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Sure, it doesn't address anything pesky like parallel timelines, but it does talk about the impossibility of changing something that's already happened.

The nub of the problem is that you cannot have a consistent "arrow of time" in the presence of closed timelike curves. The arrow of time is simply the distinction between the past and the future. We can turn an egg into an omelet, but not an omelet into an egg; we remember yesterday, but not tomorrow; we are born, grow older, and die, never the reverse. Scientists explain all of these manifestations of the arrow of time in terms of entropy-loosely, the "disorderliness" of a system. A neatly stacked collection of papers has a low entropy, while the same collection scattered across a desktop has a high entropy. The entropy of any system left to its own devices will either increase with time or stay constant; that is the celebrated second law of thermodynamics. The arrow of time comes down to the fact that entropy increases toward the future and was lower in the past.

But what the hell is that temple all about, science?! [Discover]

Source: Gizmodo | 3 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pm

Henrietta Everlasting: 1950s Cells Still Alive, Helping Science

A new book by Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, examines the extraordinary impact this one woman's cells have had on science.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pm

How Your Biometrics Can Make Super Bowl Ads Better

Can neuroscience research firms unleash the data revolution for television advertising? Several companies are trying to do just that — and a Wired.com reporter donned one firm's biometric outfit to see what his heart rate and hand sweat could say about his taste in YouTube video clips and commercials.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pm

Failed project: goldfish in a light fixture

Make Online is featuring a number of first-hand accounts of failed projects, big and small. The first in the series is about Sean Michael Ragan's attempt to make a combination light fixture / goldfish bowl. I don't see any failure here. This looks like a big win, especially since Sean used a rubber goldfish, which is probaby impervious to suffering.

First problem: the globe on my porch light was frosted and I sure wasn't going to spend good money to buy a clear one. Clever solution: Etch the frosting off the globe I had using 50% concentrated hydrochloric acid. It worked great! And generated only 1000 mL of toxic chemical waste!

Next problem: I didn't want to use actual water in the globe. This was an electrical device, after all, and as Newton's Third Law teaches us, water + electricity = bad. So I settled on mineral oil. Which is, you know, flammable and stuff, but, hey, at least it wouldn't short anything out or cause rusting. I glued the fish and the plant to some rocks, arranged them tastefully in the bottom of the globe, and poured in the oil.

Failed project: goldfish in a light fixture

Which sounds like it melts some of Mozilla's core objections to anointing h.264 the internet video standard, but shnope. They're pretty committed to a fully free and open standard. Just see Mozilla engineering VP's longer post on the subject. What, you thought things would actually get resolved anytime soon? [MPEG LA via Daring Fireball]

Source: Gizmodo | 3 Feb 2010 | 5:50 pm

ComScore: Netflix Now A Top 20 Online Video Site

There was some hoopla yesterday about the news that Hulu had broken the 1 billion videos viewed in a month threshold in December. And rightfully so, it’s the first video service to do that other than YouTube. But there’s another hot property that is rising fast in the streaming video realm as well: Netflix.

The movie rental giant crossed into the top 20 video sites on the web for the first time in December, according to numbers from ComScore. Specifically, they now sit at number 19, just ahead of Break Media, and just behind Justin.TV. And with over 127 million views last month, and rising fast, it shouldn’t be long before they’re in the top 15 with the likes of Facebook and ESPN.

As a streaming service, Netflix has seen huge growth over the past year as it continues to cut deals to get its content on different living room set top boxes. The service clearly believes that streaming is its future, even as it alienates some of its current bread-and-butter DVD rental customers by doing things like agreeing not to rent new DVD releases until they’ve been out for 28 days (something which hurts the availability of the most popular movies on the service). And that’s the right stance, but they’re going to have a hard time convincing the studios to ever give them newer release films to stream since those guys still believe they can sell DVDs no one really wants to own.

This week, Netflix also announced the addition of a bunch of new indie films to its streaming catalog. And during their quarterly earnings report last week, they revealed that nearly half of their subscribers are now streaming some content.

Here are the top 20 video properties by number of videos streamed per months (in thousands)

comScore Video Metrix (U.S.)	Videos (000)
Total Internet : Total Audience	33,242,835
1. Google Sites	13,242,487
2. Hulu	1,013,494
3. Microsoft Sites	561,052
4. Fox Interactive Media	550,505
5. Yahoo! Sites	539,416
6. Viacom Digital	372,641
7. Turner Network	366,987
8. CBS Interactive	297,298
9. MEGAVIDEO.COM	210,294
10. AOL LLC	209,957
11. Vevo	174,911
12. Disney Online	171,946
13. ESPN	165,743
14. FACEBOOK.COM	164,581
15. Blinkx	164,287
16. NBC Universal	160,205
17. DAILYMOTION.COM	133,436
18. JUSTIN.TV	128,102
19. NETFLIX.COM	127,016
20. Break Media	120,104

Source: TechCrunch | 3 Feb 2010 | 5:34 pm

Landmark Ruling Gives Australian ISPs Safe Harbor

omnibit writes "Today, the Federal Court of Australia handed down its ruling in favor of the country's third largest ISP, iiNet. The case was backed by some of the largest media companies, including 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. They accused iiNet of approving piracy by ignoring thousands of infringement notices. Justice Cowdroy said that the 'mere provision of access to internet is not the means to infringement' and 'copyright infringement occurred as result of use of BitTorrent, not the Internet... iiNet has no control over BitTorrent system and [is] not responsible for BitTorrent system.' Many Internet providers had been concerned that an adverse ruling would have forced themselves to police Internet traffic and comply with the demands of copyright owners without any legislative or judicial oversight."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 3 Feb 2010 | 5:33 pm

Take-Two Takes Off; Icahn, New Games, No Layoffs [Voices]

By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

So, let’s sort out some of what’s driving up shares of Take-Two Interactive (TTWO), the video game company best known for its Grand Theft Auto franchise.

• So, for starters, investor Carl Icahn recently increased his stake in the company; TTWO has agreed to give him control of three board seats. He thinks the stock is too cheap. (Duh.)
• Icahn’s involvement has fed into a steady drumbeat of rumors suggesting that the company could still eventually be acquired by Electronic Arts (ERTS); in 2008, the company rejected a $25.74-a-share bid from EA as too low. Always looking out for the shareholders!

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 3 Feb 2010 | 5:00 pm

Palm Pre Plus, Pixi Plus Improve on Predecessors

Palm Pre Plus. Palm Pixi Plus. We dive deep into these phones to see the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 3 Feb 2010 | 5:00 pm

Palm Pre Plus, Pixi Plus Improve on Predecessors

Palm Pre Plus. Palm Pixi Plus. We dive deep into these phones to see the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Feb 2010 | 5:00 pm

Factual Raises $1 Million Seed Round From Andreessen Horowitz, Idealab, And Angels

If you co-founded the company that became Google AdSense, as Gil Elbaz did with Applied Semantics, you don’t have any problem finding investors when you want to start a new venture. Elbaz sold Applied Semantics to Google for $100 million in 2003, and launched his latest startup, Factual, last October. He doesn’t really need the money, but so many all-star investors were clamoring to get in that he raised just over $1 million in an angel round.

His angel investors include Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz via their Andreessen Horowitz fund, Bill Gross via Idealab, Esther Dyson, Demand Media CEO Richard Rosenblatt, Danny Rimer of Index Ventures, former MySQL CEO Mårten Mickos, as well as New York City seed fund the Founder Collective.

Factual is setting out to get people to create as many open databases as possible by providing tools for creating table son any topic, embedding them and sharing them. There are already hundreds fo thousands of tables on Factual, dome large some small. For instance, Creative Commons created a database filled with Websites using Creative Commons licenses that contains 4 million rows. All the data in Factual is editable in a wiki-like fashion and is available through Factual APIs.

Chris Dixon, founding partner of Founder Collective (and CEO of Hunch) says they invested because of Factual’s “huge ambition.” In order for the Web to become programmable, it needs data and lots of it. “I think of it as Wikipedia for structured database-like information,” says Dixon. It joins many other efforts pursuing similar ambitions, include Freebase, Wolfram Alpha, and even Google.

Source: TechCrunch | 3 Feb 2010 | 5:00 pm

Brain Waves Allow Vegetative Patients to 'Talk'

Some patients in vegetative states are showing signs of consciousness.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 3 Feb 2010 | 4:55 pm

Microsoft Loses Another Windows Veteran [Digital Daily]

High-level Microsoft departures are becoming a regular event. Last month, Windows senior VP Bill Veghte said he is leaving the company after 20 years. This month, it’s Mike Nash, corporate VP for Windows Platform Strategy, who has tendered his resignation.

Nash spent 19 years at Microsoft (MSFT), where he led development of Windows NT, Windows 2000 and, more infamously, helped manage fallout from the “Vista Capable” fiasco. He was among the more prominent public faces of Windows over the years, so it’s odd to see him stepping down so suddenly.

“We can confirm that Mike Nash is leaving Microsoft in a couple weeks,” Microsoft said in a statement. “In his 19 years, Mike made an impact in number of key roles at the company. We appreciate his service and wish him well.”

It’s not yet clear why Nash is leaving or where he’s headed, though Mary Jo Foley says he may soon surface on the Kindle team at Amazon (AMZN).

Source: All Things Digital | 3 Feb 2010 | 4:49 pm

Palm’s Mobile Hotspot on the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus not so hot [UPDATED]

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Broadband Cards, Mobile

I guess I should file this under “good to know” because I had been thinking about replacing my MiFi with a Palm Pre Plus now that it has the Mobile Hotspot app available. But after reading a recent article over on jkOnTheRun I am pretty glad that I have been dragging my feet about making the switch because it seems that the data speeds from the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus are not nearly as good as that of the MiFi. I guess device convergence is not always a good thing.

According to the testing, the results were said to be “disappointing to say the least.” As far as the testing, it was noted that multiple tests were done with the MiFi, Pre Plus and the Pixi Plus. Additionally, the tests were done only in areas that offered full 3G reception.

As for the results;

• Palm Pixi Plus - Test 1 - 167kbps down and 263kbps up
• Palm Pixi Plus - Test 2 - 127kbps down and 376kbps up

• Palm Pre Plus - Test 1 - 166kbps down and 235kbps up
• Palm Pre Plus - Test 2 - 155kbps down and 158kbps up

• MiFi - Test 1 - 867kbps down and 355kbps up
• MiFi - Test 2 - 931kbps down and 558kbps up

I think the above description of disappointing would be entirely accurate. I guess that also means that I will be keeping the MiFi, at least until I begin to see some additional test results.

[UPDATE] I was able to confirm that I am going to be receiving a Pre Plus and Pixi Plus here in a few days, which means that I will be able to do some testing of my own.

Read [jkOnTheRun]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 3 Feb 2010 | 4:48 pm

Potentially nasty new iPhone security flaw discovered

Wuh-oh! Considering its popularity and the number of handsets floating around out there compared to the number of security exploits discovered thus far, I’d say Apple has done a pretty good job of keeping things locked down.

As this just-discovered flaw proves, however, nobody’s perfect.

You can read the full technical details of the exploit here, but to make one hell of a long story short: the iPhone allows settings configuration files to be installed over-the-air through Safari, primarily to help enterprise businesses setup a bunch of iPhones as quickly as possible. We’ve known this for a while – it’s a crucial part of easily enabling tethering on jailbroken iPhones. The user must must confirm the installation manually, and the iPhone tells you who it’s from and whether or not it’s a trusted source – which (we hope) most would be smart enough not to do in standard cases.

The particularly nasty part here, however, is that the anonymous hackers reporting the flaw were not only able to make the configuration file report back as “Verified”, but also indicate that it was straight from “Apple Computer” themselves. From that point, a pinch of clever web design and a dash of social engineering would be enough to convince the vast majority of users who stumble across a malicious update that it’s as legit as can be.

So once it’s installed, what harm can be done? In theory, it could be used to reconfigure the iPhone’s proxy settings, allowing hackers to redirect all traffic through a server of their choosing. It could also be used to wreak havoc on WiFi/e-mail settings, and disable the use of Safari, Mail, and a handful of other first-party iPhone apps. Worse yet, it’s possible to set the configuration file so that the user can’t remove it – so once it’s installed, getting it off the handset would require a full wipe.

Let’s hope there’s some way to fix all of this without nerfing the over-the-air configuration process all together, if only for the sake of I.T. guys everywhere. In the mean time: if you see a screen like the one in the screenshot above and you weren’t intending on provisioning your handset with new settings, you should certainly avoid hitting the “Install” button.

[Via ThreatPost]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Feb 2010 | 4:34 pm

Hurt Locker: Netflix’s 28-Day Window Would Decimate Their Top Rental List

As you may have heard by now, Netflix has agreed to movie studio demands that they not rent new movies until 28 days after their DVD release. The idea is that this will help drive DVD sales, which have been plummeting in recent years, taking billions out of the pockets of the studios. Right now, this deal is only in place with Warner Brothers, but you can be sure that the other studios are going to want the same deal. Netflix says it’s going along with this because most of its customers care more about catalog (older) releases than newer ones. But the popularity charts suggest otherwise.

Each month, Netflix releases a list of the top 25 rented movies for the previous month on its Facebook page. This week, they gave out the data for January 2010, and guess what? Of the top 25 rentals, over half (13) would not have been fully available to rent for the month under the new 28-day rule. And some wouldn’t have been available at all. Clearly, this new policy is going to have a bigger effect on Netflix users’ rental habits that the company wants you to believe.

Here’s a full list of the top 25 rented films in January 2010 with their DVD release data next to the title, followed by a yes/no note of if they would have been available to rent for the full month of January:

1) Julie & Julia: December 8 —— No

2) District 9: December 22 ——- No

3) 500 Days of Summer: December 22 ——- No

4) Angels and Demons: November 24 —– Yes

5) The Proposal: October 13 ——-Yes

6) The Hangover: December 15 ——— No

7) Star Trek: November 17 —Yes

8) Up: November 10 ——-Yes

9) The Taking Of Pelham 123: November 3 —– Yes

10) Night At The Museum 2: December 1 —– Yes

11) The Ugly Truth: November 10 ——- Yes

12) Public Enemies: December 8 —– No

13) The Hurt Locker: January 12 ——- No

14) Inglourious Basterds: December 15 ——- No

15) Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs: January 5 —— No

16) Funny People: November 24 —- Yes

17) G.I. Joe: November 3 —— Yes

18) Harry Potter 6: December 8 ——- No

19) Terminator 4: December 1 — Yes

20) Gamer: January 19 —- No

21) A Perfect Getaway: December 29 —— No

22) Extract: December 22 —— No

23) 9: December 29 ——– No

24) Transformers 2: October 20 —— Yes

25) Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past: September 22 —- Yes

A few other things to note. First, two of the movies on this list benefitted from the fact that December 1 was a Tuesday (the day DVDs are released). In other months, these films may have missed the 28-day window depending on when the first Tuesday of the month was. Second, Netflix actually started implementing its 28-day rule in January, so films such as The Invention Of Lying were already subject to this and as such, not available to rent from Netflix. It’s hard to know if these movies would have made the top rental list even if it were available, but it’s worth noting (and more on that below). Third, it’s already a bit difficult to rent new releases due to demand, so it’s certainly possible that if Netflix focused on supply of newer films rather than removing them until 28 days later, many of the newer films would be even higher on the list.

Source: TechCrunch | 3 Feb 2010 | 4:31 pm

Symbian Operating System, Now Open Source and Free

The source code for the ten-year old Symbian platform will be completely open source and available for free starting Thursday. The transition from proprietary code to open source is the largest in software history, claims the Symbian Foundation.

“The dominant operating system provider out there is Symbian,” says Lee Williams, executive director of the Symbian Foundation, “and now we are offering developers the ability to do so much more.”

Symbian, which powers most of Nokia’s phones, has been shipped in more than 330 million devices worldwide. But in the last few years, Symbian has seen more than its fair share of changes. In 2008, Nokia, one of Symbian’s largest customers, acquired a major share in the company. Nokia then created the Symbian Foundation to distribute the platform as an open source project, and began the process of opening up the source code that year.

Meanwhile, the operating system has seen new rivals crop up. Google’s Android, which is based on a Linux kernel, has become a favorite among handset makers such as Motorola and HTC. And it’s based on an open source foundation too.

Symbian’s move to open source has been completed four months ahead of schedule and it offers mobile developers new ways to innovate, says Williams. Any individual or organization can now take, use and modify the Symbian code for any device, from mobile phone to a tablet.

Similar as it may sound to Android’s promise, there are major differences, says Williams.

“About a third of the Android code base is open and nothing more,” says Williams. “And what is open is a collection of middleware. Everything else is closed or proprietary.”

Symbian is also ahead of Android in that it will publish its platform roadmap and planned features up to 2011, he says. And anyone can influence that roadmap or contribute to new features.

“Open source is also about open governance,” says Williams. “It’s about letting someone other than one control point guide the feature set and the asset base.”

But will that be enough for Symbian to steal away customers lured by a snazzier and younger rival?

See Also:

• By Open Sourcing Symbian, Nokia Kicks Off the Mobile Age
• Symbian CEO Disses Linux-Based Android, Tells Google to Bring It …
• Symbian Announces Big Profits
• OS X Surpasses Windows Market Share (On Phones)
• 7 Reasons Nokia Phones Get No Love in U.S.

Photo: (James Nash/Flickr)

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Feb 2010 | 4:24 pm

Giving CubeSats Electric Propulsion

eldavojohn writes "Thirteen picosatellites were launched back in June of 2006 with the price coming down dramatically in the years since. But the Rubik's cube sized devices have no mobility, meaning once they're put in orbit, they stay in that orbit. The big problem is that traditional chemical propulsion systems are too large for ten-centimeter sided cubes weighing a kilogram. A new electric propulsion system designed by Paulo Lozano of MIT might change that. "

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 3 Feb 2010 | 4:22 pm

Davos Interviews: Ning CEO Gina Bianchini Insists Facebook Isn’t A Competitor

Up next in our series of tech interviews at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week: Gina Bianchini, the CEO of social networking service Ning.

Ning has never had the press attention of Facebook and Twitter. But there are 41 million registered users on Ning, and Gina says that 92 million people a month worldwide visit Ning sites.

We spoke at length in the interview about how the world sees Ning, and how Ning defines itself. Anyone can easily create a Ning social network, cobranded or white labelled. 2.5 million of them have been created so far.

In some ways Ning networks are competitive to Facebook Pages (here’s the TechCrunch Facebook page). Both allow for a presence inside of a social network. And when faced with a choice, most may choose Facebook simply because it has so many hundreds of millions of users to help word spread virally.

Gina doesn’t see it this way. She notes that Facebook pages have limited features and are locked within Facebook itself. Ning allows for deep social experiences around brands and things. Instead of the product competing with Facebook (and Twitter, etc.), she sees Ning as the center of an ecosystem that includes all of these products. A fascinating excerpt from the interview:

MA: One place I personally think you do compete with Facebook is company pages. Companies set up a profile to get fans, and it’s not just their friends but they promote it, they put it on their advertisements. They also might do that with Ning whether it’s the Ning network or the domain mount and make it look all their own. They might do both but it seems like there’s a clear direct competition between Ning networks and Facebook pages. Agree, disagree, how do you see that?

GB: Absolutely disagree. I love the fact that there should be this perceived horserace, where one person wins and one person loses, and that’s just not how it’s working today. And what’s really cool is the fact…

MA: Do you see people doing both?

GB: Yeah, absolutely.

MA: That’s why you don’t think there’s competition?

GB: That’s why we can actually integrate with Twitter and use Twitter as a distribution channel. And basically send people very fluidly to Ning and then people are publishing from Ning into Twitter really effectively. And so what I think actually is happening , and we’re seeing this especially among people who are artists, and people who started in 2005 and 2006 with a myspace page, which is they basically look at it and they say, “ok, Facebook, myspace, Twitter, phenomenal for distribution. That is the place where I can put up a fan page and within a few hours I can have a million followers.” The same thing is true for twitter. So if you basically look at the people who have over a million followers, they are getting increasingly sophisticated in terms of understanding that those are phenomenal, but very lightweight distribution channels.

What they’re realizing and I think where the market is going is the sophistication around, where you’re sending people and where the destination is, whether that was originally a blog, or whether that was originally a website is actually becoming a rich immersive social experience.

MA: And now you’re talking about Ning?

GB: And now I’m talking about Ning.

MA: And a Facebook page isn’t as rich and immersive social experience.

GB: That’s not what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to give people away within Facebook to say, “I’m a fan of Pete Wentz and Fall Out Boy” or “I love Adidas.” I think that’s fantastic, but it’s very lightweight. It’s good that it’s lightweight because it means that people have a way to thread all of these ways that they want to interact with brands, with celebrities, with artists, with things that they truly care about. But I think where the market is going and where you’ll see more and more people do interesting things, is where is the hub, where are they sending people. And that is Ning.

For example, Soleil Moon Frye has 1.4 million Twitter followers and just launched a Ning network two days ago. And her excitement about it is that she can allow and enable the people following her on Twitter, primarily moms and young moms who have the same messy wonderful life as a mother that she does. That she gives them an opportunity to really dive deeper into what she cares about and what she’s passionate about, and really building that out as a small but very powerful lifestyle brand for moms.

And in fact Gina doesn’t think any of these companies – Facebook, Ning, Twitter, LinkedIn – really compete with each other. “Each one of them has gotten really comfortable and more narrowly focused on the thing they do better than anybody else,” she says later in the interview:

MA: (drawing diagram off camera) What you’re saying is that Ning is sort of the center. And you’ve got Facebook and Twitter and myspace. So that’s a good way of thinking about it. Do you think that Facebook, Twitter and myspace think about it that way?

GB: I don’t think they see us as a competitor. Here’s what I think is happening in the market. And this is not rainbows and sunshine saying this – what’s really interesting is that all of these companies were basically founded in 2005, 2006, 2007, and what’s actually happened is that each one of them has gotten really comfortable and more narrowly focused on the thing they do better than anybody else. Facebook with Facebook light is actually going more in the direction of connecting you with the people you have strong relationships with your real identity, with status messages, and with photo sharing. And they do that better than anybody else.

Twitter – and they had that year where, is Twitter a competitor or are they not – you can see in the past 6 months is that while there’s some overlap, it’s not a horserace, they’re not actually competing head to head where Facebook wins and Twitter loses. So Twitter’s about news and real time events.

You’ve seen the same thing with LinkedIn, where they’ve gotten really strong and have tremendous momentum by basically saying, “we own professional identity.” Professional identity has different characteristics than what you want to do with your friends on Facebook and that’s actually great. And then for us, interests and passions. If you look across the market, the thing that’s interesting is that none of these companies actually have a number two. And what gets confusing about it is, Facebook doesn’t have a number two. Twitter doesn’t have a number two. Linked In – you lived through that – all of the competitors are gone, and they are the dominant player. And in our case, we don’t really have anyone else who is creating unique social experiences as an online platform, and specifically an online social platform.

What’s confusing to a user of the market that wants to see the head to head horserace, zero sum game, Microsoft/Netscape situation, it’s not actually happening. It’s really actually a race for each one of these companies and services to get as much traction and deliver as much value to an individual with the thing that they do better than anybody else.

The full transcript is below.

Interview with Ning CEO Gina Bianchini

Michael Arrington: I’m here with Ning CEO Gina Bianchini, hello Gina.

Gina Bianchini: Hi, how are you?

MA: Good. Thanks for joining the World Economic Forum in Davos to sit down and talk about Ning for a little bit. How do you like the hotel?

GB: I describe it as Swedish dorm room chic, and it’s pretty great actually.

MA: Even though there’s no internet access in all the internet executives’ rooms?

GB: It’s a little ironic.

MA: So everyone’s down here in the lobby working.

GB: I almost feel like that’s our purpose here in a way.

MA: It’s good for me because if I want to talk to you, I just go to the lobby and you’re on your computer and you can’t really hide when you only have internet access in one place.

GB: Absolutely.

MA: Is this your first World Economic forum?

GB: It is.

MA: And what do you think of the conference itself?

GB: It’s pretty amazing. It’s a little overwhelming actually because there are so many people from different walks of life doing so many interesting things, and it’s all packed within a small Swiss ski town, that’s it’s kind of hard to get your bearings. But it’s been wonderful. I really enjoyed our panel the first day.

MA: Yeah, you were on a panel with Evan Williams, Randi Zuckerberg, Owen VanNatta, and Reid Hoffman was there. I was there reporting on it; you guys talked about social networks. Do you feel like there’s a good amount of attention here to technology? It seems like there is.

GB: There absolutely is. It’s rare that you go to conferences that have a broad policy and political base, as well as being something that’s just technology focused, and I’ve had more people come up to me, trying to explore how to use social technologies to change the world, and I think that that is always a great conversation to have.

MA: Do you find that most people here are very familiar with Ning? New for some people? Is Ning part of the established set of technology companies that people here know about?

GB: I don’t think so. I think the thing that has actually been really surprising to me is how many people touch a Ning network from all walks of life. I had someone from a pretty large advertising agency say to me that their team in Brazil has been using Ning for basically three years.

MA: The advertising agency has a Ning presence.

GB: And even better, they’re using it for their internal team to coordinate. So I think the thing that’s been the most fun from my perspective is that we made the decision early on that we would share branding, that we weren’t going to be a service that was basically one size fits all, but that what we do, being a social platform for interests and passions, and really being about unique social experiences, that we needed to share the brand. And we needed to basically allow our network creators to put their brand first with Ning being a bit recessive. So we don’t have the same visibility that a Facebook or a Linked In or a Twitter has, but we actually think that for what we do, it’s absolutely critical that we give and we share brand identity, because what people are doing on Ning is creating unique contextual social experiences for the things that really matter to them. And so, that’s actually something that’s been fun for me, is to see all the different ways that people are using Ning today, and in some cases, they absolutely know it’s Ning, and in other cases, they don’t know it’s Ning. That’s not white label.

MA: You allow domain mapping which is very basic Ning – is there some footer that is any Ning branding at all?

GB: Yes, absolutely.

MA: We’ll talk about that in a little bit with your numbers. You’ve raised a lot of money; you’ve raised $119 million dollars now, and your last valuation was $750 million, is that right? (GB nods). And you count among your investors, Reid Hoffman, the founder of Linked In. And Marc Andreesen’s actually cofounder, but he’s also on the board of Facebook. Is it awkward at all, with Marc being on the board of Facebook and Reid being Linked In heavy? Is it at all awkward? Because they are both competitors, right?

GB: Not at all. No, and that’s actually why it’s ok. I think that this is the thing that has really been emerging in the last year, is the fact that different people – or I should say actually, the same people, are using different social technologies for different purposes. And I think at some level, the true story of the last few years has been that everybody’s been trying to figure out where they fit into the world and whether or not different people are competing directly. I thinks it’s an interesting evolution that I did not expect, and I don’t think any of us expected when we started, because there’s always the sense that it is a horse race, it’s not a zero sum game as it relates to social technologies, and in fact what’s happening, is that the same people are using Linked In for their professional identity; they’re using Facebook for connecting to people that they know in the real world, and have gone to school with, that are friends from the neighborhood. What Twitter is about is news and real time events in a way that is different from Facebook. And what we do is basically enable people to dive deeper and create rich social experiences for the topics and things that they truly care about. The aha moment that I had was that’s what actually makes us human beings, and what makes us people, and these different social technologies all work together really well.

For example, two weeks ago we launched Twitter integration, and we’ve seen a huge increase in terms of people sharing content from their Ning network.

MA: That’s both signing in and publishing back to Twitter?

GB: It’s just publishing to Twitter, and then people coming back with a shortened url. And what’s been great about that is that people love to be able to share on Twitter. They love to be able to share and then come back in, and we’re seeing that in the numbers. And I think we’ll shortly launch a similar integration using Facebook because it just makes sense, and it’s what people want. They want to have a very fluid relationship between Linked In, Twitter, Ning and the networks they belong to. And Facebook. And I think that’s something that from the inside, we all realize. Why for example, Reid Hoffman has been a great supporter of Ning, why Marc can sit on the board of Facebook and Ning, and why Marc is an investor in so many of the social technologies that exist, and I think that’s something that’s really fun about it right now.

MA: When you integrate with Facebook, will that be in the sense of signing in to your Ning account through Facebook and publish back to Facebook? Or more like what you’re doing with Twitter, and just publish back to Facebook?

GB: More like what we’re doing with Twitter for v1, and there’s no political strategy that says we should have Facebook connect or we shouldn’t have Facebook connect, it’s just a matter of we’re seeing what’s working and integrating rapidly from here.

MA: How about just from a user perspective and integrating the social graph and having your friends listed in one place? Is that something that you think there may be demand at Ning?

GB: Absolutely. It’s something that we’ll explore in the next few months as we move forward.

MA: One place I personally think you do compete with Facebook is company pages. Companies set up a profile to get fans, and it’s not just their friends but they promote it, they put it on their advertisements. They also might do that with Ning whether it’s the Ning network or the domain mount and make it look all their own. They might do both but it seems like there’s a clear direct competition between Ning networks and Facebook pages. Agree, disagree, how do you see that?

GB: Absolutely disagree. I love the fact that there should be this perceived horserace, where one person wins and one person loses, and that’s just not how it’s working today. And what’s really cool is the fact…

MA: Do you see people doing both?

GB: Yeah, absolutely.

MA: That’s why you don’t think there’s competition?

GB: That’s why we can actually integrate with Twitter and use Twitter as a distribution channel. And basically send people very fluidly to Ning and then people are publishing from Ning into Twitter really effectively. And so what I think actually is happening , and we’re seeing this especially among people who are artists, and people who started in 2005 and 2006 with a myspace page, which is they basically look at it and they say, “ok, Facebook, myspace, Twitter, phenomenal for distribution. That is the place where I can put up a fan page and within a few hours I can have a million followers.” The same thing is true for twitter. So if you basically look at the people who have over a million followers, they are getting increasingly sophisticated in terms of understanding that those are phenomenal, but very lightweight distribution channels.

What they’re realizing and I think where the market is going is the sophistication around, where you’re sending people and where the destination is, whether that was originally a blog, or whether that was originally a website is actually becoming a rich immersive social experience.

MA: And now you’re talking about Ning?

GB: And now I’m talking about Ning.

MA: And a Facebook page isn’t as rich and immersive social experience.

GB: That’s not what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to give people away within Facebook to say, “I’m a fan of Pete Wentz and Fall Out Boy” or “I love Adidas.” I think that’s fantastic, but it’s very lightweight. It’s good that it’s lightweight because it means that people have a way to thread all of these ways that they want to interact with brands, with celebrities, with artists, with things that they truly care about. But I think where the market is going and where you’ll see more and more people do interesting things, is where is the hub, where are they sending people. And that is Ning.

For example, Soleil Moon Frye has 1.4 million Twitter followers and just launched a Ning network two days ago. And her excitement about it is that she can allow and enable the people following her on Twitter, primarily moms and young moms who have the same messy wonderful life as a mother that she does. That she gives them an opportunity to really dive deeper into what she cares about and what she’s passionate about, and really building that out as a small but very powerful lifestyle brand for moms.

MA: How many international uniques are you tracking?

GB: On a global basis, by IP address that excludes bots, we have 92 million monthly uniques. And four months ago we had 70 million global uniques.

MA: Does that include the Ning networks that are domain mapping?

GB: Yes it does.

MA: So that’s a fourth of Facebook, something like that? But you don’t have the compressed footprint that Facebook has, or even Twitter, which is smaller than you. Why is that?

GB: Very simple reason: one size fits all social platforms are easier to get your head around because they have the overarching brand identity. When you’re on Facebook, you are on Facebook, and it is blue and white. And when you’re on Twitter, you are on Twitter. In our case, we took a different approach and we have a different strategy, which is for us to enable unique, immersive, very rich different social experiences around the things that people care about and really allow them to dive deeper, as I mentioned as that hub.

MA: So the things people care about get the press attention as opposed to Ning sometimes.

GB: Absolutely. For example, Linkin Park just launched their official website which is now a social experience on Ning. And that was 3 or 4 days ago. Because they realized that what their fans want is this social opportunity to say, “I love you on myspace, I love you on Twitter, I want to know what’s going on and what I should be paying attention to. But then I want a way to dive deeper into the Linkin Park experience.”

MA: (drawing diagram off camera) What you’re saying is that Ning is sort of the center. And you’ve got Facebook and Twitter and myspace. So that’s a good way of thinking about it. Do you think that Facebook, Twitter and myspace think about it that way?

GB: I don’t think they see us as a competitor. Here’s what I think is happening in the market. And this is not rainbows and sunshine saying this – what’s really interesting is that all of these companies were basically founded in 2005, 2006, 2007, and what’s actually happened is that each one of them has gotten really comfortable and more narrowly focused on the thing they do better than anybody else. Facebook with Facebook light is actually going more in the direction of connecting you with the people you have strong relationships with your real identity, with status messages, and with photo sharing. And they do that better than anybody else.

Twitter – and they had that year where, is Twitter a competitor or are they not – you can see in the past 6 months is that while there’s some overlap, it’s not a horserace, they’re not actually competing head to head where Facebook wins and Twitter loses. So Twitter’s about news and real time events.

You’ve seen the same thing with Linked In, where they’ve gotten really strong and have tremendous momentum by basically saying, “we own professional identity.” Professional identity has different characteristics than what you want to do with your friends on Facebook and that’s actually great. And then for us, interests and passions. If you look across the market, the thing that’s interesting is that none of these companies actually have a number two. And what gets confusing about it is, Facebook doesn’t have a number two. Twitter doesn’t have a number two. Linked In – you lived through that – all of the competitors are gone, and they are the dominant player. And in our case, we don’t really have anyone else who is creating unique social experiences as an online platform, and specifically an online social platform.

What’s confusing to a user of the market that wants to see the head to head horserace, zero sum game, Microsoft/Netscape situation, it’s not actually happening. It’s really actually a race for each one of these companies and services to get as much traction and deliver as much value to an individual with the thing that they do better than anybody else.

MA: Ok. Are you happy with your revenue model and how that’s going?

GB: Absolutely.

MA: How happy, like 9 out of 10?

GB: (laughs) We don’t talk about revenue. I’m happy to talk about the revenue streams that we have.

MA: It’s ads, it’s upsells right?

GB: It’s ads, it’s upsells, and premium features like virtual gifts which we launched in October that allow our network creators to make money from their networks. So when a member of the Lost Zombies Ning network which is 10,000 people who dress up as zombies and take pictures and videos and connect with each other in building this collaborative documentary . It’s lost zomies.com, check it out, it’s awesome. And what they’re doing with virtual gifts, is their members are giving them bloody chain saws, and when that transaction happens, we split the revenue 50/50 with the network creators. We think there are tremendous opportunities there.

MA: How many bloody chainsaws have been given?

GB: I don’t actually know specifically.

MA: Are the member of the group?

GB: I’m a member of Lost Zombies, I am.

MA: You should be like Tom from myspace, a member of every network.

GB: That’s a good idea, I like that.

MA: With a really ridiculous pose in some picture. So what is revenue? Are you profitable yet? Are you approaching profitability yet? Are you approaching the point where you could be profitable? Do you want to slow down growth?

GB: We’re really happy and so are our investors. It’s the benefit of being a private company, but it doesn’t make your job any easier.

MA: How many employees do you have?

GB: We have 166 employees.

MA: And you said you’re not going to talk about profitability.

GB: We’re not going to talk about revenue, profitability.

MA: Facebook does, they’re private.

GB: I know.

MA: Twitter doesn’t. Myspace doesn’t. Hint? Million a month? 10 million a month?

GB: We’re really happy with where we’re at and where we’re going.

MA: When you approach profitability will you announce that?

GB: Stay tuned.

MA: That’s at least something. I can drop that now. It think that’s it. How many registered users?

GB: We have 41 million registered users and we’re adding about a million registered users ever 12-13 days.

MA: And you’re not spending anything on marketing or you are? I’ve never seen anything.

GB: No, it’s primarily email. As we launched Twitter, and soon we’ll launch Facebook, those are actually great sources of new members coming in to and across the Ning networks. The good news/bad news of our model is that it’s incredibly productive and effective in terms of growth and exponential growth, but certainly we’ve made a different decision than other services in terms of really sharing that brand placement. And then allowing people to create really incredibly rich unique social experiences on Ning.

MA: Who goes public first? Zynga, Facebook, or Linked In? Personal opinion.

GB: I am not great at predicting timing but I think all of them are incredibly good businesses that are real. And the reality is that two or three years ago Zynga wasn’t in existence, but everybody was wondering, how are social technologies going to make money. I think the story of 2009 was that one size fits all…

MA: Bloody chainsaws, is how they’re going to make money.

GB…social platforms went mainstream. And I think the story of 2010, 2011, 2012 is social platforms become real businesses.

MA: You going to be going public you think? Is that your aim? Or have Andreeson get Facebook to buy you, some large competitor?

GB: We are very confident that we can be a large independent company.

MA: Thanks very much, enjoy the rest of the conference. I really appreciate it.

GB: Thank you so much.

Source: TechCrunch | 3 Feb 2010 | 4:13 pm

Nexus One Update Fixes 3G, Adds Multitouch

snydeq writes "Google is pushing out an update for the Nexus One that will fix a 3G connectivity problem and add limited support for multitouch. After receiving over 1,500 messages in a support forum from people complaining about trouble connecting to 3G, Google said it has identified the problem and has started delivering the fix. In addition to fixing 3G, the update adds the first applications to support multitouch. While the recent versions of the Android OS include multitouch capability, no phone in the US has supported it."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:38 pm

Regal Beloit Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results

BELOIT, Wis., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Regal Beloit Corporation (NYSE: RBC) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter ended January 2, 2010.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:32 pm

Get ready to read textbooks on your iPad

Section: Communications, Computers

Several textbook publishers have secured deals to have their books digitally converted for devices like Apple’s iPad. ScrollMotion, Inc., has inked a deal with several publishers to develop textbooks, test-prep reading materials, and study guides for digital devices.
Scroll Motion, which has already developed iPhone apps, will likely adapt the books to include a search function, dictionaries, glossaries, and quizzes. Companies involved in the project include McGraw-Hill Cos., Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12, Pearson Education, and Kaplan, Inc., major publishers of educational materials. I recognize more than a few of those names from my days of buying overpriced books from my college bookstore.
The deal has obvious promises for a new style of education. Though college students have yet to fully embrace e-textbooks, analysts believe that portable devices could change that. It’s much easier to read on a fast-loading tablet you already own than to carry a laptop every time you need to read a new chapter between classes. The iPad could even deliver the ability to integrate and link multimedia content to text. 
Anyone who has been on a college campus in the past 4 years knows that Apple products are commonplace. More education-focused content on the iPad could lead to even further Applemania. 
Read [Wall Street Journal]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:31 pm

You Can Get Rid of DSL and Go Wireless

A new class of devices can translate 3G/4G signals into local wi-fi hotspots, letting you ditch your wired broadband connection and go completely wireless.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:30 pm

You Can Get Rid of DSL and Go Wireless

A new class of devices can translate 3G/4G signals into local wi-fi hotspots, letting you ditch your wired broadband connection and go completely wireless.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:30 pm

Unisys Sells Check and Cash Automation Equipment Business

BLUE BELL, Pa., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) today announced that it has sold its check and cash automation equipment and related U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:30 pm

Tesla's Elon Musk Can't Cash Out Quite Yet

The feds, having loaned Tesla Motors a truckload of cash, want the CEO to keep most of his stock until after the Model S sedan hits the road.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:24 pm

Penn Biologists Determine MicroRNA Activity Is Suppressed in Mouse Ovum

Biologists at the University of Pennsylvania studying oocytes in mice, the immature egg cells necessary for sexual reproduction, have demonstrated an unusual behavior in microRNA, or miRNA, activity that may be the first event in reprogramming the differentiated oocyte into pluripotent blastomeres of the embryo.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:06 pm

Hackers Steal Millions in Carbon Credits

Forget credit cards -- today's hackers target carbon credits to game the environment.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:04 pm

Pay it Forward: Elevation Leads to Altruistic Behavior

Seeing someone perform a virtuous deed (especially if they are helping another person), makes us feel good, often eliciting a warm, fuzzy feeling in our chest.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:58 pm

Dune Remake Could Mean 3D Sandworms

bowman9991 writes "The new Dune remake is becoming as epic as Frank Herbert's Dune series itself. Now that director Peter Berg has been ousted, new director Pierre Morel has decided to throw out Peter Berg's script entirely, starting afresh with his own ideas and vision. 'We're starting from scratch,' said Morel. 'Peter had an approach which was not mine at all, and we're starting over again.' Morel also reveals that 'It's the kind of movie that has the scope to be 3D.' He's also keen on sticking to the original material and recognises that he must try to delete the images associated with David Lynch's 1984 version of Dune from the public's consciousness."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:54 pm

Alternative Chemicals Ease Safety Concerns About Nonstick, Repellent Coatings

Amid concern about the potential toxic effects of the fluorochemicals used in nonstick cookware, water-repellent clothing, and other consumer products, manufacturers are using new versions of these chemicals that may be safer.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:53 pm

Meteorites: Who owns what now?

Who owns a meteorite? Well, it depends on who you ask. Scientists, hobbyists, governments, quacks, museum curators and unscrupulous scavengers all have their own opinion.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:53 pm

GEN Feb. 1 Issue Features Special Focus On Epigenetics

Increasing numbers of research studies clearly demonstrate that genetics alone cannot explain the diversity of living organisms, reports Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN).
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:48 pm

'Amazon Effect' -- Murdoch Guns for $10 E-Book

After Amazon caved to Macmillan’s demand to stop selling e-books of their titles for only $10, the News Corp. chief wants the same deal.

Source: Wired Top Stories | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:45 pm

Xilinx ISE Design Suite 11 Wins 2010 DesignVision Award

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Xilinx Inc. (Nasdaq: XLNX) today announced ISE® Design Suite 11 has received the prestigious International Engineering Consortium's (IEC) 2010 DesignVision award in the IC Design Tools Category at DesignCon 2010.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:31 pm

The Final Release of Apache HTTP Server 1.3

Kyle Hamilton writes "The Apache Software Foundation and the Apache HTTP Server Project are pleased to announce the release of version 1.3.42 of the Apache HTTP Server ('Apache'). This release is intended as the final release of version 1.3 of the Apache HTTP Server, which has reached end of life status There will be no more full releases of Apache HTTP Server 1.3. However, critical security updates may be made available."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:30 pm

Play-Asia’s 2010 Lucky Lunar New Year Sale starts

FROM GAMERTELL - Play-Asia is running a Lucky Lunar New Year Sale until February 11, 2010, and over 5,000 items are on sale. There is also a raffle running for people who purchase sale items, with the first prize being an Asian PS3 Final Fantasy XIII Lightning bundle.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:20 pm

Synopsys Announces Earnings Release Date and Conference Call for the First Quarter Fiscal Year 2010

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Synopsys, Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:15 pm

Meet Dennis Hong's Robots

I received an email from Dennis Hong, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech. He said: "Hi Tracy. Just wanted to let you know about an exciting YouTube clip that robotics people may enjoy -- all the cool RoMeLa ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:11 pm

Celestica Invests in Growing Healthcare Division

TORONTO, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Celestica Inc.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:10 pm

Scintera Announces Availability of Breakthrough Power Amplifier Linearization SoC

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Scintera Networks, Inc., a leading provider of semiconductors for wireless communications, today announced the general availability of its SC1887: Adaptive RF Power Amplifier Linearizer (RFPAL) system-on-chip (SoC).
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:05 pm

Iskra Sistemi Announces Its New SparkLight ADM16 Access Product Family

ROSEVILLE, Calif., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Iskra Sistemi, a developer and provider of process automation, communications and security products announced a new product - the SparkLight ADM16 Next Generation SDH Add/Drop Multiplexer.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Feb 2010 | 2:00 pm

tw telecom Continues to Lead All Competitive Providers in Business Ethernet Services

LITTLETON, Colo., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- tw telecom, (Nasdaq: TWTC) a leading national provider of managed voice, Internet and data networking solutions for businesses across the U.S.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:59 pm

From Music To Sports: Autonomy Fosters Passion Among Kids

Canadian study links parenting to children's relationships to hobbiesParents take heed: children and young adults are more likely to pursue sports, music or other pastimes when given an opportunity to nurture their own passion.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:54 pm

Secrets To Superb Malting Barleys Explored By ARS Researchers

Many favorite breakfast cereals, candies, beers, and other foods and beverages owe much of their smooth, delicious flavor to malt.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:50 pm

Not On The Fast Track To Academic Success? Try The Slow Road

How do scientists decide what to investigate? Often, they choose an area that is in high demand, hoping to get their work into the best journals as soon as possible.According to Uri Alon, of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, this strategy can be demotivating if the goals are not met, especially to younger scientists.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:34 pm

Hitachi achieves a storage density of 2.5 Terabits per square inch

Section: Peripherals, Storage

Let’s face it, we can never have enough storage space on our hard drives. Current hard drives that use perpendicular magnetic recording technology already have densities of 300-400 GB per square inch, and they are capable of achieving up to 1 terabits per square inch density. The technology is being pushed to the limits and alternatives need to be considered to lift the theoretical density limit.

Hitachi has achieved a density of 2.5 Terabits per square inch with the heat-assisted magnetic recording technology, which has a theoretical limit of up to 50 terabits per square inch. 2.5 Terabits per square inch is 5 times higher than the one currently met in commercial HDDs, which means commercial hard drives with capacities of over 10GB is possible. Unfortunately there is no news on when Hitachi might implement this commercially. For all we know, flash drives might actually improve and render HDDs obsolete.

Read [CDRinfo] Via [Ubergizmo]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:18 pm

More Telescopes Join in Planet Hunt

The search for alien worlds -- and alien life -- just got a little easier.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:10 pm

New Motorola Android Phone on Verizon: the Devour - ABC News

Stuff.co.nz

New Motorola Android Phone on Verizon: the Devour ABC News AP In this product image provided by Verizon, the Motorola Devour is shown. (AP Photo/Verizon) Verizon Wireless has a second handset from Motorola Inc. that uses Google Inc.'s Android software: The Devour. ... Meet the Motorola Devour, Verizon's New Android PhonePC World Motorola, Verizon Unveil Android-Based DevourPC Magazine Motorola unleashes Devour Android handset; Motoblur, VerizonZDNet (blog) Seattle Times (blog) -Gizmodo.com (blog) -Christian Science Monitor all 264 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:06 pm

Luxor's 'Sphinx Avenue' to Be Restored

A site in Luxor, Egypt will become one of the world's largest open-air museums when part of a $11 million project is complete in March, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) said today in a statement. Excavation work along the ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:00 pm

Winter Olympics to Demo Thought-Controlled Lighting

Along with the figure skating, ice hockey and snowboarding, another event will compete for attention at the Winter Olympics in Canada this month.

A Canadian company has created what it calls the “largest thought-controlled computing installation.” It’s an experiment that lets visitors to the Olympics use their brainwaves to control the lights at three major landmarks in Canada, including Niagara Falls.

“When people put on the headsets and find themselves increasing the brightness of the lights by just thinking about it, you can almost see their brains explode,” says Trevor Coleman, chief operating officer for InteraXon, the company that has created this installation.

As consumers get more comfortable with going beyond the keyboard and the mouse to interact with their computers, companies are looking for alternate ways to make the experience better. Already, touch and voice recognition have become a major part of the user interface in smartphones, and harnessing brainwaves or other biological data is slowly emerging as a third option, especially in gaming. Companies such as NeuroSky offer headphones that promise to translate the gamer’s brainwaves into action on screen. A biometrics company called Innerscope is helping Wired host a geeked-out Super Bowl party. And even Microsoft is working on alternate forms of input; its Project Natal promises to add gesture recognition to Xbox 360 games later this year.

InteraXon’s installation is spread across three sites: Toronto’s CN Tower, Ottawa’s Parliament Buildings and Niagara Falls. All three locations have two chairs set up, each with its own headset. The headsets have an external probe that touches the wearer’s forehead to measure the baseline brain activity. The chairs are rigged to offer tactile feedback as users enter the desired brain state.

The headset measures the brain’s electrical output and reacts to alpha waves, associated with relaxation, and beta waves, which indicate concentration. As users relax or focus their thoughts, the computer sends a message to the site they are viewing. InteraXon’s software translates users’ thoughts to commands that will change the lighting display. For instance, by concentrating, users can make the lights at the CN Tower spin faster or change the brightness of the lights at Niagara Falls.

It’s easy enough once users get started, says Coleman.

“To achieve the beta state we ask users to focus on things like an object ahead and its details, while for an alpha response we ask them to take a deep breath and relax to let their mind go,” he says. “But after a minute or two of trying it, we found most users no longer require the physical cues,” says Coleman.

Over the two weeks that the exhibit will be open, InteraXon expects more than 2,000 visitors to try it out.

See Also:

• Brain Scanners, Fingercams Take Computer Interfaces Beyond
• Cognitive Computing Project Aims to Reverse-Engineer the Mind
  
• Brainy Robots To Lead To Longer Unemployment Lines?
• Hitachi: Commercial Mind-Machine Interface by 2011
• Gallery: Bionic Arms Gain Power, Dexterity, Sensitivity

Photo: Markos Tesome

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:00 pm

Winter Olympics to Demo Thought-Controlled Lighting

Niagara Falls will be one of the sites where the "largest thought-controlled computing installation" lets Olympics visitors use their brainwaves to control the lights.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:00 pm

Windows veteran Mike Nash leaving Microsoft - CNET

Latest Gadgets (blog)

Windows veteran Mike Nash leaving Microsoft CNET Corporate Vice President Mike Nash, who headed Microsoft's security efforts before spending the past several years in product management and strategy roles in the Windows unit, is leaving Microsoft. His Windows roots run deep, though, ... Windows 7 A Battery Hog, Users ComplainInformationWeek Microsoft Looking into Win7 ...PC Magazine Microsoft Veteran Mike Nash Leaving CompanyChannelWeb PC World -Register -Wall Street Journal all 232 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 3 Feb 2010 | 12:45 pm

The first sample videos from the Sony Ericsson Vivaz are out and kind of incredible

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz (previously known as “Kurara”) still doesn’t have an official release date, but it looks like someone in Sony Ericsson’s camp has been playing with one lately. The company just released a pair of sample videos, marking the first time anyone outside of SE has seen footage shot on this handset. Now, given that one of the flagship features of this handset is its 720p video recording mode, we didn’t exactly expect the camera quality to be garbage – but hot damn are these videos impressive.

Check out the videos below, won’t you?

The first video alone is pretty impressive, even if they are kind of cheating; if those E-Trade commercials and countless viral videos have proven anything, it’s that babies make everything better.

That second video, though, of the rock concert… that’s amazing. As every 15 year old girl standing in the front row at a concert blocking everyone’s view with their stupid cell phone could tell you, concert footage tends to come out looking like a pile of hot garbage. The lighting goes from ridiculously dark to blindingly bright, the music is too loud.. it’s just a terrible combination. Now, I’m not sure if there’s some sort of pre-staged (or post-shoot) trickery going on here – but if that’s impromptu footage straight off the phone, consider me impressed. Really, really impressed.

[Via AllAboutSymbian]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Feb 2010 | 12:36 pm

Migrating Cranes Get a Little Ultralite Assistance

Each year in late January, an ultralight aircraft descends on Florida with a flock of young whooping cranes in tow. The birds, which are from central Wisconsin, follow the aircraft across the country to one of two wildlife preserves in ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 3 Feb 2010 | 12:13 pm

Motorola DEVOUR recently announced and already getting fondled

Well that didn’t take too long at all. Just this morning, the Motorola DEVOUR with MOTOBLUR was announced, and now in-the-wild pics and hands on impressions are surfacing on the web. Pictured next to the Nexus One, the DEVOUR looks much smaller than it does in press images. So how does it feel and what can be expected from the device?

It was hard to tell from prevoius leaked images and from the press pics, but the DEVOUR pictured above is made of metal. It’s hard to say whether the final release product will be the same, but we sure hope so. AndroidSPIN, the folks that got hold of the device, says “it feels very solid.” Judging from the image above, the DEVOUR is going to be relatively chunky (compared to slimmer devices like the Nexus One or HTC Hero), but the screen is significantly smaller.

It’s also rumored that Motorola will be launching future devices with infrared to control home media devices, such as Blu-ray players, and that some of their future gadgets are like “nothing we’ve ever seen.” We like the direction Motorola is taking with its handsets, but we’re not going to get too excited until we see the coming line-up.

[AndroidSPIN via EngadgetMobile]

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Feb 2010 | 12:13 pm

Climate Change Thinning Out Canadian Wolverines

Conservation scientists say the wolverine, a predator renowned for its strength and tenacious character, may be dying out along with the snowpack upon which it lives, BBC News reported.Experts say wolverine numbers are falling across North America and their decline has been linked to less snow settling as a result of climate change.
Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:49 am

HTC Trophy details leaked in full [Updated]

When the HTC Trophy made its first appearance on that leaked 2010 roadmap back in early December, we said that it looked like a T-Mobile HTC Dash with a touchscreen.

Now that we’ve got a clearer picture and a bunch more specs on it, however, it looks more like a… well, a T-Mobile HTC Dash with a touchscreen.

I’m not sure if HTC’s even trying to keep this one a secret, considering just how leaky these pipes seem to be. We know just about everything there is to know about the handset at this point, and it’s not even scheduled to launch until May.

What we know about the specs:

• Dimensions: 119 x 58.36 x 11mm
• Built for use with T-Mobile 3G
• Windows Mobile 6.5
• 3.0″ VGA (640×480) capacitive touchscreen
• 5 megapixel autofocus
• 512 MB flash, 256 MB RAM
• microSD
• 802.11b/g WiFi
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• GPS/AGPS
• 1400mAh battery
• Accelerometer
• 3.5mm jack, FM Radio
• TouchFlo 3D Interface
• Business card scanner

The specs and form factor aren’t too mindbogglingly exciting, so I don’t expect that this device will pull over too many folks who aren’t already fans of (or are required for work purposes to use) WinMo 6.5. That’s okay though – considering that it packs “Business card scanner” as a feature, it sounds like this one is aimed squarely at the enterprise crowd anyway.

Update: Looks like the shot above is a fan-made (though still awesome) render.

[Via PhoneArena]

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Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:24 am

Hasselblad unveils the H4D-40, a 40MP medium format DSLR beast

Section: Imaging, Camcorders, Digital Cameras

Hasselblad introduced the new H4D-40 “entry-level” camera to its existing line of H4D medium format camera systems. Touting a 33 x 44mm CCD sensor, which is almost twice the size of a full-frame 35mm DSLR sensor, the H4D-40 shoots at a whooping 40MP. If you ever need more megapixels to work with, you can count on the higher-end models in the H4D line of medium format cameras.

This entry-level model also features the True Focus AF system, which is commonly found in the higher-end models. With True Focus, photographers can work with shallow depth-of-field compositions more effectively. The H4D-40 is priced at $19, 995, which isn’t much of a surprise considering the kind of specs you get with the camera. For $ 19, 995, you get the H4D-40 kit, including the camera body, 80mm lens, viewfinder and the company’s Phocus 2.0 software. It is available for shipping now.

Read [Digital Photography Review] Via [SlashGear]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 3 Feb 2010 | 10:58 am

Mobile web may beat out mobile apps in the long run

Taptu, the mobile search solution, has been keeping an eye on the mobile web — specifically what they’re calling the mobile touch web, which I guess is slightly different from the non-touch mobile web — and has produced a fairly comprehensive report of their findings. Of particular interest is the fact that “there are a higher proportion of shopping and services sites on the mobile touch Web (20%) compared to Apple’s App Store (3.6%).” According to Taptu, this is because “the mobile touch Web provides the opportunity for direct-to-consumer billing.”

I think it goes beyond just the direct-to-consumer billing convenience, though. You can spend your time and energy and precious development resources to build a terrific platform-specific application, only to sit in frustration as it languishes in some opaque approval process. And then you get to do it all over again on the other major platforms, increasing your development costs and complexity. Or you can spend your time and energy and precious development resources making a terrific mobile-optimized view into your existing web presence. The latter choice allows you to target and receive visits from multiple mobile devices, both current and those in the works. It also allows you to push out updates that are immediately enjoyed by all your users, without requiring them to download the updated app to their device.

My buddy Chris recently decided to write a mobile-friendly admin plugin for the blogging software he uses, rather than try to write a dedicated iPhone app. As he points out, “this plugin works on iPhone, iPod Touch, the Palm webOS and Android phones.” And it’s something that’s available for use now, without any approval delay.

I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to create what amounts to an alternate mobile admin as a native app. There is very little, if anything, to be gained from doing that. On the contrary there is much more to gain by making something like this into a well designed web app.

I think Chris is on to something; and I think we’ll see a pretty healthy adoption of touch mobile web sites as our devices continue to mature.

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Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Feb 2010 | 10:44 am

Apple awarded touch sensitive bezel patent

FROM APPLETELL - Does the iPad’s extra wide bezel bother you? Apple has been awarded a patent to use that area for touch based controls.
MORE »

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 3 Feb 2010 | 10:22 am

Scosche solBAT II solar powered charger actually decently priced at $30

I’ll be damned. A solar charger with a 1500mAh capacity battery and 5-volt output from a relatively well known manufacturer priced at $30. That actually seems reasonable. The solBAT II from Scosche features a standard USB output port for charging most of your portable devices and it even comes with a little suction mount case for use in the car. So what’s the catch for $30?

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Feb 2010 | 9:40 am

Verizon announces Motorola Devour Android phone, available in March

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

Verizon and Motorola today officially announced the Motorola Devour, an Android-powered phone set to be released for use on the Verizon network next month. The Devour, which runs Motorola’s custom-version of Android, MOTOBLUR, comes with a QWERTY slider and a 3.1-inch capacitive touchscreen. The phone runs Android 1.6 and includes an 8GB microSD card to take advantage of the following specs:

• 3.1-inch touchscreen display with 320 x 480 resolution
• 3-megapixel camera
• EVDO Rev.A, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and aGPS
• Bluetooth with A2DP
• HTML5 compatible browser
• Speakerphone
• microSD card slot
• Talk time: Up to 340 minutes, Standby time: Up to 440 hours
• 4.55 x 2.4 x 0.61 inches, 6.35 ounces

Verizon announced that the Devour will appear in store beginning in March. Unfortunately, that debut will include the relatively stale Donut build of Android rather than the newer, fresher Eclair. Motorola has said that it will upgrade its MOTOBLUR social-networking system to Android 2.0, but it seems they won’t be able to do it soon enough to get their new phone with the latest version of Android. Let’s hope that they’ll be able to make an adjustment quickly and push out the update soon.

The Motorola Devour requires a Verizon Nationwide Talk plan of at least $39.99 and a data plan of $29.99.

Read [Motorola Media Center]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 3 Feb 2010 | 9:40 am

Rupert Murdoch sees weakness in Amazon following Macmillan deal, wants “room to maneuver”

Section: Gadgets / Other, ebooks

The whole mess with Macmillan and Amazon seems likely to spread to others at this point, which ultimately sounds like it will be bad news for Kindle customers in the long run. Just to recap, Macmillan was upset because of the $9.99 pricing with Amazon, Amazon pulled their content, Amazon then later allowed them back in at the prices they wanted.

Now it seems that others are taking note of this and sensing some weakness in the whole $9.99 Amazon pricing deal. The latest is Rupert Murdoch and his Harper Collins and he has recently stated that he sees Amazon is now “willing to sit down” and “renegotiate.”

The important part here is nothing has changed, but that seems to come with a big ‘yet’ at the end because Murdoch also went on to state that the Apple deal “does allow some flexibility and higher prices.”

On a slightly positive note, he did continue on to say that the ebook pricing will remain lower than print editions. Seems to be a small concession.

The kicker here is that I love reading on my Kindle, but at the same time I do not want to pay more than $9.99 for a ebook, and I also do not want to have to start reading regular paper books again.

Read [All Things D]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 3 Feb 2010 | 8:39 am

Why wait for the Nexus One Android OTA update when you can have it now?

Patience is a virtue, but as tech fanatics who lap up the latest in hardware and software, we’ve not enirely familiar with that concept. So when we heard that it could take up to a few days for the Nexus One Android OTA update, it was a little disheartening. We want it now! And thanks to some clever folks over at Android Forums, we can get it right this moment. It just takes some simple tinkering and you should be good to go.

All it takes is a quick download and some button pushes here and there, but nothing so complicated that your average fifth-grader couldn’t do it. Here’s how you update your Nexus One:

1. Grab the update and download it from here, or here.
2. Put the update onto your SD card and rename it update.zip
3. Boot your device in recovery mode by holding down the trackball and power button at the same time
4. Go to bootloader > recovery
5. When you see the image of the droid with triangle, press the power button and volume up
6. Apply sdcard:update.zip
7. It should start updating
8. Reboot the system and you’re done!

Simple enough, right? However, if you feel uncomfortable doing all this, it’s certainly worth waiting for the OTA update instead of bricking your phone. So proceed with caution and enjoy your new multi-touch capabilities!

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Feb 2010 | 8:00 am

A Month With the Lumix GF1, And Why I No Longer Use The Nikon D700

Last month, we took a first look at Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds (M4/3) GF1, a small camera with interchangeable lenses and a big sensor. That post, detailing the performance and features, got a lot of comments, so I thought it might be a good idea to relay my thoughts after using the camera rather a lot over the last few weeks. Here you’ll find out about its performance, as well as some of the hidden gems that make using it easier.

The (Missing) Viewfinder

As previously noted, the GF1’s rear screen is pretty good, its high resolution and fast (60fps) refresh making it very nice to use. I had thought I’d buy an add-on viewfinder for it, but now I’m not so sure. Composing pictures on this big screen is not only better than on other finderless compacts I have used, but actually more natural-feeling than a ‘finder. It’s almost like using the ground-glass screen of a view-camera.

The one problem is with long lenses, especially heavy Nikon lenses used with an adapter that require manual focus. The extra wobble and zoomed-in focusing would make a viewfinder very welcome here.

Wrong Lenses

Speaking of lenses, I have shot a fair amount with an M4/3 to Nikon adapter, which lets me use my old lenses on the camera. The results are good, and these lenses, which need to be focused completely manually, are surprisingly easy to use.

Pop one on (and set the camera so it will shoot without a lens — page 128 in the manual) and the camera defaults to manual focus. Press on the control dial so it clicks, and the display zooms in to allow accurate focusing. This is amazingly intuitive. You can also move the focus point around the frame.

Because this is all manual, if you set anything other than the widest aperture on your lens it will stop down and the image on the screen will darken. The camera still works great in aperture priority mode, though, so exposures are accurate. One further (unavoidable) niggle: No aperture value is recorded in the EXIF data.

Exposure

Speaking of exposure, the GF1 has a nice line in auto-ISO modes. You can pick two. While both seem to favor setting a wide aperture (I have been using the 20mm ƒ1.7 most of the time) before they ramp up the ISO, they work OK, and you can choose a maximum ISO in the preferences.

The i-ISO mode is the one you want to set. It detects when the camera (or subject) is moving and ups the ISO so you can use a faster shutter speed. This works by monitoring what is happening onscreen, as the GF1 has no accelerometer.

To test it, take the same shot with both Auto and i-ISO. They will be identical. But if you jiggle the camera as you shoot, the i-ISO will kick in. It’s simple, but it works very well. I leave it set pretty much all the time, along with aperture priority.

Video

Video quality is fine, not outstanding. The lack of an image stabilizer really shows up here, and things can get a little jerky. Lock the GF1 down on a tripod, and use it in good light and video shines, with the short depth-of-field from the large sensor and fast lenses lending a very filmlike quality.

But the best part is the dedicated video button on the top plate. Hit it and you start shooting, whatever mode the camera is in. Press again to stop. It uses auto-settings, but you’ll find yourself shooting little clips much more often. Better yet, you will never be left in video mode when you think you’re shooting a still.

The Flash

The vestigial pop-up unit is weak, in both output and construction. It pops out of the solid body and sits on a plastic scaffold high above the camera, waiting to be snapped off.

That said, having it so far off the lens axis means it doesn’t wash things out too much. And having a built-in flash adds another advantage: It can trigger off-camera flash. I set a Nikon SB900 speedlight to “slave” mode, turned the internal flash down as low as it could go and it triggered the Nikon every time, even without line of sight. Manual-shooting strobists will love it.

Other Niceties

The GF1 will store the faces of several people in memory and, if it spots them in a picture, give priority to focus and exposure to them. A gimmick, but a potentially useful one.

The Q-Menu, too, is handy. Press a dedicated button and you can navigate between the onscreen icons, changing settings as you go. It’s the virtual equivalent of having buttons in fixed places, so you can learn where they are.

Problems

I mentioned the tiny control wheel in the last post, and hoped I’d get used to it. I didn’t. The thumb wheel is used to set almost everything in the camera and it is tiny, slippery and hard to turn. Panasonic needs to fix this in any future GF2. Also in need of a fix is the “My Menu,” which lists the last five settings you have changed. You should be able to specify what you want in there.

The LCD screen has a crappy, thin plastic cover. It comes with a screen protector attached, but the hefty cover of my Canon G9 is way better.

The body, while solid, is hard to grip. When shooting it is fine, but try to carry it in one hand as you walk around and you’ll soon drop it. Buy a wrist strap.

There’s plenty more to the GF1, and nothing can beat a hands-on test before you buy one. But if you are worried about idiosyncrasies or showstopping problems, don’t. I have hardly touched my Nikon D700 since I got this camera (just once, for a flash-lit portrait shoot). That should tell you something.

See Also:

• Hands-On With Panasonic’s Leica-Lite GF1
• Panasonic Micro Four Thirds ‘Rangefinder’ With Leica Lenses …
• New Olympus Pen Adds Flash, Loses Good Looks
• 5 Reasons to Ditch Your Digital SLR

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Feb 2010 | 7:59 am

Why I Stopped Using My SLR

After a month of using Panasonic's compact Lumix GF-1 camera, the author finds he has almost no use for his digital SLR anymore.

Source: Wired: Gadgets | 3 Feb 2010 | 7:59 am

Verizon comes clean and announces the Android-powered Motorola DEVOUR with MOTOBLUR

The Verizon-bound Motorola Devour wasn’t much of a secret after the retail packaging leaked last week. We knew it was coming, but not so soon because big red VZW just announced it to the world. Don’t get too excited though, it’s not a Droid replacement as Android 1.6 is powering it instead of 2.0.

That doesn’t mean it’s not another fine phone to add to Verizon’s stable. Oh no, the 3.1-inch capacitive screen, 8GB microSD card, full QWERTY keyboard, and the social networking-centric Motoblur all combine to make a great device. It also comes rocking a 3 MP camera, 802.11 b/g WiFi, GPS, and a 3.5mm headset jack.

Verizon did however leave out two key details: price and exact release date within the month of March. Chances are that it will be available at a lower price point than the flagship Droid.

BASKING RIDGE, NJ, and LIBERTYVILLE, IL — Verizon Wireless and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced the availability of Motorola DEVOUR™ in March. Motorola DEVOUR will be the first Verizon Wireless phone to feature MOTOBLUR™, Motorola’s unique Android™-powered content delivery service created to make wireless phones more personal and customizable.

MOTOBLUR is the first solution to sync contacts from work and personal e-mail services, including Gmail™, with posts, messages, photos and more from popular sites such as Facebook®, MySpace and Twitter. With MOTOBLUR, content is automatically delivered to the home screen and fed into easy-to-manage streams.

Key features:

• Touch-sensitive navigation pad
• 3.1” capacitive touch screen
• Pre-loaded applications such as Gmail, Google Talk™, YouTube™, Google Search™ and Google Maps™ with Google Maps Navigation.
• Android Market™ gives users access to more than 20,000 applications.
• Happenings Widget – MOTOBLUR automatically pushes status updates, wall posts and photo updates from popular social networking sites to the Happenings Widget on the home screen. Customers can flick through the latest updates and fire back responses using the slide-out full QWERTY keyboard.
• Universal Inbox – MOTOBLUR gathers texts, social network messages and e-mails into one home screen widget for quick response.
• Back-Up and Security – Contacts, log-in information, home screen customizations, e-mail and social network messages are backed up automatically on the secure MOTOBLUR portal. The portal also allows customers to use the phone’s fully integrated aGPS to help locate the phone if misplaced. Remote wipe easily clears information from a lost device.
• 8 GB microSD™ card pre-installed
• Bluetooth® profiles supported: A2DP, HID, HSP, HFP, AVRCP and GAP

Service plans:

• To get the most from Motorola DEVOUR, customers will need to subscribe to a Nationwide Talk or Nationwide Talk & Text plan and a Data Package for smartphones. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access, and Nationwide Talk & Text plans begin at $59.99 monthly access. A Data Package for smartphones is $29.99 for unlimited monthly access.

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

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Feb 2010 | 7:45 am

Amazon, Newegg lower Zune HD pricing by $30 and $40

Section: Audio, Portable Audio

Nothing seems to have been officially announced in terms of a Zune HD price drop, however that has not stopped both Amazon and Newegg from recently lowering the price. Can you say price war? I hope so, because that generally means good things for the customers—well, potential customers.

Bottom line, if you were looking for a Zune HD, now may be a good time to make a purchase.

Anyway, at Amazon and Newegg the 16GB Zune HD is now $189.99 (a $30 savings) and the 32GB Zune HD is now $249.99 (a $40 savings). Links for all are below.

Product [Amazon 16GB] and [Amazon 32GB] and [Newegg 16GB] and [Newegg 32GB]

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

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Source: Gadgetell | 3 Feb 2010 | 7:25 am

Doodle 4 Google — Tell us what you would do if you could do anything...

Today, we're excited to announce our third annual Doodle 4 Google contest in the U.S. Google doodles, created by our talented team of doodlers, have helped us celebrate events and anniversaries from Van Gogh's birthday to Valentine's Day. And since 2008, Doodle 4 Google has given K-12 kids the opportunity to create their own logo and have it displayed on the Google homepage for hundreds of millions of users to enjoy for a day.

In addition to the winner's art appearing on Google.com on May 27, 2010, they'll also receive a $15,000 college scholarship, a laptop computer and a $25,000 technology grant for their school.

This year's theme is "If I Could Do Anything, I Would..." and it's all about pushing the limits, dreaming big, and seeing what you can accomplish in life. When coming up with inspiration for this year's contest, we turned to some of our very own Googlers, including Ed Lu, a former astronaut.

Ed typifies this year's theme in action, and shares an inspiring anecdote:

On my first mission STS-84, one of my crewmates and I were having dinner aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. After all our work for the day was done, we decided to eat "upside down" on the ceiling, gazing out at the Earth moving by below our feet. As we flew around the Earth, watching the continents go by, my crewmate remarked how amazingly large the Earth really is. But at that same time, it also felt small to us. There we were, flying at 18,000 miles per hour around the Earth in a machine built by humans, with a crew made up of astronauts from all over the world. Both of our observations were true at the same time. The world is indeed a big place with many challenges. But by using science, technology and the power of people working together, nearly anything is possible.

So dream big! If you could do anything, what would you do?

For even more inspiration, you can see last year's winner, Christin Engelberth, a sixth grader at Bernard Harris Middle School in San Antonio, Texas. She titled her doodle "A New Beginning" to express her wish that "out of the current crisis, discoveries will be found to help the Earth prosper once more."

We're happy to let you know that this year, we've also assembled a panel of well-known "Expert Jurors," including creative directors, cartoonists and famous animators ranging from Sesame Workshop to Pixar Animation Studios. Our Expert Jurors will help us narrow down the cream of the crop to 40 regional finalists, who will come to the Google office in New York City on May 26, 2010. For the second year, we'll also be partnering with the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, where the top 40 regional finalists will get to have their artwork displayed in a national exhibit. And for the first time this year, we'll give out eight Technology Booster awards to schools that submit maximum number of doodles per school by March 10th and have students in our 400 State Finalists.

Please visit the official competition website for a full listing of all contest rules and requirements. Only students from registered schools can enter, so be sure your school is registered by March 17, 2010. All doodles must be submitted by March 31, 2010.

We hope you're as excited about this year's contest as we are. Good luck!

Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience and Ed Lu, Program Manager, Advanced Projects
Source: The Official Google Blog | 3 Feb 2010 | 7:00 am

Lensbaby Gets Fisheye and Soft Core Optics

Did you know that your Lensbaby Composer has a removable optic inside? Using the right tool you can extract this glassy core and swap in one of Lensbaby’s new Fisheye or Soft Focus optics.

The Lensbaby Composer itself is a twist’n’shoot lens which bends to place the point of focus anywhere in the frame. It’s great fun to use, and can give some odd and unexpected effects to your photos. These new optics slot into that same case and distort the images even more.

The fisheye gives a fully round view, with the bending of straight lines you expect from a fisheye. With a full-frame camera, you actually see the circle. Crop frame sensors will get a little vignetting at the edges and Micro 4/3 bodies will not see the circle at all, but do get the bendy lines.

The soft focus unit slots in and gives even blur across the image. From the example pictures, it looks like the picture is still in focus but jut, well, softer. Imagine the old Hollywood vaseline-on-the-lens trick and you’ll be close.

Both optics have interchangeable aperture disks, and both can still be used with the tilting mechanism of the Lensbaby, although in the case of the fisheye you end up just blacking out a lot of the frame. The softy is $90, and the rather satisfyingly hefty fisheye is $150. Both turned up here at Gadget Lab España yesterday, and will be thoroughly tested over the next week (including shooting video on a Micro 4/3 body).

Fisheye [Lensbaby]

Soft Focus [Lensbaby]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Feb 2010 | 6:54 am

Gear Ring Is Like Mechanical Catnip to Nerds

“Stop playing with your ring!” This is something you have probably all heard at one time, as you twiddle away with your fingers and annoy the hell out of the people around.

Well, those intolerant fools can suck it: the Kinekt Gear Ring is *made* for playing with. The surgical steel circle has two bands running around the outer edges with teeth that engage six tiny cogs that spin between them. These cogs mesh with the teeth and make a finger-band that will be impossible to stop spinning. Want to see a video of it in action? Sure: Kinekt Gear Ring video (.mov). (Sorry, the embedded video we had here earlier disappeared.)

The ring will cost you $165, Buying one as a gift for a geek-in-law is like buying a drum-kit for your nephew: the giftee will love you. Your sister will hate you.

Gear Ring [Kinekt via Uncrate]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Feb 2010 | 6:24 am

New Nikon Coolpix Range Has Something for Everyone

The pre-PMA announcements are hotting up, and Nikon has just released the details of its 2010 Coolpix lineup. Like most of the manufacturers compact camera ranges, this one offers a veritable confusion of models, so we’ll just hit the highlights here. Don’t worry: there are some genuine goodies here. The Olympus and Fuji ranges, already announced, were so ho-hum we tore up the press releases already.

The first of the two standout models is the P100, a chunky, bridge-style camera which has Nikon’s new back-illuminated CMOS image sensor. This confusingly-named chips aren’t backlit like a computer screen. Instead, the internal wiring is moved behind the actual sensors, and the sensors now sit directly behind the micro-lenses and color filters. This ups the sensitivity significantly (in the range of +6db) and decreases noise. This means better pictures in low-light — now a Nikon hallmark. As a result, the P100 can shoot at up to ISO 3200 with its 10.3MP sensor.

The P100 also has a 26x optical zoom with a respectable ƒ2.8 maximum aperture (shrinking to ƒ5.0 at the outer zoom limit) and shoots 1080p video. It will cost $400 and go on sale in March.

Second is the sleek S8000, a small compact with a huge, 3-inch, 921,000 dot screen. This is the same size and resolution found on Nikon’s high-end DSLRs. The 14.2MP sensor also shoots at ISO 3200 and also records 720p video. The S8000 will cost $300, and be here later this month.

Coolpix P100 [Nikon]

Coolpix S8000 [Nikon]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Feb 2010 | 5:46 am

New Olympus Pen Adds Flash, Loses Good Looks

Olympus has taken the lovely, popular and slightly flawed Pen EP-1 camera, tweaked it to to be more like Panasonic’s equally nice GF1, and in the process created a Frankenstein’s camera, a bloated monster that bears the same relationship to the EP-1 as Marlon Brando’s Colonel Kurtz bore to his Stanley Kowalski.

So, what’s new? The Pen E-PL1 is still an interchangeable lens, Micro Four Thirds (M4/3) camera, but it gains a pop-up flash and a direct video-record button (this button, found on the Panasonic GF1, is wonderfully useful for quick clip shooting). As mentioned, the body loses its sleek, muscular good looks and also the two innovative thumb dials, replaced by one top-plate dial and a whole lot of buttons. If you are looking for an easy to control manual camera, this isn’t it — stick with the EP2 or the GF1.

The new Pen has some nice features not found in the Panasonic. First, in-body image stabilization, which works whatever lens you put on the front. Second, you can hook up a microphone to supplement to built-in mono mic (both the EPx cameras have stereo mics, the Panny mono with no aux input).

There is also a range of Live Guides, which let you tweak color and other parameters and see the results live on-screen before you shoot. And one of the coolest features is that you can pair the camera with Olympus flashes and control them remotely. That’s a pretty high-end DSLR feature right there.

All this comes in a $600 package, bundled with a Zuiko 14-42mm f3.5/5.6, available in March. If you’re looking to step up from a high-end compact, but don’t need the price or the great manual handling of the EP-2 or GF1, this is a rather sweet-featured camera. If you squint, and don’t look too hard at its ugly lines.

Introducing the Incredible Olympus Pen E-PL1 Camera [Olympus]

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Feb 2010 | 5:15 am

Toyota Recall: New Questions About What the Motor Company Knew and When - ABC News

Sydney Morning Herald

Toyota Recall: New Questions About What the Motor Company Knew and When ABC News By MEGAN CHUCHMACH Toyota's massive recalls of its floor mats and gas pedals may turn into a lot of finger pointing, with new questions about what the motor company knew about the safety problems and when. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak reports ... Apple Co-Founder Says His Prius Has Acceleration FlawBusinessWeek Is Wozniak Wrong About Prius?FOXNews Toyota's troubles continue to deepenWhittier Daily News CNET -Los Angeles Times -New York Times (blog) all 95 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 3 Feb 2010 | 5:03 am

Google Adds Pinch-to-Zoom to Nexus One

Google has updated its Nexus One Googlephone to use multi-touch gestures. Specifically, pinch-to-zoom now works.

The update brings some other new goodies, such as Google Goggles (which initiates a search by pointing the phone’s camera at something), some changes to Google Maps and fixes for 3G connectivity problems.But it is the unlocking of the multi-touch gestures that will be of interest to most Nexus owners.

Or at least, to users in the united States. Googlephones sold in other parts of the world already had full multi touch support. Updates will come over the air — just wait for a message from Google and then go ahead with the installation. After a reboot, you can now lend your phone to friends and not feel embarrassed as they instinctively pinch the screen and nothing happens.

New Software Update for Nexus One Phones [Google]

See Also:

• Google Nexus One
• Everything You Wanted to Know About the Google Nexus One
• Google Debuts Android-Powered Nexus One 'Superphone'
• Hack Brings Multitouch to Nexus One Browser

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 3 Feb 2010 | 4:31 am

LG gets bragging rights for Japan’s first certified 4G device

The rest of the world is catching on rapidly but overall, Japan is still the world’s most advanced society mobile society. That being said, you’d assume that the first 4G (LTE) device to get an official certification from Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications must be coming from one of the many mobile companies over here, but it was South Korea’s LG who got the bragging rights [KR] for that today.

Just look at how proud the model in the picture is holding said certification in her hands. The Korean company will sell not a handset but a 4G-compatible data modem, the LD100, in Japan. Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo is ready to distribute the device in its home market (Docomo said just in November 2009 it will kick off 4G operations in Japan in December this year).

Docomo (and other Japanese carriers) have been conducting 4G field tests in Japan for quite some time now, and you can expect the data modem to be among the first 4G devices available later this year.

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Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Feb 2010 | 4:20 am

Ovi Maps: 1.4 million downloads to date, averaging a download per second

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'.

Source: MobileCrunch | 3 Feb 2010 | 3:19 am