in a big way.”

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Flash support or Threatt’s complaint.

Flash has already gotten Apple in trouble in the past. In the U.K., two customers complained that Apple was falsely advertising the iPhone in a TV commercial by saying “all the parts of the internet are on the iPhone” when the handset does not support Flash. The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority deemed the ad misleading and pulled the ad.

In November 2008, Wired.com explained why it’s unlikely Apple will support Flash on the iPhone. We pointed out Flash was not allowed in the iPhone developers’ terms of service agreement, which stated, “An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise…. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s).” (I don’t have access to the latest iPhone developers’ TOS agreement because it’s under strict NDA, but I doubt that clause has changed.)

We also noted allowing Flash would open doors to content that competes with apps in the App Store, so it would probably be in Apple’s best interest to shy away from the platform. Lastly, Flash would potentially introduce a slew of performance problems as well. Flash has been known for sporadic crashing and quickly depleting battery life, as well as security risks, which amount to many potential headaches for Apple.

Update 1:45 p.m. PDT: Weintraub has posted more information: “We’ve just got word from our source at Chiat/Day Media Arts Lab that they make fake optimized web pages for all of Apple’s commercials — which load faster. In this case they made optimized images to take the place of Flash and are redoing them as we speak.”

Updated 11:30 a.m. with Paul Threatt’s complaint filed to the FTC.

See Also:



Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jan 2010 | 11:36 am

Google CEO: Ask Not What Google Can Do for China–Ask What China Can Do for Google [Digital Daily]

Google doesn’t want to leave China. It just wants to fix China.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, today, CEO Eric Schmidt said he really doesn’t want to shutter Google’s Chinese operations, he would just like the company to have more of a role in shaping its domestic policy.

“We like what China is doing in terms of growth…we just don’t like censorship,” Schmidt said. “We hope that will change and we can apply some pressure to make things better for the Chinese people.”

Asked later what it might take for Google (GOOG) to remain in China–aside from pull more Internet users than the total population of the United States–Schmidt replied, “We would very much like to stay in China. We would very much like the censorship we oppose to improve in China.”

Sadly, that doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon. Certainly, the public and confrontational manner in which Google has chosen to approach the issue has not gone over well with the Chinese government, which seems unlikely to capitulate. Meanwhile, Google rivals are making it known that they are perfectly willing to step in if and when the search sovereign leaves the country.

Consider this treatise on Sino-Redmondian relations from Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer:

Engagement in China and around the world is very important to us, in part because we believe it accelerates access to 21st century technology and services and helps provide the widest possible range of ideas and information. We have done business in China for more than 20 years and we intend to stay engaged, which means our business must respect the laws of China. That’s true for every company doing business in countries around the world: we are all subject to local laws.
 
At the same time, Microsoft is opposed to restrictions on peaceful political expression, and we have conversations with governments to make our views known.  In every country in which we operate, including China, Microsoft requires proper legal authority before we remove any Internet content; and if we remove content, we give users notice.


Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jan 2010 | 11:17 am

QWERTY FTW! T-Mobile myTouch Slide caught in the flesh

Take the T-Mobile myTouch, and strap on a physical QWERTY keyboard. Give it a light tap with an ugly stick, and then convert the trackball into an optical trackpad. What do you get? The myTouch Slide.

Once a figment of our imaginations (and hopes and dreams), the myTouch Slide has been popping up endlessly around the rumor watercooler as of late – and here it is in all of it’s plasticky flesh, according to the gents over at DroidDeveloper.

Alas, the rumored specs aren’t all that impressive – they’re pretty close to what the original (and now rather aged) myTouch has been packing since it launched a few months shy of a year ago. The screen is pushing pixels at a pretty mediocre resolution of 320×480, and the processor is seemingly clocked at the same speed. On the upside: Its got QWERTY! and a 3.5mm headset jack! and it’s presumably running Android 2.0 or later!

[DroidDevelopers via TmoNews]

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Source: MobileCrunch | 29 Jan 2010 | 11:09 am

AT&T Beefing Up Network for iPad and iPhone - PC World


Product Reviews (blog)
AT&T Beefing Up Network for iPad and iPhone
PC World
The recent flurry of rumors predicting the end of AT&T's arrangement as exclusive provider of the Apple iPhone were apparently false. In fact, not only did Apple not announce the demise of exclusivity, it doubled down on its exclusive ...
The Significance Of Apple Sticking With AT&T For The iPadAtlantic Online
Who will buy the iPad?CNET
Apple iPad Adds to Pressure on AT&TBusinessWeek
Reuters -ChannelWeb -NetworkWorld.com
all 831 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jan 2010 | 11:08 am

Facebook Status and the Imperfect Alibi

Rodney Bradford is a lucky guy. Charged with committing a robbery in Brooklyn last November, Bradford was freed when his lawyer proved that Bradford's Facebook status updated a minute before the robbery began. The computer that sent the update was ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 11:00 am

T-Mobile to begin offering trackball replacement program for Pearl, Curve owners

Section: Communications, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

T-Mobile to begin offering trackball replacement program for Pearl, Curve owners T-Mobile is getting ready to launch a trackball replacement program that is sure to make a few BlackBerry users happy. The program will be valid for users of the BlackBerry Pearl 8100 and 8120 as well as the BlackBerry Curve 8320. Additionally, the user needs to have purchased the handset from T-Mobile.

In short, if you have one of those above listed models and have a janky trackball you can head on in to your nearest T-Mobile retail store and have it replaced for free. The replacement program will begin as of February 15, 2010.

Read [TmoNews] Via [Gizmodo]

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


Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jan 2010 | 10:56 am

Water vapor: a warming wild card

The global temperature record of the decade just ended -- the warmest on record -- is not really what a lot of climate scientists would have expected. What many of the experts want to know is, why wasn't it warmer? ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 10:45 am

Another Tech IPO You Haven't Been Waiting For [MediaMemo]

123Facebook is officially out of the running for a 2010 IPO, and it’s a good bet that other sort-of candidates like Zynga are going to be waiting for a while, too.

So if you really want to make a bet on a Webby public offering in the near future, you’re going to have to wager on companies with a…less impressive pedigree. Companies like FriendFinder Networks, which runs a collection of porn sites and niche social networks, or Vringo, which is ostensibly in the ringtone business and wants to raise $64 million to keep going.

UPDATE: Vringo notes that it is only looking to sell $13.8 million worth of shares and warrants in its initial offering, but that conversion of warrants could eventually generate tens of millions more.

How can ringtones still be a business in 2010? For Vringo, they aren’t: The company has been giving them away for free, though it hopes to start selling them soonish.

Better hurry. Vringo has raised $17.5 million since 2006, and has burned through almost all of that. Total revenue so far: $36,000, generated by a partner in Armenia. PaidContent has more details from the S-1.


Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jan 2010 | 10:12 am

Netflix No iPad Early Adopter [Digital Daily]


[ See post to watch video ]


Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jan 2010 | 10:00 am

Dell lowers the price of the Adamo, now priced at just under $1,000

Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Laptops

We have seen the price of the Dell Adamo drop in the past, most recently it was lowered by $500 which put it around the $1,500 price point. But that is not the case anymore as Dell has once again lowered the price, putting it a just under the $1,000 mark. And yes, by just under the $1,000 mark I do mean that it is priced at $999. But hey, that was another big price drop so for those that may have been holding out for a Dell Adamo but were scared away by the high price, now may be a good time to commit to purchase. That said, if you plan on making any upgrades you can expect to pay around the $1,799 price point.

As far as what you will get for your $999. Well that model is dubbed the Admire and comes with a 13.4-inch 16:9 HD WLED display, 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, full-sized keyboard with back-lighting and is running Windows 7 Home Premium.

Product [Dell] Via [Engadget]

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


Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jan 2010 | 9:43 am

Afghanistan's Fragile Wildlife

After decades of war and internal conflict, it would be easy to assume that Afghanistan's wildlife has been as decimated as its infrastructure. Since the 1979 Soviet invasion, the country's had no systematic or serious management of land. An unsettled ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 9:25 am

E-Readers Fall Short for News, Study Says [Voices]

By Sarmad Ali, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

The newspaper industry is struggling to hold onto its audience, and e-readers such as the Kindle may not help, according to a new University of Georgia study.

Among its findings: Younger consumers find the Kindle “old” compared to their smart phones, while older consumers miss the traditional newspaper fixtures that they get in the print edition.

During the six-month study, conducted by the university’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, participants read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the Amazon (AMZN) reader and provided feedback.

For younger adults, the Kindle fell short because it lacked a touch screen and multiple applications–from music to surfing the Internet–available in many smart phones.

Older adults were overall more receptive to the concept of an e-reader, but missed the crossword puzzles and comics available in traditional papers.

Read the rest of this post on the original site


Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jan 2010 | 9:20 am

Everything You Need to Know About TV News [MediaMemo]

This excellent deconstruction of TV news, via comedian/writer Charlie Brooker, has been circulating for the past few days, but there’s a good chance you haven’t seen it since it never mentions the word “Apple,” “tablet” or “iPad.” If that’s the case, you should watch it now.

Technically, this may be NSFW, but the limited cursing here is done by British people, so you’re probably going to be okay.


Source: All Things Digital | 29 Jan 2010 | 9:13 am

NASA Site Shows Kids How To Save Our Planet

Climate change can be a daunting topic for most adults to grasp, let alone kids.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jan 2010 | 8:50 am

Gateway’s EC14D DVD-equipped netbook spotted

Section: Computers, Netbooks

Gateway's EC14D DVD-equipped netbook spotted

I have been using a netbook on a regular basis since Asus released their first Eee PC, the 7-inch having 701 back in late 2007. I have jumped around and used more than my fair share on netbooks since and they have all had one thing in common—the lack of a DVD optical drive. And for the most part I have not missed that at all.

But that is just me and I have heard more than my share of complaints about the fact that netbooks do not come with internal optical drives. Well, most don’t.

Except we are now seeing reports of the Gateway EC14 which comes with a built-in DVD optical drive. Of course, this is in what I describe as “almost but not quite a netbook category.” In other words, the EC14 is sporting an 11.6-inch display, which is slightly bigger than the 10-inch standard for netbooks.

Other features of the EC14 include that it will be running Windows 7 Home Premium and have a 1.3GHz Intel SU4100 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive. That and, the 1,366 x 768 pixel HD resolution 11.6-inch display.

But either way, its still a small laptop that comes with a DVD optical drive. As far as when and how much. Well, the Gateway EC14 is expected to be available shortly and retail for somewhere around $630.

Read [Notebook Italia]

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


Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jan 2010 | 8:33 am

Review: Crush the Castle for iPhone/iPod Touch

Every so often you find a game so addicting that you can’t stop playing it. I’m that way with two games on the iPhone: Fieldrunners and Civ Revolution. Close runners up are iShoot (there are only so many times you can launch nukes) and now Crush the Castle.

Designed by Armor Games, CtC was originally a Flash game ported to the iPhone.

To play you load up a trebuchet with weapons (rocks, firebombs, whatever else) by tapping once. You tap again launch and then tap to release at some point in the arc. The items swing out into space and land at some point on a castle that is essentially made of beams. The beams react in a naturalistic way meaning they move as if they were real beams and you then crush little people underneath them. Rinse. Repeat.






It’s quite addictive and you add new weapons and “lands” throughout the game. If you get medals – meaning you beat the level in less than a certain number of sticks – you can unlock new continents.

The best part, I think, are the realistic crashes. The little characters don’t really squash – they kind of just fall over – but the interaction of the parts allows different parts to fall down when hit. Later levels introduce challenges like fire.

You can play the game right here or you can download a free demo version here or a $1.99 full version here.

The folks at Armor Games want five of you the chance to try it out. I’ll pick five commenters at random to receive a promo code. Otherwise, get a copy of the free version and give it a go. It’s pretty fun.

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Source: MobileCrunch | 29 Jan 2010 | 8:23 am

NASA Former Administrator Weighs in on Obama No-Moon Plan

Officials from NASA have been namelessly warning that NASA should expect some radical changes when the president's budget is released on Monday. In a nutshell: forget the moon, get ready to help commercial companies develop spaceships to fly people to ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 8:07 am

Satellites Map Changing Congo Rainforests

About DMC International Imaging LtdDMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) is a UK based supplier of remote sensing data products and services for international Earth Observation (EO) markets. DMCii supplies programmed and archived optical satellite imagery provided by the multi-satellite Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). DMC data is now used in a wide variety of commercial and government applications including agriculture, forestry and environmental mapping.In partnership with the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and the other DMC member nations (Algeria, China, Nigeria, Turkey and Spain), DMCii works with the International Charter: ‘Space and Major Disasters’ to provide free satellite imagery for humanitarian use in the event of major international disasters such as tsunami, hurricanes, fires and flooding.DMCii was formed in October 2004 and is a subsidiary of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, the world leader in small satellite technology. SSTL designed and built the DMC with the support of the BNSC and in conjunction with the DMC member nations Algeria, China, Nigeria, Turkey and Spain.---Image Caption: Lisala, Democratic Republic of Congo - This detailed image is part of a 650 x 650 km multispectral image of the Democratic Republic of Congo, acquired by the UK-DMC2 satellite on January 11, 2010 with a resolution of 22 meters. The town of Lisala is visible on the north bank of the Congo River with clearly visible roads and airstrip. South of the river are areas of agriculture. The near-infrared spectral signature of vegetation, invisible to the human eye, is shown as a false red color. Roads, built up areas and bare soil show as pale color or white. Copyright DMCii 11.01.2010.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jan 2010 | 7:52 am

How Bees Recognize Human Faces

Going about their day-to-day business, bees have no need to be able to recognize human faces. Yet in 2005, when Adrian Dyer from Monash University trained the fascinating insects to associate pictures of human faces with tasty sugar snacks, they seemed to be able to do just that.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jan 2010 | 7:45 am

Squeaker Catfish, Young and Old, Squeak and Listen

Squeaker catfish of all ages communicate with each other by, you guessed it, squeaking, according to a new study in the journal BMC Biology. Previously it was thought that young fish had under-developed hearing organs and could not perceive sounds ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 29 Jan 2010 | 7:43 am

'Squeaker' Catfish Communicate Across Generations

Image 1: This is a Synodontis schoutedeni catfish. Credit: Oliver DrescherImage 2: This is an auditory evoked potential recording. Credit: Lechner et al., BMC Biology
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jan 2010 | 7:41 am

Analysis: Mass Effect 2's Surprising Genre Experiment - Gamasutra


Boston Globe
Analysis: Mass Effect 2's Surprising Genre Experiment
Gamasutra
As I played the first few hours of Mass Effect 2, I found myself constantly surprised -- not by the early twist which allows for a clean break between the plot of Mass Effect and its sequel, but by how much of the game had been heavily ...
EA BioWare's Mass Effect 2 sci-fi sequel sells more than 2M copiesVentureBeat
Mass Effect 2 sells 2 million in less than a weekNeoseeker
Mass Effect 2 Week One Sales Top 2 Million1UP.com
CNN -Platform Nation -Gaming Union
all 258 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 29 Jan 2010 | 7:39 am

Portable Freezer Concept Looks Cooler Than It Is

beer-cooler1

A portable freezer would be a wonderful thing for camping trips and days at the beach. Or would it? This portable freezer, designed by Ruben Iglesias, is a concept design for a product nobody needs. Except for ice-cream, we freeze food for long-term storage. So a battery powered freezer, even if it could actually get cold enough to hold food below zero, is pointless, unless the batteries last for weeks at a time.

But let’s say that Ruben’s design was actually a useful contraption. Here’s how it works: It is powered by a pair of batteries that also house LED lamps (for reasons unknown). “The lamps produce the energy for the freezer to work and they send it by magnetic induction.”

Really? What’s wrong with a wire, or a metal contact? After all, there must already be tubes running through the box to carry the refrigerant, right? That should leave mean you could easily route a cable. But no, this is little more than a cooler with a pair of lights in the lid. Where, for example, is the compressor?

We’re all for concept designs, but only if they have a root in reality. Whipping up a nice CAD illustration and saying it is an “Ecofreezer” doesn’t cut it. It’s like drawing a couple of circles and a square and saying I have made a car.

Still, as a beer cooler it certainly looks nice. And those LED lamps would be great for all-night beach parties.

Ecofreezer [Rubcn via Yanko]



Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jan 2010 | 7:34 am

Millions of Kindles sold. Q4 revenue takes a jump

Section: Gadgets / Other, ebooks, Household, Lifestyle

Kindle DX With the economy recovering, this year has been good to many, especially the eReader community. And with the Kindle at the forefront of this clique it is going to show off some of its successes. Heading these successes is the $902 million net income increase since 2008, a 40% increase. Wow… 40%. That is huge! And we can clearly see why when we look at some sales statistics.

For every 10 physical books sold, 6 eBooks are sold. And this only accounts for eBooks that cost money, if they factored in free books, the ratio would be even closer, if not the opposite. The Kindle Store has over 410,000 books, 8,000 blogs, and 130 domestic and international newspapers. They also have 100 of the 112 New York Times bestsellers.

Net sales themselves rose 28% for the full year with $24.5 billion. But how will they fare this year? EReaders had it easy this Christmas; the only competition they had were other eReaders. But now, the iPad is here. And the only thing it seems to have done right is the full color eReader they have in it. If they did it right, it could really put a damper on these sales.

Tell us what you think. Will eReaders like the Kindle be able to withstand the iPad?

Read [Amazon] Via [Electronista]

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


Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jan 2010 | 7:22 am

One of These iPads Is Not Like the Other

ipad-comparison
Above you see two iPads, pictures of which are grabbed direct from Apple’s own pages. Can you spot the difference? Of course you can. The one on the right is the Wi-Fi-only iPad. The one on the left has 3G, and a plastic strip to let the radio-waves in and out. It’s the very opposite of a tin-foil hat.

Owners of the iPhone 3G and newer may not be familiar with this escape hatch for radiation — the entire back of your cellphone is a spectrum-transparent plastic. The original iPhone, and all iPod Touches, sport this strip. What is a surprise is that the Wi-Fi-only iPad doesn’t have this plastic part. Presumably the Wi-Fi needs to get in somewhere.

Apart from its core functionality, this strip serves one other purpose: a badge. If you are nerdy trainspotters like us, you will enjoy identifying exact models of gadgets from afar. This plastic marker will only make that easier.

iPad Gallery [Apple]

Cosmetic Differences in iPad 3G vs iPad Wi-Fi [MacRumors]



Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jan 2010 | 6:46 am

Circular Monopoly Cuts Corners, Cash

monopoly-goes-circular-for-75th-anniversary-does-away-with-cash

Monopoly is about to get a makeover. The 75 year old game will be relaunched with a circular board, and no cash. Other than the lack of corners and currency, the game remains unchanged, which should mean that the inevitably marathon sessions will be just as boring as ever.

Apparently, when the game was first designed by fun-haters all those years ago, one of the original concepts was circular. We like this new, more compact version, and the modern design is a lot cleaner.

But what about the money? Spoil-sports at Hasbro have taken the only bit of fun from the game: stealing money from the bank. Each player now has a credit-card, which is slotted into a computerized console in the center of the board. Or should that read “bored”? This stops you sneaking cash from your brother’s pile when he is distracted by your cunning dice-tossed-accidentally-under-the-sofa move.

New, circular Monopoly will be available as an insomnia cure later this year.

Monopoly goes circular for 75th Anniversary, does away with cash [Pocket Lint]

Photo: Pocket Lint



Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jan 2010 | 6:26 am

Windows 7 bringing in the profit

Section: Computers, Software / Applications

After the disappointing release of Vista a few years back, Microsoft was hoping for the best with Windows 7. And as if the glow of satisfaction with 7 that is hovering over the internet wasn’t enough, their sales numbers for Q2 sure are.

From the press release:

“Exceptional demand for Windows 7 led to the positive top-line growth for the company,” said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. “Our continuing commitment to managing costs allowed us to drive earnings performance ahead of the revenue growth.”

Microsoft recorded record revenue gains of $19.02 billion by the end of the decade. This equates to a 14% increase when compared to this time last year. The press release also claims that Windows 7 is the fastest selling OS in history with 60 million licenses sold. I’m not surprised either; die-hard Microsoft fans were probably starving to get their hands on an OS better than Vista so they could try to show up their Mac buddies.

Well, they ended the year on a very high note. How long do you think they will hold it? Will the recent leak about Windows 8, they might not have to hold it too long.

Read [Microsoft]

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


Source: Gadgetell | 29 Jan 2010 | 6:10 am

IPad Books Are US-Only

ibooks_20100127

If you are a non-US resident, and are waiting on the iPad as a replacement for the internationally crippled Kindle, think again. The iBooks application, one of the standout parts of Steve Jobs’ presentation on Wednesday, is US-only. Take a look at the iPad “features” page and you’ll see, in tiny letters at the bottom of the page, these words: “iBooks is available only in the U.S.”

This is a disappointment, but certainly no surprise. Here in Spain, for example, there are still no movies or TV shows in the iTunes Store. Nor is it likely to be Apple’s fault — the company would of course love to sell content to whoever wants it. Th holdup is licensing, and the quagmire of international publishing rights.

Still, this is good news for some. Amazon’s Kindle app will work just fine, and there is a slew of e-reader software in the App Store, from our favorite Stanza, through the suspiciously iBook-like Classics, to the wonderful Instapaper (currently being reworked for the iPad). And if that wasn’t enough, there is always this workaround, which should let us get our hands on the iBooks app anyway.

IPad features in the UK [Apple]

See Also:



Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jan 2010 | 5:56 am

First iPad Stand Steps into View

ipad-case

In the world of iAccessories, first is good. We get so many pitches for cases, stands and the like when a new Apple product is released that the only way to pick which one to cover is to print them all on paper and have Punxatawny Hal, the Wired.com pet tortoise, pick one out for us. Or we cover the first ones we see. Whatever.

Today we have Scosche’s kickBACK stand for the iPad, a polycarbonate kickstand which will hold the iPad almost upright for watching movies or tilted just enough to make typing easier. We foresee many of these kinds of stand, although the Apple solution of a case/stand combo looks to be the best so far.

The price of the kickBACK is yet to be revealed — no surprise as the product itself still appears to be little more than a computer rendering. As a guide, the kickBACK for the iPhone is $35, so expect this to cost more than that.

Scosche kickBACK page [Scosche. Thanks, Mark!]



Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:43 am

The Classic Wrist-Busting Atari Joystick is Back

classicusbstick-white

Remember the classic Atari joystick, a sure candidate for the least ergonomic game controller in history? Now you can buy a new one.

In case you have successfully blotted the memory from your brain, let me remind you how things were. The joystick, curiously named as it brought he very opposite of joy to your poor wrists, was a short, stiff stick wedged into a thick, hard to grip base. Moving the stick away from its center was akin to crushing a ball-bearing between your fingers: impossible, painful, and it resulted in bruising.

Now the folks at Retro Thing, a blog dedicated to the wonders of yesteryear, have re-fashioned this wrist-twisting classic, and brought it into the modern age. First, it uses USB, so you can hook it up to a new machine. Second, it is clear. Why make it clear, instead of classic black? Because today, every gadget has to have a blue, glowing blinkenlight inside. The Clear Classic USB Joystick has not been made exempt from this awful custom, and lights up as blue as a comedian in a working men’s club.

The stick will cost you $30, and once your hands have recovered from the mauling they’ll likely receive on first use, you can pop open the case and make a new housing for the fully removable controller board inside. Don’t have any old-school games to play? Fear not! The joystick ships with a CD full of old games and the Stella Atari 2600 Emulator for Mac or PC.

Clear Classic USB Joystick [Reflex Audio]



Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:19 am

Obama Commits To Climate Change Bill

Despite a toughening political climate, Barack Obama put himself firmly behind the effort to get a climate change bill through Congress Wednesday night – but said it must include a new generation of nuclear power.The brief passage on energy and climate in Obama's state of the union address did deliver the signal Congress and much of the world had been seeking that the White House is ready to throw itself into the effort to pass legislation."This year, I am eager to help advance the bipartisan effort in the Senate," he said.But Obama made it clear that he supported a "bipartisan" effort which would incorporate energy policies that are popular among Republicans – and fiercely opposed by the liberal wing of his own party."That means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Jan 2010 | 4:15 am