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Does Citibank Suffer From Homophobia Or Just A General Dislike For Startups?
Fabulis is described on the blog as “the social network that helps gay men connect with amazing experiences nearby and around the world”. Could that be what Citibank is objecting against rather than the content on the blog, which is perfectly innocent any way you look at it indeed? Now, in case you don’t know Goldberg: he’s an accomplished Internet entrepreneur, who had stints at the White House, AOL and T-Mobile under his belt before founding Jobster (and raising more than $50 million for the startup) and after that socialmedian (which he sold to Xing in December 2008). For his latest startup fabulis, Goldberg has raised $625k in seed funding from the likes of Washington Post and Venture Partner at Mayfield Fund Allen Morgan, and essentially aims to become the leading social network and lifestyle website for homosexual men. Which is challenging if your financial institution freezes your bank account and marks it for immediate termination after reading a couple of your – again, perfectly harmless – company blog posts. This is Goldberg’s take on the blocking of the account:
WTF indeed. Whatever update comes, this is a PR nightmare for Citibank, and I’ll be curious to see what the company has to say about this atrocity. In a comment on Hacker News, Goldberg says he doesn’t think Citibank is being homophobic, and calls out moronic behavior instead:
Very uncomfortable for sure, but mostly for Citibank, who for the record, apparently does not want to be reached by e-mail even by press. So even if there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation to this – that the bank’s allowed to share publicly – I can only hope to reach someone by phone when it’s morning in the U.S. who can look into it and tell us what’s up.      
Source: TechCrunch | 25 Feb 2010 | 3:00 am AUO to Reduce Carbon Footprint for an All-New Low-Carbon LifestyleSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 25 Feb 2010 | 2:59 am Facebook urged to act after memorial sites defaced
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 The Guardian | Bloom fuel cell: Individual power plant in a box BusinessWeek At a news conference attended by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Silicon Valley start-up today took the wraps off a fuel cell designed to enable individual homes and businesses to ... Bloom Energy unveils 'power plant in a box' 10 Questions About the Bloom Energy Server Long-anticipated fuel cell unveiled |
In March last year, Pentax unveiled the X70, a 12MP “hybrid” digital camera with 24x optical zoom that currently sells on Amazon for $380. And today Pentax in Tokyo announced [press release in English] the successor, the X90. As to be expected, the new model has been upgraded in some areas.
The X90 has a 26x optical zoom lens with focal lengths from 26mm wide angle to 676mm super telephoto (in the 35mm format). There’s also an “Intelligent Zoom” function that extends the zoom coverage to about 162.5 times (for a focal length of 4225mm in the 35mm format). Pentax says they also boosted battery life by 50%, making it possible to shoot about 255 pictures on a full charge.
The camera still features a 12.1MP sensor, a 2.7-inch LCD, an HDMI interface, a USB 2.0 port, HD recording, Eye-Fi connectivity, face detection, “Triple Shake Reduction technology”, anti-shake mode, and an electronic viewfinder.
There is no word on price or release date in the English press release (which is to be found on Pentax’ Japanese homepage), but Amazon.com is already listing the X90 for $399.95 (as a pre-order). While there’s no information on availability in the US, Japan will get the camera sometime at the end of next month.
 MTV.com | Apple iTunes Witnesses 10 Billionth Song Sale Techtree.com Apple's popular music, movies, TV shows and podcasts offering software service iTunes hit a milestone couple of hours ago. At a special song download countdown page, Apple flaunts iTunes 10 billionth song download sale with a list of most downloaded ... Apple's iTunes Store Serves up 10 Billionth Song Jobs turns 55 as iTunes churns 10 billion Apple's iTunes serves up 10 billionth song download |
AP - The system Congress and the Obama administration want employers to use to help curb illegal immigration is failing to catch more than half the number of unauthorized workers it checks, a research company has found.
By Steven Levy, Senior Writer, Wired
Want to know how Google (GOOG) is about to change your life? Stop by the Ouagadougou conference room on a Thursday morning. It is here, at the Mountain View, California, headquarters of the world’s most powerful Internet company, that a room filled with three dozen engineers, product managers, and executives figure out how to make their search engine even smarter.
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By Mike Masnick, Editor, Techdirt
Over the last decade or so, there’s been something of an… well… addiction to calling any sort of overuse of a product an addiction. So we’ve seen email addiction, web addiction, online porn addiction, video game addiction, internet addiction, and mobile phones or other gadget addictions among other things. More often than not, it seems that the calls to label these things as an addiction isn’t fueled by any actual addiction, but by psychologists or psychiatrists looking to build a practice treating people who play too much World of Warcraft, rather than drug addicts.
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By Liz Shannon Miller, Blogger, NewTeeVee
The latest battle in the war between movie studios trying to recapture the glory days of the home entertainment market and exhibitors trying to hold onto their theatrical business has, a bit surprisingly, revolved around Johnny Depp in a funny hat.
In the words of Paul Sweeting over at GigaOm Pro (subscription required), Disney (DIS) managed to pick itself a real fight with exhibitors over the distribution of its upcoming Tim Burton/Johnny Depp Alice in Wonderland reboot, specifically with regards to its decision to shorten its DVD window from four months to three months. With the change, the Alice DVD is poised to hit retailer shelves this June.
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By Ashlee Vance, Reporter, New York Times
Hewlett-Packard is one of the world’s most successful makers of desktop computers, laptops, servers and printers. It owns a powerful consumer brand, and it is a growing provider of services for businesses. In the first quarter, the company’s sales rose 8 percent.
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By Daniel Roth, Senior Writer, Wired Magazine
A simple typo gave Michael Ivey the idea for his company. One day in the fall of 2008, Ivey’s wife, using her pink RAZR phone, sent him a note via Twitter. But instead of typing the letter d at the beginning of the tweet — which would have sent the note as a direct message, a private note just for Ivey — she hit p.
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By Kurt D. Bollacker, Contributor, American Scientist
When I was a boy, I discovered a magnetic reel-to-reel audio tape recorder that my father had used to create “audio letters” to my mother while he was serving in the Vietnam War. To my delight (and his horror), I could listen to many of the old tapes he had made a decade before. Even better, I could make recordings myself and listen to them.
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SMASH: Electric guitar made just to get destroyed, then recycled
Moosshiqk electric motorcycle goes fast, looks silly
Electrical vehicle concepts running rampant
Researchers trying to find out why baby cries
“Magic Flute” audiophile speakers look like jet engines, probably sound amazing
By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Amid competition in the online-payment business, eBay’s (EBAY) PayPal is making a push to attract developers of social-media payment applications, whether or not the product is branded with the PayPal name.
At the annual Goldman Sachs technology conference in San Francisco, eBay CEO John Donahoe expanded on PayPal’s efforts to woo developers, saying that although PayPal may not be creating applications itself, “we want to be the platform on which some of these social-media applications get built.” Mr. Donahoe mentioned Twitpay, a service that allows users to send payments via Twitter, as an example of the kind of product PayPal specifically wants to encourage.
He said he believes developers and social-networking services will need to use a system like PayPal because the complexity of running a real transaction system is too great for many companies to handle.
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Conde Nast has been working to fuse its fashion content with technology and social media. Lucky Magazine incorporated e-commerce into its online site and also partnered with Four Square. Today, Vogue Magazine is launching an innovative iPhone app that takes a page from social fashion startups like Polyvore and the Like.com’s Couturious.
The free app, called the Vogue Stylist, is meant to be used by women to do exactly what its name indicates: help style women’s wardrobes. Users can choose one of the trends highlighted by Vogue within the app and upload clothing they already own. Vogue Stylist will then produce stylish outfits from the pieces that reflect the current trend. The catch: Vogue will style outfits only with products from their advertisers.
March trends include The Trench, Floaty Dress, Tribal, Natural Shades, and Bright Lip. User can also their looks via a click to buy feature,and can locate the item in a nearby store. The app has a social element to allow users to save styled looks and publish to Facebook. The App will launch with 91 brands and over 600 articles of clothing and beauty products. Pilot brands include Gucci, Hudson Jeans, Kate Spade, Longchamp Paris, Nine West, Valentino, and Via Spiga. Within the app, Vogue will also offer special event invitations, and shopping discounts.
Conde Nast also has fashion-focused iPhone apps for Style.com, Lucky Magazine and Teen Vogue.
A few days ago, I noted that Seesmic Web had perfected the management of Twitter contacts. I was wrong. A new service has been brought to my attention that is much, much better. Actually, it’s a must-use.
While Seesmic Web is great for a number of things (it’s arguably the best Twitter web client out there), ManageTwitter is great at one thing: managing your Twitter followers. To use it, you simply link up your Twitter account (via OAuth) and it lets you know which of the Twitter users you follow aren’t following you back, who is inactive, who is talkative, and who is quiet. Each of these are great gauges for whether you should still be following them or not.
Personally, I was able to eliminate over 200 people I was following that I determined I shouldn’t be. Most of these were users I followed a couple years ago that either were simply not using the service any more, or were no longer that interesting to me.
Unfollowing users is as simple as selecting their name and clicking the “unfollow” button. You can also do this in bulk. And hovering over any users gives you more information about them including their average tweets per day. You can also sort the various ManageTwitter fields by ‘date followed,’ ‘username,’ ‘followers,’ or ‘timezone.’
While there are no shortage of services that recommend people you should follow, I’ve long needed one to suggest who I maybe shouldn’t be following. Of those, ManageTwitter is easily the best.
Created by the Australian company Melon Media, the site notes that it has unfollowed 17092 people for 381 users in the past 3 days.
Reuters - Software giant Microsoft Corp has won a U.S. court approval to deactivate a global network of computers that the company accused of spreading spam and harmful computer codes, the Wall Street Journal said.
(Thanks, Marilyn!)
In 1997, we aimed a rocket towards Saturn and sent a 13-foot-wide satellite off on a mission to explore the strange worlds in our own (relative) backyard.
This month, NASA announced plans to extend the Cassini space probe's Saturn sojourn until 2017--nine years longer than its original end date of 2008.
Why, exactly, does Cassini need those extra years?
"Cassini: Trip Reset," a Boing Boing special featureJuggalo News is a newscast from an alternate universe in which Insane Clown Posse fans are the mainstream and rule the world. You know what, before this newscast, I would have called that hell on Earth, but now I feel a curious longing for it. The boundless capacity of Juggalos to form portmanteaux using cuss-words, such as "Thugnuts," "Murderbitch" and "Herculeez B Pussyfiend" is unexpectedly and enduringly funny.
Juggalo News
(via JWZ)
Source: Boing Boing | 24 Feb 2010 | 11:38 pm
Hummer brand to be wound down after sale fails (via Memex 1.1)"We have since considered a number of possibilities for Hummer along the way and we are disappointed that the deal with Tengzhong could not be completed," said John Smith, GM's vice-president of corporate planning and alliances.
"GM will now work closely with Hummer employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner."
(Image: Hummer limousine, a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike image from Franco Folini's photostream)
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Alex Merto's Effing Typeface is a set of big, friendly letters made from very naughty and anatomically suggestive bits. It was produced as an ode to the letter F.
Editor’s note: This guest post is written by Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com. In it, he explains why enterprise software should take its cues from Facebook and become more social.
I quit my job at Oracle in 1999 because I couldn’t stop thinking about a simple question: “Why isn’t all enterprise software like Amazon.com?” Why couldn’t applications be run from a simple website, without software or hardware to install, and pricy consultants to hire? Why couldn’t we just compute in the Internet, or the cloud, and get away from the data center and all its complexity. Simply put, I wanted to simplify the enterprise. It was a pretty straight-forward idea, but from the confines in which I sat, there wasn’t anything close to a straight-forward solution.
That vision led to the founding of salesforce.com. But the enterprise world wasn’t ready for Amazon.com, or eBay, or Yahoo, or any of the innovative services that were changing the way consumers bought, sold, or communicated. I tell this story in my book Behind the Cloud and can’t help but note that the factors at play 10 years ago—an inspiring service, wide skepticism, and phenomenal potential—mirror where we are today. But it’s no longer Amazon that frames the questions or gives us the answers.
In this decade, I’ve become obsessed with a new simple question: “Why isn’t all enterprise software like Facebook?” As we were focused on bringing enterprise computing into the modern age, Facebook redefined the values of consumer computing and helped ignite the social phenomenon. The compelling aspect of feeds, profiles, and groups, amplify the service’s stickiness. So does its functionality on a mobile device like an iphone—necessary to secure a service’s status as a “killer app.” Facebook is where I start my day to find out what my friends and family are doing. It’s where I go to see the important events in my social life. Everything I care about and need to know is pushed to me—and it requires no work on my part.
What does the social revolution mean for business, though? So far it hasn’t meant much. Currently, our methods of collaboration are defined by Lotus Notes or Microsoft SharePoint, but these tools haven’t kept up with the changing times. They were conceived before anyone knew what a “newsfeed” was. (In fact, Notes was conceived before Mark Zuckerberg was!) Today, realtime information is possible, which has changed everything: How people consume information has changed, how people learn things about each other has changed, and how people stay current has changed. Most of all, our expectations around immediacy have changed.
Now, we need to take this idea to our businesses. We need to transform the business conversation the same way Facebook has changed the consumer conversation. Market shifts happen in real time, deals are won and lost in real time, and data changes in real time. Yet the software we use to run our enterprises is in anything but real time. We need tools that work smarter, make better use of new technology (like the mobile devices in everyone’s hands), and fully leverage the opportunities of the Internet.
New realtime cloud applications, platforms, and infrastructure offer the path to redefine the future of collaboration. Now in beta, Salesforce Chatter takes the best of Facebook, Twitter, and other social leaders, for instance, and applies it to enterprise collaboration—making people more productive and businesses more competitive. I already see it working: I have an enterprise desktop where without any effort I can learn about what my team is focusing on, how my projects are progressing, and what deals are closing. It is fundamentally changing the way our organization collaborates on product development, customer acquisition, and content creation—making it all easier than ever before.
We are on the precipice of a major shift in our industry. It stems from a change we badly needed and the once-in-a-decade question we had to ask. And this time, we are all ready for the answers. Luckily, this time, I don’t have to leave my job to find out what they are.
We’re big fans of Infectious, a startup that makes high quality decals and skins that let you customize the look of your iPhone, car, laptop, skateboards, and more. Today, the startup has launched Infectious skins for all current Blackberry models. Infectious now has designs for the Bold, Bold 9700, Storm2, Curve 8520, Curve 8530, Curve 8900 and Tour.
Infectious launched nearly two years ago with large, vinyl decorative stickers for your car, and they released decorative iPhone covers just in time for the 2008 holiday season. The company has since expanded to include laptop skins, custom skateboard decks, and wall prints.
Users can also craft their own designs or branded skins to make the service appealing to a much broader customer base. It’s kind of like a Threadless for skins. Other players in this space include Gelaskins and SkinIt.
 USA Today | Hands On: The Many Layers of Metroid: Other M Wired News SAN FRANCISCO — The big star of Nintendo's press summit is the long-awaited Metroid: Other M . Nintendo's science fiction adventure game series is one of the company's most consistently excellent franchises. Often imitated and never ... Super Mario Galaxy 2 debuts May 23, Metroid: Other M due June 27 Super Mario Galaxy 2 Preview More Mario and Metroid as Nintendo nails new releases |
The letters spell "TYPOSEXUAL." Oded Ezer says, "A humble homage to the British '70-'80s Punk movement: the Typo-mohawk, worn during my talk last Friday at the London College of Communication. Photo: Casper Chan." More image sizes.
Source: Boing Boing | 24 Feb 2010 | 10:09 pm
It must be “hang out your shingle week” for big media vets.
First, CBS (CBS) digital dealmaker Quincy Smith and crew formally unveiled Code Advisors, the M&A shop they’ve been assembling for nearly a year. Now comes Michael Wolf, last seen in the halls of MTV Networks, where he was COO for a bit more than a year.
That was all the way back in 2007, but Wolf’s contract with Viacom (VIA) kept him more or less tied up until 2010. Now he’s opening up his own shop: Activate, a boutique media and tech consulting firm.
That’s a return to form for Wolf, who made his reputation as a tech-savvy media consultant at Booz Allen and McKinsey (for a time capsule that’s also 100 percent up to date, see Kurt Andersen’s 1997 New Yorker profile of Wolf). He says he’s self-funding the operation, and won’t need to take on investors, as he already has paying clients (who he won’t name).
He also has a co-worker: Anil Dash, the longtime veteran of blogging software pioneer Six Apart, who is now a director at Expert Labs. Dash says he’ll keep his job at the non-profit, which is a sort of tech/good government mashup, and will split time between that and Wolf’s shop.
And yes, just because people still mix them up–Wolf is not Michael Wolff the bomb-throwing media agitator/aggregator. That’s this guy.
 Reuters | First Look: Nintendo DSi XL CNET It was just about a year ago that Nintendo released the DSi handheld system, the next evolutionary iteration of the company's hugely popular DS portable hardware. Boasting two tiny cameras and larger screens, we only recommended the ... Hands On With The Nintendo DSi XL Nintendo DSi XL gets official North American release date TECH CHRONICLES Nintendo's device may aid e-reading |
I haven't thought about Dr. Strangelove in such a long time-I try to sweep all of that data completely under the Persian carpet. That's a lie. I think about him every so often in these fleeting cinematic flashes...I have completely stopped sleeping. My friend Jason is so worried about it that he confiscates my Blackberry... I've been sleeping with my Blackberry just in case Strangelove might send an e-mail. If I was really smart I ditch the Blackberry for the iPhone he gave me – the prototype version. But I have yet to arrive. Stephen Jobs is not St. Stephen. He's just a stoned Jesuit priest lost in his garden. Strangelove still has his stranglehold on me and nothing is new under the sun.
 Reuters | Google faces big muscles in Brussels Wall Street Journal Here's an idea for Google's next TV ad: how the search engine can help find a corporate lawyer in Brussels. It shouldn't surprise anyone that in the tit-for-tat corporate battle between Google and Microsoft, the latest tactic is a ... Google Undergoes Global Growing Pains Antitrust is Google's Mark of Success Google could face $2.4bn fine in EU anti-trust case |
Flash games on the Web are getting to be so quick and responsive . . . that they can recreate 30-year-old arcade games no problem. And that’s just fine with me because those are about the only video games where I can hold my own. Online video arcade OMGPOP’s latest game is a remake of Atari’s Missile Command on its 30th anniversary.
The OMGPOP version is true to the original except it adds a multiplayer twist. It’s pretty addictive and the social aspect makes it more fun. Just like at the old coin arcades, it was always better when you went with a couple of friends.
Like most OMGPOP games you can enter a live match with other players or invite your friends to meet you in a game room. You can sign in with Facebook Connect or AIM. OMGPOP matches you with players at about the same level as you. You can get more missiles, enlarge their impact radius, or increase your reload rate buy using your health points to buy better capabilities. If things are going really badly you can buy a nuke for 500 “coins.” You earn coins the more you play, but you can also pay for them straight out through PayPal or a credit card.
Selling virtual goods is OMGPOP’s main source of revenues. The site has about a dozen games. CEO Dan Porter (who used to be the president of Teach For America, TicketWeb before it sold to TicketMaster, and worked as a corporate VC for Virgin) says that about 2 to 5 percent of players end up actually paying for something. About 30 percent of its virtual goods revenues come from third-party offers from TrialPay, but they try to keep the scammier offers out. Porter says the site has 2.5 million members, and about 1 million monthly unique visitors. Most of those are high school and college students. The site is still small but has a loyal following. About 40 pecent of users visit the site more than 50 times a month.
I recently visited OMGPOP’s New York City offices, where Porter, founder Charles Forman, and game developer Will Chen gave me a preview of Missile Command in the video below. I also get Forman to weigh in on the HTML5 Vs. Flash debate. He says there is no way he could create the games on OMGPOP without Flash.
Facebook has been doing background checks, known as due diligence, on the location-based social network Loopt, a source with knowledge of the talks tells us. Generally speaking, due diligence of this kind is only performed when a company is in acquisition or fundraising talks.
Loopt won’t comment on this story, and a Facebook spokesperson says “As a practical matter, we don’t comment on rumor and speculation.”
There is no indication that Facebook has made an actual offer to buy Loopt at this time, and in fact we don’t even have direct information that negotiations are taking place. But it’s clear that Facebook is at least considering acquiring Loopt, and/or others in this space.
It’s also not clear that Facebook is the only company taking a look at Loopt. Google is also highly interested in the mobile social and location space. Their recent launch of Buzz, which allows check-ins of locations via a mobile device, is just one indication of that.
But Facebook is clearly furthest behind. They have one of the most popular mobile applications but have to date ignored location features and the increasingly popular checking-in at locations via mobile devices. Part of their hesitation is likely due to privacy concerns around disclosing location information, even at the user’s request. But they’ve also clearly just sat on the sidelines as well as the space developed, and recently surged in activity.
It’s time for Facebook to make their move. Jupiter Research recently stated that location based services could generate nearly $13 billion in revenue by 2014. Facebook wants their share of that.
Loopt competitors like Foursquare and Gowalla have the biggest press footprint with mobile location applications, getting lots of attention from the early adopters in Silicon Valley. But Loopt has the most users by far. And they also have longstanding carrier relationships that bring in real revenue.
Loopt was one of the hot location-based networks early on, with founder Sam Altman even getting stage time during the initial App Store unveiling event. But Loopt, like Google’s Latitude, was intially built around the “always-on” idea of location. This is something that hurt it because the iPhone did not allow third-party applications to run in the background. Meanwhile, “check-in” based services like Foursquare and Gowalla grew in popularity. Loopt has since repositioned itself as more of a check-in based service, but despite its large user base, it’s not clear if its users will adapt to this change.
In January, we published a deck Loopt was sending out to potential advertisers pitching them about a new app completely built around the idea of check-in specials. Notably, this app was to be entirely built on top of Facebook’s social graph, utilizing Facebook Connect. This app is an offshoot of GeoGraffiti, a Y Combinator startup that Loopt itself acquired last year.
There's no real purpose to this art installation set up by design group SpaceOperaFoam other than to use static charge for a pretty, dreamy effect. But that doesn't keep me from wanting to run between the sheets to make them dance. [Dezeen]
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Couple of things to talk about, Honda just announced that they are going to showing off an electric concept vehicle, and a Hungarian company is making a concept car that’s capable of splitting in to two separate vehicles.
Of the two, I think the Honda is more likely to become a reality. The Honda 3R-C is a single person transport, but pulls design cues from a trike instead of a motorcycle. It’s a concept for Honda’s urban commuter concept for zero emission transportation, and uses a lithium ion battery system. Honda is also working on a car in the same vein, which actually has the ability to combine two smaller vehicles into one larger. The EV-N car would have solar panels in the roof, and charge the vehicle while it’s parked.
The Hungarian option however, isn’t quite so promising. Remember after all these are the people who brought you the Yugo. The Antro company is in the process of developing a car that will actually split into to smaller cars, each one capable of going about 12 miles before needing a recharge. That’s actually considered to be fine for a commute, but anything resembling a road trip would be pretty much impossible. Antro plans to be able to deliver this vehicle sometime in 2012.
The only question I have, since these robots are from Japan, is about where else that hand has been. [NYTimes]
That’s the JVC GZ-HM340, which they say is the lightest and smallest HD camcorder with a built-in drive. Full review will be up later this week, but this picture was too cute not to share. Aww, look at them!
Last week, Yammer, the business-oriented microblogging platform that won TechCrunch50 2008, sent out invites to press inviting them to virtually attend a “major launch event” that will be broadcast through a WebEx meeting tomorrow morning. The company has also posted an invite to its blog, along with a not-so-subtle jab at its competitors: “Forget all that over-hyped chatter and annoying buzz, Yammer is releasing the next wave in Enterprise Microblogging“.
So what exactly is Yammer about to introduce? We’re hearing from one source that the company is planning to start allowing people to create networks that aren’t built around web domains. That may not sound like a big deal, but it would be a major change for Yammer, and one that could open it up to a huge number of new users.
Until now, in order to create a Yammer network you’ve needed to have email addresses associated with your own business domain name (say, jason@company.com) . This works great for sizable companies (everyone who has an email account on that domain is automatically placed into the correct network), but it’s a big limitation on who can actually use the service — plenty of businesses and organizations don’t have their own domain names.
Depending on how Yammer rolls this out, there could be countless uses for this. Last summer, I wrote about how useful it would be to have a Yammer for families that would allow family members to easily share information in a centralized place (and get SMS alerts if something important came up). Local groups could set up Yammer accounts to share information instead of relying on long Email chains, and so on. But Yammer wouldn’t be alone here — a recently launched startup called HipChat is already going after this broad market.
We’ll have more details tomorrow at 11 AM. And if you’re interested, the WebEx meeting is apparently open to the public.
First Google, now Foursquare. Hot on the heels of Google’s first Search television ad (run during the Super Bowl, no less), the location-based social network Foursquare is gearing up to do the same thing tonight.
In a tweet sent from their main Twitter account, the Foursquare team notes a “rumor” that an ad for their service will be running on Bravo tonight alongside the show Sheer Genius from 9 to 10 PM. But it’s not a rumor, we’ve seen the ad (and have embedded it below for your own viewing pleasure). It’s a 20-second spot made by Bravo for Foursquare to highlight their recently announced a partnership that allows the network to point out locations from its shows that let fans who use Foursquare (or their own Guides By Bravo app) go to them in the real world. This is believed to be one of the deals currently earning Foursquare some revenue.
While the company is making some revenue, it’s not yet profitable, and the focus remains on building the product and gaining users. Currently, Foursquare is closing in on 500,000 users, but with a cable television commercial, those numbers could soar.
The service is in the process of revamping its website and several of its mobile applications. A new version of the iPhone app, which launched one year ago at the SXSW conference will hopefully be ready in time for this year’s SXSW, we’re told.
In this episode we talk about watch repair tips and some classic watch legends. Enjoy!
Mentioned this episode:
Just in case you're not familiar with the War of Currents—one of my favorite messes in the history of electricity—allow me to catch you up. On one end of it all we had Nikola "Wizard of the West" Tesla, George Westinghouse, and alternating current. On the other hand was Thomas "Dirty Fighter" Edison and direct current.
The whole trouble began when the United States were ready to move away from Edison's idea of direct current and try that newfangled AC. Dear ol' Tommy couldn't just sit back and let that happen. So, he did what any man in his right mind would do and started a smear campaign against the new system:
[He spread] disinformation on fatal AC accidents, publicly killing animals, and lobbying against the use of AC in state legislatures. Edison directed his technicians, primarily Arthur Kennelly and Harold P. Brown, to preside over several AC-driven killings of animals, primarily stray cats and dogs but also unwanted cattle and horses. Acting on these directives, they were to demonstrate to the press that alternating current was more dangerous than Edison's system of direct current.
When that wasn't enough, Edison got a bit more personal:
He also tried to popularize the term for being electrocuted as being "Westinghoused". Years after DC had lost the "war of the currents," in 1902, his film crew made a movie of the electrocution with high voltage AC, supervised by Edison employees, of Topsy, a Coney Island circus elephant who had recently killed three men.
Considering that we don't refer to someone being shoved into the electric chair as a "Westinghousing," I'd say Tommy didn't do so well. Anyway, we're not here to make fun of killing animals, Tommy's lost war, or to brag about Tesla. The point is that a good idea—alternating current—wasn't taken down by a dirty fight. And that, ladies and gents, is a #lifechanger.
Letterhead image from Letterheady. Some information from Wikipedia and the Nikola Tesla Museum
Despite all of the success Apple (AAPL) has had with its Macintosh computers, the Mac has lagged behind Windows in personal-finance software.
The most popular program in the category, Intuit’s Quicken, comes in a Mac version. But it isn’t as good as the Windows version, dates from 2006, and requires an often tedious and flawed process for converting your data from the Windows version.
As a result, many PC owners who consider buying a Mac but rely upon Quicken resist switching. Or, they resort to work-arounds, such as installing Windows on their new Macs or keeping around an old PC—solely to run the more robust Windows version of Quicken.
This week, Intuit (INTU) hopes to alleviate this situation with an all-new $60 version called Quicken Essentials for Mac, or QEM for short. The company describes QEM as the first version of Quicken developed specifically to run on a Mac, as opposed to being copied from a Windows product. It also says the product was influenced by a Mac-savvy team from Mint, a Web-based personal-finance service Intuit acquired late last year.
I’ve been testing Quicken Essentials for Mac, and have seriously mixed feelings about it. In general, it worked well and kept its promises, and it largely solves the crucial data-conversion problem. Unlike its predecessor, Quicken for Mac 2007, it looks and feels like a modern Mac program. It also can download transactions from over 12,000 banks, brokerages and other financial institutions—about triple the number supported by the prior Mac version and double the number supported by the base version of Quicken for Windows.
However, this program is still no match for the Windows version in the breadth and depth of its features, and is even a step backward in some features from the old 2007 Mac version. It is really a stripped-down version of Quicken, for basic tracking and managing of your finances. It isn’t likely to satisfy hard-core family financial planners, especially those who like to keep an eagle eye on investments or create detailed budgets and reports.
Most important, Quicken Essentials doesn’t display, or even allow you to enter or edit, individual transactions in investment accounts. It only shows a snapshot of the current status and value of the overall investment account and of the securities or funds it holds. It also lacks a bill-paying feature. And it can’t export your data to Intuit’s popular TurboTax program. Even the much-maligned older Mac version could do these three things.
While QEM is easy to use and has colorful, understandable charts and graphs that show your financial situation, its budget and reporting capabilities are rudimentary, and it has no planning features for helping you reduce debt or save for retirement.
The new team from Mint, now in charge of Intuit’s Personal Finance group, concedes that QEM lacks some important features, but says it hopes to add detailed investment-tracking and bill-paying to a future edition.
The company claims the new QEM will satisfy the needs of users who aren’t deeply into investment management or planning, or who are new to personal-finance software.
For my tests, I entered my own various bank, credit-card, retirement and brokerage accounts, and the program was able to automatically download transactions for my checking and credit-card accounts, and snapshot views of my investment accounts, in most cases. In a few instances, I had to go through an intermediary step of downloading a file from a bank or brokerage Web site, and then importing it into QEM.
Quicken Essentials can update each account separately, or all your accounts at once. But I couldn’t find any way to schedule automatic downloads of data.
The company boasts that one of its big advantages is that it automatically categorizes transactions you download. It knows a purchase at Safeway is probably “groceries.” It remembers these for the future, but won’t retroactively apply the categories to past transactions.
To me, the biggest plus in QEM is its greatly improved conversion ability. I was able to successfully convert files from Quicken for Windows, Microsoft Money and the older Mac version using sample data from those programs provided at my request by Intuit, since I don’t use these programs and lacked my own data.
Each conversion took 30 minutes or less. The process requires you to export your data from the other programs and then use a special conversion utility that comes on the QEM disk. You then import the files created by the converter into QEM. For conversions from Money, you need to have the program installed on your PC.
Some information, such as individual investment activity, and various reports and plans that QEM doesn’t support, won’t transfer. And, after the conversion, you have to reenter your log-in information for banks and brokerages.
Overall, I consider QEM just a start in bringing a better version of Quicken to the Mac. Devoted users of Quicken for Windows will likely still resist the Mac, or be forced to resort to work-arounds so they can keep using the Windows version.
Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.
March is looking good for Nintendo fans. They just announced that the DSi XL will be shipping on the 28th, and now one of the most acclaimed indie games of all time has been confirmed for availability on the 22nd. If you’re not familiar with Cave Story, you’d do well to pick it up; it’s like 16-bit Metroid-style exploration and platforming taken to perfection. The stuff of legend among indie game lovers like myself, I assure you.
There are changes, of course; in addition to it being the game you can still download for free, you’ve got redone graphics, a few new modes like Boss Attack, and apparently some surprises for fans who have already played through the game a number of times. Seriously, guys, this is a game everyone who calls themselves a gamer should have on their Wii — and if you don’t have a Wii, get downloading! The link is the little guy next to the “2004.”
The same dev crew is working on bringing the similarly loved, but terrifyingly difficult and huge La-Mulana to the Wii as well. Now that’s something I haven’t had the courage to attempt just yet.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google has just announced via tweet that it’s integrating Facebook Page updates into its real-time search results. Google first revealed that this was coming back in December, when it first started including real-time data in its search results. Other data sources for Google’s real-time results include MySpace and Twitter.
The only problem with the new addition is that Facebook is only granting Google access to updates from its 3 million Pages, which are generally for celebrities, politicians, brands, and local businesses — not your average Facebook user. That information could occasionally be useful, but the power of real-time search comes from having a large number of contributors. Facebook has a huge amount of data from its 400 million active users, but it isn’t sharing most of that with Google. Instead, it’s only granting full acess to user updates to Bing (though that isn’t live yet). Bing will still only be getting status updates that are shared with “Everyone“, but with its recent privacy overhaul in December, Facebook ensured that it would have far more of those than it used to.
Unlike Twitter, which is reportedly making money off of its search deals with Bing and Google, Facebook isn’t charging the search engines for its data. According to Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land, Facebook is giving away the status updates because they may drive more people back to the social network.
Here’s a sample of some of the updates you can get from Facebook Page updates:
Wiping a standard keyboard with a disinfecting cloth kills about 5% of bacteria. Cleankeys claims the same test kills 99% of bacteria on their keyboard, simply because they have nowhere to hide.
The wireless keyboard trades actual keys for touch-sensitive ones, so in exchange for a much more sanitary experience you'll be giving up that satisfying clickity-clack you've grown accustomed to. It's intended for use at hospitals where keyboard-germs are a serious issue, though I'd imagine it might pique the interest of regular old germaphobes too.
The Cleankeys keyboard includes a trackpad for clicking about and uses patent-pending technology to keep it from registering keystrokes when you're just resting your hands on the thing. That way your doctor doesn't accidentally diagnose you with alsdfjasgyboxicyuixccccccccc.
A molded model costs $400 and a glass version will run you $50 more. No one said your campaign against germs was gonna be cheap. [Clean Keys Inc]
You know, I actually meant to write this up a couple days ago, but at the time all I could find was the schematics you see below. No real indication of whether this was a product-to-be, a patent lark, or what. Engadget popped it up, though, and someone recognized it and sent over some pictures. Apparently it’s been around for almost a year, and was given out as a gift from Microsoft Research Asia. One side charges a MS Laser Mouse 7000, which unfortunately is a terrible mouse, and the other is a microscopic display. It seems they’ve got some work to do on this one, but it’s a cool idea.
I like desktop widgets, but I can never find one that’s actually useful. If you put some media controls on this thing, with a couple widgets, I bet you’d sell a kajillion of them.
 Reuters | Yahoo! Partners With Twitter For Social Media Integration ChannelWeb The world of social media seems to be getting smaller and smaller, and in an effort to consolidate networking outlets, Yahoo! announced Tuesday a partnership with Twitter to integrate the microblogging site's feeds into its various online ... Access Twitter Through Yahoo Services Yahoo Competes for Social Web with Twitter Tab Analysis: Yahoo rejoins the cool kids with Twitter deal |
 Telegraph.co.uk | Larger Threat Is Seen in Google Case New York Times ROME — Three Google executives were convicted of violating Italian privacy laws on Wednesday, the first case to hold the company's executives criminally responsible for the content posted on its system. Bill Echikson, a spokesman for ... Google's Italian Crime Shows Why Italy Is Lagging: Ann Woolner Google facing challenges to its bold ambitions in Europe Hold the panic on Italian Google verdict |
Ever wonder exactly why the baby is crying? Is he hungry? Is she tired? Does she have gas? Does he need changed? All these questions whirled about in my head whenever junior would wake in the middle of the night and start making noises. Researchers in Japan however, are working to find an answer to the first question, however they haven’t made any progress with the followup question, “why aren’t that baby’s parents making him be quiet?”
The scientists at the very important sounding “Department of Computer Science and Systems Engineering” are working on the problem. They’ve had little success so far, due to the fact that a baby can’t communicate to indicate if they are right or wrong. They keep working on the project though, and promise to spend millions until they finally reach a solution. The current device uses an audio spectrum analyzer and recorded samples to try and match up the cause of the child’s distress.
FROM GAMERTELL - Nintendo has just sent out a press release announcing the DS XL handheld game system. The system will launch March 28, 2010, and retail for $189.99. Here are the rest of the specs straight from the press release: “The screens of the Nintendo DSi XL are 93 percent larger than… MORE »
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Early termination fees. No one likes them but they can sometimes be a necessary evil. If you become unhappy with your service provider or you are overwhelmed with lust for a new gadget on a different carrier, you pay the price. Carriers say that these termination fees, or ETFs, allow them to subsidize handsets and recover those costs over the course of a contract. Should a contract be broken, a carrier recovers those subsidies with an ETF.
The FCC recently decided something was amiss with ETFs and probed carriers into explaining the rhyme and reason behind the fees. The carriers have finally spoken, albeit a little unconvincingly. Most of you are already familiar with why ETFs exist, but it is interesting to see the canned and obvious responses from the carriers.
AT&T boils it down to choice and it really couldn’t have done a better job of playing Captain Obvious. Customers can either choose a subsidized handset with penalties if a contract is broken, or go pre-paid and pay for a device outright. Of course, the latter option can either limit handset selection or make a huge dent in one’s wallet. Again, it’s a choice consumers have to make.
Sprint says that its customers are thoroughly informed about contract terms and conditions, and that ETFs are a part of the game. The carrier does everything it possibly can to make sure a customer knows what he or she is getting into before, during and after a handset is sold and a contract is signed to make sure the customer is satisfied and happy. Fair enough, and I agree having been a Sprint customer lately. Vonya McCann, senior vice president of government affairs for Sprint, says, “An unsatisfied customer is much more likely to leave Sprint for another carrier.”
After recently doubling its ETF for premier or high-end handsets, Verizon actually had the gall to say that it was doing a favor for its customers. Verizon’s excuse is the same as everyone else’s: subsidies allow customers to purchase otherwise pricey handsets for more manageable costs, and ETFs are put in place in case a deal is broken. But still, does $350 seem fair on top of what a top-tier device usually costs?
Lastly, there is Google, who recently got into the handset sales game with the Nexus One. Google either sells the Nexus One directly to customers, or sells it subsidized through T-Mobile, earning a commission in the process. If the customer bails, Google passes the cost of that lost commission down to the customer.
What this all boils down to is handset subsidies, which are usually recovered via the pricey monthly plans we pay for. If a carrier fronts $300 on a device so we only have to pay $100, and we cancel a contract three months into the deal, the carrier does have a right to recover those costs because it just waved bye-bye to a shiny new handset.
[via Associated Press]
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
AP - It seems that when it comes to letting the Web be the Web, it could be the United States against the world.
The pain and sorrow of Polaroid’s death spiral is… ongoing. Luckily, there’s no rule against switching horses midstream, or whatever the idiom is. If you want instant pictures and crazy colors, go Lomo. Their famously weird lenses produce compelling pictures, and the LC-A+ body is actually capable of doing some ASA and focus adjustments, unlike pretty much every instant camera ever.
The custom back fits Fujifilm Instax film, which costs ~$15-20 for a 10-shot cartridge. The process is spelled out in the videos on the microsite; it’s a pretty simple installation process. The back costs $100, which seems pretty steep to me for a piece of molded plastic, but hey, Lomo’s been doing this for a long time. You don’t last 25 years with one camera system unless it’s solid as hell (or quirky, in Lomo’s case).
If you’re intrigued by the whole Lomo/instant thing, and I wouldn’t blame you if you were, you can get a pretty decent price on a LC-A+ body, instant back, and a two-pack of Instax film. For you my friend, $321.25. For others no. Best price for you.
Now, before we enter the breach, I think it bears repeating that MobileCrunch and indeed the rest of the TechCrunch network in no way condone software/application piracy. Developers work too hard for responsible members of the tech community to give them the shaft like that. That said, while cracked iPhone app repositories like apptrackr continue to operate with impunity, we’re surprised to see that the big Android equivalent has been forced to shut down first. Jesusxxx’s Blapkmarket, which provided paid apps free of charge to its users, was just recently shut down by his hosting company.
Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Say the words “tablet computer” and ten bucks says it’s Apple’s iPad that springs to mind. But that doesn’t mean other companies aren’t busy building their own version of a touch-enabled, multimedia-sporting, slab of portable computing goodness.
Dell’s first effort at a tablet will be the Mini 5 (a name that is still in beta) — a slice of plastic and glass with a 5-inch capacitive touchscreen that according to Michael Dell will debut “in a couple of months.”
The Mini 5 will sport a 5-megapixel camera on the back, a separate front-facing camera that can be used for video conferencing, a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1-GHz processor. The 5-inch screen also means it will be be closer to the Sony PSP in its form factor than the longer legal notepad design of the iPad.
The Mini 5 will run the latest version of Google’s Android operating system, version 2.0 or higher. And instead of the 4:3 aspect ratio of the iPad, Dell’s tablets will support the 16:9 ratio. Widescreen films anyone?
“It’s a device optimized for media consumption,” Neeraj Choubey, general manager of the tablets division at Dell told Wired.com. “It will offer the full web-browsing experience so you have something that you are holding in your hand that replaces everything the smartphone does and takes on quite a bit of the features of a laptop.”
The Dell 5 Mini will also just be the first in a series. “We are going to have a family of tablets,” says Choubey. “The first one is a 5-inch screen but we want to scale that up to a variety of screen sizes.”
That means future versions of the Mini 5 could have larger screens that will be closer in size to the iPad.
Dell wouldn’t comment on pricing, beyond saying it will be “competitive,” or when it will launch this year. Apple’s iPad ranges from $500 to $830.
With the launch of iPad in January, the tablet PCs are going through a renaissance. Though PC makers have offered slates and convertible notebooks for nearly a decade, consumers haven’t bought them in droves. With its 9.7-inch display, sleek design and Apple’s relentless hype, the iPad could alter the way we experience mobile computing. And Dell knows this.
Three years ago, Dell started expanding its product line to include mobile products. Dell smartphones are now sold in Brazil and China and it hopes to bring a version to North America. Meanwhile, the company set up a tablet division, and three weeks ago Choubey joined Dell from venture capital firm Venrock.
As he sees it, the Mini 5 will offer the apps that are available on smartphones, a set of specialized tools and programs for business users, a strong movies and music experience and web surfing — flash and all included. Take that, iPad.
Along with the apps on the Mini 5 users will have quick access to e-mail, YouTube, Amazon’s MP3 store for music, as well as spreadsheet, presentation maker and documents. It will also support voice recognition. And these are characteristics that will be common to all tablets from Dell.
Still it will be a hard sell to consumers, says Van Baker, an analyst with research firm Gartner.
“If all you are bringing to the market is another media-playing or handheld-gaming device, then it’s not going to work,” he says. “It’s all about the services you have behind the device.”
And that’s where the iPad scores, with its strong developer ecosystem and 100,000 apps, along with iTunes and iBooks, says Baker.
Dell is betting it can offer that and add a compelling value proposition for business users: a promise that its tablet won’t just be a coffee-table device but instead a powerful productivity tool.
“There’s no reason why you can’t use the tablet to take notes in class,” he says.
Dell will also offer services such as syncing that will allow users to move music, documents and other data between their PC and tablet easily.
“At a very basic level, you would have a service that will share content across the devices seamlessly and have it in the cloud,” says Choubey.
Dell also hopes to draw on the Android ecosystem by offering developers the opportunity to port their Android apps to the Mini 5 and its successors.
For the Mini 5, though, its PlayStation Portable-like form factor could be a big drawback, says Baker. The Dell Mini 5 is closer in its looks to gadgets better known as mobile internet devices or MIDs, a category that has been languishing despite products from companies such as Lenovo and Archos.
“If the Dell Mini 5 is this small and it is pocketable, then why isn’t it a phone?” asks Baker. “If I am going to carry a second device, it better have something that’s a significant advantage over what I can do with my phone. With the iPad, the value proposition is a much larger display.”
But Choubey says the innovation is not just in the form factor but also in the business model. Dell will work with carriers to bundle inexpensive data plans for the Mini 5 and other tablets.
“That type of model — the way iPad was able to do with AT& T — will become more prevalent with these tablet devices,” he says. “It allows the carrier to increase number of devices per user.” Apple introduced a $15 for 250 MB, or an unlimited $30 a month, no-contract data plan for use with the iPad.
See Also:
Photo: Dell Mini 5 (ndevil/Flickr)
Shipping next month, Apple’s iPad won’t include a camera, but a growing number of clues hint at future versions of the tablet gaining a webcam.
MacRumors received a tip regarding lines of code referring to camera characteristics in the iPad’s software development kit (screegrabbed to the right). The snippets of code allude to zoom, flash, and “front camera.” Added together, that sounds similar to the iSight webcams on MacBooks and iMacs.
Also hinting at a webcam, a job listing Apple posted earlier this month sought a quality-assurance engineer for the “iPad division” to test still, video and audio capture and playback.
The very first hint of a webcam was discovered in a demonstration unit of the iPad during Apple’s Jan. 27 event. The iPad’s Contacts app revealed a “Take Photo” button. However, developers tinkering with the iPad SDK say that button has since been removed.
Some have speculated that Apple could announce the iPad will ship with a camera before the device ships at the end of March. However, it seems unlikely that Steve Jobs would leave such a major feature unmentioned.
What I wonder is whether these hints of cameras appearing in future iPads will affect sales of the first-generation tablet. I would assume the average consumer will opt to wait for the second-generation of the device in the hope of it gaining a camera.
Updated 5 p.m. Wednesday PDT: MacRumors received the tip and screengrab of the code. Erica Sadun did not provide the code, as previously stated. Wired.com regrets the error.
See Also:
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Now, before we enter the breach, I think it bears repeating that MobileCrunch and indeed the rest of the TechCrunch network in no way condone software/application piracy. Developers work too hard for responsible members of the tech community to give them the shaft like that. That said, while cracked iPhone app repositories like apptrackr continue to operate with impunity, we’re surprised to see that the big Android equivalent has been forced to shut down first. Jesusxxx’s Blapkmarket, which provided paid apps free of charge to its users, was just recently shut down by his hosting company.
The justifications for maintaining a collection of pirated apps are many, and they generally seem to address legitimate grievances with the whole app purchase process. Blapkmarket, for example, allowed users to “test” applications outside of the standard 24 hour grace period laid out in the Android Market program policies. Perhaps more importantly, it allowed Android users in other countries to access and use apps that for one reason or another weren’t available in their home markets. Jesusxxx has even gone on record saying that foreign customers “provide[d] the highest number of requests for paid apps” in an interview with Android Guys.
As noble as those intentions may be, there’s no question that each app pirated robbed developers of sweet, sweet revenue. For all the “scrupulous” users that made avail of the service for legitimate reasons (which doesn’t necessarily excuse their actions), there were undoubtedly countless others that just couldn’t be bothered to pay for anything. With Blapkmarket out of picture for now, the big question is whether other shutdowns are on the horizon. Bigger targets are certainly out there, with repos like apptrackr being prime among them. Whether Blapkmarket’s death knell spells doom for more pirated app repositories is unclear, but one thing seems clear: like their big media brethren, app developers are starting to take pirating very seriously.
[via Phandroid, image via VentureBeat]
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Given that past leaks have been indicating as much for a few weeks now, it doesn’t come as any surprise that the HTC Incredible is heading to Verizon.
Still, it’s always nice to see new, unannounced handsets make their debut in a carrier’s inventory, as the Incredible just has.
A tipster in cohorts with the guys over at BerryScoop caught it lurking around earlier this morning, and snapped the shot you see above. Inventory entries are too all-over-the-place for this to really indicate just how soon we might see the Incredible hit the shelves. With that said, it’s never a bad sign when we start seeing things like this pop up.
Remember the time when Apple added an “Explicit” category to the list of app genres that developers could submit to? You should, because it was only a few hours ago.
Well, it’s gone. The option has been pulled from the submission page, and the developer who spotted the backpedaling says a quick call to Apple confirmed that it has been pulled, and, while they’re considering an “Explicit” section of the store, its not likely to happen any time soon.
[Via Giz]
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
FROM APPLETELL - Developers have certainly come up with some interesting ideas and concepts for photo manipulation on the iPhone. In this roundup review, we take a look at PixyMe and HourFace.
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Cellphones are slowly killing inexpensive digital cameras. The latest crop of smartphones such as the Google HTC Nexus One and the Motorola Droid sport 5-megapixel cameras while some Sony Ericsson phones have cameras in the range of 8-megapixel to 12-megapixel.
As a result, low-end digital still cameras are feeling the pain, says research firm iSuppli.
“Handsets soon may begin to cannibalize the low end of the digital still camera market as they incorporate higher megapixels and flash capabilities,” says Pam Tufegdzic, consumer electronics analyst at iSuppli in a statement. “This is likely to occur first in Asia and Europe as consumers in these regions seem to be more comfortable with taking pictures using camera phones.”
The megapixel race may be petering out among compact camera makers but it is just picking up steam in the smartphones category.
The average resolution for the CMOS sensors in mobile handset cameras is expected to rise to 5.7 megapixels in 2013, up from 2.1 megapixels in 2009. In comparison, the megapixels in digital still cameras are expected to go to 13.9 in 2013, from 9.5 megapixels in 2009.
Handset makers are likely to add tricks such as optical zoom, auto focus, improved flash and more sophisticated image processing electronics to smartphones, believes iSuppli. The firm says features such as image stabilization, automatic judgment and multiple image capture will migrate from digital still cameras to camera phone modules in the next few years.
But as any camera enthusiast will point out, a good picture is not just about having more megapixels. Increasing the megapixels in a phone’s camera can make photos smoother, but overall image quality depends on factors such as level of noise and low-light performance.
Still for low-end compact digital camera manufacturers it will be a tough fight, says iSuppli.
“Manufacturers of camera modules are firing back with increasing resolutions in smaller form factors to counter the mobile handset’s encroachment on the camera’s territory,” says Tufegdzic. “One thing’s certain: camera OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) won’t go down without a fight.”
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Photo: (Stitch/Flickr)
Section: Business News, Web, Web 2.0 / Social Networking, Online Music/Video, Google
This news came to me as a surprise. We know that internet hosting service providers such as YouTube or Google Video do not create content themselves. We also know that they occasionally police user-generated content for offensive materials, but holding them responsible for these offensive materials is downright inappropriate.
This is exactly what happened in Italy recently when several Google executives have been sentenced to six-month suspended jail terms over a video posted on Google Video back in 2006. It’s pretty obvious that they decided to appeal against the sentence. The video in question is about a kid with Down Syndrome being bullied by several youths. The video was taken down by Google two months after it first appeared on the net. The Google Executives who were charged are David Drummond, Google’s senior vice president and chief legal officer; George Reyes, Google’s former chief financial officer, Peter Fleischer, Google’s global privacy counsel, and a fourth unidentified Google employee. This case sets a legal precedent that would definitely keep all internet hosts on their toes in policing every user-generated content, stripping off the freedom we have now.
Via [Mashable]
Full Story » | Written by Cheng Hung for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
If you’re reading this, chances are pretty good that you’re not on a 4G connection. Why? Because outside of a handful of cities, 4G connections just don’t exist yet.
Take Sprint’s WiMax network, for example: as of right this second, it’s still only available in about 27 cities [coverage map], primarily in Texas and the East Coast. That’s about to get a little bit better, with Sprint announcing today that they’ll be rolling out to 8 more cities by the end of this year.
Sprint had hinted at or otherwise mentioned rollouts this year for some of these cities, but today’s announcement confirms 2010 launch dates for WiMax 4G in: Boston, Denver, Kansas City, Houston, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. They’re also promising to sneak a few more launches in there before the year is out, but they’re not naming any names.
Not in one of the roll-out areas? Don’t fret; outside of the Overdrive WiMax hotspot, there’s really not too much to miss on the WiMax-front.
Augmented reality enthusiasts dream of a future where having access to data everywhere will give us the eyes of the Terminator. Imagine donning virtual glasses that display digital captions describing everything you look at. Stare at a building, and a caption spits out when it was built; look at a stranger on a bus and a digital bubble appears in the corner of your eye, displaying his name and age.
We’re not quite there yet, but Swedish software company Astonishing Tribe is taking one step toward that reality. The company is experimenting with “augmented identification” on smartphones to identify people just by snapping a photo of them. Demonstrated in the video above, the smartphone app Recognizr uses recognition software to create a 3-D model of a person’s mug. Then it transmits the model to a server, which matches it with an image stored in the database. An online server performs facial recognition and shoots back a name of the subject and links to his social networking profiles.
A little creepy, right? Recognizr is still just a concept app being tested with a small number of profiles on an Android phone. We doubt anything like this will hit the consumer market soon, since the software will have to be optimized to recognize images from billions of photos across all the social networking sites out there. But still, this is an exciting glimpse into our data-injected future.
Via PopSci
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 Broadcast Engineering | FCC Mobile Plan Would Auction Off TV Spectrum PC Magazine Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski on Wednesday outlined an ambitious plan for US mobile broadband; an effort that includes allocating broadcast spectrum for mobile use and grants for mobile-related ... GSC: FCC talks about universal broadband FCC Aims to Free up 500MHz of Spectrum for Broadband FCC Chairman Promises More Spectrum in National Broadband Plan |
1234. 1111. 0000. When it comes to 4-digit unlock codes, most people fall back on the same patterns/ideas that everyone else uses. “Boy! I sure hope the big bad hacker folks don’t think to punch in my Birthday!”
Alpha-numeric passwords (that is, passwords with both letters and numbers) are inherently more secure. More possibilities means more security, right? Alas, the iPhone only supports 4-digit codes — out of the box, at least. A few clever gents have figured out an incredibly simple modification that gives you access to the full keyboard for your lockdown duties, no jailbreak required.
Full credit for the discovery of this modification goes to the dudes at 9to5mac
How to do it:
Doesn’t get much easier than that, right? To uninstall the modification and go back to the standard, 4-digit system, just head to Settings > General > Profiles and uninstall the “9to5mac” profile.
Warning: Alphanumeric passwords are more secure, but they can also be harder to remember. Don’t forget your password – if you do, you’re going to have to dump everything off your iPhone before you can get back in. Don’t blame us for your bad memory, you hear?
FROM APPLETELL - If you’re a bibliophile, these iPhone applications were developed just for you. They will allow you to get your book fix on the go.
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Another fire erupted amongst developers and consumers when Apple decided to pull the plug on apps that contained content of questionable nature. This isn’t the first time Apple has done this, but with the pulling of Wobble iBoobs from the app store came a surge of app killings and everyone said they’d had enough.
Despite all this, it seems all hope is not entirely lost. A developer noticed that the App Store application process now has an “Explicit” category for submissions. While it’s not up on the App Store itself, this could mean that Apple may be looking for a way to stick all that content back in there, and then some.
If carrying your laptop around is just too cumbersome for your salaciousness and the banning of sexy apps has ticked you off, exercising a little patience just might pay off in the end. We’ll see.
[Cult of Mac via Know Your Cell]
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Email / IM, Smartphones, Mobile
In the battle to be the smartphone in your pocket, a new twist has arisen: will the smartphone you choose stay on the cutting edge or will it be locked into one OS version? Last week at Mobile World Congress, many phones were introduced running 1.X versions of Android while the platform has introduced 2.0 and 2.1. As more and more features get added and refined, some users are wondering when they will get upgraded.
Android 2.0 brought many significant changes to the OS. One of the most ballyhooed is Google Maps Navigation, a free turn-by-turn navigation app. Other changes made the upgrade significant and put some shine back in Android. But many devices still cannot be upgraded.
HTC has said, via Twitter, that an upgrade to the Droid Eris is coming. “Droid Eris is getting an update to a newer version of Android early next year. Google Navigation support is coming your way.” Exactly what OS version the tweet refers to is a mystery. Until then, users will waiting feeling a bit helpless while other users that waited enjoy the new features.
This issue is in no way unique to Android. In fact, most mobile OS face this issue or worse. Windows Mobile users wait on manufacturers to build an upgrade for specific devices, same with RIM. However, Apple and to some extent Palm have so few models, they can roll up OS upgrades for all. Is the answer few models for easy upgrading/control of the platform or open and options but slower upgrades?
Some say most users don’t know or care what OS version they are on.. I’d say that’s incorrect. Today’s Android customers are techy enough to care and if new features are dangled on other Android phones, confusion sets in on why they can’t use them as well. Should potential Android users come to terms with: “the phone you buy is the phone you get” or should upgrades to stay on the cutting edge be expected?
Have your say: do you expect your devices to stay on the latest OS version or is your expectation that manufacturers/carriers have no obligation to provide upgrades after the sale? Let us know in the comments.
Fun reading: [InfoWorld]
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Laptops
ViewSonic has recently rolled out a new addition to their ViewBook lineup of notebook PC’s. The latest model is the VNB131 ViewBook Pro which is featuring a 13.3-inch display. It also comes as the first (by ViewSonic) ULV notebook or more specifically, it has a ULV SU7300 Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Other features of the VNB131 ViewBook Pro include a 1280 x 800 resolution, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, 1.3-megapixel webcam, built-in card reader, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DVD drive, HDMI, VGA and Windows 7 Home Premium. Price wise, the ViewBook Pro is going to retail for $949.
Read [Lewis Wire]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
At first glance, Lace-amatic seems like a terrible idea, bringing needless complexity to something that is so simple we do it without thinking: tying your shoelaces. Consider it for a little longer, and Lace-amatic still seems bad, although the name is retro-fantastic.
The informercial-ready device consists of two sections. One is a peg with a slot and a handle. You slide the loosely-tied laces into the slot, and then slide the second section of the device – a flat plate – behind the laces. This plate holds the peg in place. When you want to tighten the shoe, just flip the lever. The peg turns and twists the laces with it. Once installed, you can flip the lever open and closed with your feet, so you don’t even have to bend down.
Buy one of these and you have just wasted $10. You might have more fun just burning the money. Seriously, it takes seconds to knot your laces. And before you all leave comments about people with stiff old bones who have trouble bending down, I’ll just say this: slip-on shoes. There’s no need to embarrass yourselves by adding a pointless plastic widget to your sneakers. Unless, of course, it matches your cellphone-holster and elastic-waisted jeans. In that case, go ahead. And can I interest you in a never-used fanny-pack?
Lace-amatic [Lace-amatic via Oh Gizmo!]
Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Laptops
Tablet, or convertible style PC’s are pretty trendy right now, and one of those is the Viliv S10 Blade. Well, the good news here is that it looks like the S10 Blade will soon be available for those in the US.
According to Dynamism, the Viliv S10 Blade is going to retail beginning at $699 and is currently listed as being “available soon.” Of course, depending on configuration that price is going to increase a bit.
Feature wise the S10 Blade is offering a 10.1-inch HD LCD with a resolution of 1366 x 768. Other features include either a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 or a 2.0GHz Intel Atom Z550 processor as well as up to 64GB of SSD storage, built-in 3G and Windows 7 Home Premium. Additionally, the S10 Blade is noted as having a battery that will offer up to 10 hours.
As far as what you will get for that $699 price tag, that particular model comes with the 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 60GB hard drive and Windows XP Home.
Other standard features includes Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, a built-in webcam, a built-in card reader, 2 USB 2.0 ports, mini USB, VGA-out and video-out.
Product [Dynamism] Via [UMPC Portal]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Like all Apple keyboards, the iPad keyboard dock has a row of useful buttons along the top row, controlling such things as music playback and screen brightness. The iPad has these, plus a dedicated home button, a key to start a photo slideshow and a search key. But, smack in the middle, there’s a blank key, a mystery button with nothing printed upon it.
The mystery key was noticed by Mac Rumors forum member Macduke, who posted the above image. He speculates that it may gain a function before shipping, and that function would be to invoke a Mac-like dashboard, complete with widgets (which would be great, by the way, especially for quick Twittering). I checked around the web to make sure that the blank key was indeed blank, and plenty of hands-on shots also have the mystery chiclet.
So what is it for? Any idea is pure guesswork, but I certainly like the dashboard theory. It could also be a user-customizable key, or an unlock key for the screen. My guess? The mystery key will turn on the non-existent camera. Put your ideas in the comments.
iPad Keyboard Dock’s Secret Button [Mac Rumors Forums]
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile
Perhaps the most interesting phones shown off at Mobile World Congress this month were the HTC Legend and Desire. The depressing part about those phones is the fact that there was no announcement as to when the phones would be available in the US. There are still no firm release dates, but at least there are some rumors which seem to make a bit of sense.
The first rumor is saying that the HTC Desire will possibly be heading to AT&T. This goes along with AT&T’s announced plan to offer one unnamed HTC Android phone by the end of the year. The Boy Genius Report’s source claims the phone will be sold as the HTC Desire, though might see some minor physical changes before coming to market, mostly just changes to the casing of the phone if anything.
The second rumor from Boy Genius Report says that the HTC Legend will be making its way to Sprint. Since Sprint carried the Legend’s predecessor, the Hero, it makes a lot of sense. However, it looks like Sprint might be making it even more obvious where the phone comes from by renaming it the Hero2. As with the original Sprint Hero, expect the Hero2’s design to be modified, though likely not as heavily.
There’s currently no release date on either phone, which is depressing. If these rumors prove true, it wouldn’t be too shocking given the recent past of Android phones/announcements. That being said, I’m sure I’m not the only one who would prefer a T-Mobile Desire, and have the Legend keep its current design. There may be room for those, but we’ll just have to wait to find out.
Read [Boy Genius Report]
Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Gocycle is moving in the opposite direction to many other bike makers. The company already makes a small, folding electric bike, and now it will sell you a non-electric version.
The Gocycle Black comes in at £1,000 ($1,540), £500 cheaper than the electric version, and is designed as a commuter bike (there is a scheme where your employer can buy the bike for you with tax benefits) which can be folded for the train or for keeping under the desk.
Apart from the color scheme (matt black), the lack of an electric motor, and a slightly steeper head angle (for “sportier handling”), the Gocycle Black is the same as its older brother. The frame is injection-moulded magnesium, the wheels are fixed on one side only for easy puncture-repair, the transmission is completely sealed for clean pants and the whole thing can fold down into a case for travel.
Apart from the money saving, there is a weight saving, too. The lack of a battery pack shaves off 4Kg (8.8-pounds) bringing the weight to a still-heavy 12.2Kg (27-pounds). Available now.
Product page [Gocycle via Ecovelo]
If you have a Google Profile but have no interest in linking it to Buzz, the company’s new social networking service, you may find yourself caught between a rock and a hard place. The problem is this: Google has taken over user’s profiles and replaced the About Me section with the user’s newsfeed from Buzz. If you want to take it off you have to unfollow everyone you follow and delete each post one by one. Think going into options and choosing “Disable Buzz” is the answer? Not quite. Yes, it will disable Buzz-and completely delete your profile. There is no middle ground. Since many Google Profile users use their profiles as virtual business cards, it’s understandable that they don’t want their Buzz feeds showing up on it. Yes, if you chose “Disable Buzz” and delete your profile, you can start up a new one, but that can be pretty time consuming-but if it’s any consolation, your profile will be Buzz free.
What do you think of this? Is Google out of line to be hijacking profiles and forcing Buzz on them? Leave a comment and let us know what you think!
Read [Search Engine Land]
Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
We bring you the most awesomest Wii accessory ever, the completely home-made Ghostbusters Wii Proton-Pack which, according to its maker Jack, is the “first ever fully fictional Wii Proton-Pack” in the world.
The kit consists of a backpack (with glowing blue LEDs) and a wand, into which the Wiimote and nunchuk are slotted. It’s made from pure junk, consisting of a “combo of kit-bashed pieces, PVC piping, styrene strips, bondo, [an] air-brush cleaning canister and various miscellaneous plastic housing bits.”
Now Jack can put this unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back and play the Wii version of Ghostbusters. Don’t cross the streams!
Nintendo Wii Proton Pack [GB Fans via Gizmodo]
Above, you see a Samsung NX10 with an adapter that lets you put almost any lens on the front, from Nikon, Minolta, Canon, Leica and others. The adapter could be the most disruptive widget in the camera market.
There’s one thread running through the PMA photography trade show this year: mirrorless, interchangeable-lens cameras. These cameras, pioneered by Olympus and Panasonic with their Micro Four Thirds format, have become very popular with pros and serious amateurs who want great results but don’t want to lug around a big DSLR. Samsung has already shown its commitment to its NX format with eight lenses announced in under two months, and Sony is also getting in on the game sometime this year with a mirrorless Alpha.
This is great news, but what does it mean for the DSLR, which has for years been the fastest growing sector of the camera market? A DSLR used to be the only way to go if you wanted a camera that had a big sensor and a reasonably responsive shutter. The other benefits, like interchangeable lenses, are arguably only there for the more serious. Take a look around you next time you’re in a tourist spot and you’ll see mostly sub-$1,000 SLRs with the kit zooms still on the front.
Now, those buyers can buy something like the Samsung NX10 or the Olympus Pen and have everything they need, in a much smaller package. This alone is enough to shake things up. But the adapter above, versions of which are also available for Micro Four Thirds cameras, is even more dangerous to the current market. You can now use pretty much any lens ever made on a modern digicam.
Adapters have been around for years, but they never worked well. The extra length they added to a lens meant that it would be mounted too far off the body, and couldn’t focus at infinity. But because these new cameras don’t have mirror boxes, their native lenses sit much closer to the sensor. Adapters, then, have to move DSLR lenses further away. This is why they work so well with these little cameras.
Traditionally, you never really bought into a camera brand. You bought into a range of lenses. Once you had a few grand’s worth of Nikon glass, you weren’t going to buy a Canon body. Now, if you’re willing to sacrifice some automation, you can swap as much as you like. For the enthusiast, this brings cheap old manual lenses back from the dead. Expect secondhand prices to rise.
Does this spell the end for the Nikon/Canon duumvirate? Not really. Both companies will surely release cameras soon, and they could have one big advantage. All they need to do is make their own adapters so that their legacy lenses can talk to the bodies, allowing autofocus and aperture control. That alone would make me buy a mirrorless Nikon in a second (I have a lot of Nikon glass).
The DSLR won’t die. But it could become a niche product, and the specialist tool of the professional.
Novoflex shows adapters for Samsung NX [DP Review]
Photo: DP Review
See Also:
Section: Computers, Software / Applications, Peripherals, Storage, Web, Web Apps, Websites
As I mentioned in my earlier “web services that I am willing to pay for” post, I use SugarSync. In fact I have for a while, I use one of the smaller accounts but really like SugarSync and feel comfortable recommending them because the account was/is easy to set up and use and it has been proven as reliable.
That said, its always nice when a service that you use offers new features and SugarSync has just recently done that. Or more specifically they have added one new (and welcomed) feature as well as a new level of storage.
The new feature is the ability to upload files by email. Effective immediately all SugarSync users will have a new item listed on their account section, which is an email address.
In order to setup (or simply find) your SugarSync email, login to your Sugarsync account and head on over to the “Account” link (upper right hand corner) then scroll down to “Upload by Email.” Once there you will see the email address listed and will be able to make any changes including resetting it by clicking the “Edit” link to the right.
As to what you can do with that address, well, upload files of course. But digging into that a little deeper you can do things like forward email attachments which will help to clear some clutter in your inbox and also give you a safe place to store that document.
The files that you upload by email are sent to a special “Uploaded by email” folder and you can later move them to a more permanent location if you choose. Also those files which are uploaded by email are also immediately available from any other device that you have setup with your SugarSync account.
Finally, that email address, while it should be kept private, is able to be reset just in case you start to find strange files in your SugarSync account.
Moving on, the second part of the SugarSync announcement includes that new level of storage. They are now offering a 500GB storage account. That account will run $39.99 a month or $399 per year.
Read [SugarSync]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Editor’s note: This story has been updated. The LoJack car-security system is based on radio frequency technology, not GPS.
—
Every time tech is used to fight crime, the bad guys just get better gear. The only crime-fighter who manages to always have the better gadget is Batman. Now car thieves are using GPS jammers to blot out the satellite signals that some antitheft services use to locate stolen automobiles.
It’s not hard to do, either. A quick Google Shopping search for GPS blockers shows models on sale for under $30. They don’t even need to be powerful. In order to swamp the incoming satellite signals, a jammer only needs to put out two watts of power. Speaking at a symposium, Bob Cockshott of “cybersecurity” company Digital Systems KTN said that “the strength of a GPS signal is about as strong as viewing a 25-watt light bulb from a satellite 10,000 miles away.” Small wonder that sat-nav devices take so long to acquire a lock.
It’s not just criminals who are using this tech, either. Employees whose cars are tracked by their companies use them to go off the clock, and according to The Guardian, German truck drivers use them to “to evade GPS-based road charging.”
But knocking off gas-guzzling cars and sticking it to the man are just the annoying part of the potential for GPS jammers. A 20-watt unit would be enough to cover a commercial airport, with rather scary results.
There is also the possibility of feeding false signals to a GPS unit, which would be harder for an operator to spot than straight-up jamming. If you start doing that to boats driven by sailors with no sextant experience, you get havoc.
Still, something good could come of this. It’s possible that people reading the story could become less trusting of their in-car sat-nav units and actually look through the windshield once in a while. This would avoid the estimated 300,000 crashes caused in Britain every year by GPS-following fools.
Car thieves using GPS ‘jammers’ [Guardian]
Jamming of GPS signals threatens vital services [FT]
Image (and we know Skylab wasn’t a GPS satellite): NASA
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I just finished reading a very unsettling blog post by serial entrepreneur 
Reuben sez, "I went shopping on Amazon.com for a new mouse pad and I could not believe what I found. The answer to all of my portable mousing surface needs is only $9,999.00 plus $6.44 shipping. Too bad I did not get in on this when it only cost $12.99. Now I will have to get another mortgage to afford it."