Reuters - China will never have its voice heard on the international stage unless the government loosens its tight grip over the media and film industry, the CEO of the country's No. 2 Internet portal said Wednesday.
I'm starting to suspect people like free stuff - a shocker, I know.
Nokia says the new version of Ovi Maps that includes free walk and drive navigation has been downloaded over 1.4 million times since its introduction on 21 January 2010.
Nokia says the 1 million mark was reached after just one week following the launch, and the company's Executive VP Anssi Vanjoki adds that they're currently seeing 'a download a second, 24 hours a day'.
I'm starting to suspect people like free stuff - a shocker, I know. Nokia says the new version of Ovi Maps that includes free walk and drive navigation has been downloaded over 1.4 million times since... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:15 am
I’m starting to suspect people like free stuff – a shocker, I know.
Nokia says the new version of Ovi Maps that includes free walk and drive navigation has been downloaded over 1.4 million times since its introduction on 21 January 2010.
Nokia says the 1 million mark was reached after just one week following the launch, and the company’s Executive VP Anssi Vanjoki adds that they’re currently seeing ‘a download a second, 24 hours a day’.
As of 31 January 2010 the top five countries downloading the new version of Ovi Maps were: China (!), Italy, UK, Germany and Spain. The top five most popular Nokia devices installing the download were: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia N97, Nokia 5230 and Nokia E72.
From next month, all new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include the new version of Ovi Maps, pre-loaded with local country map data, with walk and drive navigation and access to Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides at no extra charge.
Nokia clearly wants a piece of the fast-growing market of location-aware applications, and is looking for third-party developers to fill the gaps when it comes to content, new services and additional features.
Also, as my esteemed colleague Greg Kumparak so eloquently put it when Ovi Maps with free turn-by-turn navigation was launched:
If Google didn’t kill the standalone GPS market when they announced free navigation for the Android platform, Nokia may very well have just pushed the knife that last inch.
I think this judge had the right idea: if the members of a class action settlement are expected to be happy with a card that they have to use at the store that screwed them over in the first place, why not the lawyer?
Last year, Los Angeles County Judge Brett Klein was presented with a proposed class-action settlement in which the plaintiffs' attorney would get $125,000, but class members would get only a $10 gift card, usable only at the store that allegedly violated the law in the first place. That is an example of the much-maligned "coupon settlement," in which a defendant can end up profiting from breaking the law because a consumer must buy something from the defendant to redeem the coupon. These can sometimes be okay, but Judge Klein didn't think this settlement was fair.
A Gift for You! Another L.A. County judge, Susan Bryant-Deason, had tentatively approved the settlement, but she became ill and Klein ended up presiding over the fairness hearing. In a ruling that caught my eye when it came out last year, he ordered that the attorney also be paid in $10 gift cards, just like the people he represented. Under Klein's order, Neil Fineman was to receive 12,500 gift cards that he could put toward the purchase of any merchandise he liked, as long as he liked the women's clothing at Windsor Fashions.
I think this judge had the right idea: if the members of a class action settlement are expected to be happy with a card that they have to use at the store that screwed them over in the first place, why... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:12 am
HikingStick tips a piece from the science desk at MSNBC.com about a new, naturally occurring form of carbon found in a meteorite fragment. "Researchers were polishing a slice of the carbon-rich Havero meteorite that fell to Earth in Finland in 1971. When they then studied the polished surface they discovered carbon-loaded spots that were raised well above the rest of the surface — suggesting that these areas were harder than the diamonds used in the polishing paste... [G]raphite layers were shocked and heated enough to create bonds between the layers — which is exactly how humans manufacture diamonds... [The research] team took the next step and put the diamond-resistant crystals under the scrutiny of some very rigorous mineralogical analyzing instruments to learn how its atoms are lined up. That allowed them to confirm that they had, indeed, found a new 'phase' or polymorph of crystalline carbon as well as a type of diamond that had been predicted to exist decades ago, but had never been found in nature until now."
All Cathi “Cat” Paradiso knew for sure, as she learned that her Web access was being shut off, was that she was losing her struggle to stay calm.
To Paradiso, the customer-service representative from Qwest Communications on the phone with her could have been speaking Slovenian for all the sense it made. Her Internet service was suspended… Hollywood studios accused her of copyright violations… she illegally downloaded 18 films and TV shows…”Zombieland,” “Harry Potter,” “South Park…”
Recently, a Second Life veteran named Hikaru Yamamoto told me about the plans she'd heard Philip Rosedale was cooking up for his new company, LoveMachine. He wasn't just building a public version of Linden... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:48 am
This week on the excellent Escape Pod science fiction podcast, a perfect little short-short story by Geoff Landis (a no-foolin' NASA engineer who worked on the Mars rovers) that brings Kerouac to space travel and vice versa. Enchanting stuff-o-roonie.
Turns out, you know, that old dharma bum never made it off the wheel of karma. He had too many attachments, to the road, to words; and if you love the things of the world of Mara too much you fall back into the world, like gravity pulling back a rocket that doesn't reach escape velocity. Two, three thousand years later, he's still on the road. Really, nothing's changed. And Neal, that old prankster, Neal never really did want to transcend, he loved to see it all streaming past the window, a constant moving circus disappearing in the rear-view mirror, loved to talk, loved it all.
EP236: Still On the Road
It’s after 7 p.m. at Next Media’s offices in Taipei, and the day’s news starts coming to life: Artists lift details from news photos while actors in motion sensor suits re-create action sequences of stories making headlines. Animators graft cartoon avatars to the live-motion action, and the stories hit the Web.
Welcome to billionaire Jimmy Lai’s newest gamble: Animated news.
Sure, the screen is nice. But the iPad’s most important component, at least for Apple’s future, may be the A4, the fingernail-size chip at the tablet’s heart.
With the A4, Apple has taken another step toward challenging the norms of the mobile device industry. Device makers typically buy their primary chips from specialized microprocessor companies.
While some of the latest government wage data appears to show that Silicon Valley’s high-tech workers are making more now than they did in 2000, a closer look at the numbers shows that’s not exactly the case.
High-tech employees in Silicon Valley – including semiconductor, computer and software makers, Internet workers and scientific-research-and-development workers, among others – earned $130,700 per person in 2009, based on annualized wage data from the first half of last year, compared with $120,100 in 2000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But adjusted for inflation, such workers made just $105,500 apiece in 2009 based on annualized data, or 12.2 percent less than those in 2000, the BLS said Tuesday as it released a report on trends in high-tech wages and employment since the dot-com area.
A new report by Juniper Research - titled Mobile Ticketing Applications & Markets - predicts cell phones will replace traditional paper tickets for everything from cinemas to air travel. The study... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:53 am
Japanese phones used to be years ahead of anything we had here in Europe and decades ahead of those in the US, but not any more. The latest US and European smartphones are super-slick devices with gorgeous... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:51 am
The check-in arms race continues to heat up. Foursquare has been working fast to secure its place on not only the iPhone, but also Android, Palm Pre, BlackBerry, and most recently, Windows Mobile. But... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:35 am
The check-in arms race continues to heat up. Foursquare has been working fast to secure its place on not only the iPhone, but also Android, Palm Pre, BlackBerry, and most recently, Windows Mobile. But rival Gowalla is working hard to get onto the other platforms as well. Recently, they launched a version that works on Android phones through the web browser — and a similar method is bringing it to BlackBerry phones as well.
While it’s not quite live yet, it will be “very soon,” founder Josh Williams tweeted today. He also noted that he’s currently using it, and it seems to work well. When it’s live, BlackBerry users will just have to direct their browser to m.gowalla.com.
The mobile web version that Android uses takes advantage of the HTML5 elements of WebKit built into Android’s browser, which includes the ability to access location information in certain smartphones. The BlackBerry implementation isn’t quite as seamless, and requires a newer model of the device, we’re told. For it to work, users have to turn on their location in the browser settings, apparently.
Gowalla has said that they’re working on a native application for all the major mobile platforms, but in the short term, this mobile web version makes sense. Perhaps third party developers can use their soon-to-be-released API to speed the process along.
An anonymous reader points out an article at SavyGamer in which several game industry veterans were polled for their opinions on DRM. Cliff Harris of Positech Games said he didn't think his decision to stop using DRM significantly affected piracy of his games, accepting it as an unavoidable fact. "Maybe a few of the more honest people now buy the game rather than pirate it, but this sort of thing is impossible to measure. You can see how many people are cracking and uploading your game, but tracking downloads is harder. It seems any game, even if it's $0.99 has a five hour demo and is DRM-free and done by a nobel-peace prize winning game design legend, will be cracked and distributed on day one by some self righteous teenager anyway. People who crack and upload games don't give a damn what you've done to placate gamers, they crack it anyway." Nihal de Silva of Direct2Drive UK said his company hasn't noticed any sales patterns indicating customers are avoiding games with DRM. Richard Wilson of TIGA feels that customers should be adequately warned before buying a game that uses DRM, but makes no bones about the opinion that the resale of used games is not something publishers should worry about.
Normally, it takes quite a bit of time before a startup gets any sort of mainstream spotlight. That's not the case with Blippy. Tonight, the controversial social credit card data aggregator was featured... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:09 am
Normally, it takes quite a bit of time before a startup gets any sort of mainstream spotlight. That’s not the case with Blippy.
Tonight, the controversial social credit card data aggregator was featured on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report. As you might imagine, host Stephen Colbert ripped into the service’s ability to show everyday purchases at places such as Wendy’s.
Will Colbert Nation embrace Blippy? Sadly, YouTube is apparently smart enough to know that the Colbert Report is something they shouldn’t allow you to embed, so I’ll have to link to it — here.
Update: And YouTube has now completely removed the video. Wow, they’re good.
President Barack Obama's decision to drop NASA's back-to-the-moon program is creating an outrage in cities that depend on space jobs. In Huntsville in north Alabama, some worry the plan... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:07 am
Interesting, from arstechnica: Financial firms that sell investment products have long been restricted in how they speak about or present those products to customers and potential customers. But social... Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:07 am
Facebook Music may not exist, but you may have it installed anyway. Right now if you log into the site and go to Facebook’s “Edit Applications” screen, you’ll probably encounter a new application at the top of the list: Music. And it’s pretty clear that this isn’t just some third party app; the application links to Facebook.com/music, which is the same format used by other official Facebook applications, including photos (Facebook.com/photos) and events (Facebook.com/events). But the application doesn’t work at all — clicking it just brings you to your Facebook News Feed.
Update: Facebook has now removed the application. We’re still waiting on a full explanation.
We reached out to Facebook about the mysterious application. They’ve directed us to a Facebook Music Player app that appears on some Facebook Pages, and say that there may be a bug that’s showing some Pages apps on the editapps.php page (they’re looking into the issue). They also say that the Facebook.com/music site may be related to a now-defunct site that was launched at SXSW a few years ago (it wasn’t a streaming music service). That may well be the case, but the Pages music player application has a different Application ID than this new one does — it doesn’t look like they’re the same thing. Still, Facebook’s spokesperson was pretty clear that there was no new Facebook Music app, stating, “We have no plans to launch a music service on Facebook.”
Facebook long considered launching a free music service, and previously engaged in talks with multiple different streaming services to power the site. Obviously those didn’t pan out, and in light of Facebook’s promotion of third party apps and pages, they may have decided to ditch the idea entirely.
It’s worth pointing out that one of Facebook’s most popular music applications is iLike, which was recently acquired by MySpace. Facebook and MySpace may not be butting heads as much any more (MySpace has shifted its focus to the ’socialization of content’ rather than networking with friends) but given their history it’s an interesting arrangement.
Here’s your chance to change history, and influence the future. The makers of the Pleo are holding a vote to decide exactly what color the new Pleo should be when they change it later this year. Oh, and if you like the original color scheme, you can get free shipping until the end of February.
It’s free shipping on everything, so if you have a hankering to spend that tax refund on a robotic dinosaur, here’s your chance to save some coin on the shipping. In addition to the color change vote (click here to vote by the way) you can also enter a contest to win a custom painted Pleo. The custom paint will be done by the original sculptor who designed the Pleo in the first place. The raffle ends on the 22nd, so don’t wait. You’ll just need to give the folks at PleoWorld your email address in order to win.
Iran hailed the successful launch of a home-produced satellite rocket on Wednesday amid Western concerns it is using its nuclear and space industries to develop atomic and ballistic... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 3 Feb 2010 | 12:39 am
coondoggie passes along a NetworkWorld report on the pronouncement of a judicial conference committee recommending that trial judges specifically instruct jurors not to use any electronic communications devices or sites during trial and deliberations. Here's the committee report (PDF). "If you think you're going to use your spanking new iPhone to entertain yourself next time you're on jury duty, think again. Judges are going to take an even dimmer view of jury member use of Blackberry, iPhone, or other electronic devices as a judicial policy-setting group has told district judges they should restrict jurors from using electronic technologies to research or communicate. ... The instructions state jurors must not use cell phones, e-mail, Blackberry, iPhone, text messaging, or on Twitter, or communicate through any blog or website, through any internet chat room, or by way of any other social networking websites, including Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and YouTube."
Gateway announced their new desktop models today. They added five new systems, including a touchscreen, and two high end gaming machines. We managed to get our hands on their new basic system, the SX2840, and you can read our review here.
The new models all feature Intel’s new Core processors, and use eco-friendly hard drives. The higher end models (multimedia and gaming) come standard with Blu-ray drives. All of the systems run Windows 7 Home, 64-bit edition.
From the press release:
IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 3, 2010 – Gateway today announced the addition of new models and features across its line of gaming, multimedia and small form factor PCs.
The FX Series of affordable gaming PCs gets a redesign that includes a modernized chassis and new lighting accents. The DX line of multimedia PCs and SX small form factor PCs both now include eco-friendly 1TB drives and powerful Intel Core i5 and i3 Processors, respectively. In addition, the FX and DX now include models with Blu-ray drives.
FX Series Desktops – Continuing to Redefine the Mainstream Gaming PC
With a newly designed chassis, Gateway’s value line of gaming PCs continues to break all the rules, managing to pack more performance and features than ever before into a powerful PC that blows the doors off competitively priced systems. The new design maximizes usability and includes numerous additions that enhance the computing experience.
“When it comes to online entertainment, PC gaming and value, Gateway’s FX Series can’t be beat,” said Steve Smith, Gateway desktop product marketing. “While maintaining our price/performance leadership position, the new FX models boast a race car-like design with red accents and lighting, and include several new features that enhance the convenience and use of the PC.”
The new FX design makes it easy to access and use key features, providing simple and quick access to ports and peripherals. The top front of the PC includes high-def headphone and microphone jacks, while an angled media card reader makes it easy to insert, remove and transfer data from cameras and other devices. This can be especially helpful when the PC is placed under a desk.
Gateway® FX6831-03
· MSRP: $1,699.99
· Intel® Core i7™ 860, 2.8GHz w/Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.46GHz
· ATI Radeon HD5850 w/1GB discrete video memory
· 16GB memory (DDR3 dual channel 1333MHz)
· 1.5TB SATA hard drive (1) (7200RPM)
· 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti
· Blu-ray disc 4X BD-ROM / DVD-SuperMulti Drive
· Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Gateway® FX6831-01
· MSRP: $1,299.99
· Intel® Core i7™ 860, 2.8GHz w/Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.46GHz
· ATI Radeon HD5850 w/1GB discrete video memory
· 8GB memory (DDR3 dual channel 1333MHz)
· 1.5TB SATA hard drive (1) (7200RPM)
· 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti Drive
· Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
SX Series Desktops – Tiny Desktops Big on Performance
Gateway has also enhanced its award winning SX Series small form factor desktop.
The SX2840-01 features the powerful Intel Core i3 530 processor, 6GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. This tiny little PC offers capabilities that rival those of many full-size tower desktops providing enough muscle to be used as a primary PC, while fitting nicely in a dorm room, kitchen or home office.
DX Series Desktops – Multimedia Workhorses now Offer Blu-Ray Drives
Gateway’s multimedia powerhouse line, the DX Series, now includes a model configured with the powerful Intel Core i5 650 processor and a Blu-ray drive. Combined with NVIDIA GeForce graphics and 6GB of memory, the DX4831-03 is ideal for running demanding applications, casual game playing and graphic-intensive content creation.
Gateway DX4831-03
· MSRP: $849.99
· Intel Core i5 650, 3.2GHz w/Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.46GHz
· NVIDIA GeForce GT220 w/1GB discrete video memory
· 8GB DDR3 dual channel 1333MHz
· 1TB SATA (green product – variable RPM)
· 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti Drive
· Blu-ray disc 4X BD-ROM / DVD-SuperMulti Drive
· Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
If you're over-analyzed the iPad keynote as much as we have, by now you've probably gotten the distinct sense that something felt like it was missing. One of those things, apparently, were Apple's ideas about re-inventing the textbook. (Not to mention magazines. And, mayyyybe, something more.)
To see where this is going in the more immediate future, you can probably just look at what ScrollMotion already does for iPhone and iPod touch apps, since they're doing the heavy lifting getting these textbooks onto the iPad—they take digital versions of books from publishers and integrate features like search, page numbering and interactive elements. Hey, why read about the moon landing when you can watch it, right on your "book"?
The stuff we heard iPad announcement last week? Clearly, tip o' the iceberg. Oh, and I wonder how Amazon feels about this. Goodbye margin-sapping used books—I'm pretty sure that's how the publishers feel. How do I feel? I wonder if the GRE would've been more fun to study for on an iPad. "Oooo, Mini Squadron!" [WSJ]
As you’ve probably realized, local news is undergoing a massive transformation. The rapid demise of “old media” has resulted in fewer local publications, and it’s likely that in a few months your local paper may no longer exist. As “new media” takes over, users will be faced with a plethora of choices to consume local news. This is great news for most (no pun intended), but it comes at a price: the vast network of local blogs and news sites is difficult to navigate and peruse. Enter Fwix, a real-time local news aggregator that automatically curates news from a multitude of sources and delivers them to you via their website, Fwix.com. Fwix, which has seen over 100% monthly growth from November to December, is now bringing their solution to mobile.
It's been a year and Obama has yet to fill the empty seats on the government's main civil liberties oversight committee:
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board was recommended initially by the bipartisan September 11 commission as an institutional voice for privacy inside the intelligence community. Its charter was to recommend ways to mitigate the effects of far-reaching surveillance technology that the federal government uses to track terrorists...
On Friday, two leading Democrats -- Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Jane Harman of California, chairman of that panel's subcommittee on intelligence, information sharing and terrorism risk assessment -- sent a letter to Mr. Obama demanding action.
"We write to urge you to appoint individuals to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board immediately. Your FY2010 budget appropriates funds for this board, but it remains unfulfilled," the lawmakers wrote.
The two Democrats noted that previous letters to Mr. Obama, including one from Mrs. Harman and Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, "remain unanswered."
The lawmakers said the need for the oversight panel is particularly urgent in light of proposed changes to terrorist-screening rules at airports after the attempted Christmas Day attack on a Northwest jet bound for Detroit.
Besides the pop-up flash and the price, the other major new thing is a revamped intelligent auto mode, which walks beginners through taking more advanced photos using plainfolks language and simple sliders for settings in the menu. For instance, white balance is shown as a scale between blue and orange, and live view adjusts the preview in real time. Aperture becomes a setting to "blur" or "sharpen" the background. Nikon's done this with the D3000, but I think the E-PL1 might be even easier to follow.
Finally, we've got a pair of new lenses, a superwide 9-18mm, (35mm equivalent to 18-36mm) and a 14-150mm (35mm equivalent to 28-300mm), both with a variable aperture of f4-5.6. We care about them because they focus noticeably faster than the existing glass for the PEN series of cameras, and because they're almost totally silent, which makes them much better for shooting HD video (which now has a dedicated button).
If you're going to look for something more upscale—like with a full-metal build—in the micro four thirds realm, the GF1 remains your best bet (BTW, Mark's review is a great intro to micro four thirds), but I can think of little reason to reach out for the Olympus's more expensive micro four thirds cams at this point, or at least when the E-PL1 hits the shelves in March for $600. Look out, cheap DSLRs.
POWERFULLY SIMPLE: INTRODUCING THE INCREDIBLE OLYMPUS PEN E-PL1 CAMERA
Simple Operation + High-Quality 12 Megapixel Images + HD Video + In-Camera Creativity + Interchangeable Lenses =
Total Compact Multimedia Package
CENTER VALLEY, Pa., February 3, 2010 – The new Olympus PEN® E-PL1 is truly greater than the sum of its parts, with a surprisingly small camera body packed with technology normally found in bigger, bulkier and heavier professional Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras and High-Definition (HD) camcorders. This third-generation PEN is built for shutterbugs who always wanted better pictures and considered a DSLR, but were intimidated by the bulky size and complex interface. The new camera's simple design and easy interface enable consumers to easily create amazing images never dreamt possible. It will make you wonder how Olympus managed to put all of these powerful features inside such a compact camera for only $599.99.
The E-PL1 equals an affordable and powerfully simple all-in-one package that travels with you to capture life in the high quality that your memories deserve.
"Many of today's consumers want a camera with the professional still image quality of a DSLR and HD video in a compact body that's as easy to use as a point-and-shoot," said John Knaur, senior marketing manager, Digital SLR, Olympus Imaging America Inc. "Thanks in part to an image sensor that's approximately eight times larger in size than what's inside the average point-and-shoot camera, the E-PL1 delivers outstanding high-quality images. Add the flexibility of high-quality interchangeable lenses, the convenience of a built-in pop-up flash, in-camera creative features and technology designed to produce images effortlessly, and the E-PL1 is the total consumer-friendly, multimedia package."
EASILY PEN YOUR STORY WITH A BRAND NEW PEN
This third generation of the Olympus PEN series combines powerful features in an easy-to-use package that will make capturing your life more fun. The new direct record button makes taking videos easier than ever and the new Live Guide functionality makes it simple to learn photography techniques without requiring the skills of a pro shooter.
New Direct Button for HD Movies
Recording HD movies with the E-PL1 is simple, thanks to an easy-to-reach red "direct button" (red record button) on the back of the camera body. If you're about to snap a photo and you realize a video would capture the spirit of the scene even better, simply press the record button and instantly you're capturing videos! Easily toggle back and forth between capturing stills and videos by using your index finger to press the shutter button or your thumb to press the red record button. Having the ability to shoot still images and videos opens up a world of imaging possibilities.
New Live Guide Sets the Scene Before You Shoot
The E-PL1's new Live Guide interface simplifies great photography and gets the results you desire at the touch of a button. Want more vivid or muted color in your shot? Want warmer or cooler color? Want a brighter or darker subject, or a sharper or softer background? Or maybe you want to capture the fast-moving action of your subject with a little artistic blur, or perhaps freeze the action? Simply select Live Guide and press the up and down arrows on the back of the camera to slide through numerous photographic effects. Make adjustments and watch the LCD as the effects are made live – before the image is captured! Don't worry about learning technical things like f-stops, shutter speed and white balance; jump right in by composing, adjusting exposure and more before the shot is taken.
Seeing the results before snapping the image ensures you are getting the shots you want, and it will change the way you photograph. Shooting Tips are also included with Live Guide, so you can leave the manual at home.
Automate Everything
Live Guide is just the start of automated technologies on the E-PL1 designed to free you up to focus on your subjects instead of focusing on your camera's settings.
19 Scene-Select Modes: From portraits to sunset shots, the E-PL1 is equipped with 19 Scene-Select modes for effortless picture taking, including Fireworks, Sunset, Children, Macro and Panorama, to name a few. Capturing beautiful portraits is easy with the ePortrait Mode that enables you to smooth your subject's complexion.
Intelligent Auto (iAuto) Mode: When you don't want to use the scene-select modes, the iAuto mode automatically identifies what you're shooting and adjusts settings for you to capture the best result depending on the situation.
Face Detection: Reduce the chance of blurred subjects in images by recognizing up to eight faces, tracking them within the image area, and automatically focusing and optimizing exposure for sharp portraits.
In-Camera Panorama: Capture three images and stitch them together to create one amazing, seamless panoramic picture. Or use the included OLYMPUS [ib] software to stitch up to 10 images together for the ultimate panorama.
iEnhance: With this mode the warm yellow and orange colors of a sunset are heightened to a dramatically lifelike color that's truer to what you see with the naked eye. iEnhance can be used in any mode, and automatically engages when using iAuto to enrich color in any subject.
Share: Just connect the camera to an HDTV with an optional HDMI cable and use your TV remote to control playback functions and navigate the camera's menus from the comfort of your personal front-row seat. The E-PL1 records to SDHC (Class 6 recommended) media cards that can be plugged directly into many devices and accommodate large files, including videos.
New Powerfully Simple Pop-Up Flash
The E-PL1 is the first camera in the Olympus PEN series with a built-in pop-up flash that makes it easy to illuminate low-light subjects, reduce red-eye and fill in dark areas. The camera is also compatible with a range of optional external flashes, including the Olympus FL-36R and FL-50R, which can be controlled wirelessly by the E-PL1 so you can dynamically control lighting as your photography skills grow.
PRO-QUALITY IMAGES
How do professional photographers capture the stunning images you see in the pages of glossy magazines and coffee-table books? Talent matters, of course, but you also need the right equipment. Rest assured that the E-PL1 has everything you need to produce vibrant, professional-quality images: a large image sensor, in-body Image Stabilization, Imager Autofocus, the proven Olympus Dust Reduction System and the TruePic™ V Image Processor.
Big Sensor, Not a Big Body
At the heart of the E-PL1 is a large-size image sensor that's the same sensor as the one inside the Olympus E-30 and E-620 DSLR models. The only difference between this sensor and what the pros use is that this big sensor is inside the much smaller body of the E-PL1. This high-performance 12.3-megapixel Live MOS image sensor (eight times larger than the average point-and-shoot camera sensor) delivers excellent dynamic range, accurate color fidelity, and a state-of-the-art amplifier circuit to reduce noise and capture fine image details in both highlight and shadow areas.
Stabilize All of Your Lenses
Instead of selling more expensive lenses that have image stabilization inside them, Olympus takes a different approach by having image stabilization built right into the body of the E-PL1. This means that any lens (Micro Four Thirds™, Four Thirds and any third-party lens) attached to the E-PL1 will deliver blur-free images thanks to three modes of In-body Image Stabilization that automatically compensate for camera shake, including in low-light situations or when shooting without a tripod. Since the PEN cameras are the world's smallest interchangeable-lens cameras with image stabilization built inside the body, you can take the E-PL1 with you and capture great images, and it won't weigh you down.
Track Your Subjects Wherever They Roam
The E-PL1's Continuous Autofocus (C-AF) Tracking and Autofocus (AF) Target Registration locks your subject into focus and constantly adjusts focus and brightness whether you or your subject is moving. With this mode, a simple push of the shutter release enables you to keep moving subjects in focus – tracking them from left to right and from front to back – within the frame, automatically ensuring that even active subjects, like kids playing sports, are captured clearly.
The E-PL1's Imager Autofocus in Live View enables you to compose, focus and capture the shot quickly and easily without ever taking your eyes off the camera's large, 2.7-inch full-color, high-contrast HyperCrystal LCD for an easy, seamless viewing experience when shooting still images or videos. The LCD also provides a wide viewing angle of 176 degrees, which ensures that images can be composed from even the most obscure angles.
This Camera Leaves Others in the Dust
If you're just starting out with a camera that has interchangeable lenses, you don't have to worry about dust spots on your sensor ruining the perfect image every time you change lenses. Spend more time shooting with the E-PL1 and less time worrying about dust with the proven Olympus Dust Reduction System that produces spot-free photos with the exclusive Supersonic Wave Filter™, a patented ultrasonic technology that vibrates to remove dust and other particles from the front of the image sensor, capturing them on a special adhesive membrane every time the camera is turned on.
True-to-Life Color
The E-PL1's Live MOS image sensor is complemented by Olympus' TruePic™ V Image Processor, which produces clear and colorful photos using all the pixel information for each image to provide the best digital images possible. The image processor is noted for accurate natural color, true-to-life flesh tones, brilliant blue skies and precise tonal expression; it also lowers image noise in photos shot at higher ISO settings (ISO 100 to ISO 3200), enabling great results in low-light situations.
EASILY EXPAND YOUR CREATIVE HORIZONS WITH BUILT-IN EFFECTS
Express yourself with in-camera creative features. Professional images are rarely unedited images. Video and still image pros use computer-editing software to render their images with effects that set their shots apart from the pack. Olympus appreciates that you may not have hours to spend retouching your images at the computer, so the E-PL1 incorporates editing effects inside the camera to save you time. Whether you apply in-camera creative effects while shooting an image, or apply them later to images captured without the effects, all are inside the E-PL1, so you can achieve dramatic results on the go without a computer or editing software.
The E-PL1 has six in-camera Art Filters, including a new filter called Gentle Sepia. This filter gives your images and videos a soft, warm sepia cast similar to historical images from the early days of photography. The sepia tones are softer and the blacks are a true black, unlike traditional sepia images. The new filter joins Pop Art, Soft Focus, Pin Hole, Grainy Film and Diorama (the filter that makes everything look as small as the E-PL1).
With the E-PL1's Multiple Exposure function available for still image capture, you are free to tell a visual story your way. The image capture options enable you to shoot one shot, then another and combine them in real time, or capture both shots separately and combine them within the camera later. Take a shot of your significant other, and overlay your self-portrait on top to figure out what your kids will look like. If you have kids already, overlay your kid's face on top of a shot of his or her favorite cartoon character for laughs. Your ability to manipulate space and time makes this new creative multimedia device a veritable time machine.
You often can achieve greater photographic expression by framing a scene in a unique way. The E-PL1 provides four aspect ratios that serve as masks to frame your image to the desired proportions, including the standard 4:3 aspect ratio that is suited to an 8 x 10-inch enlargement; the 16:9 aspect ratio that will display beautifully on a widescreen television; and other popular aspect ratios, such as 3:2 and 6:6. The Multi-Aspect Shooting further expresses your creative vision when combined with in-camera Art Filters and Multiple Exposures.
With the E-PL1, you have your own living library of still images, HD video and audio to remix at your command. In playback mode, you can seamlessly mix stills and movies inside the camera to create a multimedia slideshow, and dub in one of three built-in dramatic background music options to provide a soundtrack for your cinematic creation. With so many creative options, there's no limit to what you can create. Choose whether or not you want to play back just pictures, just movies or a combination; also control playing back the whole movie or just a clip.
OPEN SYSTEM EASILY GROWS WITH YOUR ABILITY
With a basic point-and-shoot camera, you get one lens built into the camera. One lens, that's it. And it's likely a small lens, which doesn't allow a lot of light through to hit the image sensor. So, you may have a difficult time in low-light conditions. And without the option of adding more lenses, you're limited to what that one point-and-shoot lens can do. The E-PL1 solves these issues by accepting a variety of lenses to maximize its functionality. Whether shooting still images or HD video, you can add everything from an extreme wide-angle fisheye lens to a super-telephoto lens for a wide range of expressive options.
The M. ZUIKO DIGITAL Micro Four Thirds lenses are designed to be more compact and portable like the E-PL1. Choose from the ED 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 zoom lens (28-84mm equivalent in 35mm cameras) sold with the E-PL1, the ED 17mm f2.8 lens (34mm equivalent), the new super wide-angle zoom ED 9-18mm f4.0-5.6 lens (18-36mm equivalent) or the high-power wide to telephoto zoom ED 14-150mm f4.0-5.6 lens (28-300mm equivalent).
If you want to have even more options, the MMF-2 Four Thirds System Lens Adapter makes the E-PL1 compatible with all Olympus ZUIKO Digital Specific™ lenses and other Four Thirds System lenses from Sigma, Panasonic and Leica. Olympus OM film-based lenses can be attached to the E-PL1 with the MF-2 OM Lens Adapter, and there are third-party adapters developed for lenses from most other manufacturers.
SOFTWARE AND ACCESSORY OPTIONS WHEN YOU'RE READY
The E-PL1 incorporates an accessory port for connecting the optional VF-2 live-finder, a detachable electronic viewfinder, or the new optional SEMA-1 external microphone adapter set (which includes the EMA-1 adapter, the ME-51S stereo microphone and a cord) for those who want to capture enhanced audio with any microphone that has a 3.5mm plug. These optional accessories easily slide into the camera's accessory port and hot shoe.
Consumers who wish to hold the E-PL1 up to their eye rather than use the LCD will appreciate that the optional VF-2, which provides 1.15x magnification and a 100 percent field of view with sharp resolution, brightness and contrast. The viewfinder refreshes quickly to minimize image ghosting on fast-moving subjects. It also rotates up to 90 degrees to enable photographers to look down into it, which is useful when shooting subjects from challenging angles. The built-in diopter adjustment and high magnification offer easy viewing with and without glasses.
The E-PL1 offers OLYMPUS [ib] software that includes photography workflow, browsing, editing and unique photo-organizing functions. You can organize your photos by person with automatic face-recognition technology, by location with a Geotagging function or by event. You can easily view photos on an HDTV or on the camera's LCD with the Photo Surfing or Slideshow functions. The name [ib] stands for image bridging, image browsing and image brightening. The software will be available for Windows operating systems only.
Underwater Housing for Aquatic Adventures
The new camera's compact design makes it the perfect companion for all of your dive trips. The PT-EP01 underwater case has been specially customized for the Olympus E-PL1 and is waterproof to a depth of 40 meters (approximately 130 feet). With its durable, high-quality polycarbonate construction, this Olympus housing protects the camera from water while also cushioning it from knocks and bumps on land. The housing enables viewing from either the camera's LCD screen or an optional electronic viewfinder. The flash connectors allow optional use of up to two UFL-2 underwater flash units via fiber optic cable. A nonremovable front lens port accommodates multiple Micro Four Thirds lenses.
New Exterior Design, Same PEN DNA
The E-PL1 streamlines the Olympus Micro Four Thirds PEN series form and is available in three new body colors, including Black, Champagne Gold and Slate Blue. Thanks to its compact size (4.51" W x 2.84" H x 1.63" D excluding protrusions) and light 10.4-ounce body, the E-PL1 won't weigh you down when you're on the go.
AVAILABILITY
The Olympus E-PL1 will be available in March 2010. It includes the E-PL1 Body, M. ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 Zoom, USB Cable, Video Cable, Li-Ion Battery Pack (BLS-1), Li-Ion Battery Charger (BCS-1), Shoulder Strap, OLYMPUS [ib] software CD-ROM, Manuals and Registration card.
U.S. Pricing / Product Configurations
E-PL1 Body with M. ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 Zoom Lens
Estimated Street Price: $599.99
After a series of leaks brought us the news of the E-PL1 early we were concerned that the new member of Olympus’ PEN family would be a clunker. We were wrong.
This new model looks “cheaper” than the EP-1 and EP-2 simply because it is clad in aluminum up front and polycarbonate in the back. This makes the camera considerably lighter than its predecessors. We saw the grey and silver models although the black model is said to look the nicest. I also had a quick hands on with the entry-level point and shoots they announced today.
Here are the direct changes to the EP line:
Built in flash with manual flash controls.
12.3-megapixel 4/3s sensor.
Single microphone – no more stereo recording except with an add-on.
Direct “hot button” for HD 720p video recording. You can change this button to any other feature in the menus.
Live Guide – In auto mode you can select a number of general settings or tasks. If you want to get motion blur, for example, you can move a slider up and down to increase or decrease blur. Want bokeh? There’s a slider that controls aperture. You don’t have to know anything about anything to change these settings.
The lenses grab focus and move more quietly than previous versions.
In my brief tests I found the E-PL1 to be nigh on exactly what we’ve all been looking for in a micro 4/3s. The Live Guide – complete with tips on shooting animals, kids, and food – is great for beginners while more advanced shooters will like the focus time and the weight and side of the new camera.
At $599.99 for a Body, 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 Zoom lens, and battery pack you’re looking at quite a capable shooter at under what other folks are asking for their high-level point and shoots.
I also saw the Tough 8010, a tough, waterproof camera. The 30x 800UZ is also pretty cool. Nothing amazing except for Ah-Ha mode which creates a “drawing” of the scene in front of you. Fun times.
Another sweet creation from Ukrainan steampunk leather mask-makers Bob Basset, this one with a cute little breathing-tube beard in the style of the Pharaohs.
Kirby sez, "Spot on parody of the NPR News Quiz Show during a Zombie Apocalypse.
Peter Sagal, Carl Kassel, Mo Rocca, Paula Poundstone, and Tom Bodett don't miss a beat as they broadcast their last show before retreating to the cave system.
The author gets the personalities perfect. You can imagine that this is exactly how the panelists would handle zombies."
PETER: To play, give us a call at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Our first and only listener-contestant is on the line. What's your name?
ZOMBIE: Brains?
PETER: Actually, according to my card here, your name is Steve Ryerson, from right here in Chicago! Steve is, or I should say was, an investment banker, and we all know they were the first to be targeted and converted into mindless zombies.
TOM: You mean they weren't before?
MO: It explains a lot about the financial collapse.
PETER: Let me introduce you to our panel this week. First, a contributor to CBS Sunday Morning, Mo Rocca!
MO: Hi, Steve.
STEVE: Brains.
PETER: A humorist and author of the new audio book "It's Just Like I Told You: Twenty-Five Years of Comment and Comic Pieces," Tom Bodett!
TOM: Hi there, Steve.
STEVE: Brains.
PETER: And finally, a comedienne whose CD "I Heart Jokes" is available at paulapoundstone.com, at least until the internet fails us, Paula Poundstone!
PAULA: Brains?
STEVE: Brains.
PAULA: I thought you might say that, Steve.
Here's a collection of photos of 24 rotting, abandoned hotels around the world, some of them looking like horror movie sets, others like enormous follies, and still others like faerie palaces. Rotting stuff kicks ass.
Graham Hotel: You don't normally think of people seeking out gold in Georgia but that's exactly what happened in the town of Auraria before everyone started to head west. When the California gold rush happened, Auraria became a ghost town just like many western towns eventually became. There remain a few 19th Century buildings there today, including the abandoned Graham Hotel sometimes just called the Auraria Hotel.
As you’ve probably realized, local news is undergoing a massive transformation. The rapid demise of “old media” has resulted in fewer local publications, and it’s likely that in a few months your local paper may no longer exist. As “new media” takes over, users will be faced with a plethora of choices to consume local news. This is great news for most (no pun intended), but it comes at a price: the vast network of local blogs and news sites is difficult to navigate and peruse. Enter Fwix, a real-time local news aggregator that automatically curates news from a multitude of sources and delivers them to you via their website, Fwix.com. Fwix, which has seen over 100% monthly growth from November to December, is now bringing their solution to mobile.
Today, Fwix announces their “City Apps” which are local news applications for the iPhone and WebOS platforms. Much like Fwix’s online service, each application is specific to a city or general area, such as SF Bay Area, Minneapolis-St. Paul, or Los Angeles. Though Fwix.com is available for 150+ cities, Fwix only offers 6 city apps for mobile. Sorry Louisville and Oklahoma City: better luck next time. Fwix already has an application for the iPhone, but these are city-specific and offer new features. Available cities are San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle.
According to CEO Darian Shirazi, who started Fwix at just 22 years old, Fwix.com differentiates itself from the plethora of local news competitors by providing both professional/mainstream content and blog or “indie” content. They index a large set of sources and focus on real-time news, which as we all know, is a hot topic these days. Fwix’s biggest competitor, Topix.com, is the heavyweight in the local news aggregation market, and has been in business since 2002. Other competitors include content companies such as CBS, ABC and NBC, which have various mobile and web properties related to providing professionally-created local news.
Darian told me that Fwix.com has seen significant growth since it’s inception a year ago, with over 500K unique visitors per month to their website and over 9 million visitors to sites that have the Fwix widget installed. They only get 30% of their traffic through SEO, which is a shockingly low percentage for a site like Fwix.
The mobile applications offer a slick user interface and a near real-time flow of news stories. One cool feature is the ability to view the stories on a map of the area – with the location of each story being denoted by a pushpin on the map. You can download the apps on iTunes.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
A Turko-German consortium has announced a liquid glass product "that will revolutionize everything" (it's a "new kind of glass," as Mr Wolfram might put it). Seriously, it sounds like the applications for this stuff are endless, and yes, that's what everyone said about aerogel and the Segway, but maybe this time... They're shipping to the UK soon, but "many supermarkets, may be unwilling to stock the products because they make enormous profits from cleaning products that need to be replaced regularly, and liquid glass would make virtually all of them obsolete."
Goddammit, Big Detergent is screwing up my future again!
Spray-on liquid glass is transparent, non-toxic, and can protect virtually any surface against almost any damage from hazards such as water, UV radiation, dirt, heat, and bacterial infections. The coating is also flexible and breathable, which makes it suitable for use on an enormous array of products.
The liquid glass spray (technically termed "SiO2 ultra-thin layering") consists of almost pure silicon dioxide (silica, the normal compound in glass) extracted from quartz sand. Water or ethanol is added, depending on the type of surface to be coated. There are no additives, and the nano-scale glass coating bonds to the surface because of the quantum forces involved. According to the manufacturers, liquid glass has a long-lasting antibacterial effect because microbes landing on the surface cannot divide or replicate easily.
Other organizations, such as a train company and a hotel chain in the UK, and a hamburger chain in Germany, are also testing liquid glass for a wide range of uses. A year-long trial of the spray in a Lancashire hospital also produced "very promising" results for a range of applications including coatings for equipment, medical implants, catheters, sutures and bandages. The war graves association in the UK is investigating using the spray to treat stone monuments and grave stones, since trials have shown the coating protects against weathering and graffiti. Trials in Turkey are testing the product on monuments such as the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara.
The liquid glass coating is breathable, which means it can be used on plants and seeds. Trials in vineyards have found spraying vines increases their resistance to fungal diseases, while other tests have shown sprayed seeds germinate and grow faster than untreated seeds, and coated wood is not attacked by termites. Other vineyard applications include coating corks with liquid glass to prevent "corking" and contamination of wine. The spray cannot be seen by the naked eye, which means it could also be used to treat clothing and other materials to make them stain-resistant. McClelland said you can "pour a bottle of wine over an expensive silk shirt and it will come right off".
Short version: Gateway’s SX2840 is an ideal computer for someone who needs a good basic computer. It feels fast enough that it’s not annoying, and it’s perfect for pretty much everything except hardcore gaming. I’d even go so far as to say that it’d work great as an HTPC, because it plays back HD video with no problems.
Features: Small form factor, Intel Core i3 530, front panel with built in card reader, USB, and Firewire. Back panel with HDMI and eSATA.
Pros:
Small form factor ideal for tight spaces, media center
Processor fast enough, while still cost effective
Integrated graphics can handle HD video with no problems
Cons:
Integrated video won’t handle high end games
For the price, might be more effective to get a laptop/netbook
limited ability to upgrade hardware
Most people really don’t need the type of computer I typically review. The normal system that I like to take a look at is the “fire breathing monster” computer, the kind that can control a small country and cook eggs on the heatsink. I realize that most people don’t want to spend $5000 on a computer. Heck, they don’t even want to spend $1000. And for students? the cheaper the better, so long as it does everything they need it to do.
The Gateway SX2840 is the ideal computer for most people. Sure, it’s not going to play Crysis at 100FPS, but who cares? Most people don’t want to spend that kind of money. The SX2840 hits that sweet spot of being a fast enough that it’s not annoying, but slow enough that you’re not paying supercomputer prices. It’s hard to quantify this because frame rates and seek times don’t really apply to a computer in this situation. It’s great for browsing the web, writing email, running a word processing program, looking at pictures – all those basic things that most people who use a computer spend the majority of their time doing. It’s an ideal family computer, right down to the built in card reader on the front for downloading pictures from your camera, and plugging the usb cable in to sync up your music player. Admittedly, there’s nothing really noteworthy about this computer, but there isn’t any really negative about it either. It’s just a nice, solid performer that you can feel safe recommending to your grandmother, because you know you won’t have to be coming over every week to fix it for her.
That’s not to suggest that this machine is not capable of gaming, it is. It’s just not idea for the latest greatest FPS games. For the casual gamer, it’ll be ideal. I guess that’s what really defines this system; it’s a good casual machine. It’s not terribly fast, but you don’t expect it to be. You just want it to work and be reliable, and that’s what this machine is all about. Be aware though, that this computer does have one fatal flaw: you won’t be able to upgrade it. There’s just not enough room to add a faster video card, or upgrade the CPU. It’s just not going to happen. But for the $559 price, while I won’t call it disposable, it’s certainly easier to pass on to your sister’s kids that that $5000 supercomputer.
System Specifications:
CPU: Intel Core i3 530
Memory: 6GB
Hard Drive: 1TB
Video: Intel GMA X4500HD
Power supply: 220w
The bottom line:
I like the new Gateway. It’s tough to find anything about it that’s particularly noteworthy, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s not an unattractive machine, and the small size of the case would fit well in the corner of the dining room, or in a dorm room. The best part about it is the price: the MSRP of $559 makes it a reasonable purchase for anyone who needs a computer that will cover the basics. The tough part is deciding if you’d be happier with a netbook or inexpensive notebook instead.
Yammer, the enterprise equivalent of Twitter, said it had grabbed another $10 million in financing.
But the query for the San Francisco-based microblogging service for businesses and closed groups is: “What are you working on?”
It has both free and a paid–the gold level is $5 per user, per month–versions and is essentially a useful productivity tool.
Emergence Capital took the lead in the Series B round for Yammer, along with ubiquitous Silicon Valley investor Ron Conway and also previous investors.
Yammer previously raised $5 million from Charles River Ventures and the Founders Fund.
Here’s the release:
Yammer Secures $10 Million in Series B Funding from Emergence Capital and Previous Investors
Investment To Fuel Product Innovation and Sales Coverage
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., February 3, 2010–Yammer, Inc., the leader in Enterprise Microblogging and Real-time Communications, today announced that it has received $10 million in its Series B round of funding. Emergence Capital leads the round; with general partner Jason Green joining Yammer’s Board of Directors. SV Angel, led by seasoned Silicon Valley investor, Ron Conway, is also participating as are previous investors, including Charles River Ventures and Goldcrest Investments from Dallas.
Yammer launched its solution in September 2008 and has experienced rapid user adoption with over 60,000 organizations globally having adopted the solution. Drawing on this momentum, Yammer will use the proceeds to accelerate product innovation and increase sales coverage.
“Yammer is revolutionizing the way employees communicate and collaborate, filling a need that email has failed to deliver,” said Jason Green, general partner at Emergence Capital. “Yammer has a passionate and proven executive team, a compelling freemium business model, a loyal customer base and a huge market opportunity. We are thrilled to be joining them in the next phase of their rapid growth.”
Companies and organizations of all sizes across a wide range of industries benefit from Yammer. They use Yammer for a multitude of reasons, including improving workforce productivity, connecting a geographically dispersed team, getting new employees up to speed, and increasing the flow of content and knowledge.
“Yammer is focused on improving the way employees communicate and stay connected to critical information about their company and job,” said David Sacks, founder and CEO at Yammer. “We’re pleased with the rapid growth and market adoption we’ve achieved and are poised to accelerate it with exciting enhancements to our product and with broadened sales coverage. We’re eager to work with Emergence Capital and leverage their expertise in building world-class Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies and are gratified that proven technology investors such as SV Angel and Charles River Ventures are also participating in the funding.”
When it's so cold in your home office that you can't think, it's time to turn on a space heater. Wired editors snuggled up to De'Longhi's Mica Panel, which they say "radiates an almost instant beam of life-giving warmth."
When it's so cold in your home office that you can't think, it's time to turn on a space heater. Wired editors snuggled up to De'Longhi's Mica Panel, which they say "radiates an almost instant beam of life-giving warmth."
NewsFactor - Facebook and Twitter were all the rage in 2009, and not just for social networkers. The sites were also extremely popular among hackers and thieves, IT security firm Sophos revealed Monday in its Security Threat 2010 report. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 2 Feb 2010 | 9:46 pm
hweimer writes "A novel study analyzes the installed base of various office packages among German users. (Here is the original study report in German and a Google translation.) While Microsoft Office comes out top (72%), open source rival OpenOffice is already installed on 21.5% of all PCs and growing. The authors use a clever method to determine the installed office suites of millions of web users: they look for the availability of characteristic fonts being shipped with the various suites. What surprised me the most is that they found hardly any difference in the numbers for home and business users."
I remember way back before the Internet when I got most of my daily news via the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN. If it wasn’t reported by either of those outlets, there was a good chance I wouldn’t hear that news at all.
Those days are over.
The problem is that most of the people running legacy news sites today are way older than I am, and still can’t get their arms around the fact that the world has fundamentally and irreversibly changed. Today I get my non tech news via scores of sources. I’m led there via social sites like Twitter and Facebook, and from aggregators like Google News and Memeorandum. Most of my tech news comes, of course, via my phone and email inbox.
It’s ok that the legacy guys don’t understand that, because when they erect paywalls it just stokes TechCrunch, which isn’t behind a paywall. Live and let live, I say. Far be it from me to talk them off the ledge. Paywalls kill social links and aggregators unless they are specially designed to allow them via a set number of free views. But even then there’s enough friction that most people won’t bother.
But when Mark Cuban starts saying aggregators are bad, that’s something new. He’s one of the guys that gets it. He’s not supposed to be on the losing team:
Outspoken billionaire cum provocateur Mark Cuban charged Google and other content aggregators Tuesday of being freeloaders — or worse. “The word that comes to mind is vampires,” he said. “When you think about vampires, they just suck on your blood.”
Telling the world that you don’t want them to do you the favor of visiting your site is just ridiculous.
Let me repeat that. When someone visits your site they are doing you a favor. Not the other way around.
And when an aggregator puts up a link to your site, they are doing you a favor by sending you traffic. Not the other way around.
As I’ve written before, “We throw a party when someone “steals” our content and links back to us. High fives all around the office. At least there’s some small nod in our direction.”
The real problem out there today for news sites are the guys that just take stories and rewrite them on the cheap without any links or attribution at all. When you erect a paywall, you’re just encouraging this behavior. It’s less anyone will notice.
What About The Users?
But forget all that navel gazing for a minute while I jump back up to my first paragraph. Aggregators are popular because they help users find the news they’re interested in. They serve a very real purpose and add value to the system. Without aggregators and social links users would be forced to choose which news sites they want to pay for, and trust that they’ll get everything they need from those sites.
I don’t want to jump back to 1993. I want to live in the present where each piece of news lives and dies by its own merit as it spreads virally around the Internet. That means I spend less time finding better content.
Mark Cuban knows all this, and he agrees. Which is why I don’t understand his lash out against aggregators. If news sites block aggregators, as Cuban urges, they lose and the users lose. No one wins. Except the sites that remain free. And those sites are here to stay.
It's the first Coolpix to switch to CMOS, cutting back to 10 megapixels to deliver hopefully better low light performance, along with built-in HDR processing. And, Nikon's first ever camera to do 1080p video, which I was told is in H.264. Hot shit, 'cause it makes me hopeful to see that in their next DSLRs. Also excellent: You can actually zoom while recording video, something of a rarity in these parts. It shoots fast too: 10FPS at full res, and up to 120FPS bursts (but only at 1.1MP, bleh).
The Fuji HS10 outguns the P100 on paper: Longer zoom, at 30x; same promise of excellent low-light performance thanks to an optimized 10MP CMOS sensor; 1000FPS slow motion video and 1080p like the P100. But, the P100 costs $100 less, running $400 when it hits in March, so it's a tough call 'til we see how they actually perform.
NIKON COOLPIX P100 ZOOMS TO THE TOP OF THE SUPER-HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERA CATEGORY WITH VERSATILE FEATURES
With a 26x NIKKOR Zoom Lens, CMOS Image Sensor and Full HD Movie Recording, COOLPIX P100 Brings Compact Digital Camera Photography to a Whole New Level
MELVILLE, NY (Feb. 2, 2010) – Nikon Inc. today unveiled the new COOLPIX P100 digital camera, marking a series of firsts for Nikon with the debut of a CMOS image sensor and full High Definition (HD) movie (1080p) capabilities in the COOLPIX line. Additionally, with an expansive 26x Optical Wide Angle Zoom-NIKKOR ED glass lens and a 3.0-inch 460,000-dot vari-angle Clear Color Display LCD screen, the COOLPIX P100 delivers a compact camera fully equipped and readily able to expand a user's photographic potential.
The COOLPIX P100 is Nikon's first compact camera to offer full HD movie (1080p), allowing consumers to entertain audiences with movies that capture the entire impact of a scene at the touch of a dedicated movie-record button. A stereo microphone optimally mounted on top of the camera accurately captures audio to further enhance the video capture experience. Contributing to compositional freedom, both the optical zoom and autofocus functions are available while recording video. Additionally, the high-speed movie function provides the added benefit of recording movies that can be played back in slow motion or fast motion to create artistic effects. To further ease integration into an existing home theater system, an HDMI connector allows for easy playback on a compatible HDTV.
"Our portfolio of cameras is designed to ensure that any photographer, at any level, can find the camera that feels right for them," said Bo Kajiwara, director of marketing, Nikon Inc. "The P100 blends a stellar lens with creative automatic and manual features to allow the more advanced consumer to explore the boundaries of their photographic capabilities."
The Nikon COOLPIX P100 digital camera features a 10.3-megapixel backside illumination CMOS sensor, which enables high-speed shooting at 10 frames per second (fps) at full resolution and exceptional image quality even when shooting in low light settings. Other functions benefitting from the lower noise and exceptional image quality of the new CMOS image sensor include an in-camera high dynamic range (HDR) function, which merges images of the same scene to achieve a single image with a broad range of tonal detail. Additionally, the Night Landscape mode combines a series of consecutive shots taken at a fast shutter speed into a single image with reduced noise when taking handheld shots in night scenes.
The versatility of the COOLPIX P100 digital camera is also attributed to its new 26x Optical Wide Angle Zoom-NIKKOR ED glass lens. This lens offers unparalleled compositional freedom, with its wide angle (26mm) to super telephoto coverage (678mm). The broad focal range lets consumers capture a variety of shots and scenes, ranging from sweeping landscapes to action shots taking place far away on a sports field. For further versatility, this extraordinary lens allows the user to take images or video as close as 0.4 inches while in macro mode. As part of the flagship Performance Series of COOLPIX compact digital cameras, the COOLPIX P100 is the ideal photographic tool for photo enthusiasts, sports and travel photographers and consumers with more advanced photography skills who crave a high performance camera.
Additional features of the Nikon COOLPIX P100 digital camera include:
10.3-megapixels and Backside Illumination CMOS Sensor for stunning prints as large as 16x 20 inches, while retaining fine detail
In-Camera High Dynamic Range (HDR) merges multiple images of the same scene to create an image with a range of tonal detail that could not be captured in a single photo
Night Landscape Mode combines a series of images into a reduced noise composite for low light shooting
3.0-inch Vari-Angle 460,000-dot Clear Color Display LCD and Electronic Viewfinder make it easy to compose and share pictures with friends and family. The new LCD, with anti-reflection coating, can tilt as much as 90 degrees up or 82 degrees down. This enables photographers to shoot from higher angles or from the hip. The incorporation of the an electronic viewfinder enables consumers to see through the lens in most any lighting condition
5-Way Vibration Reduction (VR) Image Stabilization System
Optical VR Image Stabilization by image sensor shift compensates for the effects of camera shake, producing clearer, sharper results in lower lighting or unsteady conditions
Hybrid VR Image Stabilization combines both sensor shift VR and Electronic VR
Motion Detection automatically detects moving subjects and adjusts shutter speed and the ISO setting to compensate for camera shake and subject movement
High ISO 3200 capability creates new opportunities to take sharper, more natural-looking photos in lower light conditions (up to 10 megapixels)
Best Shot Selector (BSS) automatically takes up to 10 shots while the user presses the shutter, and saves the sharpest image
Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority and Manual Exposure modes give ultimate creative control over images
New Sport Continuous Scene Mode for shooting at up to 10 fps at full resolution and 120 fps for 1.1-megapixel images
Subject Tracking automatically activates autofocus while tracking moving subjects such as children and animals. Even when the subject momentarily moves out of the LCD frame, the camera will restart tracking if the subject returns in the frame within 3 seconds
Pre-shooting Cache lets users capture up to 40 shots before shutter is released. This setting helps photographers stay ahead of the action
Active D-Lighting minimizes loss of details in highlights and shadows resulting in beautiful, more natural-looking images
Smart Portrait System integrates the following features to make it a snap to capture stunning portrait photos of friends and family:
In-Camera Red-Eye FixTM automatically fixes most instances of red-eye
Enhanced Face-Priority AF can detect up to 12 faces from a variety of angles
Skin Softening ensures smooth skin tone on the face of subjects by leveraging built-in face-detection technology
Smile Mode automatically detects when a subject smiles and releases the shutter
Blink Warning notifies the user when a subject has blinked in a photo
Blink Proof detects the subject's face and automatically takes a series of sequential shots, then saves the image in which the subject's eyes are open
The Nikon COOLPIX P100 digital camera will be available nationwide in March 2010 and will retail for $399.95* MSRP. For more information on the P100 and all COOLPIX cameras, please visit www.nikonusa.com.
The S4000 is their new touchcam, which seemed more responsive than the last gen, with a decent-sized 3-inch touchscreen. It shoots at 12MP, but also pulls out 720p video. And it's cheaper than before, at $200.
"S" REPRESENTS STYLISH, SLIM DESIGN, SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE AND SUPER ZOOM WITH THE NEW NIKON COOLPIX S-SERIES DIGITAL CAMERAS
Whether a User Needs HD Video, Super-Long Zoom, or a Functional Fashion Accessory, There Is Something for Everyone with Nikon's New Style Series of Digital Cameras
MELVILLE, NY (Feb. 2, 2010) – Today, Nikon Inc. continues the tradition of blending innovation, design and performance in its line of COOLPIX compact cameras with the introduction of four new COOLPIX Style Series cameras. The S-series cameras provide users with innovative and fun features such as long zooms, speedy performance, advanced flash controls, touch-screen technology, and enhanced high resolution LCD screens in sleek, stylish camera bodies. In an impressive slim body, the new COOLPIX S8000 digital camera sports a long 10x optical zoom, 720p HD Video, and a 3.0-inch 921,000-dot LCD screen with bright Clear Color Display. Not to be outdone, the COOLPIX S4000 blends a user-friendly touch-screen interface with an elegant camera design, while the COOLPIX S6000 and COOLPIX S3000 digital cameras deliver the speed, accessibility and ease-of-use that have made the S-series the camera of choice among consumers who value style and performance.
"Building on the hallmarks of the COOLPIX line, the new S-Series cameras combine the features consumers want, along with high performance and innovative technology into elegant camera designs with colorful results," said Bo Kajiwara, director of marketing, Nikon Inc. "The digital camera has become an accessory to today's consumer, and with the S-series camera, users can challenge their creativity, and complement their sense of fashion."
All new COOLPIX S-series cameras incorporate Nikon's world-class NIKKOR lenses, delivering accurate detail and brilliant color, as well as Nikon's EXPEED™ digital image processing concept, which ensures high-quality pictures with stunning color and sharpness. Many of the new S-series models embrace the addition of High Definition (HD) video by adding an ideally located video record button on the back of the camera. Other COOLPIX features include Scene Auto Selector, which automatically recognizes the shooting situation and adjusts camera settings accordingly for great pictures anywhere. To make better portraits easier, the Smart Portrait System incorporates a series of automatic functions including In-Camera Red-Eye Fix ™, Improved Face-Priority AF, Face Priority AE, Smile Mode, Blink Warning and Skin Softening to flatter even the most camera-shy subject.
New COOLPIX S8000: Deceptively Slim Yet Hides a Surprise
Hidden inside the COOLPIX S8000's slender body resides a powerful and versatile 10x Optical Zoom-NIKKOR ED glass lens that produces incredibly sharp, crisp images up close or far away. To banish the blur at any focal length, the S8000 features a 4-way Image Stabilization System and ISO settings to 3200. Additionally, the S8000 has the ability to record HD movies (720p) at 30 frames per second (fps) with stereo sound, and features an ultra high-resolution 921,000-dot Clear Color Display LCD for sharp, clear viewing of images.
The 14.2-megapixel COOLPIX S8000 digital camera also includes a new feature called the Creative Slider, which simplifies adjusting brightness, saturation and color tone in-camera by utilizing the Rotary Multi Selector. Another new feature, Advanced Flash Control, allows users to create more natural-looking flash shots by utilizing higher ISO settings and faster shutter speeds in low light as well as apply Multi-area Auto Backlight Compensation for even exposures. Additionally, the COOLPIX S8000 packs an improved Sport Continuous Mode, high-speed continuous shooting at up to approximately 4 fps for 45 frames (3 MP), plus a fast start-up time and a quick shutter-release time. To further ensure no moment is missed, the S8000 has the ability to acquire the subject and lock focus using Subject Tracking.
The COOLPIX S8000 will be available in February 2010 for $299.95* MSRP in a choice of colors including black, red, bronze and champagne silver.
The New COOLPIX S6000: High Performance Is Always In Style
The new COOLPIX S6000 digital camera blends performance into an elegant camera design to create the ideal accessory for wherever life leads. Though the S6000 measures only one-inch thick, it comes with a versatile 7x Optical Zoom-NIKKOR ED glass lens to zoom in on the action or fill the frame with your subject. The COOLPIX S6000 also has the ability to record HD movie clips (720p) at 30 fps to preserve memories in high quality video, which are easily played back later on an HDTV from the camera via HDMI connection.
The COOLPIX S6000 includes features like 14.2-megapixel resolution and a bright 2.7-inch 230,000-dot Clear Color Display LCD. Similar to the COOLPIX S8000, the COOLPIX S6000 boasts advanced features and controls like Sport Continuous Mode and Advanced Flash Control. The S6000 also sports a fast start-up time of approximately 0.75 seconds and a short shutter-release time of approximately 0.3 seconds to help ensure memories are recorded as soon as they happen.
To further help users snap stunning photos easily, the COOLPIX S6000 features ISO 3200; 4-way VR Image Stabilization System; Subject Tracking; Scene Auto Selector Mode; Nikon's Smart Portrait System all packed into an ultra-stylish design.
The COOLPIX S6000 will be available in March 2010 for $249.95* MSRP in a choice of bold colors, including champagne silver, black, red, and bronze.
The New COOLPIX S4000: Touch-Screen Technology, Nikon Performance
Integrating elegant design and intuitive operation, the new COOLPIX S4000 digital camera comes equipped with a touch-screen interface that places the camera's controls at the users' fingertips. The COOLPIX S4000 incorporates a new 3.0-inch 460,000-dot touch-panel Clear Color Display LCD, which makes it easy to compose, review, edit and share pictures.
To fully utilize the touch-screen interface, the COOLPIX S4000 comes with several advanced shooting features. With Touch Shutter, users can select their subject by a single touch on the screen to adjust focus and exposure, and to automatically release the shutter. When selected, Subject Tracking can automatically follow and focus on a subject selected by touching the screen, such as a fast moving child or a pet throughout the frame.
At the touch of a finger, users can record HD movies (720p) to create and share. The S4000 also includes user-friendly modes like Scene Auto Selector, which automatically recognizes the scene in your picture and adjusts camera setting to take the best photo possible for the given conditions.
The 12-megapixel COOLPIX S4000 features a 4x wide-angle Zoom-NIKKOR lens, ISO sensitivity to 3200; 4-way VR Image Stabilization System; Subject Tracking; Scene Auto Selector Mode; Nikon's Smart Portrait System and a compact stylish design.
The COOLPIX S4000 digital camera will be available in March 2010 for $199.95 MSRP in a choice of vibrant colors, including plum, champagne silver, pink, red and black.
New COOLPIX S3000: Make a Statement in Color
Sleek design, attractive colors and innovative technology truly set the new Nikon COOLPIX S3000 digital camera apart from the competition. The COOLPIX S3000 comfortably places advanced shooting controls in the hand for great fun and optimal results. User-friendly advanced features and ease-of-use, along with the camera's compact size make it a pleasure to carry around anywhere from the family reunion to a night on the town.
With the stylish looks and the vivid color choices of the S3000, the camera is the perfect tool to express one's personal style. The COOLPIX S3000 also includes a bright 2.7-inch 230,000-dot LCD screen designed to make it easy to compose, review and share pictures.
The 12-megapixel COOLPIX S3000 features a 4x wide-angle Zoom-NIKKOR lens; ISO 3200; 4-way VR Image stabilization System; Subject Tracking; Scene Auto Selector Mode; Nikon's Smart Portrait System and a colorful and compact design.
The COOLPIX S3000 will be available in March 2010 for $149.95 MSRP and in a choice of vibrant colors, including plum, champagne silver, black, orange, green and blue.
From the sounds of it, plenty of people would be willing to open up their checkbooks to keep streaming videos. Of course, even those unwilling to pay won't just be left hanging with nothing to watch because according to Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, a "free version of Hulu will always exist" even though the company is in fact "exploring premium pricing." Now we just have to wait to find out if, when, and what kind of subscriptions will come. [USA Today]
3Crowd, the new startup from BitGravity co-founder Barrett Lyon, is ready for its close-up. Until now little was known about the company, other than that its backers include Jay Adelson, Kevin Rose, Storm Ventures, and Greenwich Technology Associates. Now the company is talking: 3Crowd is looking to change the way people use content delivery networks, with a goal of making it both cheaper and easier to use these CDNs by making them part of a unified ‘cloud’. At least, that’s the first thing 3Crowd is hoping to do — the company’s future goals are even more ambitious.
3Crowd’s first product is setting out to help users manage their content across multiple CDNs at the same time, using rule sets to determine which CDNs should be tapped depending on variables like the user’s location and which content they’re accessing. The product also looks to make it easy to actually deploy your content to these CDNs — you have to create the account with the CDN, but 3Crowd can then walk you through a wizard to get things going. Lyon says that this changes the process from one that would typically require a programmer to one that’s managed through a clickable wizard.
So what’s the benefit from being able to easily spread your content across multiple CDNs? For one, you aren’t dealing with a single point of failure. But the rules-based platform also gives you more flexibility as to how you’d like to distribute your content. If you found a CDN based in the United States that was cheaper than the alternatives, you could use that while still maintaining your content on a premium CDN serving users abroad. You could also set up the system to have a secondary CDN kick in if your traffic hit a certain threshold. The system also makes it easy to jump between CDNs — find a better deal on one, and you can jump to it with fewer headaches than you would have had otherwise.
As the co-founder of the CDN BitGravity, Lyon obviously has experience in this area. He says that one of the issues with content delivery networks is that they can become prohibitively expensive for successful sites. He explains that as your site grows, CDNs may be able to help you quickly serve your content to all of your new fans, but there’s a good chance your income isn’t scaling as quickly as your CDN costs are. 3Crowd ultimately hopes to make it much cheaper to achieve massive distribution.
There are still plenty of unknowns, though. 3Crowd is still in private beta and will remain so for the next few weeks, and Lyon didn’t want to get into the service’s pricing (he says it will be “very affordable”). Lyon also promises that there’s much more to 3Crowd’s vision, though he wouldn’t get into the details yet.
My hunch is that the company will eventually look to make switching between CDNs a near real-time affair — imagine being able to dynamically swap between CDNs based on which one is cheapest at a given moment (this would be especially powerful if you could target CDNs during traffic drop-offs, when bandwidth might be cheaper, though that assumes the CDNs will cooperate).
I’m here at the Facebook Technology Tasting, where the social network is showcasing their newly open sourced PHP technology, HipHop. The new technology effectively transforms PHP into C++, resulting in a significant savings of CPU cycles on web servers. Facebook is streaming the event live, and we’ve embedded the live stream below.
Facebook Senior Open Programs Manager David Recordon kicked off the event by walking the audience through some of the challenges Facebook faces, particularly with the dynamic pages it has to generate. He spoke about some of the benefits of various programming languages, and also the CPU costs of each. As it scaled, Facebook encountered problems with PHP, including high CPU and memory costs and difficulty developers faced to build extensions. But Facebook has a slew of talented PHP developers, and it didn’t make sense to rewrite the site.
The solution Facebook came up with is HipHop for PHP, which started as a hackathon project from a single developer named Haiping Zhao (though he had some team members as the project progressed). The technology transforms PHP into C++, using g++ to compile it.
Facebook has found that the technology uses 50% less CPU with equal traffic on its web tier, and 30% less CPU usage with doubled traffic on its API tier.
Facebook started deploying HipHop six months ago (initially it was only on internal servers). It’s now been ramped up to 90% of Facebook’s production servers.
Zhao took the stage to give a highly technical walkthrough of the benefits of the technology (watch the video below for the details).
Facebook Open Source Developer Advocate Scott MacVicar presented a roadmap for the future of the open source project. Among Facebook’s goals:
-Catch up with PHP 5.3
-Support Apache as a web server option
-Evolve based on usage outside of FB.
AFP - Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak suggested Tuesday in media interviews that Toyota's troubles with a defective accelerator pedal may have to do with software, after his Prius sped up while in cruise-control.
Ant notes a piece up on WBUR Boston addressing theories to explain the universal human experience that time seems to pass faster as you get older. Here's the 9-minute audio (MP3). Several explanations are tried out: that brains lay down more information for novel experiences; that the "clock" for nerve impulses in aging brains runs slower; and that each interval of time represents a diminishing fraction of life as we age.
Basically, TI made up a kind of demo unit (pictured) to show what the OMAP4 can do, which is not inconsiderable. The demo unit is a portable device running Android, equipped with two screens and HDMI-out as well as a 12MP camera, pico projector, plus all the wireless protocols and sensors you can imagine. It's a fantasy device, most certainly not intended for market, but it's a pretty effective way to get our hearts racing.
The ARM A9-based chipset will be competing with the Apple A4 and Tegra 2 in tablets and smartbooks, but it's also small enough and energy-efficient enough to power handhelds—good news, since it's got some pretty serious muscle. The demo unit uses a dual-1GHz-core version, and supports 1080p video recording at 24/30fps, three simultaneous independent displays (why you'd need that is beyond me), 20MP image processing, and more memory bandwidth than the Tegra 2 (for better multitasking). Besides that, TI's built in image stabilization and "universal decoding," which means it should be able to (software permitting) play back just about any media file you throw at it. TI claims that with a 1000 mAh battery, it can hit 145 hours of audio playback, which sounds freaking insane—the current OMAP3 can only get between 30 and 40.
It's slated to hit the market either in late 2010 or early 2011, aimed first at smartphones and later possibly larger devices like ereaders or tablets. We'll report on it more as it gets closer to release, but even if the chip can only hit 75% of what it claims, it'll still be damned impressive. [Slashgear]
AP - A top Senate Democrat is asking 30 leading technology, Internet and communications companies to provide detailed descriptions of their operations and human rights practices in China. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 2 Feb 2010 | 7:45 pm
Engadget editor Joshua Topolsky explains why they shut down their comment system : "They're not coming here to talk about technology. They're coming to incite arguments ... One guy posted page after page of 'fuck you, bitch' to one of our female editors."
It wasn’t too long ago that our own Nicholas Deleon was detained and manhandled at a Best Buy. Today, we hear reports of someone who, for the crime of having some trouble with gift cards, was handcuffed, frisked, and put in a holding cell at the station. The bright side of this story is that the person this happened to should feel free to sue the hell out of Best Buy and the NYPD. I kind of expect this sort of behavior in a suburban mall where the rent-a-cops get bored, but on Broadway in Manhattan?
You can read the full situation over at Consumerist, but the gist is this: there were some technical difficulties with some American Express gift cards with which this person was trying to pay for a Blu-ray player. There was some confusion about the numbers on the cards, and the customer was apparently assumed to be a master thief, detained by Best Buy, and then taken to the police station, where she was held until they figured it out. Outrageous, Best Buy.
Here’s what should have happened: any trouble with the cards, even if they are supposed with good reason to be counterfeit, should be referred to a manager. This isn’t a floor staff issue. The manager can spend 15 minutes figuring it out, and if that doesn’t bear fruit, he could apologize to the customer for the inconvenience and ask them to come again tomorrow when they’ve got it all figured out. A ten-dollar gift certificate would probably make the customer forget anything bad had happened. To do anything otherwise, and assume the problem is with the customer, should not even be considered.
Best Buy, in this case, is liable, and although I would not say that litigation was wise in Nicholas’ case, in this person’s case it seems necessary. This was a serious breach of civil rights and needs to be addressed. Best Buy needs to get this problem under control.
Imagine going to the mall in search of a new pair of black leather gloves. But this time, rather than starting the search by going straight to your favorite stores, which look familiar and carry recognizable merchandise at expected prices, you must walk to the center of the mall and sort through a giant bucket of gloves with few identifying marks other than price.
Wacky as this scenario sounds, it’s the way many people shop online every day. They look for specific items by searching Web sites like Amazon.com (AMZN) and eBay.com (EBAY), where results are displayed in big lists without much association to stores. That means all the details a customer knows about a store—its ambiance, prices, style, quality and variety—aren’t put to use.
[ See post to watch video ]
This week, I shopped online with Flit.com, a free Web site owned by San Francisco-area company enterONCE LLC that encourages people to shop using the same method they use at the mall: Start inside familiar stores, not in a giant bucket of products. It’s designed so people will enter a search item once and receive multiple suggestions of places where the item might be sold. As shoppers “flit” off to those stores, Flit.com serves as a home base, remembering the original search so shoppers can flit back, choose different stores and shop from there again and again.
I used Flit.com to shop online for black high heels, a digital camera, the iPad (not yet available), a robe, running sneakers and black leather gloves. I found that using it saved me from having to manually enter multiple URLs, and I liked how it helped me shop from store to store, since I already associate certain styles with each.
Select from the list of stores carrying black dresses. The store’s Web site opens to reveal all the black dresses carried there.
A male colleague of mine explained that he doesn’t naturally shop according to stores, so it’s worth noting that Flit.com may appeal to women more than men. I wish Flit.com had a way of combining its store shopping with side-by-side comparisons of the same product; the company plans to add this in March.
The Flit.com shopping process works as follows: Type in a search item, such as “red dress,” then choose to search in Value or Premium stores and press the Enter key. This returns a list of stores from a pool of more than 300 that carry red dresses; store categories can be selected to return more accurate results. Select one store, and its Web site opens to reveal all the red dresses carried there. Search results include stores like Target, Best Buy (BBY), Bloomingdales, Sam’s Club and J. Crew, as well as popular shopping sites like Amazon, NexTag, Buy.com and eBay.
The value behind Flit.com’s method of flitting you out to individual store sites is twofold. First, you still get to shop on a store’s own Web page, many of which were designed to uniquely reflect the store’s spirit and style. Lots of shoppers have saved shipping and credit card information with a store Web site, or they have coupon codes or gift certificates to use there. Shopping on each store’s page rather than on a general shopping site lets them tap into that data.
Type in an item such as ‘black dress’ (above), choosing to search in Value or Premium stores.
Second, after you flit off to a store Web site, an orange button remains in a Flit.com toolbar at the top of the page; click there to return back to home base before flitting off to yet another shopping site. Flit.com will keep a breadcrumb trail of where you have gone in your shopping session, using store icons to represent each site that was visited. You can place a check mark beside sites to remember them.
Flit.com’s search results are only as good as each individual store’s search engine, so if a store doesn’t do a good job of querying its own inventory, you’re out of luck.
The Flit.com home page would benefit from offering more ways to sort stores, such as by price range rather than just by using Value, Premium or alphabetical order—especially because “value” and “premium” mean different things to different people. The company’s CEO says Flit.com will likely add sorting by price and other categories by this spring.
In a hunt for a robe using Flit.com, I was surprised to see that of the 12 top stores that appeared at the top of the list, seven of them didn’t carry robes, according to what the store sites told me when I linked out to them. I asked Flit.com’s CEO about this and he said that search returns don’t filter out some stores that may have limited or no selections, and that this is valuable because it shows shoppers that a certain store doesn’t carry an item—just like physical shopping. I had hoped that one advantage to Flit.com would be less virtual wandering in stores that don’t carry what I am looking for.
Banana Republic, Gap and Old Navy Web sites, all owned by the same company, didn’t display the orange toolbar button that returns shoppers to Flit.com because they use their own toolbar at the top of their pages.
It’s too bad that Flit.com’s breadcrumb trail, which tracks where a user has shopped, doesn’t hold specific items. For example, I found the same pair of running sneakers in my size after digging into Web sites for Road Runner Sports and Zappos, but I couldn’t save the shoes anywhere. Flit.com’s CEO says capturing individual products and merging them into the search trail will be offered in March.
Snipi.com, a free shopping site I reviewed last spring, uses a toolbar for holding items that are dragged and dropped into it so they can be remembered and revisited for buying at a later time. Flit searches can be saved or shared with others with the “save your shopping session” button. It prompts the user to enter an email address for sending a Web link of the saved session.
Flit.com is currently funding its operating costs from an original private investment and doesn’t have any formal relationships with the stores where it sends users. The site’s CEO says the company hopes to negotiate a system where it gets paid by the stores, or by third parties, for any business it generates.
After doing a lot of flitting, I noticed a screen between the Flit.com search results page and the store page that asked if I wanted to share Flit with friends, and offered to let me do so through email or a social-networking site like Twitter or Facebook. This screen pops up roughly every 25 flits, according to the company, but it includes a step to skip this and continue to the store’s Web page.
The people working at Flit.com seem to know what the site needs to improve, thus preventing it from being just another fleeting online shopping site. Its shopping trail needs a little help, as do its result categorizations, but the way it lets users shop online starting with familiar stores makes Web shopping comfortable and easy, much like visiting physical stores.
Thelasko writes "I'm sure many here have been the victim of bullying at some point in their lives. A new study suggests why. '...now researchers have found at least three factors in a child's behavior that can lead to social rejection. The factors involve a child's inability to pick up on and respond to nonverbal cues from their pals.' The article sketches out some ways teachers and councilors are working with bullied kids to help them develop the missing social skills."
PC World - Apple released version 3.1.3 of the iPhone operating system (OS) on Tuesday, much to jailbreakers dismay. The update, which is available now via iTunes, fixes a number of known bugs, patches known security issues, and improves various iPhone features. However, despite the good news for the majority of regular iPhone owners, the upgrade has posed something of a problem for those who have taken the notorious jailbreaking route. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 2 Feb 2010 | 6:14 pm
Adobe exec Kevin Lynch comments on the recent debate over whether the iPad's non-support of Flash or the rise of HTML5 will spell the death of Flash as the dominant video delivery platform on the web.
Math and photography student Nikki Graziano combines her two favorite things by overlaying graphs and their equations on carefully composed images she's captured.
AFP - ABI Research said Tuesday that Apple's iPad highlights the "real start" of a tablet computer market that should grow more than tenfold to reach about 57 million devices sold annually by 2015.
Many Windows 7 users are complaining about the severe loss in battery life in their notebooks after only a few weeks. Cases like a previous battery life of two hours cutting down to 30 minutes or less are common. Other cases involve their notebook actually telling them they need a new battery after upgrading to 7, even though Vista said it was fine. Many complaints similar to those above have been put onto Microsoft’s TechNet forum; and Microsoft has decided to investigate into this problem.
So far, Microsoft’s only reasoning for these problems is compatibility issues with its hardware. A spokesman from Microsoft states that it might be a problem in communication between the BIOS and Windows as that is where 7 gets all of its data on battery life. Other than that though, no official cause has been found. But Microsoft did state that as soon as one was found, they would update the community on their TechNet forum.
Be sure to check back for more information regarding this issue.
AFP - As iPad commanded the technology world's attention, Google continued working quietly on tablet computer software that could run rivals to Apple's latest creation.
Last year’s CES found us at the booth of the iTable, which was an overlay for LCDs and TVs of any size that turned them into a multi-touch surface. We thought it was awesome, and the possibilities were many and various. Now we find that someone has one-upped the iTable, creating a multi-touch surface that’s thinner than a sheet of paper and can just be rolled onto any surface. How cool is that?!
It’s called DISPLAX, and I can’t describe it any better than Physorg did:
Based on patent-pending projected capacitive technology, DISPLAX Multitouch Technology uses a controller that works by processing multiple input signals it receives from a grid of nanowires embedded in the film attached to the enabled surface. Each time a finger is placed on the screen or a user blows on the surface, a small electrical disturbance is caused. The micro-processor controller analyses this data and decodes the location of each input on that grid to track the finger and air-flow movements.
I don’t know if you caught that, but it detects change in air flow. You can blow on it! Note that this is just a touch-sensitive surface; it still requires a display behind it and all that. As long as it just outputs some tagged XY coordinates, it should be a breeze, though.
It detects up to 16 touches at once, which probably has something to do with the power-of-two number of nanowires embedded in the stuff, but it’s not clear how precise it is. The IR solution of the iTable was very precise and could have basically as many inputs as you could throw at it, like the Surface. The benefit of DISPLAX, of course, is that it’s microscopically thin and very flexible. I’m looking forward to hearing more about this technology. They’re supposed to start shipping this July.
Okay, look. I wasn’t going to post about these, because every bit of attention these things get will make it that much harder for me to acquire them before they sell out. But then this little nagging voice in my head (which sounds like a freakish cross between CrunchGear editor John Biggs and my mother) started saying “But, Greg! It’s your job! You have to post awesome things that people will be interested in!”
Spotted on Gawker's image server via @gruber. Who's the artist? If the filename's meaningful, it's one Ron Cassel.Update! This is Ron Cassel's winning entry in a competition hosted by Gizmodo to find the 77 iPad Updates That May or May Not Please the Critics.
Early this morning, Twitter began alerting certain users to reset their passwords because of a possible phishing attack. They later elaborated on it a bit but it still wasn’t clear exactly what was going on. Now they’ve felt the need to fully go into exactly what went down — and it’s fairly interesting.
On their Twitter Status blog (interesting that it’s not the main Twitter blog), Del Harvey, Twitter’s Director of “Trust and Safety” has a post detailing the attack. Apparently, Twitter figured out that some torrent sites have been being created for a number of years by some individual who then sells them to others looking to get into the business. The problem is that this person seems to have included a backdoor into these sites so that they could access them later when the site became popular. And because people often use the same login and password across the web, a bunch of Twitter accounts were then comprimised with this data.
To make matters worse, it seems that there were also other exploits on these sites that allowed other hackers to gain access to data. Harvey doesn’t name any of the torrent sites involved (and says they likely won’t even be able to figure out all of them), but notes that if you’re a torrent site user, you should probably change your Twitter password immediately.
Harvey titles his post, “reason 4,132 for changing your password” — but really it should be, “reason 4,132 for not using the same login/password on all sites.” Here’s the main nugget:
The takeaway from this is that people are continuing to use the same email address and password (or a variant) on multiple sites. Through our discussions with affected users, we’ve discovered a high correlation between folks who have used third party forums and download sites and folks who were on our list of possibly affected accounts.
Okay, look. I wasn’t going to post about these, because every bit of attention these things get will make it that much harder for me to acquire them before they sell out. But then this little nagging voice in my head (which sounds like a freakish cross between CrunchGear editor John Biggs and my mother) started saying “But, Greg! It’s your job! You have to post awesome things that people will be interested in!”
Damn you, responsibilities. Damn you to hell.
Artist Andrew Bell and his company Dyzplastic have teamed up with the folks at the Googleplex to create a limited run series of 12 differently themed figurines, all shaped like everyone’s favorite little Android. Like those damned evil mystery-bag toys we all threw our cash at in the early 90s, these things will be “blind-boxed” – you won’t know which one you’ve got until you’ve opened it.
Unless, of course, you buy a whole box of 16, pretty much ensuring that you get one of each. But that would just be sad, right? No one would do that, right? Certainly not yours truly. Certainly not*.
Before you whip out your credit card: they’re not on sale quite yet. The announcement post says they’re coming “later this month”, while an image on the company’s homepage seems to imply that they’ll hit the shelves on February 10th.
darthcamaro writes "As expected, Facebook today announced a new runtime for PHP, called HipHop. What wasn't expected were a few key revelations disclosed today by Facebook developer David Recordan. As it turns out Facebook has been running HipHop for months and it now power 90 percent of their servers — it's not a skunkworks project it's a Live production technology. It's also not just a runtime, it's also a new webserver. 'In general, Apache is a great Web server, but when we were looking at how we get the next half percent or percent of performance, we didn't need all the features that Apache offers," Recordon said. He added, however, that he hopes an open source project will one day emerge around making HipHop work with Apache Web servers.'"
SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Monolithic Power Systems (MPS) (Nasdaq: MPWR), a leading fabless manufacturer of high-performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, today announced the appointment of Dr. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Feb 2010 | 5:00 pm
AFP - News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch said Tuesday there have been "very early" talks with director James Cameron about making a sequel to his box office record-breaking film "Avatar."
Investor's Business Daily - Social networks are attracting more users -- and cyberattacks -- according to a report by IT security firm Sophos. Cybercriminals have increasingly focused attacks on social networking users in the last 12 months, Sophos says. 57% of users say they've been spammed via social networking sites, up 70.6% vs. last year. 36% reveal they have been sent malware via such sites, a 69.8% rise from last year. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 2 Feb 2010 | 4:47 pm
A Portuguese company has come up with a technology called the projective capacitive touchscreen. Unlike the typical multitouch screen on your gadgets, this touchscreen is a thinner-than-paper polymer film that when applied to glass, plastic or wood turns the surface interactive. Due to the nature of the polymer film, it can even be applied on curved surfaces.
It currently supports16-finger multitouch on a 50-inch screen, and they expect to improve it to support up to 65 fingers! The screen also interacts with airflow, which means that you can blow the surface and the screen will be able to detect it.
They are already working with a number of manufacturers to bring this technology to market, and if things goes according to plan, we may be able to see Displax-based applications this July!
PC World - Motorola's venture arm said it invested an undisclosed sum in Scanbuy, a company that offers mobile barcode products and services. Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 2 Feb 2010 | 4:30 pm
JamJam writes "The Lancet, a major British medical journal, has retracted a flawed study linking the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine to autism and bowel disease. British surgeon and medical researcher Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues originally released their study in 1998. Since then 10 of Wakefield's 13 co-authors have renounced the study's conclusions and The Lancet has said it should never have published the research. Wakefield now faces being stripped of his right to practice medicine in Britain. The vaccine-autism debate should now end."
Every year on Groundhog Day, my friends–such as Liz and Treby, from when I was but a wee BoomTown (well, I am still wee)–call me with holiday greetings.
Why? Because freakish child that I was, I actually threw an annual Groundhog Day fest at school, complete with a cake–I used a rabbit-shaped pan, cut off its ears and added slivered almonds as teeth.
My premise: There was no good holiday between Christmas/New Year’s and Easter. Also groundhogs were deeply misunderstood.
So, as I take off to bake another cake with the kids–passing on a noble tradition–here are some videos to enjoy.
By the way, groundhog No. 1, Punxsutawney Phil, did see his shadow, so winter continues!
Super Bowl ad featuring Troy Polamalu as Punxsutawney Phil:
Cat vs. Groundhog:
Tiger Woods vs. “Caddyshack” gopher (which kind of looks like a groundhog–see differences here):
The inevitable Best Scenes from the most excellent “Groundhog Day” movie:
Groundhog Day 2010 in Punxsutawney, Pa. (with the dude who played Ned Ryerson in “Groundhog Day,” who does a weird whistling bellybutton thing!!!):
He calls the Recording Industry Association of America the "Big 4 Organized Music Cartel" and the "Hate Organizations." Now Jon Newton, the founder and voice behind p2pnet.net, is calling it quits amid financial problems.
The Pentagon's mad science agency has big plans for next year: crowdsourcing military intelligence, creating an "immune system" for Defense Department networks, and even research that might one day lead to editing a soldier's DNA.
You are now aware that bathtubs can have portholes. I was actually about to ask why we don’t have clear bathtubs (we do, in fact) and it occurred to me that, well, let’s be honest: that thing isn’t going to look clear for long. Soap, water, and our natural oils will do their work to make that large expanse of glass nearly opaque after a little while. But portholes? Easy enough to deal with.
What surprises me is that such a cool design is actually pretty reasonably priced. Well, maybe not reasonable, but certainly not extravagant. A tub will cost you €2700, or about $3760. I would have guessed about twice that. And just having portholes fitted to your existing tub is a paltry €550, or $770.
Okay, that’s actually pretty expensive, but it’s still kind of awesome.
As we noted earlier, Google announced an update today to its Android OS for Nexus One phones that would enable the pinch-to-zoom multi-touch feature for the first time in a few Google apps: Maps, Gallery, and the Web Browser. We’ve just received the update, which is technically firmware 2.1-update1, and have taken a video of the new functionality in action.
While some third-party apps have taken advantage of mutli-touch for some time on Android, Google has resisted the feature for its own apps — likely due to an agreement with Apple. But now, all bets appear to be off.
Google notes that most users shouldn’t receive the update until the end of the week as they gradually roll it out, so we were apparently lucky. Watch it in action below, and note how it compares to the iPhone’s multi-touch.
For all of the hell that Indonesia's been though in the past five years, its people sure could use some good news. Unfortunately, the latest round of reports are a mixed bag, and a fairly ominous one at that. First, ... Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 2 Feb 2010 | 3:41 pm
Two interesting nuggets from a wide-ranging earnings call today:
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch tried to lower expectations that his Fox broadcast network would hire Conan O’Brien.
Murdoch hinted that his book publishing unit is in line to get a new deal on e-books from Amazon, just as Macmillan has demanded (and other publishers will as well).
On the second point, here’s my on-the-fly transcription and paraphrasing of Murdoch’s comments about Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL) and e-book pricing. It’s one of the most candid descriptions you’ll hear from a top executive about Big Media’s reluctance to embrace digital distribution at the expense of its existing system and revenue:
“We don’t like the Amazon model of $9.99….We think it really devalues books and hurts all the retailers of hardcover books. We’re not against electronic books; on the contrary, we like them very much” because they cost us less to distribute, “but we want some room to maneuver.” The Apple deal…“does allow some flexibility and higher prices” though e-books will still be lower than print versions. And now Amazon is willing to sit down with us again and renegotiate.
UPDATE: Here’s a more complete transcript fromSeeking Alpha:
We don’t like the Amazon model of selling everything at $9.99. They don’t pay us that. They pay us the full wholesale price of $14 or whatever we charge. We think it really devalues books and it hurts all the retailers of the hard cover books. We are not against [inaudible] books. On the contrary we like them very much indeed. It is low cost to us and so on. But we want some room to maneuver in it. Amazon, sorry Apple in its agreement with us which has not been disclosed in detail does allow for a variety of slightly higher prices.
There will be prices very much less than the printed copies of books but still will not be fixed in a way that Amazon has been doing it. It appears that Amazon is now ready to sit down with us again and renegotiate pricing.
Again, it’s impossible to stress how scarring the music labels’ experience has been for Big Media. And they’re determined not to repeat the experience. Their takeaway, though, seems to be that they can stave off digital distribution by keeping prices high and inventory relatively scarce. Hard to believe consumers are going to go for that.
Earlier
A first glimpse at News Corp.’s fourth-quarter earnings (which, due to the company’s weird fiscal calendar, is technically the company’s Q2 for 2010): Pretty good. And much better than a year ago (thankfully). After factoring out one-time charges, the company posted earnings of 25 cents on revenue of $8.7 billion.
The Street was looking for earnings of 20 cents on revenue of $8.23 billion, and analysts were also hoping the company would boost its earnings forecast, due in part to a bump from the ginormous success of “Avatar.” No word on guidance in the release, though.
I’ll pick through the earnings release for other worthwhile nuggets for the next few minutes. And then the real show begins at 4:30 Eastern, when the company’s earnings call–easily the most entertaining one in its peer group due to the censor-free presence of CEO Rupert Murdoch–begins. We’ll be looking for commentary on his battle/negotiation with Google (GOOG), upcoming content deals with Apple and the iPad, his thoughts on paid content in general, a dash of political commentary or two, and an update on the turnaround effort at MySpace.
From the release: A pretty nice quarter at most of the conglomerate’s divisions, including the previously battered broadcast TV and newspaper groups. News Corp. says print revenue at The Wall Street Journal was up five percent and ads on the Journal’s digital network were up 17 percent.
MySpace and the company’s other digital properties, shuffled into the “other” category, don’t get much of a mention, but don’t seem to have done much, not surprisingly.
But News Corp does mention that digital media earnings were down $32 million compared with a year ago, “principally due to lower search and advertising revenue.” And the company lost $29 million on “digital media dispositions”–i.e., the fire sale/giveaways of properties like Rotten Tomatoes and Photobucket.
Here’s the breakdown by segment (click table to enlarge):
Liveblog
CFO Dave DeVoe: “Extremely pleased” with the quarter.
Movies: Revenue up due to decent DVD sales (no MGM problem here). Also high costs due to “Avatar,” but big profits from that coming in next couple quarters.
Broadcast TV: Local ads improving, telecom, fast food, finance all improving.
Cable: Revenue up 18 percent. 21 percent boost in affiliate revenue (more money for Fox News subs) and “single digit” boost in ad dollars.
Newspapers: Journal dollars are up, operating costs down. Ad revenue got better as quarter progressed.
Books: Revenue up, expenses down.
“Other”/MySpace: Digital media revenue down, but cost-cutting helped.
Boosting dividend by 25 percent.
Guidance: Increasing operating income growth rate from single digits to high teens. Better than anticipated: Film group, TV, cable. But revenue goals for digital media, including MySpace, are taking longer than anticipated.
Murdoch sings the praises of content. [I will not argue with him, for now]. “Avatar” is awesome, a “harbinger of fundamental change in the industry.” Also really good: “Alvin and the Chipmunks.” Fun to hear Rupe say “Alvin and the Chipmunks.”
WSJ is the No.1 paper in U.S. in terms of circulation, influence, quality. WSJ.com is a “digital model for newspapers around the world.”
Fox News Channel’s audience is both “loyal and lucrative.” Roger Ailes is doing an “admirable job” [translation: Bite me, Michael Wolff].
Last year, Murdoch says, News Corp.’s pay-to-play ideas sounded nutty, but now “the content clan has gathered around our ideas.” Consumers must pay and will pay “to be entertained and informed.” All those awesome new gadgets being made in China and sold at the Consumer Electronics Show need content or they’re worthless. Content, content, content. Get it? Content, content, content.
Murdoch says he’ll be wringing more dollars from cable operators. And “when it comes to online news, we’ll be changing that model too,” adding that News Corp. is in “substantive conversations with device makers on developing subscription models” to deliver content. And don’t forget about 3-D!
Not performing well but “long-term growth drivers”: Sky Italia satellite service. Also Sky Deutschland. And MySpace is “not yet where we want it.” In the last quarter, however, it “started to see signs of traffic stabilization.”
Shout outs for Chase Carey and other managers (but not by name).
Q&A
Question: Regarding retransmission consent, how big a deal is this in coming years? $40 million a month? $100 million a month?
Carey: No numbers, but it’s going to be a “transforming event.” We have two of top 10 distributors done, more coming. It’s a three- or four-year process to knock these deals out.
Q: Does this fix the broadcast model?
Carey? “Yes, I guess you could say simplistically it fixes it.”
Q: What’s the timing on an “Avatar” DVD, and what about a sequel? Also, how do TV ads look this year?
Murdoch: For “Avatar,” we think about 60 percent of profits will be in the next six months. Which means the DVD will be coming “as soon as possible,” but the movie will stay in cinemas for a while because we’re doing huge dollars in theaters still. Sequel? “Very early talks about it. Jim has ideas for one. We haven’t come to any agreement with him….Being Jim Cameron, I wouldn’t hold your breath for an early one.” Asked about the economics of a future release (“Will you keep same revenue split?”), Rupe sort of rumbles and growls and sort of doesn’t have much to say. “Ask anybody, it is very easy to drop a $100 million in a hurry on a film, and we’d like to lay off some of the risk.”
Carey: TV trends for this year are “positive.” Murdoch says TV stations will be up 18 or 19 percent, but last year was terrible. We’re still down compared with two years ago. Hard to see more than a quarter. In newspapers, it’s hard to see more than a few weeks.
[Missed a question on Sky Italia here.]
Q: What are growth prospects for cable networks? They’ve been driven a lot recently by new subscriber fees. How much longer can you get those boosts?
Murdoch: Overall “we think we have great potential for growth. Quite a long way to go yet.” Look at how NBCU’s USA is growing.
Carey: In the U.S., we’re moving to “quality over quantity”–we can wring more out of foreign exchange, etc. Fox News is only getting more powerful “great upside.”
Q: Regarding newspapers, what growth came from organic versus currency fluctuations?
The majority is from foreign exchange.
Q: Does your guidance assume that the “Avatar” DVD is coming in the next two quarters?
Murdoch: “Yes, but it won’t be 3-D,” which I don’t think the analyst was asking about.
Q: Back to retrans: You’ve been getting more and more money from cable guys. Why can’t you get $4, $5 per subscription for Fox broadcast subs?
Murdoch: “We’re modest people.”
Carey: Hyuk, hyuk. Real answer: It takes time. “We try to approach this constructively. We’ve built businesses with [cable guys], we’ve built valuable cable channels” [translation: patience!] We want to extract more without killing the cable guys.
Murdoch: That said, we’re asking for the same thing [for broadcast channels] that the cable networks are getting, which “certainly won’t kill the cable companies.”
Q: Please talk about value of film libraries (i.e., MGM). They’re generating big operating profits for cable now. How long will this last?
Murdoch: Regarding the MGM auction, “you can count us out of that one altogether” because others will pay more than we’re willing, and we’re not pursuing the Miramax catalog at all.
Carey: A film library by itself, without new stuff coming through, is a “depreciating asset.”
Q: On guidance: You say the ad market getting better, etc., but it sounds like you’re saying Ebidta growth is slowing.
Murdoch: “We honestly do not have any visibility about the last quarter.”
Q: On books/e-books/Apple, what’s going on with that?
Murdoch: We don’t like the Amazon model of $9.99….We think it really devalues books and hurts all the retailers of hardcover books. We’re not against electronic books; on the contrary, we like them very much, lower costs to us, but we want some room to maneuver. The Apple deal does allow “some flexibility and higher prices” though e-books they will still be lower than print. And now Amazon is willing to sit down with us again.
Press Q&A
Q: What’s up with plans to charge for newspapers on the Web?
Murdoch: “Not ready to announce yet [long pause]. We won’t be ready yet to make an announcement.” A “lot of talks with a lot of people.” More to say within the next two months.
Q: Are you still going to fall short $100 million on the Google deal?
Murdoch: Yes. People using social networks don’t use search a great deal. Facebook has seen this, too. “Really too early to make confident predictions…but from going down, we’re beginning to go up.”
Q: Can we get some details about Time Warner Cable (TWC) deal?
Nope.
What about Conan O’Brien on late night?
Murdoch: If programming people can show us we can do it and make a profit on it, we’ll do it in a flash. I’m sure there have been conversations with Conan, but “if you mean real negotiations, no.”
[Missed two questions here.]
Q: Another late-night question. If you do go into negotiations with Conan, how do you placate your affiliates?
Murdoch: Different deal than NBC. They screwed up 10 pm which reduced lead in. Our affiliates run syndicated programming at 11:30, though, so it will take time to adjust there.
Call ended. This one seemed short to me.
More or less redundant disclosure: News Corp. (NWS) owns this Web site.
Josh Triplett writes "Last October, Mozilla accepted the China Internet Network Information Center as a trusted CA root (Bugzilla entry). This affects Firefox, Thunderbird, and other products built on Mozilla technologies. The standard period for discussion passed without comment, and Mozilla accepted CNNIC based on the results of a formal audit. Commenters in the bug report and the associated discussion have presented evidence that the Chinese government controls CNNIC, and surfaced claims of malware production and distribution and previous man-in-the-middle attacks in China via their secondary CA root from Entrust. As usual, please refrain from blindly chiming into the discussion without supporting evidence. Since Mozilla has already accepted CNNIC as a trusted root CA, the burden rests with those who argue for its removal."
By Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Three months after Apple (AAPL) updated its iMac desktop computers, the company is still experiencing two-week delays in shipping its 27-inch model.
When the delay was first noticed on its online store in December, Apple attributed the delays to the model’s popularity, even as some owners complained about flickering screens and yellow-tinged displays. Apple said then that it was “working hard to fulfill orders as quickly as possible.”
Since then, however, the delays have mysteriously fluctuated. The iMac’s shipment delays were as short as one week just a couple of weeks ago, according to brokerage Piper Jaffray & Co., before creeping back up to two to three weeks on Apple’s online store. The Apple store on Fifth Avenue in New York said Tuesday it had the 3.06 gigahertz iMac model in stock, but didn’t have the 2.66 gigahertz iMac model.
If you ride on a motorcycle often for travel, then you probably know how difficult communication is of any sort, whether it be on the phone or talking to the person next to you. Recently, Cardo Systems announced a new product based on Bluetooth to help motorcyclists communicate with one another, or multiple riders.
The scala rider G4 allows up to two riders and two passengers to communicate all at once, or three separate riders, or just two people as long as everyone is within a one mile radius. If you and a group of friends are all traveling to the same place, the ability to communicate at once is definitely helpful. In addition, the scala rider G4 can connect to any other Bluetooth device, such as a MP3 player, GPS unit, and cell phones. In case your devices are not Bluetooth-capable, the scala rider G4 still has a jack that can connect to those devices.
It sports a FM radio, voice activated controls, automatic volume control based on surrounding noise, a weatherproof design, 10 hour battery life on constant usage, and a noise canceling microphone. It it set to retail for $279.95.
bLanark writes with news of a new substance that can be sprayed on for a durable, easy-to-clean film on almost any substance, hard or soft. The liquid glass is essentially pure silicon dioxide, and it goes on in a layer 15 to 30 atoms thick. It is breathable and flexible, but waterproof and resistant to bacterial growth. The patent is held by a German company, Nanopool, which is in discussion with many parties about a wide range of uses: keeping public spaces sanitary, keeping restaurants clean, and keeping cars or trains clean. "The spray forms a water-resistant layer, meaning it can be cleaned using only water. Trials by food-processing companies showed that sterile surfaces covered with a film of liquid glass were equally clean after a rinse with hot water as after their usual treatment with strong bleach."
Two University of California, Berkeley, research projects that push the boundaries of their fields have each received $1 million grants from the W.M. Keck Foundation. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Feb 2010 | 2:49 pm
SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Brett Kotlus, a cosmetic surgeon at Allure Medical Spa in Shelby Township, raves about the 3-D system he uses to simulate surgery on prospective clients. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Feb 2010 | 2:25 pm
TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- PrepLogic, leading provider of IT certification training, has announced two bold new programs to give consumers confidence and assurance before purchasing a certification training program. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Feb 2010 | 2:18 pm
The Fujitsu LifeBook UH900 has just been released in the US, for $999. It comes with a 5.6” multitouch display, features an Intel Atom Z530 1.6GHz processor, 2GB RAM, a 62GB SSD, GPS and it runs on Windows 7 Home Premium. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth. The LifeBook UH900 weighs at just a little over 1 lb, sporting a Lithium ion 2-cell polymer, 7.2V, 1800 mAh battery. No words on its battery life, though.
The US version of the LifeBook UH900 is slightly cheaper than its Japanese counterpart, which is priced at approximately $1100. The LifeBook UH900 is not exactly the cheapest UMPC in town, but with the $50 off and a $100 mail-in rebate, it brings down the price to $849. As part of this special offer, Fujitsu is also offering a free 160 GB Backup Ultra Portable Hard Drive, or a free Lexmark X2650 All-in-One Inkjet Printer, as well as free shipping.
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have developed an efficient and cost-effective method to speed up the breeding of scab-resistant barley cultivars, thus improving crop quality for small-grain breeders in the Northern Plains.Shiaoman Chao, a molecular geneticist at the ARS Cereal Crops Research Unit in Fargo, N.D., collaborated with scientists from North Dakota State University and the University of Minnesota in the study.Chao used genomics information provided by the breeders to develop DNA markers tagged to important agronomic traits. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Feb 2010 | 2:11 pm
When Google announced the Nexus One at an event early last month, one journalist asked, “Why doesn’t this have multi-touch? When is it going to get multi-touch?” Andy Rubin, VP of Engineering at Google, said, “It’s something we’re looking into. It’s just a software thing right now.” Well, today our prayers have been answered via an over-the-air update for the Nexus One. It also has some critical updates and fixes, too.
One of the more painful issues has been the spotty 3G service on the Nexus One. While Google said it was a T-Mobile network problem, some users remained unconvinced. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s included in this update:
Google Goggles: this mobile application will now be available directly on your device by launching it from your All Apps menu. Just use your Nexus One camera to start searching the web
Google Maps: the Maps application with be updated to a new version, Google Maps 3.4, which will include:
Starred items synchronized with maps.google.com – access your favorite places from your phone or computer
Search suggestions from your personal maps.google.com history – makes it easy to search for places you’ve searched for before
Night mode in Google Maps Navigation – automatically changes your screen at night for easier viewing and driving
Pinch-to-zoom functionality: devices will now include a new pinch-to-zoom mechanism in the phone’s Browser, Gallery and Maps applications
3G connectivity: we will provide a general fix to help improve 3G connectivity on some Nexus One phones
When you get the update notification, all you have to do is download it and your phone will do all the rest. Like many OTA updates on such a huge scale, these will be staggered so you can expect yours some time before the end of the week.
BEVERLY, Mass., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACLS) today announced that the company will be hosting a conference call on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 5:00 pm ET. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 2 Feb 2010 | 2:00 pm
This post is the latest in an ongoing series about how we harness the data we collect to improve our products and services for our users. - Ed.
We've learned that when performing a search on Google, people sometimes forget to separate words with spaces. Moreover, people often mistakenly repeat a letter within a single word. For instance, when writing the query [amazingly beautiful poem], you might write it as [amazingly beautiifullpoem].
These types of errors are much more common in languages like Arabic, where most of the letters are cursive. That means that the shapes of the letters change, based on the position of the letter in the word (initial, middle, final or isolated). Moreover, some Arabic letters are considered word breaks, meaning that the following letter must be in an "initial" shape. In other words, if the last letter of one word is a word break, the following word may not be separated with a space.
For example, the queries [وزارةالتعليم] and [وزارة التعليم] have an identical meaning (Ministry of Education) and they're both written in a common form for Arabic documents. But they have different, albeit correct, formats — the first query is written as a single word, while the second is written as two. Google needs to understand that while they're written differently, they mean the same thing and should yield the exact same search results. In this example, both queries were written correctly, just in different formats. But sometimes people just make errors — like repeating the same letter twice. For example, you might write [راائعة الجماال], repeating the letter "ا" twice in both query words. In this case the correct spelling should be [رائعة الجمال]. It's important that Google search recognizes your query — despite spelling errors.
To address issues like this, we recently developed a search ranking improvement that targets certain Arabic queries. Our algorithm employs rules of Arabic spelling and grammar along with signals from historical search data to decide when to leave out spaces between words or when to remove unnecessarily repeated letters. Now, when you type a query leaving out spaces or repeating a letter, we'll return better results based not only on what you typed, but also on what our algorithm understands is the "correct" query. For example, here's what happens when you type [قصيدة راائعةالجماال] ([amazingly beautiful poem] in Arabic) with repeated letters and dropped spaces between words.
As you can see, the Google results contain the corrected query, the terms قصيدة رائعة الجمال, in bold.
For most people, this might seem like a small enhancement. But for us, it’s a big change. Our tests show we've improved search for 10% of Arabic language queries. Which, when you think about it, is a lot of people.
Posted by Moustafa Hammad and Mohamed Elhawary, Software Engineers, Search Quality Team
JVC has just announced a new addition to its newly formed Everio line of HD cameras, the GZ-HM340. The Everio line-up of cameras features three sub-$500 HD models, including the GZ-HM340. The GZ-HM340 features an internal flash memory of 16GB, and an expandable SD/SDHC card slot. The camera utilizes a 1/5.8” 1.37 Megapixel CMOS Sensor, a lens capable of up to 20x optical zoom, Advanced Image Stabilizer and face detection. The camera allows you to shoot continuously using dual SD cards or flash memory by automatically switching between those internal media without any interruptions to your recording. It comes with a feature called Face Flow Thumbnail, which displays thumbnails of your videos by using human faces automatically cropped from sections of your video.
Another interesting feature included in the GZ-HM340 is the Time-lapse recording option. It allows for one to 80 second intervals of recording. It is unknown whether a power conservation feature (such as auto off and on) is available when recording a time-lapse video with long intervals. Perhaps the camera needs to be powered up by an AC adapter throughout the time-lapse recording.
The GZ-HM340 also features integration with web services such as YouTube and iTunes. The bundled Everio MediaBrowser software automatically converts, downscales or upscales SD and HD videos for immediate upload to YouTube. The software also allows files to be exported to iTunes, and synced with an iPod or iPhone, or burned to a DVD.
For only $499.95, I think this camera is definitely worth the buy. It will be available later this month.
Consider this a PSA from one person with a jailbroken iPhone to another: Don’t upgrade to the just released iPhone OS 3.1.3.
The iPhone dev team — the guys who make all of this jailbreaking stuff possible — have just confirmed that the PwnageTool and redsn0w jailbreak/unlock tools do not work with iPhone OS 3.1.3. In this endless (and really, mostly futile on Apple’s part) game of cat-and-mouse, it’s almost certain that the ridiculous talented folks in the iPhone hacking community will find their way in in no time flat – but in the mean while, hold off updating. It’s all minor bug fixes anyway.
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Before you start scrambling for your phone, laptop and data cable, just relax for a second. The latest update to the iPhone software, version 3.1.3, is a minor one. A quick glance at the changelog shows that the update will improve accuracy on the reported battery level on the 3GS, which is a huge help because we’ve sometimes seen it go from 20% to dead in just seconds. The launching of third-party apps should no longer lead to any weird crashes and the Japanese Kana keyboard is fixed. Happy downloading!
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
FROM APPLETELL - Using the Sonnet Firewire 400 to 800 adapter, I was quickly able to get my old Firewire 400 MiniDV camcorder to show up in iMovie on my Firewire 800 Mac. MORE »
In an in-depth audio interview, the electronica pioneer discusses his innovative methods for making music. Plus: A review of BT's ambitious new record, These Hopeful Machines, which drops Tuesday.
Two new TV spots for the Pre Plus have just made their way out, and it looks like Verizon has taken a decidedly.. different approach to marketing Palm’s handset than they did with the Motorola Droid.
Lets compare, shall we?
Exhibit A – Droid commercial:
Stealth planes! Missiles! Dudes with beards, explosions, and guys on horses – oh my!
Exhibit B – Palm Pre Plus commercial:
Chocolate nougat, bad haircuts, and pictures of babies.
We’re not saying that Verizon’s approach to selling the Pre Plus is wrong – moms need cell phones too, and no one has ever really reached out to them to try and sell them a smartphone – but identifying webOS as a phone that moms would like seems like a risky move if VZW hopes to push any of these things to teens. Do you remember anything you wanted as a teen because your mom thought it was cool? Neither do we.
There’s one more ooey-gooey lovey-dovey video over at PreCentral.
Crunch Network: TechCrunchobsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies
Tablets are all the rage this year and now with the launch of the iPad, Apple rival Google can’t resist getting into the game.
A user interface designer at Google, Glen Murphy, has posted mock-ups of a tablet running Google’s Chrome operating system along with a video demo of how users could potentially interact with the machine.
Google introduced Chrome OS two months ago as a lightweight, browser-based operating system that would boot up in seven seconds or less. The first Chrome OS netbooks are expected to be available in late 2010 through hardware from manufacturers Google has partnered with. Already, Acer has said, this year, it plans to offer a million netbooks running Chrome OS.
The latest mock-ups hint at Google’s ambitions for Chrome OS. Though the operating system was initially positioned for netbooks, a fast growing tablet market could make for a better fit. ABI Research estimates four million tablets will be shipped this year and, by 2015, annual shipments could touch 15 million tablets. ABI Research defines media tablets as having a touch-screen interface, 5-11 inches in size, with Wi-Fi Internet connectivity and video and gaming capabilities.
In terms of hardware design, Google’s mock-up feels similar to the iPad. But a different user interface hopes to set it apart. The tablet has a virtual keyboard at the bottom of the screen, which can also float as a separate window. There are icons for quick access to Facebook, Gmail, Pandora, calendar and other apps. It also seems to support multi-touch and the familiar pinch to zoom and scrolling gesture.
Murphy has more photos of the concept Google Chrome OS tablet and even a video that shows this concept tablet in action.
Gang members are increasingly taking to Twitter and Facebook, inadvertently providing invaluable information to law enforcement. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 2 Feb 2010 | 12:10 pm
The predominant theory of the origin of life would make a terrific setting for a space horror movie, or a particularly tense episode of Star Trek: picture early Earth, a noxious place devoid of oxygen, its young oceans choked with ... Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 2 Feb 2010 | 11:53 am
Samsung has just updated its EcoGreen HDD line with a new green hard drive called the EcoGreen F3EG, boasting a massive capacity of 2TB with a 3Gbps SATA interface and 16MB or 32MB buffer memory. It has 4 platters of 500GB each, totaling up to its 2TB capacity.
What’s green about this HDD is that it features low-power consumption, low-noise, and an eco-friendly design which meets environmental regulations including RoHS (Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment). Samsung claims that the hard drive uses 40% less power in idle mode and 10% less power in read/write mode than competing drives. Although there isn’t much difference in power usage when in read/write mode, every bit helps in going green. The F3EG also features Samsung’s proprietary technologies such as SilentSeek and NoiseGuard to achieve quiet operation. The F3EG is available for $179.99.
I begged and pleaded with Greg, editor of MobileCrunch, not to make me write this, but it looks like I’m stuck introducing myself to you all. So in my best Troy McClure voice let me say: Hi, my name is Marc Flores. You might remember me from such popular sites as Boy Genius Report or True/Slant.
I’m really passionate about technology and I’m a tinkerer, which means there are lots of broken gadgets and gadget parts scattered around my place. When I’m not writing about shiny objects, I’m usually trolling the streets of L.A. looking for good food or great beer.
If you want to shoot me a message, feel free to do so at marc at crunchgear dot com. And if you’re interested in what I snack on throughout the day or the other minutiae of my life, follow me on Twitter @mdflores.
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FROM GAMERTELL - It was reported that Microsoft has already hinted that it might try to link Xbox Live experience to the Windows Mobile platform but what will it take to work? Read on… MORE »
This mystery object, located 100 million miles from Earth, may really be the aftermath of a hypervelocity collision between two asteroids. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 2 Feb 2010 | 11:10 am
Image Caption: NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument captured an infrared image of Oli's cloud temperatures on Feb. 2 at 0041 UTC. High thunderstorm cloud tops surrounded Oli's center as cold as minus 63 F. There is a separate band of clouds to the north, that are associated with Oli. Credit: NASA/JPL, Ed Olsen Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Feb 2010 | 10:49 am
Several Twitter users have reported that their accounts have been locked out of Twitter, and are forced to perform a password change. They have received an email notifying them of possible phishing attacks on their accounts, sparking rumors of a wide-spread phishing attack. Some of them have even suspected that the official notification emails sent out by Twitter are actually attempts at phishing, however, the email is genuine. The staff at Twitter may have discovered something fishy is going on, and decided to take precautionary steps. For now, it would be wise to heed Twitter’s advice on changing your passwords. Here is an excerpt of the email:
Due to concern that your account may have been compromised in a phishing attack that took place off-Twitter, your password was reset. Please create a new password by opening this link in your browser:
[PASSWORD RESET LINK].
As a reminder, you should be extraordinarily suspicious of any third party that offers to artificially inflate your follower count. We do not endorse any of these sites.
There is nothing more satisfying than claiming to be the first at anything, and so far this week, Samsung must be pretty happy with itself. After announcing its plans to mass produce AMOLED touchscreens, the first to include built-in touch functions, Samsung’s S8500 will be the first consumer handset to feature Bluetooth 3.0. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group, or SIG, has approved version 3.0 for the handset and also slipped out a few details on the phone.
The Bluetooth SIG says the S8500 is a “stylish phone reinforced with featurs,” but there really isn’t much we can see so far that wows us. It has a high-resolution 3.1″ OLED screen which has an anti-glare coating for high outdoor visibility. The quad-band GSM handset is also said to be compact and slim, but that could mean anything, and it will come in a variety of different colors. Exciting? Hardly, but these specs may not be final and we’ve yet to see what the device actually looks like.
FROM APPLETELL - Neil Curtis has edited together an under-three-minute clip of Steve Jobs’ iPad media presentation. And yes, it’s meant to be humorous. MORE »
I’ve seen thousands of astronomical images over my career, but this is one of the few absolute jaw-droppers: A flying X-pattern with trailing streamers. At first glance it looks like a four-pointed Kohga Ninja throwing star blade. It’s so weird-looking ... Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 2 Feb 2010 | 9:39 am
Today’s looking to be a pretty big day for both Sony Ericsson and Microsoft: with the official announcement of SE’s new Aspen handset, both companies are ready to show off what they should have done in the first place.
Sony Ericsson has never had much luck with their portrait-QWERTY portfolio, with their last attempt being the weirdo P1i a few years back, but the Aspen looks to be a solid (if rather dull) step in the right direction. It packs a 2.4-inch QVGA touchscreen display, 3.2 megapixel camera, WiFi, A2DP, with quad-band GSM/EDGE support into a svelte little frame, and its Greenheart pedigree means even the most eco-conscious among you will find something to like about it.
Honestly though, the big news lies in the Aspen’s OS: it’s the first WinMo device to run 6.5.3, and while it may sound like yet another pointless incremental update, but it’s really anything but. Thanks to the guys at Redmond, touchscreen performance has been improved and (lest we forget), it adds support for capacitive displays and multitouch. Hopefully, the enhanced touch support will work as snappily as it does on the Zune HD, but if it’s anywhere in the ballpark, consider us satisfied.
The Aspen is set for launch in Q2 of this year, in both black and silver. Joy!
Alienware’s hot (literally) new gaming laptop,the M11X, is finally on Dell’s site for your personal configuration pleasure. When Dell announced the tiny, power-packed gaming rig last month at CES, the machine was promised to sell for “under $,1000″. Dell kept its promise, and then some: The base model can be had for just $800.
The M11X uses a low-power processor (1.3GHz Pentium SU4100) coupled with a 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT335M graphics card, 2GB RAM and a 160GB hard drive. You can also pick which color the glowing, internal lights will be when you first switch it on (changeable at any time) and have a name-plate custom engraved (Dell tries to get hip by allowing you to pick your “full name, nickname or handle“).
If you want to spend a little more, you can pimp the rig with an Intel Core2 Duo SU7300 running at 1.3GHz ($100), 8GB RAM ($350) and a 256GB SSD ($570). You can also opt for a 3G data slot and antenna for $125. We like that upgrading the CPU still keeps it under a grand. Also, please excuse the hair in the video above: I’m no Danny Dumas.
Earth's chemical energy powered early life through 'the most revolutionary idea in biology since Darwin'For 80 years it has been accepted that early life began in a 'primordial soup' of organic molecules before evolving out of the oceans millions of years later. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Feb 2010 | 8:15 am
There are a gazillion apps to turn your iPhone into a remote control, and let you operate your computer, your Sonos home music system or even your DirecTV DVR. The problem is, they work over Wi-Fi, whereas your TV, stereo and DVD-players all swallow up infra-red light in order to follow your distant commands.
That changes with the little $50 L5 iPhone Remote, a dongle that plugs into the dock connector and allows you iPhone to become a proper universal remote, spitting invisible light at all manner of home electronics. It comes with a free companion application that lets you program and assign the frequencies, and you can drag and drop the button icons around the screen until you’re happy with them.
The first version, which should be shipping soon, has a significant drawback in that you need to teach it the correct signals by pointing your remote, but downloadable, pre-programmed codes will be coming in the future. On this point, the FAQ entry is pretty funny:
In testing, users designed their UI and learned the signals in about 3.5 minutes. In the same amount of time, database users were still trying to read the model numbers off the backs of their A/V devices.
The other problem is cosmetic. The remote app is ugly. That may not worry you, as this will cheaply replace all your remotes with one single device, and it will apparently also work with the iPad. And the iPhone is much less likely to be lost down the back of the sofa.
First direct observation of exchange process in quantum gasConsiderable progresses made in controlling quantum gases open up a new avenue to study chemical processes. Rudolf Grimm's research team has now succeeded in directly observing chemical exchange processes in an ultracold sample of cesium atoms and Feshbach molecules. They report on their findings in the journal Physical Review Letters.Complex processes, which to a large extent cannot be observed directly, determine when chemical reactions build molecules or conversely release molecular bonds. Some of these processes need energy (endoergic processes) and others release energy (exoergic processes). For the first time, great progresses made in the field of ultracold atomic and molecular gases have facilitated the realization of elementary chemical processes in a fully controlled way, where all particles can be prepared in a specifically defined quantum state. In an international first, together with American researchers, Rudolf Grimm and his team of physicists have now succeeded in directly observing and also energetically controlling an exchange process in a quantum gas. "Our experiment showed that it is possible to control exchange processes involving ultracold molecules", Grimm says excitedly.Directly observed processesThe scientists optically trap cesium atoms and cool them dramatically. A Feshbach association results in an ultracold particle cloud consisting of about 4,000 molecules and 30,000 atoms, where a part of the atoms are arranged in dimers. By applying a microwave pulse, the atoms are transferred into another quantum state without the molecules being modified. After preparing this mixture of molecules (A+A) and atoms (B), the experimental physicists apply a certain magnetic field, which allows them to fully control the binding energy of the molecules. The collision of the molecules and atoms results in an exchange process when a certain threshold of binding energy is reached. The original molecules decay to atoms (A) and new molecules are produced (A+B). "Since the energy produced in this exoergic process is very low, the reaction products remain in the trap," explains Rudolf Grimm. "Thus, we were able to directly observe the chemical process for the first time ever."Leading in the field of quantum gasesThe research group led by Wittgenstein awardee Rudolf Grimm of the Institute for Experimental Physics of the University of Innsbruck and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) assumes a leading role in the research on ultracold quantum gases. For example, in 2002 the physicists produced the first Bose-Einstein condensate of cesium atoms. This success was followed by the realization of a first Bose-Einstein condensate of molecules and a Fermi condensate. The quantum physicists are now able to produce more complex molecules in ultracold quantum gases. "A totally new field of research opens up, which promises possibilities to study diverse chemical reactions in a controlled way by using ultracold quantum gases," explains Grimm. ---Image Caption: When a molecule (two blue spheres) collides with an atom (single red sphere), an atom can be exchanged. A new molecule is produced (red and blue spheres) and an atom (single blue sphere) is released. In the experiment performed in Innsbruck this process is observed at temperatures of less than one millionth above the absolute zero. The exchange is completely determined by the quantum nature of the matter and can be controlled by a magnetic field. Credit: IQOQI Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Feb 2010 | 7:51 am
In search of signs of lifeThe scientists were able to carry out a range of experiments on the layers of mud that have not been removed from Doñana. Geochemical analysis showed that "there is still significant contamination, with high concentrations of toxic elements, and high acidity levels", stresses the paleontologist. However, less than 10 years after the disaster, the scientists could identify trails and nests made by Tapinoma nigérrima, an aggressive and opportunistic species of ant. "We even found this ant's larvae just below the layer of highly-contaminated mud", explains the expert.This ant's opportunism, aggressiveness and high levels of independence were compared with the organism that created Chondrites, a trace fossil that scientists have recorded near the red layer associated with the Chixulub crater in Mexico, generated by the impact of the meteorite that caused the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction. Previous ichnological studies (on trace fossils) have shown that "the Chondrites-generating organism was able to inhabit the substrate immediately after the event, due to its opportunistic and independent nature", says Rodríguez-Tovar.Using the data on trace fossils and on comparisons with present day disasters, the scientists were able to prove that "the community started to recover fairly rapidly following the mass extinction caused by the impact 65 million years ago, possibly within hundreds or thousands of years", concludes the paleontologist. References: Rodríguez-Tovar, F.J.; Martín-Peinado, F.J. "The environmental disaster of Aznalcollar (southern Spain) as an approach to the Cretaceous-Palaeogene mass extinction event" Geobiology 7(5): 533-543 diciembre de 2009. ---Image Caption: Researchers have compared the Aznalcóllar disaster with the Cretaceous mass extinction. Credit: SINC Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Feb 2010 | 7:37 am
The idea behind Michael Greenberg’s iPad steering wheel accessory is a very good one, but his implementation is a little off.
We can expect to see a lot of accessories for the forthcoming iPad, at least as many plastic widgets as are available for the iPhone. A gamer’s steering wheel will doubtless be one of them, making the slim iPad easier to hold and also making it feel like you’re driving a read car (a real car with no seats, body work, or anything other than a steering wheel, but you get the point).
The trouble with Greenberg’s iDrift is that it is little more than a cheap plastic circle, with four cut-outs so the iPad can be slid inside. It looks more like the packaging a game accessory would come in than the product itself.
Still, Greenberg still seems pretty proud of the thing. Look at the picture and you’ll see he’s signed it.
Close scrutiny of the iPad which Steve Jobs presented at Apple’s special event last week shows what may be webcam, tucked away in the black screen bezel just like it is on the MacBook Pro.
Image 1: Bassin du Drugeon, a Ramsar site in France. Credits: Tobias SalathéImage 2: The Upo wetland in the Republic of Korea is one of the Ramsar sites. Covering 854 hectares and straddling the country’s four administrative regions, it is the largest natural continental wetland in Korea. The Upo wetland is a primitive lowland swamp that is home to numerous wild animals and plants. Credits: Ha U Yeon Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Feb 2010 | 6:33 am
If you were to visit the Wired.com offices, you’d see more than one Timbuk2 bag slung carelessly on the floor, its owner off to grab a beverage from the Beer Robot to start the day. What you wouldn’t see is this new model, the Hidden messenger bag. Why? Seriously, are you asking that? Because it’s hidden, of course.
The Hidden is similar in concept to the foldable, stow-able shopping bags beloved of old ladies the world over. Only instead of being lame pleather-and-polyester pouches, the Hidden is a cool, recycled PET messenger bag, the kind of bag the hipsters love.
The Hidden starts off as package the size of a (large) wallet, and quickly expands into a shoulder bag, complete with cinch-able closures and adjustable shoulder strap. It’s perfect as an emergency bag, although it probably won’t take the punishment a regular Timbuk2 is happy to soak up. It is also just $30, so you could keep one inside you other messenger bag at all times, just in case.
It is said that Google is like a university — and not just because everyone eats their lunch off trays in the cafeteria. Like a university, we devote significant energy to research across a wide array of subjects — from semantics to help improve search, to ways we can improve the efficiency of our data centers. Along with our internal efforts, we've long invested in building a strong, mutually beneficial relationship with universities and the research community. We give approximately 150 research grants a year to fund projects across a variety of subjects, we host visiting faculty members here at Google on sabbatical, and last year we started the Google Fellowship Program to fund graduate students doing innovative research in several fields.
Today, we're announcing the first-ever round of Google Focused Research Awards — funding research in areas of study that are of key interest to Google as well as the research community. These awards, totaling $5.7 million, cover four areas: machine learning, the use of mobile phones as data collection devices for public health and environment monitoring, energy efficiency in computing, and privacy. These are all areas in which Google is already deeply invested, and yet there is a long way to go. We're excited to see what these projects contribute to the body of research in these important areas.
These unrestricted grants are for two to three years, and the recipients will have the advantage of access to Google tools, technologies and expertise. We've given awards to 12 projects led by 31 professors at 10 universities:
Machine Learning: William Cohen, Christos Faloutsos, Garth Gibson and Tom Mitchell, Carnegie Mellon University
Use of mobile phones as data collection devices for public health and environment monitoring: Gaetano Borriello, University of Washington and Deborah Estrin, UCLA
Energy efficiency in computing:
Ricardo Bianchini, Rutgers, Fred Chong, UC Santa Barbara, Thomas F. Wenisch, University of Michigan and Sudhanva Gurumurthi, University of Virginia
Christos Kozyrakis, Mark Horowitz, Benjamin Lee, Nick McKeown and Mendel Rosenblum, Stanford
David G. Andersen and Mor. Harchol-Balter, Carnegie Mellon University
Tajana Simunic Rosing, Steven Swanson and Amin Vahdat, UCSD
Thomas F. Wenisch, Trevor Mudge, David Blaauw and Dennis Sylvester, University of Michigan
Margaret Martonosi, Jennifer Rexford, Michael Freedman and Mung Chiang, Princeton
Privacy:
Ed Felten, Princeton
Lorrie Cranor, Alessandro Acquisti and Norman Sadeh, Carnegie Mellon University
Ryan Calo, Stanford CIS
Andy Hopper, Cambridge University Computing Laboratory
We look forward to working with these researchers over the coming years. And, as we continue to identify key areas of research that are of mutual interest to both university researchers and Google, we will provide awards to support these collaborations. For more information about all of our research programs, check out our University Relations site.
Update at 1:13 PM: Added Allesandro Acquisti and Norman Sadeh to the list of PIs on the CMU privacy project.
Posted by Alfred Spector, Vice President of Research and Special Initiatives
Could humans one day walk on walls, like Spider-Man? A palm-sized device invented at Cornell that uses water surface tension as an adhesive bond just might make it possible.The rapid adhesion mechanism could lead to such applications as shoes or gloves that stick and unstick to walls, or Post-it-like notes that can bear loads, according to Paul Steen, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, who invented the device with Michael Vogel, a former postdoctoral associate.The device is the result of inspiration drawn from a beetle native to Florida, which can adhere to a leaf with a force 100 times its own weight, yet also instantly unstick itself. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Feb 2010 | 5:50 am
Close scrutiny of the iPad which Steve Jobs presented at Apple’s special event last week shows what may be webcam, tucked away in the black screen bezel just like it is on the MacBook Pro.
A screen-grab from the official video of the event shows nothing but a small dot above the screen, opposite the home button. Taken alone, this isn’t much, but compare this with the picture of the iPad leaked just hours before the event (below). If you remember, these showed an iPad locked down in a security frame, and you could clearly see the camera in the bezel. I even pointed out the cutout in the frame that let us see the webcam.
Still not convinced? What about this screenshot from the iPad emulator in the new SDK (software development kit)?
That sure looks like the iPad thinks it has a camera. Up until now, this is what any good TV lawyer would call circumstantial evidence. The last, and oddest, piece of the puzzle comes from Mac and iPod repair company Mission Repair. The company has, somewhat strangely, already received replacement parts for fixing iPads. On the company’s blog, employee Ryan Arter has posted pictures which show a spot for a camera in the main iPad frame:
This is accompanied by a shot of the frame alongside the camera from a MacBook. It’s a perfect fit. The only thing that seems weird on this last point is that Apple is already sending out parts. Why so soon?
So why didn’t Steve Jobs announce the camera already? Perhaps the hardware is there, but asI previously wrote, Apple is leaving it out to meet the rather severe price restrictions it has set for the product line. Jobs was most likely using a prototype on stage, just like he did when the iPhone was first revealed. A prototype would be likely to have the camera intact.
Even if these clues all add up, we’d guess that the first-generation iPad will still ship without a camera. After all, did all the reporters who got hands-on time with the iPad after the launch really all miss an iSight camera? We doubt it. And remember the third-gen iPod Touch, which was expected to have a camera and then shipped without it, but with a camera-shaped hole inside.
Perhaps Apple will pull a “one more thing” closer to the launch date, or perhaps not. One thing we do know for sure, though — camera or not, there is one thing that Apple will certainly not be adding to the iPad: Flash.
Image Caption: This is a wingless morph of Myzus persicae aphid on squash plant. Credit: Photo Credit: Kerry Mauck (courtesy of De Moraes and Mescher labs), Penn State Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Feb 2010 | 5:42 am
Sharing is a behavior on which day care workers and kindergarten teachers tend to offer young humans a lot of coaching. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 2 Feb 2010 | 5:35 am
We can’t give machines intelligence until we can figure out what roles creativity, inspiration and curiosity should play. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 2 Feb 2010 | 5:23 am
When it comes to making hardware, there are two things Microsoft has always been good at: mice and keyboards. With the SideWinder X4 keyboard, the company can add one more thing to the mix: Kick-ass press releases.
The blurb for the SideWinder starts with the words “Ghost Buster”, and goes on to explain Microsoft’s clever new process to combat ghosting (you see what they did there?) in high-performance gaming keyboards. Not only that, but the explanation is so clear that I can’t really do better. It runs a little long, though, so I’ll just paste an extract:
Most keyboards use a stack of plastic sheets that are printed with silver ink to create a grid of wires underneath the keys. When a key is pressed, a row wire connects to a column wire. This works well when one or 2 keys are pressed, but pressing more can lead to problems. For example, if two keys in the same row are pressed and then a third key is pressed in a different row, but the same column as one of the first two, all of those rows and columns become shorted together. There are actually five different key combinations that produce the same shorted rows and columns! Since there is no way for the system to know which set was pressed, only the first two keys are reported, with the others becoming “ghosts” – unreported key presses.
Pretty good, huh? The new SideWinder uses carbon on these nodes to block the short circuits, and then uses resistive multi-touch to accurately work out which keys you were pressing. This is of course moot for typists, however fast they tap out the text. But for gamers it is the difference between (in-game) life and death. The SideWinder also has macro recording and rather fetching adjustable lights inside.
How much for this high-end machine? Just $60, available soon.
Turning your monitor into a touchscreen could some day be as simple as peel … and stick.
Displax, a Portugal-based company, promises to turn any surface — flat or curved — into a touch-sensitive display. The company has created a thinner-than-paper polymer film that can be stuck on glass, plastic or wood to turn it into an interactive input device.
“It is extremely powerful, precise and versatile,” says Miguel Fonseca, chief business officer at Displax. “You can use our film with on top of anything including E Ink, OLED and LCD displays.”
Human-computer interaction that goes beyond keyboards and mouse has become a hot new area of emerging technology. Since Apple popularized the swipe and pinch gestures with the iPhone, touch has become a new frontier in the way we interact with our devices.
In the past, students have shown a touchscreen where pop-up buttons and keypads can dynamically appear and disappear. That allows the user to experience the physical feel of buttons on a touchscreen. In 2008, Microsoft offered Surface, a multitouch product that allows users to manipulate information using gesture recognition.
Displax’s films range from 3 inches to 120 inches diagonally.
“If Displax can do this for larger displays, it will really be one of the first companies to do what we call massive multitouch,” says Daniel Wigdor, a user experience architect for Microsoft who focuses on multitouch and gestural computing. “If you look at existing commercial technology for large touch displays, they use infrared camera that can sense only two to four points of contact. Displax takes us to the next step.”
Displax’ latest technology works on both opaque and transparent surfaces. The films have a 98 percent transparency — a measure of the amount of light that is reflected through the surface. “That’s a pretty decent transmission rate,” says Wigdor.
A grid of nanowires are embedded in the thin polymer film that is just about 100 microns thick. A microcontroller processes the multiple input signals it receives from the grid. A finger or two placed on the screen causes an electrical disturbance. The microcontroller analyzes this to decode the location of each input on that grid. The film comes with its own firmware, driver — which connect via a USB connection — and a control panel for user calibration and settings.
Currently, it can detect up to 16 fingers on a 50-inch screen. And the projective capacitance technology that Displax uses is similar to that seen on the iPhone, so the responsiveness of the touch surface is great, says Fonseca.
And if feeling around the screen isn’t enough, Displax allows users to interact with the screen by blowing on it. Displax says the technology can also be applied to standard LCD screens.
Displax’s versatility could make it valuable for a new generation of displays that are powering devices such as e-readers. For instance, at the Consumer Electronics Show last month, Pixel Qi showed low-power displays that can switch between an active color LCD mode and an e-reader-like, low-power black-and-white mode. Pixel Qi’s displays, along with other emerging display technologies from the likes of Qualcomm’s Mirasol and E Ink’s color screen are keenly awaited in new products because they promise to offer a good e-reader and a netbook in a single device.
But touch is a feature that is missing in these emerging displays. Displax could help solve that problem.
It is also more versatile than Microsoft Surface, says Fonseca. “Our film is about 100 microns thick, while Surface is about 23 inches deep,” he says. “So we can slip into any hardware. Surface cannot be used with LCD screens so that can be a big limiting factor.”
The comparisons to Surface may not be entirely fair, says Wigdor. “Surface is not just another hardware solution,” he says. “It includes integrated software applications and vision technology so it can respond to just the shape of the object.”
Still he says, Displax’s thin film offers a big breakthrough for display manufacturers because it they don’t have to make changes to their manufacturing process to use it. Displax says the first screens featuring its multitouch technology will start shipping in July.
The ultra hard rocks may not end up on your finger, but they could help scientists learn how to create harder diamonds in the lab. Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 2 Feb 2010 | 2:17 am
I'm starting to suspect people like free stuff - a shocker, I know.
I’m starting to suspect people like free stuff – a shocker, I know. 
Last year, Los Angeles County Judge Brett Klein was presented with a proposed class-action settlement in which the plaintiffs' attorney would get $125,000, but class members would get only a $10 gift card, usable only at the store that allegedly violated the law in the first place. That is an example of the much-maligned "coupon settlement," in which a defendant can end up profiting from breaking the law because a consumer must buy something from the defendant to redeem the coupon. These can sometimes be okay, but Judge Klein didn't think this settlement was fair.
Turns out, you know, that old dharma bum never made it off the wheel of karma. He had too many attachments, to the road, to words; and if you love the things of the world of Mara too much you fall back into the world, like gravity pulling back a rocket that doesn't reach escape velocity. Two, three thousand years later, he's still on the road. Really, nothing's changed. And Neal, that old prankster, Neal never really did want to transcend, he loved to see it all streaming past the window, a constant moving circus disappearing in the rear-view mirror, loved to talk, loved it all.
Normally, it takes quite a bit of time before a startup gets any sort of mainstream spotlight. That’s not the case with 
Here’s your chance to change history, and influence the future. The makers of the Pleo are holding a vote to decide exactly what color the new Pleo should be when they change it later this year. Oh, and if you like the original color scheme, you can get free shipping until the end of February.
Gateway announced their new desktop models today. They added five new systems, including a touchscreen, and two high end gaming machines. We managed to get our hands on their new basic system, the SX2840, and you can read our 
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board was recommended initially by the bipartisan September 11 commission as an institutional voice for privacy inside the intelligence community. Its charter was to recommend ways to mitigate the effects of far-reaching surveillance technology that the federal government uses to track terrorists...
PETER: To play, give us a call at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Our first and only listener-contestant is on the line. What's your name?
Spray-on liquid glass is transparent, non-toxic, and can protect virtually any surface against almost any damage from hazards such as water, UV radiation, dirt, heat, and bacterial infections. The coating is also flexible and breathable, which makes it suitable for use on an enormous array of products.
Short version: Gateway’s SX2840 is an ideal computer for someone who needs a good basic computer. It feels fast enough that it’s not annoying, and it’s perfect for pretty much everything except hardcore gaming. I’d even go so far as to say that it’d work great as an HTPC, because it plays back HD video with no problems.
I remember way back before the Internet when I got most of my daily news via the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN. If it wasn’t reported by either of those outlets, there was a good chance I wouldn’t hear that news at all.
I’m here at the Facebook Technology Tasting, where the social network is showcasing their newly open sourced PHP technology, 
Many Windows 7 users are complaining about the severe loss in battery life in their notebooks after only a few weeks. Cases like a previous battery life of two hours cutting down to 30 minutes or less are common. Other cases involve their notebook actually telling them they need a new battery after upgrading to 7, even though Vista said it was fine. Many complaints similar to those above have been put onto 
Early this morning, Twitter began 
